text,label "Senate confirms retired generals as first two Trump cabinet membersWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate confirmed the first two members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet on Friday, voting overwhelmingly to approve two retired four-star Marine generals as his secretaries of defense and homeland security hours after Trump was sworn in as commander-in-chief. The Senate voted 98-1 to confirm James Mattis to lead the Pentagon, and 88-11 to confirm John Kelly for homeland security, a sprawling department responsible for everything from domestic antiterrorism to border security and disaster prevention. The Senate also voted 89-8 to clear the way for a vote on Monday on another member of Trump’s national security team, Republican U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo, his nominee to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Trump’s fellow Republicans, who hold a 52-seat majority in the 100-member Senate, have been sparring with Democrats over confirmations of nominees for cabinet posts and other senior positions. Republicans had hoped to confirm at least seven on Friday, but Democrats objected, complaining that Republicans were trying to force votes too quickly on nominees who were too slow to provide financial and ethics information. Republicans accused Democrats of playing politics and risking public safety by delaying national security team nominations that they knew would eventually go through. The CIA post is one of the most highly charged in Washington, amid controversy surrounding Russian attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election in Trump’s favor. The last CIA director, John Brennan, who had criticized Trump, resigned Friday. Trump belittled the agency as he questioned its conclusion that Russia was involved in cyber hacking that interfered with the vote, in which Trump, a New York businessman and reality television star, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state. “We face threats foreign and domestic. It’s critical for the president to have a full national security team today, day one,” said Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand was the only senator to vote against Mattis, a 66-year-old commander revered by Marines. She was also the only member of the Armed Services Committee to vote against him when the panel approved him by 26-1 earlier this week. Gillibrand has said she admires Mattis. But she objected to waiving a law on civilian control of the U.S. military to allow him to lead the Pentagon only 3-1/2 years after retiring from the Marines, instead of the seven required by the statute. The law had only been waived once before, in 1950, to allow George Marshall, the post-war Secretary of State, to serve as Secretary of Defense. Congress passed Mattis’ waiver last week, and Trump signed it just after he was inaugurated on Friday. Eleven Democrats voted “no” on Kelly, also 66. While the 40-year military veteran is also very popular, some Democrats said he had not done enough to assure them that he would oppose some of Trump’s most controversial proposals. For example, they said he had not rejected rounding up and deporting thousands of people who entered the United States illegally as children, but have been productive members of society. That group, known as “Dreamers,” were protected from deportation by an executive order signed by former President Barack Obama. Trump has promised to rescind many such orders. Trump said he was pleased that Mattis and Kelly were confirmed. “I call on members of the Senate to fulfill their constitutional obligation and swiftly confirm the remainder of my highly qualified cabinet nominees, so that we can get to work on behalf of the American people without further delay,” he said in a statement. ",1 Iraq foots the bill for its own destruction,1 "One Year Later, Palestinians Live in Rubble While Israel Blocks Aid (with US support)",1 Peru drug clinic fire kills 14 people locked inside: Privately run Sacred Heart of Jesus rehab centre outside Lima had windows and doors locked and barred,0 "Police station attacked in S. Russia, suicide bombing feared",0 "One killed, 4 wounded in Israeli airstrike on Gaza",0 Stunning & Depressing Israeli Election,0 Israel says Google's 'Palestine' page harms peace hopes,0 "Turkey no longer needs EU membership but won't quit talks - ErdoganANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey no longer needs to join the European Union but will not unilaterally abandon the stalled EU accession talks, President Tayyip Erdogan told parliament on Sunday. We will not be the side which gives up. To tell the truth, we don t need EU membership any more, Erdogan said. Turkey s 12-year-long accession talks have ground to a halt, with the EU especially critical of Ankara s crackdown following a failed coup last year. Tens of thousands of people including teachers and journalists have been detained. Erdogan s government says EU states failed to appreciate the gravity of the threat which Turkey faced, and did not respond to requests to extradite coup suspects. The EU failed us in a fight against terrorism, Erdogan said on Sunday, though he also suggested the bloc still needed Turkey. If the EU is going to leap forward, there is only one way to do so. And it is to grant Turkey membership and start an action of cultural and economic growth, Erdogan said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an election debate last month it was clear Turkey should not join the EU and entry talks should end, despite it being a crucial NATO ally. ",1 "Chilean president says Trump concerned about Venezuelan crisisSANTIAGO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump expressed concern about the political and humanitarian situation in Venezuela in a call on Sunday with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, the Chilean president told reporters on Monday. Bachelet said she talked with Trump about the actions regional leaders were taking with regard to Venezuela, which has been wracked by an economic crisis in the last three years and is facing external pressure to make political reforms. “(President Trump) presented to me his worries about the situation in Venezuela,” Bachelet told reporters at the La Moneda presidential palace in Chile’s capital, Santiago. “I told him about the actions (Chile’s) foreign ministry is carrying out together with other foreign ministries, and we are staying in contact to see how we can help Venezuela have a peaceful exit from its domestic situation.” Venezuelans are suffering from severe shortages of basic goods, including food. The government of Nicolas Maduro blames private businesses for sabotaging the economy with price speculation and routinely denounces opposition activists as coup-plotters, intent on bringing down socialism in the country. Opposition leaders say the Maduro government has undermined democracy by canceling a key referendum and delaying local elections, among other measures. Last week, Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States, said Venezuela should be suspended from the organization if it does not hold general elections as soon as possible. Relations between Venezuela and the United States have been rocky since former socialist president Hugo Chavez rose to power in 1999. The South American country has repeatedly criticized the United States for interfering in its domestic affairs. The U.S. blacklisted Venezuela’s vice president as a drug trafficker in February, and Trump later that month called for the release of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. ",1 " WATCH: Nicolle Wallace Takes Trump To The Woodshed For Backing Pedophile MooreDonald Trump just got his ass handed to him by Nicolle Wallace for endorsing an accused child molester.Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore has been accused of sexual assault by several women, most of whom were teens at the time. One woman was 14-years-old.Age of consent laws apparently did not matter to Moore, who was the district attorney during the time period in which most of the assaults allegedly occurred. Moore own former colleagues have confirmed that Moore preyed upon teenage girls and he was even banned from a shopping mall because he kept creeping on teen girls.On Tuesday, Trump finally spoke out about Moore and the allegations. And what he said was sickening.Trump accused Moore s opponent Doug Jones of being soft on crime before saying he d rather have an accused child molester in the Senate instead of a Democrat. Then he defended Moore the same way he defended Vladimir Putin during his trip to Asia. Well, he denies it, Trump said. Look, he denies it. I mean, if you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it. He says it didn t happen and you know, you have to listen to him also. Trump s words were so disgusting that MSNBC s Nicolle Wallace took him to the woodshed. I have this physical feeling of just being repulsed listening to be it a figure head, he is the head of the Republican Party and I have described myself as a nonpracticing member, but I don t know what other word to use other than repulsed, that the head of the Republican Party said essentially threw his weight behind someone accused of stalking and engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old. There s nothing normal about throwing your weight behind a child molester. So when he says, this president says he denies it, he denies it I almost heard in him, I denied it too. He s almost projecting on to Roy Moore his own circumstance. Here s the video via YouTube.Indeed, Trump was accused of sexual assault by over a dozen women during the campaign. He called all of them liars at the time. And it looks like that s coming back to bite Trump on the ass.Featured Image: Screenshot",0 "Fannie, Freddie stocks open higher after Mnuchin's remarksNEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac opened higher on Wednesday, reaching their highest levels in more than a month after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the Trump administration will take up reform of the two mortgage finance agencies in the latter half of 2017. Fannie Mae’s stock price was up over 3 percent at $2.94 a share, while Freddie Mac shares were 3 percent higher at $2.77. ",1 " REPORT: Trump And Companies Tied To Over 100 Lawsuits, Tax EvasionDonald Trump s financials and business ventures are astronomically sketchier than Mitt Romney s. He refuses to release his tax returns, his name appears in the Panama Papers thousands of times, and now an exclusive report from USA Today shows Trump and his companies are linked to over 100 lawsuits, tax disputes and other legal limbos.An analyst from pored over thousands of documents and concluded, in summary:USA TODAY s examination of Trump s track record as a business taxpayer found not just court actions, but dozens of additional tax disputes with local authorities that didn t reach the courthouse in states including New York, Nevada, Florida and New Jersey. In some cases, Trump s businesses have disputed tax assessments; in others, they have simply not paid the tax bill until after the government took additional action.According to the information obtained from court cases, property records, and other documents showed that every year from the late 1980s to now, Trump and his associates/companies have been involved in tax disputes. Between June 2015 to now, five Trump companies in New York State alone have been issued warrants for more than $13,000 in unpaid or late taxes. Before June 2015, Trump has two other unpaid warrants; $1,580 for Trump mortgage; $1,747 for Trump University. One failed, the other is under investigation for fraud.USA Today issued a detailed list of tax issues over the decades:Not only does Trump have decades worth of tax and assessment issues stemming over three decades, he also overestimates the worth of his properties, something that might be shown in his tax returns and prove that he isn t worth as much as he says he is. For example, the Ritz Carlton Resort and Spa in Jupiter, Florida has been assessed at $13.7 million. Trump, however, personally assesses the property at $50 million, a full $36.3 million more. Then there s the famous Mar-a-Lago, Trump s personal estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Assessed at only $20 million, Trump contends that it is actually worth $50 million.Once again, records show (or don t show, because Trump won t release them) that Trump is lair, cheater, and overblows his worth to make himself look good.Trump s shady business dealings are miles long, miles deep. This is the great businessman Republican voters are touting when they spout their support for him.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Imges",0 "Video of police assault on Ian Tomlinson, who died at the London G20 protest in 2009: It shows Tomlinson, who was not part of the demonstration, being assaulted from behind and pushed to the ground by baton-wielding police",1 " After Telling 37 Lies In One Day, Trump Calls Fact Checkers ‘Scum’ (VIDEO)Donald Trump is a serial liar and that probably explains his dislike for fact-checkers. Donald has viciously targeted the media and his supporters respond by frequently referring to reporters as the enemy. While giving a speech at an airport in Sanford, Florida, Trump went after fact-checkers. These fact-checkers, they ll check facts with me and I m like, like, 99-per-cent right, and they ll say, And therefore he lied, Trump said. Oh boy, these people are bad. What a group of people we have. What a group of dishonest scum we have, I m telling you. He literally called fact-checkers scum. Daniel Dale, a Washington correspondent for the Toronto Star, fact checks Donald and the paper produces a list almost daily of Trump s lies.Dale noted on Twitter that Trump said 35 false things yesterday. Donald Trump said 35 false things yesterday. #TrumpCheck pic.twitter.com/EwfYFEDFx9 Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 26, 2016His following tweet reads, Donald Trump s 35 false claims on Tuesday follows his record-tying 37 false claims on Monday. Donald Trump s 35 false claims on Tuesday follows his record-tying 37 false claims on Monday. Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 26, 2016The day before Trump s speech in which he blasted fact-checkers, the Star counted 37 false claims from the GOP presidential nominee.That tied the record he set at the third and final presidential debate, which he claimed every poll showed him winning, which was, of course, not at all true.The paper admits that there are grains of truth in some of his false claims but most are flat wrong. The list includes Trump s regurgitated rhetoric on Hillary Clinton s emails. Trump claimed the deletion of emails was such an expensive process, however, a free software program was used.He said nobody has asked her running mate, Tim Kaine, about comments her aides made about Catholics in hacked emails, though Kaine has been asked on national television. He bragged, for at least the second time, that he had won 42 states in the Republican primary, though it was 36 states.Watch: There is a massive imbalance in the frequency of dishonesty. @DDale8 says Trump lies a lot more than Clinton https://t.co/Kp6KvPNtmO Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) October 30, 2016The paper fact-checked the three presidential debates. Trump said 104 false things. In contrast, Clinton said 13. You have a candidate who is frequently saying 20 false things in a day, up to 37 on some days, Dale said.At the rally in Florida, Trump called journalists a bunch of phony low-lifes. Trump s assault on the First Amendment has been vicious. In August, Trump pointed at MSNBC s Katy Tur. What a lie. Katy Tur. What a lie it was, Trump said, pointing at her from the stage. Third. Rate. Reporter. Remember that. After that, the Secret Service had to escort her to her car. And now it s fact-checkers who are being targeted.Photo by Chip Somodevilla via Getty.",0 "Senate finance committee to vote on Representative Price on TuesdayWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-majority U.S. Senate Finance Committee will vote on Tuesday on the nomination of Representative Tom Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services, the panel’s chairman, Senator Orrin Hatch, said on Sunday. Price, a Republican, is an orthopedic surgeon who if confirmed would be given the task of carrying out President Donald Trump’s promise to gut former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare. Price’s trading in health company stocks while a lawmaker has been questioned by Democrats, but Price says his actions were legal and ethical. Price made his name in Washington as an opponent of Obamacare. For years he has proposed legislation to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law, but his proposal has never been voted on in committee. At a hearing last week before the finance committee, Price minimized the impact he would have on changing the healthcare insurance system if he is confirmed, saying it would be his task to carry out the will of Congress, expressed in legislation. Congress is in the process of working on a repeal of Obamacare and crafting a replacement. Republicans have generally supported Price’s nomination while Democrats have sharply criticized it. At last week’s hearing, the top Democrat on the finance committee, Senator Ron Wyden, said that if Price is confirmed, he would “take America back to the dark days when healthcare was for the healthy and the wealthy.” ",1 Nobel prize; Japan says release of China's Liu Xiaobo 'desirable' ,0 "Turkish Prime Minister: ""I say that Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts""",1 "LOL! The Woman Who Couldn’t Be Bothered With Protecting Lives Of Brave Americans Serving In Benghazi Attacks Trump On National SecurityIronically, the two issues that catapulted Trump past all of his competitors in the GOP Presidential race were building the wall on our southern border and not allowing unveiled refugees to enter our country. We re gonna go out on a limb and guess that based on Trump s popularity with a wide variety of Americans, both issues are pretty important when it comes to our national security.Hillary Clinton will launch an attack on Donald Trump s national security policy Thursday, focusing on an issue the likely Democratic presidential nominee could use to her advantage over the billionaire New Yorker.The address in San Diego will make clear the threat that Donald Trump would pose to our national security and to put forth her own vision for keeping America safe at home and leading in the world, Clinton s campaign said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.For Clinton, the move is part of an effort to paint Trump as fundamentally unsuited to lead the world s most powerful military as she hopes to pivot away from the extended Democratic primary and toward a general election match-up with the presumptive GOP nominee.The attacks on Trump s lack of national security bona fides have increased speculation that he might pick a running mate with more experience in the defense or foreign policy, such as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). Throughout this campaign, Trump has refused to outline any coherent foreign policy doctrine, failed to demonstrate a basic understanding of world affairs, and repeatedly proven he s temperamentally unfit to serve as our commander in chief, Clinton s campaign said on Wednesday.Despite his apparent weaknesses, however, Trump benefitted the most when the GOP primary contest took on a national security focus following deadly terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino last year. Notwithstanding their radical nature, Trump s proposals to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and temporarily ban foreign Muslims from entering the country have attracted a fair amount of support from fellow Republicans.",0 Protesters carrying coffin of beheaded Hazara girl storm Afghan presidential palace,0 "Key Senate committee chairman wants briefing on FlynnWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday to send the committee documents and provide a briefing on the resignation of President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. Citing reports that both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice Department were involved in events leading to Michael Flynn’s departure, Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein said they raised “substantial questions” about Flynn’s discussion with Russian officials. ",1 "CIA chief Pompeo says he warned Iran's Soleimani over Iraq aggressionSIMI VALLEY, Calif. (Reuters) - U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo said on Saturday he sent a letter to Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani and Iranian leaders expressing concern regarding Iran s increasingly threatening behavior in Iraq. Speaking during a panel at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Southern California, Pompeo said he sent the letter after the senior Iranian military commander had indicated that forces under his control might attack U.S. forces in Iraq. He did not specify the date. What we were communicating to him in that letter was that we will hold he and Iran accountable for any attacks on American interests in Iraq by forces that are under their control, Pompeo told the panel. We wanted to make sure he and the leadership in Iran understood that in a way that was crystal clear. Soleimani, who is the commander of foreign operations for Iran s elite Revolutionary Guards, refused to open the letter, according to Pompeo, who took over the CIA in January. Iranian media earlier quoted Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, a senior aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as saying an unnamed CIA contact had tried to give a letter to Soleimani when he was in the Syrian town of Albu Kamal in November during the fighting against Islamic State. I will not take your letter nor read it and I have nothing to say to these people, Golpayegani quoted Soleimani as saying, according to the semi-official news agency Fars. Reuters reported in October that Soleimani had repeatedly warned Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq to withdraw from the oil city of Kirkuk or face an onslaught by Iraqi forces and allied Iranian-backed fighters, and had traveled to Iraq s Kurdistan region to meet Kurdish leaders. The presence of Soleimani on the frontlines highlights Tehran s heavy sway over policy in Iraq, and comes as Shi ite Iran seeks to win a proxy war in the Middle East with its regional rival and U.S. ally, Sunni Saudi Arabia. A U.S.-led coalition has been fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and is often in proximity to Iran-allied militia fighting Isis there. You need to only look to the past few weeks and the efforts of the Iranians to exert influence now in Northern Iraq in addition to other places in Iraq to see that Iranian efforts to be the hegemonic power throughout the Middle East continues to increase, Pompeo said. The CIA chief said Saudi Arabia had grown more willing to share intelligence with other Middle Eastern nations regarding Iran and Islamist extremism. The Israeli government said last month that Israel had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia amid common concerns over Iran, a first disclosure by a senior official from either country of long-rumored secret dealings. We ve seen them work with the Israelis to push back against terrorism throughout the Middle East, to the extent we can continue to develop those relationships and work alongside them - the Gulf states and broader Middle East will likely be more secure, said Pompeo. ",1 "Police find similarities in body parts found Copenhagen watersCOPENHAGEN (Reuters) - An arm found by divers near Copenhagen was weighed down with pieces of metal similar to those attached to the legs of Swedish journalist Kim Wall who died in August on board a submarine owned by a Danish inventor, local police said on Wednesday. The arm was found about 1 km (half a mile) from the spot where Wall s head and legs had been found in October. Wall, a freelance journalist who was researching a story on entrepreneur and aerospace engineer Peter Madsen, went missing after he took her out to sea in his homebuilt 17-metre (56-foot) submarine in August. On Aug. 23, police identified a torso that washed ashore in Copenhagen as Wall s. Coroners examined what turned out to be a left arm after it was found in Koge Bay just outside of Copenhagen - near the route that had been searched in connection with the submarine case. Divers and police will continue the search for the right arm along with further evidence on Thursday. Madsen admitted to dismembering Wall on board his submarine and dumping her body parts in the sea, but he still denies murdering her and a charge of sexual assault without intercourse. The trial has been set to take place in Copenhagen next March. (The story adds distance in miles in second paragraph) ",1 "Priceless! #TuckerCarlson Destroys Leftist #RobReiner Over Russian Propaganda Ad Claiming ‘We’ve Been Invaded!’ [Video]Major Hollywood liberal activist Rob Reiner is no match for Tucker Carlson who calls Reiner out on his Morgan Freeman propaganda ad on cyber war with Russia. Tucker talks about how our real enemy is China when it comes to cyber wars Haha! Reiner starts to get a little miffed at Tucker when Tucker calls him out on China Epic! This is the meat of the interview: I agree with you we are very divided. And maybe this is one of the reasons. A lot of this is disingenuous. Anyone who looks at cyber warfare will tell you, any honest person, will tell you the Chinese military is the primary culprit in the United States, hacked into the White House not too long ago Nobody said anything. You guys in Hollywood sell your movies in China. You bow to the imperatives of their propaganda and censorship office. You change your movies to suit them. And yet no one says we re at war with China.Notice how Reiner brings up the Facebook ads that the left is now going after because a Russian group spent $100K on ads during the election. So it comes down to the fact that this is an effort at (ironic) propaganda to convince Americans that Russia stole the election. Did you catch that Clapper is part of this??? WTH? If people want to turn their heads at that, it s at their own peril Really?Who s the propagandist Mr. Reiner? He might want to look in the mirror ",0 Dolce and Gabbana sentenced to jail for tax evasion | BBC News,0 US food aid programme criticised as 'corporate welfare' for grain giants,0 Dalai Lama made to wait for South African visa - Delay in granting visit visa to Tibetan spiritual leader triggers speculation that Beijing is pressuring Pretoria.,1 Samsung asks employees to quit getting smashed at company events,1 More than 200 women's rights groups are calling for laws to make paying for sex a crime across the European Union.,0 " BREAKING: Trump Tax Documents Leaked And They’re STUNNINGLY IncriminatingThe chorus of voices saying, Show us your taxes, has been growing steadily as Trump continues to hide behind the flimsy excuse of an audit for keeping them hidden. Now, documents obtained by The New York Times may easily explain why he doesn t want the public to see them: While we all have been diligently paying our taxes each year, he very well may not have paid any income taxes at all for the last 18 years.18 years. That s astounding. That s disgusting, particularly for someone with a really fat bank account that s running for President. Trump has likely has paid so much less than his fair share that he helped to bilk the American people out of much needed services.What did the Times find? In 1995, Trump declared a $916 million loss on his taxes. That s a big enough loss to wipe out his federal income tax for the $50,000 to $100,000 he made on each and every episode of The Apprentice, and the $45 million he earned serving as chairman of the company that owned his failing casinos in Atlantic City from 1995 to 2009.Joel Rosenfeld, an assistant professor at New York University s Schack Institute of Real Estate, and also a tax expert, told the Times: He has a vast benefit from his destruction. Yes he does. Atlantic City and New Jersey were left picking up the pieces of his failed ventures there. But what s more damning is what Rosenfeld would say if a client came to him with a $916 million loss like Trump s: Do you realize you can create $916 million in income without paying a nickel in taxes? Wow. Yes, Trump was taking advantage of a tax system that s very heavily weighted in favor of real estate investors, and many would say that s just good business. However, just because something is legal doesn t make it right. Furthermore, when the issue of his taxes came up in the debate, and Hillary brought up his bragging that he pays as little as possible in taxes, he said: That makes me smart. Oh please. Smart? Many would say yes. However, that s anything but patriotic or presidential. It s selfish. It s shockingly selfish. It harms the veterans he claims to want to help, and the infrastructure he claims to want to fix, and everything else he claims he can turn around in his quest to enrich himself turn America into a shining golden city on a hill.And yet, this is the biggest example yet of his sheer hypocrisy. So is his campaign s statement on the matter: Mr. Trump is a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required. That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes.Mr. Trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for President and he is the only one that knows how to fix it. No, he wants to tilt it even further towards people like himself. Trump himself hasn t said anything about this on Twitter yet, but expect him to soon. Perhaps at 3 a.m., when he s writhing in fury on his bed that the Times has unmasked him yet again.Featured image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images",0 "OUT IN THE OPEN: ‘9/11’ 15 Years Of A Transparent Lie21st Century Wire says One of the most elaborate crimes of the century continues to be whitewashed SMOKE SCREEN Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton There are many doorways into the crimes of 9/11. After the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, President George W. Bush called for the creation of remote control systems in commercial airliners in the event of an emergency. By design, this technology would grant air traffic controllers, along with other government entities, the ability to control an aircraft and steer it towards its final intended destination.Based on history, we know that the Flight Management Systems within Boeing models have been capable of assisting the entire flight through its remote autopilot functions since at least 1984, well before Bush s politically motivated calls for remote control flights in the aftermath of 9/11.From the mid-1980 s, the coded software on the plane would send data to ground control stations, accepting any return flight information or auto-land command. In addition to civilian aircraft being flown remotely before it was acknowledged, the U.S. Air Force apparently constructed an F-106 Delta Dart fighter to be controlled remotely on a combat mission in 1959 under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).There has been an endless dispute over the how of 9/11 and the who, as well as the various methods used to carry out the crimes of that day. There s an even heavier debate over what brought down WTC Building 7 and since then, other 9/11 rabbit holes have also challenged the nature of the planes said to be involved in both New York and Washington DC.Whether you re curious and bold enough to head down that path is a whole different matter, but the fact remains, the technology to take over a commercial flight existed long before 9/11.Whatever your thoughts are concerning planes on 9/11 it s still worth noting that even the mainstream media admitted at the time that there was, no evidence of a plane at all, following the destruction of a portion of the Pentagon s western side.Indeed, 15 years on, there are still many more question than there are plausible answers.More from Paul Craig Roberts below Einst rzende Neubauten A single day has shaped the modern world. (Image Source: downtownexpress)9/11: 15 Years Of A Transparent LiePaul Craig RobertsThere are many conspiracy theories about 9/11. The US government s own explanation of 9/11 is a conspiracy theory in which a few Saudi Arabians outwitted the American national security state. Little doubt that many of the more imaginative conspiracy theories were created for the purpose of stigmatizing any skepticism, no matter how well reasoned and supported, of the official story.When thinking about 9/11, it is important to differentiate expert opinion from improbable explanations.Among the expert opinion are 2,600 structural engineers and high-rise architects who comprise Architects & Engineers for 9/11 truth and have written to Congress asking for a real investigation, Firefighters for 9/11 truth, Pilots for 9/11 truth, physicists and chemists who analyzed the dust from the twin towers and report finding reacted and unreacted materials used in controlled demolitions, and former government officials who understand that a security failure as great as 9/11 would have produced an immediate and exacting investigation.These groups of qualified and experienced people say that the official story of 9/11 is false. Architects, engineers, and scientists say that the official story is physically impossible. Firefighters and WTC maintenance personnel say that there were numerous explosions within the towers and that the first explosions were in the sub-basements prior to the buildings being hit by airplanes. Experienced military and civilian pilots say the maneuvers of the aircraft are beyond the capability of the alleged hijackers. Both co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission and the legal counsel have written books in which they have said that information was withheld from the Commission, that the US government lied to the Commission, and that the Commission was set up to failIn other words, the hard evidence simply does not support the official story.We know that the official story is false. We don t know who is responsible or the purpose the event was intended to serve. However, circumstantial evidence strongly supports suspicion of the neoconservatives whose high positions in the government would have enabled them to succeed with a false flag attack and to delay and divert any investigation until the official story was set in stone. We also know from the dancing Israelis that elements in the Israeli government had advance notice of the attack as Israeli agents were set up ready to film the destruction of the twin towers.More from Paul Craig Roberts here READ MORE 9/11 NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 9/11 Files",0 "LOL! ONE HILARIOUS CARTOON Perfectly Illustrates How Embarrassingly Politically Correct The NFL Has BecomeWatching sports on TV or going to a football stadium to watch a game, used to be a great way to unwind and forget about your troubles at home or at work. Watching sports used to be a stress reliever for many. That was before the NFL and the NBA was hijacked by the politically correct police, and social justice warriors, and morphed into something most fans don t even recognize anymore.One of the worst cases of political correctness was when liberals insisted that the Washington Redskins change their name so as not to offend Native Americans. The left got very little support from Redskins fans and surprisingly, many in the Native American community were unwilling to join the fight to demand a name change for the team. Eventually, the left was forced to walk away from that fight, and accept that the owners of the Redskins were focused on playing football, and were not interested in their foolish game of political correctness.Today, the NFL is facing a huge backlash from fans, as players are being asked to choose activism over their allegiance to their fans who couldn t care less about their political views, they re coming to escape the stresses of everyday life and to watch these professional athletes play football. They don t come to see professional athletes kneeling on the sidelines during our national anthem in support of the Black Lives Matter anti-cop group, who inspired the killings of several innocent cops, shut down major roads, threatened innocent people who got in their way, and looted and burned cities to the ground. Fans come to relax and to forget about their troubles. They come to get away from the divisive politics and challenges of everyday life. They certainly don t travel to stadiums to attend games or watch them on TV so they can be admonished or scolded for not holding the same politically correct views as the snowflakes on the field.This hilarious cartoon by BenGarrison is a perfect example of who fans are paying to see on the field today:It won t be long before fans stop supporting these snowflakes, and politically correct crybabies, and maybe then, they ll remember why we came ",0 "EU exec proposes deeper euro zone integration to unite EUBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission proposed on Wednesday ideas for deeper euro zone integration in an effort to help unite the broader European Union, as eurosceptic sentiment grows across the EU and Britain prepares to leave the EU in 2019. The Commission, the EU s executive arm, presented a package of proposals aimed at giving the 19 countries sharing the euro better protection against future financial crises. But plans to tighten cooperation among the 19 euro countries have sparked concern among the eight non-euro countries that they will become second-class members of the EU, with less say - and less funds - in the future. To alleviate those fears, the Commission stressed that all their proposals were open to all EU members, even though that clashes with the thinking of some euro zone leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron has called for creating a euro zone budget of several hundred billion euros, a euro zone finance minister and a euro zone parliament. The Commission proposed creating cash incentives for countries for structural reforms and special funds for non-euro economies, all of which - except Denmark - are obligated to adopt the euro at some point, to prepare for euro adoption. But heavyweight Germany was quick to pour cold water on one key part of the plans putting in doubt just how far they would get. The Commission backed the idea of setting up what it calls a euro zone stabilisation function , because the monetary policy of the European Central Bank cannot deal with economic crises that hit only one or a few countries in the euro zone. That would be a pool of money to protect investment with loans and a relatively limited grant component , the Commission said. To be effective and credible, it should be big enough to pay out at least 1 percent of GDP and be allowed to borrow. Access to the stabilisation function , managed by the Commission, would be for those who stick to EU rules. The money would come from loans from the EU budget, voluntary contributions from governments and loans from the euro zone bailout fund with guarantees from the EU budget. The Commission said that for this to work, a limited borrowing capacity could be constructed in the next EU budget. Germany expressed reservations though. I don t think it makes sense to prejudge anything, but the outgoing government was not convinced that new buffers at the European level are necessary, Germany s acting finance minister Peter Altmaier said. Instead of a euro zone finance minister, the Commission called for naming a pan-European Minister of Economy and Finance, who would also be a senior member of the European Commission and chair meetings of euro zone finance ministers. The minister would also oversee the work of the euro zone bailout fund as the chairman of its board, much like the head of euro zone finance ministers, the Eurogroup, does now. The job might be created when the next European Commission starts work in November 2019, the Commission said, and whoever gets it would be accountable to the European Parliament. Under the current arrangement, the chair of the euro zone finance ministers, the closest thing the bloc now has to a single finance minister, often testifies before the parliament s economic committee, but it has no power over him or her. Euro zone finance ministers have little enthusiasm for allowing the Commission, which is only an observer at their monthly meetings, to chair their talks. Other euro zone integration ideas, floated by Germany, include transforming the euro zone s government-owned and run bailout fund into a European Monetary Fund. The Commission backed that idea, but said the EMF should become an EU institution, which would be overseen by the European Parliament an idea officials have said would not fly with governments. The EMF, which the Commission hopes to get agreement on by mid-2019 from governments and the European Parliament, would also provide a 60 billion-euro backstop for the bank-funded Single Resolution Fund. The Commission did not address the proposal of Germany and backed by Slovakia and the Netherlands to create a sovereign insolvency mechanism that would put pressure on governments to conduct prudent fiscal policy. Economists were not impressed with the Commission proposals. A first browsing of the documents allows us to conclude that hardly anything will change, ING economist Carsten Brzeski wrote in a note to clients. Today s proposals go in the right direction but are not new and clearly not a game changer. ",1 " Marcobot Malfunction: New Data Shows Rubio’s Campaign In Crisis (PHOTOS)A new poll of New Hampshire voters could show an alarming collapse for Senator Marco Rubio. The poll, conducted by a pro-John Kasich super PAC, may change the trajectory of the 2016 Republican presidential campaign.The poll, conducted by the pro-John Kasich New Day for America Super PAC, shows Rubio plummeting to fourth place in the primary here, with 10 percent of the vote. Most of the polling conducted in the immediate days before the debate showed Rubio in second place.The survey, which was based on phone calls to 500 likely voters (margin of error plus or minus 3 percent), was conducted Sunday, the day following the latest Republican debate. Rubio came under scathing attack from Chris Christie, who cast the first term Florida senator as too unready, ambitious, and superficial to occupy the Oval Office.By comparison, the most recent average of polling in New Hampshire shows Rubio pulling in 15.1 percent, in second place behind Donald Trump at 31.3 percent.While the super PAC poll may be a statistical outlier, Rubio received criticism on both the left and right for his performance in the Republican debate on Saturday night. After Governor Chris Christie pointed out that Rubio had performed the same mini-speech twice before at the event, Rubio again returned to his comfort zone.The next day, the nickname Marcobot began circulating for the senator, and video of his exchanges with Christie went viral.A pro-Democratic super PAC constructed robot costumes out of cardboard and appeared outside a Rubio event with the label Marco Roboto. Rubio's new tag alongs: Marco Roboto +Rubio Talking Point 3000. ""The costumes came out about as well as his debate."" pic.twitter.com/jpswCAKYwX Jane C. Timm (@janestreet) February 7, 2016In a post-debate appearance on ABC s This Week, Rubio tried to do some damage control on his mistake by doubling down on it:Shown a video of his repeated remarks produced by the Clinton super PAC Correct the Record, Rubio said he would pay them to keep running that clip. That s what I believe passionately, he said. It s one of the reasons why I m not running for re-election to the Senate and I m running for president. This notion and this idea that somehow all this is an accident Obamacare was not an accident, Dodd Frank was not an accident, the deal with Iran was not an accident. Even if the poll results end up being just a super PAC leaning too hard on the scales, the glitch in Rubio s delivery has opened up a line of attack for Democrats, along with his extremist position that women shouldn t be allowed to have an abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.Many in the media have continued to hype Rubio as a winning Republican establishment candidate, even though he only mustered a third place finish in the Iowa caucus. If he fails to win in New Hampshire, the path to the nomination will continue to be filled with obstacles he never anticipated.Featured image via Flickr",0 All Nippon Airways Co is grounding all 17 of its Boeing 787 planes for inspection after one of its Dreamliners made an emergency landing in western Japan ,0 "Chinese journalists face ideology exams from book that states: ""it is absolutely not permitted for published reports to feature any comments that go against the party line""",1 """Anti-Islam film had 'nothing to do with' US Consulate attack"" -Libyan president",0 Gadhaffi's retreating forces leave landmines,1 Pope Francis approves the revival of exorcism as a canon Catholic practice,1 A million and a half people form a 400 km long human chain in Catalonia supporting independence from Spain,0 "Two human heads found outside broadcaster's office in MexicoMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Two human heads were discovered in a cooler outside an office of broadcaster Televisa in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, authorities said on Tuesday. It was not clear who the heads belonged to, but the cooler contained a threatening message signed off with CJNG , the Spanish initials of a drug gang, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a security official in the western city said. A second official at the office of the Jalisco state prosecutor said the cooler was left outside an office of the Televisa station. However, media in the state suggested the gruesome find was directed at an official, not at the broadcaster. Elsewhere in the city, authorities found a second cooler containing a message threatening a judge, and a bag with suspected human remains with another threat, the second official added. Both officials declined to be identified. In recent years, the CJNG has become one of the most powerful Mexican drug gangs, and authorities blame it for violence that has convulsed much of central and western Mexico. ",1 Niall Ferguson: we may be looking at a Lost Decade.,0 "U.S. aerospace industry urges Trump to help Ex-Im Bank resume workWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief executive of the U.S. Aerospace Industries Association urged President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to quickly nominate new board members to the U.S. Export-Import Bank to allow the export financing agency to resume functioning. Dave Melcher said billions of dollars worth of potential orders were in limbo because the agency’s board lacked the necessary number of board members to back important trade deals. “The Senate can protect American manufacturing jobs by restoring the quorum to the Export-Import Bank’s board of directors,” Melcher said in a speech before more than 300 industry and media representatives Tuesday in Arlington, Virginia. Boeing Co, one of the largest U.S. exporters, and other aerospace companies have raised similar concerns. ",1 "Peru Uses Climate Twist to Lure Tourists to Shrinking Glacier - It was so bright with ice & snow that sunglasses were mandatory. In less than 20 yrs, it's shrunk in 1/2, climbing banned. It's being rebranded as a place to see climate change in action.",1 "Argentine mom rescues 100s of sex slaves, but can't find daughter",0 Flooding in Australia,1 " Texas ‘Responsible Gun Owner’ Shoots 6-Year-Old In Spine After Family Makes Wrong Turn (VIDEO)When Texas governor Greg Abbott said that Texans should be tolerant of anyone they see with a handgun in light of the state s recent decision to allow concealed carry permit holders to openly display their sidearms, one thing he didn t think about is that every single person carrying a gun isn t necessarily licensed to do so but he effectively told residents to accept that every single handgun they see is legal because reasons.Unfortunately, this simply empowers the criminal element after all, according to the NRA, everyone with a gun is a good guy who will save the world. That is, until the good guy rips off his mask and reveals that he was a bad guy all along.On Tuesday, a bad guy with a gun (who looks exactly like a good guy until he actually begins shooting) fired numerous rounds at a vehicle containing a family that had done nothing worse than make a wrong turn, severely injuring a child. The family was in the area looking for a tire shop when they became lost and pulled into the parking lot of some townhouses to reroute their GPS.According to investigators, the car s lights were shining on another car. The occupant became annoyed, walked toward the family s vehicle and fired nine shots, one of them piercing through the vehicle s taillight and striking a 6-year-old girl, the bullet lodging itself into her spine. Panicked, the driver attempted to escape as the shooter fired four more rounds at the vehicle as it exited the property. The family drove down the street to a motel and flagged down an officer. The little girl was rushed to the hospital for treatment.A SWAT team detained a person of interest who was arrested on unrelated charges, but he has still not been charged in the child s shooting according to police.Watch a report on the shooting below:Featured image via Examiner",0 Chechnya Speaker Vows To Arm Mexico If U.S. Gives Weapons To Ukraine,0 "Huge explosion i Norwegian capital, windows blown out in area surrounding government buildings",0 South Africans try poisoning horns to save rhinos ,0 "Poor rural villages show China's economic dilemma, Should China bail Europe out or help its own poor farmers? ",1 "Nigeria has been facing massive, weekly oil spills for decades.",1 "FLASHBACK: Obama Mocks Trump’s Promise To Save Factory Jobs: “Your Jobs Aren’t Coming Back” [VIDEO]Obama to crowd on lost factory jobs: Cuz some of those jobs of the past are just not gonna come back. And when somebody says, like the person you just mentioned, I m not gonna advertise for. That he s gonna bring all of these jobs back. Well how exactly you gonna do that? What are you gonna do? There s no answer to it. He just says, Well, I m gonna negotiate a better deal. How exactly are you gonna negotiate that? What magic wand do you have. And usually the answer is, he doesn t have an answer.' Sorry Barry .but Trump just saved 1,000 Carrier jobs and he hasn t even been sworn in yet.Here s a thank you message to President-elect Donald Trump from a Carrier worker whose job Trump saved:.@Carrier employee Robin Maynard's message to Trump and Pence: 'Thank you for sticking to your word and going to bat for all of us.' pic.twitter.com/TBxLDGlZmU FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) November 30, 2016",0 "ANGRY COMMENTATOR THREATENS TRUMP: “Government’s gonna kill this guy” [Video]Wow! Open threats that government will kill the president had to be clarified by Jake Tapper. BUT Please listen to this unhinged commentator on CNN and tell us the Deep State doesn t exist:I found the actual for video You guys decide if this is okay or not. Change agents=threats. Words like this on National TV is not right. pic.twitter.com/dQKksW47ef Bobby Axelrod (@SirBobbyAxelrod) August 10, 2017These CNN commentators were discussing the fact that Putin fired embassy employees in Russia. We reported (see video below) that President Trump said it s fine that Putin fired the employees because it saves the U.S. money. These loose cannons went ballistic and said that government will kill him. Even if it s not literally to kill, it s still a very threatening message! The entire commentary is disturbing!Here s what the panel was referring to: This is priceless! President Trump just gave the best response ever to a reporter s question! He said he wanted to thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for reducing his payroll by firing U.S. embassy staff in Moscow. Hysterical and so quick! Watch how Trump doesn t skip a beat with his response:After Sanctions on Russia were put in place in July, Putin ordered 755 embassy personnel out of Russia.President Trump was asked today during a press conference what he thought of the firing. His response was quick and decisive. He said he wanted to thank Putin for the firing: No. I want to thank him, because we re trying to cut down on payroll. And as far as I m concerned, I m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll. He continued: There s no real reason for them to go back. So I greatly appreciate the fact that they have been able to cut our payroll for the United States. We ll save a lot of money. THE TRUTH IS THAT THE CNN PANEL KNOWS NOTHING! THE TRUTH IS THAT MOST OF THESE EMPLOYEES ARE RUSSIAN!SOURCE: BBC",0 """The vast majority of Russian prisoners 724,000 out of a total prison population of 862,000 still live in freestanding barracks, rough-hewn, low-slung buildings of wood or brick encircled by barbed wire, usually in a remote place."" Medvedev seeks to reform Soviet-aged prison system.",1 " BREAKING: Republicans Susan Collins And Lisa Murkowski Will Vote No On Betsy DeVosSusan Collins, Republican Senator from Maine, has once again broke with her party after announcing she will vote no on Donald Trump s education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos.Lisa Murkowski, Senator from Alaska, will also vote no on DeVos.On the Senate floor, Collins made a passionate speech about her reservations (which are shared by fellow Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Maine), saying:I come to the floor to announce a very difficult decision that I have made, and that is to vote against the confirmation of Betsy DeVos to be our nation s next Secretary of Education.The move comes unexpectedly, as Collins voted in favor of DeVos in committee, which passed on a party line and sent her nomination to the floor for an up-or-down vote. But at that time, Collins made clear she was still considering her support. Murkowski had also voted to send DeVos consideration to the floor.Collins had told the Bangor Daily News that she was surprised and concerned about her apparent lack of familiarity on a wide range of education issues. One issue that particularly struck Collins was the fact DeVos seemed clueless to the fact the United States has protections for students with disabilities.Susan Collins has so far been a thorn in the side of Donald Trump and his administration, recently referring to his immigration executive action as likely unconstitutional, and blasting Steve Bannon s appointment to the National Security Council as entirely inappropriate. As of now, 50 senators have come out against DeVos, including Collins, Murkowski and every member of the Democratic caucus (which includes independents Bernie Sanders and Angus King). DeVos needs a simple majority to pass, and with 52 members in the GOP caucus, DeVos has a slim chance of being confirmed. If one more Republican defects, the 50-50 tie that would be broken by Vice President Mike Pence will be blockedOnce again, Susan Collins has put the country before her party, and has showed the GOP what it means to have a spine, as has Murkowski.Here s to hoping more Republicans follow their lead.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images",0 PROTESTER HITS COP ON HEAD WITH BALLOON…WATCH Hysterical Reaction When Cop Pops Balloon [VIDEO]***TURN DOWN THE VOLUME***These are the pathetic social justice warriors (SJW s) our colleges and universities are indoctrinating every day https://twitter.com/133760D/status/739160618448609284H/T Weasel Zippers,0 "China bans ads during TV drama shows ... in ""culture boost""",1 Killing over blasphemy law deepens misery of Pakistani Christians,1 "FBI Director James Comey: ‘Trust, but protect’ (and cover your laptop webcam with tape)21st Century Wire says NSA and police state cheerleaders will often use the flimsy defense of mass surveillance, claiming that it s legal , and therefore, it is somehow right, and that we must trust the state because the U.S. is an advance democracy, land of the free, home of the brave (you know the drill).The truth of the matter is independent of the whims of the state (in this case, the Orwellian police state), which is this: when laws are manipulated and passed through our bicameral legislative machine and then used for oppressive and profitable ends the very ends that so many great writers and philosophers warned us about for centuries then those laws, along with the state s omnipotent authority must be challenged. And how many times have we heard central government cheerleaders throw around this old trope when it comes to state surveillance: Well, if you haven t done anything wrong and you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about. Presently, Washington s current liberty death spiral is in direct conflict with the fundamental principles and morals of a free society. This has caused a near complete breakdown in trust between the corporate state and the voters. This reality seems to be lost on so many media pundits and of course, completely lost on our bureaucratic class RT: It turns out that FBI director James Comey covers his laptop camera with tape, just like any NSA-fearing citizen should an admission that has generated hilarity on social media ",0 According to eye witnesses - Saudi Armed forces go through King Fahad Bridge towards Bahrain. (Link in Arabic). This could get ugly for the protestors,0 " Despicable Trump Announces An End To DACA, Will Kick 800,000 Kids OutWe always knew that Donald Trump was a heartless bastard. However, he just decided to leave no doubt about that fact in the minds of the American people, as the orange one has decided to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which is an Obama-era program that protects children who arrived in the United States illegally when they were very young from deportation. The announcement came late Sunday night, as millions of people waited anxiously to see what the fate of their family members and friends and for DACA recipients, themselves would be.According to Politico, Trump will phase the program out within six months, leaving 800,000 DACA recipients subject to immediate deportation. It seems that the six month waiting period to start deporting DACA recipients, also known as DREAMERS, is to give Congress time to solve the problem of undocumented children themselves. The argument seems to be that a lot of people in Trump s orbit believe that immigration policies like DACA are the job of lawmakers, not the president, and therefore President Obama had no right to do what he did for the DREAMERS.This all comes as many lawmakers including many Republicans have said that Trump should leave the DACA kids alone. After all, these are people who know no other home, who came here as very small children and are Americans in every way except on paper. They literally have nowhere to go if Trump and his goons deport them.Now, it should be noted that this is not an official announcement and that it came from White House sources with knowledge of the upcoming announcement who spoke to Politico reporters. Since Trump is impulsive and unpredictable, there is still time for all of this to change. Hopefully, Congress will do something during the six-month window, rendering this awful decision moot.Anyone who thought this administration wouldn t be on a mission to destroy the lives of millions of people was completely deluded. We now see that Team Trump is on their way to making America into their fever dream of a white ethnostate or as close to it as they can come. That s what you get when dumb people decide it would be a great idea to have a racist run the country.Featured image via screen capture from Twitter",0 "BOOM! FLORIDA PAPER Makes Unprecedented Apology After “Uncomfortably Sizable Number Of Readers” Complain About Anti-Trump CoverageIs this apology too little too late? After one year of bashing Trump, and with only one week left before the election, does this apology really matter now?A central Florida newspaper has apologized to its readers for the decidedly anti-Donald Trump coverage that has been published during the election.The Daily Commercial published an editorial titled The media, the election and bias on Oct. 23 that explained the paper is reliant on wire services for much of its election coverage and those reports are weighted heavily against Trump. The Daily Commercial hasn t done enough to mitigate the anti-Trump wave in the pages of this paper, it wrote. You deserve a more balanced approach to the coverage of elections and other weighty issues. In what it described as an open letter that it described as part explanation, part reflection and part mea culpa the paper apologized to its readers.",0 "Sweden says ambassador to Belarus expelled for being ""too supportive of human rights"".",1 Falluja assault: Iraq PM announces beginning of military operation,0 "Trump, Liberal Hypocrisy & Humanity’s Future21st Century Wire says Here s an epic discussion for your Sunday afternoon.Last week, Stuart J. Hooper travelled to Los Angeles and met with YouTube star Hamish The Illusion Patterson; who holds a particularly interesting view on reality.The two also had an epic discussion on the current state of politics, hidden technology, our future on Mars, and the hypocrisy of so-called liberals protesting against Trump who had no problem at all with what Obama was doing, like sending Libya back to the stone age, in the past eight years.Check out the full discussion here: You can follow Hamish on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram.SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Trump adviser accuses U.S. of disregarding Russia's interestsMOSCOW (Reuters) - A foreign policy adviser to U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump has accused Washington of contributing to an atmosphere of mutual contempt with Moscow by disregarding Russia’s interests. Carter Page, a former investment banker whose views on Russia have caused controversy in the past, made the comments in an opinion piece for Russia’s state-controlled Sputnik news agency that was published on Thursday. “From Syria to Ukraine to world energy policy, Russia remains an essential piece in the puzzle for solving many of Washington’s most pressing geostrategic challenges,” Page wrote in the article. The U.S. government had shown a “complete disregard for Russia’s interests”, Page said, saying this had fueled a sharp deterioration in bilateral relations. Trump, the Republican nominee for next month’s U.S. election, named Page as being among five foreign policy advisers in March. Both Trump and Page are known for their more conciliatory stance toward Russia, in contrast to the views of many prominent Republicans. In a speech in Moscow in July, Page criticized Western countries for what he said was their “hypocritical focus on democratization” in the post-Soviet world. ",1 "Humans causing catastrophic ecosystem shifts, study finds",1 "EGYPTIAN COURT SENTENCES MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD LEADER AND 13 OTHERS TO DEATH AND LEADER’S “Peaceful” U.S.-Egyptian Brother To Life In PrisonBut wait wasn t the Muslim Brotherhood s Arab Spring (Sharia Law for all Egyptians) supposed to be a good thing? An Egyptian court sentenced Mohamed Badie, leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, and 13 other senior members of the group to death for inciting chaos and violence, and gave a life term to a U.S.-Egyptian citizen for ties to the Brotherhood.The men were among thousands of people detained after freely elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi was toppled in 2013 by the military under Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is now president.Sisi describes the Brotherhood as a major security threat. The group says it is committed to peaceful activism and had nothing to do with Islamist militant violence in Egypt since Mursi s fall following mass protests against his rule.Egypt s mass trials of Brotherhood members and people accused of links to the group, as well as its tough crackdown on Islamist and liberal opposition alike, have drawn international criticism of its judicial system and human rights record.The sentences, pronounced at a televised court session on Saturday, can be appealed before Egypt s highest civilian court in a process that could take years to reach a final verdict.U.S.-Egyptian citizen Mohamed Soltan was sentenced to life in jail for supporting the veteran Islamist movement and transmitting false news. He is the son of Brotherhood preacher Salah Soltan, who was among those sentenced to death.Mohamed Abdel-Mawgod, one of the defense lawyers, condemned the verdicts. The court did not differentiate between the defendants and put them all in the same basket, he told reporters at the courthouse. None of the defendants were present during the hearing.Badie is the Brotherhood s General Guide and has already been sentenced to several death and life sentences. His deputy Khairat El-Shater was given a life sentence on Saturday. OPERATIONS ROOM TRIALRights groups say Egypt, where a popular uprising toppled veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and started years of political turmoil, is now cracking down on all dissent. Sisi says stability is needed to revive the shattered economy.Rights advocates have criticized a U.S. decision to end a freeze on military aid to Cairo, saying Washington is putting human rights on the backburner. The United States has said the decision to end the freeze was in the interest of national security.Mohamed Soltan, 27, arrested in August 2013, had been on hunger strike while in prison. He deserves the punishment because of the money and instructions from the Brotherhood which were found with him, and for spreading chaos and horror in society, presiding Judge Mohamed Nagi Shehata told reporters.Sara Mohamed, a relative of the Soltan family, said they would appeal the verdict. It was a farce trial of the first class None of the defendants attended the session, she told Reuters by phone.A website calling for Mohamed Soltan s release says he was not a member of the Brotherhood, describing him as a U.S.-educated peace activist who was involved in youth events and charities. The website shows pictures of him lying emaciated on a stretcher while in detention.Saturday s case was known in local media as The Rabaa Operations Room trial. This is in reference to a sit-in at Rabaa square in 2013 in which hundreds of people protesting at the overthrow of Mursi were killed when security forces tried to clear the area by force.Cairo has defended its actions, saying it had given protesters the opportunity to leave peacefully and that armed elements within the Brotherhood initiated the violence.Saturday s session sentenced 51 people. Those who were not sentenced to death were given a life sentence. The long list of charges included leading and funding an outlawed group, overturning the constitution and planning to spread chaos, a court source said.Via: Reuters",0 Ethnic Rioting In China - Twitter Blocked | Techgeist,1 "Drunk Welsh tourists break into Sea World, swim with dolphins, and take off with a Penguin.",0 Fears of Euro Zone Domino Effect - Will Greek Contagion Bring Portugal Down?,0 "FIFA imposes lifetime ban on former member, informant, and whistle blower, Chuck Blazer",1 " NC Governor Robs Disaster Relief Fund To Hire Lawyers To Defend Trans Bathroom BillCan you put a price on bigotry? North Carolina Republicans just did. It s $500,000.North Carolina is a state precariously placed in the danger zones of both hurricanes and tornadoes. It s suffered its fair share of disastrous floods. It s warm enough to be a fertile ground for the mosquitoes experts warn could be spreading the devastating Zika virus. So it s more than just a little crazy that Republican Governor Pat McCrory announced that he would be robbing his state s own disaster relief fund to pay for the defense of his illegal trans bathroom bill.Led by McCrory, state Republicans have diverted half a million dollars from the state s Emergency Response and Disaster Relief fund and say they will use it to hire lawyers to fight tooth-and-nail against the federal government which has deemed the anti-trans bill known as HB2 unconstitutional. Considering how obvious it is that this violates the Civil Rights Act, the money will serve only to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.The law has already cost the state tens of millions of dollars in lost business, boycotts, and bad press. Adding the $500,000 is only going to make things worse. This is particularly dire because the fight against the Zika virus continues to go unfunded at the federal level. A recent bill proposed by Republicans to give some of the funds was shot down by Democrats after they insisted on including an amendment to defund Obamacare. The premise, to take away millions of Americans health insurance during the outbreak of a potential health epidemic was, to put it lightly, repugnant on every level.So rather than get serious at a state level, North Carolina decided to defund itself. It will now head into the eye of the Zika storm with a pitiable amount of money to combat it. Instead, they will pay for a few lawyers to ensure trans people are victimized for just a few months longer. If that doesn t say it all, I don t know what does.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 "Guardian Editor: U.K. 'Security Experts' Entered Offices And Destroyed Hard Drives - ""You've had your debate. There's no need to write any more.""",0 "FLASHBACK: EVIDENCE SHOWS “CROOKED” HILLARY Has Been Burying E-mails Since She Was First LadyIf anyone were to tell you 20 years ago that a career criminal, habitual liar and an enabler of husband who is a serial sexual offender was going to be a frontrunner for President of The United States in two decades simply because of her genitalia, would you have believed them?While the State Department s own internal probe found former Secretary Hillary Clinton violated federal recordkeeping laws, it s not the first time she and her top aides shielded her e-mail from public disclosure while serving in a government position.As first lady, Hillary was embroiled in another scheme to bury sensitive White House e-mails, known internally as Project X. In 1999, as investigators looked into Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate and other scandals involving the then-first lady, it was discovered that more than 1 million subpoenaed e-mails were mysteriously lost due to a glitch in a West Wing computer server.The massive hole in White House archives covered a critical two-year period 1996 to 1998 when Republicans and special prosecutor Ken Starr were subpoenaing White House e-mails.Despite separate congressional investigations and a federal lawsuit over Project X, high-level e-mails dealing with several scandals were never turned over. And the full scope of Bill and Hillary Clintons culpability in the parade of scandals was never known.To those well-versed in Clinton shenanigans, this all sounds distressingly familiar. Thanks to another server-related problem, Clinton so far has gotten away with withholding more than 30,000 e-mails from congressional committees investigating the Benghazi terrorism cover-up, Clinton Foundation foreign-influence peddling and other scandals. This Clinton e-mail scandal is nothing new, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told me. There were previous efforts to hide e-mails in the Clinton White House. His Washington watchdog group filed a lawsuit to recover the missing White House e-mails back then, just as it has against the State Department now, though it has had better luck in this case.The parallels don t end there.During the Project X e-mail scandal, career White House staffers and contractors found that someone close to the first lady had basically turned off the White House s automated e-mail-archiving system. They fingered White House special assistant Laura Crabtree Callahan, who was overseeing the computer contractors despite obtaining computer-science degrees from diploma mills.Read more: NYP",0 "Arab states urge U.S. to abandon Jerusalem moveCAIRO (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers late on Saturday urged the United States to abandon its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital, saying the move would increase violence throughout the region. The announcement by President Donald Trump on Wednesday was a dangerous violation of international law , had no legal impact and was void , the Arab League said in a statement after a session attended by all its members in Cairo. Trump s endorsement of Israel s claim to all of Jerusalem as its capital would reverse long-standing U.S. policy that the city s status must be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. The decision has no legal effect ... it deepens tension, ignites anger and threatens to plunge region into more violence and chaos, the Arab League said at 3 a.m. local time after hours of meetings that began on Saturday evening. It said it would seek a U.N. Security Council resolution rejecting the U.S. move. Lebanon s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said during the emergency meeting that Arab nations should consider imposing economic sanctions against the United States to prevent it moving its Israel embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. Pre-emptive measures (must be) taken ... beginning with diplomatic measures, then political, then economic and financial sanctions, he said, without giving specific details. The Arab League statement made no mention of economic sanctions. Arab criticism of Trump s plan contrasted sharply with the praise Washington s traditional Arab allies heaped on him at the beginning of his administration in January. ",1 "Thai authorities close in on Yingluck's escape accomplicesBANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai authorities are closing in on the people who helped former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra flee the country last month, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said on Friday. Shinawatra, 50, whose government was ousted by the military in 2014, disappeared from Thailand shortly before a Supreme Court verdict in a negligence case against her. The deputy prime minister told the media that Yingluck left Thailand by crossing to neighboring Cambodia by land via the Aranyaprathet border district in Sa Kaeo province, almost 300 km (186 miles) east of the capital Bangkok. He said authorities had seized a vehicle believed to have been used to take Yingluck to the Cambodian border. The vehicle was found near a house in Nakhon Pathom province, north of Bangkok. Police said the owner, based on the car registration, did not match the person who had the car at the time. Three police officers were questioned on Thursday night. Prawit said the three men admitted to helping drive Yingluck to the border, but no charges have yet been filed. All three of them gave us useful information. We are working on the investigation and consolidation of the evidence, deputy national police chief General Srivara Rangsibrahmanakul said. A police source who does not wish to be named told Reuters that the ongoing investigation has revealed that a former police chief who has closed relationship with the Shinawatra family masterminded Yingluck s escape. Yingluck s whereabouts remain unknown. The Supreme Court has issued an arrest warrant against Yingluck and rescheduled the verdict for her negligence case to Sept. 27. Yingluck faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of negligence over a costly rice subsidy scheme that helped to bring her to power in a 2011 general election. Yingluck has accused the military government of political persecution. She pleaded innocent to the negligence charge. ",1 "Britain embarrassed by Olympics security shortfall: Britain could be forced to deploy thousands of extra troops in London during the Olympics, after a last-minute security blunder dealt an embarrassing blow to the government just two weeks before the Games.",1 "How Is Panama’s “Migrant Crisis” Giving A FREE PASS TO THE U.S. To Anyone From Asia, Cuba, Africa, Haiti…When Did We Become The World’s Dumping Ground?Let this sink in The word has been out for some time now that the US borders are open. Now we have the President of Panama giving an even bigger free pass to ANYONE to come to America. We are going to be Europe soon Obama is making sure of it Panama promised to help hundreds of migrants who have crossed its jungle border from Colombia to carry on toward the United States.President Juan Carlos Varela on Tuesday said Panama would make an exception to its immigration restrictions for migrants who have recently crossed into Panama s Darien jungle. The border will remain closed to irregular migrants, but those that are using these points to cross and have already reached our territory will be given humanitarian assistance so they can continue on their way, he said. Panama will not allow anyone who has crossed into our country to die on our territory, he added, in a public speech.Around 800 US-bound migrants, most of them from Haiti, Africa, Asia and Cuba, are in dense jungle on the Panama-Colombia border, Varela said Friday.He described it as another migration crisis. A further 2,500 are stranded in Panama s northern neighbor, Costa Rica, since the next country on the trail, Nicaragua, has tightened immigration controls.Colombian authorities say they have deported thousands of migrants trying to reach Panama from its northern territory.Varela said last week that many of the migrants were Haitians who had gone to Brazil after a 2010 earthquake devastated their country.Brazil s current deep recession has driven them to try to get to the United States through Central America. Via: france24",0 Nasa finds evidence of a vast ancient ocean on Mars,0 Russian navy arrests 8 in ship hijacking,1 " Sanders Supporters Need To Be Aware Of This Obstacle If They Want To Make Sure Their Vote Gets CountedIf you re a college-age Bernie Sanders supporter, it looks like the Primary schedules were designed to screw with you. They re going to fall right in Spring Break. So, if you don t want to be done over by the establishment, it s time to get over this obstacle.The conservative media is already licking it s lips with the prospect that our young Americans are, in their opinion, too stupid and feckless to turn out for Bernie. As The Daily Caller puts it:Many college students will be too busy drinking and partying on spring break to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders in March, just as his presidential campaign gears up for a series of crucial Democratic primaries in their states.",0 Wikileaks released ALL US diplomatic cables,0 "Ep #10: Patrick Henningsen LIVE – ‘Inside Esoteric Hollywood’ with guest Jay DyerJoin Patrick every Wednesday at Independent Talk 1100 KFNX and Alternate Current Radio for the very best in news, views and analysis on all top stories domestically and abroad THIS WEEK: Episode 10 This week we briefly cover a few big stories including the upcoming US Presidential Inauguration and Obama s pardon and imminent release of Private Bradley-Chelsea Manning which looks to trigger Julian Assange s surrender to US authorities.In our main feature segment, host Patrick Henningsen is joined by special guest Jay Dyer, author of the new book Esoteric Hollywood, to discuss Hollywood and how deep state politics, propaganda, social engineering and occult symbolism is baked into some of the biggest blockbuster films of our time. Listen Listen to EP 10: Patrick Henningsen LIVE with Jay Dyer on Spreaker.This program broadcasts LIVE every Wednesday night from 8pm to 9pm MST, right after the Savage Nation, on Independent Talk 1100 KFNX over the terrestrial AM band across the greater Phoenix and central Arizona region, and live over global satellite and online via www.1100kfnx.com.LISTEN TO MORE INTERVIEWS AT PATRICK HENNINGSEN LIVE SHOW ARCHIVES",0 "South Korea, China to hold summit next month to mend ties(Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Beijing next month for a summit with China s Xi Jinping as the two countries seek to mend ties frayed by a year-long spat over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, Seoul s foreign ministry said on Thursday. The agreement was made during a meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, the ministry said. The two leaders met on the sidelines of an APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam, early this month, during which they agreed to another round of talks in the near future. ",1 Anxious Spaniards withdraw billions from banks,0 "Climate change is causing our oceans to become increasingly acidic, threatening to alter life as we know it.",0 " WATCH: Dem Senator BLASTS Trump, Calls Him A Liar Live On AirSenator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) has about had it with Donald Trump trying to mislead the American people with conspiracy theories, crazy tweets, and outright lies. Appearing on CNN s OutFront with Erin Burnett, Senator Booker lit into Trump and his staff s habit of blatantly lying to the American public. Booker told the host: A week in office and we have seen the President of the United States and his officials repeatedly lying to the American public and pushing out what could be called what we ve seen in other regimes throughout history what can be called propaganda to mislead the public. He needs to be called out on it, and we, as an American public, should not accept a president that routinely lies, blatantly, to the American people. When Burnett asked if Senator Booker felt the same way as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) that Trump is actually delusional, Booker didn t hedge at all, and called Trump a liar: I don t know his mental state. What I do know is he a liar, repeatedly so. Senator Booker also said that he thinks that Trump s message and actions are championing an agenda that is not in concert with honor or with the facts. Senator Booker is correct. This is the same kind of thing that autocrats do everywhere. They lie to the public, sow discord, division, and fear, and do all they can to discredit any and all other sources of information that do not support their narrative. If we want to survive a Trump presidency with our democracy in tact, we must continue to call Trump and his team out for the lying propagandists that they are.Thank you Senator Booker, for doing what is right. Don t worry about Trump attacking you on Twitter because we, the members of The Resistance, have your back.Watch the video of Senator Booker s comments below:.@CoryBooker: President Trump is spreading lies and propaganda https://t.co/E08soXjHaZ OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) January 27, 2017Featured image via Mike Coppola / Staff/Getty Images",0 "Vitaly Churkin, Russias Permanent Representative to the United Nations has announced that Russia will back a resolution calling for a Palestinian state, if one is presented.",1 Hundreds of Irish Catholic priests 'to be implicated in child abuse report',0 "DELAY OF RELEASE OF CLINTON SCHEDULES Until After Election Could Backfire…Feds Out Of ControlOur government is officially in the pocket of the global elitists who will do ANYTHING to elect a total crook! The State Department just announced they won t release Clinton schedules until AFTER the election. The stonewalling has been going on for way too long. This move could backfire on the Democrats and win votes for Trump. Foolish!WASHINGTON (AP) Seven months after a federal judge ordered the State Department to begin releasing monthly batches of the detailed daily schedules showing meetings by Hillary Clinton during her time as secretary of state, the government told The Associated Press it won t finish the job before Election Day.The department has so far released about half of the schedules. Its lawyers said in a phone conference with the AP s lawyers that the department now expects to release the last of the detailed schedules around Dec. 30, weeks before the next president is inaugurated.The AP s lawyers late Friday formally asked the State Department to hasten that effort so that the department could provide all Clinton s minute-by-minute schedules by Oct. 15. The agency did not immediately respond.Read more: Breitbart",0 "Put Ultraviolet Dye In London Water Cannons To Track Protesters, Police Bosses Urge",1 "Trump say appeals court decision on travel ban was 'political'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday called the appellate court ruling that upheld the suspension of his order restricting travel from seven Muslim-majority countries a “political decision,” and vowed his administration would ultimately prevail. “We’ll see them in court,” Trump told reporters who had gathered outside his press secretary’s office. “It’s a political decision.” Trump said he did not view the ruling as a major setback for his White House. “This is just a decision that came down, but we’re going to win the case,” he said. ",1 " Wealthy Man Passes Away, Leaves Millions To Open Ohio Animal ShelterThe news cycle has been filled with bad news lately, and it s wearing on us all. We have an income gap that keeps getting wider, a horrible reality star on his way to possibly becoming president, mass shootings, terrorist attacks and all sorts of other awful stuff that makes us shake our heads when we turn on the news. So, it s always nice when we can bring you news that will warm your hearts and make you smile and the following story will do just that.David Robert Wetzell (known as Bob ), of Urbana, Ohio passed away and left his entire estate to establish an Animal Welfare League in Champaign County. According to the executor of his estate, Ronald Tompkins, Wetzell left instructions for him to liquidate his estate worth about $3 million and build the shelter, but with very specific guidelines.Wetzell left instructions in his will for Tompkins to sell his assets and use the money to establish the shelter and purchase a secluded farm in Champaign County. It is to be used as an animal preserve, pet cemetery, dog training facility and rehabilitation home for unwanted pets.The new shelter will be modeled after Animal Welfare League of Clark County in Springfield which was established in 1959 and currently houses 90 cats and 45 dogs. Libby Adams who runs the Clark County shelter with her husband said: I know it will take a while to build up to what we have. It s not going to happen overnight. Ours took a few years to get to what we have now Bob was very fond and proud of our organization. He would come down on occasion. He was a member of our league for as long as I can remember and supported us. She said that he often told her that he wanted to open one up when he was alive, but he didn t know how to go about getting it started.Wetzell had no human family members except a few distant cousins, but he was survived by six cats, a 20-year-old parakeet, a dog and seven chickens. Tompkins kept the dog and found homes for his other pets.It is awesome that Wetzell did something like this with his estate. There are so many animals that need a home, and this sounds like it is going to be a pet paradise. I wish there were more people in the world like him. Featured image via Facebook",0 "Ex-President Bush says hopeful despite 'pretty ugly' climate in Washington(Reuters) - Former U.S. president George W. Bush has described the political climate in Washington as “pretty ugly” under Donald Trump’s presidency but expressed optimism the United States would pull through despite the divisive political discourse. “I don’t like the racism and I don’t like the name-calling and I don’t like the people feeling alienated,” Bush, 70, said in an interview with People magazine that will hit newsstands on Friday. “Nobody likes that.” Promoting his first art book “Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors”, Bush said, however, that he felt no anxiety about the direction the country was headed in. “I’m optimistic about where we’ll end up,” Bush said. “We’ve been through these periods before and we’ve always had a way to come out of it. I’m more optimistic than some.” Trump, the first Republican president since Bush left office, won the November presidential election after beating 16 other candidates to the party’s nomination, including Bush’s brother Jeb. Prominent Republicans within the establishment wing of the party, including Bush and his father, former president George H.W. Bush, shunned him or offered tepid support. Bush diverged sharply from Trump’s new administration in a separate interview with NBC’s “Today” show on Monday, saying he supported a “welcoming” immigration policy and praising the media as “indispensable to democracy,” during a wide-ranging interview with NBC’s “Today” show. [nL2N1GC0I1] Bush and his wife Laura spoke to People at their Dallas home. Proceeds from the book, a collection of portraits of wounded veterans, will help fund veterans’ health care and employment programs at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The couple told the entertainment magazine that the center’s immigration ceremonies, reproductive-health programs for women in Africa and leadership training for Muslim women from the Middle East stand in contrast to Trump’s isolationism. “There’s a lot of ways to speak out,” he added. “But it’s really through actions defending the values important to Laura and me. We’re a blessed nation, and we ought to help others.” Bush shrugged when People magazine asked if Trump’s immigration policies could threaten the center’s programs. “Now that you mention it, it might bother me but we’ll figure out how to bring them over,” he said. ",1 "Migrants in Serbia's north brave winter to cross to EUSID, Serbia (Reuters) - Mudassir, 18, from Pakistan s city of Peshawar has tried to enter the European Union 30 times but was always caught and sent back to his starting point in Serbia. Now, he and dozens of other migrants are braving near-freezing temperatures in shrubs and fields near Sid, a northwestern Serbian town just outside European Union s member Croatia, hoping to make another border run. They spend nights in tents and makeshift shelters in a shrub they call - the jungle. I have tried 30 times, I am in Serbia for 16 months, ... I am tired of sleeping in the jungle , said Mudassir, dressed in a black hooded jacket. Meanwhile, other migrants, all young males, huddled outside an abandoned printing factory in the outskirts of Sid, waiting for a meal delivered by an international volunteer group, the No Name Kitchen. The so-called Balkan route for migrants was shut last year when Turkey agreed to stop the flow in return for EU aid and a promise of visa-free travel for its own citizens. But people mainly from the Middle East, Africa and Asia continued to arrive in Serbia, mainly from Turkey, via neighboring Bulgaria, attempting to enter Croatia and the EU. According to official data there are as many as 4,500 migrants in government-operated camps in Serbia. Rights activists say that hundreds are scattered in the capital Belgrade and towns along the Croatian border. Muhammad, 22 from the Moroccan town of Oujda, said he has tried to reach the EU 26 times. Three times he made it to Slovenia, but was caught and deported back to Serbia. I will try again ... my family is in France and my girlfriend is in Italy, Muhammad said. Bruno Alvares of the No Name Kitchen said migrants are given two meals a day, water, clothes, footwear and tents. Even if it is cold, it doesn t matter, they will keep on trying because there s ... no evolution in their lives in camps, Alvares said. Migrants who cannot afford to pay smugglers, often hide in passing trucks and freight trains or ride on the top of them. Recently an Afghan girl was killed by a train as she and her family attempted to cross into Croatia. ",1 "Europe's economic super power, Germany, agrees to 50 billion bail out",0 Archaeologists uncover new pharaoh in Egypt,0 "Prisoners in Brazil Reducing Their Sentences by Producing Electricity - For every 16 hrs spent pedaling to charge a battery connected to the bike, prisoners of good standing will shave a day off their sentences",0 Seven of the world's biggest banks have agreed to pay $324 million to settle a private U.S. lawsuit accusing them of rigging an interest rate benchmark used in the $553 trillion derivatives market,0 "Obama expected to sign bill on Zika drug development: White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to sign a bill to provide financial incentives to companies developing treatments for the Zika virus, a White House spokeswoman said, but the bill passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday is insufficient to meet the challenge. “We hope that this legislation encourages private sector partners to address the challenge of Zika, but it contains no funding and is ultimately insufficient on its own, since it doesn’t provide the $1.9 billion in funding that our public health experts have said is needed right now to prepare Americans for the imminent local transmission of Zika in this country,” spokeswoman Katie Hill said. ",1 "Trump Team Didn’t Just Collude with Israel, Kushner was Acting as Foreign Agent for Tel AvivPatrick Henningsen 21st Century WireMuch was made this week in the US media about Michael Flynn s recent guilty plea to making false statements to the FBI, as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller s never-ending Russia probe. Beyond the political window dressing however, there s a much bigger and more profound story lingering in the background. Although court documents show Flynn has admitted to giving false statements in reference to his reaching out to Russia s ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak the mere act of initiating contact with any foreign official is neither illegal nor is it a violation of ethics. Putting the current Red Scare aside, this would normally be viewed as standard statecraft for members of any incoming US administration. Even if Flynn had promised the Russian Ambassador, as claimed this week by Resistance leader Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, that a Trump government would rip-up sanctions, such a promise by Flynn would not be unlawful. Anyone can make a promise, we should point out here that neither Flynn, nor Donald Trump would be in any position to make good on such a promise without the blessing of the US Congress and Senate. Just look at what happened when Trump took office. Were any sanctions lifted?That said, after 18 months of fabricating fake news about Russian hacking, Russian meddling and Russian collusion, it s not surprising that the New York Times would get the Flynn story wrong too, and on an even bigger scale than many of their past made-up stories about Trump scandals. Here we have yet another hand-wringing Resistance writer, Harry Litman, claiming that Flynn s testimony will go down in history next to Watergate and Iran-Contra: The repercussions of the plea will be months in the making, but it s not an exaggeration to say that the events to which Mr. Flynn has agreed to testify will take their place in the history books alongside the Watergate and Iran-contra scandals. He might be right, if only the media coverage and the federal hearing would focus on the correct country with whom the Trump team was colluding, which unfortunately was not Russia. Funny how partisan writer Litman did not even mention the word Israel once in his report. Perhaps this is why certain persons in Washington like Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, John McCain and others, along with their corrupt media counterparts like CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times have been incessantly pushing their fictional Russia did it narrative for the last 18 months because Russiagate serves as a convenient overlay for Israelgate.Mehdi Hassan from The Intercept writes: Why aren t more members of Congress or the media discussing the Trump transition team s pretty brazen collusion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to undermine both U.S. government policy and international law? Shouldn t that be treated as a major scandal? Thanks to Mueller s ongoing investigation, we now know that prior to President Donald Trump s inauguration, members of his inner circle went to bat on behalf of Israel, and specifically on behalf of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, behind the scenes and in opposition to official U.S. foreign policy. That s the kind of collusion with a foreign state that has gotten a lot of attention with respect to the Kremlin but colluding with Israel seems to be of far less interest, strangely. Yes, you heard that right. This was at minimum collusion with Israel. But it goes much deeper than that. If this story is accurate, and we have every reason to believe it is (especially by the large silence in the American media, usually a positive indication of media avoidance), this would indicate that the then President-elect s close advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was clearly acting as a foreign agent on behalf of the state of Israel. The fact the US media are not taking this story more seriously should serve as a reminder as to how much power the Israeli Lobby wields in the US, not just over politicians, but over mainstream media as well. Granted, this is a very serious charge which comes with some serious consequences if Kushner would ever be indicted, but the facts clearly demonstrate beyond any reasonable doubt, that then President-elect s son-in-law was using his proximity to the incoming Commander and Chief to execute a series of highly sensitive foreign policy maneuvers at the request of a foreign country.The history of Israeli spying and outright meddling in US affairs is no secret to anyone willing to research it (unofficially a forbidden topic in US mainstream media), but this latest episode with Trump and Kushner is even more disturbing considering this week s controversial East Jerusalem announcement (21WIRE warned about an East Jerusalem provocation 12 months ago).Beyond this, many will argue that the radical fundamentalist Zionist agenda which Kushner is aggressively pursuing on behalf of Tel Aviv is not in the interest of the wider Middle East, nor is it good for America s European partners, and may even contribute to a further destablization of the region as evidenced by recent violence which has erupted following Trump s provocative move. The result is not necessarily in America s interests, even if it is certainly in Israel s interests.Author Mehdi Hassan continues:Here s what we learned last week when Mueller s team unveiled its plea deal with Trump s former national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn. In December 2016, the United Nations Security Council was debating a draft resolution that condemned Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied territories as a flagrant violation under international law that was dangerously imperiling the viability of an independent Palestinian state.The Obama administration had made it clear that the U.S. was planning to abstain on the resolution, while noting that the settlements have no legal validity and observing how the settlement problem has gotten so much worse that it is now putting at risk the two-state solution. (Rhetorically, at least, U.S. opposition to Israeli settlements has been a long-standing and bipartisan position for decades: Ronald Reagan called for a real settlement freeze in 1982 while George H.W. Bush tried to curb Israeli settlement-building plans by briefly cutting off U.S. loan guarantees to the Jewish state in 1991.)Everyone expected that the upcoming UN vote on illegal Israeli settlements was going to be a divisive issue, but with only weeks before Trump s fast approaching inauguration, Israel had its trojan horse in position. Hassan goes on to explain Tel Aviv s covert mechanism for manipulating the UN vote: On or about December 22, 2016, a very senior member of the Presidential Transition Team directed Flynn to contact officials from foreign governments, including Russia, to learn where each government stood on the resolution and to influence those governments to delay the vote or defeat the resolution, reads the statement of offense against Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. On or about December 22, 2016, Flynn contacted the Russian Ambassador about the pending vote. Flynn informed the Russian Ambassador about the incoming administration s opposition to the resolution, and requested that Russia vote against or delay the resolution. BFFs: Donald Trump talks to his chief foreign policy advisor, Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu.So who was this very senior member of Trump s team who sought to execute orders from the office of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu? Hassan explains:Who was the very senior member of the transition team who directed Flynn to do all this? Multiple news outlets have confirmed that it was Jared Kushner, Trump s son-in-law and main point man on the Middle East peace process. Jared called Flynn and told him you need to get on the phone to every member of the Security Council and tell them to delay the vote, a Trump transition official revealed to BuzzFeed News on Friday, adding that Kushner told Flynn this was a top priority for the president. According to BuzzFeed: After hanging up, Flynn told the entire room [at the Trump transition team HQ] that they d have to start pushing to lobby against the U.N. vote, saying the president wants this done ASAP. Flynn s guilty plea, BuzzFeed continued, revealed for the first time how Trump transition officials solicited Russia s help to head off the UN vote and undermine the Obama administration s policy on Middle East peace before ever setting foot in the White House. Even during the height of the Neocon era, with multiple Israeli loyalists in the cabinet (including some dual passport holders) shaping White House Middle East policy ultimately into a ditch with Iraq, the level of manipulation wasn t this overt. Trump s decision to reverse successive US administrations new policy on East Jerusalem is inconceivable, if not for some other x-factor which the PNAC-dominated George W. Bush could not even manage.The facts of the case against Kushner have not been contested, and in fact Kushner has even been gloating out on the speaking circuit, with his doting wife Ivanka proudly advertizing her husband s accomplishment on behalf Israel.My husband, Jared Kushner, had a great conversation on the Middle East with Haim Saban today at the Saban Forum. #Saban17https://t.co/BUbGfd1YNr Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) December 4, 2017 None of this has been contested. In fact, on Sunday, Kushner made a rare public appearance at the Saban Forum in Washington, D.C., to discuss the Trump administration s plans for the Middle East and was welcomed by the forum s sponsor, the Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban, who said he personally wanted to thank Kushner for taking steps to try and get the United Nations Security Council to not go along with what ended up being an abstention by the U.S. Kushner s response? The first son-in-law smiled, nodded, and mouthed thank you to Saban.Meanwhile, the Israelis have been pretty forthcoming about their own role in all of this, too. On Monday, Ron Dermer, Israel s ambassador to the U.S. and a close friend and ally of Netanyahu, told Politico s Susan Glasser that, in December 2016, obviously we reached out to [the Trump transition team] in the hope that they would help us, and we were hopeful that they would speak to other governments in order to prevent this vote from happening. Got that? The Trump transition team in the form of key Trump advisers Kushner and Flynn reached out to the Russian government in order to undermine the U.S. government because the Israeli government asked them to. According to these reports, Kushner was using his position in the transition team to act on Israel s behalf outside of any governmental framework of accountability. If Flynn inadvertently found himself in a Russian trap, it was because Israel and its in-house operative demanded it.If Flynn is guilty of anything, it would be going along with Kushner s Israel First scheme ahead of the United Nations vote. What is odd though, is why the entire US mainstream media is not interested in this part of the story. Even the Never Trump Resistance seem to be afraid of taking this narrative on. I guess even the Resistance has its limits. Rather than go for a case where the evidence is sitting right there on a silver salver, instead they will go for the Russian conspiracy theory. Alas, old habits die hard.SEE ALSO: The Genealogy of Trump s U-Turn on PalestineThis series of events is all the more pertinent when considering this week s announcement by President Trump that the US is to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and will be moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to East Jerusalem. Many are already calling this the kiss of death to the Israel-Palestine peace process. In a predictable succession of events, the Jerusalem provocation was a fait accompli after Trump had announced in October that the US would be withdrawing from support for UNESCO, the UN body which is meant to help maintain the neutrality of Jerusalem as an internationally protected area. The Trump administration justified its resignation from the key UN agency on the grounds that it is biased against Israel. But the neutrality of Jerusalem is an essential policy for maintaining peace in a less than ideal situation with Palestine still under a brutal military occupation by an illegitimate and illegal (by international law and successive UN Resolutions) Israeli jackboot.In addition to all this, this past summer the United States announced the establishment of a permanent military installation inside of Israel. What s scary is how many people do not know this has happened.So Trump s minence grise, the wunderkind, who some people have called the President In-Law, is really Israel s man inside the White House.Landed on his feet: President In-law Jared Kushner.So what exactly are Jared Kushner s credentials in international relations and diplomacy that he has been charged with negotiating Middle East affairs for the United States of America? Without sounding too cruel here, it s difficult to find anything to say in his defense. In the end, his only visible qualification is that he s married to the President s daughter, and that s he s a good friend of Netanyahu. That s really it.Credit where credit s due though. Aside from marrying into the dynasty, Kushner is also the former owner of a mediocre website, The New York Observer, and has also managed to parlay his family status to help finance a number of high-profile New York City property deals with foreign buyers (no doubt with the help of his father-in-law).Isn t that what Kushner is doing right now using his inherited clout to help close friend Benjamin Netanyahu broker property deals (highly illegal by international law) in the Middle East, only this time with his Uncle Sam acting as the guarantor? It certainly looks that way. The question is, will anyone in the US do anything about it?When this latest episode of hubris by the White House and Israel eventually unravels, the public and the media might then turn on Kushner and Trump, but by then the damage will have already been done.Meanwhile, men like Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer will still be chasing those illusive Russian hackers clear into the 2020 election cycle, which is probably a stupid move for the Resistance, but if the last 18 months have taught us anything it s that there isn t much clear thinking going on in that corner of the galaxy.Until then, Netanyahu can feel safe in the knowledge that Israel, not Washington, is currently in control of US foreign policy.One final note to the brave Never-Trump Resistance: if a foreign state actor is blackmailing this President or the White House, it s probably not Russia.*** Author Patrick Henningsen is an American writer and global affairs analyst and founder of independent news and analysis site 21st Century Wire, and is host of the SUNDAY WIRE weekly radio show broadcast globally over the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR). He has written for a number of international publications and has done extensive on-the-ground reporting of the conflict Syria, Iraq and the Middle East.READ MORE ISRAEL NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Israel FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Toronto battered by storm, flooding; 300,000 residents in the dark",1 Israeli Bestseller Breaks National Taboo - Dr Shlomo argues that the idea of a Jewish nation is a myth invented little more than a century ago.,1 "Half of Afghanistans 476 women prisoners were detained for moral crimese.g., refusing to marry, or attempted adultery.",0 "ZIMBABWE’S CORRUPT GOVERNMENT SEEKS EXTRADITION OF AMERICAN LION HUNTER: Secret Memo Shows U.S. Was Aware Of $45-$60 Million Trophy Hunting BusinessSo much outrage by so many corrupt people it s hard to keep track. One thing we know for sure no matter where you are in the world, you know you can always count on American citizens to seek justice against anyone who would harm an animal. Ripping innocent human babies limbs off and harvesting their parts for profit not so much As usual, there is none more culpable of the recent event in Zimbabwe, which incidentally is and has been quite permitted by the local authorities as long as everyone s palms are appropriately greased, than the US government, which years ago was fully aware that Americans were killing lions in Hwange National Park, but that its concern was not with the dead animals no matter how hard the administration tries to feign empathy for the beheaded lion here and now but with Americans getting caught in the act.al.com Zimbabwe intends to seek the extradition of an American dentist who killed a lion that was lured out of a national park and shot with a bow and a gun, and the process has already begun, a Cabinet minister said Friday. Unfortunately it was too late to apprehend the foreign poacher as he had already absconded to his country of origin, Oppah Muchinguri, Zimbabwe s environment, water and climate minister, told a news conference. We are appealing to the responsible authorities for his extradition to Zimbabwe so that he be made accountable. On Tuesday, American hunter Walter James Palmer issued a statement saying he relied on his guides to ensure the hunt was legal. Two Zimbabweans a professional hunter and a farm owner have been arrested in the lion killing that garnered worldwide condemnation. There has been an outcry, Muchinguri said. Almost 500,000 people are calling for his extradition and we need this support. We want him tried in Zimbabwe because he violated our laws. I have already consulted with the authorities within the police force who are responsible for arresting the criminal. We have certain processes we have to follow. Police should take the first step to approach the prosecutor general who will approach the Americans. The processes have already started. The Cabinet minister said both Palmer and professional hunter Theo Bronkhorst violated the Parks and Wildlife Act, which controls the use of bow and arrow hunting. He said Palmer, who reportedly paid $50,000 to hunt the lion, also violated the act through financing an illegal hunt. The landowner violated the act because he allowed a hunt to be conducted without a quota and necessary permit, Muchinguri said.Muchinguri accused Palmer of a well-orchestrated agenda which would tarnish the image of Zimbabwe and further strain the relationship between Zimbabwe and the USA. Palmer is believed to have shot the lion with a bow on July 1 outside Hwange National Park, after it was lured onto private land with a carcass of an animal laid out on a car. Some 40 hours later, the wounded cat was tracked down and Palmer allegedly killed it with a gun.Palmer, 55, is a dentist in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington. In a note to his patients, he wrote: I understand and respect that not everyone shares the same views on hunting, adding that he would resume his dental practice as soon as possible. Zimbabwe Hunters On US Elephant Ivory Ban: As professional hunter Cliff Walker sets out before dawn in Zimbabwe s Zambezi River valley to find a lion for his U.S. client, he has elephants on his mind.Walker, 37, says a U.S. ban on ivory imports from Zimbabwe and Tanzania in February may cost him tens of thousands of dollars. While Gavin Shire, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services, said last month that the ban was temporary, Walker thinks it will dissuade clients from coming to the southern African nation. I had six quotas for elephant trophy hunts for American clients, Walker said in an interview last month in the Matetsi Lot 1 in northwestern Zimbabwe near Victoria Falls. I spent a lot of money to get those quotas. Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority Director-General Edison Chidziya traveled to Washington last year to lobby against the ban, which government officials say will cost the southern African nation vital foreign exchange. Before the ban, Zimbabwe was expecting to earn about $60 million from trophy hunting this year, up from $45 million last year. Via: BloombergImages from the luxuryhunts.com websiteZero Hedge Released by Wikileaks: QUIET DIPLOMACY SUSPENDS ELEPHANT HUNTING IN NATIONAL PARKS FOR NOW a Confidential memo sent on October 23, 2008 by the current US ambassador to Zimbabwe, James D. Mcgee, to the CIA.In it we read that, as usual, there is none more culpable of the recent event in Zimbabwe, which incidentally is and has been quite permitted by the local authorities as long as everyone s palms are appropriately greased, than the US government, which years ago was fully aware that Americans were killing lions in Hwange National Park, but that its concern was not with the dead animals no matter how hard the administration tries to feign empathy for the beheaded lion here and now but with Americans getting caught in the act. As has just happened.But first, here is some background on how legal local poaching, whether it is for lions or elephants is. From the formerly classified memo:Meeting with poloff and conoff on October 10, Bown said that it was unclear how legal these hunting operations were, since it appeared the hunters had permits issued by Parks to kill the animals, despite the provision in the National Parks Act that prohibits commercial hunting. The photographic safari operators indicated Parks had given several local and South African hunting companies concessions to kill elephants in Hwange if they met specific criteria: (1) total ivory weight less than 30 pounds, (2) young/adolescent males, (3) isolated areas (i.e. away from watering holes and main roads), and (4) controlled by Parks staff. Parks has never publicly stated these criteria or explained the operation. Frustrated photographic safari operators weighed and photographed many of the tusks at the Park s ivory store in Hwange and found that many were over 30 pounds each. In one case, an operator claimed an American hunter killed an elephant with tusks weighing over 120 pounds. Photos also show some elephants were killed very near main roads and close to watering holes. In at least one reported case, a vehicle drove around the animal before the hunter killed it at close range. In emails to Mtsambiwa and Nhema, safari operators decried the unethical hunting both in terms of the detrimental ecological impact and the negative impact it would have on their own businesses. the safari operators also reported that some of the hunting guides had been issued hundreds of hunting permits for elephants in Hwange and other national parks in mid-to-late August. Normally, hunting permits are offered in an auction to all professional hunting guides. In contrast, Bown said these recent permits were issued through a non-transparent process to professional hunters of ill-repute, including some South African operators.So both the Zimbabwe ambassador and the CIA knew Zimbabwe was permitting and flaunting its own regulations when it comes to poaching if the fee is good enough. And, since American citizens were involved, the fee most certainly was:Despite Mtsambiwa s assurances at our August meeting that Parks was only planning a management/training exercise for Parks staff, in early September poloff received an email from an American citizen in California, asking about an advertisement for an elephant hunt in Zimbabwe to hunt five elephants over ten days for USD 6,000 as part of a culling exercise. The meat from the animals would go to local villagers and hunters were expected to help with on-site butchering of the animals. This price is significantly less than most elephant hunting packages. Normally, elephant hunting excursions in Zimbabwe cost about USD 1,000 per day, plus a fee for each animal killed. The hunting operation was to be led by Zimbabwean Headman Sibanda and was arranged by Thomas Powers Internationale, based in Colorado. Where was the disgust then? Oh yes, elephants are not cute animals about which Broadway musicals are written.However, there is a problem, because reading on we find that not only did the government know about everything that was going on involving US poachers, quite legal and paying very well, involving the hunting of elephants, but also, drumroll, lions.Bown, Save Valley Conservancy Director Clive Stockil and other conservationists opined in conversations with us that hunting permits were issued by Parks under intense pressure from its politicized board and ZANU-PF. Bown believed this frantic last grab at hunting revenue was one more aspect of ZANU-PF insiders efforts to strip assets and fill their pockets before losing power to the MDC. She said that the same small group of hunters involved in this operation had been consistently involved in unethical and marginally legal hunting. Bown had no evidence that they were involved specifically with sanctioned individuals within the Mugabe regime, but believed such connections were likely. According to Bown, the Zimbabwean professional hunters involved include Guy Whitall, Tim Schultz of African Dream Safaris, Headman Sibanda and Wayne Grant of Nyala Safaris, Evans Makanza, Alan Shearing, Buzz Charlton and James Macullam of Charlton Macullum Safaris, A.J. Van Heerden of Shashe Safaris, Barry Van Heerden of Big Game Safaris, and Lawrence Boha. (COMMENT: Numerous conservationists have suggested the Van Heerden brothers are involved in suspicious hunting and land deals with the Director of the Central Intelligence Organization, Happyton Bonyongwe, although none have provided proof of the relationship. END COMMENT.)Additionally, one safari operator accused an American, by name, of killing a lion illegally and then smuggling its hide out through South Africa. Given the rampant smuggling of other animal products across Zimbabwe s southern border (reftel), this is not unlikely. As reported in reftel, American hunting dollars are vital to Zimbabwe s conservation efforts, but there are also serious risks that Americans could be implicated in smuggling and poaching operations.And there you have it: while blaming Walter Palmer is easy, the truth is that at its core, the death of Cecil, as well as countless other lions, elephants, rhinos and other animals, is solely as a result of the Zimbabwe government s corruption. A corruption, which the US government knew all about, and which also knew that US hunters were killing not only elephants but lions.The government s only real concern: the serious risks that Americans could be implicated in smuggling and poaching operations. And now that an American has been implicated in poaching, what does the government do? It generously offers to help the Zimbabwe government investigate the killing of Cecil. Even though both Zimbabwe and the US government have tacitly approval of just this kind of behavior for years. Until something went wrong.",0 " Ryan Lochte Is About To Be Rewarded For His Douchebaggery, And It’s Gonna Piss You OffYou d think we would no longer be surprised when an athlete or someone famous gets away with being in trouble, especially a white, male athlete. However, nope, this is still pretty damn awful.After Ryan Lochte s drunken douchebaggery vandalizing a gas station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, then subsequently lying about it, and then getting away with it, he s now likely about to join the ABC hit show Dancing with the Stars.According to US Weekly: Multiple sources tell Us Weekly that Ryan Lochte signed on for season 23 of Dancing With the Stars following his Rio robbery scandal, in which he said he overexaggerated his story about being robbed at gunpoint. Apparently, an insider has said: Doing DWTS will be great for Ryan s image! He will be able to show America that he s a good guy who made a mistake. He s still an Olympic champion! He will be great on the show. A good guy who made a mistake. Ha!It must be nice to be able to get away with that sort of behavior and then given the opportunity to make money with a reality television celebrity dance competition show.The cast for the upcoming season hasn t been announced but according to US, reps for the show never comment on casting rumors, but this season will likely include a few Olympic athletes. And unfortunately, a scandal always intrigues the masses and people would likely tune in to see a douchebag act like a fool on the dance floor. Who cares about principles, really?Lochte did apologize, saying: I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning and for my role in taking the focus away from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics. So, basically, he s sorry he got caught. He also did a sorry, not sorry, because he added: It s traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country with a language barrier and have a stranger point a gun at you and demand money to let you leave You still lied about it, Lochte, and you re a 32-year-old man grow up.We, as a society, really need to stop rewarding those who do bad things. It perpetuates the dialogue, the very true dialogue, that some are above the law and not worth of condemnation, and in some cases, punishment.Hopefully, it s just a rumor that Lochte with appear on the ABC hit show, but if not, maybe they ll come to their senses and choose someone else who children can look up to.Featured Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images",0 "Austrian incest rapist Fritzl divorces: report. Josef Fritzl, who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her, has divorced his wife of 52 years for failing to visit him in prison, a magazine reported on Thursday.",1 " Trump Is LITERALLY Polling At 0% With Black People (IMAGE/VIDEO)Donald Trump s recent African-American outreach efforts seem to have been wasted. Sure, he basically spends his time talking to white people about black people rather than actually visiting black communities, and that might not be the most effective use of his time, but as his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski points out Trump doesn t actually feel safe around the blacks, as he calls African-Americans.Monday night, Public Policy Polling released a preview of a new poll that lets people know exactly how well screaming at white people about black people sits with the African-American community. And as Rachel Maddow revealed on her show, it doesn t seem to work very well. Trump is polling at an astounding 0% favorability rating with African-Americans with a whopping 97% unfavorability rating (though the 3% undecided, of course, might allow him to pull himself up to a whole 3%).New PPP poll released on @maddow right now TRUMP FAV/UNFAV with African American voters is:Fav: 0%UnFav: 97%Undecided 3% Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) August 30, 2016The poll, which was conducted August 26-28 and has a margin of error of +/- 3%, also asked African-Americans to compare Trump to a number of things generally detested by society. He lost to personal injury lawyers, middle seats on airplanes, carnies, Ryan Lochte, junk mail, mosquitoes, the Bubonic Plague, and even bedbugs.The good news for Donald Trump in this PPP exclusive? Lots of opportunity for growth!#Maddow#BrightSides pic.twitter.com/6g5pny5usq Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) August 30, 2016Overall, the poll shows Clinton leading Trump 42-37%, with Gary Johnson snagging 6% and Jill Moon Beam Stein somehow earning 4% of the vote and 10% undecided.Trump isn t exactly known for his love of African-Americans. Not only have his inflammatory remarks cemented him as the KKK candidate, but he actively practiced housing discrimination against black people, reportedly ordered all black people off the floor when visiting his businesses, argued in 1987 that five innocent black teens accused of rape should be executed (in fact, he took out a full-page newspaper ad to make this case), complained about black guys counting [his] money, has repeatedly questioned President Obama s citizenship, and much, much more.More recently, he has portrayed African-Americans as individuals with no education who are jobless with no homes who live in war zones. His recent outreach efforts have been dismal as well, with The Donald seizing upon a NBA star s family member s death to say that the murder will cause Black people to vote for him:Dwyane Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2016While Trump doesn t much talk to black people enough to know how much they hate him, The Star spoke to some African-Americans in Philadelphia, and they aren t exactly fans: Extremely insulting. And I think purposely insulting, said lawyer Rasheedah Phillips, 32. He s getting the ships ready. He wants to send us back over to Africa, said Douglas Skipworth, 33, who does maintenance work. Black folk aren t fooled by this thing. African-Americans are clear about who Trump is, said professor Anyabwile Love, 41, watching his 2-year-old son. Many other elections, local and national, it s been the lesser of the two evils. In this, it s not even lesser of two evils. It s one is completely against us and one is not. Trump has a historically dreadful approval rating with black voters, as low as 1 per cent. But as he frantically attempts to convince white people that he is not a racist, black people have suddenly become central to his message.Which black people believe is racist.[ ] I haven t been shot. I got an education, said Donte, a 17-year-old high school student. Or Ihave an education. Just in case he hears this. The contempt was strong. Navy veteran Rodney Thomas, 50, said he stopped paying attention to Trump long ago, his mind made up, for this reason: I hate stupidity. Watch Maddow reveal the poll results below:Featured image via video screenshot",0 "Two wanted men injured by Saudi security forces in QatifDUBAI (Reuters) - Two men wanted by Saudi authorities were injured when security officers tried to capture them, state news agency SPA reported on Friday. Mohammed Al-abdelal and Moustafa Al Subaiti were arrested on Thursday in the eastern town of Tarout in the Qatif province, where many Shi ite Muslims live, SPA reported citing a statement by the interior ministry. The statement added the detained were taken to hospital to be treated from injuries they sustained as they resisted security forces. The ministry did not say why the men were wanted. A security campaign in recent months against Shi ite Muslim gunmen in the small eastern town of Awamiya has reduced dozens of buildings in the town of Awamiya to ruins and forced thousands of residents to flee. The oil-producing region is home to a large Shi ite population and has been a flashpoint between the Sunni Muslim government and Shi ites complaining of discrimination. ",1 Filmmaker behind anti-Islam video is arrested - latimes.com,0 Noam Chomsky about Egypt: This Is The Most Remarkable Regional Uprising That I Can Remember,1 " BAD NEWS For Trump: Memo Proves He Is Not Above The Law, Can Be IndictedIf Donald Trump thinks being president means he can t be prosecuted for his crimes, he should think again.As it turns out, Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller has the power to indict Trump if he has enough evidence proving that Trump committed a criminal act such as colluding with Russia in an effort to win the 2016 Election. Donald Trump s son Trump Jr. has already demonstrated that Trump s campaign met with a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer and a former Soviet Intelligence officer in order to get dirt to use against Hillary Clinton, which is, indeed, the very definition of collusion.Mueller s power to indict is confirmed by a 56-page legal memo written by Ronald Rotunda, a conservative professor of constitutional law and ethics, who was hired as part of Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr s team during the Bill Clinton presidency.According to the 1998 memo, which was obtained by the New York Times,It is proper, constitutional, and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president s official duties. In this country, no one, even President Clinton, is above the law.That means no sitting president is above the law, including Trump.Watergate special counsel, Leon Jaworski, came to the same conclusion in 1974.The only reason why Jaworski and Starr declined to indict President Nixon and President Clinton is because they chose to let impeachment proceedings play out instead.Well, Republicans have thus far done everything they can to protect Trump from being impeached. So it appears Mueller may not have a choice but to indict Trump if Republicans continue to refuse to do their public duty.Even the Supreme Court has ruled that sitting presidents are not above the law by deciding in 1997 that a lawsuit against Clinton for misconduct prior to becoming president can move forward. And since Trump was not president when he and his campaign colluded with Russia, that makes his misconduct open to indictment, along with any other crimes he committed prior to taking office. That means if Mueller digs through Trump s finances and finds other crimes, Trump could face an indictment for those as well. If there is no recourse against the president, if he cannot be prosecuted for violating the criminal laws, he will be above the law, Rotunda further wrote. If public policy and the Constitution allow a private litigant to sue a sitting president for acts that are not part of the president s official duties (and are outside the outer perimeter of those duties), and that is what Clinton v. Jones squarely held, then one would think that an indictment is constitutional because the public interest in criminal cases is greater. In short, Trump is in deep shit and he can t blame Hillary Clinton to get out of it. Not even Republicans can dispute the Starr memo. Republicans not only supported Starr s investigation, it was a conservative legal mind who wrote the memo.So unless Republicans proceed with impeachment proceedings to get to the bottom of this once and for all, Robert Mueller must indict Trump. Because it is clear that Republicans won t punish Trump for breaking the law and violating the Constitution.Featured Image: Addicting Info Archive",0 "South Africa's unruly ANC branches kick off race to succeed ZumaJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s ruling African National Congress (ANC) is holding hundreds of branch meetings as grassroots members nominate candidates to take over from President Jacob Zuma as party chief in December. The frontrunners are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former chair of the African Union and Zuma s ex-wife, but with several other senior ANC figures running, the contest is too close to call. The ANC s next leader will probably become president in 2019 given the party s electoral dominance. First they face the tough task of winning back voters disillusioned with Zuma s rule and investors spooked by ratings downgrades. The fractious, sometimes violent, branch meetings start the decisive final stretch of the race to succeed Zuma, whose rule has been marred by corruption allegations and a sharp economic slowdown. Ramaphosa, a former union leader and one of the country s richest people, is viewed more favourably by foreign investors, who help cover the country s deficits. Many of them are unsettled by Dlamini-Zuma s calls to radically redistribute wealth and change the ownership structure of the central bank. Ramaphosa and Dlamini-Zuma s campaign teams did not reply to requests for comment on reports of intimidation and manipulation of the nomination process in some provinces. The real fight is in December, but psychologically the battle for the soul of the ANC has begun, said Stan Itshegetseng, who chaired a branch meeting in the Diepkloof district of the sprawling Soweto township on Sunday. It took 11 hours for Itshegetseng s branch of over 320 members to nominate Ramaphosa for ANC president, recommend more than 20 other officials for the party s National Executive Committee and agree on a delegate to send to the December party conference. Nominations in the branches matter because they send 90 percent of the more than 5,000 delegates who will vote in December. Branch meetings started last month and are due to end in mid-November. For a factbox on the ANC leadership contest, see: Unless change comes under the ANC s next leader, some analysts believe the ANC could lose the 2019 election, a once unthinkable scenario for a party that has led comfortably since sweeping to power under Nelson Mandela at the end of apartheid in 1994. As the ANC s electoral majority has shrunk, so the battle for control of the party has intensified between the factions backing Dlamini-Zuma and Ramaphosa. Zuma and the ANC s youth and women s leagues he controls want Dlamini-Zuma, while Ramaphosa is backed by a diverse group of labor unions, communists and ANC members who say the party has lost its way under Zuma. Provincial ANC leaders are split. Carol Sono, a branch member in Diepkloof, said Dlamini-Zuma s stints as health minister, foreign minister and home affairs minister meant she was the most qualified. It s only because of patriarchy that she wasn t chosen sooner, Sono said. Kedi Saletese, a branch secretary in the Orlando district of Soweto, said only Ramaphosa could tackle corruption and help the ANC reclaim its image as a defender of ordinary South Africans. Now people see the ANC as a stepladder to enrich themselves. It makes you ashamed to wear an ANC T-shirt, she said. Saletese s branch - like Itshegetseng s in Diepkloof - nominated Ramaphosa on Sunday. The Gauteng province, where Soweto and the country s commercial capital, Johannesburg, are based, is an area where Ramaphosa enjoys strong support. Ramaphosa also polls well in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces, whereas Dlamini-Zuma is likely to receive a greater share of votes in provinces including her native Kwa-Zulu Natal and Mpumalanga, where the premier is viewed as a Zuma ally. Earlier this year there was a spate of political killings in Kwa-Zulu Natal, and some officials have expressed concern there could be more bloodshed as the leadership race nears its climax. At the three branches Reuters visited in Soweto on Sunday, there was no sign of violence, though a coordinator for Ramaphosa s campaign said he had been threatened with being taken out permanently for his choice of leader. Activists for Ramaphosa and Dlamini-Zuma mingled with party members, urging loyalty before the nominations began. As Ramaphosa supporters emerged victorious from their branch meeting in Diepkloof, they started singing Things will change . ",1 Hamas says its ties with UK Labor's Corbyn 'painful hit for the Zionists': Hamas praise of Corbyn coincides with a media firestorm in the United Kingdom surrounding recent revelations of extremist anti-Israel and anti-Jewish expressions by Labor members,0 A pervasively polluted culture allowed HSBC to faciliate clients involved in money laundering,1 Israels citizenry seems to have collectively blown a fuse.,0 "Australia Passes Controversial Nuclear Waste Bill - Radioactive material set to be dumped in remote Aboriginal community, despite ongoing court case into legality of proposal",1 Saudi Arabia approves $5 billion aid package to Egypt,0 "Greek bailout actually another bailout for the banks. It is estimated that out of every euro provided by Brussels, only 19 cents will go to the Greek government, with the rest flowing straight into the coffers of banks and financial investors. ",0 " DNC Chair Just DIRECTLY attacked Obama, Elizabeth Warren, And Everyone Who Voted For ThemOne of the biggest Democratic themes of the 2016 election is building on President Obama s legacy. It has come from many establishment Democrats during the 2016 primary season. Even Debbie Wasserman Schultz has used this theme in a statement released by her office, and she isn t even running in the primaries. This all makes it rather strange that with this in mind, Wasserman-Schultz has decided to help Republicans to destroy a very popular Obama-created governmental office of which he is very proud and voters absolutely love.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was set up by Elizabeth Warren after President Obama personally appointed her to do so, is coming under heavy attack by the ultra-predatory payday lending industry. The industry is also enjoying the assistance of Republicans and a few Democratic sellouts which now includes Wasserman-Schultz among their number.The CFPB is approaching a point where they are going to be able to adopt better rules to protect consumers from predatory lending practices, which disproportionately harm the poorest among us and can throw an otherwise financially stable family into a long and sometimes inescapable cycle debt. This has caused the industry to rally Republicans to assault the CFPB by attacking its budget, burdening it with impossible amounts of regulation, and creating outright lies about the agency unilaterally shutting down businesses.Wasserman-Schultz is co-sponsoring a new bill that would completely gut the CFPB s approaching payday loan regulations and she is trying to lobby other Democrats in Washington to join her in this unprecedented attack on the poorest and most vulnerable Americans.The upcoming Republican sabotage is wrapped in a misleading name, the Consumer Protection and Choice Act. What exactly it has to do with protection and choice is not clear, since it actively blocks protections and poor people who are in desperate need tend to have no choice when it comes to resorting to a payday loan. The legislation would delay the CFPB s new regulations by two years, and would allow for state-level nullification of their federal authority in states that adopted their own laws regarding payday lenders. It s important to note that it doesn t have any classification for a level of protection of consumers only that the state has adopted a law regarding payday lenders. It could be a mostly anti-consumer measure, but if it fulfills the letter of the law it would make it literally impossible for the CFPB to help an entire state.The Consumer Federation of America, the NAACP, The National Consumer Law Center, The National Council of La Raza, The Southern Poverty Law Center, and dozens of others sent letters to every member of Congress urging them to oppose the law. This isn t an online petition by regular people on some website. These are some of the biggest progressive social justice movements in America.A typical Florida payday loan customer takes out 9 loans per year and is stuck in debt for almost half that year. The average interest on Florida payday loans is 304 percent, which is less than the national average but still huge.Wasserman-Schultz is partially reacting to a state-level law she helped create in Florida, that her office claims sharply reduced the need to go after bad actors, curbed predatory practices, and created standards and protections for low-income borrowers. The problem with this is, it simply isn t true. 76 percent of payday loans are turned, which means that they are made to help the borrower pay off a previous payday loan. This is exactly what the CFPB wants to help stop a cycle of debt that the poor can t escape where they need to keep taking out loans to pay off previous ones.Debbie Wasserman Schultz is quickly becoming a pariah among Democrats. Her management of Democratic primary debates has garnered her a fair amount of infamy, and many have been calling for her to resign from her position as DNC chairperson. She will also be facing a primary challenge for her seat in the next election cycle. With this latest assistance to Republicans, will it mean the end of her seat at the DNC as well as in Congress?Featured image via Flickr",0 "White House to tap law professor, former Hill staffer to serve on CFTCWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday said he plans to tap a law professor and a former congressional staffer to serve on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency that polices the derivatives marketplace. The White House said it plans to nominate Chris Brummer, a law professor at Georgetown University and Brian Quintenz, an investment firm founder who previously worked for former Ohio Republican Congresswoman Deborah Pryce. If Brummer and Quintenz are eventually confirmed by the U.S. Senate, it will finally allow the CFTC to fill its two vacant seats on the five-member panel. Democratic CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen left the agency in August 2015, while Republican CFTC Commissioner Scott O’Malia resigned in July 2014. The CFTC won broad new powers to police the over-the-counter derivatives market in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. The agency has largely completed writing the new regulations, and in the coming years much of the focus is expected to shift toward enforcing the rules. Debate over how the new derivatives rules will impact farmers and companies that use swaps to hedge their risks, however, has still remained a hot topic. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, whose panel will eventually vote on the two CFTC nominees, said Thursday he wants to make sure that both Brummer and Quintenz are sensitive to these so-called “end-users” who rely on derivatives to hedge against price fluctuations that impact their businesses. “For the CFTC to effectively function for all stakeholders, we must make sure nominees have a solid understanding of agriculture and prioritize the folks who use the futures and derivatives markets to manage risk,” he said in a statement. Brummer has previously worked in a variety of different roles, including some in the regulatory arena. In 2015, he completed a three-year stint serving on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s National Adjudicatory Council, a body that reviews disciplinary proceedings of brokers and brokerage firms. He also served as an academic fellow in the international affairs office of the Securities and Exchange Commission and has taught at a variety of universities. Quintenz, meanwhile, has worked as an analyst and senior associate with Hill-Townsend Capital LLC. He also served as the director of travel and as assistant to the treasurer for the presidential exploratory committee of former Congressman John Kasich. ",1 Iraqi PM orders security services 'to protect citizens being coerced' in KurdistanBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered security services on Monday to protect citizens being threatened and coerced in the autonomous Kurdish region where a referendum on independence is under way. Abadi s order was announced in statement from his office. Abadi has said the vote is against the constitution and asked the Kurdish authorities to cancel it. ,1 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei orders inquiry into vote-rigging claims,0 "Spain treating Google like a magazine publisher, may force them to censor search results",0 Yemen crisis: Two Red Cross staff shot dead in Amran,1 "Bubble plumes off Washington, Oregon suggest warmer ocean may be releasing frozen methane",1 [NSFL]Worst gore that I've seen. I'm only posting so that maybe media picks it up and pressure is put on Bahrain (A protester in Bahrain is brought to a hospital with his head and brain in pieces hanging).,0 "Talks seek to secure Islamic State withdrawal from Raqqa-local officialAIN ISSA, Syria (Reuters) - Remaining Islamic State fighters in Raqqa, including foreign jihadists, would leave the city taking civilians with them as human shields under a deal which tribal elders from the area are seeking to broker, a local official told Reuters on Saturday. If it happens, it looks like it will be today - foreign and local (fighters), Omar Alloush, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council, said, adding that the elders had already persuaded 100 Islamic State fighters to surrender - something the remaining fighters had ruled out. ",1 "TOP TEN Most “Ethically Challenged” Clinton E-mailsThe party s over or is it? Hillary Clinton and her aides will need to decide whether to lie or tell the truth to the FBI about her e-mail and official business. This puts them in a position of choosing between being honest about those emails, or lying to the FBI, which is a crime, said Matthew G. Whitaker, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa from 2004 to 2009. He is presently executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) in Washington, D.C.Federal agents are preparing to schedule interviews with Clinton s longtime and closest aides about her use of the private email and server throughout her tenure as the nation s chief diplomat from 2009 to 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.Despite Clinton s repeated denial she ever sent or received classified information via her private email, federal investigators said more than 2,000 of the 55,000 pages of emails she turned over to the Department of State did include classified material. More than 20 of those emails contained information so sensitive and classified members of Congress were not allowed to read them.Whitaker s group made public its list of what it judges to be the top 10 most ethically challenged Hillary emails March 10, 2016:Nepotism: Clinton intervened Aug. 22, 2012, on behalf of her son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky, in an effort to secure State Department assistance for one of his business associates with ties to a Clinton Foundation donor. FACT filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on this issue. Favoring Insiders: Clinton impressed billionaire donor George Soros with his easy access to her, according to a May 12, 2012, email to her from Neera Tanden, veteran Clinton adviser and president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. Above The Law: Clinton told aide Jake Sullivan in a June 17, 2011, email to disregard classification security regulations and send information for a speech via a non-secure email system, which forced the aide to either break the law or disobey an order. Special Interests: In a July 26, 2010, email exchange with Clinton, Sullivan forwarded a message from Jeffrey Farrow, an influential lobbyist for a Pacific island government. The exchange raises red flags about whether Farrow had made requests, according to FACT. Selling Access: A Dec. 10, 2009, email discussed attempts by Clinton campaign and foundation donor Brian Greenspun to set up a meeting between Clinton and a top Israeli official who had been trying to meet with [Clinton] to no avail. The email suggests certain campaign and foundation donors had a privileged back door to Clinton. Conflicts Of Interest: Clinton pushed for the State Department to work with the Clinton Foundation and the Red Cross on a project in Haiti. The Jan. 19, 2010, email from Clinton to Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills indicates a clear conflict of interest, according to FACT. Helping Political Allies: Mark Penn, Clinton s 2008 presidential campaign pollster and long-time political adviser, complained about not having timely access on a corporate event in China. His complaints were apparently resolved after a Feb. 22, 2010, email from Clinton aide Kris Balderston that set up a telephone call with Clinton. Trading Favors: Barely a week after the Penn complaint, Balderston reported in a March 2 email to Clinton that major corporations, including Boeing, CITI and Blackstone, agreed to provide financial support for the event. Even the appearance of this sort of favor trading, involving the public, private and political sectors, is a bad ethics practice, according to FACT. Abuse Of Position: A Sept. 15, 2011, email forwarded to Clinton, Sullivan and aide Huma Abedin listed multiple State Department officials attending the Clinton Foundation Global Initiative conference despite having no official role. Robert Hormats, a department official, was also a speaker at a dinner co-hosted by the Goldman Sachs Wall Street investment firm that later paid Clinton $675,000 for three speeches. The dinner focused on investing in women, Clinton s favorite Clinton Foundation project. Duping Obama: In a Sept. 20, 2011, email to Clinton, Mills forwarded a draft of President Barack Obama s planned remarks to the Clinton Foundation Global Initiative. FACT contends that Clinton doesn t appear to have routinely received copies of the President s draft speeches, and it sends bad ethical signals to treat a speech given to her family s organization differently. Read more: biz pac",0 Boy raped in broad daylight attack because 'his phone wasn't good enough to steal',0 "Belgium Tells Facebook to Stop Storing Data From Non-Users - Facebook faces a fine of 250,000 euros ($269,000) a day if it doesnt comply",1 "China punishes over 8,000 people for misuse of government funds: XinhuaSHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has punished 8,123 people for committing fiscal violations after an audit of how the government s 2016 central budget was spent revealed multiple problems, the Xinhua state news agency reported. Hu Zejun, head of the National Audit Office, announced the infringements while briefing lawmakers on Saturday, Xinhua said. A broad anti-graft campaign in China, aimed at rooting out deep-seated corruption in the ruling Communist Party, including the misuse or embezzlement of government funds, has ensnared more than 1.3 million officials. Hu said that of the offenders, 970 were punished for misusing funds earmarked for a poverty relief campaign intended to lift everyone in rural areas out of poverty by 2020. Another 1,363 were punished for irregularities in the use of funds meant to provide affordable housing, she said. She said 800 people in state-owned enterprises and 73 people in eight major banks were found to have committed violations, along with 505 people who were punished for malpractice involving medical insurance funds. Hu also said about 48 billion yuan ($7.30 billion) of the funds earmarked for affordable housing projects had been left unused for more than year, she said, while another 1.37 billion yuan of misused funds were recovered. The unused affordable housing funds had since been put to use, she said. Hu gave no details of what punishment the violators faced. ",1 "Not only has Putin made Russia the worlds largest oil producer, hes also made it the biggest gold buyer. His central bank has added 570 metric tons of the metal in the past decade. The added gold is also almost triple the weight of the Statue of Liberty",1 "Amazon Defenders Face Death or Exile - Brazilian activists who inform on illegal loggers laying waste to the rainforests can expect a visit from the gunmen",1 "Electric vehicle sales fall far short of Obama goal DETROIT (Reuters) - Back in 2008, with gas prices averaging nearly $4 a gallon, President Barack Obama set a goal of getting one million plug-in electric vehicles on the roads by 2015. Since then, his administration has backed billions of dollars in EV subsidies for consumers and the industry. Yet today – with gas prices near $2 a gallon - only about 400,000 electric cars have been sold. Last year, sales fell 6 percent over the previous year, to about 115,000, despite the industry offering about 30 plug-in models, often at deep discounts. Such challenges are part of the backdrop for Obama’s Wednesday visit to Detroit, where he’s expected to discuss the state of the auto industry. Despite slow plug-in sales, the industry continues to roll out new models in response to government mandates and its own desire to create brands known for environmental innovation. At the Detroit Auto Show last week, General Motors Co(GM.N) showed off its new electric Bolt EV; Ford Motor Co(F.N) unveiled a new plug-in version of its Ford Fusion; and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV(FCHA.MI) unveiled its first plug-in hybrid, a version of its new Pacifica minivan. Ford CEO Mark Fields said last week that EVs “are a difficult sell at $2 a gallon.” Plug-in vehicles accounted for fewer than 1 percent of the 17.4 million cars and trucks sold last year, according to data from HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates, a Michigan-based market research firm. That doesn’t include sales of more mainstream gas-electric hybrids such as the Toyota Prius. But hybrid sales also fell last year - by 15 percent, to 384,000 - and now comprise just 2.2 percent of all vehicle sales. In his State of the Union Address last week, Obama didn’t specifically address electric vehicles but said: “We’ve got to accelerate the transition away from old, dirtier energy sources.” The main obstacles for electric vehicles are their high cost and short driving range. The Chevy Bolt promises a breakthrough on both fronts, with a 200-mile range and a price starting at about $30,000 - after government incentives. Still, that’s a steep buy-in compared to increasingly efficient gasoline-powered economy cars that can sell for less than $20,000. “If gasoline was $8 a gallon, consumers would amortize the costs of an electric vehicle pretty quickly,” said former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz, who headed up the development of the original Chevy Volt, a pioneering plug-in hybrid. “But at $1.50 a gallon, who is going to be willing to pay an $8,000 or $10,000 premium?” Palo-Alto electric car maker Tesla Motors(TSLA.O) has garnered praise for making high-performance, long-range sport sedans - typically selling for about $100,000 and traveling about 250 miles between charges. But other automakers have struggled to produce a more affordable car with a range longer than 100 miles. Green car advocates say EVs are a crucial part of the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will help wean the United States off imported oil. In the long term, they argue, oil prices are almost certain to rise again, making electric cars more viable. The industry is moving ahead with EV development for a number of reasons. Many states, led by California, have imposed zero-emission vehicle mandates. California has set an ambitious goal to have 1.5 million such vehicles on its roads by 2025. The state accounts for about 40 percent of all electric car sales, but only about 120,000 of the 31 million automobiles on California roads as of a year ago were zero-emission vehicles. Many automakers worry that consumers will perceive them as technologically backward if they don’t build electric cars – even if they can’t yet sell them in large numbers. The industry is also responding to an influx of state and federal cash and related mandates. The U.S. Energy Department awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in low-cost loans to spur electric vehicle manufacturing by companies such Nissan Motor Co(7201.T) and Tesla. In 2009, the administration dedicated $2.4 billion of the $787 billion stimulus bill to promote battery and EV production. Consumers can get a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. The Obama administration has repeatedly proposed boosting the credit to $10,000. Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan - which saw sales of its electric Leaf fall by 43 percent in 2015 - told reporters at the show that automakers are ramping up EV offerings because of increasingly strict government mandates. “Everybody came to the conclusion that there’s no way we can meet the emission regulation in the future” without selling zero-emission vehicles, he said. “This is not going to be an easy shift.” Volkswagen AG(VOWG_p.DE), still reeling from its diesel emissions crisis, has touted plans to introduce 20 more plug-in vehicles by 2020. GM chairman and CEO Mary Barra said she is convinced that customers want EVs and that gas prices won’t stay low forever. “Long-term electrification is part of the solution,” she said at the show. Lutz, the former GM executive, says automakers have no choice but to build them. Because of government mandates, he said, “Electric vehicles are going to have to be crammed in the market at way below what it costs to make them.” ",1 Capitalist storm clouds loom over Havana after state cuts 1m jobs,0 Jewish Settler leader runs over rock throwing youths in Silwan ,1 "Virginia governor signs gun law compromise measures(Reuters) - Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe on Friday signed compromise gun legislation that recognizes concealed-carry permits from all states while making it illegal for someone under a permanent protective order to possess a firearm. McAuliffe, a Democrat, struck the deal with the Republican-controlled legislature last month. Some lawmakers and gun rights groups had objected to Attorney General Keith Herring’s decision in December to stop honoring concealed-handgun permits from 25 states. “Virginians elect their leaders to work together to get things done, and today I am proud to say we did just that,” McAuliffe said in a statement. McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, called the package the biggest step forward on gun safety in more than two decades. Under the new laws, Virginia must recognize concealed-handgun permits from all other states, a rollback of Herring’s stance. Virginia can confiscate firearms from anyone who is under a permanent protective order for domestic violence offenses. The legislature had rejected such measures for years. Virginia State Police also will attend gun shows to provide voluntary background checks for private sellers. Because of the compromise, McAuliffe has come under criticism from gun control advocates, including Everytown for Gun Safety, the organization founded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Everytown for Gun Safety had poured money last year into Virginia, the home of the National Rifle Association gun lobby, in a failed bid to have Democrats take control of the state Senate. Reacting to McAuliffe’s approval of the legislation, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence praised the domestic abuse provision as a step in the right direction. But it said the concealed-carry law would let Virginians who are not eligible for a permit to circumvent it by getting a permit from another state and then carry a gun in Virginia. “In addition to the public safety concerns, this new approach sends a terrible message that Virginia is unwilling to enforce its own laws,” the group said. ",1 "Lavrov dismisses claims Moscow behind Democrats' email hackVIENTIANE (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday brushed aside accusations that Moscow was behind the hacking of Democratic Party emails. “I don’t want to use four-letter words,” Lavrov told reporters, when asked whether Russia was responsible for the hacking of emails. He was speaking at the start of talks with Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian nations in Laos. ",1 "Obama adviser Deese to lead White House's Supreme Court processWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has turned to senior adviser Brian Deese, an economic expert who previously led the administration’s climate change efforts, to head a team formed to pick a Supreme Court nominee and win confirmation, the White House said. White House counsel Neil Eggleston will be a part of that team and will steer the legal process, including the vetting of potential candidates, administration officials said on Monday. Leading Republicans have vowed to block any nominee Obama chooses, leaving the White House with the challenge of finding someone it believes could change Republican minds or galvanize enough public support to pressure them to back down. Obama has been in the early stages of choosing a candidate to replace conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia since his death two weeks ago. The process is likely to take at least a month, and the Deese-led team was created to ensure the entire White House staff was not consumed with the potentially legacy-defining project. The group will report regularly to chief of staff Denis McDonough, senior advisers and Obama. Deese has a history of taking on projects important to the president within the White House. He was involved in leading the administration’s bailout of the U.S. auto industry, budget deals with Congress and, most recently, international climate change talks that culminated in a Paris deal to fight global warming. “The president has relied on Brian in a variety of critical situations to do important work and to take on important projects,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “Given Brian’s performance in his other priorities, I don’t think it’s particularly surprising he would be tapped for this responsibility too.” Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said repeatedly that the Senate will not confirm an Obama nominee in this election year. McConnell and other congressional leaders are scheduled to meet with the president on Tuesday. The White House keeps an ongoing list of potential candidates for the Supreme Court for instances in which a vacancy opens up, according to a former administration official involved in the process previously. That list is now being reviewed and is open to new entrants. Candidates will be vetted and interviewed before Obama makes his final decision. ",1 " WATCH: Tom Hanks Uses This Perfect Analogy To WRECK TrumpTom Hanks is definitely voting for Hillary Clinton and he perfectly explained why earlier this week.During an interview with the Press Association to promote his latest film, Hanks was asked about Donald Trump and his remarks about sexually assaulting women. He was at work, man, Hanks began. He wasn t in a locker room. He was at work. He was showing up to do a thing on camera. Look I m offended as a man. I m not offended as a husband or a father. I m offended as a guy. That s just not right, I m sorry. It s not right at work, it s not right in the locker room. It s wrong, period. The end. That s all. Hanks also talk about why he is voting for Hillary Clinton by comparing this election to a root canal. It s kind of like if you have a horrible, painful tooth, and you need a root canal. Who are you going to see? A guy who says, Oh, I think I can figure that out, how to do a root canal for you. Lay down. Or are you going to see somebody who s done 6,000 of them. Has a degree on the wall and has a great history and expertise when it comes down to it. Here s the video of via YouTube:[ad3media campaign= 1153 ]But Hanks also put it another way after referring to Trump as a self-involved gas bag. Look, if I have an abscessed tooth, and I need to see an oral surgeon, I m not going to go to the guy who says, you know what, I think I can be a pretty good oral surgeon, I m going to go to someone who has been doing it for 30 years and has handled it a million times. I am voting for Hillary Clinton because she is wildly, wildly qualified to be president of the United States at the same time with dealing after one damn thing after the other that the world has handed her. When asked what will happen if Donald Trump becomes president, Hanks said it would be a dark day for the planet Earth. Here s the video via YouTube:[ad3media campaign= 1154 ]Either way, Donald Trump is not the candidate most qualified to be president.Featured image via screenshot",0 "Over the past year a New Zealander named Roger Shepherd has had almost unprecedented access to North Korea. He has spent nearly three months in the country over four visits, and was allowed, even encouraged, to travel far and wide into the remotest corners of the country.",0 "GARY JOHNSON: Meet The “Creepy” Pro-Amnesty, Anti-Gun, Pro-TPP, Pro-Abortion, Democrat Party Operative And His Anti-Gun Rights, Friend Of Clinton’s VP Pick [VIDEO]For anyone who believes they re more CONSERVATIVE than the average Trump supporter because they re planning to vote for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and his running mate, former Governor Bill Weld you may want to re-think your conservative position. It turns out, you re really just voting for another Barack Obama without the race card to fall back on or Hillary without the criminal background Libertarians should be allergic to power grabs by the executive for the obvious reason that they lend themselves to concentrated authority and (usually) bigger government. If you want to slow the state down, a robust, sharply divided Congress that jealously guards its constitutional prerogatives from the president should be your ideal even in cases where the executive happens to be acting towards an end you deem salutary. In this year of all years, admirers of Obama s various forms of overreach should be thinking hard about how President Trump might build on his precedents. To a constitutionalist, which most mainstream libertarians claim to be, all of this is second nature.Is Gary Johnson a constitutionalist?THRUSH: How about Obama s executive order, which was decried as being a great constitutional violation by the Republicans, Obama s executive order on immigration. Did you consider that to be a violation or did you consider that a reasonable use of targeted executive power?MR. JOHNSON: I saw it as a reasonable use, challenging Congress to action. And an untold story with regard to Obama and immigration is he s broken up 3 million families. He has deported 3 million heads of households that have gone back to Mexico and their families have remained in the United States.If Obama issued an executive order to the IRS demanding that they collect 10 percent more in tax from individuals than the Internal Revenue Code provides, would Johnson deem that legal? What if the order instructed the agency to collect 10 percent less tax? Would his opinion of its legality change? Because it shouldn t. Bear in mind, Obama s 2014 DAPA amnesty has already been blocked by a preliminary injunction that was upheld on review by the Fifth Circuit so Johnson had plenty of legal cover here to say that he s troubled by Obama s procedural approach despite the fact that he happens to agree with the policy ends. Instead he seems to endorse the bizarre legal theory pushed by some leftists that if Congress isn t moving quickly enough for the president s taste in enacting a policy he supports, he can go ahead and challenge them by enacting it himself and leaving it to Congress to overrule him if they feel strongly to the contrary. How the hell does a libertarian arrive at that model of government? The president does what he wants, and then it falls to the people s representatives to try to muster a two-thirds majority to override his policy? What? HotAirHere is Gary Johnson in 2 minutes:Gary Johnson s running mate, Bill Weld wants all firearms that have five rounds or more banned.The NYT s reported on gun-grabber Governor Bill Weld here:Watch Gary Johnson s running mate former Governor Bill Weld endorsing Barack Obama. The most stunning part of the entire interview with MSNBC s Chris Matthews is when he calls radical leftist Barack Obama a Once in a lifetime talent. Here s a fun fact uncovered by Newsweek: Weld has been friends with both Hillary and Bill Clinton for quite some time. According to Newsweek, Weld and Hillary both worked together on the House impeachment committee in 1974 and almost worked for Bill during Bill s presidency in 1997. Weld has also gone on to say that he does not believe Hillary is in the wrong or should be punished for her emails. Some experts worry that his closeness to the Clintons could be a problem other Libertarians. Weld was also chosen as Bill Clinton s ambassador to Mexico before he withdrew after being denied a hearing by the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Jesse Helms. ",0 "In Britain, spoon in underwear saving youths from forced marriage",0 "U.S. lawmakers target May 1 for Puerto Rico debt crisis billWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican and Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday expressed optimism over prospects for a bill helping Puerto Rico out of its debt crisis, but they indicated that a legislative fix could still be weeks away at least. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are working in “good faith” to finalize legislation addressing Puerto Rico’s debt crisis by May 1, Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader said. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said, “I think we are going to get there.” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference that Democrats still have some concerns about the bill and are working with Republicans to address them. Republicans who control Congress outlined a plan this week to help Puerto Rico write off billions of dollars in debt if an agreement with creditors is out of reach. That plan would create a forum for investors to negotiate with Puerto Rico officials while the island’s government tries to curb deficit spending that has created $70 billion in debt. Ryan told reporters at a separate press conference on Thursday that there were not enough Democratic votes in the House Natural Resources Committee to help get the measure approved. But House Republican aides acknowledge that they also have work to do on their side of the aisle, especially in convincing some of their more conservative members that a Puerto Rico aid bill is needed. Underscoring that, Ryan is calling together his 246 Republican members for a closed meeting on Friday to review the legislation that is taking shape and to urge support. One aide characterized the message Friday as being aimed at helping Republicans understand that if they do not support a Puerto Rico bill now, much more costly bailout measures likely would be necessary down the road. Ryan said his priority on Puerto Rico is twofold: “To protect the American taxpayer and to help bring order to the chaos that will befall Puerto Rico if the status quo continues going in the direction its going.” Pelosi said Democrats’ main concern with the Republicans’ first draft of the legislation was the part of the bill on restructuring. Negotiators were moving forward on the makeup of a proposed oversight board, Pelosi said, but a “new wrinkle” has emerged over the role of creditors in the U.S. commonwealth’s debt restructuring decisions. Ryan said an oversight board would be the best possible way to prevent taxpayers from bailing out Puerto Rico. ",1 "CHINESE IMMIGRANT BEHEADS, CANNIBALIZES Total Stranger On Greyhound Bus…Granted TOTAL FREEDOM…NO Monitoring NecessaryManitoba s Criminal Code Review Board announced Friday it has given Will Baker, formerly known as Vince Li, an absolute discharge, meaning he is longer subject to monitoring.Baker, a diagnosed schizophrenic, killed Tim McLean, a young carnival worker who was a complete stranger to Baker, in 2008. A year later he was found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.McLean s mother, Carol de Delley, has been outspoken against granting Baker freedom, saying there would be no way to ensure he continued to take his medication.She declined comment in a post on Facebook Friday, saying I have no words. Baker was initially kept in a secure wing of a psychiatric hospital but was given more freedom every year.He has been living on his own in a Winnipeg apartment since November, but was still subject to monitoring to ensure he took his medication.Baker s doctor, Jeffrey Waldman, told the board earlier this week that he is confident Baker will remain on his medication and will continue to work with his treatment team if released. Waldman testified that Baker knows it s the medication that keeps his illness at bay.In a written decision, the review board said it is of the opinion that the weight of evidence does not substantiate that Mr. Baker poses a significant threat to the safety of the public. Waldman said Baker plans to visit his native China if released but would live in Winnipeg for the next two to three years. He is on the waiting list for a post-secondary training program and plans on establishing a career in the city. Baker emigrated to Canada from China in 2001 and became a Canadian citizen four years ago. Fox NewsSurely this immigrant from China must have had some sort of medical record that may have caused the person or group reviewing his file to think twice about allowing him to become a Canadian citizen, right? ",0 The commander of a Navy air reconnaissance squadron that provides the President and the defense secretary the airborne ability to command the nation's nuclear weapons has been relieved of duty,0 Lesbians given equal birth rights,0 "Remember the Iranian nuclear scientist who defected to the US, then years later suddenly claimed he'd been kidnapped by the CIA in Mecca, then returned to Iran with a parade? He's now being tortured in Iran.",1 "Wife of jailed Nobel dissident Liu Xiabo shouts out of moving car, 'I'm not free!'",1 Russian military holds exercises in breakaway Moldova region,0 Stephen Hawking talks about Gaza solution ,1 For the first time in its history British Army magazine features openly gay soldier on cover next to word 'Pride',0 The president campaigned against this type of legislation.,1 Honduras Invites Colombia and Mexico to Join Drug Legalization Debate ,1 Mexico decriminalizes small-scale drug possession,1 "CBS Reporter Asks Putin How Comey’s Firing Will Affect Russia…His Answer Is PRICELESS! [VIDEO]Russian President Vladimir Putin got sassy with the press when he was approached by a reporter and asked about Comey: What do we have to do with it? I m off to play hockey with my fans Putin s answer when asked how Comey s firing will affect Russia PRICELESS!HAHAHA #Putin reacts to #ComeyFiring What do we have to do with it? I m off to play hockey with my fans #RussiaInvestigation pic.twitter.com/jLEe6Qw8Uu TRUMP ANOMALY (@ANOMALY1) May 10, 2017THIS ISN T THE FIRST TIME PUTIN S GOTTEN SASSY WITH THE PRESS: PUTIN Steals Famous President Bush Quote In Forceful Denial Of Russian Interference In U.S. ElectionsRussian President Vladimir Putin has denied interfering in the U.S. elections, and he did it by using a famous quote from a U.S. president. Watch my lips, no, Putin said.The Russian strongman made the claim when asked point-blank whether Russia had interfered and whether any evidence to the contrary would get found.He invoked former President Reagan, although the Read my lips quote was actually used by his successor, George H.W. Bush, speaking at a CNBC event on Arctic issues.Putin said claims of Russian interference were lies used for domestic American politics.All those things are fictional, illusory and provocations, lies, Putin continued. All these are used for domestic American political agendas. The anti-Russian card is played by different political forces inside the United States to trade on that and consolidate their positions inside. Then he delivered a friendly message to U.S. audiences. We said on numerous occasions and I reiterate that we are confident And know for sure that opinion polls in the Unites States show that very many people are friendly towards the Russian Federation and I d like to tell these people that we perceive and regard the United States as a great power with which we want to establish good partnership relations. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday in an interview with CBS News, We all knew Russia was trying to meddle with our election. And we already know right now they re trying to do it with other countries. Ryan continued: The world s super power, the American government needs to do everything we possibly can, not only to undercut what they re trying to do but to uncover what they re trying to do and help our allies prevent it from happening. Putin also said Thursday he is ready to meet with Trump if Finland hosts an Arctic summit. Finland is set to take over the rotating leadership of the Arctic Council.For entire story: Daily Mail",0 Doctors Without Borders pulls out of Somalia because of attacks on its staff,0 "Massachusetts immigrant ruling could guide other states: officialBOSTON (Reuters) - A ruling by Massachusetts’ top court could influence other state courts to rule that police cannot detain illegal immigrants solely to give federal authorities time to take them into custody, state Attorney General Maura Healey said on Wednesday. Healey, a Democrat who has been part of a loose coalition of state officials mounting court challenges to President Donald Trump’s administration, said the Monday ruling on civil immigration detainer requests, the first to cover a full state, showed the power of state-level challenges. “We may see in other courts efforts to draw from that,” Healey said in a interview in her office. “In this age of some really adverse actions and a lot of fear-mongering, frankly, by Donald Trump and (U.S. Attorney General) Jeff Sessions and others, it is important to make clear what the law here is and that no one is above the law.” The Trump administration has stepped up immigration enforcement, threatening to deport the estimated 12 million people who have entered the country illegally, contending they raise crime rates and drain government resources. The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has asked local police and courts to hold illegal immigrants who enter the justice system for up to 48 hours after their cases conclude to allow them to be taken into custody. Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court ruled that because the detainer requests are civil, rather than criminal, the detentions amount to unconstitutional arrests. ICE said it was determining what next steps it might take after the ruling, saying it “weakens local law enforcement agencies’ ability to protect their communities.” Healey said her office is preparing instructions for court officials and local law enforcement on responding to the detainer requests. She dismissed the idea that the decision endangered public safety, saying the state continues to hold illegal immigrants who are wanted for criminal proceedings. Keeping up federal focus on the issue, Sessions said on Tuesday the Justice Department would block federal grants to sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with immigration agents, including detainer requests. Healey said the move would not change state policy. “It’s wrong, it’s unlawful and we’ll see them in court if they intend to proceed on this front,” she said. “This reflects a callous disregard for the rule of law and for governance and for what it takes to run our cities our states and indeed our country.” ",1 "IT’S ABOUT TIME! 19 GOP Congressmen Call For Closer Look Into Mueller’s Team Of Political Hack LawyersAll we can say about this development is that it s about time the GOP Congressman did something about the wild goose chase Mueller and his team have been going on.Nineteen Republican congressmen signed on to a letter (see a screenshot of the letter at the bottom of this article) sent out Friday requesting congressional hearings to keep special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of lawyers accountable. This team has sweeping authority and an open-ended mission, yet they are allowed to operate largely in secret, selected by and ultimately accountable to only one person: Mr. Mueller himself, the letter sent to House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley states.Texas Republican Rep. Brian Babin started asking his colleagues to sign the letter in August. The congressmen who signed on include: Iowa Rep. Steve King, Arizona Rep. Trent Franks, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, and Virginia Rep. Dave Brat.The Mueller team has overwhelmingly supported Democrats and even worked for Democrats. Donations were also mostly to Democrat candidates:It s hard to dispute that this team of lawyers are biased against a Republican like Trump who came into D.C. ready to upset the status quo.Read more: DC",0 Turkish anchorwoman detained for tweet about corruption,0 """Last year, while the U.S. government was spending nearly $100 million a day on military efforts in Afghanistan, an Oxfam report put the total amount of humanitarian aid to the country from all sources at just $7 million per day. Not much has changed since then.""",1 "Explicit mention of religion is seen as ""un-British"", a bit ""American"" and a ""turn-off"" to the electorate.",1 "MICHELLE OBAMA Slams America At Iranian Party: “We’re Hearing So Much Disturbing And Hateful Rhetoric”So you have to listen to this little speech by Michelle Obama and understand that she s totally lying when she speaks about disturbing and hateful rhetoric . Americans are NOT blowing themselves up or cutting heads off. If anything, Americans have been so forgiving and fantastic in the face of Islamic terrorism. There s so much more to say but in a nutshell we re not the ones screaming Death to Iran! BUT Iranians are screaming DEATH TO AMERICA NUF SAID! Here s some propaganda from USA Today: ",0 "A 20-year old Spanish kid pretended to be a government official, infiltrated the Spanish political elite.",1 PM: Japan can't keep apologizing,1 " ISIS’ Blasphemous Ramadan Attacks Prove They’re Not Muslims At AllRamadan is a holy month that all Muslims celebrate. They fast from sunrise to sunset, unable to eat, drink, smoke or even have sex. Muslims try not to fight, curse, lie or sin during Ramadan because such acts are considered profane.Unless you re ISIS. Then it s a signal to slaughter as many people as possible:The spokesman for the Islamic State said in late May that jihadists should make it, with God s permission, a month of pain for infidels everywhere. Another extremist distributed a manual for using poisons, adding, in poor English: Dont forget Ramadan is close, the month of victories. This is like being a Christian and going on a killing spree Christmas morning in the name of Jesus. Sure, you could rationalize it as a gift to the son of God but, really, you re going against everything the holiday stands for.And that s the point here: Radicalized Muslims are no longer really Muslims any more than the Westboro Baptist Church is really Christian. Both are cruel, twisted distortions of their respective religions. The problem is that far too many Americans, mostly, but not exclusively, right wingers, are all too eager to lump 1.6 billion Muslims together with the tens of thousands of violent lunatics that terrorize the rest of the world.Consider this: ISIS has about 25,000 fighters. That s it. Let s say that for every fighter, there are 10 people that are totally sympathetic to their cause. Hell, I ll be SUPER generous and double that. That gives us 500,000 evil Muslim extremists. That s still just .03% of all the Muslims in the world. Yet, somehow, we re supposed to be afraid of the other 99.97% of them? We don t hold ANYONE to that kind of standard. If we did, we would have strung up every Catholic priest as a pedophile years ago or locked up every white male as a probable serial killer.But we don t, of course, because that would be insane. But we do it to Muslims anyway. The reality is that ISIS and those like them have weaponized their religion and in doing have abandoned the very religion they claim to fight in the name of. Remember, the overwhelming majority of their victims are Muslims who refuse to follow their warped interpretation of Islam:What is clearer is that the manipulation of the goals of Ramadan are another way in which jihadists have interpreted the religion in a way most Muslims deplore. Another example is the jihadists wide use of takfir, or the branding of others as infidels who deserve death. The Islamic State has used this concept to justify the killing of other Muslims, be they Shiites or fellow Sunnis whom the group deems to be insufficiently devout.Such views course through the jihadists Ramadan propaganda. If 90%+ of the people you kill for being infidels and heretics are of the religion to claim to represent, you re the one that is blaspheming against that religion. It s time the West figured that out and started acting accordingly.Featured image via Wikipedia",0 " Heartbreaking: This Democratic Senator Just Tweeted The Entire Mass Shooting History Of 2015A Democratic Senator decided to close out 2015 by raising a strong awareness of just how bad America s gun violence problem is. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) made a list of every mass shooting, including the number injured or killed, and posted it to his Twitter account. The list can be paged through, with each entry showing the number of injured and dead.Take a few moments and page through the list below. The tragedy that was 2015 becomes quickly apparent.#ICYMI for my year in review I listed out every single mass shooting in 2015. They're all here: https://t.co/bUSKcjHs2x Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 31, 2015While paging through the list, the reality of our problem with guns becomes undeniable to even the most backwards, gun-toting, Tea Party patriot. Contrasted with a nation like Japan, which averages less than 1 gun death per 100,000 people most years (sometimes averaging so low the statistic is virtually zero), you can see that we simply do not have to live with this as a reality of our society.Many of the incidents that were included never made it to the mainstream media, because they were just not sensational enough. Let s think about that for a minute. In Japan, there was a year when 22 shootings occurred. It became a national scandal. In America, if we had a year with 22 gun deaths, the only newsworthy portion of it would be how America solved its problem with gun violence.Senator Murphy added the following comment to his post:In 2015 there were 372 mass shootings incidents where four or more people where shot, including the shooter. I went through each and every one of them on shootingtracker.com, and tweeted out the stories. In the face of this carnage, there is no excuse for our inaction.Senator Murphy s context is very important. Only incidents where four or more people were shot made his list. There are far more that did not. The total number of shootings for 2015 so far stands at an astounding 52,339, with 13,296 deaths. To add a bit of context to the total, only 1,935 were able to be deemed accidental, which includes most acts of irresponsible use or storage of firearms.Very slowly, things are beginning to change. President Obama has plans, by way of executive order, to increase the requirements for background checks as well as strengthen the requirements for reporting lost or stolen guns. Coupled with California s new initiative allowing state government to seize guns from those deemed a menace to society, 2016 could mark a slight turning point in NRA dominance over gun safety in America.Featured image via senate.gov",0 "Party without parliamentary seats leads in Slovenia opinion pollLJUBLJANA (Reuters) - A centre-left party that has no seats in Slovenia s parliament and is led by a former comedian topped an opinion poll published by daily newspaper Delo on Monday, about six months ahead of an expected general election. The Lista Marjana Sarca (LMS) under Marjan Sarec, mayor of the city of Kamnik, drew the support of 15.7 percent with a junior governing coalition party, the Social Democrats, in second place with 12.6 percent and the leading opposition party, the centre-left Slovenian Democratic Party, with 12.2 percent. The Party of Modern Centre led by Prime Minister Miro Cerar came in sixth with 5.5 percent. Last month, the Social Democrats led the same poll with 19.8 percent while the LMS was not yet included in the survey. Sarec surprised many last month when he was narrowly beaten in a presidential run-off election, gathering about 47 percent to incumbent Borut Pahor s 53 percent. Analysts said Sarec s party, which has so far been active only at local level, could win a parliamentary vote amid general dissatisfaction with the centre-left government, above all its inability to improve the inefficient national health system. The government of the southeast European country is also under heavy pressure from various public sector unions demanding wage hikes at a time of strong economic growth, expected to be 4.4 percent this year, up from 3.1 percent in 2016. Pahor will call a general election in the coming months and it is expected to be held in the first half of June. ",1 "We need a ‘one pager’ tax form – Wilbur Ross on Tax Reform [Video]Wilbur Ross spoke with WaPo about true tax reform He did a great job explaining his position on simplifying and cutting taxes. He said the W2 should be a one pager . He believes it takes entirely too long for the average employee to do taxes We say Amen to that!If Congress doesn t get in the way, tax cuts and simplification are a possibility. Ross is such a great pick for President Trump. he s another one who doesn t need this job at all but is doing it for America. Pretty awesome!MORE ON WILBUR ROSS:WILBUR ROSS ON NEIL CAVUTO: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is one smart man when it comes to making an economic argument against the Paris Accord. He appeared on Neil Cavuto right before President Trump spoke and brilliantly discussed why we need to get out of this boondoggle that will drain America of trillions of dollars. We re so lucky he s our Commerce Secretary! He s apolitical and strictly looking at what s best for America financially.WILBUR ROSS TAKES ON MATT LAUER: Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, tells that President Trump s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord does not mean that the U.S. will do nothing to combat climate change. He says that President Trump is an environmentalist and that the decision will do nothing to damage America s national security. Yes, you can be an environmentalist and care about the planet BUT not be for this boondoggle!",0 "HUNDREDS VOTING FROM THE GRAVE In This California County Stirs Investigation [Video]A comparison of records by David Goldstein, investigative reporter for CBS2/KCAL9, has revealed hundreds of so-called dead voters in Southern California, a vast majority of them in Los Angeles County. He took a lot of time choosing his candidates, said Annette Givans of her father, John Cenkner.Cenkner died in Palmdale in 2003. Despite this, records show that he somehow voted from the grave in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.But he s not the only one.CBS2 compared millions of voting records from the California Secretary of State s office with death records from the Social Security Administration and found hundreds of so-called dead voters.Specifically, 265 in Southern California and a vast majority of them, 215, in Los Angeles County alone.The numbers come from state records that show votes were cast in that person s name after they died. In some cases, Goldstein discovered that they voted year after year.Across all counties, Goldstein uncovered 32 dead voters who cast ballots in eight elections apiece, including a woman who died in 1988. Records show she somehow voted in 2014, 26 years after she passed away.It remains unclear how the dead voters voted but 86 were registered Republicans, 146 were Democrats, including Cenkner. He s a diehard Democrat, and I was thinking that if somebody was voting under his name, he s probably rolling in his grave if they were voting Republican, Givans said.She said her dad always voted at the polls, only now records show someone else may be casting his vote. It just astounds me. I don t understand how anybody can get away with that, she said.And then there s Julita Abutin.Records show she voted in Norwalk in 2014, 2012, 2010 and 2008 though she died in 2006.Abutin s daughter, Marivic, says it s impossible that her mother voted.But the Los Angeles County Registrar confirms they have signed vote-by-mail envelopes with her mother s name for the 2014 and 2012 election, though she died 10 years ago.Edward Carbajal Jr. s father died in La Puente in 2001 but state records show a vote was cast in his father s name in eight elections after he passed away.It s possible as a junior, election officials mistakenly attributed the vote to his father. There is no way to tell from CBS2 s data but he wonders why his dad is still registered. I mean, that should be something that everybody that s involved with these types of things should know who s alive and who isn t, he said.The Los Angeles County Registrar told CBS2: We remove 1200 to 2000 deceased records from the database per month. But the news station checked all of the dead voters from LA County on the Registrar s website and found 212 of the 215 were still registered and eligible to vote in next month s presidential primary election. It s very troubling because it basically dilutes the voice of the lawful voter, said Ellen Swensen with the True the Vote, a nationwide voter-rights group. What it does is every single vote that s cast by a dead voter actually cancels out a vote of a lawful voter cause if they voted for one candidate and you voted let s say for another, your vote got canceled out, she said.As Goldstein reports, it was all supposed to change after the hanging chads incident in Florida in the 2000 presidential election. Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002, which mandated sweeping reforms, including a statewide voter registration system that would eliminate ineligible voters.But California is the only state that s still not compliant with the act. Secretary of State Alex Padilla hopes to have it compliant later this year. The problem is California has been the most derelict state in the country in implementing statewide databases that are required under federal law. They just blew it off for over a decade, said Adams.Read more: CBSLA",0 21 Images of Where Children Sleep Around the World Paints A Powerful Picture of Inequality,0 "Indonesia warns of tough response after Papuan rebels threaten FreeportJAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia s military said on Friday it was prepared to take tough measures against rebels who have threatened to destroy the mining operations of Freeport-McMoRan Inc in the eastern province of Papua in their independence struggle. Police say an armed separatist group linked to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) is preventing about 1,000 people in five villages from leaving an area near the giant Grasberg copper mine, operated by a unit of the Arizona-based company. A state of emergency has been declared and at least 300 additional security forces have been deployed to the area after a string of shootings since Aug. 17 killed one police officer and wounded six. The group, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM), on Friday denied occupying villages near the mine. Hendrik Wanmang, a representative of TPN-OPM, said none of its more than 2,000 fighters was stationed in the villages. We cannot mingle with the community, Wanmang said in a telephone interview. That would endanger them. Wanmang also denied police allegations his group had carried out rape and torture of civilians, saying villagers were continuing to carry out activities as usual . But he warned that Freeport employees and security personnel remained in the area at their own risk. We are at war against the National Police, Indonesian military and Freeport, he said. (TPN-OPM) will continue to fight until the root of this problem - Freeport - is removed, Wanmang said. A Freeport Indonesia spokesman declined to comment. Papua Police spokesman Suryadi Diaz said the situation in the villages near the town of Tembagapura was conducive and the community was functioning as usual . They aren t hostage, but if you want to get to these villages you have to get past this armed criminal group, Diaz said, referring to the OPM. Police were taking persuasive steps to resolve the conflict through negotiations and dialogue with community, religious and tribal leaders, he said. Authorities made conflicting statements about the situation. Indonesian military chief Gatot Nurmayanto said the group had taken hostages in the villages and the army would take a hard approach if necessary. Tough measures, including armed conflict, would be a last resort if negotiations with the group failed to resolve the issue, Papua military commander George Enaldus Supit said later, clarifying the statement. Wanmang said his group was not interested in negotiating. If the government wants to send millions of national police and Indonesian military troops to protect the Freeport area, go ahead - they are just trying to protect the deception. The Grasberg mine has been dogged by security concerns for decades, as pro-independence rebels have waged a low-level conflict in Papua. Between 2009 and 2015, shootings in the mine project area killed 20 people and wounded 59. More recently, Freeport, the world s largest publicly listed copper producer, has been grappling with labor problems at Grasberg and a mine rights dispute with Indonesia. The Freeport dispute is likely to overshadow efforts by President Joko Widodo s government to resolve conflict in Papua, the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict said. Any violence in the Freeport area can involve multiple actors with multiple interests, it said in a recent report. Even if the OPM is blamed, Papuans will be asking who else was involved. ",1 " Cruz Ad Turns Trump Into A Creepy Doll Who ‘Pretends To Be A Republican’ (VIDEO)Ted Cruz s latest ad just manipulated children to send a political message to voters.The latest campaign move for the Texas Senator is a big jab at his biggest GOP rival, Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who is portrayed in the ad as an action figure who pretends to be a Republican. In the 45-second spot, young boys are shown playing with a Trump doll, while stating that this action figure likes bailouts for the banks and donates to Democrats. The ad also features a Hillary Clinton doll, who gets paid by Trump to befriend him a reference to Trump s claim that Clinton attended his wedding because he donated to her Foundation.Toward the end of the ad, a large dollhouse gets ruined by the Trump doll, who says, I m going to take your house with eminent domain and park my limos there! right before destroying it. This particular part of the ad is a reminder that Trump once tried to level an elderly woman s Atlantic City home so he could turn it into a parking lot for limos.At the end of the ad, concerned parents see their children playing destructively with the Trump doll and the narrator asks viewers: We wouldn t tolerate these values in our children. Why would we want them in a president? You can watch the ad below:Cruz s latest ad might just be the candidate s rebuttal to Trump indirectly calling him a p*ssy at a recent rally, but this ad doesn t communicate anything that hasn t been said about Trump before. Although the use of children in a political ad was not a tasteful decision, the GOP has often criticized Trump for being a phony Republican and this ad just points his inconsistencies out in easier terms. Trump has a history of flip-flopping and holding more liberal values.Last week, Cruz beat Trump in the Iowa Caucuses, but Trump took the New Hampshire primary. This attack ad might be the first of many as the two will face off again on February 20th for the South Carolina primary.Featured image is a screenshot",0 " Trump Feels The Fury Of Twitter After Comparing Himself To Nixon While Attacking Obama (TWEETS)After Donald Trump s Saturday morning tweetstorm, we have no choice but to wonder what, exactly, he is worried about. Ever since the pee pee dossier was originally released, we have seen Trump s ravings evolve from complaints about FAKE NEWS to demands that the ILLEGAL LEAKS stop. On Saturday, The Donald expanded on his at times incomprehensible ravings by blaming Obama for people learning about his and his campaign s illicit activities involving Russian oligarchs.Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ""wires tapped"" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017This isn t McCarthyism. While Trump did not provide any evidence of his claim, it was well known by intelligence agencies rather early in 2016. Trump even publicly asked the dictator of a hostile foreign power to hack his political opponents. It s only natural for our intelligence agencies to want to look into that.Saying nothing of the evidence that has been uncovered that his team kept in constant contact with high-ranking Russian officials during the campaign, Trump demanded to know if it is legal for our intelligence agencies to investigate someone who is openly colluding with Vladimir Putin against the interests of the American people:Is it legal for a sitting President to be ""wire tapping"" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Then, he threatened to go after President Obama in court because our intelligence agencies did their jobs:I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Trump didn t quite explain his next tweet, but he is more right than he knows about part of it. How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! President Asterisk whined.This is, indeed, very much like Nixon/Watergate in that Nixon was guilty and did quite a bit of public flailing before the investigation into his crimes was complete. But it seems that Trump was saying that Nixon, like himself, was innocent and that President Obama was sick for allegedly authorizing wiretaps against such a pristine example of a human being as Trump.Naturally, Americans were all over this one:.@Mike_P_Williams this is truly staggering. He seems paranoid. Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump and the paranoia is starting to sink in pic.twitter.com/zTMxKh6P9x Rob Szczerba (@RJSzczerba) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump looks like he's breaking out the tin foil hats again pic.twitter.com/TmjGj4lD5B Rob Szczerba (@RJSzczerba) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump You know when you say you want to make education great again, does that include spelling? Matt Haig (@matthaig1) March 4, 2017.@realDonaldTrump This is Nixon/Watergate, if by that you mean you'll be impeached and resign in disgrace. Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Hopefully your presidency ends like Nixon/Watergate. Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump you're the next Nixon dude. You're an embarrassment for our great nation. A traitor to real Americans. You should resign ? (@VeeVee) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump How long before you illegally delete this (supposedly) archived tweet? #TheResistance (@AynRandPaulRyan) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump You've been tweeting paranoid, unsubstantiated, unproven crap for an hour. WHO IS DRIVING AMERICA? craig stone (@craigstone_) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Your attempt to spin a situation in which your staff broke laws by communicating with Russian spies is ludicrous!!!! Stephen Robert Morse (@morsels) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump FOUR tweets now about this wire tap story and still no specifics Starting to think you re reading conspiracy blogs. MatthewDicks (@MatthewDicks) March 4, 2017.@realDonaldTrump he didn't NEED to tap anything, you're always on here spilling your guts. Also, Nixon was guilty, rather like yourself. Jane Slavin (@JaneSlavin) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump and you are Nixon? You know how that ends? ??? Don't lie to your country or obstruct justice! Jose Andrade (@jandrade) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Nope. You are worse than Nixon, and this fiasco is worse than Watergate. Andrea Kuszewski (@AndreaKuszewski) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Tweeting doesn t seem like the right way to level charges like these on a former President unless they are nonsense. MatthewDicks (@MatthewDicks) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump even for you this is fucking embarrassing. Michael Beveridge (@mickyb273) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Is this going to be another Obama isn t an American citizen until it s politically convenient to admit YOU WERE WRONG? MatthewDicks (@MatthewDicks) March 4, 2017@realDonaldTrump Did he go so low as to collude with a foreign power to get himself elected? Raoul Binderschmidt (@Skeletor_Jesus) March 4, 2017Ironically, last year it was revealed that Trump had a special console next to his bed at the Mar-A-Lago that allowed him to spy on guests phone conversations. Though Trump denied it, numerous former staffers confirmed that the billionaire did, indeed, spy on guests. Unlike the possibility that our intelligence agencies did tapp Trump s phone during the campaign with good reason this would be a crime. It is illegal in Florida to intercept or record phone calls without the consent of everyone involved in the conversation.Hopefully, Trump is right that this is like Nixon/Watergate. We all know how that ended.Featured image via Getty Images (Pool)/screengrab",0 "DETROIT: IMMIGRANT STEALS $132 MILLION From Medicare…Owns $7 Million Mansion With Indoor Basketball Court…Defense Lawyer Mohammed Nasser Says He’s “Not a flight risk”A health care executive cheated Medicare out of $132 million and blew the money on a $7 million Franklin mansion and courtside NBA tickets, and stuffed secret storage units with cash, prosecutors allege.Federal court records and prosecutors provided new details about the inner workings and riches of a health-care fraud conspiracy that ranks among the largest in Detroit history, orchestrated by 37-year-old businessman Mashiyat Rashid. Prosecutors say the conspiracy involved recruiting homeless people as patients, sending phony bills to Medicare, subjecting drug addicts to unnecessary back injections and prescribing powerful pain medication that ended up being sold on the street.The conspiracy generated so much money that Rashid withdrew $500,000 from a bank this month and stuffed the cash in a duffel bag, the government said. A surveillance team of federal agents watched him enter and leave the bank. This was a crime of deceit. His fraud was brazen, Justice Department trial attorney Jacob Foster said Wednesday during Rashid s bond hearing. This was about the thousands and thousands of beneficiaries who were taken advantage of in order for (Rashid) to line his pockets. Rashid, who lives in West Bloomfield Township, faces up to life in federal prison if convicted of crimes including health-care fraud conspiracy, money laundering and receiving kickbacks.Rashid is not a flight risk or a criminal, defense lawyer Mohammed Nasser said. He is a venture capitalist and business owner who paid $2.4 million in taxes last year. Rashid moved to the U.S. from Bangladesh when he was 3 years old, graduated from the University of Michigan, is married and has two young children. He doesn t have as much as a speeding ticket, Nasser said. He has had absolutely no involvement with the criminal justice system. This is his first parlay into the gamut of criminal law. We are confident this will be resolved. Rashid is a flight risk, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Stafford said, noting his international travel, ties to Bangladesh and assets. She ordered Rashid held without bond pending an Aug. 22 trial. This is a uniquely troubling case in a lot of ways, Stafford said. The allegation is he basically forced people who may have been addicted to drugs to have unnecessary injections in their back as part of this scheme things of that nature are very troubling. For entire story: Detroit NewsThe indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges the seven defendants conspired in a scheme involving $131.8 million.The alleged scheme involved paying kickbacks and bribes for services billed to Medicare.Only one of the seven people charged is an Ohio resident, the other six are MI residents. It has not yet been reported if the other six men are also immigrants: Mashiyat Rashid of Oakland County. Yasser Mozeb of Oakland County. Spilios Pappas of Ohio. Abdul Haq of Washtenaw County. Joseph Betro of Oakland County. Tariq Omar of Oakland County. Mohammed Zahoor of Oakland County.",0 Syrian refugees in Uruguay say they want to move elsewhere,1 "On 31 October, world population reaches 7 billion.",1 Gunman Massacres At Least Seven in Alabama ,1 "Mattis sees opportunity for talks if North Korea halts missile tests, developmentCOLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday there could be an opportunity for talks between North Korea and the United States if Pyongyang stopped testing and developing its nuclear and missile programs. “So long as they stop testing, stop developing, they don’t export their weapons, there would be opportunity for talks,” Mattis told reporters on a military plane. While Washington has said that all options, including military, are on the table in dealing with North Korea, it has stressed its preference is for a diplomatic solution. Visiting Seoul last week, U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea he was prepared to use the full range of American military power to stop any attack, but also urged Pyongyang to “make a deal.” Trump, who had previously called negotiations with North Korea a waste of time, has offered no clear path to talks. Pyongyang has made clear it has little interest in negotiations, at least until it has developed a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. The last North Korean missile test was carried out almost two months ago, but U.S. officials say they have seen no signs that Pyongyang has stopped development. Mattis said the U.S. military was closely watching why there had been no missile launches recently, but declined to give potential reasons for it. There are concerns in South Korea that any potential U.S. strikes against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs could provoke devastating North Korean retaliation against South Korea. Earlier this week, a senior South Korean official said Trump should “under no circumstances” take military action against North Korea without the consent of the government in Seoul. In Colorado, Mattis will visit the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which are responsible for homeland defense, including tracking and potentially intercepting North Korean missiles. ",1 Russia announces ban on arms sales to Libya,0 "German Greens want last nuclear weapons withdrawn: documentBERLIN (Reuters) - Greens want the next coalition government to push for the removal of all nuclear warheads stationed in Germany, a document seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday. The discussion paper on defence and foreign policy did not mention the United States, which is believed to have 20 nuclear warheads at a military base in Buechel in western Germany, according to unofficial estimates. Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to secure a fourth term through an unlikely coalition with the ecologist Greens and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) after her conservative bloc lost support to the far-right in an election in September. NATO member Germany is not a nuclear power and in 2011 a Merkel-led government announced plans to shut all nuclear reactors by 2022 after the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Within NATO, we want to ensure that the remaining nuclear weapons in Germany are withdrawn and we want to suspend the modernization programme, read a section in the document stating the Greens position. Before leaving office former U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to modernize nuclear bombs, delivery systems and laboratories. His successor, Donald Trump, has said he wants to strengthen and expand his country s nuclear capability. The conservatives, Greens and FDP are hoping to end exploratory discussions on Thursday and move on to proper negotiations on forming a government. They remain divided on several key issues, including immigration, reforming the euro zone and climate policy. ",1 "WHOA! PAUL RYAN Channels Trump…Blasts POLITICO During Press Conference Over #FakeNews Story About His Retirement [VIDEO]House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) on Tuesday pushed back against a report from last week that speculated he would not seek reelection in 2018.Ryan spoke at the weekly House Republican leadership press conference and took questions on an array of issues ranging from the House tax bill to speculation that he will not seek reelection in 2018.The speaker was asked about a Politico report that speculated he wouldn t run for reelection, prompting Ryan to push back in a visibly irritated manner. Oh, look. I m not going anywhere anytime soon and let s leave that thing at that, Ryan said. I actually think that piece was very irresponsible. It was a speculative piece and it was faulty speculation, and I want to put it to rest. Watch:Last week, Politico reported they interviewed approximately three dozen people, including fellow lawmakers, congressional and administration aides, conservative intellectuals and Republican lobbyists, about Ryan s future in Congress and whether he would seek reelection. None of the people said they believed Ryan would stay in Congress past 2018, according to the report.The House Republican Conference held a closed-door meeting prior to the press conference where Ryan reportedly first clarified he wasn t going anywhere.Politico reporter Rachael Bade, who co-wrote the initial report, tweeted that Ryan told conference he s not going anywhere and got a standing ovation. .@SpeakerRyan told conference he s not going anywhere and got a standing ovation. Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) December 19, 2017 WFB ",0 "Republican Senator John McCain leaves Washington before expected tax voteWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator John McCain is expected to miss an upcoming vote on a tax code overhaul, after his office said he had returned to his home in Arizona following medical treatment. The Senate is expected to vote as early as Tuesday on tax legislation. But McCain, undergoing treatment for brain cancer, will be out of Washington until January, his office said on Sunday. Top U.S. Republicans said on Sunday they expected Congress to pass the tax bill. ",1 "Lebanon's Hariri to arrive in France on Saturday, meet Macron: Elysee sourcePARIS (Reuters) - Lebanon s prime minister Saad al-Hariri will arrive in France on Saturday and meet French President Emmanuel Macron, a source inside the French presidency said. Macron invited the Lebanese premier and his family to France on Wednesday, hoping to soothe a crisis triggered when Hariri announced his resignation 12 days ago. ",1 New Oil Spill In Battle Creek Michigan This Time By Canadian Company,1 " Trump Rally Nearly Turns Into A Full-Blown Race War In St. Louis (VIDEOS)Tensions ran high outside of a campaign rally for Donald Trump in St. Louis, Missouri. Thousands of Trump supporters waited outside in line to see the Republican primary front-runner speak at the Peabody Opera House located in the downtown area of St. Louis.According to the St. Louis Dispatch, protestors were also in attendance at the campaign rally. They report: Supporters wore red Trump hats, waved American flags, and bought T-shirts and buttons from concession stands up set up around the perimeter. Protesters held up signs to crying hatred and, in a few cases, comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler. We re just trying to join with the Muslim community saying hate speech has no place here, said Jay Kanzler, an Episcopal priest and attorney who was among the protestors. We stand with our Muslim American bothers and sisters, our Jewish brothers and sisters, our Christian brothers and sisters for this community. We re not going to let Donald Trump s hate speech divide us. This lead to a near all-out race riot between Trump supporters and protestors. A man can be seen in video footage being escorted away from the event by police. The man was assaulted by insults from Trump s supporters waiting in line.One Trump fan screams at the man, saying: Hey, f*ck Islam! Allah is a wh*re! Jesus is the most high god and you b*tches are done. So f*ck Islam. Here is the video:This guy though #TrumpRally pic.twitter.com/cfTUHfAVWu Marissa (@southards_3) March 11, 2016Another video shows a young male Trump supporter try to start a fistfight with the protestors. He walks up to them reputedly telling them to You mother f*fuckers wanna go. Bring It Battle lines drawn at Trump rally pic.twitter.com/Y9yRTnjOAm Trymaine Lee (@trymainelee) March 11, 2016Police are get involved.The first arrest. A yelling match nearly turned into a fistfight. The crowd cheered as they dragged him away. pic.twitter.com/YzTsrTApQo Trymaine Lee (@trymainelee) March 11, 2016More violent actions from Trump supporters.My mother told me to NEVER put hands on a woman pic.twitter.com/tRXqm0aXN9 Junius Randolph (@JuniusRandolph) March 11, 2016Trump supporters calling a woman a wh*re.Hard to believe that anyone would get assaulted at rallies with these sorts of attendees pic.twitter.com/ShhTKouFwL Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) March 11, 2016Protestor screams F*ck Donald Trump .Here we go again at the St. Louis Trump rally pic.twitter.com/BFcQ5s2TxU Junius Randolph (@JuniusRandolph) March 11, 2016This is only the latest incident to prove that Trump and his racist, fascist, supporters are tearing the United States apart.Featured image from video screenshot via Twitter",0 " Anti-Abortion Republican Cheated And Tried To Get His Mistress To Have An AbortionA text message which was sent in January to U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, a staunch pro-life Republican representing Pennsylvania s 18th District, is now being revealed. In the text, a woman with whom Murphy was in a relationship outside of his marriage, took him to task for an anti-abortion statement posted on Facebook from his office s public account, the Pittsburg Post-Gazette reports. And you have zero issue posting your pro-life stance all over the place when you had no issue asking me to abort our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options, wrote Shannon Edwards, a forensic psychologist in Pittsburgh with whom the congressman admitted just last month to having an extramarital relationship. Mrs. Edwards is now going through a divorce following the affair.Murphy publicly admitted to the affair last month. Last year I became involved in an affair with a personal friend. This is nobody s fault but my own, and I offer no excuses. To the extent that there should be any blame in this matter, it falls solely upon me, he said in a statement at the time.The Gazette notes that a text, which the paper obtained, from Murphy s cell phone number that same day responded to say, I get what you say about my March for life messages. I ve never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced, he continued. I told staff don t write any more. I will. So, he never believed the anti-choice messages he touted.The Gazette reports:The congressman has been lauded by the Family Research Council, for his stance on abortion, as well as for family values, generally. He also has been endorsed by LifePAC, which opposes abortion rights, and is a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus, an affiliation that is often cited by his office.In addition to Murphy s other problems, a six-page memo to the Pennsylvania Republican, presumably written by his chief of staff, Susan Mosychuk, described a hostile workplace in which Murphy repeatedly denigrated employees, threatened them and created a state of terror. Apparently, being a pro-life Republican means not respecting life while secretly opting to be pro-choice for them. Murphy has voted against funding for Planned Parenthood and voted against federal funding for research that utilizes human embryonic stem cells. He has consistently voted against pro-choice proposals.Image via screen capture.",0 " Hillary Clinton Calls For Federal Effort To Restoring Voting Rights To Felons (VIDEO)While appearing on Good Morning America s Coffee with the Candidates town hall, Hillary Clinton, who emerged victorious in a hotly fought over New York, laid out her plan to combat systemic racism in the criminal justice system which includes giving those who serve time their voting rights back.When asked how she would reform America s broken criminal justice system (which was due in part to the 1994 crime bill), she answered candidly:One, divert people away from the criminal justice system because too many people are in for low-level, non-violent offenses. Secondly, we have got address the unequal effects of the criminal justice system on people of color, particularly African American men because it is just wrong and it is a result of systemic racism we have to have more second chance opportunities Once you ve paid your debt to society, your voting rights should be returned immediately.Her last answer drew thunderous applause from the audience, and for good reason.Currently, 12 states do not allow those who have served their time, meaning they are no longer in prison and no longer on parole, to vote. Over 5.85 million Americans, which accounts for 2.5 percent of the voting age population, are currently unable to vote due to a current or previous felony conviction, according to an analysis by the Sentencing Project. Roughly 75 percent of the 5.85 million who are disenfranchised are out of prison and living within their communities.Clinton s call to restore voting rights comes as she and Senator Sanders face off in the Maryland primary election on April 26. Maryland, this year, passed a sweeping voting rights law into effect, granting over 40,000 ex-felons their right to back.Along with automatic voter registration and the restoration of the Voting Rights Act, Clinton s voting plan has a direct impact in dealing with systemic racism in this country.Former Attorney General Eric Holder reminded the public about the link between disenfranchisement and crime, both riddled, latently and blatantly, with racism:It is time to fundamentally reconsider laws that permanently disenfranchise people who are no longer under federal or state supervision. By perpetuating the stigma and isolation imposed on formerly incarcerated individuals, these laws increase the likelihood they will commit future crimes.Now, how many Republicans are talking about this issue?Here s the clip from Clinton s town hall discussion: Once you ve paid your debt to society, your voting rights should be returned immediately. Hillary on @GMAhttps://t.co/ZlyKOYwsOo Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 21, 2016 Featured image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images",0 Zimbabwe journalists arrested for linking police with elephant poisonings - Amnesty condemns shocking attempt to threaten freedom of the press as trio from state-run Sunday Mail face slander charge,0 "The war on drugs is a failure that is fuelling the global HIV/AIDS epidemic by driving people away from treatment, an international group says.",1 "US allies Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Chile have joined other Latin American nations in demanding answers from Washington over spying allegations.",1 Asylum-seeker sent back home by Britain. Executed in Darfur by Sudan security officials,0 "Suicide bomber kills at least 18 at police academy in Somalia's capitalMOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suicide bomber disguised as a policeman blew himself up inside a police training camp in Somalia s capital Mogadishu on Thursday and killed at least 18 officers, officials said. Police spokesman Major Mohamed Hussein said the attacker strapped explosives to his body and infiltrated the General Kahiye Police Training Academy during an early morning parade. Police were preparing for the 74th anniversary of police day. As they wanted to start exercise, a suicide bomber came in and blew up himself. We lost 18 police officers and 15 others were injured, Muktar Hussein Afrah, Somalia s deputy police commander, told reporters at the blast scene. Police will always continue their work despite death. Police earlier put the death toll at 15. Reuters witnesses who attempted to visit the site of the blast said police had sealed it off. Hours later when they were allowed in, a witness saw body parts suspected to be from the bomber on the ground in the field where police officers had been training. The witness said the ground nearby had also been washed to remove blood stains and people were burying bodies at the police academy. The militant Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack and gave a higher death toll. We killed 27 police (officers) and injured more, Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group s military operations spokesman, told Reuters. Al Shabaab carries out frequent bombings in Mogadishu and other towns. The group, which is allied to al Qaeda, is waging an insurgency against the U.N.-backed government and its African Union allies in a bid to topple the weak administration and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam. The militants were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 and have since been steadily losing territory to the combined forces of African Union peacekeepers and Somali security forces. On Tuesday, the U.S. Africom said the U.S. military had conducted an air strike on a vehicle they said was strapped with explosives some 65 km southwest of Mogadishu. Thursday s attack comes at a time when the African Union is finalizing plans to trim its peacekeeping mission called AMISOM. The 22,000-strong AU force is scheduled to leave by 2020 and some security experts say al Shabaab could find it easier to stage attacks as the peacekeeping forces are reduced because government forces will find it hard to replicate their work. At the same time, Somalia could become a safe haven for militants linked to al Qaeda currently in Yemen, the experts said. The peacekeepers were deployed to help secure a government that has struggled to establish central control in a country that plunged into civil war in the early 1990s. ",1 SHOE COMPANY: Our CEO Just Disappeared And Most Of The Money Is Gone,1 Russian Wikipedia shuts down to protest legislation,0 "White House says Trump, Merkel 'get along very well'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump views Germany as an important U.S. ally and gets along very well with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the White House said on Tuesday. Speaking at a news briefing after Trump intensified a dispute with Germany by calling Berlin’s trade and spending policies “very bad,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said: “They get along very well. He has a lot of respect for her. ... And he views not just Germany but the rest of Europe as an important American ally.” ",1 "White House: unfortunate that Palestinians declined meeting with PenceWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - The White House said on Sunday it was unfortunate that Palestinians were declining to meet with Vice President Mike Pence during an upcoming trip to the region in the aftermath of President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. It s unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority is walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region, but the administration remains undeterred in its efforts to help achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians and our peace team remains hard at work putting together a plan, said Jarrod Agen, a deputy chief of staff and spokesman for Pence. ",1 "FANTASTIC! BILL O’REILLY LETS IT RIP On The Democrats And “Smear Merchants” Who Scream Racism When They’re Told The Truth [Video]So true! The freebies promised to Americans on the backs of tax paying Americans need to stop! The truth is the government really should provide protection, secure borders, infrastructure NOT freebies! Amen Bill! ",0 "HSBC settlement approved: no criminal charges, 5 weeks' profit in fines, deferred bonuses for laundering billions for narco-terrorists",1 "Trump in tax meeting amid fight with Republican senatorWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump began talks with Republican senators on Tuesday to try to build consensus for proposed tax cuts in a meeting that was overshadowed by an exchange of insults between the president and one of the lawmakers. Trump has asked his fellow Republicans who control Congress to pass a package of tax cuts, including a deep reduction in the corporate income tax, by year’s end. But hours before he was to promote the tax plan at a weekly lunch for Republican senators on Capitol Hill, Trump engaged in a distracting tussle with one of those lawmakers: Bob Corker, a leading fiscal hawk and the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Bob Corker, who ... couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts,” Trump wrote on Twitter, later adding that the senator is “incompetent.” Trump arrived at the Capitol building with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for the lunch and gave a thumbs up to waiting reporters. A protester threw a handful of small Russian flags toward Trump and shouted comments about accusations of collusion between his presidential campaign and Moscow. Both Trump and Russia deny colluding but a special counsel appointed by the U.S. Justice Department and congressional committees are looking into the matter. Alienating any members of his own party could be costly for Trump’s legislative initiatives in the Senate because Republicans control the chamber by just a slim 52-48 margin. Corker warned Trump in television interviews against interfering in congressional efforts to finalize the legislation to cut taxes and called the president’s visit with Senate Republicans “a photo op.” “Hopefully, the White House will step aside and let that occur in a normal process,” the Tennessee Republican told NBC’s “Today” program. “That’s the best way for us to have success.” Corker also described Trump in a Twitter post as “an utterly untruthful president,” and in television interviews accused Trump of debasing the United States. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan urged reporters to ignore the Trump-Corker spat and concentrate on the tax plan. “Put this Twitter dispute aside. The fact is we have an historic chance of fixing this tax code,” Ryan said. Ryan added that he knows Corker well and predicted that the senator is “going to vote for tax reform.” Ryan said he wants the House to pass the Republican tax cut bill by the Nov. 23 U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, echoing Trump’s call to speed up the party’s efforts to get the measure approved before year’s end. CNBC reported that Republicans plan to release their tax bill on Nov. 1 after an expected House vote on Thursday on a Senate-approved budget plan. House leaders are eager to get a tax bill voted on before the Dec. 8 deadline for a possible government shutdown comes into view, as it is likely to distract from the tax overhaul, financial firm Cowen and Co. said in a research note. “The Senate time-frame on taxes remains much more of a mystery with a Senate Finance draft likely in the late November/early December time frame,” Cowen analyst Chris Krueger said. Securing congressional passage of his tax plan is critically important to Trump, who has yet to get major legislation through Congress since taking office in January, including a healthcare overhaul he promised as a candidate last year. Tax cuts were another of Trump’s campaign pledges. The White House argues that tax cuts are needed to boost economic growth and create jobs, but has shown sensitivity in recent weeks to arguments that it is endangering America’s long-term fiscal health. Trump said he believed the tax overhaul would help bring in $4 trillion in foreign profits from U.S. companies. “It’s going to bring back, I would say, $4 trillion back into this country,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Nobody even knows the amount,” Trump said. Market analysts estimate that about $2.6 trillion in profits is being held offshore by U.S. multinationals to avoid the current 35 percent U.S. corporate income tax. Trump’s tax plan would require multinationals to bring in, or repatriate, those profits at a sharply reduced tax rate payable over several years. One of the key elements of the proposal is to slash the corporate income tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent. While the broad parameters of the tax proposal have been made public, detailed legislation has not yet been unveiled. Democrats have painted Trump’s plan, with its $6 trillion in tax cuts, as a gift to the rich and corporate America that would balloon the federal deficit. Trump promised on Monday to protect a popular retirement program as Republican lawmakers seek ways to pay for the proposed cuts. ",1 "TRUMP IS RIGHT AGAIN! While Pundits and Politicians Dodge The Truth, Trump Calls ‘Em Like He Sees ‘Em [Video]This is an odd report from Press TV because a Muslim woman is reporting like it s a bad thing that Trump is calling the refugees a Trojan Horse . Once again, Donald Trump is right AND the only one speaking openly about what the problem is with terror. It s been a long day of listening to pundits and politicians dodge the truth of Islamic terrorism. Refugee resettlement in America is out of control and is being used as a tool against us. If you don t believe this then please go to Refugee Resettlement Watch and read up! ",0 Tunisia closes schools and universities following riots,0 RACIST OBAMA BASHES WHITEY As The “Old Boys Network”…”Give Women and Minorities A Chance” [Video]OH MY GOSH! Obama bashes the old boys network and says they need to give women and minorities a chance to lead . What the heck is wrong with this president? He must really detest white male Americans! Unreal! ,0 Canadian Conservative MP James Lunney tweets against evolution: Member of Parliament advises on Twitter to just 'stop calling evolution fact!',0 "Overseas, Expectations Build for Torture Prosecutions",0 Pakistan-Women in every third household face domestic violence,0 "#BoycottPenzeys: HATEFUL, DIVISIVE Penzeys Spice Co. Owner Threatens Trump Supporters…Brags About Increased Sales Since Calling All Trump Supporters “Racists”Bill Penzey, the owner of Penzeys Spices, wrote two separate letters on the Penzeys Spices Facebook page, accusing all Trump s voters of openly embracing racism. Isn t it funny how liberals think they can use the most hateful and divisive language against fellow Americans, then excuse their open hate as an act of love or unity? We re asking Trump supporters and anyone who disagrees with a company owner calling half of America racists to BOYCOTT Penzeys Spices. (List of states where Penzeys Spice stores are located can be found below)Here is an excerpt from his first letter:Please give us a moment to share something we hope you will find very valuable.Our customers come from all walks of life. The kindness of cooks knows no borders or divides. In the aftermath of the election, seeing the intentional damage inflicted on so many outside the white heterosexual male world, we raised our voice. We felt we had to. We did this because we are Penzeys. The Spice business is so intertwined with history that it s not really possible to have one without the other. It became clear to us that we are now in a moment history will long have its eyes upon. For the sake of our customers, and for the sake of future generations, we felt the time had come to stand on the right side of history.And while the reasons for why we took a stand might be specific to our unique outlook, what we learned actually applies to all commerce in the United States. What we learned is that President-elect Donald Trump has no real support. Voters, sure, but no constituency. Running a campaign on that horrible-terrible-woman who should be locked up, while at the same time working to raise fear of minorities among white voters with limited access to education, clearly achieved its goal. But none of it left Americans with any sense of connection to the candidate they actually voted for.Willing to take a hit for what is right, we did what we did. In the two weeks since, online sales are up 59.9%, gift box sales up 135%. And we didn t have a catalog arrive in this window this year, while last year we had 1.1 million! Yes, maybe for the moment we have lost 3% of our customers because of the so-called right wing firestorm. And, yes, they send emails of rage, and ALL CAPS, and bad language with the hope of creating the perception that they are bigger than they really are. But what we learned is that, in terms of retail spending, Donald Trump simply has no one supporting his views for America. He has no constituency.In this moment there is finally the real chance to unite our nation in our shared rejection of sexism, homophobia, and racism. This is your chance to stand up for America s values and make January a tent pole in your company s history. Opportunities to do the right thing at the time when doing the right thing makes all the difference come once in a lifetime. Make your history proud.For entire letter, see Facebook post below:",0 "HILLARY LIES THROUGH HER TEETH: Defends Paying for Fake Trump Dossier During Campaign [video]Hillary Clinton told Trevor Noah on the Daily Show that of course there is a difference between paying for that information and colluding with Russia to influence the 2016 election WHAT A LOAD OF BS! She s trying to say that it s a forgone conclusion that Trump colluded with Russia. Clinton said the dossier was simply opposition research and pointed to the fact that it was not public knowledge during the election MORE BS! THE DOSSIER WAS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE DURING THE ELECTION: The NYT even states that, The document, a dossier prepared by a former British intelligence officer hired by Mr. Trump s political opponents, had been circulating among high-ranking politicians and some journalists since last fall. Mother Jones, a left-leaning publication, published an article in late October about the existence of the information. Newsweek also published some of the allegations.It s what she doesn t say that s more important Tonight at 11/10c, Trevor and Hillary Clinton discuss the Steele dossier and Trump's ties to Russia. pic.twitter.com/dxJoAPTj8D The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) November 1, 2017What she didn t talk about is the fact that this dossier is totally fabricated and was never confirmed to be true but they shopped it around to the media anyway! She funneled millions into the payment for this dossier instead of using it for legal services . She faces an investigation from the Federal elections commission for misusing funds.Clinton said: It was research that started by a Republican donor during the primary, and then when Trump got the nomination for the Republican Party, the people doing it came to my campaign lawyer and said, would you like us to continue it? He said yes. He s an experienced lawyer, he knows what the law is, he knows what opposition research is.DIRTY DOSSIER:The dossier circulated in Washington last year and was turned over to the FBI for its review. It contends that Russia was engaged in a long-standing effort to aid Trump and had amassed compromising information about the Republican.Among its wild claims was that Russian officials have videos of the president cavorting with prostitutes, filmed during Trump s 2013 visit to a luxury Moscow hotel for the Miss Universe contest It also contains a highly unusual and unsubstantiated report that the call girls performed a golden shower routine that involved them urinating on a hotel bed as a sign of disgust for then-president Barack Obama.It is claimed that Barack Obama s campaign organization, Obama For America, paid Perkins Coie almost $1million to fund the research. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the disgraced former DNC chair, has also denied any knowledge of how the dossier was put together.Read more: Daily Mail",0 New study finds that Humans are 'superpredators' like no other species in history,0 INSULTS FLY During Obama’s Town Hall In Laos…EXCEPT The Insults Were Directed At AMERICANS! [Video] ,0 "U.S. conservative group backs Republicans who favor clean energyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A conservative nonprofit group that lobbies Republicans to support clean energy policy will spend more than $1 million over the next few weeks to back 10 members of Congress running in the Nov. 8 elections, hoping to attract key swing voters such as millennials. Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES) is backing Republican House and Senate candidates who favor clean energy, even as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump mocks wind energy and calls climate change a hoax. Embracing a clean energy agenda can help Republicans win in close races by attracting key voters like millennials and women, and help broaden the Republican base, James Dozier, CRES executive director, told Reuters. “The way I look at it is regardless of who is in the Oval Office, we need clean energy champions on the Hill,” said Dozier, who added that Republicans have ceded the issue to Democrats. “This is a ripe opportunity to reframe Republicans’ engagement in energy debate,” said Dozier. “We see this as an issue the party can use to grow the tent with the next generation of voters, with female voters and Hispanics and African Americans.” CRES kicked off its fall spending campaign last week with more than $200,000 in radio ad buys for Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, who faces a close re-election race against challenger Deborah Ross. The group will spend an additional $900,000 in support of other Republican candidates, including New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, who is neck-in-neck with Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan in her re-election bid, and Representative Joe Heck, who is running in the hotly contested race for the open Nevada Senate seat against Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto. On the House side, CRES will spend money for ads and voter turnout efforts for representatives from Illinois, Virginia, Florida and New York. CRES is not alone in backing Republicans who can help the party embrace clean energy policy and accept the science behind climate change. Jay Faison, a North Carolina-based businessman, launched the $2 million Clear Path Action Fund to launch digital media campaigns for candidates, including Ayotte, who support clean energy in key swing states. But these Republican efforts are dwarfed by spending from environmental PACs that are spending record amounts to back Democrats. The League of Conservation Voters said it will spend a record $40 million this election cycle. Other groups, including green activist billionaire Tom Steyer’s NextGen and the Natural Resources Defense Council Action fund, have also announced tens of millions of dollars more in spending. ",1 "Iran warns of retaliation if U.S. breaches nuclear dealBEIRUT (Reuters) - Extending U.S. sanctions on Iran for 10 years would breach the Iranian nuclear agreement, Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on Wednesday, warning that Tehran would retaliate if the sanctions are approved. The U.S. House of Representatives re-authorized last week the Iran Sanctions Act, or ISA, for 10 years. The law was first adopted in 1996 to punish investments in Iran’s energy industry and deter Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. The Iran measure will expire at the end of 2016 if it is not renewed. The House bill must still be passed by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama to become law. Iran and world powers concluded the nuclear agreement, also known as JCPOA, last year. It imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for easing sanctions that have badly hurt its economy. “The current U.S. government has breached the nuclear deal in many occasions,” Khamenei said, addressing a gathering of members of the Revolutionary Guards, according to his website. “The latest is extension of sanctions for 10 years, that if it happens, would surely be against JCPOA, and the Islamic Republic would definitely react to it.” The U.S. lawmakers passed the bill one week after Republican Donald Trump was elected U.S. president. Republicans in Congress unanimously opposed the agreement, along with about two dozen Democrats, and Trump has also criticized it. Lawmakers from both parties said they hoped bipartisan support for a tough line against Iran would continue under the new president. President-elect Trump once said during his campaign that he would “rip up” the agreement, drawing a harsh reaction from Khamenei, who said if that happens, Iran would “set fire” to the deal. The House of Representatives also passed a bill last week that would block the sale of commercial aircraft by Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA) to Iran. The White House believes that the legislation would be a violation of the nuclear pact and has said Obama would veto the measure even if it did pass the Senate. ",1 " Unearthed 2012 Trump Interview Shows A COMPLETE 180 On Immigration Policy (VIDEO)Donald Trump is a liar. He will do and say anything in his never-ending quest for more and more money and power. This is never thrown into sharper relief than buy the extreme shifts in policy positions since he decided to run for president as a Republican. In doing so, Trump read the tea leaves when it comes to what it takes to appeal to the bigoted GOP base. The first thing he had to do was convince them that he hates immigrants particularly those of the brown variety just as much as they do. So, to that end, he kicked off his crazy run for the presidency by saying the following:Featured image via Sarah Rice/Getty Images",0 Hong Kong pro-democracy protests spread live updates | Thousands defy call to leave streets on Chinas national holiday as protests spread to new front,0 Putin Vows to Protect Polar Bear Habitat as Russia Militarizes Arctic,0 BNP leader: sink boats with African migrants on board,1 "At least 10 dead, 92 missing in eastern Congo floods: local officialABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least 10 people have died and another 92 are missing in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo due to flooding after torrential rains caused a river to overflow its banks, a local official said on Wednesday. The administrator of Masisi territory in eastern Congo s North Kivu province, Dieudonne Tshishiku, said emergency teams had been dispatched to the town of Bihambwe to search for the missing. ",1 """A Hong Kong tycoon has offered a $65 million 'marriage bounty' to any man who can win the heart of his lesbian daughter, a report said Wednesday [26 September 2012].""",0 Germany flies 70 tonnes of aid to Philippines,1 "Despite innocent verdict, blasphemy accused shot dead in Pakistan",1 "Coming of age in an era of prosperity: Meet China's 'bubble generation'WUHAN, China (Reuters) - Call them China s bubble generation. They were born after the crushing of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, raised mostly without siblings during an unprecedented economic boom, and came of age as Xi Jinping, China s strongest leader in decades, ascended to power. It s a generation that grew up in an era of prosperity and peace; one that has not eaten bitterness - or struggled - as their parents and grandparents did. With Xi starting another five years as China s top leader, Reuters sought to get to know some members of this bubble generation - 10 people who graduated from university and entered the workforce when Xi s first term started five years ago. They are the Class of 2012 . The 10 men and women represent just a fraction of the 190 million people born in the 1990s, but they provided key insights into Xi s China and the generation that will inherit his legacy. They live in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan and Putuan, in Hubei province. Their backgrounds are diverse. They are the sons and daughters of a former factory owner, restaurateurs, a doctor, a construction worker, a local official, and a school administrator. They attended three different universities China s leading trade and economics college in Beijing, a regional university in the central city of Wuhan, and a third-tier technology school in the southwestern city of Chengdu. That makes them somewhat privileged in a country where relatively few people get to pursue higher education. Their experiences differ, often widely. And yet, they have much in common. They are optimistic, open-minded and tend to have a free-spirited streak, even though family roots and obligations remain important. For the unmarried among them, some feel acute pressure to find a mate. Others actively reject the traditional path. A good thing about our generation is that, I think, we have more direction in our lives, said Wu Qiong, the 27-year-old daughter of an insurance saleswoman and a kindergarten headmaster in Wuhan. Really, you know how you want to live your life, rather than everyone living the same way. They crave travel and experiences, and grew up in comfort for the most part. Most have had everything they ve needed - food and clothing - and often more, things like Nintendo Gameboys or vacations. They ve all known extraordinary economic growth year in and year out, making a painful slowdown hard to imagine. Property prices only rise in their world a double edged sword for young adults trying to get established. China s upward trajectory is a given. I think the world is getting better and better, said Qin Lijuan, 28, a personal finance consultant in Chengdu. Even if we face an economic crisis, as long as you make safe plans your life is still worry-free. Members of the Class of 2012 , like many in China, project political apathy reflecting perhaps instinctual caution on a sensitive topic in the presence of journalists, or possibly genuine insouciance. I don t care about politics because my job has nothing to do with politics, said Zheng Yue, 27, an interior designer in Chengdu. And also I can t solve political problems. Even if I cared a lot about it, it s no use. I can t change anything. When political issues are injected into their daily lives, as with internet censorship, they always find a workaround so they can see their favorite television shows or news stories they re interested in. Xi faces deep socio-economic challenges, and has made it clear that he believes more government control - not less - is what the country needs. But what if things go sideways, if the China narrative shifts, or if the economy slows significantly, as many economists think is inevitable? What if it hits a brick wall? Young Chinese seem to share with young Americans of the 1950s and 1960s a near-unbridgeable generation gap and a huge optimism, said Michael Pettis, a finance professor at the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University. But, he said, they are probably ill-prepared for future shocks, despite the experiences and advice of their parents. Try telling that to Wu. Born and raised in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province some 700 km (435 miles) inland from Shanghai, she is in many ways emblematic of the Class of 2012 . Articulate and cheerful, Wu decided after graduating from university that the English degree she earned was insufficient to pursue her ambitions - so she got a Master s degree in accounting. She now works in the international settlements department of a foreign bank. She hasn t been able to buy property herself, but she recently persuaded her mother to invest some of her life savings in an apartment in a development called Cambridge City . The buildings are next to a subway line under construction. Their plan is to flip it in a couple years. The appreciation in house values is much bigger than the return on fixed-term deposits at banks, Wu said. For sure it won t go down. In terms of job security, Wu also doesn t seem to worry. In my life I m not afraid of the future at all, she said. I don t fear change. And, she adds, if some day there s a big economic crisis and the financial sector falls into recession I think I could go back and be an English teacher. ",1 "HYSTERICAL! TUCKER AND STEYN On Leftist Teacher Calling Dr. Seuss ‘Racist Propaganda’: ‘If everything is racist, nothing is racist’ [Video]Tucker Carlson and Mark Steyn should be on together more often. Steyn is right on in the discussion about the controversy over a teacher who called Dr. Seuss books racist propaganda . The teacher sent back Dr. Seuss books sent by First Lady Melania Trump. Steyn s take on this is brilliant AND so funny!(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ""//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.10""; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));'The Cat in the Hat' is now ""racist propaganda"". Mark Steyn responds Posted by Tucker Carlson on Friday, September 29, 2017In case you missed the story of the teacher:Of course, as America has come to expect, Melania fired back at the hateful, liberal, public school librarian with class and dignity. It s so refreshing to finally have a First Lady with class in the White House First lady Melania Trump fired back Friday at a Massachusetts elementary school librarian who rejected her donation of Dr. Seuss books, claiming their illustrations are examples of racist propaganda. Stephanie Grisham, director of communications for the first lady s office, said in a statement to Fox News that the response was unfortunate, and Mrs. Trump wanted to use her platform to help as many children as she can. She has demonstrated this in both actions and words since her husband took office, and sending books to children across the country is but one example, she said. To turn the gesture of sending young students some books into something divisive is unfortunate, but the First Lady remains committed to her efforts on behalf of children everywhere. To celebrate National Read a Book Day, the first lady had sent out a collection of 10 Dr. Seuss books to one school in each state across the nation. The titles included: The Cat in the Hat ; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ; Wacky Wednesday ; Green Eggs and Ham ; and Oh, the Places You ll Go! She followed in the footsteps of her predecessor, Michelle Obama, who often read Dr. Seuss books to children. Former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Barbara Bush also read to children at Dr. Seuss-themed educational events.Remember when Mooch read Seuss to a room full of kids at the White House? Hmmm was Mooch promoting racism? To turn the gesture of sending young students some books into something divisive is unfortunate. First lady Melania Trump s office I wanted to send you a special gift. Dr. Seuss s Oh, the Places You ll Go! is a book my son and I have read over and over again, and one that we want to share with all of you, the first lady wrote in her letter to students. Please also remember that you are the future of America and that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. But despite the gesture, Liz Phipps Soeiro, a librarian at a public school in Cambridge, wrote a letter to the first lady, which was then published on The Horn Book blog, notifying Mrs. Trump that her school would not be keeping the titles for their collection, explaining that her school didn t have a NEED for the books, due to her school and library s award-winning status. FOX News100 Percent Fed Up Soeiro on Tuesday penned an editorial for the Horn Book s Family Reading blog explaining why her school did not need the donation. My students have access to a school library with over nine thousand volumes and a librarian with a graduate degree in literary science, she wrote. Multiple studies show that schools with professionally staffed libraries improve student performance, Soeiro added.Trump s package reportedly included such Seuss classics as Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Soeiro criticized Seuss for being the only author represented in Trump s donation, citing controversy over some of his illustrations. You may not be aware of this, but Dr. Seuss is a bit of a clich , a tired and worn ambassador for children s literature, she told Trump. Another fact that many people are unaware of is that Dr. Seuss s illustrations are steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes. I work in a district that has plenty of resources, which contributes directly to excellence, Soeiro wrote. My students have access to a school library with over nine thousand volumes and a librarian with a graduate degree in library science. Soeiro went on to slam the White House and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for not gifting the books to underfunded and underprivileged communities, which she suggested continue to be marginalized by DeVos policies.But Soeiro seemed to be the most offended by the books themselves.Another FACT that many people are unaware that the HYPOCRITICAL and smug liberal librarian was seen CELEBRATING Dr. Seuss only 2 years ago:Here's D.C. librarian who rejected Melania's Dr. Seuss book donation ""steeped in racist propaganda"" as Cat in Hat. pic.twitter.com/pek3pT5q2W Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 29, 2017",0 "WikiLeaks: Israel Plans Total War on Lebanon, Gaza - The paper says that US cables quote Gen. Ashkenazi telling the US congressmen, ""I'm preparing the Israeli army for a major war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite.""",1 Israel protests have wide support: Benjamin Netanyahu could be in trouble.,1 "Twelve North African stowaways sent home after three-month ferry ordealCOPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Twelve North African migrant stowaways have been repatriated after being stuck on a ferry sailing back and forth between Turkey and Ukraine for three months, the ferry operator said on Wednesday. With neither Turkish nor Ukrainian authorities willing to accept the migrants, the men had been locked in their cabins while the ferry continued taking goods and passengers between Istanbul and Odessa. Denmark s DFDS, which owns and operates the ferry, said a special task force set up by the Danish Foreign Ministry helped find a diplomatic solution so the men could return home. Six of the men, who boarded the ferry hidden in trailers with goods from Turkey, were identified as Algerians and sent home on Oct. 29. The other six were on their way back to Morocco on Wednesday. The men had to be locked in guarded cabins because they had a tendency to be violent, a DFDS spokesman said. DFDS had invited authorities from the United Nations aboard to question the men, while the Danish Foreign Ministry held talks with Turkey, Ukraine and Lithuania, under whose flag the ferry was sailing, to resolve the situation. ",1 "US Air Force general in charge of 450 nuclear missiles fired for 'drunken bender' on official trip to Moscow. Report finds he offended Russian counterparts with comments on ""Eric Snowden,"" tried to repeatedly perform with a bar band, and drunkenly bragged that he ""saves the world from war every day""",1 " It’s Already Happening: DAPL Spews Oil From Multiple Leaks As Construction ContinuesOil leaks that pose catastrophic risks to the environment, people and water were the reason thousands of protesters risked their lives to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Millions of others around the world showed their support for the protesters and the rights of all people to have access to clean water and a healthy environment.Tragically, the fears of clean water activists around the world are already coming true. The Associated Press reports the Dakota Access Pipeline has already spilled oil onto American soil three separate times before it s even been fully constructed.According to the North Dakota Health Department, a leaky flange in a pipeline terminal spilled 84 gallons of oil on March 3, in Watford City. The spill was quickly contained and oil flow was stopped on site. According to the department, the contaminated soil and snow were removed and no waterways, people or wildlife were harmed.Two days later a leak of 20 gallons was reported in a rural area of Mercer County by the Federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Again, they stated that no waterways, people or wildlife were harmed.The incident report faults a manufacturing defect as the caused a valve failure and the subsequent leak, which was isolated by closing valves upstream and downstream. All other valves were later inspected and given the OK.Despite the ETP insisting that the pipeline is safe, several native Dakota tribes still fear the future environmental havoc of this 1,200-mile pipeline that will start commercial operation on June 1st.The Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Oglala Sioux and Yankton Tribes are still fighting to stop the pipeline from operating. They are currently working in court to convince a federal judge to shut it down.The pipeline leaked a third time on April 4th. Eighty-four gallons were spilled at a rural pump station in South Dakota. The SD Department of Environment and Natual Resources reported the spill to its online database but kept it quiet from the public. Apparently, the department s policy is to conduct a press release only if the spill threatens waterways or public health. In the fight to stop the DAPL, attorneys and local Tribal leaders are using these leaks as evidence that additional environmental reviews are necessary before it becomes fully operational. We have always said it is not a matter of if, but when, tribal attorney Jan Hasselman said after the South Dakota leak. Pipelines spill and leak. It s just a fact. ",0 Bedbug bait and trap invented by Simon Fraser University scientists,1 "Obama says will continue to try to affect change in SyriaBERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday said it would be naive to expect a 180-degree turn by Russia or Syrian President Bashar al Assad, but the United States and its allies would continue to try to affect change to end the deadly Syrian crisis. Obama spoke at a joint news conference after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ",1 Fracking Triggers 90% of Large Quakes in Western Canada,1 "The Irish Government has taken unprecedented action to deport a man it claims is Islamic State's ""main recruiter"" of extremists in the Republic.",1 "MUST WATCH: Trump Supporter Unleashes Truth On Fox Pundits: “Americans are tired of fighting other people for jobs!”Brunell Donald-Kyei: We want tougher immigration. To make sure that our borders are safe! That we are not fighting illegal aliens and refugees for jobs! Americans are tired of fighting other people for jobs! That frustration is real. That hurt is real. And for the pols and different people to dismiss that? It s not right! The most important issue to me is economics. Because the last eight years the economy the poor people of this nation have suffered. The middle class has suffered. And let me tell you something: The American people don t want to be dealing with a President going into office with all the baggage, with all the investigations that are going to be on top of Hillary Clinton.Our nation needs to heal. We want to heal. We want peace between the races. We want to make sure that our youth, whether they re white, black, Hispanic have jobs! We want to make sure that the Constitution is protected! Those are American issues! that has absolutely nothing to do with your race. That s to protect this nation! And we want tougher immigration. To make sure that our borders are safe! That we are not fighting illegal aliens and refugees for jobs! Americans are tired of fighting other people for jobs! That frustration is real. That hurt is real. And for the pols and different people to dismiss that? It s not right! TRUST US! YOU WILL LOVE THIS!Americas Sweetheart @brunelldonald jus took down Krauthammer Elitist Panel! Everything u need 2know on why Donald Trump NOT Hillary Clinton pic.twitter.com/tnKEXjWmSJ DEPLORABLE TRUMPCAT (@Darren32895836) October 26, 2016Via: GP",0 """... [W]e were told they had sent our children overseas and they would be visiting us every five years."" A group of parents in Sierra Leone has accused a charity of sending more than 30 children abroad for adoption without consent during the country\'s civil war.",0 "Moldova PM confident of securing EU funding in 2018CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova s Prime Minister Pavel Filip said on Monday he was confident of meeting all the conditions to get funding next year under a 100-million-euro ($117-million) agreement with the European Union. A reduction in red tape and better fiscal governance had already improved public finances, allowing it to get by without the EU cash this year, he told Reuters. The European Union agreed in June to provide 60 million euros in loans and 40 million euros of grants in 2017-18 to help the former Soviet republic to stabilize its economy and promote reform. One condition for receiving it was respect for democratic process and the rule of law, the EU added. Moldova this year introduced a new electoral law that the Venice Commission, a pan-European rights body, said could make the system more susceptible to undue influence by vested interests. Last week Filip said Moldova would receive no tranches this year, but he was more upbeat on 2018 in emailed comments to Reuters on Monday. The EU has a serious partner in Chisinau and we are eager for EU financing in 2018 - we are confident all conditions will be met, he said. What is important for us and our citizens is predictability, including on the EU flank. It s important not to see the MFA (macro-financial assistance) captive to political bickering at home or abroad. Moldova s economy grew 4.1 percent last year, recovering from a contraction of 0.4 percent in 2015 that was due in part to a Russian economic crisis that hit exports and remittances from Moldovans working there. Moldova is hopeful that funding will be available next year, while in the meantime, we signaled the obvious: that Moldova is in better shape and can settle its accounts for this year, Filip said. Europe s poorest country was rocked by a scandal in which the equivalent of an eighth of its gross domestic product was stolen from three of its largest banks between 2012 and 2014. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have forecast Moldova will grow 4-4.5 percent this year. ",1 DEMOCRATS CAUGHT Paying Halfway House Patients $300 To Vote For Hillary [VIDEO]A lawless party whose end always justifies the means Why wouldn t everyone want another lawless President residing over our nation from a party with no morals or respect for the laws of our nation?https://twitter.com/WDFx2EU7/status/792465012585406464,0 75% of Germans do not want to be chipped.,1 Muslims Torch and Loot 200 Hindu Homes in West Bengal.,0 Qaddafi Son Seif al-Islam Is Alive and Held by Rebels,1 "Reeling Republican establishment running out of time to stop TrumpMIAMI (Reuters) - When Senator Ted Cruz took the stage on Tuesday after winning the Republican nominating contest in his home state of Texas, he issued a call for the party to rally behind his presidential candidacy. That seems a long shot. Republican Party leaders came away from Super Tuesday - the 2016 presidential campaign’s biggest day of state-by-state nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election - without any clearer consensus about how to slow front-runner Donald Trump’s march to the nomination. They fear Trump’s divisive rhetoric - which includes calls to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country - will tarnish the party’s image and ensure Democrats hold on to the White House and possibly retake the Senate. The billionaire businessman won the largest number of Super Tuesday contests, taking seven states, but fell short of the 10 states some polls had predicted. Cruz won two, and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida notched his first win, in Minnesota. That made Cruz and Rubio unlikely to withdraw from the race before the next big nominating contest in two weeks. The same goes for Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has said he will continue his candidacy through his state’s primary on March 15. “So long as the field remains divided, Donald Trump’s path to the nomination remains more likely, and that would be a disaster for Republicans, for conservatives and for the nation,” Cruz said. Trump’s failure to win a clean sweep of the primary contests on Tuesday buys the establishment wing of the party time to intensify its counterattacks against the New York real estate mogul and political outsider. While they have yet to coalesce around a single strategy, anti-Trump Republicans have begun taking action. Club for Growth, a conservative advocacy group, claimed credit for slowing Trump in some primary states by running attack ads. “Donald Trump can be stopped,” said the group’s president, David McIntosh, in a statement. “And he must be, before he costs conservatives the White House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court.” The New York Times reported that several financial backers of the Republican Party organized a phone call on Tuesday to get funding for an anti-Trump effort. Helping lead the call were the hedge-fund manager Paul Singer, Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts, and Meg Whitman, the Hewlett-Packard Enterprise chief executive. The newspaper said it was unclear what kind of political offensive might emerge from those discussions. A recently launched political action committee dedicated to blasting Trump, Our Principles PAC, said it was ramping up fundraising and planned daily attacks against Trump before upcoming primaries in March. It said the campaign would focus on Trump’s business record and include a video where he declined in an interview to disavow former Ku Klux Klan official David Duke. Trump, who later rejected Duke’s support, said he had not clearly heard the interviewer’s question. On Capitol Hill, Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who will preside over the party’s nominating convention in July, made clear he disapproved of Trump’s rhetoric in comments that suggested he was not ready to welcome Trump into the establishment fold. “If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there must be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry,” Ryan, the party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, told reporters. Trump ratcheted up the tension during a news conference in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday night, warning Ryan he would pay “a big price” if he stood in Trump’s way. Despite the establishment’s distaste for Trump, there appears to be no consensus on the best way to stop him. “As long as both Cruz, Rubio and Kasich remain in the race, then Trump will continue to prevail in upcoming primary states and he will vacuum up the delegates while the vote splits among the remaining candidates,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican operative in Washington. Rubio and Kasich have set their sights on delegate-rich contests in the heavily populated states of Michigan, Florida, Ohio and Illinois later this month. More than 1,200 delegates are required by the party to secure its nomination. The goal for the remaining campaigns will be to keep Trump from amassing those delegates for as long as possible, with the hope that an increasing tide of criticism from the candidates, party leaders and political action committees will drain his support. But Bonjean said the party would have to find a way to thwart Trump before he walked away with the nomination. “The odds of stopping Trump are getting much lower with every state put away into his corner,” he said. (Editing by Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 "British PM Cameron stands by 'divisive, stupid and wrong' comment on Trump: spokesmanLONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron stands by his description of Donald Trump’s proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States as “divisive, stupid and wrong”, a spokesman said on Monday. Trump, when asked about Cameron’s criticism, said such comments indicate he is unlikely to have a good relationship with the British prime minister. “The prime minister has made his views on Donald Trump’s comments very clear. He disagrees with them,” the spokesman said. “He continues to believe that preventing Muslims from entering the U.S. is divisive, stupid and wrong. He stands by his comments.” Asked who Cameron would prefer to be the next president, the spokesman said he would not comment on another country’s election but said the British leader had been clear he would work with whoever won. “He is committed to maintaining the special relationship,” he said. The spokesman said no meeting or call between Cameron and Republican candidate Trump was currently planned, but if one were proposed the prime minister would consider it. ",1 "5-STAR MOOCH, HER TAXPAYER FUNDED MOM And Meryl Streep Travel To Africa To Discuss “Gender Inequality”One of the countries Mooch and her taxpayer funded mom and daughters will be visiting was devastated by Ebola less than two years ago. I m sure the first thing on their minds (after wondering where their next meal will come from or if they ll live past the age of 15 years) is gender inequality! Way to waste hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars that could be spent to help unemployed Americans find jobs or to improve the health care for veterans. Actresses Meryl Streep and Frieda Pinto are set to join First Lady Michelle Obama and First Daughters Sasha and Malia Obama for a trip to Liberia and Morocco in late June to promote the White House s Let Girls Learn female education initiative. The First Family who will also be joined by Obama s mother, Mrs. Marian Robinson will visit Margibi County, Liberia, Marrakech, Morroco and Madrid, Spain from June 27 July 1, according to a White House press release.Pinto, 31, perhaps best known for her role in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, will join Michelle Obama at a school in Unification Town in Liberia on June 27 to meet with young girls to discuss the obstacles they face in attaining an education. Pinto will moderate the discussion, and the pair will be joined by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.Obama is also scheduled to visit a Peace Corps training facility in Kakata while in Liberia.The following day, Streep will join Obama and Pinto in Morocco for a discussion centered on girls education moderated by CNN s Isha Sesay. On the final day of the trip, Obama will visit Madrid to deliver a speech highlighting the White House s Let Girls Learn initiative. The First Lady will also meet Queen Letizia while in Spain.According to a rough cost estimate of the trip conducted by the Daily Mail, the First Family s overseas visit could cost as much as $300,000 in taxpayer funds for airfare alone. The outlet reports that the First Lady s plane generally costs $11,684 per hour to operate; with roughly 25 hours of flight time scheduled, the airfare alone could come out to just under $300,000.The Mail notes that the First Lady s 2011 trip to Botswana and South Africa cost $424,142 in travel and plane crew fees.The three-country trip in late June could be Michelle Obama s final overseas trip as First Lady, as President Obama has just seven months left in office.Streep and Michelle Obama have teamed up to discuss gender equality before; in 2015, the pair gave a joint interview to More magazine in which the Oscar-winning actress said that women in America have not yet reached full equality with men.- BreitbartHas anyone else ever noticed how carefully Marian Robinson is covered up in all of the 5-star vacation photos that are taken by the mainstream media? It s almost as if they don t want the American taxpayer to see that we re footing the bill for her to accompany her greedy daughter and ungrateful grandchildren on their 5-star vacations. Can you spot Granny above? ",0 "European Union bans its own film on Afghan women in jail for ""moral crimes""",1 "Republicans unveil tax cut bill, but the hard work awaitsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Republicans unveiled long-delayed legislation on Thursday to deliver deep tax cuts that President Donald Trump has promised, setting off a frantic race in Congress to give him his first major legislative victory. The 429-page bill, representing what would be the largest overhaul of the U.S. tax system since the 1980s, called for slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, cutting tax rates on individuals and families and ending certain tax breaks for companies and individuals. Congressional passage of this legislation that would affect nearly every U.S. company and family was far from certain, and some business groups quickly came out against it. Contentious provisions will test Republicans, who control the White House and both chambers of Congress but have been unable to deliver any major legislative achievements for Trump since the businessman-turned-politician became president in January. A number of provisions would hit taxpayers in Democratic-leaning states hardest, like rolling back deductions for state and local taxes and cutting in half the popular mortgage interest deduction. The legislation, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, produces new advantages for rich Americans through lowered corporate taxes, phasing out the estate tax and dumping the alternative minimum tax. “This is a very important and special moment for our country, for all Americans. Are we going to let the defenders of the status quo win and see our country continue down this downward spiral?” Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan asked, despite data showing about eight straight years of economic growth. Meeting with Ryan and other key House Republicans, Trump told the lawmakers he was counting on them to maintain the momentum for tax cuts, and repeated his request that Congress send him the legislation to sign into law by the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 23. That is an ambitious timetable for such a long, multi-faceted piece of legislation that will face a ferocious lobbying battle among business sectors affected by the bill and fierce opposition from many Democrats. Trump called the bill an “important step” toward tax relief for Americans, adding in a statement, “We are just getting started, and there is much work left to do.” The bill presented by the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee would consolidate the current number of tax brackets to four from seven: 12 percent, 25 percent, 35 percent and 39.6 percent. An earlier Republican tax outline had called for cutting the top rate for the highest earners to 35 percent. The National Association of Home Builders blasted the legislation, saying it would damage home prices and punish homeowners in urban areas. “We’re concerned if enacted, this bill will throw us back into another housing recession,” Jerry Howard, the group’s president, said in an interview. The group said the provision in the bill capping the interest deduction for future home purchases at $500,000 - half the current amount - was unacceptable. Howard said 7 million homes are currently above $500,000 and in high-cost regions like Washington, D.C., New York City, California and Hawaii, the impact would be felt the most. The bill would repeal the existing deduction for state and local income and sales taxes, and would cap the deduction for state and local property taxes at $10,000. Those provisions would most affect Americans in higher-tax states such as California, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Illinois. The National Federation of Independent Business, the influential small business lobby, also came out against the bill, while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business lobby backed it. Ryan said the typical family of four would save $1,182 annually on taxes under the bill. With Democrats solidly opposed to legislation they see as a giveaway to corporations and the rich that would expand the federal deficit, Republicans can ill afford to lose many in their own ranks as they aim to pass the bill in the coming weeks. “Ultimately, what the American people really get from this tax plan is a huge bill for the debt incurred to pay for tax breaks that line the pockets of Donald Trump personally along with his billionaire buddies. Like a Trump University degree, it is phony,” said Democratic congressman Lloyd Doggett. The bill’s architects avoided one showdown by deciding not to make changes to the popular tax-deferred 401(k) retirement savings program. The bill would roughly double the standard deduction for individuals and families. But it would repeal a personal exemption of $4,050 that taxpayers can currently claim for themselves, their spouse and any dependents. The legislation would also phase out tax-exempt financing for sports stadiums and subject large private universities to 1.4-percent excise tax on investment income. It would also repeal a long standing prohibition on religious institutions being involved in political activities. The bill would create a new family tax credit and double exemptions for estate taxes on inherited assets, while also allowing small businesses to write off loan interest. The bill would cap the maximum tax rate on small businesses and other non-corporate enterprises at 25 percent, down from the present maximum rate on “pass-through” income of 39.6 percent. It would set standards for distinguishing between individual wage income and actual pass-through business income to prevent tax-avoidance abuse of the new, lower tax level. It would create a new 10-percent tax on U.S. companies’ high-profit foreign subsidiaries, calculated on a global basis, in a move to prevent companies from moving profits overseas. Foreign businesses operating in the United States would face a tax of up to 20 percent on payments they make overseas from their American operations. U.S. equities have rallied in 2017 to a series of record highs, partly on expectations of deep corporate tax cuts. Shares of U.S. homebuilders fell after the bill was released, with luxury homebuilders including Toll Brothers taking the biggest hit. As investors parsed its provisions, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up modestly and the S&P 500 was down slightly. Investors cautioned the tax plan was preliminary and it was too soon to gauge the effect on specific industries. [nL2N1N81IG] The Ways and Means Committee will begin formal consideration of the bill next week before the full House can vote on it. It also must pass the Senate, where Republicans hold a slimmer 52-48 majority and earlier this year failed to garner enough votes to approve a major healthcare overhaul sought by Trump. ",1 "US Official: N. Korea may be planning launch, It's unknown whether it would be a test or a strike.",1 "Obama says willing to work with Republican Speaker on povertyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he was willing to work with Republican Speaker Paul Ryan on reforms to address poverty, such as expanding the earned income tax cut (EITC). “I’d welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers without kids,” Obama said, according to prepared remarks for his State of the Union address. ",1 "OBAMA Made CHRISTIAN Pastor Pay For His Own Ticket Home After Iran Got Secret $1.7 Billion Ransom For His ReleaseJust when you thought there was nothing Barack Hussein Obama could do to shock you this Christian pastor s story is revealed. How much money does an American who spends 3 1/2 years in an Iranian prison leave with? Enough for a one-way ticket home to the U.S?Iranian president Hassan Rouhani spoke before the United Nations General Assembly Thursday despite protests from Iranian-Americans who feel Iran s human rights situation has worsened after sanctions were modified earlier this year.Pastor Saeed Abedini, one of four American hostages released from Iran in January, shared his disbelief of Rouhani s annual speech during an interview with FOX Business Network s Trish Regan. I was just telling people that imagine leader of ISIS come to the United States after 30 years of all the executions that they did and leaders of the world shaking his hand. It s unbelievable, Abedini said.Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who spent three-and-a-half years in Iranian prisons before being released in January, claims that the United States government wouldn t pay for a return flight home even though his family faced serious financial issues.Abedini said he and other hostages were left to fend for themselves after flying from Iran to Germany when they were released after the Obama Administration s $400 million payment to Iran.The United States sent Iran $400 million in debt plus $1.3 billion in interest, and the money was disbursed as a ransom payment for four American hostages of the Islamic regime, a top Iranian commander said Wednesday afternoon. Therefore, the U.S. paid the Iranian regime $425 million dollars per American hostage, according to the commander.After spending a few days in a hospital in Germany, Adedini was surprised to hear that he needed to buy his own plane ticket home. We were actually all shocked because I came out; I just had prison clothes and [they] just told us you need to buy your own ticket. Abedini said he was physically and psychologically tortured in the Iranian prison to the point where his stomach was bleeding for months from all the beatings. The whole last three to five years that I was there, it was just torturing, it was so hard, Abiding said. Via: Downtrend",0 " Trump Supporters At ‘Mother Of All Rallies’ MASSIVELY Outnumbered By Marching JuggalosSaturday, September 16th, 2017 will surely go down as the strangest day for rallies in our nation s capital since at least January, when millions of invisible people attended Donald Trump s inauguration ceremony.Two different gatherings are taking place, quartered in different sections of the National Mall, but surely visible to one another: Trump supporters have come together to put on what they re calling the Mother of all Rallies, with expected attendance undoubtedly in the zillions, and a rally with an actual purpose is also taking place. Juggalos, or fans of the band Insane Clown Posse, are in D.C. to protest what they call an unfair label from the FBI and Department of Justice classifying them as a loosely organized hybrid gang. It s clear which group has the more ardent supporters, and it isn t the one I m calling (for the purposes of this piece) the Trumpettes. Donald Trump is known for his loyalty demands, but I m not sure he s ever met a Juggalo, because they showed up today:WASHINGTON, DC SEPTEMBER 16: People gather for a rally during the Juggalo March at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, September 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)That s the Juggalos showing up. The Juggalo March, at the time of this writing, is just getting underway.This, on the other hand, is the majority of the Trump rally happening just across the way:WASHINGTON, DC SEPTEMBER 16: Pro-Trump security forces try to keep people away on the National Mall on September 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)You ll note from the captions that these two photos are both by Getty photographer Tasos Katopodis. The Trump rally began, according to the Facebook event page, at 11 AM EDT, while the Juggalo March wasn t scheduled until 2 PM Eastern.The Trumpette organizers have tried to distance themselves from the white supremacists that organized the Charlottesville, Boston, and Portland rallies held in the name of free speech. Unfortunately for them, they don t seem to realize that the majority of people who show up at those rallies don t care who the president is, they just want to be allowed to shout racial slurs again without fear of public reprisal.Reaction to the stark difference in attendance was widespread:""The Juggalos outnumber the white supremacists at the Lincoln Memorial today."" is not a sentence I ever thought I'd write. Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) September 16, 2017Someday the Battle of Juggalos vs Trump supporters will be in a Ken Burns documentary.""My dearest Martha, whoop whoop.""#JuggaloMarch #MOAR pic.twitter.com/oHLV2rUiM1 Edmund Hanlon (@EdmundHanlon) September 16, 2017There are more Juggalos marching today against Trump than pro-Trump folks marching in their ""Mother of All Rallies"". ?#JuggaloMarch #MOAR Charles Clymer? ? (@cmclymer) September 16, 2017And in what must be a crushing blow to the Trumpettes, the Juggalos have Antifa, the other side that Trump cannot stop dreaming about every night, there in solidarity. Not being violent, not pepper spraying anyone, just together to show the love:Antifascist contingent in solidarity with Juggalos at DC march against FBI gang classification pic.twitter.com/RZTbmCFaM9 Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) September 16, 2017The Juggalos give a big ""whoop whoop"" to ""hating Confederate monuments."" Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 16, 2017Welcome to 2017, everyone.Featured image via Al Drago/Getty Images",0 "Greek island on strike in protest against becoming migrant 'prison'ATHENS (Reuters) - Residents on the Greek island of Lesbos went on strike on Monday to protest against European policies they say have turned it into a prison for migrants and refugees. Islanders shut businesses, shops, municipal offices, nurseries and pharmacies and dozens rallied on a central square, calling on the government to transfer asylum-seekers to the mainland. Lesbos is not a place of exile, a banner read. Just a few miles from Turkey s coast, Lesbos has borne the brunt of Europe s migrant crisis. In 2015, nearly a million people - most fleeing Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - landed on its shores before heading north, mainly to Germany. It is now hosting some 8,500 asylum-seekers in facilities designed to hold fewer than 3,000. Lesbos is not an open prison, nor will we allow anyone to view it as such, Mayor Spyros Galinos was quoted as saying by the Athens News Agency. Thousands of asylum-seekers have become stranded on Lesbos and four other islands close to Turkey since the EU agreed a deal with Ankara in March 2016 to shut down the route through Greece. Some have been moved to camps on the mainland, but authorities say the terms of the agreement prevent asylum-seekers from traveling beyond the islands. Rights groups have described conditions in camps across Greece as deplorable and unfit for humans. On Lesbos, violence often breaks out over delays in asylum procedures and poor living standards. The message (today) was that we can t take it any more, Galinos said. Lesbos is in a state of emergency. ",1 "Britain says chances of resolving Northern Ireland impasse 'not positive'LONDON (Reuters) - The chances of Northern Ireland s political parties restoring a power-sharing agreement in Northern Ireland are not positive and talks in the last few days have stalled, Britain s minister for the region said on Wednesday. If I had given evidence to this committee last week I might have indicated some momentum, more progress. That progress stalled at the end of last week, James Brokenshire told a parliamentary committee. Unless there is a renewed spirit of compromise then the outlook for imminent resolution is not positive. Time is running out. (This story has been refiled to remove extraneous word from headline) ",1 """Nearly half of Britons would vote in a referendum to leave the European Union and less than a third to stay in, according to a poll highlighting divisions facing Prime Minister David Cameron.""",1 Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts,1 " The last work of New York Times' Sultan Munadi, abducted by Taliban, killed in the Nato-led raid that freed his British Colleague.\n\t",1 "Ukraines Security Service Takes Down 30,000 Websites to Fight Pro-Russian Propaganda Global Voices",0 Ukraine Tracks Protesters Through Cellphones,0 American Psychological Association Collaborated on Torture Justification Post 9/11,0 "For years, Dutch law enforcement officials have been listening in on conversations between lawyers and their clients. The prosecutors office itself now wants to put an end to the practice.",1 AWESOME! HISPANIC TRUMP SUPPORTER Rips Into Pro-Sanctuary City Officials: “I’m a hard core TRUMP supporter” [Video] ,0 Hugo Chavez says U.S. is using earthquake as pretext for occupying Haiti,0 " Snowflake Alert: Kellyanne Conway Says Anderson Cooper Is Sexist Because He Rolled His Eyes (VIDEO)White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is offended because CNN s Anderson Cooper rolled his eyes during an interview with her. Who are the snowflakes again? During an interview on Wednesday Conway thought Cooper was being a big ol meanie over Trump s bizarre timing in firing FBI Director James Comey.Cooper had had it with her lies. He eventually just rolled his eyes and that moment circulated around the Internet and gifs were made. Conway has, after all, been called out on her lies before.On Thursday, Conway appeared on Fox & Friends and accused Cooper of sexism for rolling his eyes during the interview. I face sexism a lot of times when I show up for interviews like that, Conway said.Watch:WATCH: @KellyannePolls reacts to Anderson Cooper's eyeroll pic.twitter.com/NUa0EftToi FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 11, 2017Cooper played clips of Donald Trump praising Comey, then Conway defended her boss. Her desperate defense prompted an eye roll from the CNN host.Conway said, You are conflating two things that don t belong together. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was on your show often last fall, [wink], saying we were going to win Michigan and how we were going to do it, and that s when Cooper rolled his eyes.Conway suggested that she was the victim of an eye roll because she works for a Republican. Could you imagine having a male anchor on the network roll eyes at Hillary Clinton, at somebody a female representative spokeswoman for President Obama or President Bill Clinton? I think not, she said. Hillary Clinton is in search of sexism as a lame excuse for why her disastrous candidacy and campaign lost six months ago, the propagandist added. I face sexism a lot of times when I show up for interviews like that. Right, so Hillary never faced sexism during the campaign, according to Ms. Liar Pants. Trump that Bitch was a favorite slogan with Trump supporters. Or how about that time Trump tweeted (then deleted) that If Hillary Clinton can t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America? Blaming a woman for her husband s infidelity is sexist, by the way.Image of the Snowflake via screen capture. ",0 "Iran protester's death 'hijacked by regime' Saane Zhaleh, who was killed in clashes between protesters and security forces, is being falsely described as a pro-government militia member, according to his family",1 "China's Xi says will support Interpol raising its profileBEIJING (Reuters) - China will support Interpol, raising the profile and leadership of the global police cooperation agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday at the opening of Interpol s general assembly in Beijing, state media reported. Last year, Interpol elected a senior Chinese public security official, Vice Public Security Minister Meng Hongwei, as its president, prompting rights groups to ask whether Beijing could try and use the position to go after dissidents abroad. Xi said China s stability was just as much its contribution to the world as its economic development, and that it firmly supported the international struggle against terrorism. China highly commends Interpol s efforts to protect the world s security and stability, and will continue to support Interpol to play an even more important role in global security governance, the official Xinhua news agency cited Xi as saying. Beijing has tried for many years to enlist the help of foreign countries to arrest and deport back to China suspected wanted for crimes including corruption and terrorism Such requests have met resistance, particularly from Western countries where there have been concerns over whether evidence submitted by China met acceptable standards for Western courts. There were also worries that suspects might be mistreated and would not get a fair trial in China, and that allegations could be politically motivated. In cross-border law-enforcement cooperation, Xi said, the laws of each country must be respected equally without double standards . China s Public Security Minister, Guo Shengkun, told the assembly that China hoped to use international police cooperation to strengthen its defense against the threat of militants returning from abroad to join groups like the East Turkistan Islamic Movement. Rights groups have criticized China for misusing Interpol s red notice system to target exiled Uighurs from Xinjiang, accusing them of terrorism, including Dolkun Isa, the general secretary of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress. Interpol Secretary-General Juergen Stock, a German national, said the organization had significantly increased vetting of red notice requests from all 190 member countries and last year 99 per cent complied with Interpol s internal regulations. Stock reiterated that red notices were not international arrest warrants but rather an alert system that enabled member countries to decide whether to take action on the basis of their own legal assessment and situation . ",1 "Oil companies complicit in Sudan civil war, report alleges. ""A recent report by a group of NGOs alleges that an oil consortium led by Swedish firm Lundin Petroleum may have been complicit in 'war crimes and crimes against humanity' in Sudan.""",1 "US Senate may vote this week to add penalties for sex traffic sites -sourcesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate may vote as soon as Tuesday on a bipartisan proposal that would make it easier to penalize operators of websites that facilitate online sex trafficking, according to four sources familiar with the matter. Allowing a vote on the legislation would deal a major blow to the U.S. technology industry, which has vigorously opposed the measure, saying it would thwart digital innovation and lead to endless litigation. The proposed law was prompted in part by frustrations over failed attempts to shut down the website backpage.com, which many law enforcement officials have accused of facilitating the exploitation of especially women and children to perform sexual services against their will. The company has long denied the allegations. The Senate is expected to pass an annual defense policy spending bill this week, a process that will include consideration of amendments, some of which have yet to be publicly disclosed. Among the amendments being considered is the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which would change a section of a decades-old law that shields companies such as Facebook Inc, Amazon Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google from liability for content posted by their users, according to a Senate aide and three technology industry sources. The sources, who requested anonymity to discuss ongoing private conversations, cautioned on Monday that the situation was fluid and the Republican Senate leadership might decide against allowing a vote on the amendment. But they also said it was likely to pass if there was a vote, a possibility that has alarmed internet companies. The underlying defense bill is considered must-pass legislation but would need to be reconciled with the House of Representatives and signed by President Donald Trump before becoming law. Republican Senator Rob Portman introduced the online trafficking bill in August and has gained support from more than a fourth of the Senate. Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Portman, declined to comment, saying only that the senator was focused on building more support for the measure. The legislation would allow state attorneys general and victims of sex trafficking to pursue legal action against social media networks, advertisers and others who fail to keep exploitative material off their platforms. Technology companies say the changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act would impose impossible demands on online publishers and quash innovation. But some lawmakers and attorneys have argued that the statute has been too broadly interpreted to give companies too much leeway in avoiding responsibility for harmful content. ",1 A snail once thought to have been among the first species to go extinct because of climate change has reappeared in the wild.,1 Japan doubles Fukushima radiation leak estimate,0 "Saudi king receives ex-Lebanon PM Hariri in RiyadhRIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi King Salman received former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in Riyadh on Monday following his resignation, Saudi media reported. Hariri announced his resignation on Saturday from Riyadh, saying he believed there was an assassination plot against him and accusing Iran, Saudi Arabia s arch-rival, and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world. King Salman met the resigned Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri a short while ago, a presenter on Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television said. Hariri s resignation toppled a coalition government that included Shi ite Muslim group Hezbollah, thrusting Lebanon back into the frontline of the Saudi-Iranian regional rivalry and risking an open-ended political crisis. State news agency SPA carried pictures of Hariri and King Salman greeting each other and then sitting together in a palatial setting. Hariri s surprise resignation in a televised speech aired on al-Arabiya TV had drawn criticism and was met with controversy in Beirut. Some have even questioned whether Hariri s resignation was voluntary. Lebanese Justice Minister Salim Jreissati said on Monday that Lebanon s president would not take any steps regarding Hariri s resignation before Hariri returns from abroad, stressing that the resignation must be voluntary. President Michel Aoun said earlier on Monday that political leaders had been responsive to calls for calm, strengthening security and national unity after Hariri s shock resignation. ",1 " Trump BEGGED This Singer To Perform At His Inauguration, So She Told Him To Go F*ck Himself (TWEETS)Donald Trump s inauguration festivities aren t looking too spiffy. Having been turned down by Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Elton John, Garth Brooks, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Aretha Franklin, KISS, Davis Foster, The Chainsmokers, and more, Trump s main draws are a 16-year-old reality show contestant and the marching band from the most racist high school in Louisiana as well as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and whichever Rockettes show up. In fact, that s pretty much it for Trump s celebration of his kinda-sorta victory.But that hasn t stopped Trump from trying to find someone anyone to perform at what is shaping up to be a shitshow of epic proportions. Apparently, he had his staff reach out to singer/songwriter Charlotte Church and her answer extended well beyond the simple no, I don t think so Trump has become accustomed to receiving from pretty much anyone he has asked. Your staff have asked me to sing at your inauguration, a simple Internet search would show I think you re a tyrant, Church said. Bye. She followed this message up with a bunch of poop emojis:@realDonaldTrump Your staff have asked me to sing at your inauguration, a simple Internet search would show I think you're a tyrant. Bye???? Charlotte Church (@charlottechurch) January 10, 2017While Trump s people will likely scream about her rudeness, they really should have known the answer. Last year, Church told the New Statesman that she would refuse an invitation to meet Trump because he is such a tool. Mind you, I sang at George Bush s inauguration. Not everyone has flat-out refused. Trump s good friend and favorite entertainer Alec Baldwin has graciously agreed if he can sing AC/DC s Highway to Hell and reality show contestant Rebecca Ferguson says she ll do it if she can sing a 1939 protest song about lynching.At this point, we re just going to have to hope that racist high school marching band is talented if we re going to get any decent entertainment. But, hey, at least we can have a laugh, right?Did a quick Google to check Charlotte Church's recent comments. This result was enormously confusing pic.twitter.com/iB9DirnInn Neil Alcock (@IncredibleSuit) January 10, 2017Featured image via Getty Images/Dan Kirtwood",0 " Oath Keeper Leader: If You ‘Waco’ The Bundy Militia, There Will Be ‘Bloody, Brutal Civil War’The occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Reserve in Harney County, Oregon, has now reached the two week mark, and there are no signs of a coming resolution. Many people want this over and done with, especially those whose lives have been disrupted by the presence of Cliven Bundy s sons and a bunch of other pathetic wannabe patriots. Well now, the founder of another militia group, the Oath Keepers, has a message for the authorities who are monitoring the situation.Stewart Rhodes uploaded his warning message to the group s website, and insisted that the government better watch out because there will never again be a free Waco, and if they aren t careful there will be a conflagration so great, it cannot be stopped, leading to a bloody, brutal civil war. While Rhodes and his group are deliberately staying out of the Bundy situation, his message was no less threatening. In the piece, entitled Warning to U.S. Military and Federal LEOs: Do Not Follow Orders to Waco Ammon Bundy Occupation, or Risk Civil War, Rhodes said: This situation (Oregon occupation) must not be handled in a military or paramilitary fashion, using military assets, military rules of engagement, or otherwise attempting to end it suddenly by use of dynamic assault, resulting in catastrophic loss of life, as has occurred twice in recent American history, with horrific results (at Ruby Ridge in 1992, and at Waco Texas in 1993). If you do it Waco style here, you risk pushing this nation over the edge into a civil war, because there are no more free Wacos. This is precisely why, frustrating as it is, these people are still being allowed to occupy this space unlawfully. The authorities have already suggested that another Waco is exactly what these idiots want. Rhodes went on to say: Despite that reality of there being no emergency here, we have very good reason to believe that ideologue leftist bureaucrats within the Obama Administration such as within the D.O.J., and their politically minded perfumed prince puppets within the D.O.D. are pressuring you to prepare to use military assets and military rules of engagement to conduct a dynamic raid. We hear things. We ll just leave it at that. After this warning, Rhodes went on to attack the Obama Administration, as well as President Obama, himself. We agree, and therefore we warn you to do this right, no matter what the Obama Admin overlords try to demand. Do it right, or risk starting a conflagration so great, it cannot be stopped, leading to a bloody, brutal civil war. And do it right, because it is your duty to refuse those orders, under your oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And that includes the domestic enemies now occupying Washington D.C. Your brothers in heaven are watching. Do the right thing. Stand down, and refuse to obey evil, ghoulish sociopaths who salivate at the prospect of watching Americans die on camera, like they watched during Benghazi, he stated. Tell them that if they want American patriot blood, they need to strap on a plate carrier, chest rig, and an M-4 and go do it themselves. That s what these numbskulls don t get. These people are not patriots. They are criminals. This occupation cannot go on forever. Something will have to be done. While it is understandable that no one wants to see bloodshed, this cannot continue indefinitely.Then again, the Oath Keepers are a fringe group of lunatics much like these Bundy idiots, only much more organized, which also makes them more dangerous. Hopefully, the authorities aren t listening to a word they have to say, and will move to get these yahoos out of that wildlife refuge so that the local residents can get back to living their lives.Featured image via screen capture from Raw Story",0 "AS ISIS HAS CELEBRATORY PARADE IN W. ANBAR PROVINCE OF IRAQ: Pathetic Obama Regime Asks Networks To Stop Using “B-loop” ISIS FootageA Pentagon spokesman claims it s more like One Toyota speeding down the road by itself at night with its headlights off. Um Unless I m mistaken Barry, I see more than one Toyota Really? Because just the other day ISIS rolled into the W. Anbar province and actually held a parade to celebrate their victory. All of this pomp and circumstance took place in a country where Obama pulled our troops and declared he ended the war in Iraq. Here is Barack Hussein Obama bragging about ending the war in Iraq and then wonders aloud to the press why they keep asking him about pulling out of Iraq like as if it was my decision. Here is President George W. Bush in 2007 warning that if we pulled out of Iraq on a whim before our commanders told us we were ready, it would be dangerous and warned about mass killings on a horrific scale. https://youtu.be/6ZkExYK_YWkInstead of fighting a war in Iraq, Obama and his regime are busy crafting a lie about the strength of ISIS and openly demanding that our state-run media comply with his propaganda. And now: Frustrated that coverage of the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant isn t reflecting reality on the ground, senior Obama administration officials are urging television networks to update their footage of the radical militant group.Senior State Department and Pentagon officials have begun contacting television network reporters to ask them to stop using B-roll stock footage that appears on screen while reporters and commentators talk showing ISIL at the peak of its strength last summer. We are urging broadcasters to avoid using the familiar B-roll that we ve all seen before, file footage of ISIL convoys operating in broad daylight, moving in large formations with guns out, looking to wreak havoc, said Emily Horne, spokeswoman for retired Gen. John Allen, the State Department s special envoy leading the international coalition against ISIL. It s inaccurate that s no longer how ISIL moves, Horne said. A lot of that footage is from last summer before we began tactical strikes. The effort is ad hoc for now, with U.S. officials approaching correspondents from several networks in informal settings. Representatives from CNN, NBC, Fox, or ABC did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A source at CBS said they hadn t heard from the administration yet regarding their footage. Since the U.S. began conducting air strikes against ISIL positions and convoys last August, America and its allies have dropped thousands of bombs against the group in Iraq and Syria. U.S. officials say ISIL fighters can no longer congregate in daylight or move in large convoys that are easily spotted and struck from above.A more accurate image, said Col. Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, would be one Toyota speeding down the road by itself at night with its headlights off. Via: Politico",0 "UPDATE: JUDGE REJECTS STATE DEPARTMENT PUSH FOR JANUARY 2016 RELEASE OF CLINTON E-MAILS A federal judge REJECTED the State Department s request of a JANUARY 2016 (right before the IOWA primary) release of Hillary Clinton s e-mails in one big batch. U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras (Obama appointee) announced Tuesday his plans to order a rolling production of the emails just hours after the State Department proposed that it not be required to make the records public until January 2016, a lawyer involved said.ORIGINAL POST:In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed this year, the State Department said that reviewing 55,000 pages of exchanges from Mrs. Clinton s private email account would be labor-intensive and time-consuming.Noting the considerable public interest in the emails, the department is endeavoring to complete the review and production of them as expeditiously as possible, said John F. Hackett, acting director of the Office of Information Programs and Services at the State Department. The collection is, however, voluminous and, due to the breadth of topics, the nature of the communications, and the interests of several agencies, presents several challenges. The State Department is proposing a date of Jan. 15, 2016, for releasing the emails.The department is dividing the material into small batches, with plans to review about 1,000 emails a week. In addition to the State Department s Freedom of Information Act office, subject-matter experts within the department will review the emails before their release, as will other government agencies when relevant, including the Defense Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council. Currently, this project is staffed full time by a project manager and two case analysts, as well as nine FOIA reviewers who devote the entirety of their time at the State Department to this effort, plus other analysts and information technology specialists who provide collateral assistance to this review in addition to their regular duties, the filing stated. The team managing this project has met daily since early April to implement and oversee this large undertaking. Read more: PoliticoRead more: NYT",0 "[VIDEO] #BlackLivesMatter Terrorists Storm Dartmouth Library, Threaten Students: ‘F*ck You, You Filthy White F*cks!’They were probably just looking for a safe space to study Protesters at Dartmouth University disrupted students studying in the library, reportedly directing profanity towards white students and physically pushing others.In a critical editorial, the conservative Dartmouth Review listed some of the epithets hurled by the protesters: Fuck you, you filthy white fucks! F*ck you and your comfort! F*ck you, you racist shits! In addition, the Review reports that some of protesters became physically violent: Men and women alike were pushed and shoved by the group. If we can t have it, shut it down! they cried. Another woman was pinned to a wall by protesters who unleashed their insults, shouting filthy white bitch! in her face. Campus Reform managed to obtain video showing the protesters walking through the library shouting as others try to study. One of the protesters can be seen flipping off the cameraman. Another gets in the face of those who are studying demanding they say that black lives matter.One of the protesters posted online, saying they were ashamed of what the protest turned into. After making a girl cry, a protester screamed Fuck your white tears, he reports. I was startled by the aggression from a small minority of students towards students in the library, many of whom were supporters of the movement. Watch above, via Campus Reform. Via: Mediaite ",0 "FORMER ANTI-TRUMP ACTOR Calls Out The Left: ‘F–k You’ If You Want Trump to Fail [Video]Now here s a Hollywood actor who lives in reality While the left is still delusional about the Trump win last November, Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad just ranted about those who want Trump to fail It s Great! Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston, notably outspoken against then-candidate Donald Trump, recently changed his tone, calling out those who don t support the current president. President Trump is not the person who I wanted to be in that office, and I ve been very open about that, Cranston said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on Monday. That being said, he is the president. If he fails, the country is in jeopardy. It would be egotistical for anyone to say, I hope he fails, Cranston said. To that person I would say, f k you. Why would you want that? So you can be right? The actor, currently promoting Vietnam War-era movie Last Flag Flying, said he doesn t want Trump to fail. I don t want him to fail, Cranston argued. I want him to succeed. I do. I honestly do.If Trump fails, then America fails too! Tax reform and pro-growth should be what all Americans want Right?The actor s comments mark an abrupt change from previous remarks he made about the president before he was elected. In October 2016, Cranston said he would move to Canada if Trump were elected to office:Fox News reported: Bryan Cranston says he ll leave the United States and move to Canada if Donald Trump is elected president.During an interview Sunday with The Bestseller Experiment podcast, Cranston was asked if he would leave the country and take and extended vacation to Vancouver if Trump defeats Hillary Clinton. Absolutely. I would definitely move. It s not real to me that that would happen. I hope to God it won t, Cranston said. It wouldn t be a vacation. I d be an expatriate. However, in the interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cranston said regardless of political affiliations, he ll support anyone with a good idea. If you ve got a good idea that helps the country, oh man, I m gonna support you, Cranston said. I don t care if you re a Republican and I m a Democrat or whatever, I don t care. He added: We ve got to get away from this idea that our country is a political football, and someone with a different opinion is the enemy. Assume they love this country as much as you do, and there s always room for improvement. How can we make it better? WE SAY AMEN TO THAT!Read more: NYP Page Six ",0 "Palestinian mob throws eggs and shoes at the vehicle French Foreign Minister's car. ""They were angered by a demand made by Alliot-Marie that Hamas leadership let Red Cross representatives visit kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who holds dual Israeli and French citizenship.""",1 " Instead Of The Middle East, Trump Sent His Terrorism Taskforce To The Midwest; Why?Donald Trump has no real platform other than be afraid, be very afraid. In Trump s imaginary world, we are all about to be wiped out by terrorists, but not the gun toting right-wing Trump follower type. No, we re all about to be killed by green card holding people from countries from the Middle East, but not actually from the countries that have ever attacked us. Earlier in the week, Trump s Press Secretary said this: I don t think it should be any surprise that the president, when it comes to rooting out radical Islamic terrorism, which is what that initially was supposed to be focused on, he is going to make sure that that is a major focus of his keeping this country safe, Spicer said.Source: OPBIf that s the case, then why the hell is the FBI terrorism task force worried about some peaceful protesters in the Midwest?The Guardian reports that the Trump administration has its FBI terrorism task force harassing people who are protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, instead of working to protect the lives of, you know, the American people. Instead, Trump seems to be redefining the word terrorism to fit anyone who interferes with his corporate or personal agenda. In this case, it s people who might interfere with oil company profits. The idea that the government would attempt to construe this indigenous-led non-violent movement into some kind of domestic terrorism investigation is unfathomable to me, said Lauren Regan, a civil rights attorney who has provided legal support to demonstrators who were contacted by representatives of the FBI. It s outrageous, it s unwarranted and it s unconstitutional. Source: The GuardianNot only is this about enriching his buddies, but there is apparently a direct conflict of interest.Trump, a former investor in Energy Transfer Partners, the Texas-based firm behind the pipeline, took executive action in his first week in office to expedite the project. On Wednesday, workers began drilling to complete the pipeline across the Missouri river.There is so much that s disconcerting about this. Three days after a right-wing Trump supporting actual terrorist shot up a mosque in Canada, Trump removed any mention of right-wing terrorism from the website. Instead, he said he wanted to focus strictly on Islamic terrorism. So where exactly do protesters in the Midwest, many of whom are Native American fit in? It s simple, they don t. Trump is creating a new police state. We are either with him or against him and if we are against him, well, we too could be called terrorists. Oh, and did I mention that he wants to torture terror suspects?Featured image via Mario Tama/Getty Images.",0 "Maine governor rejects latest budget deal, ready for shutdown(Reuters) - Maine Governor Paul LePage said on Friday he would reject the latest budget deal by a bipartisan group of legislators, warning that most of the state government would shut down without more spending cuts. The second-term Republican said repeatedly this week that he would be ready to close down non-essential government services as the July 4 holiday weekend starts if the lawmakers cannot agree on a $7.055 billion two-year budget that would require no new taxes. The deal reached late on Thursday called for $7.1 billion in spending. “I’m out of ink,” LePage told reporters in the state capital of Augusta. “There will not be a signature on a budget that increases taxes.” The full legislature was due to vote on Friday, the day after a six-member bipartisan budget committee reached a deal that would repeal a measure that voters approved in November to impose an additional 3 percent income tax on state residents who earn more than $200,000 a year. The proposed budget also increases public education funding by $162 million. The leaders of Maine’s Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and Republican-controlled Senate supported the measure, but it was unclear if they could garner the two-thirds support needed for passage. Even if they do, state law gives the governor 10 days to respond to any budget passed by the legislature. LePage said on Friday that he was ready to wait that long before vetoing any budget that raises taxes. Most of the government would shut during that time. Without a shutdown, “I lose all my leverage for negotiation for the next 10 days,” LePage said, adding that he did not think lawmakers could reach a budget deal on Friday that he would accept. State police, parks and all offices responsible for collecting revenue would continue to operate during a shutdown, LePage has said. The state’s Democratic House speaker urged lawmakers to back the budget deal. “In a divided government, compromise is the only option,” Speaker Sara Gideon said in a statement. A Maine advocacy group sued the state in federal court on Thursday, seeking an order that would ensure that public assistance payments continue uninterrupted to the 450,000 people, about one in three residents, who receive them. In 1991 Maine’s government shut down for several weeks due to a budget impasse, and lawmakers reached a deal only after furloughed state workers picketed the capitol. ",1 "In hard-bitten rural South Carolina, many minds made up for ClintonDENMARK, South Carolina (Reuters) - Betty Odom-Bell, a 47-year-old entrepreneur, took a financial risk last year when she opened a restaurant in Denmark, a small town in the middle of a deeply depressed part of rural South Carolina. So when Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton visited Denmark earlier this month promising to transform the region into a “Corridor of Opportunity,” Odom-Bell felt reassured. “It’s almost like we’re a forgotten town,” she said, describing her surprise at Clinton’s visit to the town of 3,500. “With her, there’s a connection. I don’t have that with Bernie,” she said, referring to Clinton rival Bernie Sanders. Clinton is poised to win big over the U.S. senator from Vermont in South Carolina’s primary contest on Saturday, in part because of her outsized support among the state’s rural black poor - a bloc that Sanders has struggled to impress. Interviews with residents in Bamberg and Allendale counties show her appeal is not just about the differences in her social policies, or her widespread name recognition. It also results from her up-close campaigning style. Over the past several weeks, she has stumped in parts of the state that are off the beaten-path, reinforcing connections with audiences that stretch back decades, and peppering her speeches with the names of local leaders. Sanders in contrast, has focused his visits on South Carolina’s big cities and universities, rallying large audiences with his self-styled Democratic socialist platform, while relying heavily on surrogates to do his work elsewhere. Plans offered by Sanders to address wealth inequality and improve access to education and healthcare have attracted interest, but many complain they do not feel they know him well enough to vote for him. “Both of them are good candidates, but I’m leaning Hillary,” said Marion Roberts, a 65-year-old retiree having coffee at a fast food restaurant on Allendale’s main street, where many storefronts are shuttered. “Sanders talks good, but I know more about her.” Allendale County’s 10,000 residents are nearly three-fourths black, and its unemployment rate, at about 9 percent, is nearly double the national average. About a third of the county’s population lives below the poverty line, making it fertile ground for candidates shopping progressive social policies. Clinton’s campaign has said South Carolina will act as an early “firewall” against Sanders, who beat her in New Hampshire’s primary and posted strong showings in Iowa and Nevada, but is expected to do worse as the race shifts south. Nationwide, Sanders has built on his popularity with young and liberal voters to narrow the race to a statistical dead heat. But Clinton still holds a massive 40 percentage point advantage among black Democrats, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Clinton’s advantage results in part from her husband Bill Clinton’s outreach to black voters during his presidency. Some voters also like that Hillary Clinton has promised to build on President Barack Obama’s agenda. Allendale City Mayor Ronnie Jackson, for example, says he is backing Clinton in part because Allendale, a town of about 3,800, depends on money under an Obama administration stimulus program for impoverished communities. He hopes Clinton would continue the support. “That’s the only way we can survive,” he said. But he also points to differences in the way she and Sanders have campaigned. Sanders supporters have contacted him repeatedly by phone, he said, but he saw Clinton in the flesh at Denmark town hall on Feb. 12, just half an hour away. Over the summer, Clinton also hosted a listening session for local leaders, many from rural areas, and she recently won the endorsement of U.S. congressman Jim Clyburn, the only South Carolina Democrat in the House of Representatives. Sanders, meanwhile, has touted his college civil rights activism, met with black civil rights leaders and hosted an event at a historically black college. Some of those efforts have shown signs of success among young blacks. But his campaigning in rural areas has been mainly by proxy - including a visit on Monday to Allendale by campaigners organized by National Nurses United. Sanders himself moved on to other states in the run up to Saturday’s primary, while Clinton continued to campaign daily there. James Fitts, an 80-year-old Allendale resident, said he likes Clinton’s approach. “She’s been in it a long time.” (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Steve Orlofsky) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 U.S. Sending Team To Help With Search For Abducted Nigerian Girls,1 "BREAKING: DEMS TRY TO SCAPEGOAT: Release Colin Powell’s E-mail To Hillary…Only Proving They’re Both CorruptocratsThe top Democrat on the House committee investigating Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton s use of a private email system released an email exchange Wednesday between former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Clinton in which he advised her on circumventing State Department servers.The exchange between Clinton and Powell, two days before the start of her tenure as secretary of state, shows Clinton asked him for advice on the use of a BlackBerry. He responded with multiple tips, saying he used a personal computer for government and personal business that wasn t going through the State Department servers. Powell said, I even used it to do business with some foreign leaders and some of the senior folks in the Department on their personal email accounts. The emails were cited in the FBI s notes from their investigation into Clinton s and her aides handling of classified information during her time at the State Department. According to The Wall Street Journal, the FBI quoted some, but not all, of the conversations between Powell and Clinton.Clinton has told federal authorities she didn t follow Powell s guidance, even though she used a private email account to handle government business. FBI Director James Comey recommended no charges be brought against Clinton, but said that she had been extremely careless with classified information.What exactly Powell advised Clinton to do had been a matter of debate, and Powell even recently suggested Clinton s allies were trying to pin the controversy on him. Democrats released the full exchange in a bid to show that Clinton s predecessors did not use official email accounts.In his Jan. 23, 2009, response to Clinton, Powell said he used a personal computer and a PDA.The latest release appears to show that Powell acknowledged he exchanged work-related emails with foreign leaders and State Department officials using a personal device. He said the setup allowed him to bypass the government s computer network. The release of the email by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. came on the eve of a House Oversight hearing in which Republicans are expected to focus on Clinton s use of a private email server and whether the State Department had been forthcoming with Freedom of Information requests.However, Cummings came down on Republicans accusing lawmakers of holding Clinton to a double standard during the investigation into her private email server. If Republicans were truly concerned with transparency, strengthening FOIA, and preserving federal records, they would be attempting to recover Secretary Powell s emails from AOL, but they have taken no steps to do so despite the fact that this period including the run-up to the Iraq War was critical to our nation s history, he said.Read more: FOX News",0 "U.S. criticizes Israel's punishment of 6 weeks community service for policeman filmed beating Palestinian-American teen. US says ""says evidence of excessive force is 'clear' and the sentence doesn't promote accountability""",1 "Banks, healthcare service firms among winners from U.S. tax billNEW YORK (Reuters) - Sweeping U.S. tax legislation appears to be on the verge of approval, lifting the prospects in particular for banks, telecoms, transports and other industries that stand to gain the most from lower corporate tax rates. The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives hit a last-minute snag on Tuesday in their drive to approve the legislation favored by President Donald Trump. The plan on Capitol Hill was for the Senate to delete three offending provisions in the House version and vote on the bill, then send it back to the House for a vote on Wednesday. The bill slashes the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent. That would boost overall earnings for S&P 500 companies by 9.1 percent, according to UBS equity strategists. For an interactive graphic on how the bill ripples through industries: tmsnrt.rs/2kf26gx Momentum behind the tax bill over the past month has helped propel the stock market, which had already rallied sharply this year, to fresh record highs. The S&P 500 has climbed about 5 percent since mid-November when the House of Representatives passed its tax overhaul bill. But the bill, which also includes a one-time tax on profits held overseas and industry-specific measures, would benefit some stocks, industries and sectors more than others. The industries that stand to benefit most from the lower rates are telecoms, transportation, retail and banks, analysts said. But for some groups, such as tech and healthcare, the impact is more mixed. Domestically geared healthcare companies that focus on services are poised to benefit from the lower tax rate. Hospital operator Universal Health Services Inc, lab-testing company Quest Diagnostics Inc and drug wholesaler Cardinal Health Inc are among the service companies set to benefit the most, according to Mizuho Securities. “We believe tax reform should be a significant positive cash flow event, especially for healthcare services companies that tend to have limited international exposure and significant capital expenditures,” Mizuho analysts said in a research note. While many large drugmakers already report adjusted tax rates in the low 20 percent range, a number of companies would benefit from the ability to bring back overseas cash, JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott said in a recent note. According to Schott, Pfizer Inc, with $160 billion in offshore earnings, and Merck & Co Inc, with $70 billion, are particularly poised to gain from repatriating overseas funds. Banks are expected to be among the biggest winners from a lower tax rate. The S&P 500 banks index has soared 9 percent since mid-November as the tax bill began moving swiftly through Congress. Of the major S&P sectors, financials pay the highest effective tax rate at 27.5 percent, according to a Wells Fargo analysis of historical tax rates. Large U.S. banks will see an average 13 percent increase to earnings per share from the lower rate, according to Goldman Sachs analysts, with Wells Fargo & Co and PNC Financial Services Group having the biggest gains. Citizens Financial Group, Regions Financial Corp and M&T Bank Corp would see sizable earnings benefits and are also poised to be relative winners among large bank stocks, UBS analyst Saul Martinez said in a recent note. Banks could benefit indirectly if the tax bill provides an economic boost that spurs increased lending and higher interest rates. The technology sector, which had led the market’s rally for most of 2017, has underperformed the S&P 500 as the tax bill moved forward in Congress. Tech is expected to benefit less than most other sectors from a drop in the corporate rate, with an earnings boost of 5.3 percent, according to UBS. Semiconductors, whose shares have had a particularly rough ride in the past month, are expected to see earnings drop by 3.3 percent due to the overall bill, according to UBS. “Many chip companies have extensive international operations and relatively low blended tax rates,” Wells Fargo analysts said in a recent note. “We see the possibility of changes in the U.S. tax rules as a potential risk for such companies.” One area where large tech companies could benefit is by spending cash held overseas for uses such as stock buybacks that boost earnings per share. UBS points to Cisco Systems Inc and Qualcomm Inc as companies that could see among the biggest buyback boosts. “The tech sector would certainly be among the largest beneficiaries if cash stashed overseas can be repatriated at a low rate and presumably used for stock buybacks or dividends,” according to a recent note from Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. ",1 "Australia urges strong, sustained U.S. engagement in Asia, warns on ChinaSYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia called on Thursday on the United States to build a strong presence in Asia and bolster ties with like-minded partners while warning against China s rising influence. A more insular United States would be detrimental to the liberal nature of the world s rules-based order , the government said in a 115-page foreign policy white paper. Australia believes that international challenges can only be tackled effectively when the world s wealthiest, most innovative and most powerful country is engaged in solving them, the government said. The white paper is a guide for Australian diplomacy and provides a roadmap for advancing its interests. The election of President Donald Trump represented a step towards a more isolationist world, which could be negative for Australia s export-dependent economy, commentators have said. Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade agreement in January, shortly after he took office. Strong and sustained U.S. engagement in the international system remains fundamental to international stability and prosperity, the government said in the paper. Without such engagement, the effectiveness and liberal character of the international order would erode. Australia is one of the staunchest U.S. allies and troops from the two countries have fought alongside each other in all major conflicts for generations. But the economic growth and power that the United States has enjoyed since the end of the World War Two is now being challenged by China, Australia said. Australia and China have close economic ties but China is suspicious of Australia s close military relationship with the United States. Australia warned in the paper of risks it faces, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region due to a shift in the balance of power. It highlighted the South China Sea as a major fault line in the regional order , and said it was particularly concerned by the unprecedented pace and scale of China s land reclamation and construction activities in the disputed waters. China s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing that the paper was on whole a positive assessment of China s development, which he said adhered to the global rules-based order, and of relations between China and Australia. But Lu said the paper did make irresponsible remarks on the South China Sea for which China expressed its concerns. While the government recognized the economic benefits from China s rise, it was also trying to wish China away , said Jane Golley, deputy director at the Australian Center on China in the World, Australian National University. To actually drop the word Asia from Asia-Pacific undoes three decades of diplomatic effort, Golley said, referring to the use of the phrase Indo-Pacific which came up 120 times in the paper. Asia-Pacific was not used once. The United States and some of its allies have recently been talking up their vision of the Indo-Pacific , instead of the Asia-Pacific , in a play on words aimed at undermining the influence of China. There is a small reference to China s geo-economic strategy in the paper but the emphasis is on the tensions that could create, rather than the economic benefits, Golley said. We ll have to see how China reacts to this but they re not going to like this policy. Relations between Australia and China sank to a low point this year after Australia rejected high-profile Chinese investments, citing national interest . Australia has also shown little enthusiasm for China s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, which aims to connect China to Europe and beyond with infrastructure projects. The initiative was mentioned just once in the paper. We are not embracing the future, Golley said. We are holding on to the past and reaching on to the life jacket rather than thinking of building a whole new ship. ",1 Iran to stop executing youths,0 Sad plight of Pakistan's displaced,1 " If You’re A Domestic Violence Victim In Mississippi, You Can’t Get DivorcedFew states in this country can compete with Mississippi when it comes to enacting legislation which significantly constricts the rights and liberties of women,the LGBT community, minorities, and other marginalized groups.Most recently a state senate bill, 2418, failed to incorporate domestic violence as a justifiable reason for divorce. The state currently allows only 12 justifiable reasons to legally grant a divorce including impotency, adultery, alcoholism, and incurable mental illness among some of the reasons.According to a 2014 report conducted by the Violence Policy Center, Mississippi ranks 5th in the nation in the rate of women murdered by men. In the United States, a woman is beaten or assaulted every 9 seconds. One in three women have been victims of severe physical violence from an intimate partner as some point in their lifetime. A gun being present during a domestic violence situation, where in Mississippi there is virtually no gun control, increases the likelihood of a homicide by 500 percent. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, domestic violence is the third leading cause of homelessness among families.Setting justifiable reasons to legally grant a divorce is already a ridiculous aspect, but rescinding domestic violence off the list of justifiable reasons gives the abusers in a relationship even more power to abuse and control their victim without any repercussions. Domestic violence is rarely an anomaly, rather it is a behavior pattern of an individual, to establish power and control over another person through fear and intimidation, often including the threat or use of violence. Mississippi has caught a lot of negative publicity recently, in addition to North Carolina and other southern states, which have either passed or attempted to pass discriminatory laws against the LGBT community. Mississippi s GOP is disgraceful and they seem bent on trying to get away with passing as many unconstitutional laws as possible.Featured image courtesy of Flickr",0 "BRAVO! LAURA INGRAHAM DESTROYS JUAN WILLIAMS On Calling Trump’s Picks “Team Of Radicals” [Video]Vid: @IngrahamAngle decimates @TheJuanWilliams for team of radicals charge. Why people despise DC. #FNS #TTT16 pic.twitter.com/WK0QLbSgxu Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) November 20, 2016",0 "Clinton lawyer blasts FBI after email search warrant releaseNEW YORK (Reuters) - The FBI acted inappropriately when it announced the revival of its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email setup days before the Nov. 8 presidential election, Clinton’s lawyer said, citing search warrant documents made public on Tuesday. The pointed criticism from Clinton attorney David Kendall followed the release in federal court in Manhattan of documents related to an October search warrant targeting emails involving the Democratic presidential nominee. The warrant was issued two days after Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey informed Congress in a letter on Oct. 28 of newly discovered emails that appeared “pertinent” to his agency’s probe. Comey’s letter drew new attention to Clinton’s use of the server while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 and roiled the campaign 11 days before the election, which Republican Donald Trump won. Clinton has blamed Comey and his letter for her defeat. In an affidavit unsealed on Tuesday, an FBI agent said there was “probable cause” to believe emails involving Clinton were among “thousands” found on a laptop in an unrelated probe that contained U.S. State Department correspondence. But the documents gave no indication the FBI had any evidence at the time of Comey’s letter that any of the emails on found on a laptop involved classified communications with Clinton. Kendall said the documents showed the “extraordinary impropriety” of Comey’s letter, which “produced devastating but predictable damage politically and which was both legally unauthorized and factually unnecessary.” The FBI declined to comment. The laptop belonged to former Democratic U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin who was the subject of an investigation after a report about cellphone and online messages he sent a 15-year-old girl. The search warrant materials’ release was sought by Randol Schoenberg, a Los Angeles-based lawyer, who contended that transparency was crucial given the potential influence the probe had on the election’s outcome. In a statement, Schoenberg said he saw “nothing to suggest that there would be anything other than routine correspondence between Secretary Clinton and her longtime aide Huma Abedin.” Brian Fallon, who served as the national press secretary for Clinton’s campaign, said on Twitter the search warrant “reveals Comey’s intrusion on the election was as utterly unjustified as we suspected at time.” In July, Comey recommended no charges be brought over Clinton’s handing of classified information in the emails, although he said she and her colleagues were “extremely careless” in handling such information. That determination followed what the search warrant materials called a “criminal investigation concerning the improper transmission and storage of classified info on unclassified email systems and servers.” In his letter to Congress, Comey said emails potentially related to the investigation had been discovered in an “unrelated case.” Federal investigators obtained the warrant to examine the emails on Oct. 30. Two days before the election, Comey disclosed the emails did nothing to change his earlier recommendation. ",1 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Proved Israel Doesn't Want Peace,1 "Six Ugandan MPs ejected in rowdy debate to extend rule of aging MuseveniKAMPALA (Reuters) - A move to change Uganda s constitution to allow President Yoweri Museveni to rule beyond the age of 75 provoked rowdy scenes in parliament on Monday in which six legislators were ejected from the chamber. Museveni, 73, has ruled the east African country for 31 years. Under the current age cap, the constitution would bar him from standing again as president in 2021. Parliament on Monday began debating a bill, presented by a Museveni loyalist, that proposes removing the stipulation a presidential candidate cannot be more than 75 years old, something which opposition activists and rights groups say opens the door for him to be president for life. Religious leaders and even some MPs from Museveni s National Resistance Movement (NRM) party have criticized the proposed bill, which needs two thirds of all voting house members to pass. But the NRM is expected to easily muster enough votes. Protests against the move have been put down with detentions, teargas and live bullets, leaving at least two dead in October. On Monday, debate proceeded amid heavy deployments of police and military personnel at parliament. After jeering and heckling erupted in the chamber, the six lawmakers were suspended for a single session and ordered out for undermining the authority of the speaker [and] undermining decorum in the house, parliament spokesman Chris Obore told Reuters. The MPs had heckled speaker Rebecca Kadaga and ignored her orders to be seated, Obore said. House proceedings were adjourned for several hours after the MPs were sent out and resumed later in the afternoon to hear a report from a parliamentary committee that conducted public hearings on the bill. A report by the majority of the MPs on the committee endorsed the proposal to scrap the age cap and also recommended that the length of a presidential term be extended to seven from the current five years. Some legislators on the committee disagreed and wrote a minority report. It s our view that the proposal...only seeks to promote life presidency as well as negate modern practices of constitutionalism, MP Monicah Amoding, who read the minority report, said. In the mostly acrimonious debate, legislators often shouted each other down and jeered. Opposition MPs, who dominated the debate, tried unsuccessfully to stall the process. The speaker adjourned the session to Tuesday after she said the chamber s microphones were experiencing a glitch. In late September, lawmakers brawled in parliament for two consecutive days as MPs opposed to the bill attempted to filibuster it but were defeated. At least 25 MPs opposed to the proposed constitutional amendment to prolong Museveni s tenure were forcibly ejected on orders of the speaker for involvement in fighting. Museveni initially won broad international support for his embrace of market economics and restoring political order after years of turmoil in the east African country. But in recent years he has come under a growing spotlight for a range of rights violations, corruption and his unwillingness to give up power. Democracy advocates have expressed alarm at the reemergence of a trend by leaders in the region to seek to change laws, delay elections or use other tactics to extend their tenures. In Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo such maneuvers have provoked instability. ",1 Duma Approves Construction of $4 Billion Kerch Bridge to Crimea,1 "Merkel dismisses hecklers as polls point to fourth termWISMAR, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is on track to win a fourth term in Sunday s national election despite a dip in support for her conservatives, a poll showed on Tuesday, and she shrugged off calls to quit from far-right hecklers. Merkel has been repeatedly booed during the election campaign, particularly in Germany s formerly Communist east, where support is strongest for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), set to enter parliament for the first time. An opinion poll published on Tuesday by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily put the AfD on 10 percent, up two points since the end of August, while Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian CSU allies slipped two points to 36.5 percent. However, the CDU/CSU remain far ahead of the center-left Social Democrats, which were also down two points on 22 percent, according to the poll conducted by Allensbach for the FAZ, while the business-friendly Free Democrats edged up to 11 percent. People who whistle and heckle contribute little, Merkel told a CDU rally in the northeastern port town of Wismar, not far from where she grew up. Merkel was unperturbed when a man shouted Traitor to the fatherland during her speech, while several dozen supporters of the far-right National Democratic Party gathered outside, carrying posters reading Merkel must go! Hundreds of AfD party members and anti-Islam activists rallied together in the eastern city of Dresden on Monday, counting down the days to a vote set to make the AfD the first far-right group in Germany s parliament in more than 50 years. The AfD has capitalized on discontent over the influx of one million migrants into Germany in 2015 and 2016, but the other parties all refuse to work with the AfD and no one wants to sit next to them in parliament. Merkel contrasted Tuesday s hecklers with the contribution of 30 million Germans who are involved in voluntary associations, including those who help support refugees. But she added that the recent wave of migrants should not and will not be repeated . Another poll, conducted by Forsa for RTL television and Stern magazine, showed support for Merkel s CDU/CSU bloc fell one percentage point in the last week to 36 percent, its lowest since April, while the SPD was unchanged on 23 percent. SPD leader Martin Schulz has been campaigning against inequality, but his message has failed to gain traction at a time when unemployment is at its lowest in decades. The Allensbach poll showed that 21 percent think the CDU has done the best job to address the issues that interest voters, compared to 15 percent for the SPD and 14 percent for the AfD. In fresh positive news from the economy, the Mannheim-based ZEW research institute said the mood among German investors improved more than expected in September as worries about the stronger euro faded. The ZEW survey suggested markets expect Europe s biggest economy to continue its solid performance in the coming months, buoyed by record-high employment, rising real wages and ultra-low borrowing costs that are supporting a consumer-led upswing. With Merkel s conservatives commanding a solid poll lead, the main question in Germany now is who she will govern with after the election, rather than whether she will stay in power. The latest polls put support for the far-left party Die Linke at 9-10 percent, and the environmentalist Greens on 8 percent. This means that only another grand coalition of Merkel s conservatives with the SPD or a three-way alliance of the conservatives, FDP and Greens would have a stable majority. The Allensbach poll showed 23 percent of voters would prefer a coalition of conservatives with the FDP, while 14 percent want a continuation of the current grand coalition and 10 percent favor an alliance of SPD, Linke and Greens. ",1 "ISIS extremists burn 19 Yezidi girls to death in Mosul: ""They were punished for refusing to have sex with ISIS militants.""",1 Bodies of victims in 2009 Air France flight 447 found in underwater wreckage,1 "Republican push to end Obamacare collapses in SenateWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican efforts to overhaul or repeal Obamacare collapsed in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, dealing a sharp setback to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s seven-year quest to kill former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. The disarray in the Republican-controlled Senate rattled financial markets as it cast doubt on the chances of getting Trump’s other domestic policy priorities, such as tax reform, through a divided Congress. Trump said he was disappointed by the failure and suggested he might let the insurance markets created under Obamacare go under and then, potentially, work with Democrats on a rescue. “We’re probably in that position where we’ll just let Obamacare fail,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We will let Obamacare fail, and then the Democrats are going to come to us.” U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced a vote on a straight repeal of Obamacare, which would take effect in two years, after it became clear on Monday night that he did not have enough support to pass an overhaul of the healthcare law. He said on Tuesday that the vote would take place “early next week.” But prospects for the repeal vote appeared doomed with at least three Republican senators voicing opposition. Moderate Republican Senators Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska quickly announced they would not back repeal. With Democrats united in opposition, Republicans can only afford to lose two votes to pass the measure in the Senate, where they have a slim 52-48 majority. “I do not think that it’s going to be constructive to repeal a law that at this point is so interwoven within our healthcare system and then hope that over the next two years we will come up with some kind of replacement,” Collins told reporters. The failed effort to replace Obamacare raised new concerns for U.S. health insurers over whether the government would continue to fund billions of dollars in medical benefit subsidies. Obamacare has boosted the number of Americans with health insurance through mandates on individuals and employers, and income-based subsidies. About 20 million Americans gained insurance coverage through the law. “This has been a very, very challenging experience for all of us,” McConnell said, adding that the chamber needed to move on to issues like tax reform and a spending package to bolster the country’s infrastructure. As the healthcare bill collapsed in the Senate, leaders in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives unveiled a budget plan putting a proposed tax code overhaul on the same partisan procedural path that led to the anti-Obamacare initiative’s chaotic downfall. Republicans had hoped to finish with healthcare before an upcoming August recess so they could tackle a wide-ranging rewrite of the U.S. tax code in September. Separate talks on taxes appear unlikely to reach Trump’s pledge to reduce the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent. But their failure exposed the sharp divide within Republicans’ own ranks, with moderates concerned the healthcare bill’s Medicaid cuts would take insurance away from millions of low-income Americans while conservatives backed the cuts and wanted even more dramatic changes to Obamacare. The U.S. dollar stumbled to a 10-month low against a basket of currencies and U.S. Treasury yields fell after the fresh setback to the healthcare bill raised investors’ doubts about Trump’s ability to enact tax cuts and infrastructure spending. Reaction in the stock market was muted, and analysts said the expectation for business-friendly legislation out of Washington is all but priced out of the stock market. “The healthcare hurdle pushes everything in Trump’s agenda to 2018,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York. Trump vowed that the healthcare effort was not dead. In an early morning Twitter message, he said, “We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans. Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard. We will return!” Trump had pushed hard to get a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare through the U.S. House of Representatives in May and celebrated the victory with lawmakers on the White House lawn. But with polls showing the Republican bill was unpopular, he later called it “mean” and did little to convince Republican senators to get a deal. Vice President Mike Pence said Trump supported the move to vote on a straight repeal of Obamacare. “Inaction is not an option,” Pence said at the National Retail Federation Conference in Washington. “Congress needs to step up, Congress needs to do their job, and Congress needs to do their job now.” In crafting a replacement, Republicans ran up against Obamacare’s growing popularity. A Washington Post-ABC News poll published on Sunday showed Americans preferred it over the Republican alternative by a 2-1 margin. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged Republicans to start over and work with Democrats. Democratic Senator Patty Murray, the leading Democrat on the Senate health committee, said in an interview with Reuters that a bipartisan effort could help stabilize insurance markets. She said a bipartisan effort to fund cost-sharing subsidies that help cover premiums, deductibles and other medical expenses for about 7 million people who purchase health insurance on the individual market would “send a strong message to the market” and “create some stabilization that is much needed.” Within hours of the bill’s failure, Republican Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander said he will set hearings in the next few weeks on how to stabilize the individual insurance markets. Orrin Hatch, the Republican chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said on the Senate floor that the failure could mean Congress will have to bail out insurance markets “probably before the end of 2017.” For hospitals, shelving the bill relieves the near-term pressure of massive Medicaid reform, but the long-term plan for federal spending for states’ Medicaid expansion is now murky. ",1 "Iraqi PM says will take action if any citizen is attacked in KurdistanBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday he would take action if any citizen was attacked in the country s northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, state television reporter. We would not stand idly by if any citizen were attacked, the broadcaster quoted him as saying in a weekly news conference. Three people were killed and more than 80 wounded, local officials said earlier, as Kurdish protesters angered by years of austerity and unpaid public-sector salaries took to the streets in a second day of violent unrest amid tensions with Baghdad. ",1 "HILLARY VOLUNTEER, Obama Supporter Mocks Ryan Owens’ Widow Carryn For “Standing there and clapping like an idiot”Speaking of not having a soul..check out this tweet by Hillary volunteer and Obama supporter (Dan Grilo made all of his tweets private, but unfortunately for Dan the Democrat, we took a screen shot):Here s Dan Grilo s Twitter profile. Such a nice Democrat If Democrats keep carrying on with this type of hateful messaging, they ll never see another member of their party holding a pubic office again. ",0 "Greek archaeologists clear way for Hellenikon resortATHENS (Reuters) - Greece welcomed a decision by senior archaeologists to conditionally permit a major tourism project in Athens on Wednesday, saying it cleared the way for the country to turn the site into one of Europe’s biggest coastal resorts. The 8 billion euro ($9.4 billion) project to develop the disused Hellenikon airport site is a key term of Greece’s international bailout and is closely watched by its official creditors and potential investors in the crisis-hit country. Greek developer Lamda signed a 99-year lease with the state in 2014 for the 620-hectare (1,530-acre) area, once the site of Athens airport. But the project has faced delays, partly over a long-running row between developers and those who fear it will damage the environment and cultural heritage. After three inconclusive meetings in recent weeks, the Central Archaeological Council, an advisory body, recommended on Tuesday that about 30 hectares (74 acres) of the 620-hectare plot under the project be declared an archaeological site. “The decision is fine,” Deputy Economy Minister in charge of investments, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters. “The fact that a small area is declared of archaeological interest shields the whole process from future litigation.” Pitsiorlas said the recommendation meant that archaeologists will have a closer supervision of construction work. Backed by Chinese and Gulf funds, Lamda submitted its detailed development plan for Hellenikon in July, setting off a licensing process which will wrap up with a decree. The Council approved the plan on Tuesday and designated specific areas where construction should not be allowed. It was not immediately clear how the Council’s recommendation could affect Lamda’s construction plan. Lamda said it was waiting to be officially notified over the decision before making any public statement, noting that “the importance of the archaeological findings has been included from the beginning in the company’s undertakings”. It said it should be able to assess the impact of the Council’s decision on its development plan once it has reviewed the resolutions and accompanying diagrams. The recommendation is not binding, however, the culture ministry always respects the body’s decisions. Greece on Monday overcame another hurdle to the project by winning an appeal over objections by forestry officials. Hellenikon has become a major political issue in Greece, which is slowly emerging from a multi-year debt crisis. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose leftist party strongly opposed it before coming to power in 2015, is now seen as keen to implement the deal to help boost economic activity and reduce unemployment, the euro zone’s highest. Referring to the council’s decision, Deputy Foreign Minister Giannis Amanatidis said it was “a complicated process which was resolved in the best possible way”. ",1 "Belize Supreme Court declares offshore oil drilling contracts issued by Govt of Belize 2004-2007 null & void, stopping govt from allowing drilling in worlds 2nd largest barrier reef, the Meso American - Govt didn't assess environmental impact & gave okay to firms without proof of safety.",1 "A third of all young men in China will die from smoking cigarettes, a study shows",0 34 Syrian soldiers killed in Turkish offensive,1 Iceland volcano: why we were lucky we weren't wiped out,1 "Iran buried Monday a senior military officer it called the ""architect"" of its missile defences, killed in a massive explosion at a Revolutionary Guards' arms depot that authorities said was an accident.",0 UK secretly helping Canada push its oil sands project: Canadian interests and oil lobby win coalition's support for highly polluting process in runup to European fuel quality vote,1 "Obama announced the declassification of new documents from the period of the Argentina's Dirty War, when as many as 30,000 Argentines were killed or disappeared. Thousands of records were previously declassified, but for the first time military and intelligence records will be declassified as well.",0 Israeli warship collides with boat carrying medical volunteers bound for Gaza,0 "Breaking: Georgia invades South Ossetia, Russia warned it would intervene on SO's side",0 "The worlds largest primate is being wiped out by war: Back in 1998, a team of researchers estimated that 17,000 Grauers gorillas, also known as eastern lowland gorillas, lived in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then, the population of Grauers gorillas has dropped by 77%",0 """Only one in 10 regular mass-going Roman Catholics in Britain feel any guilt about using contraception . . . They are also much less likely to feel guilty about committing adultery, having sex before marriage or using pornography than people from many other religious groups.""",1 Germany: Thousands join anti-Islam protest against European spread of ISIS and al-Qaeda,0 Boris Johnson wins most offensive Erdogan poem contest,0 "The clouds of black carbon soiling snow and ice in Finlands Arctic region have diminished since the middle of the 20th century, a change attributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the cessation of some of the most polluting industrial practices in Russia, according to a new study.",1 Pope Francis has challenged the world's business elite to do more to help the poor and vulnerable,0 "BREAKING: TRUMP Just Made A HUGE Announcement…Proving He’s The Only Candidate Who Truly Believes #BlackLivesMatterHillary pretends to care about the Black community. If she cared so much, why is she so willing to carry out the legacy of black genocide by Planned Parenthood founder and white supremacist Margaret Sanger? If she really cared about the Black community, why is she not fighting taxpayer funded Planned Parenthood abortion clinics on every inner-city corner in America? Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. 78% of their clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America. Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated. Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood founderDonald Trump made a bold move today that proves his commitment to the Black community. Trump issued a call to make permanent the Hyde Amendment that bans almost all federal taxpayer funding of abortions and is credited with saving the lives of over 1 million Americans from abortion. Trump- s call comes as Hillary Clinton is campaigning in reversing Hyde and forcing Americans to fund free abortions for women with their tax dollars.Every year, Congress is forced to fight the battle to protect Americans from being forced to pay for abortions with their tax dollars. Democrats annually fight the pro-life budget provision and hope they can eventually reverse it should they take control of both the White House and Congress.That has led to pro-life groups calling to the adoption of a permanent law putting Hyde in place long-term and making it more difficult for pro-abortion forces to reverse. Today, Trump announced his support for such a law.The call for banning taxpayer funding of abortions comes in a new letter from Trump. Trump commits to a new policy: Making the Hyde Amendment permanent law to protect taxpayers from having to pay for abortions. Hillary Clinton s unwavering commitment to advancing taxpayer-funded abortion on-demand stands in stark contrast to the commitments I ve made, Trump writes, to advance the rights of unborn children and their mothers when elected president. Via: Life News",0 "Canada Goes After Yes Men For Copenhagen Parody, Knocks Out 4500 Websites",1 Swedish Jews close synagogues after terror threat raised,1 "IS RESIGNATION OF FBI DIRECTOR IMMINENT, As Obama Appears To Be Protecting Hillary From Prosecution?FBI insiders are spreading the word, Hillary Clinton deliberately broke the law and charges are warranted. However, there is little confidence the Obama administration will actually indict her.Hillary Clinton broke the law, knowingly sending and receiving classified information on a private server, according to FBI insiders. However, this isn t the right question. Instead, the right question is, why are FBI insiders spreading rumors?The answer is because they do not think the political establishment will play its role in any case, leaving Hillary Clinton to get away with thumbing her nose at the law. Via: Catholic OnlineAccording to the Daily Mail Any evidence that the FBI uncovered has still not been made public.The government says no final decision has been made, however the case is clearly progressing as Clinton aide Bryan Pagliano, who worked on her private server, was granted immunity by the Justice Department earlier this month. You don t start granting people close to Clinton immunity unless you are seriously looking at charges against your target, one of Gasparino s sources said.Clinton has publicly said that using a private email account attached to a homebrew server was a mistake. Mainly because it s caused all this uproar and commotion. As FBI director, however, Comey can only recommend charges to the Justice Department, led by Obama appointee, Attorney General Loretta Lynch.Insiders told the New York Post that evidence would have to be overwhelming for Comey to make such recommendations and for Obama s Justice Department to pursue them.But agents also suggest that the investigation is solid enough for Comey to quit if the Justice Department doesn t listen to him on the matter of Clinton.Barack Obama s decision to publicly ask donors to support Hillary speaks volumes about his decision to back her as the Democrat Party s Presidential candidate. Barack s former AG, Eric Holder s endorsement of Hillary Clinton is further proof that Hillary has the full backing of this corrupt administration:Eric Holder I think what people have to understand is that what we have to do is protect the Obama legacy. We ve made really substantial progress in the last eight years it ll be eight years at the end of 2016 and the question is who is best situated to protect that legacy and not let the progress that we have made get rolled back. And there is no question that there are going to be attempts to roll back the Affordable Care Act, they sent [President Obama] a bill the week before last that he had to veto. There will certainly be efforts to counter the executive actions that he s taken on immigration issues, when it comes to gun safety issues and his foreign policy. You need somebody who s got a record on those issues that s consistent with the positions that the president took, and Hillary Clinton is that person, there s no question. They are in lockstep when it comes to gun safety issues. Sen. [Bernie] Sanders, quite frankly, is not. So to the extent that people are a bit of a nostalgic, wistful feeling, I think that ought to be converted into a concern for the future and for the preservation of all the great work that President Obama and his administration did. Here s the only clear record that Hillary has to show for her decades of public service : ",0 "Obama's top aide: We lack 'irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence' on Syria",1 Israel admits to having used white phosphorus in Gaza.,1 Reports: ISIL used mustard gas against Kurds,1 92% of CNN readers: Russia's actions in Georgia - justified!,0 "With Coons, Democrats have enough votes to filibuster court pick GorsuchWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Chris Coons on Monday announced opposition to President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, ensuring Democrats can block a U.S. Senate confirmation vote to give Neil Gorsuch the lifetime job. Coons’ announcement put the number of Democrats opposing Gorsuch at 41, the tally needed to use a procedural hurdle called a filibuster that requires 60 votes to allow a confirmation vote in the 100-seat Senate. Republicans control the Senate 52-48. If Democrats mount a successful filibuster and block the confirmation vote Senate Republicans planned to hold on Friday, Republicans would then be expected to try to change the chamber’s longstanding rules to allow confirmation by a simple majority. Trump backs such a move, sometimes called the “nuclear option.” ",1 "Russia's Lavrov on Syria targets: 'If it looks like a terrorist, walks like a terrorist if it fights like a terrorist, it's a terrorist, right? '",1 Mexican missing student activist who led search parties after the disappearance of 43 students is killed.,1 THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT: Trump Meets With Coal Workers To Fulfill Campaign Promise [Video] ,0 "Pope candidly admits Church 'arrived late' in confronting abuseVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis, in some of his most candid and personal comments on the sexual abuse of children by priests, said on Thursday that the Catholic Church had arrived late in dealing with the problem. Francis, speaking in unscripted remarks to a commission advising him on how to root out sexual abuse, also acknowledged that early in his papacy he had made one bad call in being too lenient with an Italian priest who later went on to abuse again. He also said he had decided to change current procedures for dealing with abusive priests by eliminating appeals trials in cases where there was definitive proof. Francis surprised members of the commission by putting aside his entire prepared speech and chatting to them. There is the reality that the Church arrived at the consciousness of these crimes a bit late, he said. When consciousness arrives late, the means to resolve the problems also arrive late. I am aware of this difficulty but it is reality and I say it plainly: We arrived late. Church sexual abuse broke into the open in the United States with reports of cases in Louisiana in 1984 and exploded in 2002, when journalists in Boston found that bishops had systematically moved abusers to new posts instead of defrocking them. Thousands of cases have come to light around the world as investigations have encouraged long-silent victims to go public, shattering the Church s reputation in places such as Ireland, and more than $2 billion has been paid in compensation. The old practice of moving people around and not confronting the problem made consciences fall asleep, he said. Francis acknowledged that the commission, which was founded in 2014, had to swim against the tide, a reference to high level defections from its ranks. Marie Collins of Ireland, a non-clerical member who was victim of priestly abuse when she was a child, quit in frustration in March, citing a shameful lack of cooperation within the Vatican. Another, Peter Saunders of Britain, took a leave of absence last year in protest over a lack of progress. Francis said that everyone had to realize that sexual abuse is a sickness with a high probability of relapse. That person may repent today ... but may commit it again after two years. We have to put it into our heads that this is a sickness, he said. Francis said he would change current Vatican procedures to severely limit chances of appeal for pedophile priests convicted by church tribunals, saying they often were overly legalistic, allowing for reduced sentences on procedural grounds. I have decided to balance this out and say that if an abuse of a minor is proven, it is sufficient and there should be no recourse. If the proof is there. Period. It s definitive, he said. Francis, who was elected in 2013, acknowledged he made one bad judgment early in his papacy concerning an Italian priest, Mauro Inzoli. In that case, the bishop of Crema, had ruled that Inzoli would be removed from the public ministry while remaining a priest but a Church tribunal ruled that he be defrocked. The pope sided with the bishop. I was new (in the papacy) I did not understand these things well and chose the more benevolent of the two sentences but after two years the priest had a relapse. I learned from this, Francis said. ",1 New immune-system disease found in Asians; causes AIDS-like symptoms in people without HIV,0 "Uzbekistan pulls students, teachers, nurses from cotton fields: sourcesTASHKENT (Reuters) - Uzbekistan has abruptly recalled thousands of school teachers, college students and healthcare workers from cotton fields, halting a practice condemned abroad as forced labor, government officials and other sources told Reuters on Friday. The Central Asian nation is one of the world s leading cotton exporters and for years it has mobilized the students as well as staff at schools and clinics to pick the autumn harvest. It phased out using minors in 2015 under international pressure that included boycott campaigns. Officially, the work is voluntary and paid at about $0.005 per kilogram. In reality those who refuse risk expulsion or the sack unless they bribe an official or hire someone to work in their place, sources said. The harvest started this month but late on Thursday the Tashkent government ordered the cotton pickers home, said a district official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment. The government declined to comment. A central government official who also asked not to be named said an order barring the use of such workers had in fact been issued in August. On Thursday Tashkent warned regional governors they would be sacked if they fail to comply with it. The district official said regional governments have been ordered to hire unemployed locals for cotton picking instead. Several students and a school director, who all requested anonymity, said they had been ordered to return to class or had their trips to the field canceled at the last moment. Despite ending the use of child labor, Uzbekistan ranked among the top five worst offenders in the Global Slavery Index compiled last year by activist group Walk Free Foundation. The group estimated that almost 4 percent of Uzbekistan s population - then 31 million - lived in modern slavery, putting it second only to North Korea by that metric. The move to end the practice follows reforms by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev who took over the former Soviet republic after the death of strongman leader Islam Karimov last September. Mirziyoyev has moved to liberalize foreign exchange and travel regulations and had about 16,000 people struck off a blacklist of potential extremists, reforms that may help him rebuild ties with the West and attract foreign investment. ",1 "Taiwan calls on China to view Trump call 'calmly'TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan’s policy making body on China, the Mainland Affairs Council, said on Saturday that China should look at the call between U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen “calmly”. “We call on China to face the new situation in the Asia-Pacific region and work with us towards developing a benign cross-strait relationship and create a new way that will benefit the development of peace, prosperity and stability for the region,” it said in a statement. ",1 "As a result of climate change, ice fishermen in Wisconsin are already noticing fewer days they can be out on our ice covered lakes.",1 "Trump nominates Democrat Rosenworcel to serve again as FCC commissionerWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will again consider Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, to be a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission after Republican President Donald Trump nominated her late on Tuesday. Rosenworcel served as a commissioner for the regulator until the end of 2016 when lawmakers failed to take up her renomination under former President Barack Obama, handing Republicans a 2-1 majority on the five-seat commission. Rosenworcel did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The agency is working to reverse Obama-era regulations, including the former Democratic president’s landmark 2015 net-neutrality rules prohibiting broadband providers from giving or selling access to certain internet services over others. Rosenworcel, a former FCC official and congressional aide, backed the net neutrality rules in 2015 and put a significant focus on the plight of children without access to broadband service. She showed an independent streak from then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who unsuccessfully sought approval for new rules to allow pay TV subscribers to ditch set-top boxes. In 2013, she also opposed allowing cellphone use in the air. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, tapped by Trump in January, has also said he wants to dismantle other significant regulations as part of a sweeping review he said would remove barriers to business and modernize rules. Pai has also proposed significant changes to local TV ownership limits and plans other changes to media regulations. If confirmed, Rosenworcel would join Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, whose term ends on June 30. It is not clear if Clyburn plans to stay on the commission. Industry and congressional officials also expect Trump to nominate Brendan Carr, a Republican who is currently general counsel at the FCC and an adviser to Pai, to an open seat. Republican Michael O’Rielly also serves on the panel. Democrats insisted Republicans had agreed in 2015 to reconfirm Rosenworcel as part of a deal to confirm O’Rielly. Republicans denied there was a deal but the standoff had delayed consideration of telecommunications legislation in the Senate. Pai would be forced to leave the commission if he is not reconfirmed by the end of the year. “Better late than never,” Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, a Democrat, said in a statement on Rosenworcel’s nomination. “The Senate should now move quickly to confirm her and fulfill the promise that was made two years ago.” ",1 Confirmed:Long-Lost Nazi loot train found in Poland,1 "U.S. civil liberties group ACLU seeks to tap anti-Trump energyNEW YORK (Reuters) - The American Civil Liberties Union is launching what it bills as the first grassroots mobilization effort in its nearly 100-year history, as it seeks to harness a surge of energy among left-leaning activists since the November election of Republican Donald Trump as U.S. president. The campaign, known as PeoplePower, kicks off on Saturday with a town hall-style event in Miami featuring “resistance training” that will be streamed live at more than 2,300 local gatherings nationwide. It will focus on free speech, reproductive rights and immigration and include presentations from legal experts, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero and “Top Chef” television star Padma Lakshmi. Membership in the civil rights organization, which was founded in 1920, has tripled to more than 1 million since Trump’s election, the group says. As activists have marched in streets, demonstrated at airports and confronted U.S. lawmakers regularly since election day, progressive groups like MoveOn and the newly formed Indivisible have sought ways to translate that frustration into local action. That is the idea behind PeoplePower, which represents a major strategic shift for an organization that has traditionally focused on courtroom litigation, Romero said in a phone interview on Friday. Approximately 135,000 people have signed up for the campaign. “Before, our membership was largely older and much smaller,” he said. “Our members would provide us with money so we could file the cases and do the advocacy. What’s clear with the Trump election is that our new members are engaged and want to be deployed.” For example, the Miami event will encourage individuals to engage local officials in conversations about immigrant policies in their town or city. The ACLU has prepared “model” ordinances ensuring the protection of immigrant rights that supporters can press legislators to adopt, part of a campaign to create “freedom cities,” according to ACLU political director Faiz Shakir. Suggested tactics, like the use of text messages as a mass mobilization tool, will mirror some of those employed by the insurgent presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who mounted a surprisingly robust challenge to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. “It’s completely unprecedented,” Romero said of the response since Trump’s victory. “People are wide awake right now and have been since the night of the election.” ",1 " The Justice Department Just Said It’s Legal To Discriminate Against Transgender PeopleIn the Trump administration s ongoing war on the LGBTQ+ community, the president has no greater champion than one Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, the head of the Justice Department. The Attorney General has a long history of animosity toward anyone outside his own tiny window of experience, including women, non-English speakers, colored folk, and especially those he has casually referred to as ho-mo-SEK-shals in court briefings (assuming he types in his own accent).Back in July, Sessions attempted to argue, in the same vein as the unsuccessful attempt in Loving v. Virginia to maintain a ban on interracial marriage, that discrimination against gays and lesbians was constitutionally protected because it applied equally to men and women.Now Sessions has narrowed his focus to the T part of his least favorite acronym: Transgender people. Early Thursday, the DOJ issued a memo stating their official position that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect transgender workers from discrimination for the same reason: Because employers wouldn t be discriminating based on gender, since transgender people of any biological gender could be equally discriminated against.Through spokesman Devin O Malley, Trump s Justice Department issued a statement on the reason for the reversal of an Obama-era memo which stated Title VII does apply, saying that the government can t expand the meaning of a law beyond what Congress intended when it was passed: Unfortunately, the last administration abandoned that fundamental principle, which necessitated today s action. You catch that? Necessitated. As in, we had to correct this, lest some weirdo think we might protect them when we don t want to. Sessions and the DOJ felt it was necessary to clarify that transgender workers don t have the same civil rights as everyone else, because you know, they ve got nothing better to do. They re certainly not focusing on the growing Nazi movement in America.I wish I could say that I was confident the courts would strike this asinine decision down, but I m just not. It s hard to have faith in a Justice system that continues to protect white supremacists, gun fanatics, religious extremists, and anti-choice activists All as they throw the most vulnerable among us to the wolves.Featured image via Zach Gibson/Getty Images",0 " After The Second White Supremacist Attack In 2 Days, Republicans Respond With Dead SilenceA Trio of Neo-Nazi, Confederate flag-waving white supremacists are now in custody after screaming HEIL HITLER! and engaging in a knife attack on a small group of Latino children and a family that tried to intervene on behalf of the kids.The Los Angeles County Sheriff s Department received calls at approximately 4:30 p.m. from people who were reporting the incident. Witnesses told Police that the men were screaming racial slurs, and one of them was waving a wallet with a Confederate flag on it, as they were attacking the teens and family. The family arrived on the scene after the group had already began harassing the teenagers, and that s when the offenders drew knives on the group. The father of the family, who wanted to remain anonymous, said:They just started beating them up. They started coming towards us, and they pulled out some knives, and they were saying they would kill us.Source: RawstoryPolice said that they will be investigating the attack as a hate crime, for obvious reasons. There were no injuries, but this is the second attack that has happened by white supremacists in two days in California. In Anaheim one day earlier, a KKK rally turned into a street brawl that ended with a Klansman impaling 3 people with the tip of a flagpole. The second incident had a happier ending, because there were no serious injuries and these people will actually be prosecuted for a crime. In the flagpole incident, police said that the KKK stabbed in self-defense, so they were released from custody.With the Ku Klux Klan officially endorsing the person who is about to win the Republican nomination for president, it brings to mind that there may be an escalating occurrence of hate crimes as America keeps rewarding racism and bigotry with ever-growing poll numbers and success. It s going to be a long election season if this keeps up.Watch local coverage of the incident below:Featured image via video screen capture",0 Russia Says It Will Begin Fueling Iran Nuclear Plant,0 " Ted Nugent Attacks Jews Who Support Gun Control By Calling Them Nazis (IMAGES)Professional douchebag Ted Nugent took his love of guns way too far on Monday, demonstrating how conservatives really feel about Jews.Much in the way Adolf Hitler scapegoated the Jews to justify World War II and the Holocaust, Nugent scapegoated Jews to justify an extreme pro-gun agenda.On his own Facebook page, Nugent plastered several photographs of Jewish activists and politicians, and warned his followers to memorize who they are and gave them marching orders to give them hell and shut them down. Know these punks, Nugent wrote. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense & to KEEP & BEAR ARMS while many of them have tax paid hired ARMED security! Know them well. Tell every1 you know how evil they are. Let us raise maximum hell to shut them down! Here s the post via Facebook.// < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ""//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3""; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense Posted by Ted Nugent on Monday, February 8, 2016In a comment below his own post, Nugent wrote, NEVER AGAIN in reference to the Holocaust.Conservatives often use the Holocaust as a prop in their argument to oppose gun control laws. The problem with that argument is that it assumes the minority Jewish population would have been able to stand up to the powerful German military, which included the brutal SS.When Ben Carson made the same claim last year, Politifact ripped him a new one by pointing out that the Nazis actually loosened gun laws significantly for the population, but restricted Jews from owning firearms.German citizens as a whole were not disarmed by the Nazis. Jews and other supposed enemies of the state were subject to having their weapons seized. But for most German citizens, the Nazi period was one in which gun regulations were loosened, not tightened.Second, a lack of guns was not the issue. If the majority of Germans had wanted to use these guns to fight the Nazis, they could have. But they didn t.In other words, the only form of gun control the Nazis really liked was keeping Jews from owning them.But even if the Jews were well-armed and willing to fight back, the fact remains that the German population supported the Nazis and Hitler had powerful military forces under his command. It is highly unlikely that the Jews could have prevented the Holocaust by themselves.Despite the facts, Nugent wrote another rant aimed at those who criticized his first post, referring to Jews who don t agree with him as Nazis in disguise. // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ""//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3""; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>Just when you hope that mankind couldnt possibly get any dumber or more dishonest, superFreaks rise to the occasion .Posted by Ted Nugent on Monday, February 8, 2016Offended by Nugent s nasty words, the Anti-Defamation League blasted him and demanded the removal of the post. This is nothing short of conspiratorial anti-Semitism. Regardless of one s views on gun control, this kind of scapegoating of an entire religious group is completely unacceptable and completely divorced from reality. It should go without saying that anti-Semitism has no place in the gun control debate. You should be ashamed for promoting anti-Semitic content, and we hope that good people on both sides of the gun control debate will reject his tactics and his message. We hope you will have the good sense to remove this share immediately so that it does not spread virally across the internet. Ted Nugent talks tough about his dad, but apparently the apple fell far from the tree. Let s not forget that Nugent dodged the Vietnam war by pooping in his pants.And this isn t the first time Nugent has attacked a people that suffered through genocide. Nugent once referred to Native Americans as unclean vermin who don t qualify as people. And let s not forget his anthem to child rape that must drive family values Republicans wild.Also, keep in mind that Ted Cruz is Nugent s favorite Republican presidential candidate in the 2016 race. Perhaps someone should ask Cruz how he feels about what Nugent thinks about Jews who support reasonable laws to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. Because that s what we re really talking about here better background checks that most Americans, including NRA members, support. Nobody in our government has suggested seizing the guns of every American. And there have certainly been no suggestions of banning certain ethnic minorities from owning firearms. This is all in the imaginations of conservatives who have used such claims to push a guns everywhere agenda that has only opened our society up to more gun deaths and mass shootings than ever before.But if anyone should have their guns taken from them, it s Ted Nugent, considering the fact that he has openly called for the assassination of President Obama and other government officials on several occasions. Featured image from Flickr",0 "After massive student protests, South Africa freezes tuition hikes",1 "NYC REFUSED TO ARREST 5 Illegals Including A Sexual Abuser…You Won’t Believe Why!You might want to sit down for this one The policy of NYC is so upside down and crazy that you might now believe it! The policy is to just let criminal illegal aliens roam the streets instead of deporting them or locking them up. I kid you not! The theory from the brainiacs at city hall is that this promotes public safety .PROMOTES PUBLIC SAFETY???WELL, ICE ISN T PUTTING UP WITH THIS ANY MORE! THEY ARRESTED THE CRIMINALS ANYWAY!Earlier this week, U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced in a press release that they arrested five illegal aliens from four different countries, including an Indian national wanted for assault and sexual abuse, after New York City refused to cooperate federal immigration law.New York City is a sanctuary city, meaning that they do not demand their police department cooperate with federal immigration laws nor requests from immigration officials, particularly on orders such as detainers. Detainers serve as a legally-authorized request, upon which a law enforcement agency may rely, to continue to maintain custody of an alien for up to 48 hours so that ICE may assume custody for removal purposes, according to the October 18 press release. But some cities simply catch and release these criminals in hopes of promoting cooperation between the city and the illegal alien community.In fact, Mayor Bill De Blasio orders that the New York City Police Department routinely ignore these requests. De Blasio officials have said that their sanctuary city policies promote public safety.All of these men are illegal aliens and all have been arrested for various degrees of drug possession or violence in the past. But, NYPD has never reported them to authorities. In their desire to appear politically correct, De Blasio s administration is allowing criminals to roam the streets.HOW IS THIS PROMOTING PUBLIC SAFETY?READ MORE: TH",0 "Three more states refuse Trump commission's voter data requestWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Maryland, Delaware and Louisiana on Monday joined a growing number of U.S. states that have refused to hand over voter data to a commission established by President Donald Trump to investigate possible voting fraud. More than 20 states, including Virginia, Kentucky, California, New York and Massachusetts, have declined to provide some or all of the information that the panel requested, saying it was unnecessary and violated privacy. Republican Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May after making unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally for his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in last November’s election. Calling the request “repugnant,” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a statement that his office had advised the State Board of Elections that the commission’s request was illegal. The request “appears designed only to intimidate voters and to indulge President Trump’s fantasy that he won the popular vote,” Frosh said. The commission sent a letter to the 50 states asking them to turn over voter information including names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliations, felony convictions and voting histories. Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler said the presidential commission could purchase the limited information legally available to candidates running for office. “You’re not going to play politics with Louisiana’s voter data,” he said in a statement. Delaware Elections Commissioner Elaine Manlove said in an interview with Milford’s WXDE-FM radio that her office would not comply since some of the information was confidential. Manlove said she was working with the attorney general’s office to see if the request could be denied completely. Trump has blasted the states who have refused to turn over the data. He said in a tweet on Saturday, “What are they trying to hide?” Trump won the White House through victory in the Electoral College, which tallies wins in states, but he lost the popular vote to Clinton by some 3 million votes. He has claimed he would have won the popular vote had it not been for voter fraud. Civil rights activists say the commission will encourage voter suppression by justifying new barriers to voting, such as requiring identity cards to vote. ",1 "ARMY THREATENS GREEN BERET WAR HERO WITH COURT MARTIAL For Whistleblowing On Failed Hostage RescueThe Army can t be bothered with defending or protecting war heroes, they re too busy with other more pressing issues like ensuring gays are free to come out of the closet and removing any trace of Christianity from our military bases.A Green Beret war hero under investigation for unauthorized communications with Congress will testify on Thursday that the Army is out to court-martial him on criminal charges.Meanwhile, Rep. Duncan Hunter, one of the lawmakers with whom the soldier spoke about Obama administration hostage rescue policies, has asked the Pentagon inspector general to investigate whether the Army is springing allegations against personnel such as the Green Beret as pure retaliation.Lt. Col. Jason Amerine, the Special Forces soldier, is due to testify before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about what he considers reprisals against him as a whistleblower. After I made protected disclosures to Congress, the Army suspended my clearance, removed me from my job, launched a criminal investigation and deleted my retirement orders with a view to court martial me after I exercised that Constitutional right, says Col. Amerine, according to partial remarks provided to The Washington Times by Mr. Hunter s office. For nearly five months, I have received no relief from the military and there has been no transparency in their investigation of me. My pay was even stopped briefly after the Army deleted my retirement orders. Mr. Hunter, California Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote to Jon T. Rymer, the inspector general, about three soldiers against whom he believed Army Secretary John McHugh retaliated. He asked for an IG investigation into Mr. McHugh s use of the Criminal Investigation Command. Specifically, my concern is that the Army under the leadership of Secretary of the Army has used CID for the purpose of influencing actions/outcomes and retaliating against soldiers, he wrote.He cited three soldiers: Col. Amerine. The officer worked in a small Army unit at the Pentagon and he devoted himself to developing policies to gain the release of Americans held by Islamic extremists. He came to believe the administration s hostage policies were in disarray and told Mr. Hunter. The congressman proposed legislation to create a hostage coordinator to work with the various agencies involved, such as the FBI, Pentagon and State Department. Maj. Matt Golsteyn. Also a Green Beret, Maj. Golsteyn saw his valor awards and Special Forces tab stripped by Secretary McHugh. The officer was accused of killing a Taliban bomb-maker, but was never officially charged. He faces a board of inquiry hearing. Sgt. First Class Earl Plumlee. Sgt. Plumlee was nominated for the Medal of Honor, the nation s highest military award, for repelling an attack on a base in Afghanistan and saving lives. The MOH was endorsed by top commanders, including Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But Mr. McHugh downgraded the award to a Silver Star. Mr. Hunter said it was based on a questionable CID investigation. Col. Amerine already has filed a whistleblower retaliation complaint with the IG. The Army probe began after the FBI complained that Col. Amerine was providing information to Congress. I have personally met with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the developments leading up to the Army investigation, Mr. Hunter told Mr. Rymer. An investigation, I firmly believe, was not warranted, but continues to be unjustifiably delayed. Col. Amerine holds a special place in the history of the Afghanistan war. He led a joint Green Beret-Afghan team in the 2001 invasion, and fought along side Hamid Karzai, the future president.An Army spokesman has said, As a matter of policy, we do not confirm the names of individuals who may or may not be under investigation to protect the integrity of a possible ongoing investigation, as well as the privacy rights of all involved. However, I note that both the law and Army policy would prohibit initiating an investigation based solely on a Soldier s protected communications with.Via: Washington Times ",0 Development Doesn't Require Big Government~Poor countries are learning the wrong lessons from the crisis.,0 China naval fleet seen off northern Japan,1 " Republicans May Force Democrats To Use THIS Extreme Tactic To Appoint Obama NomineeThe GOP has obstructed President Obama at every turn since he set foot in the Oval Office. They hate the man with a passion, and will stop at nothing including the destruction of the country in order to ensure anything Obama might do fails. That fact is why it comes as no surprise that, in the wake of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia s death, the GOP is busily and openly vowing to make sure no Obama appointee gets onto the court.The thing is, though, it is entirely possible for the Republicans to have their way on this one. The nominee would have to be confirmed by the Senate, which is controlled by the GOP. Therefore, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can delay the confirmation until President Obama is out of office. Hell, he can delay as along he likes, actually, as long as the GOP controls the Senate. Ted Cruz, for his part, has vowed to block anyone Obama might put up for the position, and he is sure to have the full backing of his fellow Republican Senators.There is a catch here, though, for the Democrats. Senator Chuck Schumer, who is set to succeed Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid in 2017, is furious with Cruz and McConnell for their plans of blatant obstruction, and he said so on live television Sunday morning. That s not all, either. If Schumer wants, he can go ahead and remove the option of filibusters for presidential appointments to the Supreme Court. Filibusters have already been removed as an option for other appointments made by sitting presidents, but not for SCOTUS appointments. This would be disastrous for the GOP, because it means they would be powerless to stop any appointments made to the court by the next (Hopefully Democratic) president.Think about that people stay on the Supreme Court for decades, literally. If Schumer does this, the GOP is doomed for at least two generations. Now, this tactic is extreme. Democrats are not extremists, and we don t like to threaten our right-wing counterparts. However, they are forcing our hands on this one. If this happens, it will be no one but the obstructionist Republicans faults. The sitting president has the constitutional right to make Supreme Court appointments.They are willing to let a Supreme Court seat sit empty and block all Obama appointees no matter who they might be for a full 300+ days, all for spite, the cost to the nation be damned. That right there is an extreme measure, and it pretty much forces an extreme response.Likely, Schumer doesn t want to go to extremes, but since the GOP seems unwilling to budge on this one, he most likely should.Featured image from video screen capture",0 Bolivia breaks ties with Israel,0 "French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday denounced the ""unfathomable stupidity"" of Islamist radicals who destroyed Muslim shrines at Timbuktu in northern Mali. ",1 """A new taste for eating elephant meat -- everything from trunks to sex organs -- has emerged in Thailand and could pose a new threat to the survival of the species.""",0 "BREAKING: PAUL RYAN Nervously Giggles During Budget Speech That DOESN’T Fund A Border Wall [Video]Paul Ryan nervously giggled during the Republican announcement of the budget and Obamacare replacement this morning. It s interesting to watch all of the Republicans in the video below skip over the elephant in the room by redirecting everyone to other items THEY consider to be positive. Ryan emphasized the funding for border patrol but skipped right over the border wall funding.Why does the left bother with Resistance theatrics when the Republican Congress funds their entire wish list anyway?Is funding the NIH (National Institutes for Health) with 2 BILLION dollars a good thing? That bloated and very wasteful item needs to be looked at more closely. Remember shrimp on a treadmill? Drunk monkeys? Yes, this is the organization that gives out YOUR tax dollars to people to do crazy experiments that are honestly wasteful.The other things like funding Sanctuary Cities? Is anyone else puzzled by this?Why are the Republicans constantly trying to appease the Democrats?Please skip to the 5:15 mark in the video:This is a loser spending bill for the American people!",0 Tories pledge to stop UK surveillance powers abuse,1 "Climate change missing from full Trans-Pacific Partnership text, confirming the ""worst nightmares"" of environmental groups",0 Nigeria recalls ambassador to Libya after Khadaffi recommends Nigeria break into 2: a Christian and a Muslim part.,1 Italy becomes the first country to ban plastic bags nationwide!,0 "Media Links Domestic Drone Surveillance to Trump with ZERO Evidence21st Century Wire says This is why nobody takes the mainstream media seriously.Foreign Policy has released a new article hyping up the dangers of mass surveillance, specifically talking about the relatively unknown National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. It talks of the potential for drones to be able to track the movements of every person in a city, and 90% of the article is solely concerned with generating fear.Then, in literally the final two paragraphs the author links the fear and problems, which they have just spent the previous twelve paragraphs hyping up, saying that Trump could use these systems against, innocent American citizens . This is not journalism.Stuart J. Hooper examines the propaganda piece in the following video, and also discusses which candidate Foreign Policy supported during the election. Can you guess who it was? READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Funny Money --- In 2004 Canadian police stopped a suspicious vehicle on the highway. Inside they uncovered stacks of C$20 notes. Near perfect counterfeit. A forgery so widespread it forced a radical re-think of the entire nation's physical currency",1 "Another victory for Kim Dotcom, he's getting all Megaupload data back - Neowin",0 " Media Tells Trump To Go F*ck Himself For Demanding They Portray Protesters As His ‘Enthusiastic Supporters’The media is so DONE taking Donald Trump s constant abuse.As he left his Florida resort on Sunday, Trump was greeted by a crowd of protesters who oppose him and his poisonous agenda.The media reported on the protests, and that led to Trump posting yet another temper tantrum accusing the media of being fake news because they accurately reported that the crowd was protesting Trump.Trump apparently is demanding that the media portray protesters as his enthusiastic supporters. You know, so it looks like everyone loves Trump and he can feel good.Just leaving Florida. Big crowds of enthusiastic supporters lining the road that the FAKE NEWS media refuses to mention. Very dishonest! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2017Reporters were not amused.George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post wrote that while there were a few Trump supporters in the crowd, they were clearly outnumbered by protesters..@realDonaldTrump motorcade passes hundreds of protesters and a few supporters in West Palm Beach. pic.twitter.com/TQ40PyT9Vq George Bennett (@gbennettpost) February 12, 2017The Hill s Mallory Shelbourne also slammed Trump for not providing evidence that the protesters were actually his supporters.Social media also smacked Trump down for once again putting his fragile ego before more important issues like the evacuation of Oroville, California because of an imminent failure of the local dam.@realDonaldTrump while you re still worried about fake news, the people of #Oroville are running for their lives https://t.co/dFl6RE6c0z AJ Joshi (@AJ) February 13, 2017.@realDonaldTrump Still just a shitty salesman at best. Look up #OrovilleDam the next time you take to your twitter throne. Holly Marie Combs (@H_Combs) February 13, 2017@realDonaldTrump god, you are such a fucking loser. Sean Newell (@dontforgetmac) February 13, 2017@realDonaldTrump More than 3 million people have already turned out to protest against you, because you re an incompetent lying asshole. pic.twitter.com/zlyjc3CPiA Jack Schofield (@jackschofield) February 13, 2017@realDonaldTrump no one is lining the streets supporting you. Those are called protestors. Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) February 12, 2017Protesters line up against @realDonaldTrump down here in Florida yesterday. pic.twitter.com/vkoP8VSb05 Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) February 13, 2017.@realDonaldTrump much like your Inuguartion amiright Easy D? MoveOn.org (@MoveOn) February 13, 2017@mmpadellan @realDonaldTrump Am I the only one picturing ?rump doing the I can t hear you routine, with his tiny fingers in his ears? Shelley (@itzshelleybell) February 12, 2017@realDonaldTrump we your Floridian neighbors only saw an overwhelming number of protesters. I understand though, if you couldn t read the signs they held Derek Smart (@dsmart) February 13, 2017If Donald Trump thinks the media is just going to roll over for him because he keeps insulting him, he should think again. Because the media is getting sick and tired of taking Trump s shit and they are only going to keep calling him out for lying.Featured image via Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images",0 Passengers Revolt Against Drunk Aeroflot Pilot on Flight to NYC Panic Ensues ,1 Cult author JG Ballard dead at 78,0 "Islamic State claims responsibility for blast in Afghan capital, KabulCAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility for an explosion on Monday carried by a suicide bomber near a compound of Afghanistan s national intelligence agency in the capital, Kabul, the group said on its Amaq news agency. The blast, close to the entrance of the security agency compound, killed at least three people and wounded one, Afghan government officials said. ",1 "The worst drought in the last 30 years has ignited more than 47,000 fires in Bolivia over the last few months - 9.9 million acres burned so far",1 Germany to give 1bn subsidy to boost electric car sales.,0 "Hillary Clinton - ""Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade""",1 "The UK surveillance state marches on: ""Every email, phone call and website visit is to be recorded and stored after the Coalition Government revived controversial Big Brother snooping plans""",1 " GOP Anti-Trumpers Have A Hail Mary Idea To Stop Trump That Just Might WorkAs Donald Trump makes the downhill run to Cleveland this July, those loyal to the Republican party who see it as a viable political entity for the next century rather than the cesspool of racism, hypocrisy and hate run by the wealthy that it is are trying desperately to save their beloved sham. America is divided. Politically we are either in favor of progress and societal evolution or we re with the rich guys who couldn t care less, but all life matters and poor people are stealing your paycheck.It really is that simple. You don t hear about plans to save and revive the Democratic party; our numbers grow as people learn to read and use Google. How many times can a person with any intelligence land back on a pants on fire designation for yet another conservative news crock of sh*t before they figure out the GOP is a scam?? Anyway, those people who are tried and true Republicans who know that Donald Trump is about to be the laughing-stock of the nation when actual debate issues come up and the Republican party will pay dearly.As he alienates more and more groups of people, trying desperately to get elected exclusively by angry white males, the establishment Republicans charged with seeing their party into the future can t endorse it. Mitt Romney and Ben Sasse are kicking around the idea of a third-party run, not by them of course, but the inevitable result of splitting the conservative vote is a Clinton win. It looks like the inevitable result of a straight Trump versus Clinton matchup ends with a Clinton win as well, so those still interested in seeing anyone but Donald Trump represent the Republican party in November are beginning to think of longshot last plays. The #NeverTrump movement has come up with one, and if properly put into place, it could change electoral history.In order for someone to win the White House, they must receive 270 electoral votes. Democrats have a distinct lead in electoral votes before polling begins, so the GOP always faces an uphill battle to begin with. If you want to see a third-party candidate in the White House you don t have to run one in the election, you just have to make sure neither of the candidates from the major party gets to 270. What happens then? According to the Constitution, the House of Representatives will then appoint Paul Ryan or Mittens or Jeb Bush or whoever else they feel works best for their political agenda, by a simple majority vote.So how do you keep the candidates from getting enough electoral votes? The idea from #NeverTrump is simple enough in theory: Run an influential person in each state and only in that state. Take enough electoral votes that way and nobody gets to 270. Think about it What if enough people in Florida decided that they would vote for Jeb Bush because neither of the major party candidates appealed to them. They know Jeb; they trust him. If he s on the ticket there s a darned good reason. In 2000 that by itself would have sent the presidential election to a vote, not restricted to the candidates on the ballot, in the congressional lower chamber. If that happens this year, Speaker Ryan will get to appoint his first president.The #NeverTrump movement is more than likely futile because in the end the Republicans are gonna batten down the hatches and ride the Trump wave all the way to historical comedy.Featured image by Matt Mills McKnight/Getty Images",0 "Latin America's growing taste for whisky: The whisky business gets a boost from Latin America's new middle-class. ",1 "The overconsumption of meat will inevitably push global temperatures to dangerous levels, a recent study has warned.""Global consumption of meat is forecast to increase 76% on recent levels by mid-century. A protein transition is playing out across the developing world",1 " Military Officials: Trump LIED, Botched Yemen Raid Yielded No Significant Intelligence At AllOn Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer responded to the concerns of the father of the Navy SEAL who died in Trump s disastrous raid in Yemen by blaming him for his own death but he claimed it was worth it because we recovered valuable intelligence that will save American lives and prevent terrorist attacks. I can tell him on behalf of the President, his son died a hero and the information that he was able to help obtain through that raid is going to save American lives; it s going to protect our country more, Spicer said, adding that Ryan Owens was responsible for his own death: It s something that as a SEAL and as somebody who deployed 12 times, he knew that this was part of the job and he knew what he was doing. It is almost certain that Owens knew that there was risk involved in his job, but he also relies on the Commander-in-Chief to know what he11-year-old boy is doing. The raid killed 30 civilians (and half as many militants), including about 10 women and children according to witnesses, an was the first to be struck by a bullet and completely failed to kill al Qaeda leader Qassim Al-Rimi, who took to mocking The Donald in propaganda videos after the embarrassment that was the Yemen raid. Our forces ultimately recovered a few videos that have been available on YouTube for a decade. Trump s first military operation was such a massive disaster that Yemen revoked the United States permission to conduct ground-based anti-terrorism operations within the country s borders. Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn t even barely a week into [President Trump s] administration? Bill Owens, the father of the slain SEAL, said of the raid. For two years prior everything was missiles and drones (in Yemen) .Now all of a sudden we had to make this grand display? Why such a grand display? Because this is what success looks like in Trump s America, of course!Despite Spicer and Trump s numerous claims that the mission was hugely successful, senior military officials tell NBC that they are unaware of any actionable intelligence that was recovered during the raid: We gathered an unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil, said Spicer.A Defense Department official also pushed back Monday afternoon, saying the raid has yielded a significant amount of intelligence.But the only example the military has provided turned out to be an old bomb-making video that was of no current value.On Monday, Spicer addressed the remarks of Bill Owens, whose son died. I can tell him that on behalf of the president, his son died a hero and the information that he was able to help obtain through that raid, as I said before, is going to save American lives, he said. The mission was successful in helping prevent a future attack or attacks on this nation. Multiple senior officials told NBC News they have not seen evidence to support that claim.It s one thing to authorize a mission with insufficient intelligence or support. It s another to lie to the family of someone your negligence killed and call it a success. Ryan Owens was a hero but his country failed him. His President failed him. And someone must answer for it.Featured image via Getty Images/Drew Angerer",0 Turkey charges Reporters Without Borders press freedom representative with 'terrorist propaganda',1 "Egypt names Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group - Egypt's military-backed interim government has declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, a dramatic escalation that gives authorities more power in cracking down on them.",1 "PRO-HILLARY New York Daily News Writer DESTROYS Hillary, Tells Her To, “Shut The F**k Up And Go Away”Gersh Kuntzman is a writer for the New York Daily News, he was also a Hillary Clinton supporter, with emphasis on was Gersh Kuntzman of the New York Daily News wrote: Hey, Hillary Clinton, shut the f up and go away already.I voted for Clinton on Nov. 8 and thought she d be a good president.But she lost. And she still wants us to feel bad about that. And, worse, she s still blaming everyone else.On Tuesday at the Women for Women conference, she reminded us again what a flawed candidate she was last year and what a flawed person she has always been.In her talk before a friendly audience, Clinton said she s writing a memoir and said it s painful to revisit how Donald Trump beat her like a ragdoll in an election that was a lock.Painful? We re the ones in pain, Hillary. You re making millions to process it. We re the ones living it.Sorry, Simon & Schuster may want Hillary Clinton to write the history, but I m not about to let her re-write it. No one deserves more blame for the election debacle than Hillary Rodham Clinton.Gersh Kuntzman goes on to us count the ways:1. She was, indeed, untrustworthy: Remember her fainting spell at the 9/11 ceremony? Remember how long it took for her to tell the truth? Remember how that reminded every voter in America that Hillary Clinton s first instinct is to lie? Just like she did when she claimed she had taken sniper fire during a First Lady trip to Bosnia. Just as she did when she said she never sent classified documents over her private email server.Huntzman went on to call Hillary out on her email server, her Goldman Sachs speeches and her pathetic campaignGo to New York Daily News for entire story",0 Pope tells Muslims that true religion rejects violence,1 " Clinton Team Takes Aim At Trump For His Full-Blown Hysterics Over Recount (TWEETS)When Donald Trump heard the news that Hillary Clinton was going to back Jill Stein s recount efforts in three separate states, he didn t take it too well. Trump proceeded to flaunt his rage by having a full-blown meltdown on Twitter, because of course he did. What remains of Clinton s campaign team is finally responding to Trump s hysterics.Christina Reynolds, who was the Clinton campaign s deputy communications director, addressed Trump s Twitter rant in a few tweets of her own. She specifically took on Trump s claim that he had lost the popular vote only because of millions of people who voted illegally. Winning the electoral college won him the presidency, so Trump s excuses on why he lost the popular vote by millions are just small and sad. Christina Reynolds (@creynoldsnc) November 28, 2016To my knowledge, the very very rare cases of people voting illegally found so far were Trump voters. https://t.co/Bc7AEFEFbU Christina Reynolds (@creynoldsnc) November 28, 2016Marc Elias, Clinton s campaign lawyer,was responsible for writing the post on Medium which announced Clinton s support for Stein s recount efforts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. He also took to Twitter regarding Trump s attacks.We are getting attacked for participating in a recount that we didn t ask for by the man who won election but thinks there was massive fraud Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) November 28, 2016So far, Clinton herself has not addressed the recounts at all. Stein, who was the candidate of the Green Party, has lead the efforts and has raised over $6 million to cover the cost of the recounts. Clinton s team has been cautious, making sure it is understood that they are merely responding to the requests of voters and are just trying to be helpful to Stein. Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides, Elias wrote.Neera Tanden is the head of the Center for American Progress. She was not part of the campaign but was a top Clinton ally, she pointed out that Trump s claims of voter fraud only strengthened the argument for recounts and questioned what is making Trump so nervous.Let s do recounts across the country to check this. Then we can see how sure you are of EC. https://t.co/L2zbhQ7Ntt Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) November 27, 2016I think this is Trump s way of asking to #AuditTheVote https://t.co/L2zbhQ7Ntt Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) November 27, 2016Given what Trump has said, shouldn t we audit the vote in all close states? Just to be sure. Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) November 27, 2016Standing back:Between his statement attacking Stein & then his numerous twitter meltdowns, isn t Trump acting like something is wrong in WI? Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) November 28, 2016I m pretty sure that the Electors were created to stop a madman from becoming president. #alwaystrustHamilton Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) November 28, 2016It is important to note that so far, no one associated with the Clinton campaign has claimed that election was rigged.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images",0 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been convicted of libel in a ruling that could potentially lead to the jailing of one of President Vladimir Putins most prominent critics.,0 Canadian bill allow authorities to access personal information of ISP subscribers without a warrant,1 "British Army accused of 'wrongly punishing' 1,400 soldiers",0 "Trump could find Democratic allies on tax reform: lawmakerWASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the looming tax reform and infrastructure spending fight on Capitol Hill, President-elect Donald Trump may find unlikely allies among Democrats, says the lawmaker soon to be the party’s top tax-law writer in the U.S. House of Representatives. Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts, who is in line to become the top Democrat on the House tax committee, said that in some crucial ways, Trump was more closely aligned to Democrats on tax issues than to his fellow Republicans. Citing the example of tax cuts for the middle class, Neal said Democrats were “more likely to be allies” to Trump than Republicans in Congress. A House Republican “blueprint” for overhauling the tax code “still overwhelmingly favors people at the top. ... I am open to a middle-class tax cut that we should pay for,” Neal said in a recent interview. The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, said Trump’s tax plan would give middle-class households an average tax cut of $1,010, or 1.8 percent of after-tax income. The center said Trump’s plan would give much larger tax savings to high-income taxpayers. Trump’s advisers have said that lower tax rates for the wealthy in the Trump plan are offset by loophole closures, resulting in no net tax cut for high earners. The center said that House Republicans’ tax “blueprint” would give middle-class households an average $260 tax cut, much smaller than Trump’s. It added that three-quarters of the blueprint’s tax cuts would go to the top 1 percent. On infrastructure spending, another component of the emerging fiscal policy debate, Neal said he did not accept the $1 trillion price tag on Trump’s plan or its emphasis on revenue-producing projects. He said, however, that he saw infrastructure spending as an important job creator for blue-collar constituents that Democrats should back. “We traditionally have been the party of infrastructure investment and it tends to be investment that puts our people to work,” said Neal. “We need to do something that’s conducive to more investment and more job creation.” The Trump team and Republicans in Congress are trying to hammer out an agreement on tax reform by early 2017. Trump advisers have called for bipartisan legislation. Representative Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of Neal’s tax committee, said on Wednesday he had invited Democrats to offer their best ideas on tax reform. With Trump due to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and Republicans in control of the House and Senate, hopes are running high for the biggest tax overhaul in 30 years. Businesses are eager to see a cut in the 35 percent corporate income tax rate. Trump wants it down to 15 percent, while House Republicans want it cut to 20 percent. Neal has been in Congress since 1989 and is known in the business community as a moderate. He is replacing Michigan Democrat Sander Levin as the committee’s ranking member. He said the odds of a tax reform deal were “at best 50-50” given the range of political and economic interests involved. It would be hard to cut the corporate rate below 28 percent, he said, without endangering tax breaks popular with the middle class, including deductions for home mortgages and charitable donations and the employer-sponsored health insurance deduction. Lower rates and infrastructure spending should be paid for with revenues raised from repatriation of $2.6 trillion in U.S. corporate profits now stashed overseas, Neal said. The repatriated profits should go to capital investments and infrastructure, not stock buybacks or dividends, as happened after a Bush-era tax holiday more than a decade ago. “It strikes me that there is some room to talk about how that money might be invested in America, and then we can argue about the rate once we’ve decided the parameters of what we think it might be moved for,” he said. ",1 "The Svalbard ""doomsday"" vault - widely known for protecting global food crop seeds - has accepted its first delivery of forest tree species seeds.",1 "Trump's pro-oil agenda poses dilemma for North Dakota's IndiansTRENTON, N.D. (Reuters) - When Donald Trump laid out his plan this week to roll back U.S. environmental regulations to boost the ailing energy industry, it raised both the hopes and fears of the American Indians living near the heart of the country’s richest oil fields. The Republican presidential contender’s agenda, laid out at an oil industry conference on Thursday in North Dakota, could bring desperately needed jobs to depressed communities that have come to depend on the oil drilling industry, but could also trigger worse pollution of Indian lands. “We would like to see more drilling,” said Gene McCowan, human resources director for the Trenton Indian Service Area, which governs the six counties in North Dakota and Montana where 2,600 Turtle Mountain Chippewa live. “But we are caught in a bind because people are concerned about fracking and how that will affect the earth and water,” he said. The dilemma facing North Dakota’s American Indians represents the broader tensions at play in the U.S. presidential election between jobs and the environment, as Trump and his likely Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, clash over energy and climate change. Trump on Thursday announced to a cheering crowd of roughly 7,700 people that he would sweep away initiatives by President Barack Obama to curb U.S. emissions and protect waterways from pollution, as ways to revive drilling and coal mining sectors that are in the middle of a steep downturn. Clinton and her rival for the Democratic nomination, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, meanwhile, have advocated a sharp move away from fossil fuels toward cleaner energy sources to cut pollution and slow climate change. The split is felt sharply by the Chippewa, people who have been hard hit by both the global oil market crash since 2014, as well as the environmental impacts of the preceding drilling boom that spread drillpads and pipelines across the landscape. “Twenty percent of our people have been laid off or seen cuts in salaries and it’s going to get worse,” McCowan said, adding that he will likely support Trump as the best hope of reversing the crisis. Trenton is 14 miles southwest of oil boom town Williston. Until a year or so ago, locals were making $25-$30 an hour. Now, McCowan said, the number of people needing food stamps has risen 40 percent. Residents said Democratic candidate Sanders has the most to say about income inequality and Native Americans issues, but is also most likely to curb fossil fuel development, depriving people of what they see as their economic lifeline. Trump could be a hard pill to swallow for other reasons, other Native Americans in North Dakota said. Ahead of his speech on Thursday, Nicole Robertson, a 41-year-old Cree Indian and communications strategist for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara nations - known as the Three Affiliated Tribes - tried to ask Trump if he would recognize tribal sovereignty when it comes to land where oil is produced. Trump said he would have to look into it. She later interrupted Trump when he launched an attack on Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, repeatedly calling her “Pocahantas” - a reference to her claim she is part Native American. Robertson shouted out that his comments were “very offensive,” interrupting his news conference. She said afterward that she felt it was important that Native Americans be consulted on oil policy, both because of its economic importance and its environmental impacts. “A lot of opportunities have come with the boom in the Bakken region in North Dakota,” she said. “But we as indigenous people are original land stewards. It’s in our genes.” She did not say who she would vote for in the election. American Indians make up around 5 percent of North Dakota’s population. Kenneth Hall, a tribal councilman for the Three Affiliated Tribes, said he was also rankled by Trump’s speech - even though it promised a much-needed economic revival. “We weren’t even mentioned by Mr. Trump ... and nearly a quarter of oil production in the state comes out of our reservation lands,” he said. He said the tribes requested a meeting with Trump ahead of his energy speech but that Trump’s team did not respond. ",1 Neurosurgeons from Poland transplanted nerve cells taken from the nose of man that had his spinal cord injured. He can move his legs now. (Google translate),1 " Lesbian Couple In New Jersey Insists State Is Forcing Them To Have Sex With Men (VIDEO)Two women in New Jersey are suing the state for one horrific obstacle that is in their path to having children the women are lesbians, and they say the state is forcing them to have sex with men before they are allowed fertility treatments.According to the suit, the women were denied insurance coverage for their fertility treatments because of the wording of an N.J. law that requires women to prove their infertility not only through medical diagnosis, but through unprotected heterosexual sex. The law, the four women argue in the suit, discriminates against infertile gay couples trying to conceive.State law requires large insurance providers to cover costly fertility treatments for patients medically unable to have children. The couples take issue with how the law defines infertility, which includes the inability to become pregnant after one or two years of unprotected sex, depending on a woman s age. Insurance companies have been able to deny coverage to gay patients who, although they have been medically diagnosed infertile, do not fit the definition, the suit says.Source: New Jersey.comErin Krupas is infertile. Her doctor confirmed it, but that s not enough for New Jersey law. She needs to prove it by having sex with a man.You wouldn t think of a law like this existing in mostly blue New Jersey, but remember they did elect Chris Christie twice. He s still vehemently opposed to marriage equality, despite the fact that it s the law of the land. Christie didn t sign this archaic law, but you can bet he has no intention of making lives better for LGBT couples.I hate defending insurance companies, but they are caught in the middle here. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield vehemently maintains that they do not discriminate against LGBT couples, but they have to follow state law. They are not being named in the lawsuit.Here s the video:Let s all hope this law is overturned. This is state-mandated rape. There s no other way to describe it.",0 "U.S. national security handover to Trump bumpy, officials sayWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump’s national security transition has been more chaotic than others in recent memory, with important positions unfilled and many of his people less able, or willing, to engage on substance, U.S. officials said. The uncertainties surrounding Trump’s personnel, policies, and rise to power have rattled many of America’s allies, including Japan, Germany and Britain, at a time when China is more assertive, Russia more aggressive, terrorism more diffuse, the Middle East still unstable and North Korea nuclear-armed and unpredictable, said U.S. and foreign diplomats. Disruption and uncertainty can provide strategic advantages, Mark Lagon and Ross Harrison of Georgetown University wrote in Foreign Policy magazine. “But what is seriously in doubt is whether Trump’s disruption will be strategic or beneficial to U.S. foreign policy interests. Even before getting elected, he acted like a missile without a guidance system.” Top Trump officials, however, described the transition as having gone smoothly, including on national security. Republican Trump’s camp announced on Thursday it had asked more than 50 of Democrat Obama’s appointees to stay on. However, at least three officials, a senior intelligence officer and two diplomats whose names are on a list of “requested political holdovers,” will depart. Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Stephanie O’Sullivan, Under Secretary of State Catherine Novelli and Assistant Secretary of State Toria Nuland appear on a Jan. 17 partial list of people the transition wanted to remain after Trump’s inauguration on Friday. The two diplomats have told colleagues they are going, and O’Sullivan is keeping her long-standing plans to retire. A U.S. official said that Nuland was never asked by the transition to stay on and was unaware of her name appearing on such a list. The State Department declined comment. The Trump transition and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is not clearly whether the uncertainties extend to other parts of the government, but another senior official at a national security agency said Trump’s effort was “much slower” than the 2001 Bill Clinton-to-George W. Bush or the 2009 Bush-to-Barack Obama handovers. “Personnel appointments were far more advanced in both those cases,” said the official, who spoke on condition he not be identified. “In both cases, advance teams were working on substance.” During the 2008-2009 transition, the official said, incoming and outgoing officials had worked together on issues “in a very harmonious fashion.” “None of that is the case in this transition,” he added. He said that he had expected to have met by now with his likely replacement or others on the transition, but had not. “It’s not just me. Everybody’s experience is like mine.” Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Vice President-elect Michael Pence said Trump’s transition was being completed ahead of schedule and under budget. “Our job is to be ready on day one. The American people can be confident that we will be.” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer also told reporters that contact between the incoming and outgoing National Security Council staffs had been “tremendous.” “We’ve had reams of briefings,” he said. “That is one area where frankly they have been very, very aggressive and robust with both meeting with their counterparts and ensuring that the team is ready to go day one.”Trump’s team did not respond to requests for further comment. Three State Department officials, though, called the transition there “a mess,” and said that until recently the Trump team had little contact with department officials and read few if any of their briefing books. That has left many career officials with misgivings about the incoming administration and the possibility that many foreign policy and national security veterans may be swept out. A dozen serving officials at four intelligence agencies said they are troubled by Trump’s apparent disdain for their work; by his designated national security advisor Michael Flynn’s perceived bent for conspiracy theories and hostility toward some of his former colleagues; and by what some say is the incoming president’s disinterest in the briefings he has received. Two officials with knowledge of those briefings said Trump’s attention has wandered, he has asked few questions, has read few if any of the briefing books he’s been given – including the one on Russian hacking of the 2016 election - and has requested few topical sessions, one of which was on North Korea. Secretary of State John Kerry and his nominated replacement, Rex Tillerson, were to meet on Thursday, but their schedules did not mesh, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters. One Obama official, who has dealt with the Trump transition team at the State Department and spoke on condition of anonymity, said it appeared ‘totally disconnected’ from Trump’s top echelon of advisers and from Tillerson. Tillerson’s nomination is not expected to get a Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote before Monday at the earliest. ",1 "U.S. sees 'too many' troubling statements from Philippines' DuterteWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made too many troubling statements recently that lend uncertainty over its ties with the United States and are at odds with their alliance, the White House said on Thursday. “We’ve seen too many troubling public statements from President Duterte over the last several months,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily press briefing. “And the frequency of that rhetoric has added an element of unnecessary uncertainty into our relationship that doesn’t advance the interests of either country.” ",1 "Peru exports more illegal gold than cocaine, and its the worlds biggest exporter of cocaine",1 "Swedish military officer warned of attacks in advance | If you can, avoid Drottninggatan today. A lot can happen therejust so you know, the message said.",1 "In Israel, a Tsunami Warning, Noam Chomsky",0 When You Are Really Hungry You Eat Anything You Get - These Videos are the proof of it,1 "Colombia, FARC announce full ceasefire, 'last day of the war'",1 "House oversight panel seeks ex-Trump aide Flynn's recordsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The main investigative panel of the U.S. House of Representatives has asked the White House and the FBI for documents regarding former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s foreign contacts with Russia, Turkey and others, its Republican chairman and Democratic counterpart said on Wednesday. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz and Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings said in a statement that the panel also requested related documents from the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The committee is considering whether Flynn, who resigned less than a month after President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, fully disclosed his payments from foreign sources. Flynn’s departure followed a report that the Justice Department had earlier warned the White House that Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail for contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump took office. Another report later showed Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, had been working as a representative for Turkey during last year’s presidential campaign even as he was advising Trump. Separately on Wednesday, U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a Republican, said intelligence agencies had swept up incidental communications by Trump’s political campaign after the Nov. 8 election, raising concerns about spying on the newly elected president. Chaffetz and Cummings said their request included documents on security clearance applications as well as on foreign contacts and payments, including payments Flynn received from RT, the Kremlin-backed media outlet. The committee called for the White House and the other agencies to provide all the documents related to Flynn dating back to his retirement in 2014 to the present, and to deliver them to the panel by April 3. ",1 Poll: Swedes say no bailout for Saab,1 "U.S. votes to advance FCC chairman nominationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted 55 to 41 on Thursday to advance the nomination of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to serve a new five-year term heading the U.S. telecommunications regulator. The Senate is expected to vote Monday on final approval. On Thursday, Democrats criticized Pai for moving to dismantle Obama-era internet access rules and taking other steps to deregulate telecommunications rules. Pai won backing from Republicans for what they said was new openness and accountability to the agency and efforts to improve rural communications. ",1 "Mexico's first independent governor: ""No one likes fat girls""",0 "White House says negotiations continuing on border wall fundingWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiations between the White House and congressional leaders on a spending measure to keep the U.S. government running beyond this week are continuing, and President Donald Trump is still seeking border wall and military funding, the White House said on Monday. Asked if Trump was insisting on some funding for his planned border wall in the current spending measure, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the money for the military and the border security wall were a priority for the president and he would not take them off the table yet. ",1 "SENATOR WANTS ANSWERS ON MISSING TSA BADGES AFTER TSA TRIES TO BLOCK INVESTIGATIONThis is a big deal and should be investigated. How did the TSA badges go missing? Senator Thune is right in pushing on this but who knows if they even have an answer for him Senator John Thune fired off a blistering letter to TSA officials demanding answers regarding missing, lost or stolen SIDA (Secured Identification Display Area) badges that can be used by employees to gain access to secure areas at airports. Clearly there are an awful lot of things falling through the cracks and there s just no room for an error when it comes to this issue. We need answers. They re not providing them. Thune, who chairs the Transportation Committee, said previous answers from the agency had actually raised more questions than answers. The concern follows reports that more than 270 badges went missing at the San Diego International Airport in the last two years and more than 1,400 badges missing from Atlanta s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.Many of the missing badges were not reported for weeks or months in hopes they would be turned it meaning they were not quickly deactivated. The information comes following an investigation by a an NBC affiliate in Dallas, TX. They also found reports of missing crew and pilot uniforms.When Atlanta reported the information to the TSA they said they never should have given out the information in the first place, but we ask, doesn t the public have a right to know?Read more: FOX News",0 " Ethics Office Just Called Out GOP For Shady Schemes To Confirm Trump’s Corrupt Cabinet PicksA lot can be said for Trump s cabinet picks. They are the richest of the rich, the lowest of the low, and the most corrupt of the corrupt. Republicans are fully aware of this but they plan to push them through without even completing the vetting process and a federal watchdog just called them out on their shady scheme.According to the Washington Post, the head of the Office of Government Ethics penned a letter to Democratic Senators on Saturday, which warns that Republicans are planning to hold confirmation hearings on Trump s nominees before the necessary paperwork has even been done to ensure there are no ethical, financial or criminal concerns. Walter M. Shaub Jr., the ethics director, said the idea that the GOP intends to hold confirmation hearings without an ethics review is of great concern to me. The Post reports:Plans for at least seven Trump nominees to sit for hearings on Capitol Hill in the coming days have created undue pressure on OGE s staff and agency ethics officials to rush through these important reviews, Shaub wrote. More significantly, it has left some of the nominees with potentially unknown or unresolved ethics issues shortly before their scheduled hearings. Shaub added: I am not aware of any occasion in the four decades since OGE was established when the Senate held a confirmation hearing before the nominee had completed the ethics review process. The letter gives even more firepower to concerned Democrats who say the GOP is trying to rush Trump s cabinet picks through. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) says the letter makes crystal-clear that the transition team s collusion with Senate Republicans to jam through these Cabinet nominees before they ve been thoroughly vetted is unprecedented. The Senate and the American people deserve to know that these Cabinet nominees have a plan to avoid any conflicts of interest, that they re working on behalf of the American people and not their own bottom line, and that they plan to fully comply with the law. Senate Republicans should heed the advice of this independent office and stop trying to jam through unvetted nominees. Among Trump s top picks scheduled for confirmation hearings this week are Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump s racist choice to serve as attorney general, and Rex Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil chief executive that Trump has nominated as secretary of state.It is unclear what effect, if any, the concerns of the ethics office will have on the confirmation of Trump s cabinet picks but it could make it more difficult for Republicans to simply wave them through without objection. Hearings are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.Featured image via Zach Gibson/Getty Images",0 "Archaeologists Make Spectacular Discovery Off Denmarks Coast: Stone Age boat & settlement foundBoat has repairs. It split 6,500 yrs ago & they tried to fix the crack by putting a bark strip over it & drilling holes on both sides. The most exciting thing is there's sealing mass in the holes.",1 "JUST IN: OBAMA REGIME Demanded Homeland Security Officials Stop Using “Sharia” and “Jihadist” Language…Look Who Just Changed That Language [VIDEO]President Trump addressed the America people today, as he outlined a new and bold national security strategy. The American people are generous. You are determined, you are brave, you are strong, and you are wise. When the American people speak, all of us should listen. And just over one year ago, you spoke loud and you spoke clear. And On November 8th, 2016, you voted to Make America Great Again. You embraced new leadership, and very new strategies, and also a glorious new hope, that is why we are here today. But to seize the opportunities of the future, we must first understand the failures of the past. America will pursue threats to their source, so that jihadist terrorists are stopped before they ever reach our borders. Legal Insurrection reports- The White House has unveiled President Donald Trump s national security strategy. It has four main points: Protect America, promote our prosperity, preserve peace through strength, and advance our influence.But one of the biggest points is the return of using jihadist and Sharia, language President Barack Obama s administration tried to avoid.From Fox News: The primary transnational threats Americans face are from jihadist terrorists and transnational criminal organizations, the document states, according to excerpts released ahead of the speech.A search of the document shows the word jihadist appears 24 times in the 68 page document. Obama s 2015 national security strategy mentioned Islam twice.The document mentions that America will pursue threats to their source, so that jihadist terrorists are stopped before they ever reach our borders. Trump listed the ways to do this: disrupt terror plots, take direct actions, eliminate terrorist safe havens, sever sources of strength, share responsibility, and combat radicalization & recruitment in communities.David Reaboi at Security Studies Group noted another massive change:Here is my favorite part of the National Security Strategy and it s MASSIVE Admin acknowledges Sharia is goal and driving force behind Islamist terror groups. Obama effectively banned use of any of this terminology. pic.twitter.com/2HVHhnVqjX David Reaboi (@davereaboi) December 18, 2017He is correct. Back in January 2016, Homeland Security released a report that called for officials to stop using jihad and sharia. The Washington Free Beacon reported at the time:Under the section on terminology, the report calls for rejecting use of an us versus them mentality by shunning Islamic language in Countering Violent Extremism programs, or CVE, the Obama administration s euphemism that seeks to avoid references to Islam.Under a section on recommended actions on terminology, the report says DHS should reject religiously-charged terminology and problematic positioning by using plain meaning American English. Government agencies should employ American English instead of religious, legal and cultural terms like jihad, sharia, takfir or umma, states the June 2016 report by the Council s countering violent extremism subcommittee. The DHS report stated that to avoid a confrontational us versus them stance in public efforts to counter Islamic radicalization, government programs should use the term American Muslim instead of Muslim American. The Obama administration insisted on this even though ISIS made it NO secret that they wanted the world to live under Sharia law. The terrorist group even formed an all female brigade to help enforce Sharia law through brutal and violent means. ",0 " WATCH: Doctor Hilariously Tears Apart Donald Trump’s Ridiculous Health LetterDonald Trump is taking a lot of fire over the letter his alleged physician wrote about his health, but it got hilariously worse on Thursday.Dr. Jennifer Gunter appeared on CNN with Chris Cuomo to discuss the letter, which was written in December by Dr. Harold Bornstein in lieu of an actual medical report.In her own examination of the letter, Gunter questioned Bornstein s terminology and picked apart how he diagnosed the Republican nominee throughout. Being able to unequivocally state that somebody would be the healthiest individual is just not a factual statement, right? Gunter said. You would have had to examine every other president to be able to say that, so that s incorrect. And then Gunter hilariously hammered how Bornstein described Trump s lab test results. Lab results aren t reported as being astonishingly excellent or not we give lab values of positive or negative. Then there s the fact that he says all of Mr. Trump s results are positive which, of course, would be a bad thing. When I tell someone they have gonorrhea, when they have a positive test for gonorrhea, they re not happy about that. That s not astonishingly excellent. Nope, I m guessing they would not be, doc, Cuomo replied. Interesting example you give there. So has Donald Trump ever had gonorrhea? It s definitely a question worth asking since Trump brags about how many women he has slept with. In 1997, Trump told radio host Howard Stern that sleeping around was his personal Vietnam and that he was lucky that he didn t contract any sexually transmitted diseases.Of course, Trump would never admit it if he did contract an STD, so who is to say he didn t lie when he talked to Stern?After all, all of his test results were apparently positive according to his physician. We don t know why Donald Trump lost 15 pounds he says he likes to eat KFC a lot, so that s a concern, Gunter continued. That s really important, you can t put a piece of medical information out there and not follow it up. Gunter then called for Bornstein to explain the inaccuracies stated in the letter. There s a lot of inaccuracies, and I think that the doctor should explain why he wrote it that way. If that s his letter and that s how he writes, what s the big deal about saying, This is me, and gosh, I made a mistake in saying which section that doesn t exist at Lenox Hospital that I thought I was in. So I think there s a lot of a inconsistencies, and you have a document that s this important it should be accurate. I want my health information to be accurate, I want the information I write about someone else to be accurate, and I guess we all wonder, if this part s inaccurate, what else is inaccurate, too? Here s the video via Twitter.Doctor lays out problems with Donald Trump s health letter: There s a lot of inaccuracies https://t.co/hex4QIjQDG https://t.co/690IMjNBom New Day (@NewDay) August 25, 2016As Donald Trump and his minions continue to spread false claims about Hillary Clinton s health, it s only fair to start asking questions about his own. And that means Trump s doctor note is fair game.The fact is, however, that Hillary has released her own detailed medical report written by her doctor while Trump continues to hide his own medical history from the voting public. He hoped that a bullshit letter would be enough, but going after Hillary s health only brought up new questions about his own. Voters deserve to see Trump s real medical history. If he is as healthy as he brags he is then he should have nothing to fear. But just like his taxes, Trump clearly doesn t want his medical history revealed because it could damage him even more than he has done to himself already.Featured image via screen capture",0 " Trump’s Legal Team Directly Contradicts Him On The Investigation Yet AgainDespite his tweets, apparently Trump isn t being investigated for obstruction of justice, according to Jay Sekulow, a member of Trump s legal team.On Friday morning, President Trump tweeted: I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt. I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2017According to NBC, Sekulow was adamant that Trump is not under any investigation on NBC s Meet The Press . Let me be clear here, said Jay Sekulow, a member of the president s legal team. The president is not and has not been under investigation for obstruction. Sekulow goes on to say that Trump was actually responding to news reports of an investigation.Funny, because that s not what it sounded like from Trump himself. Surely the President of the United States knows how to be clear in his official White House tweets. The tweet from the president was in response to the five anonymous sources purportedly leaking info to the Washington Post, Sekulow said, referring to the Washington Post s report that Special Counsel Robert Mueller s investigation into Russian interference in the election, now also includes a look at whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice. He s not afraid of the investigation there is no investigation, Sekulow said, adding, there is not an investigation of the President of the United States, period. Ah but Sekulow first said He s not afraid of the investigation , that implies something else entirely. It sounds like Trump and his team are working to cover up an investigation and have it become hush hush and forgotten about.We all know Trump tells it like it is on Twitter, covfefe or otherwise. Trump doesn t know when to shut up or keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately for him there s only so much his team can do. Or try to do.Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, also noted on NBC s Meet The Press that one thing we ve learned from the testimony of multiple people now is the president is pretty fired up about this and doesn t believe that he did anything wrong. The president wants people to say that, he said.If that s the case, again I ask: what does Trump have to hide then?Featured image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images",0 " Fox News Defends The Confederacy After Right-Wing Militia Seizes Federal Building (VIDEO)Hours after right-wing militia members committed treason against the United States, Fox News defended the Confederacy and the Confederate flag.Fox and Friends host Tucker Carlson declared that attacking the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism is an assault on middle America during the Sunday morning broadcast.Carlson took particular issue with director Quentin Tarantino s recent remarks on the subject, in which he said, I ve always felt the rebel flag was some American swastika. This caused Carlson to fly into a rage against the the Hateful Eight director before going on to defend the flag and the Confederacy. I don t think he knows anything about the Confederacy, the Fox host said. I would be shocked if Quentin Tarantino could name three Civil War battles if his life depended on it. This is an attack by the elites on middle American culture. Using the Confederacy and the battle flag and all that stuff, they re just symbols to them of what they believe is the backward culture between Malibu and Georgetown. It s like they look out and, man, everyone is in the Klan. You know, they eat pork rinds, they watch NASCAR, they re horrible. Co-host Clayton Morris pointed out that Nazis and American white supremacists both use the Confederate flag as a symbol of their racist and anti-government views, which seemed to cause Carlson to step back for a moment to claim that he isn t defending the flag even though that s what he was doing the entire time. He also claimed that he doesn t support armed rebellion against the government. But, of course, Carlson concluded by trying to enrage conservatives enough to the point where they might become even more violent against the government. I would say that [Tarantino] is not making a reasonable point here. He s making the point that the president always makes, that the real threat is middle America. They have too many guns, they re into this Christianity thing. They are opposed to abortion. They have all kinds of Medieval views that are a threat to America. It really is an attack on middle American culture. Here s the video via YouTube.As right-wing militias continue to become more emboldened, conservative media appears to be supportive of their actions. After all, Carlson and his co-hosts only devoted about 15 seconds to covering an armed attack on the United States government while focusing much more time on defending the losers of the Civil War who tried to overthrow the United States via armed rebellion. Clearly, these thugs in Oregon need to be arrested and locked away from civilized society and Fox News should be shut down for trying to anger more people into supporting violence against government.Because that s exactly what they are doing by claiming that the government thinks people in middle America are a threat. They are trying to gin up fundamentalist Christians, anti-abortion fanatics, and gun nuts into getting angry enough to start shooting and committing acts of terrorism that will get people killed. It s one thing to have a conservative point of view, but what Fox News is doing now looks an awful lot like support for treason and terrorism.Featured Image: Tumblr",0 " Trudeau Does What Trump Can’t, Calls Out White Supremacy In America (TWEET)It s no secret that Donald Trump courts white supremacists. He repeatedly retweeted white supremacists during his travesty of a presidential campaign, he has refused to directly disavow people like Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, and he has refused to call out white supremacists when he is willing to attack countless other people, groups, and organizations. Therefore, it should be no surprise that he refuses to call out white supremacist violence in the wake of the horrific deaths and violence that has happened in Charlottesville, Virginia due to the gathering of white supremacists.Now, all of that being said, this is a time for leadership. Since Trump is not willing to provide that leadership, there is a man who will: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In Trump s stead, Trudeau tweeted:We know Canada isn't immune to racist violence & hate. We condemn it in all its forms & send support to the victims in Charlottesville. Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 13, 2017While Canada may not be immune, it is not lost on us that Canada has a president that is inclusive and works toward equality daily. On the other side of that, we have a so-called president who refuses to acknowledge why this violence happened and who is responsible. The difference could not be more stark.There is one reason for this: Donald Trump is a racist. We have known this for years. This didn t start with Trump s bid for the White House. He has filled his administration with white supremacists, and nobody has said anything. Trudeau is right to do what he is doing. If Trump won t lead, other world leaders must take up the mantle and do so.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images",0 "North Korea's Prison Camps Are Absolutely Horrifying ",0 "Merkel's conservatives tempt SPD with offer on healthcare, jobsBERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives hope to draw the Social Democrats (SPD) into coalition with offers on healthcare and employment, one of her ministers said, but the two camps remain far apart on tax issues. Merkel s CDU/CSU alliance won a national election in September, but she has so far failed to agree terms with other parties on a coalition that would enable her to serve a fourth term. Her best chance now appears to be a reboot of the grand coalition with the centre-left SPD that ran Germany from 2013 to 2017 and continues to govern in a caretaker capacity. Peter Altmaier, acting finance minister and Merkel s chancellery chief, told newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung he thought such an alliance was again possible. The SPD had previously said it intended to go into opposition after suffering its worst election result in more than eight decades. But Germany s two biggest political groups are now set to start exploratory coalition talks next month and hope to decide by Jan. 12 whether to open full-blown negotiations. Asked what offers the conservatives would make, Altmaier said: We ll of course talk with the SPD about problems in hospitals and nursing care, improvements for families and children, broadband expansion, qualification for new jobs and how we can reach full employment. There is overlap with the SPD on these areas, he said, adding that helping Germany s 900,000 long-term unemployed needed to be a key project - an idea likely to go down well with the SPD. Taxation could be a sticking point, however. Senior SPD member Andrea Nahles told German magazine Der Spiegel her party wanted to press for a higher top rate of tax for individuals and non-listed companies and ensure the wealthy paid more. The conservatives have rejected the idea of higher taxes for the rich. Altmaier said that while the conservatives would not draw any red lines ahead of the talks, they wanted a coalition treaty to include a pledge not to raise taxes or increase debt. The SPD also wants to scrap Germany s dual healthcare system of premium private care and more widely accessible public care to replace it with a single citizen s insurance . The conservatives fear that would harm competition. Nahles said employers and employees needed to pay the same amount towards public healthcare and doctors fees for public and private healthcare systems should be reviewed. While the conservatives have made clear they are keen on another grand coalition , the SPD has kept the option of tolerating a minority Merkel-led government on the table. The chancellor rejects that idea. Senior SPD member and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told the Funke newspaper consortium that some of his party colleagues were ready to live with a minority government. But he said he worried about the implications for Europe s stability. I m rather skeptical, he said in an interview published on Friday as political crisis gripped Spain, where separatists were set to regain power in Catalonia following regional elections. A shaky government in Germany would probably lead to an earthquake in Europe - but we need to talk about it. ",1 "SMILING HOST Shows Women How To Apply Make-Up To Beaten Up Face In Country With 99% Muslim Population [VIDEO]This video was filmed on Moroccan television, the same country who paid Hillary Clinton ( advocate for women rights ) $28 million through her Clinton Foundation for favors reportedly performed by our government that would benefit Morocco The smiling woman on the daily Moroccan television show spoke to viewers as if it were any other makeup tutorial, comparing brands and hues of face foundation and demonstrating how to apply it.Seated next to her was a woman with what appeared to be a black eye and bruises on her cheekbones.#aworldadrift Morocco TV. Makeup tutorial show how abused women can hide bruises. pic.twitter.com/xk1AlCEkpT CaLi-Bano 3 (@CurioGorilla) November 26, 2016 After the beating, this part is still sensitive, so don t press, the host said in Arabic as she applied makeup on the woman s face, eventually concealing the woman s bruises. Make sure to use loose powder to fix the makeup so if you have to work throughout the day, the bruises don t show, she said.The makeup tutorial, aired Wednesday on Moroccan state television, instructed viewers how to use concealer to camouflage the traces of violence against women, spurring outrage on social media that prompted an apology from the channel. The segment was broadcast two days before the U.N. International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Guardian reported. It s a subject we shouldn t talk about, but unfortunately that s what it is, the segment s host, Lilia Mouline, said in the tutorial. We hope that these beauty tips help you carry on with your normal life. Use foundation with yellow in it, she said. If you use the white one, your red punch marks will always show. WP ",0 "May I introduce Germany's new first lady! And yes that is a real tattoo. ",0 Madagascar protesters tear-gassed for third day,0 " McCain Exposes How Capitol Hill Republicans REALLY Feel About TrumpArizona Senator John McCain has never been a fan of Donald Trump. We all remember how he viciously attacked McCain s military service, when McCain was imprisoned and tortured during the Vietnam War while Trump got multiple military deferments. Also, McCain is often openly critical of Trump, and he was the final GOP Senator to sink the so-called skinny repeal of the Affordable Care Act. To put it delicately, there is no love lost between the two men.Now, it seems that McCain, who is battling brain cancer is really speaking his mind, no matter who would criticize him for doing so. This time, his target is to expose the real feelings of Capitol Hill Republicans when it comes to Donald Trump. McCain said in an interview to The New York Times regarding Trump s reelection chances: They see weakness in this president. Look, it s not a nice business we re in. McCain then went on to rip the chaos of the Trump White House, and particularly the effect their incompetence is having on national security: I urge the President to resolve the differences within his administration as soon as possible and decide on a policy and strategy that can achieve our national security interests in Afghanistan and the region. The thing is, traditional Republicans never wanted Donald Trump to be their nominee or their president. They knew, like anyone else watching, that he was woefully unfit to be president of the United States. However, instead of putting their country before their party, they propped Trump up anyway, and their fear of his voters will not allow them to speak out, or to do anything about him.However, John McCain is such a towering, respected figure in the United States Senate that it s clear he just doesn t give a damn. He ll say what he thinks about Trump and will expose the cowardice of those within his own party in their refusal to do so on their own.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images ",0 "From Syria to North Korea, Tillerson would inherit a messy global situationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - From Syria’s bloody civil war and the slow-burning crisis in eastern Ukraine to perennial diplomatic headaches such as the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, Rex Tillerson would face a messy, complex world as the chief U.S. diplomat. Below are brief descriptions of some of the problems that will land on his plate if he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 69th U.S. secretary of state after a career spent at Exxon Mobil Corp, where he rose to be chief executive. Tillerson will inherit an increasingly complex conflict in Syria, where the rebel-held eastern portion of Aleppo is on the verge of falling to Syrian government forces backed by Russia, Iran and Shi’ite militias from Lebanon and Iraq. The civil war, now well into its sixth year, pits President Bashar al-Assad against a range of rebel groups, many supported by outside powers including the United States, Turkey and Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. During the U.S. presidential campaign, President-elect Donald Trump suggested his top priority was defeating the Islamic State militant group that has launched attacks in Europe and inspired mass-casualty attacks in the United States. If Trump cooperates with Russia against Islamic State, which holds a swath of northeastern Syria, there is a risk that moderate rebels, angered by what they viewed as abandonment by the United States, could gravitate toward militant Islamist factions that pose a potential threat to Western interests. Moreover, the persistent bloodshed could unleash new and destabilizing waves of refugees into neighboring nations from which they could then attempt to reach Europe. Earlier refugee flows triggered a backlash that has bolstered far-right nationalist parties in Europe. Cooperating with Russia would cause other complications for the new U.S. administration. For one thing, it could, by extension, align the United States with Iran and its Lebanese proxy militia, Hezbollah. Iran has used its ties to Syria to project force in the region, a troubling fact for Israeli officials not eager to see Tehran extend its influence. Next door in Iraq, Tillerson will confront a country struggling to overcome deep ethnic and sectarian divisions as it fights to stamp out the Islamic State insurgency with the help of some 6,000 U.S. support troops and military advisers. Even if Iraqi security forces prevail in retaking the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, the extremist group is expected to revert to waging a guerrilla war against the Shi’ite-dominated central government. If so, that could force Trump and Tillerson to decide whether the United States should remain engaged - and attempt to counterbalance the powerful influence of neighboring Shi’ite-led Iran – or play a diminished role. Tillerson also may face a renewed drive by Iraq’s minority Kurds, trained and armed by the United States to fight Islamic State, for independence for their oil-rich autonomous northern region. Such a move, which the United States has opposed, would raise the threat of a conflict between the Kurds and Baghdad that could affect the international petroleum market. It could also fuel demands by Kurds in Syria and in Turkey for greater autonomy, a prospect that Turkish officials bitterly oppose. North Korea’s secretive, authoritarian government has conducted five nuclear tests over the past decade, four of them during the Obama administration and two this year alone, along with an unprecedented flurry of ballistic missile tests. The North’s tests have brought tighter U.N. Security Council sanctions, including some passed last month that aim to cut its export earnings by a quarter, but no sign that Pyongyang’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, is willing to restrain its nuclear and missile programs. Reclusive, impoverished North Korea poses a direct threat to rich, democratic South Korea, a U.S. treaty ally that technically remains in a state of war with Pyongyang because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and the United States, which maintains about 28,000 troops in South Korea as a tripwire to deter North Korean from attacking. North Korea said after its September nuclear test that it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile. If it developed an effective intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, it could strike the continental United States. Trump has harshly criticized the agreement struck on July 14, 2015, between Iran and six major powers under which Tehran agreed to restrain its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Many Republicans, particularly in the U.S. Congress, have argued that the deal, negotiated by the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, should be torn up. While Trump has been critical of the agreement, it is not certain he would actually abrogate it. For one thing, Israeli officials quietly say that they prefer to have Iran live under the deal’s restraints and subject to its transparency measures, than totally freed from both, which could allow them to race to acquire nuclear weapons. Further, if the United States were to be blamed for the agreement’s collapse, it would be unlikely to find much sympathy among its European allies to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. Even if the deal holds, Tillerson may have his hands full trying to find ways to counter Iranian support for Syria’s Assad, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis, the militia fighting the Saudi-backed government in Yemen. Tillerson may quickly find himself dealing with a crisis of Trump’s own making with China given Beijing’s angry response to the Republican president-elect’s view that Washington did not necessarily have to stick to its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of “one China.” If he were to upend some four decades of settled U.S. policy, Trump risks antagonizing Beijing, which could decide to restrict cooperation with the United States or, if truly pushed, seek to subvert U.S. policy aims around the world. The United States has a vast array of interests with China, which is the third-largest destination for exports of U.S. goods and the largest source of goods imported into the U.S. market. China is also the largest holder of U.S. government debt. Among the areas where the two sides have worked together under the Obama administration are maintaining growth in the world economy, reining in the Iranian nuclear program and seeking to combat climate change. They have also had disagreements over North Korea and China’s maritime claims. Russia seized the majority Russian-speaking Crimea from Ukraine on March 16, 2014, after an uprising toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russian president. Ukraine, the United States and many governments in Western Europe also say that Moscow has armed and encouraged pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, and covertly infiltrated Russian military personnel. The conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists has cost nearly 10,000 lives since 2014. Germany and France have tried with little success to convince both sides to implement a peace deal agreed to in Minsk last year. The Kremlin denies Western charges that it is stoking the separatist movement and aiding the rebels and accuses Ukraine of perpetuating the violence and violating the Minsk deal. The United States and the European Union have imposed a range of economic sanctions on Russia as a result of its annexation of Crimea and its actions in eastern Ukraine. Trump has said that better relations with Russia could be a great benefit to the United States and there are suspicions that he and his nominee for secretary of state might be inclined to ease the Western sanctions on Russia. One U.S. official said there might be a deal to be done if Russian President Vladimir Putin were willing to abide by the Minsk peace deal, or to agree to something similar under a different name, in return for sanctions relief. Trump has given few specifics on his plans for Afghanistan, where nearly 10,000 U.S. troops remain more than 15 years after the Islamist Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces. Trump has said, however, that the United States should stop carrying out “nation building,” something it has been seeking to do for a decade and a half in the southwestern Asian nation. One of the most important questions facing Trump on Afghanistan, former officials and experts say, is how many U.S. troops will stay on there. Acknowledging that Afghan security remained precarious and Taliban forces had gained ground in some places, President Barack Obama shelved plans to cut the U.S. presence almost in half by year’s end, opting instead to keep 8,400 troops there through to the end of his presidency in January. A number of provincial capitals have been under pressure from the Taliban, while Afghan forces have been suffering high casualty rates, with more than 5,500 killed in the first eight months of 2016. ",1 Germany arrests Islamist preacher on charges of recruiting militants.,1 " Florida Judge Blames Rape Victim For Attending Music FestivalThe Ultra Music Festival in Miami is one of the largest electronic dance music festivals in the World. Over 170,000 people attended this year, and with it came several arrests, but one of the most horrific was the rape of a tourist from Brazil, which was blamed by a Florida judge due to the festival.Transit worker for the Department of Transportation and Public Works in Miami, Carl Lee Wilt, allegedly took the 22-year-old girl into a utility closet after she was prevented from boarding a public transit train for being too intoxicated, according to the police report.A witness harassed police officers in the area for 15 minutes until they decided to knock on the utility door, which Wilt opened five minutes later with his pants undone. Police said Wilt admitted to sexually assaulting the girl, but apparently stopped when she defecated herself.The girl told officers she had no recollection of how she met Wilt or what happened during their encounter.Miami-Dade judge Nushin Sayfie ordered Wilt be held without bond, who faces kidnapping and sexual battery charges, but then proceeded to blame the victim and the Ultra Music Festival for the rape. This is why we shouldn t let our kids go to Ultra right here, Sayfie said, who was appointed by former Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist in 2007. Her argument is straight out of the 1984 Kevin Bacon film, Footloose, in which a small town has banned dancing and rock music. Unlike policing victims behavior, educating people about rape can make lasting progress toward prevention. One study showed that after just one hour of education on sexual assault, men were less likely to believe myths about rape or consider being sexually coercive, wrote Suzannah Weiss in a 2015 article for Bustle. Once we recognize that sexual assault can happen to anyone, we can stop wondering what the victim did to deserve it and start wondering what allowed the perpetrator to go through with it. That s the only way we can gain the control we crave and create the just world we want to believe in. It is deeply disturbing this type of blame-the-victim language is coming from a judge in one of the biggest cities in the country. Carl Lee Wilt would have raped someone given the opportunity to, no matter whether there was a dance festival going on or not. Judge Sayfie should reevaluate her own judgment on these issues before presiding over another similar case. Featured image via Flickr",0 Former Garment Worker Fights to Unionize Walmart's Near-Slave Labor in Bangladesh,1 "RECKLESS: CLINTON PRESIDENCY Could Mean U.S. Muslim Population Would Exceed Germany’s 4.8 Million [VIDEO]Hillary Clinton always putting a radical ideology and her own personal financial gain before the best interests of America. Is this really the kind of leader America needs after 8 miserable, lawless years of Barack Obama? Under two terms of a President Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Muslim population would exceed Germany s current Muslim population, according to data from Pew Research Center and the Department of Homeland Security.According to a Pew report published earlier this week, as of 2010, there were 4.8 million Muslims in Germany. In September, 2015, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that the United States should accept 65,000 refugees from Syria to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis created by the war there. We re facing the worst refugee crisis since the end of World War II and I think the United States has to do more, the former secretary of state said Sunday on CBS Face the Nation. I would like to see us move from what is a good start with 10,000 to 65,000 and begin immediately to put into place the mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in. Via: CBS NewsHere s Trump on the out-of-control refugee crisis and common sense ideas on how he thinks America should deal with it:A Pew report from January of this year estimated that there are roughly 3.3 million Muslims living in the United States. This means that today the U.S. already has a larger Muslim population than does Kuwait, or Brunei, or Bahrain, or Djibouti, or Qatar. Under current policy, Pew projects the number of Muslims in America will outnumber Jews by 2040. However, under a President Hillary Clinton it s possible that date could come much sooner.Under two terms of a Hillary Clinton presidency, the U.S. would have a Muslim population that is larger than Germany s Muslim population of 4.8 million.Based on the most recent DHS data available, the U.S. permanently resettled roughly 149,000 migrants from predominantly Muslim countries on green cards in 2014.Yet, as Donald Trump explained during Thursday night acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Clinton has called for a radical 550% increase in Syrian refugees on top of existing massive refugee flows coming into our country under President Obama. Specifically, Clinton had said that, as president, she would expand Muslim migration by importing an additional 65,000 Syrian refugees into the United States during the course of a single fiscal year. Clinton has made no indication that she would limit her proposed Syrian refugee program to one year.As Trump explained, Clinton s Syrian refugees would come on top of the tens of thousands of refugees the U.S. already admits from Muslim countries.Adding Clinton s 65,000 Syrian refugees to the approximately 149,000 Muslim migrants the U.S. resettled on green cards in the course of one year, means that Clinton could permanently resettle roughly 214,000 Muslim migrants in her first year as President. If Clinton were to continue her Syrian refugee program throughout her Presidency, she could potentially resettle roughly 1.5 million Muslim migrants during her first two terms.These projections suggest that after seven years of a Hillary Clinton Presidency, the U.S. could have a Muslim population that is larger than Germany s Muslim population of 4.8 million.These projections are rough estimates, and the population size could be impacted by additional various factors including births, deaths, and conversions. Via: Breitbart News",0 HYSTERICAL! WHINY LIB Claiming Assault Instantly Shot Down By Quick Thinking Congressman [Video] ,0 "Osama unarmed when shot dead, US admits ",0 "Kremlin calls updated U.S. sanctions on Russia extremely negativeMOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Moscow regarded updated U.S. sanctions on Russia extremely negatively. The U.S. Treasury s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Tuesday published an amendment which bans U.S. entities from helping sanctioned Russian oil companies in exploration or production for deepwater, Arctic offshore, or shale projects anywhere in the world. Peskov said extending the original sanctions to cover projects globally was unacceptable for Moscow. ",1 "WOW! CONSERVATIVE SINGER KAYA JONES, Who Received Death Threats For Supporting PRESIDENT TRUMP Was On #LasVegas Stage Last Night With Jason AldeanKaya Jones, aka Chrystal Neria, the former member of The Pussycat Dolls, was on stage last night with Jason Aldean in Las Vegas. She was not on stage when the 64-year old shooter opened fire on the crowd below in what is now the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.We were all on that stage tonight. Every kind of American was in attendance. Moments later people where shot.It could have been us. KAYA (@KayaJones) October 2, 2017Only 2 weeks ago, Kaya Jones and Joy Villa were forced to cancel their appearance at the Free Speech Week event in Berkeley, CA over what they called serious and specific death threats on both of their lives.Authorities are still working to uncover a motive for the horrific shooting attack that left 50 people dead and over 200 people wounded by gunshots. Meanwhile, the fact that Kaya Jones was on the same stage where the mass shooting took place after receiving several serious death threats cannot and should not be overlooked. The hateful and vile rhetoric by Hollywood, by our so-called educators, by Democrats in Congress and by leftist hate groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa for our President and any American who dares to support him, has reached a fever-pitch.Watch as Kaya Jones and Joy Villa tell Sean Hannity how their lives have been threatened and how Hollywood liberals and YouTube have been punishing both of them for supporting President Trump.Watch:Here is Kaya s periscope message to her fans and friends, where she lets them know she is okay after the unimaginable violent act by the now deceased 64-yr. old who we will intentionally not name.https://t.co/xdV8PMifOd KAYA (@KayaJones) October 2, 2017Watch, as Hollywood does their part to inspire hatred for our President.",0 " Ruby Rose And Chrissy Teigan Troll Donald Trump’s Wiretapping Nonsense In Hilarious Twitter SpoofThe longer Donald Trump and his merry band of authoritarian misfits carry on with the baseless claims that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election cycle, the more subject they are to merciless and unrelenting ridicule. The latest people to troll Trump? Entertainers Chrissy Teigan and Ruby Rose.The two women had been on Lip Sync Battle together, and they used that as a way to riff on Trump s insane allegations against the former president. Taking to Trump s favorite platform for communication, Twitter, Teigan and Rose engaged in a back and forth in which they pointed Trump s own insanity back at him:The best part is that Ruby Rose pretty much outright calls Trump crazy. That s because he is. As funny as this is though, and as well-deserved as the mockery here and elsewhere is, it is also frightening. Donald Trump is president of the United States. What he says even via Twitter is of the utmost importance. He lies incessantly pathologically, even, and seems at times to be downright delusional. That is dangerous for the nation and the world, to have such a person holding the nuclear codes.Keep the mockery up, celebs. Perhaps Trump will go so far off the rails that the men in white coats will come for him, and we ll all be saved.Featured image via Michael Buckner/Getty Images (Teigan)/Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images (Ruby Rose)",0 "BRONX HOSPITAL SHOOTING: Multiple People Shot, Staff ‘Sheltered in Place’ Amid Backdrop of Active Shooter Drills21st Century Wire says Several people have been shot at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center as an allegedly disgruntled ex-family medicine doctor opened fire with an M16 type rifle later reported to be an AR-15 inside the facility. Early reports state that as many a seven were injured in the shooting with at least two people dead at the scene including the shooter. Interestingly, early reports suggested that there may have been multiple shooters involved.The motive for the tragic shooting is the still under investigation. The gunman is said to be 45 year-old Dr. Henry Michael Bello, who is believed to have resigned in 2015 over sexual harassment allegations.However, some confusion has emerged as to what really happened at the scene ACTIVE SHOOTER The Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center took part in an active shooter preparedness forum in June of 2016. (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)NBC News reported the following developments shortly after the apparent shooting: The shooter has been identified as Dr. Henry Michael Bello, a 45-year-old family medicine doctor formerly employed at the hospital, according to sources.After shooting the victims many of them, if not all, doctors Bello tried to set himself on fire on the 17th floor of the hospital, O Neill said. The hospital s fire alarm system activated, and FDNY firefighters were on standby outside the hospital as NYPD executed its active shooter protocol. By the time police found Bello on the 17th floor, he was dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound, O Neill said.A motive in the shootings remains unclear, but authorities say there is no apparent nexus to terror. Sources say Bello resigned from the hospital in 2015 in lieu of being fired. Circumstances in the resignation weren t clear. As members of the NYPD s most-armed units responded to the active shooter situation, a sea of patrol and tactical vehicles gridlocked the streets around the hospital on Grand Concourse, and police surveyed the roof of the building with their guns drawn, Chopper 4 over the scene shows. NOTE: Other reports have suggested it took about 15 minutes from the first 911 call until Bello s body was discovered dead.Also, shortly after the shooting rampage started, Reuters reported the police were able to conduct a sweep essentially shutting down the building attack: Police searched the hospital room by room, urging occupants to turn off the lights and remain in place as they conducted the sweep, according to an account posted on Twitter by Felix Puno, who identified himself as patient in the radiology department on the fourth floor of the hospital. Building is in complete shut down, I was in the middle of getting an x-ray when security alerted us to the active shooter situation, Puno tweeted.New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was briefed on the shooting and was on his way to the scene, the mayor s Twitter account said. DRILL PROTOCOL A hospital staff member follow the obligatory hands up protocol, as part of the scripted active shooter scenario training. (Image Source: nydailynews) Sketchy DetailsAs with any traumatic event there often several are certain details that don t quite add up.While we ve been told the shooting took place on the 16th floor of the building some reports gave eye-witness testimony to the contrary, with one stating he heard three gun shots while located on the 10th floor. Is it really possible he heard gun shots from 6 stories above? Here s NBC again with that detail: Francisco Bodon, a patient at Bronx Lebanon, tells NBC New York sister station Telemundo 47 that he was in a room on the 10th floor when three gunshots rang out and then chaos erupted.There may have been more than three [shots], but people were screaming, crying and running around. It was very chaotic, said Bodon. Adding to the confusion, the UK s Express reported that one of doctors who was wounded in the shooting, as people inside the hospital created a makeshift tourniquet out of an emergency fire hose.Although Bello reportedly held a work place grudge and apparently made threats to coworkers the hospital officials said none of the victims were connected to Bello. QUESTION: Considering the massive amount of training associated with the hospital, why was there no zero tolerance active shooter plan in place something commonly implemented in emergency prep?Over the years, we ve seen how sensationalized shooting events have become a staple part of our day to day lives, complete with ready-made political talking points and staged press conferences a buffet laid out for America, all of this within minutes or hours of high-profile tragedy. MASSIVE RESPONSE This kind of police emergency response has become routine after many high-profile active shooter incidents. (Image Source: nbcdfw.com)The precarious relationship between emergency preparedness drills and actual active shootings is an ongoing pattern present in many high-profile shooting incidents in recent years, with mass shootings happening at the exact same locations as where active shooter or terrorism drills had just previously taken place a puzzling trend which we have covered extensively at 21WIRE. This latest Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center appears to be no exception.Although the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center appears to be work place violence, it s important to examine other aspects or elements surrounding any case.Below is a screen shot depicting speakers that participated in an Active Shooter Planning Forum in conjunction with the Healthcare Association of New York State in June of 2016. The Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center is displayed among those speaking In addition to active shooter emergency planning protocols listed above, according to a FOJP Service Corporation Journal Bronx-Lebanon Hospital was selected be a part of major emergency prep since at least over the past several years. here s a passage from that report: At Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, the Department of Safety is charged with multiple responsibilities, some of which include, but are not limited to: fire and life safety, general safety and monitoring the fire command station; and coordinating emergency management and response planning.Continuing, the report outlined the following: At Bronx-Lebanon, we took our environment into account, for example, geographic location we re in, and let that be our driving force to how we developed our Hazard Vulnerablity Analysis (HVA) and put our emergency action plan (EAP) together. With two main campuses and multiple satellite locations, our plan has to incorporate everyone to ensure we will have the necessary staff in case of emergencies. It s interesting that a hospital known to have extensive emergency protocols could have a shooting occur on its own premises after leading the area charge in addressing that very issue.QUESTION: Is it really just a coincidence that this hospital was so heavily involved in active shooter prep only to fall prey to exactly that kind of tragedy?*UPDATE* According to new reports as per active shooter protocol first responders ducked for cover as patients filed from Bronx-Lebanon Hospital wearing bed sheets. Wouldn t the answer here be to properly train those in the work place how to handle a firearm in crisis situations such as this?Additionally, sources tell CBS2 Bello started two fires, one at the nurse s station and another as an attempt to set himself ablaze. He ended up shooting himself in a room, then staggered out to the hallway where he died. Continuing the article goes on to state the following: Police continue to investigate the rampage. The New York Daily News reports Bello sent them an email before the shooting, where he wrote about leaving his job at the hospital. QUESTION: If Bello s email prior to the shooting was threatening in nature, then why wasn t he taken in for police questioning?This whole aspect to the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital case appears to echo some of what happened in 2013 when TV shooter Vester Flanagan aka Bryce Williams had also warned a manager that there would be negative consequences for his firing and vowed he would make a stink and it s going to be in the headlines. Here we see a similar foreshadowing of tragedy prior to yet another suspicious shooting case that was also linked to an active shooter drill before a bizarre shooting rampage.Here s another look at a tweet from the WDBJ-TV shooting case in 2015 that documents the active shooter drill connection Here s a collection of media montages and video footage supposedly depicting the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center shooting response as staff and others sheltered in place. Notice the makeshift barricade during active shooter training the run and hide method is a critical feature in crisis roleplay . As those in the hospital were ordered to shelter in place by both the NYPD and at the urging of the consulate for the United Arab Emirates, while there were several tweets posted to Twitter regarding the incident.Here s a screenshot first published by New York City Alerts that allegedly depicts the dead gunman Bello notice there s no evidence of fire that can been seen QUESTION: What was the purpose of releasing this photo or than to sensationalize a tragic event?Here s a social media post with a comment that read stayed safe during the crisis by a page since taken down on Instagram Here s the witness who heard shots ring out while on the 10th floor In the aftermath of any of these crisis events in America, powerful interests are always quick to line-up and take advantage of the event, mounting their sociopolitical agendas directly on the back of mass media coverage and by extracting political capital out of an emotional and traumatic situation. Certainly, mainstream media outlets like CNN gain immediate benefit as TV viewers are tuned-in incessantly for updates on any breaking situation which translates into high rating and massive advertising income streams for the broadcast network.Something else to consider, this shooting event took place the very same week during a major push to pass the GOP healthcare bill.While this very well could be an act of workplace violence, it s still important to ask questions, where there are few answers.Will new questions emerge following the shocking Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center shooting?READ MORE DAILY SHOOTER NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Daily Shooter FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 India just turned off mobile internet for 63 million citizens amid protests in Ahmedabad,1 "As of last week, Clinton's White House chances 95 percent: Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation NEW YORK (Reuters) - Even before Sunday night's vicious presidential debate, Republican Donald Trump was losing ground in many of the states he needs to win to capture the presidency, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation Project analysis released on Monday. The project estimates that if the election had been held at the end of last week, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had at least a 95 percent chance of winning enough states to reach the minimum 270 Electoral College votes needed to become the next president, based on polling between Sept. 30 and Oct. 7. _________________________ STATES OF THE NATION What would it take for Donald Trump to turn the map red? _________________________ Those odds had steadily grown from about 60 percent on Sept. 15 to almost 90 percent on Sept 30. In the last four weeks, her estimated margin of victory has grown from about 14 votes to 118, according to the project. The polling did not capture reaction to Trump’s performance in Sunday’s debate or the release on Friday of his 11-year-old sexually aggressive comments about women. The results, however, mirrored other estimates of her chances of winning the campaign. Statistical analysis outfit FiveThirtyEight, for example, put Clinton’s chance of victory in the election at about 55 percent three weeks ago. Currently, they estimate the odds of a Clinton win at 82 percent. In the same period, the New York Times’ estimates of the odds of a Clinton victory have also increased, from about 70 percent to 84 percent. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada and Florida are now leaning toward the Democratic candidate, according to the Reuters/Ipsos project, an online survey of about 15,000 people every week. Arizona and Iowa are in the too-close-to-call category after being considered likely Trump states. More broadly, the state-by-state results show how Trump’s support is sliding. In the last week, he has lost ground in at least 21 states, including in seven of the 18 states where he is leading, while improving his position in 19 states. Meanwhile, Clinton lost ground in 12 states, including in three of the 23 states where she is leading, and improved her standing in 30 sates. Based on these results, Trump’s best hope for a victory would require a precipitous drop in the number of Democratic voters going to the polls on Nov. 8 from expected levels, combined with a similarly large increase in Republican turnout. LOCKER-ROOM TALK Trump’s crude comments about groping women and aggressively pursuing a married woman, captured on an open microphone, have sent his campaign into turmoil. The recording, first reported by The Washington Post, was made in 2005, in advance of a cameo appearance on a soap opera. Over the weekend, numerous Republican elected officials and candidates responded by calling for Trump to step aside. Trump responded to his waning support among some Republicans by calling them hypocrites. During Sunday’s debate he apologized but said the comments were just “locker-room talk.” He also attacked Bill Clinton’s treatment of women and said Hillary Clinton should be in jail for her use of a private email server while secretary of state. Trump said that, if elected, he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her. A nearly yearlong FBI investigation into the emails concluded earlier this year that no charges should be filed, although FBI Director James Comey said Clinton had been careless in her handling of sensitive material.  The sexually explicit comments controversy followed published reports suggesting the Republican Party leadership was having an internal debate about shifting resources away from the presidential race and into U.S. House and Senate races. The Republicans currently control both branches of Congress. Many experts think control of the Senate could shift to the Democrats, although few are predicting the Republicans will lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Even before the weekend, the Trump campaign had struggled through two weeks of negative news coverage that began with the campaign’s first presidential debate on Sept. 26, which Reuters/Ipsos polling suggested Clinton had won. Shortly after the first debate, the New York businessman also attacked – in tweets that began in the early hours of the morning – a former Miss Universe whom Clinton had referred to during the debate as an example of Trump degrading women. Also during that period, a New York Times report detailed how Trump lost nearly $1 billion in 1995, a loss that could be used to avoid paying federal taxes for up to 18 years, depending on his annual income. Clinton has had her share of woes as well, including the release of hacked emails last week of comments she appeared to have made to banks and big business. In the 2014 comments, she pushes for open trade and open borders, and takes a conciliatory approach to Wall Street, both positions she later backed away from.",1 "Republican Santorum drops out of White House race, endorses RubioWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rick Santorum withdrew from the race for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday and said he would endorse Senator Marco Rubio in the race for the White House. Santorum, a 57-year-old former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, won the Iowa caucuses four years ago but managed only 1 percent of the vote in the Iowa contest on Monday. Santorum, in an appearance on Fox News announcing his withdrawal and endorsement of Rubio, called the Florida senator “a tremendously gifted young man and ... a born leader.” He said Rubio “can bring this country together, not just moderates and conservatives but young and old.” Rubio, 44, finished third in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the state-by-state battle to decide who will be the Republican nominee in the November presidential election. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas finished first in Iowa, putting a dent in real estate tycoon Donald Trump’s standing as the Republican front-runner. Santorum’s withdrawal leaves nine Republican candidates in the 2016 White House race, with the next contest in New Hampshire on Tuesday. U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky announced earlier on Wednesday he was suspending his campaign after a fifth-place finish in Iowa. A favorite of the Christian right, Santorum announced his White House bid in May with an eye on economic issues. He campaigned on a promise to boost the middle class,eliminate the Internal Revenue Service and crack down on illegalimmigration. Santorum won a reputation as a strong social conservative in Congress, where he opposed same-sex marriage and the teaching of evolution in schools. (Reporting by Eric Beech; additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.",1 "Five Things To Look Out For With Trump’s Pentagon21st Century Wire says Although he had some great ideas on the campaign trail, still expect the war hawks and Israeli Lobby instruments like John Bolton, Tom Cotton, and Rudy Giuliani to gradually nudge the new President and his administration, in a concerted attempt to try and reshape Trump s relatively common sense campaign foreign policy directives Kristina Wong and Rebecca Kheel The HillDonald Trump s election was as much a surprise to the defense world as it was to much of the nation. Here are five key things the Pentagon can expect from Trump. 1. Rising spendingTrump has called for a much bigger military and some experts think he could increase defense spending by 20 percent, from $583 billion in 2017 to nearly $700 billion.While that may sound like a lot, it is in line with what the Obama administration projected for 2012 before the Pentagon was hit with sequestration mandatory budget caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act.Trump has called for increasing the size of the active duty Army from 475,000 to 540,000 troops, and the Marine Corps from 24 to 36 battalions. He wants to build a 350-ship Navy, have 1,200 fighter aircraft in the Air Force and increase missile defense.Trump has pledged to lift limits on spending from the 2011 budget bill, something that would require action by Congress and could be difficult. The limits are in place until 2021.The Congress is controlled by the GOP, but not all Republicans are in favor of more military spending.Increasing defense spending could also increase the deficit, something Trump and the GOP are loathe to do. He separately wants to cut taxes, including for the wealthy, would could add to deficit concerns.2. Targeting ISISTrump has said he would aggressively pursue military operations to crush and destroy the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but what that would entail is far from clear.By the time Trump takes office on Jan. 20, offensives to retake ISIS s strongholds in both countries will be underway, but the terrorist group is expected to continue waging an insurgency in both places even if they fall.Trump would likely seek cooperation with Russia in Syria to defeat ISIS, but it s not clear what that would mean. Russia began an air campaign there in September 2015, but has been hitting anti-regime rebels supported by the U.S., as well as civilians.Trump has also called for international cooperation to cut off ISIS s funding, expanding intelligence sharing, and cyberwarfare to disrupt its propaganda and recruiting. Trump has said he would also decimate Al Qaeda.3. Syria and AfghanistanNearly 500,000 people have been killed and 11 million displaced by the Syrian war, an intractable problem for President Obama.Trump has suggested that Syria President Bashar al-Assad is better than the alternative, which would be the coalition of anti-regime rebels that include U.S.-backed moderates as well as extremists. At the same time, Trump has said he would build safe zones in Syria, in order to stop the flow of refugees into Europe.Those two goals are somewhat contradictory, as Syria and Russia have a broad definition of terrorists and have been hitting those civilians the safe zones would protect. U.S. defense officials and experts say implementing safe zones would mean war with Syria, and possibly Russia.Trump s future policy in Afghanistan, where the U.S. has 9,800 troops, is also unclear.Before his bid for presidency, he had called for withdrawing troops, and criticized efforts to nation-build in the country. He reiterated that sentiment earlier this year, saying at a rally in August that he would end the era of nation building. However, with the Taliban making a comeback, and al Qaeda and ISIS militants also trying to build safe havens, there will be pressure for Trump to maintain U.S. troops in Afghanistan.4. Closer ties with Russia?U.S. relations with Russia could improve under Trump.Trump has said he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before he takes office in January, and repeatedly complimented him during the campaign.His statements on Russia s invasion of the Ukraine territory in Crimea and his refusal to blame Russia for cyber hacks against U.S. political institutions has unnerved people in both parties.It s possible Trump won t change policy toward Russia.Vice President-elect Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) took a much harder line against Russia during the campaign, suggesting during the vice presidential debate that the U.S. Could take military action against Russia in Syria.Trump will likely face staunch opposition to cozier relations from Congress from key Republicans such as Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), whose name has been floated for secretary of State under Trump, has been highly critical of Russia s role in Syria.Some experts say although Trump may seek to actively engage Russia, cooperation would likely be based on what s mutually beneficial. He is a deal maker so he s going to want things in return for giving Russia what it is seeking, said Paul Schwartz, defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Trump s win also puts the future of the 67-year-old NATO alliance in question at a time when lawmakers are working on bulking up the eastern flank to deter an increasingly aggressive Russia and finding ways to combat hybrid warfare, cyber attacks and terrorism.Trump called NATO obsolete multiple times over the course of the campaign, saying it should do more to fight terrorism. Trump also said he would look at whether NATO allies have fulfilled their obligations to us before deciding whether to defend them if they are attacked.Just five of 28 members meet the goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense: the United States, the United Kingdom, Greece, Estonia and Poland.Michael O Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said there are a few paths Trump could take to fulfill his campaign promise.In one scenario, Trump could immediately pull out of commitments to defend countries that aren t meeting their 2 percent obligations.Trump could also make deals with such countries that give them a few years to meet the goal.5. Guantanamo staysWith President Obama unlikely to fulfill his pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by Jan. 20, Trump will inherit the facility and almost certainly keep it open Continue this story at The HillREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files",0 "Erdogan says U.S. stance stalls Turkish ratification of Paris climate dealHAMBURG (Reuters) - The U.S. decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement means Turkey is less inclined to ratify the deal because the U.S. move jeopardizes compensation promised to developing countries, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. Erdogan was speaking at the G20 summit in Germany where leaders from the world’s leading economies broke with U.S. President Donald Trump over climate policy, following his announcement last month that he was withdrawing from the accord. Erdogan said that when Turkey signed the accord France had promised that Turkey would be eligible for compensation for some of the financial costs of compliance. “So we said if this would happen, the agreement would pass through parliament. But otherwise it won’t pass,” Erdogan told a news conference, adding that parliament had not yet approved it. “Therefore, after this step taken by the United States, our position steers a course towards not passing this from the parliament,” he said. ",1 "RIP NHS, 1948-2012: Cameron gloats as hated Health Bill passed to allow private firms to cash in on care",0 Russia says no country can use military force in Syria without government approval,0 "10 million pound cost of Margaret Thatcher's funeral ""asking for trouble""",0 " Donald Trump Attacked Clinton’s ‘Stamina’ And Her Response Was Absolutely Brilliant (VIDEO)After Monday s debate, Donald Trump almost certainly wishes he had been covered in honey, placed on top of a colony of fire ants, and kicked in his surely gold-plated testicles repeatedly as someone reads Twilight to him rather than face Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup.Moderator Lester Holt reminded Trump that he said Clinton doesn t have a presidential look and asked him what he meant by that. She doesn t have the look, Trump replied. She doesn t have the stamina. I said she doesn t have the stamina and I don t believe she does have the stamina. To be President of this country, you need tremendous stamina. Clinton, who was an absolute badass the entire debate, just stood there. And laughed. And smiled. And let him talk. Then, when it was her turn, she turned the burn up to 9,000 degrees: Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a ceasefire, a release of dissidents, or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina. Watch Clinton bring down the hammer below:Featured image via Getty Images/Drew Angerer",0 "Clinton targets Valeant price hikes in campaign appearance(Reuters) - Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX.N) fell on Thursday after the campaign of Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton posted a blog from an Iowa event detailing exorbitant price hikes for a migraine drug made by the company. At an Iowa town hall over the weekend, Clinton read from a letter saying that the list price for 10 vials of migraine drug D.H.E. 45 had increased to more than $14,000 in December, compared with just over $3,000 in June of 2014. “This is predatory pricing. It is unjustified. It is wrong,” Clinton said, according to the post. Officials at Valeant did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Shares of Valeant fell nearly 9 percent to close at $86.12 on the New York Stock Exchange. More than 3 million shares of Valeant traded in the last hour of trading; total volume on the day was 7.9 mln shares. Valeant, based in Canada, has been under pressure since last year as cracks appeared in its business model of acquiring older drugs, steeply increasing their U.S. price, and using aggressive methods to overcome insurer barriers to reimbursing its medicines. D.H.E. 45, or dihydroergotamine, is a generic, injectable analgesic. Clinton, fellow Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump have hammered away at drug costs in recent months, raising investor concerns that future price cuts could hurt pharmaceutical and biotech companies. “I’m going after them. We are going to stop this,” Clinton said at the Iowa town hall. Trump said earlier this week that Medicare, the government-run healthcare plan for the elderly, could reap huge savings by negotiating with drugmakers on price. Medicare by law cannot directly negotiate drug prices. A U.S. congressional committee last week subpoenaed former Turing Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Officer Martin Shkreli to testify at a hearing about that company’s decision last year to raise by 5,000 percent the price of a decades-old treatment for a rare, but dangerous, parasitic infection. (Reporting By Deena Beasley; Editing by Tom Brown and Grant McCool) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.",1 Obama Administration will not rule out attacking Iran over its decision to enrich uranium to 20 percent. Same as Bush.,1 "Ugandan parliament passes law allowing Museveni to seek re-electionKAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan legislators voted overwhelmingly late on Wednesday to remove from the constitution an age cap of 75 for presidential candidates, allowing President Yoweri Museveni, 73, to seek re-election at the next polls in 2021. Critics say the move opens the possibility of a life presidency for Museveni, who has ruled the east African country for 31 years. ",1 "CNN: No truce with Ukraine, rebel leader says",0 'Super-Earth' discovered only 14 light-years away,0 Russia fears Korea conflict could go nuclear - taking 'precautionary measures',0 "BREAKING VIDEO: HILLARY CLINTON STUMBLES Up Stairs On Plane…Microphone Catches Her Asking, “Why Can’t You Go Any Closer?”Ladies and gentlemen the Democrats have dumped an unfit candidate on its party for the highest office in our nation If this woman can t even walk up a short ramp, and complains about having to walk the distance between her vehicle and the ramp to her private plane how the heck is she supposed to be fit enough to run our nation? Hillary Clinton s vehicle pulled up to within about 3 feet from the ramp leading to her private plane. You can hear her ask Why can t you go any closer? Really? Is she really not able to walk 3 feet to the ramp? Watch, as she very carefully navigates the stairs without assistance from her typical handlers and stumbles. She was then seen mumbling to herself.My 99 year-old grandmother had more energy and confidence in her ability to walk than Hillary ",0 "U.N. chief warns Myanmar violence could destabilize regionUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to Myanmar authorities on Tuesday to end violence against Rohingya Muslims in the country s Rakhine state, warning of the risk of ethnic cleansing and regional destabilization. He also urged the Security Council to press for restraint and calm, sending the 15-member body a rare letter to express concern that the violence could spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe with implications for peace and security that could continue to expand beyond Myanmar s borders. Nearly 125,00 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar s northwestern Rakhine state since the violence began on Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people. When asked if the violence could be described as ethnic cleansing, Guterres told reporters on Tuesday: We are facing a risk, I hope we don t get there. I appeal to all, all authorities in Myanmar, civilian authorities and military authorities, to indeed put an end to this violence that, in my opinion, is creating a situation that can destabilize the region, he said. Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against terrorists responsible for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October. Myanmar officials blamed Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths but rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force them out with a campaign of arson and killings. The U.N. Security Council met behind closed doors last week to be briefed on the situation at the request of Britain. If it continues to deteriorate then one of the things that we can do is to hold further meetings to shine a spotlight on the situation there, Britain s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said on Monday. The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar s roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution. Under the rarely used Article 99 of the U.N. Charter, Guterres can bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security. While Guterres letter does not specifically involve Article 99, he writes that the international community has a responsibility to undertake concerted efforts to prevent further escalation of the crisis. ",1 UK makes Atlantic sea bed claim,1 Asian stock markets prunge over 10 percent on news that the sky is falling,0 "The Supremo in His Labyrinth - A horrifying first-hand account of Kim Jong Il's private life, from a former bodyguard",1 Iranian Supreme Leader orders dismissal of Ahmadinejad's choice for VP,1 "After the final round in Egypt's elections, the Muslim Brotherhood is set to get 41% of the seats, the Salafis 20%, and the three main liberal parties 20% together. Former Mubarak loyalists got 4%, and most of the rest goes to independents.",1 "Netherlands joins growing chorus for burqa ban, Dutch to introduce law next week banning face coverings, including burqas or niqabs.",0 "Match North Korea overture with Iran offer, Germany tells U.S.BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson s announcement that he was probing opportunities for dialogue with North Korea about its nuclear weapons program and called for Washington to take a similar step with Iran. German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel also warned in a statement that going back on a nuclear deal with Iran signed by former U.S. President Barack Obama would risk undermining Washington s credibility in negotiating with North Korea. In 2015, Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear program in return for the loosening of economic sanctions that had crippled its economy. But U.S. President Donald Trump has called the deal an embarrassment and Washington said last month it was weighing whether to pull out of it. Germany, one of the few Western countries with a permanent embassy in Pyongyang, has advocated peaceful approaches to de-escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula and criticized some of Trump s more bellicose rhetoric regarding the potential nuclear flashpoint. This is exactly the right direction. North Korea would be well advised to take this offer of talks seriously. Gabriel said on Sunday of Tillerson s announcement. He added: I would like to see a similar offer for Iran. If the U.S. canceled its nuclear deal with Iran, that would undermine the credibility of its offer to North Korea. ",1 Dan Snow test fires a machine gun from a WW2 Spitfire which has been recovered from a peat bog in Co Donegal where it had lain buried for 70 years.,1 "Thousands protest, defy crackdown in Iran -- crowds chant death to the dictator",1 """Finland would consider leaving the eurozone rather than paying the debts of other countries in the currency bloc, Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen said in a newspaper interview on Friday [6 July 2012].""",0 "If We Rescued the Banks We Can Save Refugees, Merkel Says.Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany must respond to the European refugee crisis with the same resolve it showed in rescuing banks and her government will spend billions of euros to handle the tide of migrants.",0 """Australian director of the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, says marijuana should be legalised under strict controls because the social harm associated with it was significantly less than from drinking.""",1 "White substance found at Clinton office not hazardous: police(Reuters) - Preliminary analysis has found that a white substance that prompted the evacuation of Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, was not harmful, police said on Saturday. The substance arrived through the mail at Clinton’s campaign office in Manhattan, and was transported to the headquarters in Brooklyn Heights, police said. The floor was evacuated as a precaution, and several people were exposed to the substance. A New York City Police Department spokesman said police were still investigating the precise nature of the substance, as well as the identity of the sender. ",1 """Eleven arrested in eastern China for allegedly stealing women's corpses for use in ""ghost marriages""",0 Army is fighting British jihadists in Afghanistan,1 Ivory Coast Crisis - 1000 killed in a single day in village of Duekoue.,1 "WHY DECISION To Cut Off Gas Deliveries To Trump Supporters By Gas Co Owner In Maine Will Probably Destroy His Business [AUDIO]An owner of a propane dealership in Maine is refusing to deliver gas to anyone who voted for President-Elect Donald Trump.Michael Turner, owner of Turner LP Gas in Skowhegan, Maine, recorded a voicemail greeting that leaves little question as to his feelings for those in his community who supported Trump. Thank you for calling Turner LP Gas. If you voted for Donald Trump for president, I will no longer be delivering your gas please find someone else, the message states.Turner isn t the first person to refuse to do business with Trump voters in late November, Mathew Blanchfield, CEO of an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based marketing firm, issued a statement saying he would no longer work with Trump supporters.But unlike Blanchfield, who lives in a county that voted solidly for Hillary Clinton, Turner lives in a county that overwhelmingly supported Trump. Trump won Somerset County, Maine in which Skowhegan is located 57.73 percent to Hillary Clinton s 35 percent.In Skowhegan specifically, where Clinton performed better than Somerset County at large, Trump still received over 50 percent of the vote and had a 10-point lead on Clinton, according to rough figures published on Skowhegan s town website. Turner is apparently so distraught over Trump s win he is willing alienate more than half of his community and possibly sacrifice his livelihood. Lifezette",0 American Forces Said to Bomb ISIS Targets in Iraq,1 "Biden urges U.S. business in Davos to lean on anti-gay statesDAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged executives in Davos to use their influence to drive change in countries where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face repression, putting gay rights at the heart of this year’s meeting. The issue is on the official agenda for the first time at the World Economic Forum, where political leaders from countries that discriminate against gay people, such as Nigeria and Russia, schmooze business leaders and billionaire investors. Biden told U.S. executives including Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of apartment-sharing firm Airbnb, Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of The Coca Cola Company, and Anthony Scaramucci, founder of hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, to push for change. “You can change the terms of debate,” he said. “You actually put governments on notice.” He said he and President Barack Obama privately raise the issue of repression of the LGBT community when they meet political leaders. “I have had some run-ins with at least four heads of state already on this,” said Biden. Banging his fist on the table, Biden said there was no national cultural justification to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. “People used to be cannibals as part of their culture, people used to do terrible things as part of their culture,” he said. Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the United States’ largest LGBT civil rights organization, said business leaders should take the opportunity in Davos to confront the leaders of countries with “hateful laws”. Big business has been key to lobbying for change on gay marriage around the world. Some leading companies, including Google, Twitter and eBay, released videos of their employees voicing their support for marriage equality ahead of a country-wide vote on the issue in Ireland. Apple CEO (AAPL.O) Tim Cook came out last year, but according to the U.S.-based Center for Talent Innovation, 41 percent of LGBT people do not feel comfortable disclosing their sexuality at work. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalized same-sex marriage nationwide last year but it is still legal in many U.S. states to fire someone based on their sexual orientation. ",1 "Kim Jong-Uns sister, Kim Yo-Jong, makes first official appearance",0 " Turner, Bacon, Freud, Constable? No, Britain is Banksy country - A thousand artists were asked to name the work best expressing national identity. Their choice was surprising ",0 The Red Cross has defended its work in Haiti following a devastating earthquake five years ago after a media investigation found it had only built six houses despite raising nearly half a billion dollars in donations.,0 "Mattis: not decided on number of extra U.S. troops for AfghanistanBAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Tuesday he was waiting for a plan from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that follows President Donald Trump’s South Asia strategy before he makes a decision on how many additional troops to send to Afghanistan. “When he brings that to me, I will determine how many more we need to send in,” Mattis told reporters during a visit to Baghdad. “It may or may not the number that is bandied about.” U.S. officials have said Trump has given Mattis the authority to send about 4,000 additional troops to add to the roughly 8,400 already in Afghanistan. In a speech on Monday, Trump offered few specifics but promised a stepped-up military campaign against Taliban insurgents who have gained ground against U.S-backed government forces in Afghanistan. “We are not nation-building. We are killing terrorists,” he said in a prime-time televised address at a military base outside Washington. Trump also singled out Pakistan for harboring militants. Mattis said lessons learned from fighting Islamic State in Iraq would be used in Afghanistan. When asked how Trump’s strategy would differ from those of previous administrations, he said the approach would be broader but provided no specifics. “There is a broader approach to this and it all comes down to the execution and we will have to stand and deliver on this. ... I understand the question, you’ll just have to watch it unfold to really get the answer to it,” Mattis said. U.S. officials have told Reuters in the past that possible Trump administration responses included expanding U.S. drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and downgrading Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally. Experts say that for years U.S. efforts to curb Pakistan’s support for militant groups have failed and that further strengthening U.S. ties to India, Pakistan’s arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad. “(Trump) demanded strategic shifts in Pakistan without credible carrots or sticks while utterly ignoring the rest of the major regional players like China, Iran and Russia that back Pakistan’s approach,” said Sameer Lalwani, a senior associate at the Stimson Center think tank. ",1 "NANCY PELOSI, DEMOCRATS and ANTIFA Force Conservative Prayer Group To Cancel Event Because “a lot of innocent people were going to get hurt”Joey Gibson of the group Patriot Prayer had planned to hold a peaceful rally with a diverse array of speakers, but ultimately opposition from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, other San Francisco Democrats and the Antifa movement proved too much. Mr. Gibson cancelled the Freedom Rally before it was scheduled to begin Saturday at Crissy Field in San Francisco, saying he feared it would erupt into a huge riot fueled by radical activists from antifa and By Any Means Necessary. It was the best thing to do for the city because the way it was set up is that a lot of innocent people were going to get hurt, Mr. Gibson said during a press conference on Facebook Live. That s a fact. A bunch of supporters, a bunch of antifa communists, normal liberals would have all been mixed together. It would have been a huge riot, and it would have been a disaster. A separate right-of-center event slated for Sunday in Berkeley called No to Marxism in America also was cancelled by organizers over fears of violence.San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee had urged residents instead to attend a rally at Civic Center Plaza, and thousands did, holding a unite against hate march while carrying anti-Trump signs and an enormous rainbow banner that said, Rise and Resist! Ms. Pelosi had called on the National Park Service to reconsider Patriot Prayer s permit, describing the event as a white supremacist rally. Reason has prevailed because the people of San Francisco have demonstrated our determination to protect the freedom of peaceful expression as well as public safety, Ms. Pelosi said Saturday in a statement to the Mercury News.But Mr. Gibson accused San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Ms. Pelosi of stoking unrest by labeling the event as a white supremacy fest, even though most of the scheduled speakers were not white and Mr. Gibson himself is half-Asian. To call us white supremacists made San Francisco way more dangerous, Mr. Gibson said. Washington Times ",0 Mexican Beauty Queen Arrested In Gun-Filled Truck (PHOTOS),0 US and European negotiators have urged Israel to refrain from taking punitive measures against the Palestinians if they press ahead with their bid to win recognition of a home state at the United Nations. ,0 "CLEAR DISCRIMINATION: SNAP Still Gives Preference to Illegals Over American CitizensTHE CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES is a great resource for all the facts on illegals and taxpayer dollars. Patty and I were lucky enough to attend a two-day workshop with them in DC. The main fact that stuck with us is that the current immigration system is UNSUSTAINABLE They used facts and figures to lay out the truth for us and it was frightening! This is why it is even more frightening that the feds are STILL giving preferential treatment to illegals when it comes to SNAP.CIS s David North gives us the low down:It s been six months since Donald Trump took office, and some families with illegal aliens get food stamps (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) while identical all-citizen families of the same size and with the same income do not receive them.This is not a question of treating illegal aliens like other residents of this country, it is clear-cut discrimination against citizens and in favor of illegals.This long-standing (and peculiar) arrangement is the sort of thing that one would expect to be corrected by the third, if not the first, month of a new get-tough-on-illegal-immigration administration, such as that of the campaigning Donald Trump.I checked with the Department of Agriculture s Food and Nutrition Service this week, the $110 billion-a-year agency that runs food stamps and some other nutrition programs.Two questions were on my mind: 1) does the food stamp program still, under a particular set of circumstances, operate with this anti-citizen bias, and 2) has the Trump administration made an appointment of one or more outsiders to help run the agency?The answer to the second question came quickly: No, but there is a civil servant running the program on an acting basis who was placed in that job by the White House. Does an agency have to have a budget of, say, $200 billion a year before the administration notices its existence?It took a little longer to get the answer to the first question, because the nature of the discrimination is subtle and a lot of professionals in the welfare business do not want to make the distinction between legal and illegal residents of this country.Here s how the system works: Illegal aliens are not allocated food stamps, but if the family is mixed, with some citizens and some illegals, the mixed family still gets some benefits. States are allowed, to some extent, to pick and choose among benefit-determination methods. Most states have chosen a technique that does not record some of the earnings of illegal aliens, while always recording all the income of citizens.Let s look at the system as applied to two similar families who live in adjacent houses; both have incomes of $2,400 a month, both have the same assets, both families consist of a working male, his stay-at-home spouse, and their stay-at-home toddler. The only difference is that one of the men is a native-born citizen and the other is an illegal alien. Everyone else in the two households is a citizen.OK, so far. Now let s walk through Alice s special mirror, and see how the government handles the situation. It sees the three-citizen family as three people and says that $2,400 a month is too high an income for food stamps. It looks at the other family and sees it as a two-member family, because the man is an illegal, and then here s the key the government decides that only two-thirds of the family income should be counted, and that $1,600 is not too high for a family of two, hence the family with the illegal alien in it gets food stamps and the other family does not.There are bands of income in which this situation plays out with different sized families, giving benefits to some mixed families, and denying them to all-citizen families of the same size and with the same income. For more on these strange arrangements, see the CIS report An Aid Program that Routinely Discriminates in Favor of Ineligible Aliens .That s the way it was under Obama, and after I explained the (admittedly bizarre) matter to the Food and Nutrition Service publicist, she told me that it remains that way under Trump.This story is symptomatic of two larger realities. Both the Obama and Trump administrations managed to conduct big immigration operations to their own liking; think of DACA with Obama, and, under Trump, the way that enforcement people were given the freedom to do their jobs.But Obama was much more successful in the minutia of immigration policy than Trump; for years I wrote about this little move to admit a small class of migrants, or that little move that prevented another subclass from being deported. We are not seeing that, or maybe not yet, with the Trump administration. You can t change policy, at least at the retail level, without people to write and push the new policies.So an unknown but substantial number of mixed (illegals plus citizens) families are getting food stamps when equally poor neighbors, who happen to be in all-citizen families, go hungry.Read more and please check out the CIS websiteJESSICA VAUGHAN OF CIS DISCUSSES EXPEDITED REMOVAL OF ILLEGALS UNDER THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION:Please use this website as a resource for facts when it comes to immigration!",0 "ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CASE: Justice Roberts Used Obama’s Own Words Against HimIt s great to see one of the Justices questioning the dictatorship of Obama. The vote will likely be a split vote even though the federal law should be followed. Illegal is illegal. If they side with Obama then we ll have millions of illegals who ll get amnesty just in time for the 2016 election. Couldn t be better timing for Barack Let s hope that Justice Roberts finds his manhood and votes with the American people. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. prodded the Obama administration Monday to explain President Obama s immigration flip-flop, when Mr. Obama in 2014 reversed himself and decided he did, after all, have powers to grant a tentative amnesty to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants.Mr. Obama had repeatedly denied he had that kind of power, then after the 2014 election, when Congress refused to act on his policies, the president claimed a do-over and said he did have the power.Chief Justice Roberts wondered what changed in Mr. Obama s mind, and even read back one of Mr. Obama s quotes to Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. recounting the president saying he would be ignoring the law if he were to grant a broad stay of deportation to millions of illegal immigrants. What was he talking about? the chief justice prodded.Mr. Verrilli said Mr. Obama may have changed his mind after asking the Justice Department s legal advisory branch to take a closer look at his powers. You know, what happened here is that the president and the secretary went to the Office of Legal Counsel and asked for an opinion about the scope of their authority to the scope of this discretionary authority, and they got one. And they exercised it consistently with that and up to the limits of that and no further, Mr. Verrilli said.Immigrant-rights activists had repeatedly told Mr. Obama he had authority to grant deferred action to million of illegal immigrants, but the president shot those requests down, telling the activists he didn t think he could defend that action in court.Read more: WT",0 Evidence of mass murder after Gaddafi's death,1 "EU's Mogherini says all parties complying with Iran nuclear dealUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The European Union s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Wednesday that all parties to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers were complying with the agreement. Mogherini, who spoke at the United Nations after a meeting between the parties, said that any issues outside the scope of the nuclear deal should be dealt with in a different forum. She added that the United States, which has questioned the value of the deal, agreed that Iran was in full compliance of the agreement. ",1 Chinese bloggers protest blocking of YouTube,0 " Why This Attorney General Is Going After Trump For ‘Fraud’New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman isn t going to allow Donald Trump s 2016 presidential campaign get in the way of his ongoing prosecution of the GOP frontrunner for fraud. Schneiderman is the highest profile government official looking into Trump s shady business dealings at Trump University. Customers claim that after they signed up for the opportunity, they were pressured to spend ever-increasing amounts of money with little knowledge of the real estate business to show for it.In an interview with ABC, the attorney general explained that he s not going to back off. We re ready to go, Schneiderman, a Democrat, told ABC News today. We sued him long before anyone thought he might run for President. This is not a political case, it s just a straight-up fraud case. Like the judge also looking into the case, Scneiderman has come in for attack by Trump, who has used his high profile to impugn the prosecutor s motives. But that hasn t dissuaded the prosecutor.Schneiderman told ABC News he is not worrying about the confluence of the campaign and his case. The documents, he said only served to offer further proof that the operation was aimed less at teaching students the skills needed to buy and sell real state, and more about making money for Trump. It was clearly a way to separate people who were desperate to make money in hard economic times from their own cash and to get it into the pocket of Mr. Trump and his cronies, Schneiderman said.The secret Trump University documents have revealed that workers at the operation were given a step-by-step manual on how to convince prospective students to give the company access to their money and also explained how to prey on their emotions in pursuit of profits. Trump University is now defunct, after Trump and his partners made money off of regular people, all while egging students on to profit from the 2007-8 real estate collapse.Featured image via YouTube",0 "Atlantic Current Strength Declines - The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is part of the great ocean conveyor belt that ceaselessly circulates sea water, heat and nutrients around the globe.",0 4TH OF JULY HUMOR: Brutal Cartoon Shows Difference Between Liberals And Proud AmericansBoom!Courtesy of: comicallyincorrect.com,0 " Virginia Seeks To Hold Trump In Contempt For Ignoring Federal Court Order Against Muslim BanDonald Trump could end up behind bars if the state of Virginia holds him in contempt of court for violating a federal court order that halted parts of his Muslim ban.Last Friday, Trump signed an unconstitutional executive order banning people from seven countries from entering the United States. Worldwide chaos and mass protests ensued throughout the weekend as Custom s officials and airport security detained and deported people traveling from those nations, even going so far as to detain American citizens who have green cards and separating children from their parents.Multiple states and the ACLU immediately filed lawsuits against the order and attorneys rushed to defend the rights of those being detained.And then New York federal Judge Ann M. Donnelly issued a stay that was supposed to immediately halt the actions of Custom s officials and airport security.Shortly after that, a federal court in Virginia issued a temporary restraining order to force Customs agents to let lawyers talk to legal United States residents who were being detained.But Customs officials ignored the order in directly defied the court ruling, and now the state of Virginia is pursuing charges against Trump for it.A motion has been filed requesting the issuance of a rule to show cause why respondents should not be held in contempt of this Court s temporary restraining order (TRO) entered on the evening of January 28, 2017. Donald Trump is specifically named in the motion along with the Department of Homeland Security and several Customs officials.United States Congressman Donald Beyer filed a declaration under penalty of perjury that he personally witnessed Customs agents ignore the federal court order and said that police at Dulles International Airport blocked him and two of his colleagues from speaking to the Customs official in charge because they were ordered to not let anyone have access to them. Senator Cory Booker also filed a declaration in support of the motion.Now a hearing will be held to determine if Trump ordered the Customs agents at Dulles to ignore the court order, and if he did, he will likely be charged with contempt of court, which carries a possible jail sentence.Homeland Security even admitted that it was ignoring the court order to continue enforcing Trump s executive order.The Department of Homeland Security will continue to enforce all of President Trump s Executive Orders in a manner that ensures the safety and security of the American people. President Trump s Executive Orders remain in place prohibited travel will remain prohibited, and the U.S. government retains its right to revoke visas at any time if required for national security or public safety. President Trump s Executive Order affects a minor portion of international travelers, and is a first step towards reestablishing control over America s borders and national security.The fact that Customs agents willfully ignored a federal court to continue carrying out Trump s tyrannical order is absolutely frightening. The question is, did Homeland Security willfully ignore the court order by itself, or did Trump order them to ignore it and his order was passed down the chain of command to the Customs officials? If the order can be traced to Trump, he is in violation of a court order and should be punished for it. And if that means prison time, then so be it. Because unlike the presidency, Trump is totally qualified to be a prison inmate.Featured image via Capitol Hill Blue",0 "U.S. Syria strikes unlikely to halt Tillerson Moscow visit: IfaxMOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian air base are unlikely to halt U.S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson’s planned visit to Moscow next week, the head of the Russian lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee said on Friday. “I don’t think this will impact Tillerson’s visit, we need to restore dialogue. We should welcome Tillerson, exchange views and try and talk sense into Washington,” Leonid Slutsky told the Russia 24 television channel, Interfax reported. “That’s much better than hiding behind walls.” Tillerson is due to visit Russia for talks next week. The United States on Friday fired dozens of cruise missiles at a Syrian air base from which it said a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched this week. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the action “aggression against a sovereign nation” on a “made-up pretext”. ",1 "19 retired U.S. generals, admirals back Clinton's stance on Guantanamo(Reuters) - A group of 19 retired U.S. generals and admirals on Thursday backed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s position on the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo and torture and called for an end to the “dangerous rhetoric” from her Republican opponents. “The Republican candidates have turned this into a game to see who can seem toughest. Yet, how we combat our enemies and defeat ISIS is not a game, and these proposals would only make us weaker,” the retired officers said in a statement, using an acronym for Islamic State, the militant group active in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. Republican candidates have opposed an Obama administration plan to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Republican front-runner and real estate mogul Donald Trump said this month he would bring back waterboarding, widely condemned as a form of torture, and would be open to even tougher measures in the fight against Islamic State. Clinton was secretary of state during President Barack Obama’s first term, when he banned the use of torture. She has supported the closing of the Guantanamo prison for terrorism suspects, which Obama says has become a recruiting tool for militant groups fighting the United States and its allies around the globe. The retired officers said expanding the use of Guantanamo “is dangerous and has real negative consequences for our national security.” Expanding the use of torture, they said, would compromise global U.S. leadership and put American troops and civilians at risk. “We applaud Hillary Clinton’s leadership on these issues and call on the immediate end to the dangerous rhetoric coming from the right,” the retired officers said. (Reporting by Washington newsroom) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 "COMEDIAN DAVE CHAPPELLE Stuns NY Audience: SLAMS Hillary…Compares TRUMP To The Terminator:”Most Gangsta Candidate Ever”Comedian Dave Chappelle has been prepping for his November 12 hosting slot on Saturday Night Live with a series of surprise shows at The Cutting Room in New York. On Friday night, he shocked the crowd with a 60-minute set largely devoted to slamming Hillary Clinton.He was particularly agitated about what he believes was Clinton s role in leaking a surreptitiously recorded conversation between Republican nominee Donald J. Trump and TV personality Billy Bush. What I heard on that tape was gross, Chappelle said. But the way I got to hear it was even more gross. You know that came directly from Hillary. He stated this had put him off a candidate he had already known was not right. He likened voting for her to a hypothetical situation of actress Halle Berry breaking wind in his face during sexual relations. I m still going to go for it, he said. But I wish she hadn t done that thing. Chappelle further shocked the New York crowd by defending Trump. He took issue with the media stating as fact that Trump had admitted committing sexual assault in the recorded conversation. Sexual assault? It wasn t. He said, And when you re a star, they let you do it. That phrase implies consent. I just don t like the way the media twisted that whole thing. Nobody questioned it. The comedian stated that Trump s resilience in the face of the leak had impressed him. Comparing Trump to The Terminator, Chappelle said, That would have devastated anybody else. Chappelle added that Trump s handling of the debate immediately following the controversy had won him over. Referring to Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz s hostile questioning, he said, Something about this was backward. A gay white man and a white woman asking a multi-billionaire how he knows the system is rigged and insisting it s not. Does that sound right to you? It didn t seem right to me. And here s how you know Trump is the most gangsta candidate ever. They asked him how he knows the system is rigged and he said, Because I take advantage of it. He may as well have flashed his membership card for the Illuminati right then. Noting that he voted early in rural Yellow Springs, Ohio before heading to New York, Chappelle said he didn t feel good about voting for Clinton. She s going to be on a coin someday. And her behavior has not been coin-worthy, he said. She s not right and we all know she s not right. Chappelle noted that he d been present at a late October going-away party at the White House, sponsored by BET. Everyone there was black everyone except Bradley Cooper, he said. Chappelle listed attendees including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer, singer Usher, DNC chairwoman Donna Brazile, and DJ D-Nice, who performed at the hush-hush soiree. He claimed that, at the end of the night, he grabbed the mic and waxed lyrical about Frederick Douglass, concluding that even though the current election has been gross, he still loves the United States of America.The comedian wasn t feeling so much love for women s rights, gay rights, and transgender rights activists, saying, They should not be having that conversation in front of black people. You go ahead and feel something about your rights. But if you re putting sexism and homophobia and transphobia in front of racism, you should be ashamed of yourself. Chappelle still slammed North Carolina legislation stating that transgender people must use the public restroom that aligns with the sex stated on their respective birth certificates. If you need to show your birth certificate to take a dump at a Wal-Mart in North Carolina, that s insane. Chappelle noted he would rather not have a woman with a dick stand next to him at a urinal. He also said he wasn t happy about rumors that Caitlyn Jenner would pose nude for Sports Illustrated. Sometimes I just want to read some stats. Chappelle is slated to host SNL on November 12, but said, You know there s a pool going on whether or not I show up. I got $100,000 that says I won t. Observer",0 "Kremlin says idea it hacked U.S. Democratic Party emails absurdMOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin dismissed as absurd on Tuesday allegations it was behind the hacking of U.S. Democratic Party emails, saying unidentified individuals were trying to cynically exploit fear of Russia for electoral purposes. It responded after cyber security experts and U.S. officials said there was evidence Russia had engineered the release of sensitive Democratic Party emails in order to influence the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. The emails, released by activist group WikiLeaks at the weekend, appeared to show favouritism within the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for Hillary Clinton and prompted the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. President Vladimir Putin has tried to avoid giving the impression he favours any U.S. candidate, but has hailed Republican Party nominee Donald Trump as being “very talented”. Russian state TV, which hews closely to the Kremlin’s world view, has left little doubt however that Moscow would prefer Trump. It casts Clinton, whom Putin accused of stirring up protests against him in her role as U.S. Secretary of State in 2011, as a warmonger. “We are again seeing these maniacal attempts to exploit the Russian theme in the U.S. election campaign,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the leaked emails. “This is not breaking new ground, this is an old trick which is being played again. This is not good for our bilateral relations, but we understand that we simply have to get through this unpleasant period.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier on Tuesday he had raised the hacking issue at a meeting in Laos with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “I don’t want to use four-letter words,” was Lavrov’s only response to reporters when asked whether Russia was responsible for the email hack. Earlier this month, Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Trump, visited Moscow, where he gave a lecture complaining that Western governments had often had a hypocritical focus on democratisation in the post-Soviet world. Analysts say the Kremlin would welcome a Trump win because the billionaire U.S. businessman has repeatedly praised Putin, spoken of wanting to get along with Russia, and has said he would consider an alliance with Moscow against Islamic State. Trump’s suggestion he might abandon NATO’s pledge to automatically defend all alliance members is also likely to have gone down well in Moscow, where the military alliance is cast as an outdated Cold War relic. ",1 "CNN Liberal Anchor Freaks Out At Navy SEAL When He Asks For TRUTH….You Won’t Believe The Reaction! [Video]A Navy SEAL Carl Higbie was blasted and screeched at by a CNN anchor who was shocked that Higbie asked for more evidence and truth in the Trump controversy. Yikes! She s got snowflake written all over her. It s just how the left rolls you have to march in lock-step with what they believe to be true even if it s not true. Just go with it, right? We say NOT RIGHT!Shouldn t we ask that sources be exposed? Anyone can say they know the truth but when they hide behind anonymity, they ruin their credibility. The left just expects everyone to believe the many lies they ve been telling about President Trump. We re with Carl! We re not accepting any stories against Trump until we have proof and know the source.This woman needs to seek help!",0 Pakistan: Joint left demonstration against India-Pakistan war drive,1 JUDGE JEANINE IS FURIOUS! “Hillary Won’t Stop Lying!” [VIDEO]Can you blame her for losing her cool with Crooked Lying Hillary? Share this with all of your undecided friends!https://youtu.be/CCkXOix0g2Y,0 "LIVE FEED AT 1:00 P.M. EST: 100% FED Up! AMERICANS WILL RALLY IN D.C. TODAY TO STOP THE IRAN DEALThis HUGE rally to protest against the Iran deal will be at 1:00 p.m. today on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, the side facing the National Mall in D.C. We plan on covering this rally live so check back at 1:00: We re excited we re going to be able to let Congress know the majority of Americans think this Iran deal is bad for America, Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots told Breitbart News on Tuesday evening, the night before the event. We hope that Congress, especially the senators who have come out in favor of the deal, will vote to put America and America s security above party loyalty. Martin will be joined at the rally by a list of heavy conservative hitters including presidential candidates Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)96% , 2016 frontrunner and billionaire Donald Trump, and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, will speak, as will several members of Congress including Reps. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL)80% , Dave Brat (R-VA), Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK)96% , Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)94% , Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ)88% , Rep. Steve King (R-IA)77% , Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)96% , Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS)78% (R-NE), Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL)70% , Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)70% , Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)90% , and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY)71% Opinion leaders including nationally syndicated radio hosts Mark Levin and Glenn Beck, Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson, Citizens United s Dave Bossie, American Conservative Union s Matt Schlapp, Center For Security Policy s Frank Gaffney, Breitbart s Joel Pollak and Sonnie Johnson, and more will speak. The rally will begin at 1 p.m. on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, the side facing the National Mall.Via: Breitbart",0 "Denmark is considered to be the happiest place on earth, yet again.",0 "Britain close to deal on Brexit bill with EU - sourcesBRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has offered to pay much of what the European Union was demanding to settle a Brexit divorce bill , bringing the two sides close to agreement on a key obstacle to opening talks on a future free trade pact, EU sources said on Tuesday. The offer, which British newspapers valued at around 50 billion euros (44.3 billion pounds), reflected the bulk of outstanding EU demands that include London paying a share of post-Brexit EU spending on commitments made before Britain leaves in March 2019 as well as funding of EU staff pensions for decades to come. A British government official said they do not recognise this account of the talks going on ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Theresa May to Brussels this coming Monday. EU officials close to the negotiations stressed that work was still continuing ahead of May s talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. But EU diplomats briefed on progress said the British offer was promising and that, on the financial settlement, the two sides were, as one said, close to a deal . Nonetheless, others cautioned that Britain had yet to make a fully committed offer and that essential agreement from the other 27 member states could not yet be taken for granted. The EU set the condition of significant progress on three key elements of a withdrawal treaty before it would accede to London s request for negotiations on a free trade pact that could keep business flowing after Brexit in 16 months. It set a deadline of Monday for that progress to be made if EU leaders were to give a green light at a summit on Dec. 14-15. On the issue of the rights of EU citizens in Britain, EU negotiators are still pressing Britain to accept that European judges should have a final say on enforcing those rights. If the financial settlement, which many British businesses have argued May should make in order to avoid a disruptive cliff edge departure from the single market, is forthcoming, the thorniest outstanding issue is that of the Irish border. Ireland remains the most difficult issue, a senior EU diplomat said after Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar avoided a disruptive snap election when his deputy resigned on Tuesday at the insistence of the party propping up his minority government. Britain has yet to satisfy EU - including Irish - demands that it clarify how it would avoid a hard border with customs posts on land between Northern Ireland and the EU. Many fear that would disturb the fragile peace in the British province. On the Brexit bill, Juncker has estimated Britain would owe roughly 60 billion euros. EU officials say Brussels is willing to work with May to massage those figures in order to help her win backing from hardline Brexit supporters who have in the past insisted that Britain owes Brussels nothing. Britain s Financial Times said London agreed to assume liabilities worth up to 100 billion euros, but said net payments over many decades could fall to less than half that amount. The European Commission declined to comment. Britain s Brexit ministry said intensive talks were continuing and the two sides were trying to find a way to build on recent momentum in the talks to take them to the next stage. Sterling rallied around 1 percent against the U.S. dollar as investors took the reports as a sign that the risk of Britain leaving the EU without a deal, which is widely seen as damaging to the economy, had diminished. ",1 " Obama’s Photographer Releases White House’s Most Captivating Moments Of 2015 (IMAGES)Having stayed close to the Obama family for both of President Barack Obama s terms, White House photographer Pete Souza has shared a variety of moments with our president and his family. Souza has gotten to witness both light-hearted and challenging moments for America s first African American president, and has had the privilege of capturing many of them on camera.As January marks the beginning of a new year, it also represents the last year that Barack Obama will lead the country. On Wednesday, Souza released his annual Year in Photographs list, revealing over 100 of the most memorable public and intimate moments of the Obama s life inside and outside of the White House. Souza explained: Editing photographs, especially for a project like this, is both subjective and personal. I not only found key historic moments from the year, but also chose moments that give people a more personal look at the lives of the President and First Lady. I ve also included many photographs that rely more on their graphic qualities, including light and composition. In Souza s collection, monumental wins such as the White House being lit with rainbow colors after the nationwide legalization of gay marriage are portrayed alongside heartbreaking losses such as the funeral of Vice President Joe Biden s son, Beau. There are also everyday family moments of the president interacting with staffer s children and his own family. These photos give an inside glimpse into the character of the man who has shaped America over the last several years. You can view the entire collection here, but we ve picked our favorites below:February 23, 2015:Malia, Obama s oldest daughter, stopped by the Oval office to visit her dad. While they were catching up, she wiped something off his face.March 7, 2015:On the 50th anniversary of Selma, the President and his family marched with many others to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.March 7, 2015:President Obama and the First Lady were captured holding hands as they listen to Rep. John Lewis speak at an event to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches.March 27, 2015Michelle Obama snuggled with her husband during a taping for the 2015 World Expo in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.April 9, 2015Obama waved as he departed from Kingston, Jamaica, his arm aligning with a rainbow.June 6, 2015:Obama hugged Vice President Joe Biden after giving a eulogy for Joe s son, Beau Biden.June 26, 2015:The White House celebrated the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage with rainbow lights. October 30, 2015Barack and Michelle Obama laughed at a child s Pope costume and mini popemobile at a Halloween event held at the White House.October 30, 2015:Obama held Ella Rhodes, daughter of Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, in her elephant Halloween costume.November 21, 2015: As Donald Trump and the Republican party vowed to prevent Syrian refugees from coming to America, Obama spoke to a young refugee at a Dignity for Children Foundation classroom in Malaysia. November 30, 2015Obama made an unannounced stop at the memorial in front of le Bataclan, where the Paris terrorist attack had taken place. He is pictured with French President Fran ois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.December 22, 2015Souza and Obama hiked up the 1,048 wooden steps of the Koko Head Crater Trail. Of the experience, Souza said, I ll admit that I was huffing and puffing up the trail, but to my friends, this photograph is proof that I indeed made it to the top with my boss. Featured image via Pete Souza",0 A ghettoized Gaza bears striking similarities to the Warsaw ghetto.,1 "Trump stands by Obama wiretap charge, shrugs off row with BritainWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump stood by unproven claims on Friday that the Obama administration tapped his phones during the 2016 White House race and shrugged off a dispute with Britain over the notion their spy agency had a hand in it. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman earlier in the day dismissed the charge against Britain’s GCHQ spy agency as “ridiculous” and said the White House had promised not to repeat it. But at a news conference Trump brushed aside a question about whether it was a mistake to accuse British intelligence of eavesdropping. “We said nothing. All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I didn’t make an opinion on it,” Trump said. He was referring to Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano who on Tuesday accused Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) intelligence agency of having helped Obama, a Democrat, wiretap Trump, a Republican. White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Thursday quoted Napolitano’s comments about GCHQ during a testy briefing with reporters. But speaking at the White House news conference, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at his side, Trump distanced himself. “That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox, and so you shouldn’t be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox. OK?” Trump said while standing by his initial charge that the previous U.S. administration eavesdropped on him. “As far as wiretapping, I guess by this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps,” he said to Merkel. U.S. ties with Germany were frayed by news reports in 2013 citing leaked intelligence documents that Washington had bugged Merkel’s mobile phone. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said British officials had voiced concern to senior Trump aides but the official declined to explicitly apologize for Spicer’s citation of the Fox News allegations. The Republican Trump, president since Jan. 20, tweeted this month that his Democratic predecessor had wiretapped him during the late stages of the 2016 campaign. Trump offered no evidence, and an Obama spokesman has said the claim is “simply false”. Leaders of both major parties in Congress have joined a growing chorus disputing it. On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department said it had responded to a request by committees in Congress for documents that could shed light on Trump’s claim. A government source, who requested anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said an initial examination indicated it contained no evidence to support Trump’s charge. On the “Fox & Friends” program, Napolitano, a political commentator and former New Jersey judge, said that rather than ordering U.S. agencies to spy on Trump, Obama had obtained transcripts of Trump’s conversations from GCHQ so there were “no American fingerprints” on it. Late on Friday, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith said: “Fox News cannot confirm Judge Napolitano’s commentary. Fox News knows of no evidence of any kind that the now president of the United States was surveilled at any time in any way, full stop.” Dominic Grieve, chairman of the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, said a U.S. president cannot task the GCHQ to intercept an individual’s communications. In a rare public statement, the GCHQ, Britain’s equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency which monitors overseas electronic communications, said the claims should be ignored. Reuters reported earlier this week that an unidentified British security official had denied the allegations about Trump. GCHQ, based in western England, is one of three main British spy agencies alongside the MI6 Secret Intelligence Service and the MI5 Security Service. ",1 "New Zealand's Customs Service are concerned people will use 3D printers to ""create gold, gems, food or drugs in their living rooms"".",1 "Episode #208 – ‘Not The Network’ – Sunday Wire with Hesher, Funk$oul and Patrick Henningsen Live from IraqEpisode #208 of SUNDAY WIRE SHOW resumes on Oct 29th 2017 as host Patrick Henningsen brings you this week s LIVE broadcast on the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) covering all the top news stories both at home and internationally LISTEN LIVE ON THIS PAGE AT THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULED SHOW TIMES:5pm-8pm UK Time | 12pm-3pm ET (US) | 9am-12am PT (US) This week the SUNDAY WIRE is broadcasting LIVE from the Iraq as host Patrick Henningsen is joined by guest hosts Hesher & Funk$oul from the Alternate Current Radio s Boiler Room to discuss this week s top stories internationally including the leveling of Raqqa by US-led Coalition forces, the new US-UK-Soros-sponsored war against RT guests and the new European McCarthyist hunt for political dissenters to compliment the US effort and the update on Trump s release of classified JFK files. We ll also review this past week s news events with guest FunkSoul. Enjoy the show SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TVStrap yourselves in and lower the blast shield this is your brave new world *NOTE: THIS EPISODE MAY CONTAIN STRONG LANGUAGE AND MATURE THEMES*Download Episode #208 Sunday Wire Radio Show Archives ",0 "North Korea's well-rehearsed performance: As the smoke clears, the US and South Korea scramble to respond",1 "MSNBC ANCHOR Flabbergasted at What Texas Teachers Do to Protect Their Students [Video]If we protect every other government building or public venue with armed guards, why shouldn t our schools be protected with armed teachers? A Texas Sheriff shocked an MSNBC host when he discussed how he prepares local teachers to be armed in the classroom. common sense solution? You betcha!Sheriff Paul Cairney of Argyle, Texas, described the process by which staff members can carry firearms in the school district. The Sheriff said that the staff at the school who choose to carry a firearm go through an intense round of interviews and training before they are allowed to carry on campus. The MSNBC host was flabbergasted at the practice and asked the Sheriff about concerns for the safety of the students in the school when there are firearms around.Sheriff Cairney: The time to do nothing is over THE PROCESS TO BECOME A SCHOOL MARSHALL:To become a school marshal, those employees must undergo extensive active shooter and firearms training with the state. They must also undergo a mental health evaluation. They receive a school marshal designation by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement and must renew their license every two years by undergoing the same training and evaluation. Outside of campuses in Keene and Argyle, signs warn visitors that there are staff members who are armed and are prepared to protect children.",0 "Corrupt European countries costing EU nearly 800bn a year, says study",1 "Democrats want 9/11-style special commission to probe RussiaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic members of the U.S. Congress called on Monday for the creation of an independent commission to investigate Russia’s attempts to intervene in the 2016 election, similar to the Sept. 11 panel that probed the 2001 attacks on the United States. Their “Protecting our Democracy Act” would create a 12-member, bipartisan independent panel to interview witnesses, obtain documents, issue subpoenas and receive public testimony to examine attempts by Moscow and any other entities to influence the election. The panel members would not be members of Congress. The legislation is one of many calls by lawmakers to look into Russian involvement in the contest, in which Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the White House race, confounding opinion polls. Republicans also kept control of the Senate and House of Representatives by larger-than-expected margins. U.S. intelligence agencies on Friday released a report saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to help Trump’s electoral chances by discrediting Clinton. Russia has denied the hacking allegations. A Kremlin spokesman said Monday they were “reminiscent of a witch-hunt.” “There is no question that Russia attacked us,” Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a news conference. Versions of the bill were introduced in both the Senate and House. In the Senate it has 10 sponsors. In the House it is backed by every member of the Democratic caucus, said Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. However, no Republicans currently back the bill, so its prospects are dim, given Republican control of both houses of Congress. While a few Republicans, notably Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain, have supported calls for an independent probe, party leaders have resisted the idea, saying that investigations by Republican-led congressional committees are sufficient. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who just returned from a trip to the Baltic states, Ukraine and Georgia with Graham and McCain, said Russia’s actions justified a probe by an independent panel of national experts. “This is not just about one political party. It’s not even about one election. It’s not even about one country, our country. It is a repeated attempt... around the world, to influence elections,” Klobuchar said. After Sept 11, 2001, Congress established an independent commission to look into the attacks and make recommendations about how to prevent similar actions in the future. Many of the recommendations were adopted into law. “The American people felt good about what they did,” Cummings said. ",1 "Terror laws clear Senate, enabling entire Australian web to be monitored and whistleblowers to be jailed",0 Woman suffering from severe senile dementia has become the first person in the Netherlands to be given euthanasia even though she could no longer express her wish to die,0 " WATCH: Elizabeth Warren DESTROYS Trump In This Glorious Speech (VIDEO)The war of words between Donald Trump and Elizabeth Warren just reached an epic new height. On Saturday, during the Democrats of Massachusetts state convention, Warren did the best thing that you can do to a bully like Trump gave him a taste of his own medicine.Warren has blasted Trump multiple times over the past few months, yet nothing she has said compares to the no-holds barred verbal punches she threw out during her speech at the convention.Speaking about the giant predatory scheme that was Trump University, Warren likened the presumptive Republican presidential candidate to a sleazy car salesman: It was like a used car dealership except that s not fair to used car dealerships, Warren told the audience. His playbook said to look for people with problems; they make good targets. Trump even encouraged his sales force to go after elderly people who were trying to build a little financial security, Warren continued. Now, Trump University failed and that s no surprise. Think Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks, Trump Magazines, Trump Vodka, Trump Casinos, Trump Mortgage, Trump Games, Trump Travel, Trump Ice, Trump Network, Trump Radio, and Trump New Media Company. These were ordinary folks who were targeted because they had problems and Trump saw they were vulnerable and he could make a buck. Here s a man who builds a business to profit off other peoples pain. He wants to be Commander-in-Chief, but he s only qualified to be Fraudster-in-Chief. Warren s evisceration of Trump is both thorough and rooted in factual evidence. The speech is a glorious indictment of Trump s fraudulent schemes and should serve as a reminder of just how terrible a Trump administration would be for the United States. Trump s campaign, much like his business schemes, is nothing more the exploitation of those who are desperate enough to believe that a has been reality TV star has anything to offer in the way of being a true leader.You can watch the speech below.Featured image via video screenshot",0 "ISIS is advancing towards Baghdad after more territorial gains. Iraqi officials say ISIS has seized an Air Force base and now has a ""direct line"" to Baghdad.",0 "Dennis Rodman: Kim didn't kill his uncle or his ex. ""The last time I went there, when they said they killed his girlfriend, they killed his uncle, they just fed him to the dogs ... They were standing right behind me.""",0 "Russian aerobatics team joins Serbian display of air powerBELGRADE (Reuters) - Russia s elite aerobatic team zoomed over Serbia s military airport on Friday as Belgrade exhibited its newest fighter jets in a display demonstrating close ties between the fellow Slavic, Orthodox Christian countries. Serbia has sought to balance ambitions to join the European Union with continued warm relations to Russia, which backed Belgrade s ultimately failed effort to prevent its ex-province of Kosovo from seceding and declaring independence. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attended Friday s air show, staged to commemorate the liberation of Belgrade from Nazi Germany by the Soviet Red Army and Yugoslav Communist partisans in 1944. Five of six MiG-29s donated to Serbia by Russia in 2016 - Serbia now has 10 MiGs in all, dating to 1987 - were painted in new grey camouflage and parked on the runway of Batajnica military base just outside Belgrade for the occasion. Dear Mr Shoigu, thank you for these wonderful presents, thanks to the people of Russia and President (Vladimir) Putin, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Shoigu in Russian. I hope our cooperation will be even better. Russia s aerobatic team, the Swifts, demonstrated their flying skills while Serbian jets and air mobile infantry carried out a mock air security operation and assault on ground targets. Serbia has joined NATO s Partnership for Peace program but is not pursuing membership of the alliance, which remains deeply unpopular among Serbs because of its 1999 air war to stop then-nationalist President Slobodan Milosevic s campaign to crush Kosovo s uprising by killing and expelling ethnic Albanians. Last year, Belgrade signed a deal with Airbus to buy nine H145M light helicopters with weapon pods to be used by both military and police. But Serbia, which in 2014 opened accession talks with the EU, remains attached to friendship with Russia, an ally that, for example, blocked independent Kosovo from becoming a member of the United Nations, at Belgrade s request. ",1 Murdoch cream-pie thrower gets 6 weeks in jail,0 "Russia raiding Turkish firms and sending imports back. Moscow also preventing Turkish tourists from entering Russia, businessmen say, in apparent response to downing of plane",0 "New Jersey sues Atlantic City over school money(Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s administration sued cash-strapped gambling hub Atlantic City on Monday, seeking to freeze city spending until it remits the millions of dollars it owes to its school district. In the civil action, State Education Commissioner David Hespe said Atlantic City owed the district $82 million of tax revenues collected for the school year. The city already paid $48 million of that, but must still remit the remaining $34 million by July 15, court documents showed. That might be impossible. As of April 1, the city had only $8 million of cash available for operations. Second-quarter tax collections that begin in May will not provide enough to fund required disbursements, the lawsuit said. Christie is seeking to stop the city from making its $3.2 million payroll on Friday, he said in a televised press conference. The state sued “to protect the property tax collections that rightfully belong to the Atlantic City School District and the children and families they serve,” Christie said. In New Jersey, cities must act as collection agents by collecting property taxes on behalf of school districts and transmitting the money to them. The lawsuit is the latest in Christie’s high-stakes game of chicken against city officials and some lawmakers over whether to take over the city’s operations to avoid bankruptcy. Christie and state Senate leaders say city officials have not done enough to stop the bleeding. They supported a legislative package that links a full state takeover with one that would provide immediate revenue for the city. The nearly insolvent city has been under state oversight since 2011. Mayor Don Guardian threatened to close City Hall for three weeks beginning on Friday afternoon because it will not have enough money to pay workers after that. Christie twice vetoed - even after winning changes he sought - legislation aimed at stabilizing the city’s tax base by letting casinos make fixed payments in lieu of property taxes. The city’s state-approved budget relied on those revenues. In February, Christie pinned that legislation to the takeover measure, which Guardian initially supported but later called a “fascist dictatorship.” The package is now stalled in the state Assembly, where Speaker Vincent Prieto has refused to bring it to a vote because he says its goal is to dismantle collective bargaining agreements. On Monday, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the city deeper into junk territory, to Caa3. ",1 " Trump White House Is About To Screw Up Easter For 1,000s Of Little ChildrenIf you re keeping track, so far, Donald Trump has screwed up two military missions, his plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, his tax plan, and now, Easter.Just days before Christians most holy day, the Trump White House still is not preoared for the annual easter egg hunt on the White House lawn. While this is symbolic, it s a big symbol.The Sunday tradition is 138 years old, and as Melinda Bates, the Easter event organizer behind President Bill Clinton s eight times as host, told The New York Times, It s the single most high-profile event that takes place at the White House each year, and the White House and the first lady are judged on how well they put it on. From her perspective, the outcome of the event is an indication of the administration s inner workings.Source: SalonFor this we can blame the First Lady no, not the First Daughter First Lady Melania. First Ladies have a job in this country and the Easter Egg hunt is one of them. Her refusal to leave her comfy home in Manhattan means thousands of children, including children of military personnel, could go without a favorite Easter pasttime.Some even took to reaching out to the FLOTUS on the one place they know they can find her husband: Twitter:@FLOTUS @realDonaldTrump @POTUS @MELANIATRUMP @IvankaTrump FYI manufacturing deadlines for the Easter eggs are near. Please reach out! pic.twitter.com/D78YqWVPBi Wells Wood Turning (@WellsTurning) February 20, 2017This event is actually pretty huge. About 4,000 school children receive tickets every year and about 3,000 children of military familes. They may all be disappointed. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has not reached out about it, Ashley Broadway-Mack, the president of the American Military Partner Association told the Times. Congress members have also not been contacted about tickets for their constituents.Because of this, the event has been cut in half and they ll only have about 1/5th of the security, and it s all because the First Lady has been neglegent in even staffing her office. She named a chief of staff and social secretary in early February but has yet to announce a director for the Visitors Office, normally the crucial player in the daunting execution of the event, the Times reported.The vacant positions are cause for concern, according to Bates. I m really concerned for the Trump people. This thing is all hands on deck. In her defense, this is all par for the course for the Trump administration, whose motto just seems to be wing it and hope things don t get too screwed up. Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images.",0 " Corker Has Last Word On Day Care Donnie: ‘On The Path To WWIII’Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker announced last month that he wouldn t be seeking reelection when his term expires at the end of next year, but now President Donald Trump and Corker have had a public falling out on Trump s beloved platform, Twitter.It all kicked off on Sunday morning when Trump posted a series of tweets claiming that he denied Corker s request for an endorsement. Todd Womack, Corker s chief of staff, refuted the claim later in the day, saying in a statement that the President called Senator Corker on Monday afternoon and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek reelection and reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times. Trump s Corker-directed fit of tweet-rage came just days after the Senator publicly criticized the President, a move that never sits well with Trump, leading him to try and seek revenge:Senator Bob Corker ""begged"" me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said ""NO"" and he dropped out (said he could not win without Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017..my endorsement). He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said ""NO THANKS."" He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017 Hence, I would fully expect Corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda. Didn't have the guts to run! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017Senator Bob Corker is clearly the thicker-skinned of the two. However, he wasn t going to let an opportunity like this go to waste and decided to respond to the President s barbs, calling the current administration out for being exactly how many see it:It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning. Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) October 8, 2017Corker later decided enough was enough and opted to tell it like it is in a phone interview with The New York Times on Sunday night, claiming that Trump was treating the presidency like a reality show, making reckless threats against other countries that put the United States on the path to World War III. He concerns me, Mr. Corker said. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation, he said. He was far from done. I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it s a situation of trying to contain him, the Senator said in the interview.When it came to the tweets, Corker simply confirmed what we already knew. I don t know why the president tweets out things that are not true, he said. You know he does it, everyone knows he does it, but he does. The Senator s criticism had clearly stuck in the President s craw a little. Trump is a man who always needs to have the last word and, being unable to shake Corker s snide tweet or his brutal honesty with The New York Times, made the following tweet Sunday evening:Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that's about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017Featured image via Sara D. Davis/Getty Images",0 this really confirms what weve said all along: that a transparent investigation of this incident hasnt taken place and needs to - Iraqis respond to Collateral Murder,0 "Senator asks FBI if it warned Trump campaign about Russian meddlingWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has asked the FBI whether it warned Donald Trump’s presidential campaign about alleged attempts by Russia to infiltrate the campaign. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley’s office said on Thursday he wrote to Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray asking whether the agency provided “defensive briefings” to Trump’s team given its ongoing investigation of Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager. “If the FBI did provide a defensive briefing or similar warning to the campaign, then that would raise important questions about how the Trump campaign responded,” Grassley wrote in the letter dated Sept. 20. If the FBI did not alert the campaign, Grassley said, that would raise “serious questions about what factors contributed to its decision and why it appears to have been handled differently in a very similar circumstance involving a previous campaign.” The senator said that according to press reports, U.S. intelligence had raised similar concerns with John McCain during the Republican senator’s 2008 presidential campaign. Grassley, however, did not ask the FBI about the possibility that it had offered Trump or campaign officials such a briefing but the offer was declined.     After the 2016 election, two U.S. intelligence officers flew to New York to brief President-elect Trump on Russia, only to find when they arrived at Trump Tower that the briefing had been canceled, two senior U.S. officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Manafort became Trump’s campaign manager in June 2016 but was forced to resign two months later amid reports of his business relationship with the Kremlin-backed former Ukrainian leader, Viktor Yanukovich. Trump denies his campaign colluded with Russia and dismisses investigations into allegations of Russian interference in the election as witch hunts. Russia denies meddling in the U.S. election. ",1 "BREAKING NEWS: Reince Priebus Makes Early Return Home From Trump’s First Foreign TripThe White House confirmed to FOX Business that Priebus would be heading back to Washington D.C. after the stop in Saudi Arabia, part of the president s visit to the Middle East, and insisted this was always part of the administration s plan.Natalie Strom, assistant press secretary at the White House, told FOX Business, It has always been planned for Reince to return to Washington following the Saudi Arabia portion of the trip. It s a big week in D.C. for the president s agenda with our budget release coming soon and discussions continuing on tax reform, so he s needed back at home for that. When asked which other officials would be coming home, Strom said, Only a few senior administration officials are staying on for the whole trip, which is typical for these kinds of trips. They re attending the stops that most pertain to their responsibilities. Off the top of my head I know that Secretary [of State] Tillerson and General McMaster won t be on for the entirety. As FOX Business reported Friday, Priebus s position in the White House is once again in jeopardy as National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney are a few of the candidates under consideration to replace him if the president decides to go that route, according to sources close to the situation.On Friday, the White House did not deny the possibility that Priebus could be replaced.While the administration may believe it s typical for some officials to stay and others to head home, according to experts outside the White House, it s unusual for a chief of staff to head home early on such an important trip. FOX Business ",0 "Cuba wants to sign accords with U.S. before Obama exit: officialsHAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba said on Wednesday it hoped to sign off on at least half a dozen agreements with the United States before businessman Donald Trump, who has threatened to derail detente between the former Cold War foes, becomes president on Jan. 20. Cuban and U.S. officials held talks in Havana to discuss what more could be accomplished during President Barack Obama’s remaining weeks in office, agreeing to arrange more high-level visits and technical meetings. The more Cuba and the United States deepen their detente, the more irreversible it will become, analysts said. “At the moment we are negotiating 12 more (accords) with the aim to be able to conclude and sign a majority of them,” Josefina Vidal, the Cuban foreign ministry’s director of U.S. affairs, told a news conference. The accords would be in areas such as seismology and meteorology, she said, adding that Cuba and the United States had already signed a dozen accords in the two years since they agreed to normalize relations, ending decades of hostility. They have also opened embassies, restored commercial flights and opened travel options. But some fear all that is now at stake, given Republican Trump has said he would seek to reverse the opening unless Communist-ruled Cuba gives the United States what he calls a “better deal”. Vidal declined to comment on Trump’s statements but said she hoped his administration would recognize that the detente had the backing of most Cubans and Americans. “Cuba would hope the new U.S. government takes into account the results we have achieved... that are backed by the majority of the Cuban population (and) U.S. citizens,” she said. Cuba was willing to continue improving relations but “within the respect of the existing differences and without having to make any kind of concession to the principles in which Cuba firmly believes,” Vidal added. In Washington on Wednesday, U.S. lawmakers joined more than 100 Cuban entrepreneurs to urge Trump to continue the thaw. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is pressing American companies to complete business deals in Cuba by then. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Norwegian Cruise Line said on Wednesday they had received approval from Cuba’s government to operate cruises to the island. The number of U.S. visitors to Cuba had jumped 68 percent in the first ten months of this year to 208,000, Vidal said. ",1 "China's air defense system will be impregnable to regional air forces, and mostly impregnable to US naval air power. The only US Air Force B-2A Spirit and F-22 Raptor aircraft will be capable of penetrating a post-2015 PLA air defense network.",0 "EPISODE #4 – ON THE QT: ‘Julian vs Hillary’ (Part 1) @21WIRE.TVListen to the first 30 min segment of this new fortnightly podcast, ON THE QT , hosted by Patrick Henningsen. This new show brings together a number of news stories not covered on the SUNDAY WIRE, as well as additional deep state and geopolitical analysis covering key international events as we read between the headlines.THIS WEEK: Julian Assange is about to drop another Wiki-bomb on the Clinton family s drive to power. What s behind it, the motivations, and will it derail the Clinton political machine? We ll also look at how rigid politically correct regimes transforming university campus life Listen to Episode 4 Part 1 (25 min 30 sec) for FREE on the audio player below. Enjoy the show TO HEAR PART ONE OF EPISODE #4 CLICK HEREIf you like it and would like to hear the FULL episode, as well as enjoy all our premium content for members, subscribe and become a member @21WIRE.TV",0 Iceland's ex-PM Geir Haarde becomes the first world leader to face charges in relation to the global financial crisis,0 Queensland's same-sex civil unions laws will be amended so couples can no longer have a ceremony that 'emulates marriage'.,1 "Drone in Iran Appears to Be U.S.-Made, Pentagon Says",1 "Mexico Bans Animals From Circus - Searching for homes for 2,000 tigers, elephants, giraffes, zebras & other exotic beasts that'll be banned from circuses.",1 UK: 90% of Private Pension Plans In Red Over $300B,0 Swiss Army bans vegetarians from fighting ,1 Voters in Ecuador Approve New Constitution,1 Turkey bars Israeli plane from using airspace,0 "Democratic fund-raising group for Congress candidates confirms hackWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A committee that raises money for Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives confirmed on Friday it had been hacked in an intrusion possibly linked to Russian hackers, similar to an earlier breach targeting another Democratic Party group. In an incident that escalated concerns about the potential for Russian meddling in U.S. politics, Reuters first reported on Thursday that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the hack at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC. The intrusion took place from at least June 19 to June 27, though it may have been longer, according to analysis conducted by U.S. network security company FireEye. The committee said in a statement it has hired cyber security firm CrowdStrike to investigate. “We have taken and are continuing to take steps to enhance the security of our network,” the committee said. “We are cooperating with federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation.” The DCCC hack may be related to an earlier hack against the Democratic National Committee, which raises money and sets strategy for Democratic candidates nationwide. The DNC and DCCC occupy the same office building in Washington. Potential links to Russian hackers in both incidents were likely to heighten accusations, so far unproven, that Moscow is trying to meddle in the U.S. presidential election campaign to help Republican nominee Donald Trump. The Kremlin denied involvement in the DNC cyber attack. In June, a bogus website was registered with a name resembling a DCCC donation site. For some time, donation-related internet traffic that was supposed to go to a donation-processing firm instead went to the fake site. The DCCC intrusion may have been used to compromise the computer systems of donors who visited the spoof site, rather than to collect their personal information, said John Hultquist, manager of cyber espionage analysis at FireEye. Several major Democratic donors contacted by Reuters on Friday said they had not been notified of the hack and were not concerned about their information being accessed. “I’m less concerned about that than I am about my Amex being hacked,” said John Morgan, 60, a Florida attorney. Cindy Miscikowski, 68, a California donor, said she would be upset if hackers got her bank information, but otherwise she was not worried because donations are disclosed publicly. The timeframe of the DCCC hack would place it days after the DNC went public with its breach and said the hackers had been kicked out of its systems. Sources said the numerical Internet address of the spurious DCCC site resembled one used by a Russian government-linked hacking group, one of two suspected in the DNC breach. Rich Barger, co-founder of security intelligence firm ThreatConnect Inc, said his analysis of the fake donation site tied it to the group linked to Russian military intelligence. He said the web domain name was set up through a service that accepts bitcoin, with a contact email address that had been used to set up websites involved in a major German hack, which also was attributed to the Russian group. Cyber experts and U.S. officials said this week there was evidence that Russia engineered the DNC hack to release sensitive party emails and influence U.S. politics. The DNC hack raised concerns among Democrats at the party’s convention in Philadelphia, where Hillary Clinton was nominated as the party’s candidate in the Nov. 8 presidential election. The new hack at the DCCC could add pressure on the Obama administration to make a public accusation or retaliate. The Justice Department and other agencies have said it is important for deterrence to “name and shame” cyber adversaries. “Any efforts on a nation state’s part to interfere with U.S. politics through cyber attacks would appear to cross a line that would demand a response from the U.S. government,” said D.J. Rosenthal, a former Justice Department and National Security Council official. A former White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any formal accusation would require overwhelmingly certain evidence. Staffers for the Republican National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said separately that those campaign organizing groups had not been hacked. ",1 "True battleground location of Bosworth Field (ended the English War of the Roses) is a mile away from where previously thought. Archeologists cite finding cannonballs, armour shards and King Richard's personal boar emblem as proof.",1 Two North Korean assassins arrested in South Korea,1 "Russia and Japan agree to speed up work on economic cooperation on disputed islandsMOSCOW (Reuters) - Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said on Friday he agreed with his Russian counterpart to speed up work on economic cooperation on disputed islands in the Pacific, and on easing travel restrictions to the islands. His Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov said earlier after talks in Moscow with Kono that progress had been made on confidence-building measures related to the islands, known is Russia as the Kurile islands and in Japan as the Northern Territories. ",1 "Unreal! Minnesota Governor Tells Constituents To Leave The State If They Don’t Like The Massive Influx Of Muslims [Video]GOVERNOR TELLS CITIZENS TO LEAVE STATE:Who the heck voted this guy in as governor? His constituents should be his first priority! If you haven t heard, Minnesota s Muslims have been a problem from the beginning. Here s a video to fill you in on just how much they don t want to assimilate. Sharia for everyone: Governor Mark Dayton took advantage of a St. Cloud NAACP Community Conversation to express his feelings toward constituents who would rather live in Minnesota than in New Somalia: Look around you. This is Minnesota, Dayton said. Minnesota is not like it was 30, 50 years ago. This is Minnesota and you have every right to be here. And anybody who cannot accept your right to be here, and this is Minnesota, should find another state. Minnesota isn t what it was like 5 years ago. The government is displacing the population with unskilled Muslims from Africa at a blitzkrieg pace.Apparently some Minnesotans who have to pick up the tab for the welfare colonists don t appreciate having their state given away to the modern equivalent of a conquering army. Dayton s message to them is clear: If you are that intolerant, if you are that much of a racist or a bigot, then find another state. Find a state where the minority population is 1 percent or whatever. It s not that in Minnesota. It s not going to be again. Governor Dayton: In the past, most people would fight to the death to prevent their society from being invaded and destroyed by a hostile and utterly alien foreign culture. But liberals are sure that if they just brandish the word racist, citizens will meekly cringe and cower.Unsurprisingly, the Hamas-affiliated Islamic advocacy group CAIR was present:CAIR Minnesota Executive Director Jaylani Hussein, who had previously addressed the crowd on his concerns on racial tension said his organization is not affiliated with terrorist groups.This of course is a brazen lie. But it hardly matters. Thanks to the participation of our treasonous ruling class, hijrah has become a more effective form of jihad than terrorism.It could not be more obvious that our liberal rulers are as hostile as they are arrogant toward the people they supposedly represent. They are deliberately destroying our society through the massive importation of largely unassimilable and government-dependent immigrants from the Third World.They do not expect us to like it. They just expect us to bite the pillow and take it. The price for doing so instead of rising up against these quislings will be the highest a society could possibly pay: the future.Via: moonbattery",0 "All of Texas is conservative, except a little bit of Austin.",0 "In a first, Myanmar's 'ethnic cleansing' unites Suu Kyi's party, army and publicYANGON (Reuters) - If there s one thing that unites Aung San Suu Kyi s party, the army that once tried to crush her, and the majority of people in mostly Buddhist Myanmar, it is their vehement dislike of the Rohingya Muslims, seen as a threat to national security. We don t love the military, but we are together on this one, said Nyan Win, a top official of Suu Kyi s National League for Democracy (NLD), who the country s former junta had detained for nearly three years. Our sovereignty can t be violated and that is why we are united. These people are illegal immigrants, that s for sure. But the international community never mentions that, said Nyan Win, 75, who chairs the ruling NLD s media team and is one of the most influential members of the party. But even as the United Nations has called the army crackdown on the Rohingya ethnic cleansing , western diplomats - from countries competing with China for influence in the Southeast Asian nation - say abandoning Suu Kyi or reimposing sanctions could risk Myanmar s democratic transition. Though Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are denied citizenship and access to basic civil rights such as freedom of movement, decent education and healthcare. Attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts last month triggered an army operation that has killed more than 400 people, destroyed over 6,800 houses and sent nearly 400,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh. Rohingya refugees and rights groups say the army has launched a campaign aimed at driving them out. Suu Kyi, who holds the title of State Counsellor and is de facto head of government, has said the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) is responsible for the burning of homes, civilian deaths as well as a huge iceberg of misinformation on the strife in Rakhine. Revered when she was under house arrest for some 15 years, the Nobel peace winner has been criticized by fellow Nobel laureates and some leaders across the world. A petition drive is under way to revoke her Nobel prize. Malala Yousafzai, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, called on her to condemn the shameful treatment of the Rohingya, saying the world is waiting for her to speak out. Shame on you Malala! You know nothing about real situation in our country, Myanmar Internet user Nann Wint War wrote in a tweet. There is no Rohingya, only Bengali terrorists in Rakhine, said the tweet, a reference to Rohingya that suggests they come from Bangladesh. Suu Kyi s government launched a media campaign aimed at shoring up public support for the operation. In Facebook and Twitter posts, it has shown off support for non-Muslims displaced by the violence and blamed the international community for distributing fake news about alleged rights abuses. Hard Evidence Please! , Suu Kyi s spokesman, Zaw Htay, said in a tweet last week reacting to a BBC News report that Rakhine Buddhist villagers set Muslim houses on fire. You wrote you just saw it, share your #Evidence. Aung Shin, an NLD spokesman, said only Myanmar citizens understand the situation in Rakhine as foreign countries made their assumption based on questionable facts they obtained. Many in Myanmar fear the Rohingya present a threat to the Buddhist Rakhine majority in Rakhine State. Sixteen non-Muslims were killed and nearly 30,000 have also been displaced, fleeing to larger towns. The conflict in Rakhine has stoked communal tensions across the country. A mob armed with sticks and swords, threatening to attack a mosque in central Myanmar, was only dispersed on Sunday after police with riot shields fired rubber bullets. Muslims have voiced fear that other mosques will come under attack and have asked for tighter security. Thiri Thant Mon, managing director at Yangon-based investment advisory firm Sandanila, said many in Myanmar think the international community has wrongly directed its attention to the Rohingya fleeing Myanmar, instead of the suffering of Rakhine Buddhists in one of its poorest states. The entire population here just feel misunderstood. They feel like we are not bad people. It s not us, it s them who are killing us and why aren t you talking about it? said Thiri Thant Mon, who herself does not identify with such views. The Rohingya issue has put Suu Kyi in an awkward position politically, the diplomats said. The military still controls much of the state apparatus even after the 2011 transition to democracy. It portrays itself as the true guardians of nationalism and Buddhism. They say that could be a reason for Suu Kyi s reticence. If she speaks out on such a sensitive issue, the situation will explode, making it harder for her to solve the problem in Rakhine, said Nyan Win, the NLD executive. We can accept them as humans but we cannot let them move around freely, which violates our sovereignty, he said, adding the Rohingya belong in camps for displaced people in Rakhine due to security reasons. We can t give them freedom of movement because they are not our citizens. ",1 Russian Warplanes Destroy 140 Terrorist Targets in Syria,1 "House Speaker Ryan understands Trump's frustration on health billWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday he understood President Donald Trump’s frustration with Republicans’ failure to agree on healthcare legislation to replace Obamacare. “It’s very understandable that the president is frustrated that we haven’t gotten to where we need to go,” Ryan told reporters when asked about Trump’s tweet saying the conservative House Freedom Caucus was blocking the party’s agenda and vowing to fight them if they did not get on board. Ryan said about 90 percent of Republicans supported the party’s healthcare bill and only about 10 percent opposed it. ",1 " Chuck Todd GRILLS Trump For Attacking Clinton: ‘Your First Divorce Was Ugly’ (VIDEO)On NBC s Meet The Press, host Chuck Todd cornered Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump for his attacks on Hillary Clinton s marriage and the sexual indiscretions of her husband by pointing out something Trump doesn t want Americans to focus on his own romantic history.During the segment, Trump continued his attacks on the Democratic front runner by bringing up ex-president Bill Clinton s controversial sexual past in response to her admission that Trump had a penchant for sexism. Trump called the former president an abuser and brought up the fact that there were sexual allegations against him.Confronting Trump for his threatened attacks against Clinton, Todd told the business mogul that if he continued to go after Clinton in this way, his own marital disasters would come bubbling to the surface and be back to bite him in the *ss. Todd reminded him: Your first divorce was ugly All over the tabloids. Trump shrugged and stated that his own struggles from his love life mattered far less than Clinton s and weren t really up for discussion or ridicule. He said, You know what? I wasn t the President of the United States, and I wasn t dealing in the Oval Office, all right? Big difference. Trump then lied through his teeth and claimed that his first wife Ivana considers him great leaving out the part where he d actually cheated on her with Georgia beauty queen Marla Maples, who became his second wife. Trump also conveniently failed to mention that he has also been accused of violent sexual assault (by Ivana herself) and has a long history of misogyny.You can watch the footage below, courtesy of Mediaite:Although Trump said that Clinton s camp has been unresponsive to his attacks, Clinton responded to Trump this morning, stating that American voters didn t want to relitigate the past.Featured image is a screengrab",0 Pictures from those uighar-han riots we've been reading about (graphic),1 " 4 Reasons Why This Little-Known Trump Aide Is More Dangerous To Trump Than Paul ManafortOn Monday, news broke that Trump s onetime campaign manager, Paul Manafort, had been indicted in connection with Robert Mueller s investigation into Russian interference in our election. Ever since then, everyone s been buzzing about just how dangerous Manafort can be to Trump now. However, we also learned that another Trump associate by the name of George Papadopoulos had been arrested over the summer and pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.And Papadopoulos may well be more important to this investigation than Manafort, despite the fact that he isn t that well known. Why? Because contrary to what Sarah H. Sanders tries telling the media, he was a foreign policy adviser on Trump s campaign who did, in fact, try colluding with the Russians. And it s his testimony and documents that could bring Trump s presidency crashing down around him.One official connected to the campaign, and who reportedly witnessed Papadopoulos efforts to get Trump to meet with Russian officials, says that Trump didn t dismiss the idea of working with Russia when it was brought up. If Papadopoulos can show that s what actually happened, Trump himself will be in a lot of trouble sooner than expected.During his confirmation hearing back in January, Sessions told Senator Al Franken that he wasn t aware of any evidence that anyone colluded with Russia. He later walked that back, but Papadopoulos apparently told various foreign policy committee members about his contact with Russia a committee which Sessions chaired. Now, Sessions can claim that he opposed the collusion that Papadopoulos was trying to set up, but then he opens himself up to a perjury charge. Either way, he s fucked.It looks like Papadopoulos was meeting with Russians because they claimed to have dirt on Hillary. His contacts go back to before Don Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort met with a Russian attorney who claimed to have dirt on Hillary. (Don Jr. originally lied, saying that the meeting was about reinstating adoptions between us and Russia, but then released his own emails that proved he d lied.)Then the DNC was hacked, and the hack was traced back to Russia. Trump even called on Russia to release Hillary s missing emails during the RNC convention; a comment that has been analyzed again and again with some dismissing it as a joke and others saying it was evidence of something deeper.There s currently no evidence that anything actually came of that June 2016 meeting. However, if Papadopoulos can back up what he said in his plea agreement about the campaign knowing, then it stops being a scandal and becomes active collusion.Manafort and Gates have been charged with things like money laundering, failure to register as foreign agents, etc. The key with these two is whether Mueller can get them to roll over on Trump and other highly placed officials in exchange for lesser charges.Papadopoulos, on the other hand, told the FBI that his Russian contacts weren t anyone important and that they had nothing to do with Trump, his campaign, or the election. We now know he was in Europe, meeting with Russians and trying arrange meetings between none other than Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. There s a direct line back to the campaign there, whereas the charges against Manafort and Gates could be seen as only tangentially related.Papadopoulos is already a cooperating witness in Mueller s investigation, and there is no evidence yet that Manafort or Gates have flipped, or will flip. And since everything about Papadopoulos arrest has to do with his activities on the campaign, that makes him far more dangerous to Trump right now than Gates and Manafort.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 Africa's first high-speed train: South Africa's new Gautrain to launch for World Cup 2010.,1 "Dispute erupts over House panel subpoenas for CIA, FBIWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A political feud erupted on Wednesday over the U.S. House Intelligence Committee’s probe of suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, with charges that the panel’s Republican chairman subpoenaed the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency without telling Democratic members. Committee aides complained that the chairman, Representative Devin Nunes, who publicly recused himself from leading the Russia probe in April following a secret visit he paid to White House officials, failed to consult Democrats on the subpoenas. The subpoenas asked the agencies to provide details of any requests made by two top Obama administration aides and the former CIA director to “unmask” names of Trump campaign advisers inadvertently picked up in top-secret foreign communications intercepts, congressional sources said. The former officials named in the subpoenas were Obama national security adviser Susan Rice, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and former CIA Director John Brennan. “Subpoenas related to the ‘unmasking’ issue would have been sent by Chairman Nunes acting separately from the committee’s Russia investigation. This action would have been taken without the minority’s (Democrats’) agreement,” said a senior committee aide, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another congressional source, who also requested anonymity, said Democrats were “informed and consulted” before the subpoenas were issued. The CIA declined to comment on the subpoenas and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and NSA did not immediate respond to requests for comment. U.S. privacy laws and intelligence regulations require that Americans’ names picked up in foreign communications intercepts be concealed unless senior officials request them to be disclosed for intelligence or law enforcement purposes. Any such requests undergo rigorous legal reviews. Several U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that all such requests by Obama administration officials were properly scrutinized and appropriate. SUBPOENAS FOR TRUMP LAWYER, EX-AIDE The spy agency subpoenas were not mentioned in a bipartisan announcement on Wednesday that the panel approved subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in connection with the Russia probe. The committee also approved subpoenas to the two men’s firms, Flynn Intel Llc, and Michael D. Cohen and Associates PC, the committee statement said. “As part of our ongoing investigation into Russian active measures during the 2016 campaign, today we approved subpoenas for several individuals for testimony, personal documents and business records,” Republican Representative Mike Conaway and Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who are leading the committee probe, said in a joint statement. Conaway assumed Republican leadership of the probe after Nunes recused himself. Nunes retained his power to issue subpoenas. U.S. intelligence agencies reported in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw a campaign of computer hacking, fake news and propaganda intended to swing the election to Republican Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Putin has denied conducting such a campaign. Trump denies any collusion between Russia and his campaign and has questioned the veracity of the U.S. intelligence finding. Trump fired Flynn in February for failing to disclose the content of his talks with Sergei Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, and misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. The retired Army general is the subject of congressional, Justice Department and Defense Department investigations into his apparent failure to disclose payments he received from Russian and Turkish entities. Cohen is one of several Trump associates under scrutiny in an FBI examination of possible contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia, according to the New York Times. It reported that Cohen was involved in a back-channel plan, which never came to fruition, that would have involved a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and the lifting of U.S. sanctions against Moscow. CNN reported on Wednesday night that congressional investigators were looking into whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions had an undisclosed private meeting with Kislyak during the campaign, citing Republican and Democratic sources in Congress and intelligence officials briefed on the probe. The focus of the probe is on whether such a meeting took place on April 27, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, where Trump delivered his first major foreign policy address, CNN reported. During his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions testified that he “did not have any communications with the Russians” during the campaign and said in a written statement given to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was not in contact with anyone linked to the Russian government during the campaign. It was reported in March that he met with Kislyak twice during the campaign, once at the Republican National Convention in July and once in his Senate office in September. Sessions later admitted having the meetings but said they were part of his Senate duties and were unrelated to the campaign. He later recused himself from the Russia probe. ",1 " Ellen Pompeo Just Shut A Racist Twitter Troll Down With A Hard Dose Of The Truth (TWEET)After Ellen Pompeo viewed yet other shooting of an unarmed black man by police, who was even on his back with his hands up as he was trying to help a patient with autism, she took to Twitter and said: To all of you obsessed with all lives matter We can do this all day long we get a new video everyday..do you? To all of you obsessed with all lives matter We can do this all day long we get a new video everyday..do you? https://t.co/aAGI7Yh2ov Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) July 21, 2016But of course, there are racist idiots out there who haven t quite caught on that the Black Lives Matter movement was created because all lives clearly don t matter. So, this racist dingbat said this to try to turn the narrative around: Black people commit more violent crimes towards other black people than cops do. Wheres ur outrage Ellen? @JCapedia @EllenPompeo @ShaunKing Black people commit more violent crimes towards other black people than cops do. Wheres ur outrage Ellen? Max Headroom (@WoobysToyBox) July 21, 2016But Pompeo was NOT about to put up with that idiotic and racist reply, and came straight back with a hard dose of the truth in a mic drop felt around the world. She said: My outrage is alive and well because black on black crime is a byproduct of centuries systemic racism you fool. My outrage is alive and well because black on black crime is a byproduct of centuries systemic racism you fool https://t.co/1eY07BkwbN Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) July 21, 2016And she s exactly right it s a fact that needs to be learned by everyone everywhere who thinks otherwise. Especially by those who continue on with their All lives matter bullsh*t, because clearly they don t think all lives matter if they re mad black people want to be treated with the same dignity and respect as everyone else.Featured Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images for TV Land",0 "BRILLIANT DANIEL HANNAN Smacks Down Rude CNN Reporter [Video]Please check out the clip below and you ll see what drives conservatives nuts! CNN has every right to question Daniel Hannan in the interview but notice how Christian Amanpour gets combative and angry about Brexit while she s offending Daniel Hannan by insinuating that he s racist. Conservatives are so sick of political activists as journalists! Amanpour is a total political hack who just can t keep her personal views out of her reporting! THIS IS WHY WE BOYCOTT CNN!Heat Street has more:British MEP Daniel Hannan Spent Nine Minutes Smacking Down CNN JournalistDaniel Hannan, a conservative Member of the European Parliament representing South East England and one of the most vocal advocates in favor of #Brexit, had a fiery exchange with CNN s Christiane Amanpour, in which Hannan repeatedly rejected Amanpour s attempts to smear Leave supporters as racist and pushed back against her accusations that he had made misrepresentations.The interview, which aired on Tuesday, featured Amanpour questioning Hannan for details about how Britain s exit from the European Union would be accomplished.Here s the video, with a few seconds shy of nine minutes of Hannan smacking down rudeness and ridiculousness from Amanpour over and over and over again:",0 Poor students with good grades get identities stolen and lives ruined in China,1 Secret memos show that senior Pakistani government officials have for years known of and endorsed CIA drone strikes.,1 "KELLOGG’S PULLS ADVERTISING From Breitbart News As Punishment For Conservative News Slant…#BoycottKelloggsKellogg Co. is pulling its ads from the website Breitbart News, the right-wing news organization whose former chairman Steve Bannon was tapped as a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump.Brands that advertise on Breitbart have drawn flak in recent weeks, with activists saying the website espouses racist and anti-Semitic views. A screen shot showing an advertisement for Kellogg s Frosted Mini Wheats was part of an online campaign to get marketers to abandon the site. We regularly work with our media-buying partners to ensure our ads do not appear on sites that aren t aligned with our values as a company, said Kris Charles, a spokeswoman for Kellogg, which also makes Frosted Flakes and Special K cereal. We recently reviewed the list of sites where our ads can be placed and decided to discontinue advertising on Breitbart.com. We are working to remove our ads from that site. AppNexus Inc., one of the biggest digital advertising services, barred Breitbart from using its ad-serving tools earlier this month because it felt the publisher violated its hate-speech rules.AppNexus scrutinized Breitbart s website after Bannon was given the White House post. The digital ad firm decided the publication had breached a policy against content that incites violence, according to a spokesman for the company. Kellogg declined to name the third-party company that places its digital ads.Kellogg is the latest major brand to pull its online advertising from the news site. Other companies including Allstate, Nest, EarthLink, Warby Parker and SoFi have also blacklisted Breitbart from showing their ads, according to Digiday.The site had 19.2 million unique monthly U.S. visitors in October, up from 12.9 million a year ago, according to ComScore Inc. Breitbart doesn t rely on subscriptions, suggesting that advertising is a major source of revenue.Many marketers buy online advertising through third-party tech companies that distribute them widely across the internet, so they may not be aware of all the websites where they appear. But they also have the ability to control which websites display their ads. The creator of the Twitter account Sleeping Giants has been taking screen shots of ads appearing on Breitbart in an attempt to pressure those brands to take their ads down.Not all brands are shying away from advertising on Breitbart, though. After a screenshot showed a Nissan ad on the website, the automaker said in a statement that it places ads in a variety of sites in order to reach as many consumers as possible. The placement of Nissan advertising is not intended to be a political commentary and there are no plans to change the advertising mix at this time, the company said. Bloomberg",0 "WATCH: JUDGE JEANINE Defends President Trump…DESTROYS NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell…DISRESPECTFUL and Violent NFL PlayersJudge Jeanine tears into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is putting political correctness before the sport of football. Jeanine asks, Do we have the fortitude, courage, and determination to stand up to those who threaten our values? Judge Jeanine mentioned Trump s appearance in Alabama last night when he asked the crowd, Wouldn t you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say, Get that son-of-a-b*tch off our field, right now! He s fired! NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called the President s comments divisive. Divisive? Where was Roger Goodell when Barack Obama was dividing our nation with the help of Al Sharpton?Judge Jeanine went on to call out the violent nature of so many of these players who have been accused and arrested for beating their wives and girlfriends and even homicide. Judge Piro reminded her viewers of the lack of interest in fans who want to watch the NFL or the politically motivated ESPN former sports network.Watch:.@JudgeJeanine: ""All of a sudden football players are lovers of the Constitution and the First Amendment you're full of crap."" pic.twitter.com/3SDkEi6b4H Fox News (@FoxNews) September 24, 2017",0 "HUD ASKS FOR $4 BILLION MORE AFTER SPENDING MILLIONS ON LOBBYING CONGRESS???The news broke this week that Obama wants to equalize housing for everyone. Social engineering is nothing new in this day of Obama. State s rights mean nothing to this group and if you disagree you re called a heartless racist. The HUD secretary, Julian Castro, was on Capitol Hill this week to testify about the HUD budget asking for $4 billion more. Below are two videos of Cong. Sean Duffy going at it with Castro. Please take the time to listen to the conversation. Castro gives ZERO information to Duffy. Doesn t that tell you something? HUD is just another bloated government entity that s actually lobbying the very body that they are part of Congress(see below)! Does this offend you as much as it does me? In the new President s Budget, HUD s funding level will increase to $49.3 billion, nearly $4 billion more than Fiscal Year 2015 s enacted level. A MUST WATCH! SEAN DUFFY(WI) WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO ACTUALLY ASKED CASTRO FOR SPECIFICS AND GOT NONE: The findings from HUD s internal watchdog expose a system in which offices around the country funded by the federal housing agency used tax dollars to campaign for favorable policies and larger budgets, government watchdogs found.The failure to police such expenditures gives good reason for taxpayers to be angry, experts told The Washington Times. You re using federal money to lobby Congress to get more federal money, said Mark Calabria, a former HUD official who then spent seven years overseeing the agency as a Senate staff member working with the Banking Committee. This is directly taking money that has been allocated by Congress to helping poor people and it s being diverted to lobbying, he said.Investigators said the housing agencies in cities across the U.S. failed to disclose roughly $2.5 million they spent on lobbying and that was only at nine of the 12 agencies that report engaging in lobbying activities.However, watchdogs worry that undisclosed lobbying still could be occurring at the 3,200 other agencies HUD oversees, but which do not acknowledge engaging in any lobbying at all.For a lack of control that has allowed its various offices to violate transparency and spending laws and take money that could have been used to provide housing the Department of Housing and Urban Development wins this week s Golden Hammer, a distinction given out by The Washington Times to mark examples of waste, fraud and abuse with taxpayer money.The Philadelphia Housing Authority failed to disclose lobbying activities for which it spent as much as $660,000 during the period 2006 to 2010, the report found. It also improperly spent $48,500 in federal funds on lobbying activities conducted through law firms, which the agency should be required to repay, the HUD inspector general said.The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh failed to disclose lobbying activities on which it improperly spent as much as $80,000 in federal funds in 2004 and 2005, and Home Forward in Portland, Oregon, failed to disclose lobbying activities conducted on its behalf.While inspectors think the examined housing agencies may have wasted only $129,000 in federal money, they cautioned the problem could be affecting many more offices than the ones investigators reviewed, and suggested a further investigation of the problem. Because HUD failed to implement adequate policies to monitor agencies compliance with lobbying requirements HUD lacked assurance that other agencies did not spend Federal funds on lobbying activities or violate other lobbying-related requirements, the inspector general report, released last week, found.HUD officials said the extremely small sample size investigators looked at does not warrant extensive changes at the agency to correct problems, and that additional steps to obtain, track and retain lobbying certificates and disclosures is not a necessary remedy. In light of these facts, the recommendations are overly burdensome to implement in relation to limited error rate and limited staff resources, said a letter signed by Milan Ozdinec, the deputy assistant secretary in charge of public housing. The suggestion that HUD staff take proactive steps to detect violations related to lobbying activities would present an enormous challenge to HUD staff, the statement said. To require staff to run queries on approximately 3,200 [public housing agencies] does not appear to be an effective control to cover 12 or so exception cases. The lobbying issues have escalated beyond the scope of a single watchdog, bringing in investigators from HUD s internal Office of Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office and the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Millions of Americans who have fallen on hard times veterans, single mothers, their children they all rely on HUD s programs, said Rep. Sean Duffy, Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.The agency s funding should not be diverted to illegal lobbying efforts or overpaying a lobbyist, said Mr. Duffy, at a Wednesday committee hearing examining HUD s policies.Part of the problem, the inspector general report found, was that HUD rarely monitored the housing agencies and instead relied on their word they were complying with lobbying laws. HUD accepted and relied on agencies certifications and disclosures without performing additional verification, the IG report found. HUD lacked reasonable assurance that agencies did not spend federal funds on lobbying activities, and the lack of accurate lobbying disclosures could create an appearance of a lack of transparency. HUD officials from the top down have urged their members and member agencies to lobby Congress in order to protect their interests.Last year, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan told an audience at the National Leagues of Cities Conference in Washington that local HUD officials should be lobbying their congressional representatives to restore funding to key programs.The same year, the agency s deputy secretary sent an e-mail to more than 1,000 people asking them to call senators in support of a funding bill for HUD, according to the Government Accountability Office. It is critical that your Senator hears from you NOW, the e-mail read. We need to maintain the current level of Republican support for the Senate [bill], acquire other Republican supporters and ensure vocal and active support from Democratic senators. The message then included a list of 17 U.S. senators that HUD wanted the public to focus on.Instead of using its time and resources lobbying Congress, HUD officials would be better off running their programs more efficiently, Mr. Calabria said. We the taxpayers are having to pay the public housing industry to lobby Congress on its own behalf, said Mr. Calabria, the director of Financial Regulations Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank. If JP Morgan had used TARP money to go lobby Congress, we d all be greatly offended. Read more: WTMAXINE WATERS SPEAKS ABOUT HOW REPUBLICANS WANT TO JUST THROW EVERYONE OUT ON THE STREE (SARCASM) NOTICE THAT SHE CALLS HUD HOUSING OUR NATIONAL HOUSING SYSTEM : Today, we gather to discuss the Future of Housing in America. But frankly, if left to my Republican colleagues, that future looks very bleak for many of our most vulnerable populations, said Congresswoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee. But as we will see here today, my colleagues have no interest in strengthening our national housing system. Their priorities are clearly reflected in the recently passed HUD funding bill, which drives investment in this agency down to historic lows undercutting programs which help families reach housing stability, Waters continued.HERE S DUFFY WITH SOME GREAT QUESTIONS FOR CASTRO FROM FEB 2015: ",0 "North Carolina governor requests vote recount in tight race(Reuters) - North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory announced on Tuesday he has officially requested a recount of votes from the Nov. 8 election with official results showing him trailing his Democratic challenger, Attorney General Roy Cooper, by one-tenth of a point. The gubernatorial race in the ninth largest U.S. state remained undecided two weeks after Election Day. Officials with the State Board of Elections were continually updating results as they arrived from the state's 100 counties. (For official results see: bit.ly/2fV0APx) A recount is mandatory if the margin is less than 10,000 votes once all 100 counties have finished their canvasses, a spokesman for the election board said. As of Tuesday afternoon, Cooper’s lead was 6,187 out of 4.7 million votes cast. The election had been widely seen as a referendum on McCrory’s support for a state law denying transgender people the right to use the public bathroom matching their gender identities, instead forcing them to use those corresponding to the gender assigned at birth. The law led to widespread boycotting of North Carolina by entertainers such as Bruce Springsteen and Itzhak Perlman while sports organizations such as the National Basketball Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association moved major events out of state. McCrory's request came in a letter to the election board dated Friday and made public on Tuesday. (For a copy of the letter, see: bit.ly/2f3JfEE) McCrory’s campaign has questioned the validity of the posted results, saying Cooper’s total may be inflated by votes from dead people or felons ineligible to cast a ballot. “With serious concerns of potential voter fraud emerging across the state, it is becoming more apparent that a thorough recount is one way the people of North Carolina can have confidence in the results, process and system,” McCrory said. Cooper, however, has already claimed victory. “This is nothing but a last-ditch effort from Governor McCrory to delay and deny the results of this election,” Cooper campaign manager Trey Nix said in a statement. “Roy Cooper leads by 8,569 votes – a number that is growing daily as counties finalize election results. We are confident that a recount will do nothing to change the fact that Roy Cooper has won this election.” The Cooper campaign said it came to its larger vote margin by citing election observers in each county who have tallied numbers not yet uploaded onto the election board site. ",1 Pakistan Rape cases: DNA tests not admissible as main evidence says Council of Islamic Ideology,0 "BREAKING! WIKILEAKS Releases Proof That Obama’s CIA Interfered In Frances’ 2012 ElectionBREAKING BOMBSHELL! All of the major political parties in France were targeted by Obama s CIA with both human and electronic spies for the 7 months leading up to their 2012 Presidential election.In a document released by WikiLeaks today, the parties targeted and the goal of the operation are outlined in detail.RELEASE: CIA espionage orders for the last French presidential electionhttps://t.co/ARd8alUjMS #CIAFrance pic.twitter.com/15Q5ojw4L4 WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 16, 2017Via WikiLeaks:Specific tasking concerning his party included obtaining the Strategic Election Plans of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP); schisms or alliances developing in the UMP elite; private UMP reactions to Sarkozy s campaign strategies; discussions within the UMP on any perceived vulnerabilities to maintaining power after the election; efforts to change the party s ideological mission; and discussions about Sarkozy s support for the UMP and the value he places on the continuation of the party s dominance .The targets specifically named in the document are: the French Socialist Party (PS), the National Front (FN) and Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), current President Francois Hollande, then President Nicolas Sarkozy, current round one presidential front-runner Marine Le Pen, and former presidential candidates Martine Aubry and Dominique Strauss-Khan.The CIA required that it s agents specifically discover Sarkozy s private opinions on other candidates along with how he worked with his personal advisors.The CIA seemed to have two prevailing goals according to WikiLeaks: What policies do they promote to help boost France s economic growth prospects, and what are their opinions on the German model of export-led growth. This resonates with a U.S. economic espionage order from the same year which required someone obtaining every prospective French export contract or deal valued at $200m or more.This travesty is another example of how our intelligence community ran amok during the Obama administration.",0 Russian general says U.S. may have planned satellite collision,1 US court allows Ecuador to collect on a $18.2B judgement against Chevron for toxic waste dumping,0 Canadian Scientists push campaign for evidence-based decision making from government,0 "EU's Barnier worried by UK's post-Brexit plan for Irish borderBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union s chief Brexit negotiator said on Thursday he was worried by Britain s plans for the border arrangement with Ireland after it leaves the EU and urged London to come up with creative proposals . The comments from Michel Barnier highlighted the gulf between the two sides on one of the trickiest issues thrown up by Brexit - how it will affect the currently seamless movement of people and goods between the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU member, and British-ruled Northern Ireland. Britain said last month that there should be no border posts or immigration checks along the 500 km (300 mile) frontier after Brexit. Some 30,000 people make the crossing each day, and businesses from farming to brewing depend on easy movement of goods between north and south. While Brussels and Dublin also say they want to keep an open border, they say Britain has failed to explain how it would square this with its stated intention to leave the EU s customs union. What I see in the UK s paper on Ireland and Northern Ireland worries me, Barnier told a news conference in Brussels. The UK wants the EU to suspend the application of its laws, its customs union and its single market at what will be a new external border for the EU, and the UK wants to use Ireland as a kind of test case for the future EU-UK customs relations. This will not happen, Barnier said. The EU is also concerned that Britain could use the border between the two Irelands as a way to circumvent tariffs that could be imposed in a post-Brexit EU-UK trade deal. Barnier s remarks coincided with the publication of a set of principles from the European Commission, the EU s executive, on how the Irish issue should be dealt with. It explicitly stated that the onus to propose solutions on Ireland fell on Britain. The paper also made it clear that a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland should be avoided to protect peace on the island. It said that any physical border infrastructure should be ruled out, but that required flexible and imaginative solutions . Nearly three months into Brexit talks, EU and Britain negotiators have made little progress on the Irish border and the other issues - expatriate citizens rights and the bill that London should pay its EU partners to settle existing financial commitments - that Brussels wants broadly solved before talks on a future trading relationship can start. The Irish government called on Britain to make substantive commitments and provide workable solutions . Prime Minister Leo Varadkar reiterated that for all sides to achieve their aim of avoiding a hard border, Britain needed to stay in the customs union or in a similar arrangement for at least a post-Brexit transition phase. Britain seized on the EU comments about the need for an open border as evidence that British and EU objectives were closely aligned . In particular the commitment to avoid any physical infrastructure at the border is a very important step forward, a government spokesman said, adding that the position papers from both sides clearly provide a good basis on which to continue to make swift progress. ",1 "Trump’s foundation says it violated 'self-dealing' ban: IRS forms(Reuters) - U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s charitable foundation said it violated a ban on so-called “self-dealing” by transferring income or assets to a “disqualified person,” according to a copy of its 2015 tax filings made public this week. The Donald J. Trump Foundation’s Internal Revenue Service forms, first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday, showed that the organization said “yes” when asked if it had transferred “any income or assets to a disqualified person. Asked if it had violated the ban on so-called self-dealing in prior years, the foundation also said “yes,” according to the forms, also viewed by Reuters. According to the IRS, self-dealing can include the “transfer to, or use by or for the benefit of a disqualified person of the asset of a foundation,” except for certain exemptions. On the forms, Trump’s foundation said “yes” when asked if any of the income or assets transfers failed to qualify as IRS exemptions. The 30-page filing was signed by the foundation’s treasurer, Donald Bender, but not dated, and it was unclear whether they had been filed with the IRS. Representatives for Trump and the foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The forms were posted late on Monday on the website for Guidestar, which tracks nonprofit organizations, according to the Post, which also said it could not confirm whether the forms had actually been sent to the IRS. On Oct. 4, New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered the foundation to immediately stop fundraising in the state, accusing it of having violated a state law requiring charitable organizations that solicit outside donations to register with his office’s Charities Bureau. The order followed a series of reports in the Post that suggested improprieties by the foundation, including using its funds to settle legal disputes involving Trump businesses. The Post said Trump might have violated IRS rules against “self-dealing” by using foundation money to purchase two portraits of himself, which were then hung at his private golf clubs in New York and Florida. Trump’s campaign suggested that the probe launched by Schneiderman, a Democrat, was politically motivated.",1 "BUSTED! WATCH MEDIA’S FAKE VIDEO Trying To Make Trump Look Bad…Media Outlets Spread #FakeNews [Video]CNN and many other news outlets think they re smarter than all of us who are on social media. A fake news story has been going around the web that makes President Trump look like he committed a faux pas while participating in a traditional Japanese ceremony. In a video posted early Monday morning, CNN noted that Trump fed fish with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by emptying the whole box of food into a koi pond during his tour of Asia THAT S NOT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED!Trump joined his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in feeding fish, emptying the whole box of food into a koi pond https://t.co/Aho7J2YUru pic.twitter.com/dPB9xwKNOB CNN (@CNN) November 6, 2017What they didn t show is that the Japanese Prime Minister poured out his food BEFORE President Trump did the same:Yes, the news media has been keeping this fake news story going. WGN Chicago had a misleading photo and title today that even anti-Trump readers called them out on it. Well, well, well We looked and the post has been removed from Facebook. We re glad we got a screenshot of this!Yes, it looks like Trump was the jerk who spoiled the moment by dumping the food BUT it s NOT true!SCREENSHOT OF POST REMOVED FROM FACEBOOK AFTER THE OUTCRY: Even though most people know the story is fake, there are those anti-Trump dumbos who bought it hook, line and sinker:CNN started this fake news ball rolling and news outlets like Chicago s WGN kept it going How many other local news outlets did the same? And we wonder how Trump s supposed poll numbers could be so low? How does President Trump fight a media that constantly does this?Please spread the truth on this!Here s the CNN video:Trump joined his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in feeding fish, emptying the whole box of food into a koi pond https://t.co/Aho7J2YUru pic.twitter.com/dPB9xwKNOB CNN (@CNN) November 6, 2017HERE THE TRUTH:",0 " Charlatan ‘Seed Faith’ Preacher To Deliver Prayer At Trump’s InaugurationThere s no shortage of con artists and assorted corrupt types surrounding Donald Trump. After all, he s just run the biggest con the American people have ever seen, so naturally he d flock to like-minded individuals. Among them is a preacher from Florida by the name of Paula White. This woman s scam is a good one if you re in it for the money. She is a seed faith preacher. This ideology promotes the idea that the more money you give the church, the more blessings will come your way. It is formally known as prosperity gospel. White also will be the one who delivers the prayer at Trump s inauguration.White runs the New Destiny Christian Center as the Senior Pastor. She has also previously been under investigation by the United States Senate for fraudulent activities being run out of her so-called church. White begs for cash via her church s website, promising goodness from God, saying: When we receive your seed we have a very powerful Word from the Lord that we will send to you. We want to show our Gratitude to you and to help you grow in your Attitude of Gratitude. If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I d like to sell you. This woman is a con artist, just like Donald Trump. Apparently, Trump has been in Paula White s corner for years even when she and other preachers were being grilled by the Senate Finance Committee for scamming gullible followers out of boatloads of cash. Trump said of White when this was going on back in 2007: Paula White is not only a beautiful person, both inside and out, she has a significant message to offer anyone who will tune in and pay attention. She has amazing insight, the ability to deliver that message clearly, as well as powerfully. If you had any doubts that Trump and the people around him are nothing more than fraudulent charlatans, let them be washed away now. Here s just another piece of evidence out of many that we re about to have a literal con man running the nation for the next four years.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images",0 Chinese-made computer input system banned in Japanese government agencies,1 "Thai hotels booked up ahead of funeral of revered kingBANGKOK (Reuters) - Hotels in Bangkok s bustling old town, home to a backpacker enclave favored by foreign tourists, are booked up as Thailand prepares to host the lavish funeral of its revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej next week, the hotel association said on Monday. The funeral of King Bhumibol, who died on Oct. 13 last year after seven decades on the throne, will run for five days next week, with most events centering on the Grand Palace and Sanam Luang, a public square in the historic quarter. About 250,000 mourners are expected to attend the funeral, which will feature gold-tipped pavilions built for the occasion, and Oct. 26, the day of the cremation, has been declared a national holiday. Many Thais wishing to attend the cremation feel it would be more convenient having a place to stay nearby, so most hotels have been booked out already, Supawan Tanomkieatipume, president of the Thai Hotels Association, told Reuters. A Reuters survey of three hotels on the Khao San Road, the main artery of the Banglamphu backpacker area, found no rooms were available. We are fully booked during the royal cremation, said Preechaya Amngeun, 23, a guest services agent at the Ibis Styles Bangkok Khaosan Viengtai, part of French hotel group Accor. Around 80 percent of the guests we have are Thais. The other 20 percent are foreign tourists. Thailand s tourism industry, which accounts for 12 percent of GDP, has been a rare bright spot for an economy that has struggled since a 2014 coup. It has weathered political turbulence and a major natural disaster over the past decade. (This story has been refiled to insert place in dateline) ",1 "GRASSLEY DEMANDS ANSWERS ON TRUMP JR SETUP: Russian Lawyer Tied to DNC Firm…Who Allowed Russian Lawyer Into US After Denied Visa Entry? [Video]Republican Senator Charles Grassley wants answers on why the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. was allowed in the US after her visa had been denied. Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Fox & Friends that she magically appeared in the US. Grassley has written to the Secretary of State and DHS Secretary in an effort to get to the bottom of this mystery.The second curious connection is that the DNC opposition research firm, Fusion GPS, is connected to the Russian Lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Remember that Fusion GPS is responsible for the Trump-Russia Dossier that made scurrilous claims against President Trump including the golden showers incident:Circa News Reports: Fusion has been a major focal point of the FBI and Congress because it hired a former British intelligence agent named Christopher Steele to produce a salacious intelligence dossier that made wild and still unsubstantiated claims about Trump ties to Russia.Does anyone else find it curious that this woman claimed to have dirt on Clinton but never produced a thing. Was she told to just say that to get Donald Jr. to meet with her in a set up? Her Facebook profile shows anti-Trump leanings so why would someone anti-Trump want to deliver information to Donald Trump Jr? Also, once they met, she talked about foreign adoption and had nothing on Clinton go figure Sara Carter of Circa News reported:Russian lawyer who got inside Donald Trump s inner circle had been denied US visa https://t.co/d3Dg59CRM8 Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) July 9, 2017The US government s immigration policy prevented this woman from coming here but how did she get into the US after being denied? Is our immigration policy that full of holes or is this just more monkey business from the Obama administration and the DNC? One key clue is that the three lawyers arguing in court for the lawyer s entry to the US are all known anti-Trump guys. In particular is the lawyer that Trump had to fire. Remember this guy:Preet Bharara: I was fired after refusing to step down https://t.co/tm6Raj0LvI via @Newsday Catherine (@RealAliCat) July 2, 2017We smell a big setup!",0 "A new line of bottled water - this time not from the melting Alps, but rather from the contaminated ground near the site of the 1984 Bhopal catastrophe - scared Dow Chemical's London management team into hiding today.",1 Tibetan Exiles Meet to Ponder Strategy,0 CAUGHT ON VIDEO! Violent Anti-Trump Thugs Pelt Eggs At Trump SupportersWhen will the media report on this nice group of illegal aliens and racist American thugs ,0 Rhino poacher killed in Kruger shoot out. ,0 " NC Governor Just Slapped The LGBT Community Even Harder With This Horrific Executive OrderAfter North Carolina passed their new bigoted anti-LGBT law and Governor Pat McCrory signed it into law, he alongside the state has received a massive amount of backlash against the legislated hate.Taking this backlash into account, McCrory released a statement: After listening to people s feedback for the past several weeks on this issue, I have come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, a lot of passion and frankly, selective outrage and hypocrisy, especially against the great state of North Carolina. Based upon this feedback, I am taking action to affirm and improve the state s commitment to privacy and equality. Which basically is a non-answer and he s just pissed people are pissed at himself and his state. What exactly does his executive order include? A whole lotta nothing.Here s what McCrory s executive order states: Common sense gender-specific ?? What does that even mean. He s literally taking his hand, raising it up, and slapping the transgender community in the f*cking face with that load of bullshit. And he s still letting private businesses be bigoted jerks if they so choose, even if they serve the public at large 14th amendment be damned. Then as an ultimate cop-out he s leaving anything to actually be done about the hate to local governments. The only thing that maaaybe could be considered decent and humane is to expand the employment policy and seek legislation. However, he s seeking legislation in the same damn state house that wrote the legalized discrimination in the first place. So, all in all this executive order is a big ole piece of useless horseshit.McCrory honestly doesn t seem to see the error his state legislator s ways or his own. He s, in essence, doubling down on anti-LGBT hate, and not doing a damn thing about the law itself. What needs to happen is for the law to be entirely repealed and protections enacted not for religious zealots, but for LGBT individuals.North Carolina s governor ought to be ashamed of himself. This is nothing but just another giant slap in the face to the LGBT community.Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 Bavaria plans free wifi for 'whole state',1 "White House says draft interrogation order is not a White House documentWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A draft order calling for a review of whether a defunct CIA program to interrogate terrorist suspects in secret overseas “black site” prisons should be revived is not a White House document, the White House said on Wednesday. “It is not a White House document,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters. “I have no idea where it came from, but it is not a White House document.” ",1 Israel moves to launch university in West Bank settlement,0 German Official Wants DNA Testing of Dog Shit,0 Afghan woman kills Taliban commander over privacy breach,0 NEW EVIDENCE PROVES Hillary Manipulated Senate Benghazi Hearing With Help From Democrat Senators [Video] ,0 " Trump Just Dedicated A F**king GOLF TROPHY To People Who Are Suffering In Puerto RicoSome are saying that Trump has not botched the relief effort in Puerto Rico (Newsflash: He s botched it horribly), but even if that were true, he s doing worse than botching the PR for it. Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 20. On the 22nd, he decided to go golfing for four days, and rage-tweeted at the NFL the whole time. Then he rage-tweeted at the ingrates in Puerto Rico who aren t showing him the proper appreciation for what he s not doing. Today, he was at the Presidents Cup golf tournament, avoiding real work and participating in the trophy presentation instead.And while he was there, he decided to dedicate the trophy to the victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. According to Steve Kopack of CNBC, Trump said that conditions in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico are really under control, and that he was dedicating the trophy to victims of storms:For those asking, President Trump was speaking on @GolfChannel s coverage of the Presidents Cup trophy presentation. Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) October 1, 2017Here are his own words: On behalf of all of the people of Texas, and all of the people if you look today and see what is happening, how horrible it is but we have it under really great control Puerto Rico and the people of Florida who have really suffered over this last short period of time with the hurricanes, I want to just remember them.And we re going to dedicate this trophy to all of those people that went through so much that we love a part of our great state, really part of our great nation. Because a trophy is seriously what they need right now. Forget disaster relief funds, forget personnel and equipment. Forget food, water and medicine. Forget restoring electricity and communications. What they really need a participation trophy, which is what this amounts to for all the good it ll do.The relief effort is disastrously inadequate in Puerto Rico, where people are starting to suffer from Dengue fever, viral conjunctivitis and Zika. They re at increasing risk for cholera due to the lack of clean drinking water. In fact, the number of people without access to clean drinking water has shot from 44 percent to 55 percent between Wednesday and yesterday, and will continue to rise until we actually get our butts moving with the relief effort there.Furthermore, the contaminated floodwaters are putting Puerto Ricans at risk for hepatitis A, meningitis and salmonella, even if they don t drink it.This isn t just a meaningless gesture, it s damned insulting. You don t dedicate a goddamn trophy, presented at a tournament full of wealthy people who are safe in their well-moneyed cocoons, to hurricane victims. You just don t. It wouldn t be surprising to start hearing more outcry from homeless, sick, and suffering Puerto Ricans people who are already angry at the lack of response from Trump s administration and his characterization of them as lazy all over Twitter.Featured image via Elsa/Getty Images",0 "U.S. senator says Russia can expect sanctions after cyber attacksRIGA/TALLINN (Reuters) - Russia and its president Vladimir Putin should expect tough sanctions after cyber attacks during the presidential election won by Donald Trump, U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Wednesday. Earlier this month, Republican and Democratic senators including Graham called for a bipartisan panel to investigate cyber attacks against the United States by foreign countries, with a focus on Russia’s alleged efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election. “There will be bipartisan sanctions coming that will hit Russia hard, particularly Putin as an individual,” Graham said in the Latvian capital. NATO members Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, all ruled by Moscow in communist times, have been alarmed by Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. “It is now time for Russia to understand – enough is enough,” Graham said. He did not elaborate further on what the sanctions could entail. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia tried to influence the Nov. 8 election by hacking individuals and institutions, including Democratic Party bodies. Russian officials have denied accusations of interference in the election. “Here’s what you can expect in 2017 in the United States – a bipartisan effort in Congress to push back against the Russian interference in our election,” Graham said at a stop on a three-day visit to the Baltics with fellow Republican senator John McCain, seen as a bid to soothe concerns over the policy of President-elect Trump. Separately, the Estonian defence minister said the country was increasing its efforts to defend itself against cyber attacks after NATO recognised cyber attacks as an element of warfare, alongside land, sea and air. In what Estonian officials say was a wake-up call, the country was hit by cyber attacks on extensive private and government Internet sites in 2007. State websites were brought to a crawl and an online banking site was closed. Lithuania also said last week the Kremlin was responsible for cyber attacks that have hit government computers there over the past two years. Putin’s spokesman dismissed the allegations as unsubstantiated. Lithuanian intelligence services, in their annual report, say cyber attacks have moved from being mainly targeted at financial crimes to more political spying on state institutions. “We have almost finished the submission for the government to create the new cyber command and it should be up and running within two years”, Estonia’s Defence Minister Margus Tsahkna told Reuters on Wednesday. NATO leaders agreed earlier this year to deploy military forces to the Baltic states and eastern Poland for the first time and increase air and sea patrols to reassure allies on its eastern border. Estonia is due to host around 1,000 British, French and Danish troops in 2017. ",1 "Buckeye Partners' Puerto Rico oil terminal still closed after MariaHOUSTON (Reuters) - Buckeye Partners LP s Yabucoa oil terminal in Puerto Rico remained closed on Friday, the company said, days after Hurricane Maria left a trail of destruction and at least 25 people dead across the Caribbean. The U.S. oil storage and transportation company did not say if the tanks at the 4.6-million-barrel terminal were damaged by the storm, which made landfall near Yabucoa, but it said a full assessment of the facility is under way. We are working to maintain the safety and well-being of our Yabucoa, Puerto Rico employees, it said in a statement. A larger terminal operated by U.S. NuStar Energy LP on the island of St. Eustatius, with capacity to store up to 13.03 million barrels of oil, also has been unable to reopen after a previous hurricane, Irma, affected several tanks. The closure of oil terminals in the Caribbean and restrictions to load and discharge large vessels in several Texas ports have constrained flows of crude and refined products across the Atlantic in recent weeks. Maria, the second major hurricane to hit the Caribbean this month, lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands on Friday after knocking out power to all of Puerto Rico and pushing several rivers to record flood levels. ",1 "At U.N., Russia slams inquiry into toxic gas attacks in SyriaUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia rejected on Tuesday a report by an international inquiry blaming the Syrian government for a deadly toxic gas attack, casting doubt on whether the U.N. Security Council can agree to extend the investigation s mandate before it expires next week. Russia vetoed an initial U.S. bid to renew the joint inquiry by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Oct. 24, saying it wanted to wait for the release of the investigation s report two days later. It has since proposed its own rival draft resolution, which deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said on Tuesday aimed to enhance the effectiveness of the inquiry and correct errors and systemic problems. Without a comprehensive change it will become a tool to settle accounts with the Syrian authorities, Safronkov told the 15-member Security Council on Tuesday during a meeting on the report by the U.N./OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM). The report found the Syrian government was responsible for an April 4 attack using the banned nerve agent sarin in the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, killing dozens of people. The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons. The chemical weapons attack prompted a U.S. missile strike just days later against a Syrian air base. Russia is trying to shoot the messenger to cover up for the crimes of the Syrian regime, Deputy British U.N. Ambassador Jonathan Allen told the Security Council. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said there could be no higher priority for the Security Council than renewing the JIM mandate. Diplomats said the United States had amended its draft resolution in a bid to win Russian support. Anyone who prevents us from achieving this goal is aiding and abetting those who have been using chemical weapons, Haley said. They are helping to ensure, not just that more women and children will die, but that those women and children will die in one of the cruelest, most painful ways possible. A resolution must get nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain and France to pass. Allen told reporters the Russian draft resolution has very little if any support in the council and no realistic prospects of success. The JIM had previously found that Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State militants used mustard gas. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States. ",1 " Dan Rather Brilliantly Rips Trump’s Lawless Week In SCATHING Facebook PostDonald Trump has had what is arguably the most bizarre week in the history of the American presidency. He has careened from outrage to outrage, lie to lie, and lawless action to lawless action all in the span of five days, starting with his firing of FBI Director James Comey because he threw a massive tantrum over the Trump-Russia collusion investigation. Well, there is one respected American who has had about enough of Trump s acting as if he is above the law: journalist Dan Rather.Rather took to his Facebook page to rip Trump to shreds as only he can. He begins by talking about how long he s lived and how many presidencies he s lived through including Richard Nixon s and then moves on to the extraordinary disgrace that is the Donald Trump presidency. Rather says, in part:But I have never seen a week where a president of our nation has behaved with such a cavalier disregard for the norms and institutions of our democracy. And it now seems like the investigation is expanding into Trump s business dealings. The comparisons with Richard Nixon are plentiful these days, but even he did not seem so untethered from our basic governance. And I have never seen so many members of a political party rally around incompetence, intemperance, and inanity.Dan Rather is correct. Donald Trump makes Richard Nixon look like a boy scout. Trump is downright dangerous, and he must be restrained. If only the Congress would do their jobs and speak out, and act as the check on this president that they are supposed to be. Hell, they were more than happy to be a check on President Obama and he didn t even do anything that was lawless.This is the Republican Party putting partisan politics and their own political futures above the good of the republic. It is shameful, and that is why we must vote them out of Congress in 2018.Mr. Rather, thank you for speaking truth to power. We need voices like yours in these dark and dire times.Read the entire brilliant post below:Featured image via Kirk Irwin/Getty Images for SiriusXM",0 """God's mercy has no limits"" Pope Francis tells atheists to abide by their own consciences",0 "U.S. requires enhanced screening of cargo from TurkeyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said on Thursday it is issuing a new security directive requiring enhanced screening of cargo from Turkey. The change was to adequately address emerging threats to cargo and raise the baseline for global aviation security, TSA spokesman Michael England said. The directive mandates voluntary measures already in use by Turkey and will ensure cargo flying to the United States is screened and secured in accordance with the Air Cargo Advance Screening Program, he said. Officials said the decision to impose the security directive and an emergency amendment was made after an incident in Australia and came in response to intelligence reports. In July, an Australian man sent his unsuspecting brother to the Sydney airport to catch an Etihad Airways flight carrying a home-made bomb disguised as a meat mincer built at the direction of a senior Islamic State commander, police said. Detailing one of Australia s most sophisticated militant plots, police said two men, who have been charged with terror-related offences, also planned to build a device to release poisonous gas in a public area. High-grade military explosives used to build the bomb were sent by air cargo from Turkey as part of a plot inspired and directed by the militant Islamic State group, police Deputy Commissioner National Security Michael Phelan said in August. The plot targeted an Etihad Airways flight on July 15, but the bomb never made it past airport security, he said. ",1 "More than 50 arrested for looting in Miami during Irma: policeMIAMI (Reuters) - Miami area police arrested more than 50 suspected looters during Hurricane Irma, including 26 people who were accused of breaking into a single Wal-Mart (WMT.N> store, authorities said on Tuesday. City officials on Tuesday lifted a local 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew that had been in place since Sunday. As normality began to return, police commanders said officers will work 12-hour shifts, 24 hours a day, to discourage any more criminality. I said we would not tolerate criminal activity or looting or anybody who takes advantage of our residents, Deputy Chief of Police Luis Cabrera said at a news conference. I was not joking. The Wal-Mart incident took place on Saturday night at a store on the north side of the City of Miami, said Miami-Dade Police Department spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta. Among others suspected of looting were six men arrested on Monday and accused of breaking into stores at the Midtown Miami shopping complex, near the fashionable Wynwood district, before making off with merchandise that included shoes, bags and laptops. The looting attempts spanned the city, said Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, from the well-heeled Brickell and downtown neighborhoods to the low-income Liberty City and Little Haiti areas. He said police will stay vigilant as the cleanup goes on. Officers have also been busy trawling roads that can be perilous for motorists because power cuts shut off traffic lights at intersections and streets have accumulated shredded vegetation spread by the storm s powerful winds. We have never experienced, not even with Hurricane Andrew, the amount of trees that are downed in the city, Regalado told the news conference. Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992. Since Irma began bearing down on the state late last week, authorities have been warning any would-be looters against taking advantage of the situation. Rick Maglione, the police chief of Fort Lauderdale, about 30 miles (48 km) north of Miami, told residents to stay home during the storm and look after their loved ones. Going to prison over a pair of sneakers is a fairly bad life choice, Maglione said in a statement. Miami police posted a photo on Facebook of several accused looters sitting in a jail cell under the caption: Thinking about looting? Ask these guys how that turned out. #stayindoors. ",1 "About 30 killed when train derails, catches fire in CongoKINSHASA (Reuters) - About 30 people were killed and more than two dozen injured when a train derailed then caught fire in Democratic Republic of Congo, a provincial governor said on Monday. The freight train was traveling from the southern copper and cobalt mining hub of Lubumbashi to Luena, in Lualaba province, on Sunday when it left the tracks and tumbled into a ravine near the town of Buyofwe. There s major damage because the tanker cars caught fire, Lualaba s governor Richard Muyej told Reuters. Around 30 dead and 26 wounded were transferred to the hospital in Lubudi, 25 km (16 miles) from the scene of the accident. The train had taken on a number of passengers before the accident, and Muyej said the death toll could rise further. Eleven of the train s 13 cars caught fire following the derailment. Officials from Congo s national railway company, the SNCC, were investigating the cause of the crash, which was not immediately known. Rail accidents are relatively common in Congo due to aging, poorly maintained infrastructure and lax enforcement of safety standards. (This version of the story corrects spelling of governor s name in paragraphs 3 and 4) ",1 "McDonald's deletes Trump tweet, says Twitter account compromisedLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - McDonald’s Corp quickly deleted a tweet sent from the company’s handle slamming President Donald Trump on Thursday and said its official Twitter account had been compromised. The tweet, which was copied and shared widely before being deleted, came a day after the Twitter accounts of a number of major news organizations, chief executives, government agencies and other high-profile users were hijacked. “Based on our investigation, we have determined that our Twitter account was hacked by an external source. We took swift action to secure it, and we apologize this tweet was sent through our corporate McDonald’s account,” McDonald’s spokeswoman Terri Hickey said in a statement. Corporate accounts are attractive targets due to their large followings and the media attention that errant tweets can attract. Twitter Inc allows for two-factor authentication, a security feature that would deter many attempts to seize an account. Twitter declined comment on Thursday citing “privacy and security reasons”. The tweet sent from @McDonaldsCorp on Thursday morning read: “@realdonaldtrump You are actually a disgusting excuse of a President and we would love to have @BarackObama back, also you have tiny hands.” Trump did not respond to the incident on Twitter. High-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked on Wednesday to send anti-Nazi messages in Turkish in the midst of a diplomatic spat between Turkey, the Netherlands and Germany. Twitter said on Wednesday that the source of that attack was a third-party app, whose permissions have since been removed. Trump, one of the more fast-food friendly presidents in recent years, had tweeted pictures of himself eating food from McDonald’s and other chains during the U.S. election campaign. A 2002 ad campaign featured Trump and the chain’s Grimace mascot promoting an “amazing” $1 deal for McDonald’s since-discontinued Big N’ Tasty burger. The incident came as McDonald’s is bolstering its digital capabilities with mobile and kiosk ordering to help modernize the 60-year-old chain. Analysts said the hack raised questions about security at Twitter, but was unlikely to do much damage to the restaurant chain’s brand. “As long as Trump doesn’t tweet at them directly, which could be pretty disastrous, this will be a short-term thing for them,” said Mike Froggatt, director of intelligence at L2, which monitors the digital performance of brands. “Twitter trending topics last for maybe 6 hours, a backlash for 10 to 12 hours and then it goes and the herd moves on,” said Froggatt. The message from the account of the world’s largest restaurant chain caused a sensation on Twitter, where users shared copies of the deleted tweet and offered jokes and comments. Vanessa Veasley and other users speculated that Trump supporters could attempt to launch a boycott of the chain, as they threatened to do when Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Howard Schultz vowed to hire 10,000 refugees after Trump’s first executive order temporarily banning refugees from certain countries. “McDonald’s already deleted the tweet? lol Well at least Trump supporters can finally boycott something they can actually afford,” Veasley (@VanessaVeasley) wrote. Other users praised the fast-food chain, which has been fighting to reverse two straight years of customer traffic declines. “Suddenly I want a Big Mac, well done @McDonalds,” tweeted Shay Steward Bouley (@blackgirlinmain). Some Trump supporters said McDonald’s had not done enough to atone for the tweet and advocated for a boycott. “Hey @McDonaldsCorp YOU can’t just undo a tweet!!! Since you don’t support America, Americans will not support YOU!!! #BoycottMcDonalds,” wrote Deborah Brewer‏ (@Debbie92083). McDonald’s is not the only high-profile company to be compromised with fake tweets over the years. Brands including Burger King, Jeep and Sony Music also have been hit. ",1 China to Boost Solar Power Goal 67% as Smog Envelops Beijing,0 """Girls only allowed to access Facebook if they are wearing burkas!"" - Afghans lampoon clerics over women guidelines",1 "Mattis sees opportunity for talks if North Korea halts missile tests, developmentCOLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday there could be an opportunity for talks between North Korea and the United States if Pyongyang stopped testing and developing its nuclear and missile programs. So long as they stop testing, stop developing, they don t export their weapons, there would be opportunity for talks, Mattis told reporters on a military plane. While Washington has said that all options, including military, are on the table in dealing with North Korea, it has stressed its preference is for a diplomatic solution. Visiting Seoul last week, U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea he was prepared to use the full range of American military power to stop any attack, but also urged Pyongyang to make a deal. Trump, who had previously called negotiations with North Korea a waste of time, has offered no clear path to talks. Pyongyang has made clear it has little interest in negotiations, at least until it has developed a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. The last North Korean missile test was carried out almost two months ago, but U.S. officials say they have seen no signs that Pyongyang has stopped development. Mattis said the U.S. military was closely watching why there had been no missile launches recently, but declined to give potential reasons for it. There are concerns in South Korea that any potential U.S. strikes against North Korea s nuclear and missile programs could provoke devastating North Korean retaliation against South Korea. Earlier this week, a senior South Korean official said Trump should under no circumstances take military action against North Korea without the consent of the government in Seoul. In Colorado, Mattis will visit the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which are responsible for homeland defense, including tracking and potentially intercepting North Korean missiles. ",1 Israel has banned reporters from the Gaza Strip -- only reporting from behind Israel lines is now allowed.,0 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused his country's enemies of enacting a sinister plan to create a drought by somehow destroying the rain clouds before they reach Iran,1 "BRAVO! LEGENDARY CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER Takes Heat But Supports Trump: “Politicians are a dime a dozen, but leaders are priceless.” [Video]Decades ago he stood against oppression by sitting at a North Carolina lunch counter, today he stands beside Donald Trump for president.Clarence Henderson, who participated at the sit-in protest in 1960, is backing the GOP candidate despite receiving backlash from some in the black community, the Associated Press reported. Donald Trump is certainly not a politician, and politicians are a dime a dozen, but leaders are priceless, he said.Henderson has been brutalized on social media for his standing position.But Henderson is undeterred. He has proved to be a leader in the business field. Has he done everything right? No, certainly not. But I think that he has more at stake than Hillary does, Henderson told the AP.The civil rights leader originally supported Ted Cruz but joined the Trump Train when Trump won the Republican nomination. I stand before you as one that knows what America s all about the good, the bad and the ugly. I would not live in any other country except America that put Jim Crow on trial and found him guilty of trying to separate the races. So I stand before you to say that we are unified, he said at a Trump rally in September.And he plans to vote for Trump for the same reason he sat at that lunch counter in the 60s. I would rather be in the minority on the side of justice than in the majority on the side of injustice, because I have lived a life where I saw there was injustice, he said. ",0 India revokes passport of tycoon who owes $1 billion,0 "OBAMA’S DOJ LET Russian Lawyer Into U.S. WITHOUT A VISA Under “Extraordinary Circumstances” Before She Met With Donald Trump Jr…Lawyer Has Ties To Left-Wing Democrat Activist, Major Hillary SupporterIn July of 2016, Donald Trump, Jr. met a 42-year-old Russian attorney named Natalia Veselnitskaya who had promised him damaging information about then-candidate Hillary Clinton. One of his father s contacts, a music publicist named Rob Goldstone, had arranged the meeting as a favor to a client of his, the Azeri real estate developer and pop singer Emin. Goldstone had worked with the Trumps on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. There were other reasons to take the meeting, too: Emin s father, Aras Agalarov, is the 51st-richest man in Russia and an instrumental figure in the President s aborted foray into Russian real estate: the Moscow tower he tried and failed to erect.Trump Jr. has said he knew absolutely nothing about Veselnitskaya before their meeting, not even her name. She turned out to use the promise of information that could help his father s campaign as a pretext to discuss reinstating a popular Russian-American adoption program, according to his version of events. What could be more harmless?In fact, Veselnitskaya was already a key figure for the defense in one of the most notorious money-laundering scandals in recent memory, encompassing $230 million in public funds allegedly stolen from the Russians by a network of corrupt bureaucrats and routed into real estate sales, including some in Manhattan, through ironclad Swiss bank accounts. And she was accused of lobbying U.S. officials for a Russian NGO that sought to overturn the Russian ban on U.S. adoptions, according to a complaint filed with the U.S. Justice Department and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).-TPMThe Hill -The Russian lawyer who penetrated Donald Trump s inner circle was initially cleared into the United States by the Justice Department under extraordinary circumstances before she embarked on a lobbying campaign last year that ensnared the president s eldest son, members of Congress, journalists and State Department officials, according to court and Justice Department documents and interviews.This revelation means it was the Obama Justice Department that enabled the newest and most intriguing figure in the Russia-Trump investigation to enter the country without a visa.Later, a series of events between an intermediary for the attorney and the Trump campaign ultimately led to the controversy surrounding Donald Trump Jr.Just five days after meeting in June 2016 at Trump Tower with Trump Jr., Trump s son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Moscow attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya showed up in Washington in the front row of a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Russia policy, video footage of the hearing shows.Veselnitskaya also attended a dinner with the chairman of the House subcommittee overseeing Russia policy, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and roughly 20 other guests at a dinner club frequented by Republicans.Rohrabacher said he believed Veselnitskaya and her U.S. colleagues, which included former Rep. Ronald Dellums (D-Calif.), were lobbying other lawmakers to reverse the Magnitsky Act and restore the ability of Americans to adopt Russian children that Moscow had suspended.Daily Caller Radical left-wing icon former California Democratic Rep. Ron Dellums was a hired lobbyist for Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. June 9, 2016, the Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned.Dellums, who represented liberal San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., is a long-time darling of left-wing political activists. He served 13 terms in Congress as an African-American firebrand and proudly called himself a socialist. He retired in 1996.The former congressman is one of several high-profile Democratic partisans who was on Veselnitskaya s payroll, working to defeat a law that is the hated object of a personal vendetta waged by Russian President Vladimir Putin.Former Democratic Congressman and Oakland, CA Mayor Ronald Dellums endorsed Hillary Clinton for President against Barack Obama in 2008:Ronald Dellums endorsed Hillary again in 2016. I don t think this was very heavily lobbied at all compared with the other issues we deal with, Rohrabacher said.As for his former congressional colleague Dellums, Rohrabacher said he recalled having a conversation about the Magnitsky Act and the adoption issue: Ron and I like each other I have to believe he was a hired lobbyist but I don t know. Here s how Veselnitskaya is tied to the massive 2013 money laundering scheme and the controversial piece of legislation: 2012 s Magnitsky Act that involved Denis Katsyv, the son of Russian railroad baron Petr Katsyv and owner of the Prevezon group. It was the Magnitsky Act that Veselnitskaya allegedly discussed in her meeting with Donald Trump Jr.:TPM In 2013, Veselnitskaya agreed to represent Denis Katsyv, The younger Katsyv was accused of collaborating with corrupt Russian officials in the money-laundering scheme. Then-U.S. attorney and Sheriff of Wall Street Preet Bharara (who was appointed US Attorney in Manhattan by Barack Obama and was fired by President Trump in March) led the charge against Prevezon; the company, his office said, had used cash from the theft to buy condos in Bharara s jurisdiction.Katsyv had been Veselnitskaya s highest-profile client by far, and his defense would be a world-historic success not just for the wealthy real estate investor, but for the Russian establishment under President Vladimir Putin.Until this weekend, the closest Veselnitskaya had come to the public eye was as a footnote to the compounding scandal of the Prevezon affair. Veselnitskaya had come to the United States with Katsyv, who was to be deposed by Bharara s team. Not only wasn t she deposed herself, she didn t attend her client s deposition in person. But after the deposition, she moved to the Plaza Hotel for the remaining two nights of her stay at a cost of $995 per night. Her firm then billed the U.S. government for the entire stay, as well as a single meal for five that included eight grappas, two bottles of wine, eighteen dishes and a bill that came to nearly $800. The group s total expenses topped $50,000, and they promised to file more.The legal proceedings in which Veselnitskaya was enmeshed contain a spy novel s-worth of twists, turns and tragic, suspicious accidents. Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblowing accountant who called attention to Russian bureaucrats alleged widespread embezzlement, was arrested and detained without trial for nearly a year until his death in 2009 from what prison staff described as pancreonecrosis, ruptured abdominal membrane and toxic shock, according to the U.S. government s suit against Prevezon. The Russian Interior Ministry later revised the cause of death to heart failure. When Magnitsky s family examined his body, they found bruises and that his fingers had been broken, according to an early draft of a report by then-president Dmitry Medvedev s own investigative committee.The incident led to a controversial piece of legislation: 2012 s Magnitsky Act, which sanctioned 18 Russian officials believed by the US to have been involved in Magnitsky s death. Five days later, the Russian parliament voted to ban adoptions of Russian children by Americans, a move understood to be retaliation for the Magnitsky Act. Putin, by that time president of Russia again, also began to compile an anti-Magnitsky list of his own, according to the New York Times. Bharara was among the prominent names on it.Magnitsky s death, and the original theft by Russian bureaucrats, are believed by many, including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), to be the work of the Klyuev Group, a network of criminals working in the Russian government to enrich themselves at the expense of Russian citizens (its exploits are chronicled in English in a number of articles by reporter Michael Weiss). Magnitsky and others sought to expose what they believed was hundreds of millions of dollars worth of graft by the group.The suit against Prevezon never went to trial. On March 11, Donald Trump fired Bharara, and on March 21, Nikolai Gorokhov, the Magnitsky family s attorney and a key witness for the prosecution, fell from the fourth floor of an apartment building, apparently when a rope broke while he and others were trying to move a bathtub in through the window. He sustained head injuries. ",0 " WTF? Trump Demanded Comey’s ‘Loyalty’ At Private DinnerPresident Donald Trump told his account of a private dinner he had with James Comey to Lester Holt but now it appears a lot more happened that he didn t mention and a lot of what he said went on, didn t.According to Trump, the dinner was set for Comey to ask to keep his job. On its face, this is farcical. The FBI Director is appointed for terms of ten years so Comey didn t have to ask Trump to stay on. Secondly, Trump claims he asked Comedy about any investigation into the president and that the answer was, You are not under investigation. That doesn t make any more sense.Comey s side of the story is a lot different. According to the New York Times, As they ate, the president and Mr. Comey made small talk about the election and the crowd sizes at Mr. Trump s rallies. The president then turned the conversation to whether Mr. Comey would pledge his loyalty to him. When Comey refused to offer such a pledge, Trump persisted. While Comey did say he would be honest with Trump, the New York Times is reporting that, Mr. Comey declined to make that pledge. Instead, Mr. Comey has recounted to others, he told Mr. Trump that he would always be honest with him, but that he was not reliable in the conventional political sense. Loyalty has always been super important to Trump throughout his life. As a businessman, it makes sense. You need to know that your proprietary information is going to stay private. When you are the leader of the United States (or any other country), this is not the same thing. It reeks of dictatorship.Of course, the White House is pushing back hard on the claims that the dinner in question was not the way Comey describes it. That is not surprising. The White House seems to come away from most events, from the Inauguration to pretty much everything that happens everywhere, with a different view than the rest of us.Perhaps the best way to look at this is how Former Congressman John Dingell Tweeted:It's a bit wild to see the Trump administration begin the same way Nixon's ended.I'd be laughing my ass off if I weren't so damn worried. John Dingell (@JohnDingell) May 12, 2017Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images.",0 "Pakistani 'blasphemer' killed by policeman: Axe-wielding officer kills Shia man in police custody, claiming he insulted the Prophet Muhammad.",1 Bush puts foot down on Georgian conflict,1 "London rioters point to poverty and government corruption. ""Everyone's heard about the police taking bribes, the members of parliament stealing thousands with their expenses. They set the example. It's time to loot""",0 "WHO WILL SUPPORT “THE BERN”? New Numbers Show OBAMA STOLE An EXTRA 6 Months Income From Average Working American Since Bush YearsThe average American makes $52,250* per year. The extra $25K Obama stole from working Americans didn t include free college or the redistribution of your income to people who would rather not work. It didn t include support for people who came here illegally and need to be taken care of either. Over the course of the 86 full months that President Barack Obama has completed serving in the White House from February 2009 through March 2016 the U.S. Treasury has collected approximately $18,764,164,000,000 in tax revenues (in non-inflation-adjusted dollars), according to the Monthly Treasury Statements issued during that period. (President Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009.)That equals approximately $124,003 for each of the 151,320,000 persons who, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, had either a full- or part-time job during March 2016.During the same 86-month stretch of the Obama presidency, the total debt of the federal government increased from $10,632,005,246,736.97 to $19,264,938,619,643.07, according to the Treasury.That is an increase in the debt of $8,632,933,372,906.10 or approximately $57,051 for each of the 151,320,000 people with jobs as of March.If the Treasury succeeds in collecting the full $3,335,502,000,000 in reveneus that the White House Office of Management and Budget estimates it will collect in fiscal 2016 (which will end on Sept. 30), Obama will become the first American president whose Treasury collected more than $20,000,000,000,000 in taxes (in non-inflation adjusted dollars) during his time in office.As of the end of fiscal 2015 (on Sept. 30, 2015), the Treasury had collected a total of approximately $17,287,946,000,000 during the 80 full months Obama had at that point served as president.By the end of this September if the Treasury collects the estimated $3,335,502,000,000 in revenues for this year the Treasury will have collected $20,623,448,000,000 in taxes during the 92 full months Obama will by then have served in the White House.During the first 86 full months that George W. Bush was president (February 2001 through March 2008), according to the Monthly Treasury Statements, the Treasury collected approximately $15,099,826,000,000 in taxes. (From February 2001 through January 2009, the Treasury collected $17,251,191,000,000 in taxes. Bush was inaugurated on Jan, 20, 2001 and left office on Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was sworn in.)The $15,099,826,000,000 in taxes that the Treasury collected during Bush s first 86 full months in office equaled approximately $103,363 for each of the 146,086,000 persons who had a full- or part-time job in March 2008.During the first 86 full months of George W. Bush s presidency, the debt increased from $5,716,070,587,057.36 to $9,437,594,138,091.39.That is a debt increase of $3,721,523,551,034.03 or approximately $25,475 for each of the 146,086,000 persons who had a job in March 2008.For entire story: CNS News*US Census ",0 "U.N.'s de Mistura to discuss Syria in Moscow on Thursday: RIAMOSCOW (Reuters) - U.N. special envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura will visit Moscow on Thursday for talks on the situation in Syria, RIA news agency quoted him as saying on Wednesday. De Mistura will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to discuss preparations for a new round of Geneva peace talks on Syria and a proposed congress on Syria in Russia s Black Sea resort of Sochi, RIA reported. ",1 "Tests hint at possible Arafat poisoning: Nine-month investigation discovers rare, radioactive polonium on ex-Palestinian leader's final belongings.",1 Israel's Peres says Netanyahu blocked 2011 peace deal.,1 Fukushima Nuclear Plant Operator Tepco announces $4.3 Billion Profit,1 U.S. soldier helps foil plot to blow up school in Denmark,1 " Even Trump Voters Think Obama’s Economy Is Doing GreatDemocrats and a lot of Republicans are scratching our heads trying to figure out the appeal of the braggadocios billionaire. Democrats say that the appeal is very basic; his message of nationalism, xenophobia, sexism and racism makes aging white people feel like they are losing all their power. Trump voters say it s something different; they say it s the economy, unless it s their economy. While Obama has apparently screwed up the economy, they think their local economies are doing just great.It s not terribly surprising. To hear Trump speak, we are in some sort of post apocalyptic hellscape that only the Orange One can take us out of. You know he s trying to justify the economy. It s the slowest recovery in our history, and it s not a recovery, he said.Source: The HillTrump calls the economy a disaster. Trump even repeats the bogus claim that the unemployment rate is over 40 percent. That would be apocalyptic.Now, delegates are supposed to be (supposed to be) a cross section of the American people. If anything, they should be a little smarter than the average bear, at least the average Republican bear, but even they seem to excel at compartmentalizing. They are individually very happy with the economy, but they also believe Trump when the billionaire tells them they are suffering. Actually, we re doing great, says Donna Gottschall, a human resources consultant in Greenville, S.C. Employment s up. Housing s up. Everything s green in Greenville! Oh, yeah, unemployment is way down, says Al Baldasaro, a state legislator and retired Marine from Londonderry, N.H. Obviously, it s gotten better. Things are wonderful in our town, says Ranae Lentz, a Republican county chair from Bellefontaine, Ohio. We can t fill all the job openings. Source: PoliticoWhile it s unlikely that any Trump supporter would credit Obama with anything at all, some do credit Bush.Tina Harris, a longtime realtor in Palm Harbor, Florida, told me the housing market is booming. But she argued that this was a troubling data point, because buyers were liquidating their 401(k) accounts and taking money out of the real economy to purchase homes. Have you checked your 401(k) lately? asked her friend Nancy Riley, another veteran realtor in the St. Petersburg area. I said I hadn t, but I did know the stock market had just hit an all-time high, and I didn t see why jobs in construction and real estate like theirs shouldn t count as the real economy. I m not saying everything is horrible, Harris said. But it was George W. Bush who put in the policies that got the economy going. Obama did nothing. Strangely, even Trump himself has accidentally given a thumbs up to Obama s economy. In announcing his running mate, Indiana s governor, Mike Pence, Trump bragged that the unemployment rate has gone from 8.4 percent to 5 percent. Well, under Obama, the nation s unemployment rate has gone from 10 percent to under 5 percent.No one is claiming the economy is perfect. Thanks in part to Republican policies, like refusing to raise the minimum wage, wages have been stagnant, and also thanks to Republican policies, the income gap has only grown. There s still a lot of work to be done, but Trump s policies won t do it. In fact, the chief economist at Moody s predicts that Trump s protectionist platform will lose us 3.5 million jobs.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 White House: We can stop a North Korean nuke strike,1 "16-year-old Amos Yee sentenced to 4 weeks jail for posting video in which he called late Singaporean PM Lee Kuan Yew a ""horrible person""",0 Libya: 'mission creep' claims as UK sends in military advisers,1 N.Korea Under Massive Cyber Attack; all websites with North Korea-based servers were affected,0 "Kushner stresses Trump's Mideast peace optimism but details scantJERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump remains committed and optimistic about achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace, his son-in-law and senior adviser told the sides on Thursday during his first visit to the region since last month’s surge of violence. But there was little to suggest any breakthrough or significant progress toward ending a decades-old conflict is imminent as Kushner met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinians were still seeking a pledge of support from the Trump administration for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel - the foundation of U.S. Middle East policy for the past two decades. The last round of peace talks between the two sides collapsed in 2014. For his part, Netanyahu faces pressure from right-wing coalition partners not to give ground on Jewish settlement building in occupied territory that Palestinians seek for a independent state. The settlement issue contributed to the breakdown of negotiations three years ago. “We have things to talk about - how to advance peace, stability and security in our region, prosperity too. And I think that all of them are within our reach,” Netanyahu, welcoming Kushner to his Tel Aviv office, said in a video clip released by the U.S. Embassy. Kushner, a 36-year-old real estate developer with little experience of international diplomacy or political negotiation, arrived in Israel with U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt on Wednesday after meeting Arab leaders in the Gulf, Egypt and Jordan. “The president is very committed to achieving a solution here that will be able to bring prosperity and peace to all people in this area,” Kushner, who was tasked by Trump to help broker a peace deal, said in his response to Netanyahu. Meeting Abbas later in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Kushner said Trump sought “peaceful relations between the countries in the whole region” and was “very optimistic and hopeful for a better future for all Palestinian people and Israeli people”, according to a statement from Abbas’s office. Trump has described peace between Israelis and Palestinians as “the ultimate deal” - and added a new wrinkle last February by saying he was not fixed on two states co-existing side by side as a solution to their dispute. Kushner last traveled to Israel and the Palestnian territories in June. A month later, he was involved in telephone diplomacy to stem Palestinian and Jordanian unrest over Israel’s handling of a contested Jerusalem holy site. Four Palestinians, three Israelis and two Jordanians were killed during the crisis. Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said Kushner’s visit could prove significant, particularly because of the envoy’s consultations with regional allies this week: “This may create a new chance to reach a settlement based on the two-state solution and the Arab initiative and stop the current deterioration of the peace process.” Abu Rdainah was referring to a 2002 Arab League initiative that offers Israel diplomatic recognition from Arab countries in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and a full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in a 1967 war. Netanyahu has expressed tentative support for parts of the blueprint, but there are many caveats on the Israeli side, including how to resolve the complex Palestinian refugee issue. The statement from Abbas’s office quoted the Palestinian president as telling Kushner: “We know things are difficult and complicated but nothing is impossible when efforts are sincere.” ",1 "'He can count on us:' German SPD minister hails Macron's EU speechBERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a senior member of the Social Democrats (SPD), on Tuesday lauded French President Emmanuel Macron s proposals to strengthen the European Union. Emmanuel Macron today held a courageous, a passionate plea against nationalism and for Europe - a Europe which he wants to reform, strengthen and unite with our help, Gabriel said. Right now, we need to seize this opportunity for Franco-German initiatives to make Europe more democratic, involve the citizens and make it fit for the future, Gabriel said. Gabriel said a joint determination by EU member states was needed to resolve problems in Europe, adding: He can count on us. ",1 " Latest Polls Show Hillary Could Win One Of The MOST Important Deep Red StatesGOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has been steadily ripping the Republican Party apart at the seams due to the embarrassing travesty of a campaign he s been running. This is especially true since the surfacing of a tape of Trump and former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush having what is quite possibly the most lewd, offensive conversation two men could have about women. As if that weren t enough, nearly a dozen women have come forward claiming Trump did to them just what he bragged about being able to do on that tape.Trump s scandals are literally doing something that no one thought possible: Turning certain reliably red states into battleground states. According to the polling organization RealClearPolitics, Trump s lack of acceptability could actually turn TEXAS, of all places, blue. As of Sunday, Trump is within the margin of error just three points ahead of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The average of all of the available polling is a 4.8 point divide. This is likely due to the fact that there are some things that are just not partisan open misogyny, narcissism, racism, xenophobia, and all of the other characteristics that make for huge deal-breakers on the basis of basic decency, regardless of political leanings.Other red states that could be within striking distance for Hillary include Arizona, Utah and Georgia. This would be why Trump, who is simply unable to accept losing at anything, is now talking of a rigged election. It s an effort to make his already angry, disillusioned supporters become even more aggrieved. This makes for a dangerous situation, and therefore it is DEFINITELY a good thing if Hillary can not only win, but run up the score around the nation and completely annihilate Trump.Featured image via Justin Sullivan via Getty Images",0 Israel approves Intel's $6 billion investment in chip plant,0 "Anti-Trump protesters block Arizona road; march in New York(Reuters) - Demonstrators briefly shut down an Arizona highway leading to a campaign rally for Donald Trump on Saturday while protesters rallied outside of Trump Tower in Manhattan to voice their opposition to the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Television news footage of the demonstration outside Phoenix showed dozens of protesters blocking traffic while holding signs that read “Dump Trump” and “Shut Down Trump.” The demonstrators eventually started marching down the highway. Later, some were seen nearing the rally at Fountain Hills, Arizona, before Trump arrived. Three people were arrested, according to police in Maricopa County, where Joe Arpaio, a well-known critic of U.S. immigration policy and an ardent Trump supporter, serves as sheriff. Video posted on news website Arizona Central’s Facebook page showed a truck driving through a large group of protesters. Officers from the county police department worked to clear demonstrators from the motorist’s path. A woman is seen crying and shouting for officers to take responsibility to stop the vehicle, while a deputy sheriff shrugs at the suggestion. Later at a rally in Tucson, Arizona, Trump said the protests were “disgraceful,” and thanked police. “They arrested three people and everybody else left... They left!” Trump said to roaring cheers from the audience. “I love our police, but we should do a little bit more of that, you’d have a lot less protesters, you’d have a lot less agitators,” said Trump, who is favored to win his party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Several demonstrations also broke out during the later rally, prompting police to escort out a number of people. Footage of the Tucson rally shows an attendee punching and kicking one demonstrator who is being escorted out. The clip also shows police removing the attacker. Trump has come under fire from rivals for fueling unrest with his rhetoric. This week, he warned of riots if Republicans denied him the nomination at the party’s convention. In Trump’s home city of New York, about 1,000 demonstrators marched from Central Park to Trump Tower, the billionaire developer’s signature building on Fifth Avenue. The crowd of mostly young people chanted and carried placards denouncing Trump. Some said police used pepper spray on them as they marched from the park. Police were seen taking at least one person into custody. A spokesman for the New York Police Department could not immediately confirm whether any arrests were made or whether pepper spray was used. Arizona, where political parties will hold primary elections on Tuesday, shares a long stretch of border with Mexico, and is a flashpoint for the issue of illegal immigration into the United States. Trump has made illegal immigration the signature issue of his campaign, earning the endorsement of Arpaio, the outspoken sheriff. “Donald Trump has the right to be heard by the thousands of people who love him, support him and want him to be president of the United States,” Arpaio told CNN. Later, the sheriff, wearing civilian clothes, introduced Trump at the rally. Trump rallies have grown increasingly unruly as the months-long campaign has progressed. An event in Chicago a week ago was canceled after protesters swarmed the venue. Last weekend, a man was arrested when he attempted to rush the stage where Trump was addressing a rally in Ohio. In another incident, a man who was caught on video punching an anti-Trump protester in the face at a North Carolina rally was arrested and charged with assault. Trump leads in opinion polls ahead of Arizona’s March 22 primary, according to a Real Clear Politics polling average, leading Senator Ted Cruz of Texas by 13 percentage points. ",1 BBC News - The 'Iranian Schindler' who saved Jews from the Nazis,1 "Most Clinton emails to be released after election: WSJWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most of the emails the FBI recovered during its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email system while secretary of state will not be made available until after the Nov. 8 presidential election under a timetable set by a judge on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The judge ordered the U.S. State Department to finish processing 1,050 pages of material for release by Nov. 4, just days before Americans go to the polls, the Wall Street Journal said. The paper said that material was out of what could be as much as 10,000 pages. Under the schedule set by the judge, there will be also be pre-election releases on Oct. 7 and Oct. 21, and the State Department will process 500 pages per month after that, the Wall Street Journal reported. The State Department is responding to dozens of lawsuits brought over Clinton’s use of a private, home-based email system while she was the agency’s top diplomat from 2009 to 2013. The timetable announced on Friday was in a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch, a conservative group that has filed multiple lawsuits to obtain government records related to Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. “The State Department voluntarily agreed to produce to Judicial Watch any emails sent or received by Secretary Clinton in her official capacity during her tenure as Secretary of State which are contained within the material turned over by the FBI,” agency spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. ",1 "Rohingya insurgents declare temporary ceasefire amid humanitarian crisisBANGKOK/COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Rohingya insurgents declared a month-long unilateral ceasefire, starting on Sunday, to enable aid groups to help ease a humanitarian crisis in northwest Myanmar. Nearly 300,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh and 30,000 non-Muslim civilians have been displaced inside Myanmar after the military launched a counter-offensive following attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgents on 30 police posts and an army base on Aug. 25. ARSA strongly encourages all concerned humanitarian actors resume their humanitarian assistance to all victims of the humanitarian crisis, irrespective of ethnic or religious background during the ceasefire period, ARSA said in a statement. The impact of the move is unclear. The group does not appear to have been able to put up significant resistance against the military force unleashed in Myanmar s northwestern Rakhine state. In the last two weeks, thousands of homes have been burned down, dozens of villages uprooted and thousands of people are still on the move toward the border with Bangladesh. The wave of hungry and traumatized refugees pouring into Bangladesh has strained aid agencies and local communities already helping hundreds of thousands displaced by previous waves of violence in Myanmar. In its statement, ARSA called on the military to also lay down arms and allow humanitarian aid to all affected people. Myanmar says its security forces are carrying out clearance operations to defend against ARSA, which the government has declared a terrorist organization. Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say the army and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes have mounted a campaign of arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population. On Friday, the United Nations in Bangladesh found tens of thousands of refugees who had not been counted before, raising the count to 270,000 from some 164,000 the day before. On Saturday, that jumped by another 20,000 to 290,000. On Saturday, thousands of Rohingya were milling on the road near the camp of Kutapalong, carrying bamboo and tarpaulin to build shacks. Children and women flocked to every stopping vehicle, begging. Aid workers say a serious humanitarian crisis is also unfolding on the Myanmar side of the border. Red Cross organizations are scaling up their operations in Rakhine after the United Nations had to suspend activities there following government suggestions that its agency had supported the insurgents. The United Nations evacuated non-critical staff from the area. Thousands of displaced people in Rakhine have been stranded or left without food for weeks. Many are still trying to cross mountains, dense bush and rice fields to reach Bangladesh. The U.N. and INGOs have not been very welcome in Rakhine and...they are not able to operate and ensure the safety and security of their staff and volunteers, said Joy Singhal of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The government had invited the Red Cross to assist them, he said. Aid workers worry many Rohingya had been left without food since mid-July, when the World Food Programme (WFP), which had been providing food and cash assistance, was unable to operate. The government said it would set up camps for internally displaced people in Rakhine but the move could draw opposition from U.N. humanitarian experts. (This story corrects to change she to he in 14th paragraph) ",1 "THE PURGE: NYC Mayor De Blasio to Review ‘All Symbols of Hate” on City PropertyTHE PURGE CONTINUES THE NYC MAYOR has just opened a can of worms so big that it ll be hard to control it. He wants to review all symbols of hate on city property then leave it to his panel of experts to decide what stays and what goes. This should be interesting. Isn t this subjective? Someone might think one thing is a symbol of hate but not another. Where does this purging end?Mayor de Blasio said late Wednesday that the city will conduct a 90-day review of all symbols of hate on city property in the wake of violence sparked by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend.A 32-year-old woman was killed and more than a dozen people were injured when a vehicle slammed into a group of counter-protesters on Saturday, and two state troopers died when the helicopter from which they were monitoring events suddenly crashed.Opposition to the removal of a statue of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee was at the heart of rallies by white nationalists and KKK members in Charlottesville this year.New York City officials said they re putting together a panel of relevant experts and community leaders who will define the criteria and make recommendations for which items to remove.EXPERTS? WHO SAYS?MEANWHILE IN THE EAST VILLAGEThe South is rising in the East Village.Residents are seeing red over a pair of Confederate flags hanging in the window of an East 8th Street apartment building, following the deadly white power rally in Virginia this week.The flags have been hanging in the fifth-floor window of the building near the corner of Avenue D for months, but anger is boiling over in the aftermath of the weekend s carnage with neighbors pelting rocks and bricks at the window Wednesday morning. They re scary, we don t know who we are dealing with in the neighborhood. I feel uncomfortable because that represents evil. I see the protests in the news and I come home and see this, said local Louise Abddhal, 56, as a chorus of others yelled at the window.Residents had turned a blind eye to the offensive banners in the past, but started getting mad after Saturday s rally in Charlottesville, where a neo-Nazi fatally mowed down counter-protester Heather Hayer. It s been there forever and no one said anything. Now it s going crazy. Virginia is bringing more light and attention too, said longtime resident Janet Brown. .The Dixie-head has changed the flags around several times there was a neo-Nazi one for awhile, according to Brown and he now has two Israeli flags and an American flag between the Confederate ones.But the baffling collection is just making residents angrier. He is a Jew with a Confederate flag! Are you kidding me? said one neighbor, who wouldn t give his name. Confederate flags in the window, bro! That is a bunch of racists. Right here in the avenue, bro! In the hood! This sh-t is real. He is looking to start a f ing riot. The building s property manager said he s aware of the flags and is trying to get the resident to take them down.Footage of a man throwing rocks and screaming expletives at the windows on Wednesday morning shows police arriving and telling him to stop but witnesses say cops didn t make any arrests.Via: NYP",0 Australia: Julia Gillard has been voted out of leadership by her party only 2 months before the election and replaced by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.,1 "WHOA! HEATHER NAUERT Gets Into Testy Exchange With Snarky Media At State Department Over Otto Warmbier’s Death [Video]What in the world is wrong with these press people at the State Department! Is the guy asking the question really serious when he asks the most idiotic question about the timing of the announcements over the release and then death of Otto Warmbier. We wish we knew the name of the jackhole reporter who asked the question! Listen to this condescending jerk:THE STATE DEPARTMENT did release a statement when Warmbier was released and when he passed away. So the question is just the nasty press being nasty.UPON HIS RELEASE PRESS STATEMENT:Press Statement Rex W. Tillerson Secretary of State Washington, DC June 13, 2017At the direction of the President, the Department of State has secured the release of Otto Warmbier from North Korea. Mr. Warmbier is en route to the United States, where he will be reunited with his family. The Department of State continues to have discussions with the DPRK regarding three other U.S. citizens reported detained.Out of respect for the privacy of Mr. Warmbier and his family, we have no further comment on Mr. Warmbier.UPON HIS PASSING PRESS STATEMENT:Press Statement Rex W. Tillerson Secretary of State Washington, DC June 19, 2017Today we received with deep sadness the news that Otto Warmbier has passed away.On behalf of the entire State Department and the United States government, I extend my condolences to the Warmbier family, and offer my prayers as they enter a time of grief no parent should ever know.We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier s unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained.WOULDN Y A BETTER QUESTION HAVE BEEN WHY OBAMA DID NOTHING TO HELP WITH THE RELEASE OF WARMBIER?",0 "Renewables to Beat Fossil Fuels With $3.7 Trillion Solar Boom. Renewable energy will draw almost two-thirds of the spending on new power plants over the next 25 years, dwarfing spending on fossil fuels, as plunging costs make solar the first choice for consumers and the poorest nations.",0 "One of Taiwan's best regarded hospitals mistakenly transplanted HIV-infected organs into five patients after a hospital staffer misheard the donor's test results by telephone. ",1 "Julian Assange speaks to UN via satellite from London, calls for end to 'persecution': ""It is time for the United States to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks, to cease its persecution of our people and to cease its persecution of our alleged sources""",1 "Soaring above India's poverty, a 27-storey home: ""There are nine elevators, a spa, a 50-seat theater and a grand ballroom. Hundreds of servants and staff are expected to work inside. And now...after several years of planning and construction, the residents are about to move in. All five of them.""",1 "France deports radical imam for advocating holy war, violence against women",1 Legal myths about the Assange extradition.,0 Russia deploys S-300 air defense system in Abkhazia,0 "Mattis praises Philippine army on winning fight in Marawi without rights abuseCLARK FREEPORT ZONE, Philippines (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday praised Filipino soldiers for defeating pro-Islamic State militants in a five-month battle in a southern Philippine city without allegations of human rights violations. The Philippines on Monday announced the end of combat operations in Marawi City after troops killed 42 remaining militants, including some foreign fighters. More than 1,100 people, including 165 troops, died in the conflict. Here s an army that had to go in a fight like that, and they had not one human rights allegation against them with any credibility, Mattis told reporters at the end of the two-day ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting at a former U.S. air force base. Not one, and when you look at how bloody awful that fight was, that s really a statement about the Philippine military that set a human rights condition in the midst of that fight the way they did so. Mattis praise for the military was a rare appreciation as the Philippines human rights record under President Rodrigo Duterte has been strongly criticized by Western countries, including the United States, Canada, European Union and Australia. At the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting, these countries called on the Philippines to end killings in Duterte s fierce drug war. More than 3,900 people had been killed by the police, which claimed self-defense, in anti-drug operations since July last year. The United States provided critical tactical intelligence in the Marawi combat operation, deploying surveillance planes and drones, thermal imaging and eavesdropping equipment to help Filipino troops neutralize hundreds of militants who seized the lakeside town on May 23. Mattis exchanged views and discussed security threats in the Asia and Pacific region, like North Korea s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, maritime security, terrorism and non-traditional military threats. Mattis also reaffirmed Washington s ironclad commitment to the alliance with Manila during a meeting on Tuesday night with Duterte, where he emphasized the importance of shared rules-based international order . It was a very good discussion with the president and we talked about the way ahead and we re on the same team, he told reporters. Duterte, known for his strident anti-American rhetoric, has made no secret of his plans to cultivate ties with America s rivals, Russia and China. Those efforts appear to be starting to bear fruit. Duterte on Wednesday visited one of five Russian warships as Moscow donated 5,000 assault rifles, steel helmets, ammunition and 20 army trucks and received China s defense minister later in the day. China donated heavy equipment for the cleanup of Marawi. ",1 Russia alarmed by CIA view of Iran's weapons. ,0 BBC News - WikiLeaks posts 'killing' video,1 Russia Tells Iraq It's 'Ready' to Support Fight Against ISIS,1 "Thousands of students carry protests against Trump into second weekSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Demonstrations protesting the U.S. presidential election victory of Republican Donald Trump entered their second week on Monday, with thousands of students chanting phrases like “Not My President” after walking out of classes across the country. The latest protests came as critics slammed Trump’s selection of right-wing firebrand Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist, with many fearing the move could lift the white nationalist movement into the top levels of the White House. The Los Angeles Unified School District estimated that 4,000 students walked out of classes across the city in protest of the president-elect, who campaigned on deporting undocumented immigrants and building a wall between the United States and Mexico. Officials with Seattle Public Schools said about 5,000 students walked out of 20 high schools and middle schools on Monday. That figure represented about 10 percent of the district’s student body, according to schools spokesman Luke Duecy. Authorities in Portland, Oregon, Montgomery County, Maryland, and the San Francisco Bay Area said hundreds of young people marched in protest as well. Tens of thousands of people have marched in cities from New York to Los Angeles in largely peaceful rallies since Trump’s upset victory last Tuesday over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump secured enough votes in the 538-member Electoral College to win the presidency despite trailing Clinton in the popular vote. But there have been sporadic bouts of destruction. Demonstrators in Oakland, California, last week threw objects at police in riot gear and smashed storefront windows. More than 100 people had been arrested following days of protest in Portland, Oregon, police said on Monday. Protesters in that city over the weekend blocked traffic and threw objects at police dressed in riot gear who responded with pepper spray and flash-bang devices. Civil rights groups and police have monitored violence against U.S. minorities since Trump’s win, citing reports of attacks on women in Islamic head scarves, of racist graffiti and of bullying of immigrant children. Trump has called for peace and unity and denounced white supremacist groups that supported him. He said on Sunday he was “so saddened” to hear about racial slurs and personal threats made against African-Americans, Latinos and gay people by some of his supporters. “I say, ‘Stop it.’ If it - if it helps,” Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview. ",1 " Sean Spicer: Trump Did Not Say That Thing Everyone Heard Him Say (VIDEO)White House press secretary Sean Spicer literally denied the meaning of alleged president Donald Trump s words during a briefing on Monday. The former reality show star gave a bizarre interview earlier on Monday on CBS Face the Nation from the Oval Office in which Trump once again, said that former president Barack Obama illegally tapped his phone lines. I don t stand by anything, Trump told John Dickerson. I just, you can take it the way you want. I think our side s been proven very strongly. And everybody s talking about it. The interview ended abruptly with Trump walking away after being pressed by the reporter to back up his claim. So, Spicer was asked about that crazy-time interview then twisted himself into a pretzel in an attempt to defend his boss. The president said, I don t stand by anything. How is the American public supposed to digest that, supposed to trust what the president says when he himself says, of his own comments, I don t by anything, a pool reporter asked Spicer. I think the point is, he clearly stands by that, Spicer said. That s something that s made very clear if you look at the entire back and forth exchange. Even though the exchange is documented on video after being televised, Spicer insisted that what we heard is not what we all heard. It was about wiretapping, the reporter pressed on when asked to be specific. Spicer said it was a long back and forth and added that he clearly stands by that. So, Trump stands by his I don t stand by anything remark as well as his conspiracy-theory based wiretap claim. Watch: You don t have to ask me, Trump responded to one of Dickerson s attempts to clarify his baseless claim. Because I have my own opinions. You can have your own opinions. The House and Senate Intelligence committees previously announced that there is no evidence to back up Trump s claim. As for Spicer repeatedly asking for clarification, let s help him out. Trump made baseless and unprecedented attacks on his predecessor and his White House press secretary is defending him. Also, according to Trump and his White House press secretary, the alleged president doesn t stand by anything. Still yet, Spicer feigned to know nothing about the interview, repeatedly asking for clarification.Why is it when Trump says something, we need it to be translated? Then Spicer muddles it even more. Remember when we had a President who understood the meaning of words?Image via screen capture. ",0 "More than 1,000 killed in Gaza - When will this end?",0 [IMG] Graph showing internet traffic to and from Egypt,0 "Israel's former Mossad chief urges dialogue with Iran, calls Obama policy 'brave'",0 Ukraine ambassador accuses BBC of bias over Euro 2012 racism claims,1 "BREAKING: PRESIDENT TRUMP MAKES HIS PICK For The Supreme CourtJUDGE NEIL GORSUCH A strict conservative similar to Justice Scalia A STRICT CONSTITUTIONALISTJudge Neil Gorsuch, 49, is President Donald Trump s pick for appointment to the Supreme Court to fill the seat vacated a year ago by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. THE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP:BREAKING: Donald Trump reveals that his choice for US Supreme Court is Neil Gorsuch, 49 https://t.co/D91eYAcIMZ https://t.co/dbCiP2bP2U CNN (@CNN) February 1, 2017Gorsuch has the typical pedigree of a high court justice. He graduated from Columbia, Harvard and Oxford, clerked for two Supreme Court justices and did a stint at the Department of Justice.Since 2006, he has served on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Denver, Colorado. His supporters note that he is an outdoorsman who fishes, hunts and skis. On the court, conservatives hope he could become the intellectual heir to Scalia, long the outspoken leader of the conservative bloc. The real appeal of Gorsuch nomination is he s likely to be the most effective conservative nominee in terms of winning over Anthony Kennedy and forging conservative decisions on the court, said Jeffrey Rosen of the National Constitution Center. He s unusual for his memorable writing style, the depth of his reading and his willingness to rethink constitutional principles from the ground up.Like Justice Scalia, he sometimes reaches results that favor liberals when he thinks the history or text of the Constitution or the law require it, especially in areas like criminal law or the rights of religious minorities, but unlike Scalia he s less willing to defer to regulations and might be more willing to second-guess Trump s regulatory decision. Read more: Politico ",0 Beginning of the end: AIDS is finally reaching a tipping point. The number of people newly infected with HIV over the last year is on the decline.,0 "Merkel: U.S. attack on Syria is understandable given Syrian sufferingBERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday an attack by the United States on a Syrian airbase from which it said a chemical weapons attack was launched this week was understandable given the Syrian people’s suffering. “The attack of the United States is understandable given the dimension of the war crimes, given the suffering of innocent people, and given the blockage in the U.N. Security Council,” Merkel said. She described the strikes as “limited and targeted”. ",1 Israel says Iran warships to transit Suez for Syria,1 "BILL CLINTON Appears Bewildered When COAL MINERS BOO Him In West VA: “Mrs. Clinton’s anti-coal messages are the last thing our suffering town needs at this point” [VIDEO] The difference between us and them is that we listen to them says the husband of the woman who is hell-bent on fulfilling Obama s promise to completely shut down the coal industry. Never mind that it has devastated generations of coal workers and entire communities supported by the coal industry. Bill Clinton was repeatedly interrupted by protesters during a rally for Hillary Clinton in Logan, West Virginia Sunday before the state s primary on May 10.The group booed the former president and confronted him about Hillary Clinton s promise to destroy coal jobs, a long-standing staple of West Virginia s economy.During the rally, Clinton recounted that he had asked his wife to send him to any place in America that feels left out and left behind. The protesters then began shouting at the former president, to which he reacted with disdain. This is where they start screaming because they don t want to hear this, Clinton said with his hand raised. The crowd applauded and stood up to face the protesters, who continued booing and were ushered out. The difference between us and them is that we listen to them, Clinton said.Prior to Clinton s appearance in Logan, city officials emailed Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) attempting to prevent his visit, according to WVNS-TV. Bill and Hillary Clinton are simply not welcome in our town, their email stated. Mrs. Clinton s anti-coal messages are the last thing our suffering town needs at this point. The policies that have been championed by people like Mrs. Clinton have all but devastated our fair town, and honestly, enough is enough. At the same rally, Clinton was confronted about his wife s March pledge to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business. When s she going to lay us all off and wipe us all out? the protester said, interrupting Clinton s remarks.Clinton, hard of hearing, asked Manchin what the man said as the room filled with angry murmurs. He s getting laid off and wiped out, what we gonna do about that, Manchin said. Well, that s good, that s a fair question, Clinton said.In a letter to Manchin days after her promise to destroy coal jobs, Hillary Clinton admitted that she was mistaken and reiterated her commitment to bringing jobs to Appalachia. Those close to Clinton defended her remarks by saying that she did not communicate her intent clearly. WFBYeah .right Hillary just misspoke or something like that.",0 "OUCH! WATCH: Sneaky Liberal Gets Electrocuted While Trying To Steal Trump Sign From Neighbors Lawn Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal -Elizabeth FryThis homeowner was apparently sick and tired of having his Trump sign stolen, so he provided a little booby-trap for the next sneaky liberal who attempted to steal his personal property. Enjoy:",0 "Trump's expected VP pick: coal advocate who defied Obama's climate agendaWASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump’s selection of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate cheered the U.S. energy industry and dismayed green advocates, with both sides citing Pence’s support for coal mining and defiance of President Barack Obama’s climate-change agenda. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has called climate change a hoax and promised to gut U.S. environmental regulations in order to help the ailing oil and coal sectors. A Trump-Pence ticket will quash any expectation that the New York businessman might soften that stance heading into the Nov. 8 election. “Governor Pence has been a vocal opponent of the administration’s Clean Power Plan,” said Laura Sheehan, spokeswoman for the Washington-based lobby group American Council on Clean Coal Electricity. “We would hope to see a continuation,” she said. Trump announced Pence as his running mate in a Twitter post on Friday morning, ending days of speculation over the choice ahead of the party’s national convention in Cleveland next week. [nL1N1A10HR] Pence, 57, is listed on Obama’s “call out the climate change deniers” website for arguing that the science behind climate change has not yet been resolved. In June 2015, Pence wrote to Obama saying that Indiana, America’s eighth largest coal-producing state, would not comply with the Clean Power Plan regulating power plant emissions, calling it “ill-advised.” Indiana is one of more than 25 states that have challenged the centerpiece of the Democratic president’s environmental agenda. In 2014, Pence alarmed local environmental groups by overturning an energy efficiency program enacted by his Republican predecessor, Mitch Daniels, saying it was too expensive for the state’s manufacturers. The Indiana Public Utility Commission had estimated the program would create more than 18,600 jobs. “The choice of Pence shows Trump has little interest in appealing to anyone outside of his extremist base and Big Polluters,” said Clay Schroers, a director at the League of Conservation Voters environmental group. Trump has long signaled his support of traditional energy production - part of his broader appeal to blue-collar American voters. He outlined plans in May to sweep away environmental regulations ushered in by Obama, scrap the Paris Climate Accord, and revive the Keystone XL pipeline proposal – moves that would reverse years of gains by the green movement. Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in contrast, has promised more stringent regulation of the energy sector, efforts to boost renewable fuels use, and a commitment to join other nations to combat global climate change. Pence ran for governor in 2012 after serving in the U.S. Congress. His campaign for governor received more than $850,000 from the energy sector, about 3 percent of the total, according to campaign finance disclosures. More than $300,000 of that came from the billionaire Koch brothers, strong advocates of small government and fiscal conservatism who took a liking to Pence. Both David and Charles Koch have said they will not support the Trump ticket. Trump has alarmed many Republican establishment figures with his fiery rhetoric on immigration and trade. But a former high-ranking operative in the Koch political organization who is close to both brothers said Pence could help make the donor network more receptive to Trump’s campaign. ",1 "THE LEFT GOES LOW: Pres. Trump’s Grandson Now A TargetAfter the photo was tweeted out, the left responded with this: Does the left want Ivanka to hide her kids for the next 4 years? ",0 City of London to restart legal action to evict Occupy protesters ,0 "Why 2012 was the best year ever: never in the history of the world has there been less hunger, less disease and more prosperity",1 "South Korea's military believes a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank its navy ship last month, based on intelligence gathered jointly with the United States, a news report said on Thursday.",1 Kurds Warn Turkey of Big War With Russia If Troops Enter Syria,0 "Trump praises work on British trade deal, says EU 'protectionist'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised ongoing work on a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain while sharply criticizing the European Union’s trade relationship with the United States. “Working on major Trade Deal with the United Kingdom. Could be very big & exciting. JOBS! The E.U. is very protectionist with the U.S. STOP!” Trump wrote on Twitter without offering any other details. Representatives for the White House and the U.S. Department of Commerce could not be immediately reached for comment. The Republican U.S. president earlier this month assured quick action on a trade deal between the United States and Britain even as some British officials expressed skepticism. Trump met with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Hamburg earlier this month, describing the bilateral trade deal as “a very, very big deal, a very powerful deal, great for both countries.” A deal would follow Britain’s 2016 decision to withdraw from the European Union, a major trading bloc. The British government has since touted its ability to strike one-on-one deals with other countries. Still, some British officials and businesses have remained skeptical that a trade deal with the United States would make up for leaving the EU. Trump on Tuesday offered no specific actions that he wanted the EU to halt, but a series of trade issues over steel and other products have raised tensions. The Trump administration has launched a review of the steel industry and is weighing tariffs on imports that could spark retaliatory action. While such tariffs would primarily take aim at China, EU officials fear steel headed for the United States would instead be redirected to European nations, upending the industry there. ",1 " Rich A**hole Ran For President Thinking It Would Be An ‘Easy’ Job, Gets HUMILIATED By RealityDonald Trump seriously thought having the hardest job on Earth would be easy. LOL!After 100 days on the job, many of which Trump spent at his lavish Florida resort playing golf, Trump stated during an interview with Reuters that he thought the presidency would be an easy job that he could just sail through.Trump complained about how his current job requires him to do much more work than he is accustomed to doing and waxed nostalgic about his life before taking over the White House. I loved my previous life. I had so many things going, Trump said. This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier. This demonstrates just how woefully unprepared Trump was to become president. And it certainly shows.After all, Trump s administration has been a complete failure only three months in.His unconstitutional executive actions on immigration have been blocked by federal judges. His effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act went down in flames, much to the relief of millions of Americans. His environmental record is a disaster. He still denies science and is cutting funding to scientific agencies and organizations. He has alienated our allies while continuing to praise Russia and Putin. He is embroiled in an ever-growing scandal. And he has turned America into a laughingstock around the world.And that s just the tip of the iceberg as Trump threatens World War III over North Korea and a government shutdown looms because he refuses to negotiate with Democrats.The only president who has had an arguably worse first 100 days is William Henry Harrison and that s only because he died 30 days into his presidency. But at least he didn t embarrass the nation and destroy it from within.The fact is that being president is a tough job. It s also a lonely job. There s a reason why presidents go grey during their years in office. It s a stressful job. Every decision made affects the nation and the world. Maybe if Trump spent less time golfing, tweeting, and watching cable news he would know that being president means working with Congress, including Democrats. Instead, Trump would rather act like a dictator and just sign executive orders between tee times and whine when he doesn t get his way.Clearly, Trump doesn t know what hard work is.Featured Image: Tom Pennington/Getty Images",0 "WATCH: Shocking Number Of Swedish Citizens WALK BY GIRL BEING RAPED By “Middle Eastern Man” In Car [VIDEO]During the Democrats first debate last month, Bernie Sanders said we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people. Denmark s Prime Minister came out swinging, demanding that Sanders get his facts straight, Denmark is not a socialist nation, it has a market economy. Democrats have been working for decades to adopt the progressive policies based on political correctness that permeates most European nations.Sweden, the Rape Capitol of the world, is a perfect example of how well their politically correct, open-border policies have worked out for them. As the Muslim invasion of these European nations escalates, we are seeing this indifferent attitude of live and let live that only benefits those Muslim invaders who have no intention of assimilating in their host nations. This video shows how a nation gripped with fear reacts with apathy towards the criminal as opposed to taking action to save the supposed victim. It illustrates how easily a group of invaders can overtake a nation conditioned to accepting everyone, so as not to offend anyone. Sadly, we live in a country which has the highest rate of reported cases of rape. And this land is called Sweden. Rape is a very serious crime which not only affects our country, but the rest of the world. So in our new social experiment, we put Swedish citizens up for a test. This video is a great example of what happens to a nation who puts political correctness before the safety and security of its citizens: A poor girl can be heard screaming for help from the backseat of a car. There is no question she is being sexually assaulted, yet one after another, Swedish citizens continue to walk by pretending not to hear.At one point in the video, the rapist a brave passerby took action to stop him. Sadly, most of the other apathetic citizens were satisfied to look the other way, so as not to get involved. The biggest sin of the humankind is indifference. ",0 "CLASS ACT: Trump Finds Out NY Man’s TRUMP Sign Burned Down And Does ThisDonald Trump has done so many things that you ll never know about because the mainstream media refuses to report on them. We just reported that he bought 400 pizzas for the Jacksonville, FL police department. Here s yet another random act of kindness from Trump:Donald Trump weighed in Monday on the torching of a huge, Staten Island lawn sign supporting his presidential bid personally thanking the homeowner who put it up and commending the artist on his handiwork.Sam Pirozzolo said the Republican candidate called his cell phone around 4 p.m., saying: This is Donald Trump. I saw what happened all over the news. I appreciate everything you are doing. Pirozzolo s lawn sign that was set on fire. It s horrible what happened to you. I hope you and your family are safe, Pirozzolo said Trump added.Neighbors alerted Pirozzolo to the flames that destroyed the 12-by-8-foot, hand-painted T with a flag motif shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday.Both the NYPD and FDNY are investigating the incident as arson.Read more: NYP",0 "Coup? What coup? Zimbabwe's Herald misses army move on MugabeHARARE (Reuters) - In the annals of missed stories, it ranks up there. When Wednesday s edition of The Herald, Zimbabwe s main state newspaper, hit the streets, Zimbabweans were surprised to learn that talk of ructions between President Robert Mugabe s ruling ZANU-PF party and military chief Constantino Chiwenga were unfounded. ZANU-PF unfazed by Chiwenga, the Herald declared on its front page, reporting on the party s denunciation of the military chief as a traitor the previous day. Most people in Harare had spent the night glued to social media and the Internet for updates on a coup slowly unfolding against 93-year-old Mugabe, Zimbabwe s leader of the last 37 years. Just after 4 a.m., an army spokesman in camouflage fatigues appeared on state media to announce that the army had seized power. The final line of his declaration: To the media, we urge you report fairly and responsibly . ",1 Mexico's navy vice admiral killed in ambush,0 Dutch blasphemy law to fall and Irish one may follow,1 " Dan Rather Breaks The Internet With SEARING Rebuke Of Trump’s ‘Andrew Jackson’ CommentWith Trump in the White House, former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather has an awful lot to say, probably because he s been around the political block a couple thousand times, and Trump is a dangerous buffoon, the likes of which we ve never seen. He doesn t comment on everything, and he apparently didn t want to comment on Trump s idea that Andrew Jackson was angry about the Civil War. But he sees something in that absurdity that he felt he needed to point out.According to his Facebook post on the topic, the sheer craziness of this obsession by Donald Trump with Andrew Jackson and the Civil War is a carnival act unlike anything I have ever seen at the White House. These are the rantings of someone who really should be focused on the job of governing. Should we not conclude that he approaches policy decisions with the same half-baked conspiracies with which he apparently approaches history? Trump, at the very least, has been approaching his presidency with the grand level of ignorance with which he approaches history. He recently told Reuters that he didn t think being the president would be so hard. He also said that nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.Sure, Trump. The only people who did know are, well, pretty much everyone with the most basic understanding of our current political situation.That isn t all Rather blasted Trump about. He also dropped this truth bomb, with hell of a burn at the end, on Trump: To be President of the United States is to part of the great American story. To not understand that story is to not understand the presidency. Maybe Frederick Douglass can give Mr. Trump some advice. Apparently, he s an example of somebody who s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more. This post was shared nearly 18,000 times in five hours, and garnered 70,000 reactions in that same time. Read it below:Featured image by Kirk Irwin via Getty Images for SiriusXM",0 "62-YR OLD German Woman ARRESTED, Home RAIDED, Hit With HUGE Fine For Posting Anti-Immigrant Joke On FacebookThis unbelievable story of unbridled censorship by the left is not unique to Germany. It s spreading like wildfire across Europe. Americans need to stand up to the politically correct bullies on the left and fight for our right to free speech, before it s too late An elderly German woman was fined 1,350 euros for sharing and liking an anti-migrant joke on Facebook.According to Berliner Morgenpost, the 62-year old woman , who lives in Berlin, has been identified as Jutta B. has watched her life being turned upside-down after posting a meme with a question and answer that was posed in a meme on Facebook:The German publication s article starts out by warning German citizens:She had her home raided and was arrested by police for the crime of sharing an image on Facebook captioned Do you have anything against refugees? The image, which was deemed offensive by the court, included answers such as Yes, machine guns and hand grenades and was shared by more than 500 people. One person who also shared the picture reported the elderly woman to the police.German newspaper reported that the woman was fined 1,350 euros because the image included negative comments about the so-called refugees.Jutta B. responded to her arrest, fine and death threats by saying:Following her arrest and the fine, the social media network suspended the woman s account. In court, Jutta said she shared and liked the image without properly reading it. I like to pass on funny things, she said.The prosecution didn t accept the woman s defense and described her online behavior as an utterance capable of inciting hatred and denigration of the human dignity of others. Heat StThe German publication, Berliner Morganpost suggested that Jutta B. was not yet out of the woods and that searches on her social media proved that it appeared that the defendant was guilty of right though (thinking thoughts outside of the prescribed leftist mandate for Germans). They even went as far as to accuse her of the heinous crime of posting an image of Germany s own Hitler!Following the fine, the woman received a number of abusive messages from others on Facebook. A left-wing anti-fascist group, Anti-Fascist Action, has reportedly sent death threats to the woman.",0 "Switzerland could soon have the world's highest minimum wage - at $24.80 per hour, or $4,505 a month.",1 Russian Billionaire buys Nobel Prize and hands it back to scientist,0 "Treasury pushes U.S. regulatory interests, setting scene for clashWASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Friday said domestic regulators should prioritize U.S. interests when engaging in global rulemaking forums, setting up possible conflicts with overseas regulators. The recommendation comes days before global regulators from the Basel Committee and the Financial Stability Board are due to convene in Washington ahead of an International Monetary Fund meeting, and will likely overshadow discussions that will take place on the sidelines. U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order earlier this year calling for the rollback of rules introduced after the 2007-2009 financial crisis has sparked fears that the world’s most influential financial market would retreat from global rulemaking. The United States should continue to engage in global rulemaking, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a report on regulatory reform on Friday, but should do so in a way that helps Wall Street be globally competitive and keeps financial markets fair and vibrant. “U.S. agencies should also continue to advance U.S. interests by engaging bilaterally and multilaterally to enhance American companies’ competitiveness,” the report said. International rules should only be used if they align with domestic objectives, and should be “carefully and appropriately tailored” to meet the needs of the U.S. financial services industry and the American people, the report said. A more assertive United States will raise tensions in the European Union with both sides having laboured for years to find common ground in areas like clearing derivatives. Agreements between the two countries on cross-border trading in swaps and how financial research should be paid for remain outstanding. The United States has already made it clear it won’t endorse a planned global capital rule for insurers unless it meets U.S. requirements. Mnuchin’s report comes at a time when momentum in global rulemaking is already sputtering as the immediate post-crisis sense of urgency fades. Top officials at several global bodies are also coming to end of their terms, potentially creating leadership vacuums. One top U.S. regulatory official told Reuters last month that frustrations were growing over the Basel and FSB rule-making process which “left much to be desire”. This person said the process was too opaque, that implementation deadlines were often arbitrary, and that cost-benefit analysis wasn’t always adequate. On Friday, the Treasury recommended increasing “transparency and accountability” in these international bodies, saying they should adopt U.S. style rulemaking procedures that include “robust” impact assessments and broad consultation. “Treasury recommends increasing the number and timeliness of external stakeholder consultation and publicizing the schedule of major international meetings,” the Treasury wrote on Friday. A spokesman for the FSB declined to comment on the report, but in a statement outlining its 2018 agenda on Friday the FSB said it would review its processes, procedural guidelines and transparency. Representatives of Basel did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. Mnuchin had already ruffled regulatory feathers with his first report on regulatory reform which proposed delaying two of Basel’s rules in order to ease the burden on American banks. That recommendation prompted warnings from the European Union not to roll back on globally agreed rules. Earlier on Friday, the Basel Committee announced it would allow flexibility in the way one of those rules are implemented in a bid to persuade members like the United States to stick to the 2018 start date. But the Treasury report may put further strain on attempts by Basel to complete its Basel III bank capital reform initiated after taxpayers had to bail out lenders during the crisis. A split between the United States and Europe has prevented a deal on a key element of the package. Federal Reserve Board Governor Jerome Powell told a Reuters Summit this week there was a good case for getting a deal this year, “but we’d like to do that on terms that are fair, and fair to us”. (This version of the story corrects 14th paragraph to say Friday, not Tuesday) ",1 "Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkeys Prime Minister, Is Expected to Be Replaced",1 Mass Surveillance Violates EU Law,1 " Bernie Sanders Explains The Exact Reason Trump Won’t Debate Him (VIDEO)A pre-general election debate between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump would have been a political event that would be talked about for years. However, such a debate will never happen because Trump is a giant chicken. Sanders blasted Trump on Real Time with Bill Maher Friday night.After Trump jokingly said that he would debate Sanders ahead of the California primary, Trump quickly backed out. Sanders expressed his disappointment with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee s decision. Sanders put out a challenge to Trump, saying: I would have loved [to debate Trump]! First, he said he would do it, then he said he wouldn t do it. Then he said he would do it, then he said he wouldn t do it. So I would hope if he changed his mind four times in two days, change it a fifth time. Trump claims to be a real tough guy, pushes people around. Hey Donald, come on up, let s have a debate about the future of America. That s when Sanders unleashed a savage takedown of Trump: This guy is a pathological liar. And I don t mean to be malicious, but that is just the damn truth. He would be not only an embarrassment; he would be a real danger to this entire world if he were to become president. Maher and Sanders discussed many things during the interview. Sanders, as he usually does, talked about the tough issues that the American people are facing, including the disappearance of the middle class, the enormous amount of poverty there is in this country, and the need for issues-based politics.Sanders also pointed out how Trump s constant lying and flip-flopping makes him hard to create an effective strategy against. How exactly does one challenge their opponent when said opponent s supporters don t hold that accountable to their stance on the issues or their character? While Sanders himself may have seemed unsure (or at least wasn t willing to lay one out in the open during the interview), Sanders has clobbered Trump on the campaign trail while staying classy. Love trumps hate, being a simple effective message that gets to the hearts of both Sanders and Trump s campaigns.Sanders knows that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and he has an amazing platform that actually speaks to the needs of the average person an agenda that will be championed by many long after this current race is over.You can watch the interview in full, below.Featured image via video screenshot",0 "Trump revokes Washington Post's campaign press credentialsWASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Donald Trump said on Monday he will no longer issue press credentials to the Washington Post, stopping the publication from gaining access to press areas at his presidential campaign events. The Washington Post, based in the U.S. capital, is one the country’s the most influential newspapers and has one of the largest circulations. “They have no journalistic integrity and write falsely about Mr. Trump,” his campaign said in a statement explaining the decision. “Mr. Trump does not mind a bad story, but it has to be honest.” Trump’s campaign repeated criticism the candidate has made of Post owner Jeff Bezos, who also owns online retailer Amazon.com. It is unusual for a presidential campaign to refuse to issue credentials to news organizations. Credentials are needed for reporters, photographers and other staff to gain access to press seating, travel with the campaign and attend media-only events, like press conferences. “Donald Trump’s decision to revoke The Washington Post’s press credentials is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press,” the newspaper’s editor, Marty Baron, said in a statement. “When coverage doesn’t correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organization is banished. The Post will continue to cover Donald Trump as it has all along — honorably, honestly, accurately, energetically, and unflinchingly. We’re proud of our coverage, and we’re going to keep at it.” A source close to the campaign said the ban could be temporary and pointed out that Trump has already barred other new organizations, including Politico, from obtaining press credentials and then reversed course. Ben Smith, executive editor of Buzzfeed, responded that his news organization, which targets millennials, is also banned from covering official Trump events. The Huffington Post posted on Twitter that its reporters are also barred. “A candidate for the highest elected office in the land doesn’t get to choose what goes in a newspaper,” said Committee to Protect Journalist Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney. “It provides a ready-made excuse for authoritarian leaders to crackdown further on independent journalists. We urge Donald Trump to reconsider and let the Washington Post do its job.” Trump’s campaign took issue with an article that appeared on The Washington Post’s website earlier on Monday with the headline, “Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting’ as their headline.” The headline was changed to “Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting” within an hour after it was published. The Washington Post has assigned a team of reporters to produce a book about Trump that is scheduled to be released later this year. ",1 UK Fast Tracks Emergency Surveillance Law,1 "MUST WATCH: Trump Supporter Unleashes Truth On Fox Pundits: “Americans are tired of fighting other people for jobs!”Brunell Donald-Kyei: We want tougher immigration. To make sure that our borders are safe! That we are not fighting illegal aliens and refugees for jobs! Americans are tired of fighting other people for jobs! That frustration is real. That hurt is real. And for the pols and different people to dismiss that? It s not right! The most important issue to me is economics. Because the last eight years the economy the poor people of this nation have suffered. The middle class has suffered. And let me tell you something: The American people don t want to be dealing with a President going into office with all the baggage, with all the investigations that are going to be on top of Hillary Clinton.Our nation needs to heal. We want to heal. We want peace between the races. We want to make sure that our youth, whether they re white, black, Hispanic have jobs! We want to make sure that the Constitution is protected! Those are American issues! that has absolutely nothing to do with your race. That s to protect this nation! And we want tougher immigration. To make sure that our borders are safe! That we are not fighting illegal aliens and refugees for jobs! Americans are tired of fighting other people for jobs! That frustration is real. That hurt is real. And for the pols and different people to dismiss that? It s not right! TRUST US! YOU WILL LOVE THIS!Americas Sweetheart @brunelldonald jus took down Krauthammer Elitist Panel! Everything u need 2know on why Donald Trump NOT Hillary Clinton pic.twitter.com/tnKEXjWmSJ DEPLORABLE TRUMPCAT (@Darren32895836) October 26, 2016Via: GP",0 "UPDATE: BUSTED By The Secret Service…CNN’s April Ryan Called Out for Fake Report On Trump Aide’s Firing [Video]The Secret Service pushed back on a CNN reporter s claim that a fired Trump aide was physically removed from the White House:Reporting regarding Secret Service personnel physically removing Omarosa Manigault Newman from the @WhiteHouse complex is incorrect. U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) December 13, 2017Earlier today, CNN s April Ryan reported Trump administration aide Omarosa Manigault had to be escorted out of the White House by Secret Service officers after she was fired by Chief of Staff John Kelly. American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent April Ryan told the story about the aide s firing on CNN:.@AprilDRyan reports Omarosa is leaving the White House because General Kelly ""was tired of all the drama."" She ""was very vulgar, she was cursing"" when he let her know and tried to go see Trump in his residence, but was escorted out by Secret Service https://t.co/tXu1J9HEOw Deena Zeina Zaru (@Deena_CNN) December 13, 2017THE LEFTY TRUMP HATERS WERE GLEEFUL: Watch how nasty Angela Rye is about a fellow black woman Shame on her!""Bye girl, bye You have never represented the community. Good riddance, goodbye, deuces out!"" @angela_rye celebrates the departure of Omarosa Manigault from the White House https://t.co/t2w0NBvunL https://t.co/1uHDdvobgy Deena Zeina Zaru (@Deena_CNN) December 13, 2017THE SECRET SERVICE TWEETED OUT A SECOND TWEET THAT THEY JUST TOOK THE PASS OF THR PERSON LET GO:The Secret Service was not involved in the termination process of Ms Manigault Newman or the escort off of the complex. Our only involvement in this matter was to deactivate the individual's pass which grants access to the complex. U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) December 13, 2017",0 'Overstretched' Russian air force suffers three crashes in five days,1 "Australia okays use of China drones in non-classifed operationsMELBOURNE (Reuters) - The Australian government has resumed the use of Chinese-built drones in non-classifed situations, the country s defense minister said on Thursday. Australia s defense forces had put on hold its deployment of China-made drones while it reviewed cybersecurity, following in the steps of the United States, Defence Minister Marise Payne said on the sidelines of an event in Washington. The U.S. Army said in August it had ordered its members to stop using drones made by Chinese manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd because of cyber vulnerabilities in the products. Following the decision of the U.S. Army, we reviewed our own use of those particular articles and paused our use of them for a while, she said. Following that review, we were comfortable with resuming their use in an unclassified situation. The Australian newspaper reported that the Australia Defence Force had 40 DJI drones which were used in military exercises, though the exact role played by the drones was not specified. DJI is a market leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology. ",1 "When Disposing Of Sacred Texts, Respect is Key - Many religious leaders agree that burial is the most reverent way to handle sacred text",0 "A MUST READ: OBAMA’S TREASON GOES INTO OVERDRIVEOur culture is what makes this Nation great and very exceptional. Unfortunately, we ve elected a president who s changing our nation at warp speed with refugees (their words) deposited into towns everywhere: Working and middle class whites are becoming a slave class that toils to provide benefits to the Third Worlders imported to empower the ruling class of elitist liberals. THE CULTURE WAR WE RE INAmericans believe that they are exceptional because their country is exceptional. So the left eagerly swarms to argue that America is not exceptional, except maybe that it s exceptionally bad.Americans believe that individuals succeed with hard work. Obama and Elizabeth Warren bray that You didn t build that. Americans believe in religion and family. The left sets out to destroy them by proving that these institutions are evil and oppressive. Religious leaders are pedophiles. The family is setting for abuse that makes gay people feel bad. When the dust settlers, the only good religion and family are the kind defined by the left. Having destroyed the existing system of organization, the left replaces it with its own. That is the ultimate goal of a culture war. Not mere destruction, but absolute power.The culture war begins by attacking abstract ideas. Then it attacks organizations. Then it attacks people.By attacking the ideas, it undermines the organizations based on them so that it can seize control of them or destroy them. Once that s done, it controls a sector of society and begins enforcing its conformity agenda on individuals. Much of that is underway. The war is drilling down to the individual level. We are approaching the tyranny threshold.At the individual level, the goal of the culture war is to destroy your will to resist them. The left has many tools for doing this.Please read the entire piece by Daniel Greenfield: This Culture War We re InOBAMA ESCALATES CULTURAL GENOCIDEIt isn t enough to invite illegal aliens to invade the USA in their numberless hordes and then quickly distribute them along with their exotic diseases throughout the country. Obama is now using your money to fly them directly from Central America, so as to save them the bother of traveling through Mexico:To facilitate the often treacherous process of entering the United States illegally through the southern border, the Obama administration is offering free transportation from three Central American countries and a special refugee/parole program with resettlement assistance and permanent residency. The new arrivals will be officially known as Central American Minors (CAM) and they will be eligible for a special refugee/parole that offers a free one-way flight to the U.S. from El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras. The project is a joint venture between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State Department.Readers will recall that DHS was originally set up to defend the homeland. Under the Orwellian Obama Regime, it is in charge of orchestrating an invasion of the homeland.After Pearl Harbor, some feared a Japanese invasion. It would have been preferable to what is happening to us now. If the Imperial Japanese had successfully invaded, they would have ruled for a time, but eventually would have been kicked out. The current invaders aren t going anywhere, and they reproduce much faster than Americans.Plus the Japanese never expected us to pay them to invade us:The candidates will then be granted a special refugee parole, which includes many taxpayer-funded perks and benefits. Among them is a free education, food stamps, medical care and living expenses. A State Department official promoted CAM as a family reunification program that will be completely funded by American taxpayers, though the official claimed to have no idea what the cost will be.Who can put a price on the future?The fig leaf of refugees being allowed into the country ahead of immigrants likely to make a positive contribution because their lives are supposedly in danger has been dropped.The State Department official assured that applicants need not express or document a credible fear to qualify under CAM because we want to make sure this program is open to as many people as possible. Consider this as part of the bigger picture of what is being done to America, and it goes beyond treason. It is cultural genocide.Our rulers know exactly what they are doing. From the official federal propaganda outfit Voice of America:America s demographics are changing like never before. In less than 30 years, whites will no longer be the racial majority in the United States.On the large scale, race and culture are inseparable. Americans are effectively becoming a minority within our own country. Our own democracy will be used against us to relegate us to a permanent second class status (as South Africa demonstrates, whites being a minority hardly spares them from Affirmative Action).Working and middle class whites are becoming a slave class that toils to provide benefits to the Third Worlders imported to empower the ruling class of elitist liberals. Eventually intermarriage will breed the last of our kind out of existence, as VOA happily implies:In 1960, multiracial marriages accounted for only 0.4 percent of all marriages in the United States. By 2010, that figure rose to 8.4 percent, with interracial couples accounting for 15 percent of all new marriages a trend that experts say will only continue.The VOA piece was given the Orwellian title, Experts: Coming Demographic Shift Will Strengthen US Culture. What they mean by this is that the deliberately engineered demographic shift will erase US culture, so that it can be replaced by a multicultural utopia preconceived by cultural Marxists.It used to be genocide meant herding unwanted demographic sectors into gas chambers. But that was crude and inefficient. Simply diluting us out of existence can be done without mess and incredibly, without resistance.Via: moonbattery",0 Russia agrees to build nuclear plant in Venezuela,0 "KELLYANNE CONWAY Tells “Haters” Reason She Looks So “Haggard”…SLAMS Fake “Pro-Women” Nancy Pelosi [VIDEO]Kellyanne Conway responded to a New York Times article that actually claimed Conway is being unfairly attacked by the media because she s a woman. During the interview with Howard Kurtz of FOX News, Kellyanne Conway blasted the fake pro-women feminists like Nancy Pelosi: She and I went to the same small Catholic women s Catholic college, the nation s oldest all women s Catholic college, Trinity in Washington DC. And that small women s Catholic college can boast the first female Speaker Of The House, Nancy Pelosi, and the first successful female presidential campaign manager, and the way they treat the two of us, the president of the college is unbelievable. And you would think some of the alumni that went to an all women s Catholic college would maybe be pro-life, or at maybe object to Nancy s abortion anyone, anytime anywhere stance. In my view, you have to be pro-abortion. You have to be anti-male. Look at all of these commercials on TV about men, they can t open a garbage bag unless their wife shows them how. I mean we treat men like they re fools. I don t look at my husband, my son, my cousins, my colleagues that way. ",0 " Howard Dean Just Doubled Down On Trump’s Possible Cocaine Use (VIDEO)Allow me to begin by saying former DNC chair Howard Dean is the f*cking man. After tweeting that Donald Trump might be on cocaine a reasonable observation based on the GOP s actions during the first presidential debate he could have backed down under scrutiny. He could have caved and apologized. Instead, he made his case.Dean, a physician who is qualified to speculate though in his own words not diagnose without examining Trump in person responded to criticism of his remarks on MSNBC. I don t make diagnosis on the television, it s medically improper, he told Kate Snow Tuesday, a subtle jab at Trump and his legion of Fox News doctors feverishly trying to diagnose Clinton with every neurological disorder under the sun because she coughed that one time and contracted pneumonia the other. But I don t think this was a ridiculous idea. Something funny was going on with Trump last night. Something ridiculous was indeed going on. Trump spent his evening screaming about ridiculous conspiracy theories, attacking his opponent s stamina based on a minor illness, interrupting Clinton constantly, guzzling water, sweating profusely, and other things that would be expected from his meth-addled Twitter followers rather than a serious presidential candidate. Here s the interesting constellation: he sniffs during the presentation, which is something that users do. He also has grandiosity, which is something that accompanies that problem. He has delusions, I m not talking about being crazy, but for example when he told everybody he was very smart not to pay taxes and then denied that he said after he said it it in front of 100 million people, Dean said. He thinks somehow he s not going to get caught, that is delusional. He has trouble with pressured speech, the former Vermont governor added. He interrupted, as you pointed out, Hillary Clinton twenty-nine times. He couldn t keep himself together. Do I think at 70 years old he has a cocaine habit? Probably not, Dean concludes. But it s something that I think would be interesting to ask him, to see if he ever had a problem with that. Asked for clarification if he thinks Trump has a cocaine habit, Dean replied I don t think he has a cocaine habit, placing special emphasis on the word habit. In other words, it might be a stretch to say Trump is addicted to cocaine, but it is possible that he used it to pep himself up before the debate.In an effort to deflect from the allegation, Trump assured the public that he just had a cold, but Stephen Colbert put it best when he said The Donald sounded like he was trying to get over a cold using cocaine. We can t know for sure if Trump has ever been treated for addiction, as he refuses to release his records and since Trump should be held to the same standards to which he holds Hillary Clinton, it s not unreasonable to question if he has been using cocaine (especially given the crazy, whacked-out bonkers stuff he says in public).Watch Dean SLAY this interview below:Featured image via screengrab, Getty Images (Joe Raedle)",0 "WE WILL NOT COMPLY! VA Residents Refuse To Obey Leftist Governor’s Ban On Confederate Flag License PlatesThe first shot against PC tyranny in Virginia has been fired!Earlier this year, after racist terrorist Dylann Storm Roof was charged with shooting nine black people in a Charleston, South Carolina, church, the media and Democrats across the nation embarked on a crusade to wipe the Confederate flag from society.One of the crusaders, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, decided to get rid of license plates containing the Confederate flag altogether and informed those with such license plates that they had until October to hand the license plates over to the Department of Motor Vehicles.Those found driving with the plates will be charged with a misdemeanor.On Friday, local station WAVY reported that the vast majority of citizens with such license plates have refused to comply with the government s flag-recall notice. The DMV stated that just 187 Virginians had returned their license plates out of 1,600 who had received a recall notice.One of those who has refused to heed the call is Kevin Collier, commander of the Stonewall Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, whose great-great-great-grandfather fought with the Confederacy. Next thing you know, they re going to say you can t wear blue on Monday or you can t wear yellow on Thursday, he told WAVY. Where s it going to end? The answer: It isn t. In forwarding the regulation, McAuliffe said the Confederate flag was unnecessarily divisive and hurtful. He added, Even its display on state-issued license tags is, in my view, unnecessarily divisive and hurtful to too many of our people. Apparently, McAuliffe missed the fact that the victims in Charleston did not suffer from hurt feelings thanks to license plates, but from murder at the hands of a racist renegade criminal. But government s job is now to protect feelings rather than lives. Via: Breitbart News",0 "Bye Bye Cowboys! Crowd Boos As Owner Jerry Jones Kneels With Team Before Anthem #BoycottNFL [Video]The Dallas Cowboys tried to have it both ways tonight at the start of the Monday Night football game. The team was joined by owner Jerry Jones as they knelt before the national anthem They stood with arms linked during the anthem. What do you think of this attempt to straddle the fence?Crowd erupts in boos as owner Jerry Jones and entire Dallas Cowboys team kneel live on Monday Night Football pic.twitter.com/ZBKt3KMXYR Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) September 26, 2017 What did this accomplish? Absolutely nothing! A bunch of fools who failed civics. It s not about them its about the nation. The entire Dallas Cowboys team took a knee before tonight's national anthem. pic.twitter.com/7siBIjACJr FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 26, 2017 The Cardinals linked arms with members of the military during the national anthem:The Cardinals linked arms with members of the military during tonight's national anthem. pic.twitter.com/AUENyoEIIo FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 26, 2017 The NFL s operations manual, which, unlike its rule book, is not available to the public, states: During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses. ",0 "Hyatt Hotels discovers card data breach at 41 properties(Reuters) - Hyatt Hotels Corp (H.N) said on Thursday it had discovered unauthorized access to payment card information at certain Hyatt-managed locations worldwide between March 18, 2017 and July 2, 2017. Hyatt said the incident affected payment card information, such as, cardholder name, card number, expiration date and internal verification code, from cards manually entered or swiped at the front desk of certain Hyatt-managed locations. (bit.ly/2yHBSfr) The owner of Andaz, Park Hyatt and Grand Hyatt chain of hotels said a total of 41 properties were affected in 11 countries, with China accounting for 18 properties, the most among impacted countries. Seven Hyatt properties were affected at U.S. locations, including three in Hawaii, three in Puerto Rico and one in Guam. The Chicago, Illinois-based company said its cyber security team discovered signs of the unauthorized access in July and launched an internal investigation, completed on Thursday, that resolved the issue and took steps to prevent this from happening in the future. This is not the first time Hyatt is facing data breach problem at its hotels. In late 2015 Hyatt said its payment processing system was infected with credit-card-stealing malware, that had affected 250 hotels in about 50 countries. ",1 "Liberia confirms new Ebola case as outbreak spreads, nearly two months after declared Ebola-free by the UN",1 "Colombia urgently crafting law to allow crime gangs to surrenderBOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia s government is urgently working with Congress on a law that would lay out terms of surrender for crime gangs such as the Gulf Clan, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Thursday, after the gang declared a unilateral ceasefire. The Gulf Clan, also known as the Usuga Clan and the Autodefensas Gaitanistas, has been accused of operating drug trafficking routes in partnership with Mexican cartels and taking part in illegal gold mining. It announced a ceasefire on Wednesday and has said its members were willing to turn themselves in. Santos, speaking at a event about the eradication of coca crops in Antioquia province, hailed the ceasefire and said a surrender of the group would be welcome, but added that security forces will not halt actions against the group. If this organization wants to surrender to justice it s very welcome and we re working with the justice minister to put together some decrees and there s a law in Congress to facilitate the collective surrender of the Gulf Clan that we are classing as urgent, Santos said. The president has said the government will not negotiate with the group because members are criminals and not politically motivated rebels like the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) or National Liberation Army (ELN). Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas, speaking at the same event, said operations against the Clan will continue. The fact that they won t shoot is good news but if they continue to commit crimes they will be targeted, he said. We are not going to suspend operations or lower our guard. ",1 " Paul Ryan Responds To Trump’s ‘Loyalty’ Request To Comey, This Is Beyond Pathetic (DETAILS)Donald Trump has brought more corruption into the White House than anyone during his short time as President of the United States, and the sad thing about it is that the Republican Party is more than happy to defend him or look the other way whenever he f*cks up.Earlier today, as the testimony of former FBI Director James Comey threatened to derail Trump, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan defended one of Trump s most inappropriate incidents. According to Ryan, Trump s disastrous request for Comey to be loyal to him should be totally excusable because Trump is just new to this. Proving that Ryan is just as spineless as we all thought he was, this comment greatly differed from what he said yesterday about Trump s request, when the House Speaker called the request for loyalty inappropriate. Ryan had said: Yeah, no. I mean, obviously, I don t think that is. But today, Ryan was more than happy to make excuses for Trump, who hasn t learned a damn thing since he s been in office. Ryan is fine with passing off all of Trump s incompetencies as a simple the president s new at this , which was his response to the private conversations between Trump and Comey. Ryan said: He s new to government, and so he probably wasn t steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between DOJ, FBI and White Houses. He s just new to this. That defense is honestly revolting, and the entire GOP should be ashamed of itself. They helped elect an idiot who has no idea how the government works, and hasn t even bothered to learn since becoming president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, another Republican and Trump defender, also blamed Trump s actions on innocent naivety. He said:Trump is now very publicly learning about the way people react to what he considers to be normal New York City conversation. The Republican Party finds a new way to damage its reputation every single day.Featured image via Win McNamee / Getty Images",0 "Mattis slams 'false' reports on Trump request for nuclear arms hikeWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday slammed what he said were “absolutely false” media reports asserting that President Donald Trump had called for an increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. “This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible,” Mattis said in a written statement. NBC had reported that Trump sought a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, something Trump had already denied. ",1 "Exclusive: Billionaire Republican donors urge Kochs to back TrumpNEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of at least six wealthy Republican donors is urging the billionaire Koch brothers to step off the sidelines of the U.S. presidential election to back Donald Trump, arguing they will want influence with the New York businessman they have harshly criticized if he wins the White House in November. The financiers, prominent members of the sprawling 700-member Koch donor network, have been making their case in emails and phone calls to Charles and David Koch ahead of their bi-annual donor seminar, which begins Saturday in Colorado, according to four donors involved in the loosely-coordinated effort and advisers representing two others. An endorsement from the Kochs would be a radical departure: The industrialist brothers have railed against Trump’s “monstrous” rhetoric and protectionist policies on immigration and trade. They have said they will not get involved in the presidential election and will instead focus on Senate races. All the while, Trump has blasted the donor class and vowed not to become a “puppet” of outside interests as he campaigns to win the Nov. 8 election. But there is room for a detente. Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, has long been a darling of the Koch network, and Trump’s fledgling campaign finance operation could use a cash injection as it faces a $1 billion general election battle against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. “I don’t think it’s impossible, or beyond the realm of possibility, that at some point the Kochs are going to get involved,” said Doug Deason, a member of the Koch network. Deason, who has met with Trump and his confidantes, said he and his father, the billionaire Darwin Deason, had proposed to Charles Koch in an email that he meet the Republican nominee in person. “We think it’s really important that Donald convince Charles he’s the right guy, and for Charles to influence Donald’s policies,” said Deason. Charles Koch “indicates he’s taking a wait and see approach. He’s not completely writing if off.” An adviser to another major Koch network donor added: “Some of the Koch donor class this weekend is surely going to say, ‘Hey, guys, get on board.’” A spokesperson for Trump, who is scheduled to hold two campaign events in Colorado on Friday, did not respond to a request for comment. James Davis, a spokesman for the Koch’s political operation, Freedom Partners Action Fund, declined comment. The billionaire donors eyeing Trump stress they believe it is urgent for the Koch brothers’ conservative thinking to start to influence Trump before the election while he is still fine-tuning policy and considering possible Cabinet picks. The Koch network, made up of the wealthiest conservative families in America, rivals both the Republican and Democratic parties in both its resources and scope. Membership requires a payment of at least $100,000 per year. But it is by no means a monolithic group. At their donor summit last January in Palm Springs, California, most donors seemed vehemently opposed to Trump among the large field of other Republican options. But now that Trump has won the nomination, vanquishing 16 opponents in the primaries, some see little option but to back him. Broadcast magnate Stanley Hubbard, who had opposed Trump earlier in the year but now wants the Kochs to support him, said he was most concerned by the prospect of a Democrat nominating people to vacancies on the Supreme Court. “A lot of us are giving a lot of money to the Kochs, and what we would expect is that they would do all they can to see to it that the right Supreme Court justices are selected,” Hubbard said. “Supreme Court justices will last a lot longer than any president.” He said he hoped the weekend confab in Colorado would persuade the Kochs to rethink Trump. “If nothing else, the Kochs better ask for a show of hands,” said Hubbard, “and I think most people in the room this weekend will say, ‘Yes, you need to get involved.’” ",1 Did shock therapy in Russia cause millions of early deaths?,0 "Qatari Emir to meet Turkey's Erdogan in Ankara: Turkish presidencyANKARA (Reuters) - Qatar s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will hold talks in Ankara on Thursday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, an ally of Doha in its dispute with Gulf Arab neighbors. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar three months ago, suspending air and shipping routes with the world s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas. They say Qatar supports regional foe Iran and Islamists. Qatar denies the charges and says the economic boycott aims at neutering an independent foreign policy it says promotes peaceful regional reform and fighting terrorism. Last month Turkey held joint military exercises with Qatari forces in the Gulf state. It has said it will deploy 3,000 troops at a military base there and has increased trade with Qatar since the start of the embargo. Turkey s presidency announced Sheikh Tamim s trip in a statement on Wednesday but gave no details of the talks, which will coincide with a visit to Ankara by the prime minister of Kuwait, which has sought to mediate in the Gulf Arab dispute. ",1 "Wider Image: Mexico's indigenous Muslims in Maya heartlandSAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (Reuters) - A trip to Mexico s indigenous Maya heartland showed me how a vibrant Muslim community had sprung up in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. In the southern state of Chiapas, home to a lush mountainous landscape, I photographed members of a small Muslim community made up of hundreds of mostly indigenous Tzotzil men and women, many of whom converted to Islam from Catholic or other Christian denominations. The Muslim men here are distinguished by their prayer caps, or kufis, and the women by their hijabs which take the form of traditional Maya shawls. Locals say the conversions to Islam here began in the late 1980s, around the same time Mexico s Zapatista movement was gaining traction in Chiapas, as institutions including Christianity and capitalism came under increasing criticism. According to the last census, some 83 percent of Mexicans are Catholic. And although Muslims make up less than 1 percent of Mexico s 120 million population, a disproportionate number are indigenous clustered in and around San Cristobal de las Casas, a highland city in Chiapas that mixes both Maya and Spanish identity. People gave us a weird look when we converted, they thought we were terrorists and were scared of us, said Mustafa, a member of the nearby Ahmadia community. But with the passage of time and our own actions, that opinion has changed, he added. Umar, an indigenous former evangelical pastor, converted to Islam in the late 1990s and now serves as a bridge between local Christians and Muslims. Ours is a monotheistic religion, he said. But we don t worship saints. I later met 55-year-old Mohamed Amin who invited me to his home, offering me cookies and tea. He showed me where he prays five times a day and introduced me to his family. He asked me if I believed in God and I said no. That did not appear to bother him. He went on to explain the main reason behind his conversion to Islam. I like to be clean and change my clothes, he said. This is a clean religion and that s what originally drew me to it. For a related photo essay, see: reut.rs/2izhpmh ",1 "Story Withdrawn: Wealthy win in U.S. House tax bill, taxes rise for some - think tankWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Please note that the story USA-TAX/STUDY headlined “Wealthy win in U.S. House tax bill, taxes rise for some - think tank” published at 2315 GMT is withdrawn after the Tax Policy Center said it found an error in its analysis and removed all related analyses from its website. TPC said it would release a revised version of its report as soon as possible. A new story will be issued when the revised version of the report becomes available. ",1 "RUSH LIMBAUGH FURIOUS Trump Is Allowing “Loser” Democrats To Use Threat Of Government Shut Down To Thwart Funding For Wall [LISTEN]The Trump administration had proposed $1 billion for the wall in a spending bill, which if passed by Congress and signed into will by Friday, will prevent a government shutdown.However, Democrats have said they would not vote for a bill that included such funding, and reportedly the White House has backed off of its push for that funding because of it.Limbaugh warned against caving to Democrats out of fear that Republicans would be blamed for the shutdown and insisted if there were such a cave this go-around, Democrats would use similar tactics against the White House and congressional Republicans in the future.Go HERE for the audio clip of Rush Limbaugh s show where he discusses funding for the wall and the Democrat threat of a government shut down.Transcript as follows:I m not happy to have to pass this on. I m very, very trouble to have to pass this on. And I want to say at the outset that I hope my interpretation is wrong and I hope this is not the case but it looks like from here, right here, right now it looks like President Trump is caving on his demand for a measly $1 billion from the budget for his wall on the border with Mexico. The Democrats are threatening a government shutdown. It s the same old, same old and I was hoping that Trump would throw this shutdown thing right back in their face and have everybody realize they re the ones engineering these shutdowns that nobody would notice anyway unless a big hullaballoo was made about it. Breitbart News",0 "RUSSIA’S HYSTERICAL RESPONSE To Obama’s Sanctions: “Cold War Deja Vu”The Russian response to Barack Obama s announcement that he was expelling 35 diplomats over the alleged cyber attack on the US election, was fast, and in some cases, rather amusing:The Russian response to Barack Obama s announcement that he was expelling 35 diplomats over the alleged cyber attack on the US election, was fast, and in some cases, rather amusing.As officials in Moscow said that US diplomats would be ordered to leave in a tit-for-tat response, the Russian Embassy used Twitter to make its point with little panache.Read more: Independent ",0 "Yazidis caught in 'political football' between Baghdad, Iraqi KurdsSINJAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Since Iraqi forces pushed the Kurds out of the Yazidis mountainous heartland of Sinjar in northern Iraq in October, residents are wondering what could happen to them next. Food and money are in short supply since aid organizations stopped delivery after Iraq s advance. Buildings collapsed in the fighting and of those still standing, many are marked with bullets and littered with IEDs. Water and electricity barely work. The Yazidis, whose beliefs combine elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions, have long been viewed with suspicion and repeatedly persecuted by other groups in Iraq. In 2014, more than 3,000 were killed by Islamic State militants in a campaign described by the United Nations as genocidal. Now the land they have lived on for centuries is caught up in a tug of war between Baghdad and Iraq s Kurds, who had controlled it since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. We re trapped in this game of political football, between Iraq and the Kurds, said a Yazidi resident of Sinjar, Kamal Ali. But neither of them cares about our future. The militias have hoisted Iraq s tricolor flag over government buildings and any remaining Kurdish flags have been scrawled over with the words Iraq and Allahu Akbar , the blazing sun at its center scribbled over in black marker. Sinjar is politically important because it s in the disputed territories, ethnically mixed areas across northern Iraq, long the subject of a constitutional dispute between Baghdad and the Kurds, who both claim them. Sinjar fell under the Kurds control, despite lying outside Iraqi Kurdistan s recognized borders. Baghdad did little to challenge the arrangement until its October offensive, launched to punish the Kurds for their Sept. 25 independence referendum. Iraqi forces have seized the disputed areas the Kurds had expanded into including Sinjar. The referendum reignited long-simmering tensions over geographic dominance in the oil-rich north, between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), who fought side by side to defeat Islamic State. The Yazidis are divided about what should happen now. Some are glad the Kurds have gone and see an opportunity for increased autonomy now that they are under federal control following the offensive by Iraq s security forces last October. Kurdish forces handed over Sinjar without a fight to the Lalesh Brigades, a Yazidi militia backed by Baghdad s Shiite paramilitary forces (PMF). Most Yazidis speak a Kurdish dialect, but many don t see themselves as ethnically Kurdish. We re happy the Kurds have left, said Abu Sardar, a 47-year-old Yazidi man. We re Yazidis we re not Kurds, we do not want to be part of Kurdistan. Like others, Abu Sardar complained that the Kurds forced him to vote in the Kurdish referendum, accusations the KRG denies. He returned two months ago to the ruins of his home in the Sinuni district of Sinjar and expressed bitter disappointment that little had changed since he left in 2014: hospitals and schools remain shuttered while the city is still mostly rubble. He hopes that Baghdad and its militias will rebuild Sinjar. Others lament the Kurds departure. The KRG and allied Yazidi groups hold former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki responsible for the campaign by Islamic State. They say his troops desertion of Mosul allowed militants to capture billions of dollars in weapons later used to attack the minority. Yazidi commander Qassem Shesho says Iraq s government is too sectarian and dislikes the Yazidis as much as Islamic State. Like many others, he blames the Kurds for the attack by Islamic State. But they re all we ve got, he said. Shesho is allied to Iraqi Kurdistan s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party, even though the Kurds cut his fighters salaries after the Lalesh Brigades took over Sinjar. Some days, residents say, there are only bones in Sinjar. Nearly 50 mass graves have been uncovered outside the town since 2014. Sinjar is a city of ghosts, said the Lalesh Brigades leader Ali Serhan Eissa, also known as Khal Ali. Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled the militant onslaught and headed for Mount Sinjar. Of those who didn t reach the mountain, about 3,100 were killed with more than half shot, beheaded, burned alive and disposed of in mass graves. Others were sold into sexual slavery or forced to fight, according to a report by the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine. Some are still on the mountain, about to spend a third freezing winter in tents. Before the attack, Sinjar was home to about 400,000 people mainly Yazidis and Arab Sunnis. Only 15 percent of Yazidis have returned home, according to humanitarian estimates. Most Yazidis remain in IDP camps in the Kurdistan region, along with most of the area s displace Sunnis. Aid workers worry the camps will be closed if tensions between Baghdad and the Kurds flare up. The presence of fighters from Turkey s separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) further complicates the picture. Many Yazidis credit them with opening up a land route to allow those stranded on Mount Sinjar to escape the militants in 2014. The PKK entrenched itself in the community, even creating a local unit, the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) which controls multiple checkpoints around Sinjar. Turkey and neighboring Iran are closely watching the power shift in Sinjar. Tehran wants to secure this north-western region of Iraq as it sits on the border with Syria, while Turkey wants the region free of the outlawed PKK. ",1 "Juan Cole: Russia helps the U.S. in Afghanistan - As \r\nU.S. allies look for the exit, Russia, perhaps \r\nbecause of problems with Afghan heroin at home, \r\ngets in deeper.",0 "AMERICAN OWNED DUNKIN’ DONUTS BANS Women Not Accompanied By A Man From Stores In Saudi ArabiaDunkin Donuts is an American global donut company and coffeehouse chain based in Canton, Massachusetts, in Greater Boston. How many American companies out there who franchise their businesses are willing to say, no to countries who still uphold 7th century treatment of women? WOMEN in Saudi Arabia have been banned from the American chain Dunkin Donuts unless they are accompanied by a man.Signs have been daubed on doors to the shops in the capital Riyadh saying unescorted women are not allowed inside.Saudi Arabia has strict rules in place to separate men and women, many of whom wear full face veils.Western eateries McDonald s and Pizza Hut have separate entrances for men and women who are also seated apart once inside.Women who go into restaurants with their husbands and children are seated in family areas which are screened off from other diners allowing them to remove the veil covering their faces.Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are banned from driving because of their gender.They are also unable to access education, medical treatment and go out for a meal unless a male chaperone usually a husband or father gives them permission or accompanies themProtesters have argued that western chains such as Dunkin Donuts, McDonald s and Pizza Hut are promoting sexism and the discrimination of women by separating the sexes in their stores.A Twitter campaign using the hashtag #StopEnslavingSaudiWomen is calling for women to be treated as equal to men and the right to drive and enjoy an education in addition to enjoying outings without a chaperone.Earlier this year Express.co.uk reported how Starbucks another American chain had also forbidden women from entering a shop in Riyadh urging them to send their driver in to collect their drink.Via: Express H/T Weasel Zippers",0 "French Police Kill Three, Arrest Three in Saint-Denis Raid",1 "Fighting to Stem its Growing Debt, Spanish Town Considers Cultivating Cannabis",0 Russia to ban all Turkish fruit and vegetable imports next week: Interfax,0 "Iran calls Houthi missile attack targeting Riyadh 'reaction' to Saudi aggressionLONDON (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that missile attacks by Yemen s Houthis targeting Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh were a reaction to what he called Saudi aggression. How should the Yemeni people react to bombardment of their country. So they are not allowed to use their own weapons? You stop the bombardment first and see if the Yemenis would not do the same, Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Rouhani also said Saudi Arabia had made a strategic mistake by considering the United States and Israel as friends and Iran as an enemy. ",1 "Taking back control: UK's classic blue-and-gold passport to returnLONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday hailed the return of Britain s classic blue passport as a benefit of leaving the EU, pleasing Brexit campaigners for whom it is a symbol of national sovereignty but attracting derision from many remainers. The government said a version of the old passport, issued to Britons from 1920 to 1988, when it was replaced by the burgundy jacket of the European Union, will be reintroduced after the country leaves the bloc in March 2019. The UK passport is an expression of our independence and sovereignty - symbolizing our citizenship of a proud, great nation, May said on Twitter. That s why we have announced that the iconic blue passport will return after we leave the European Union in 2019. During often bitter campaigning for the June 2016 referendum on whether to leave the EU, which Britain joined in 1973, some Brexit supporters seized on the color of the passport as a symbol of the country s lost independence. Opponents meanwhile mocked their attachment to something superficial while arguing that Brexit would diminish Britain s real standing in the world. Former United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, a leading supporter of Brexit, responded to Friday s news by tweeting: Happy Brexmas! A return to British passports means we are becoming a proper country again, he wrote. We are getting our individuality and national identity back. But Anna Soubry, a lawmaker from May s Conservative party who opposes Brexit, tweeted: Stand by for street parties as blue passports return. Not sure they ll make up for broken #Leave promise of extra 350m a week for (British public health service) NHS. A Brexit campaign slogan suggesting that Britain s financial contributions to the EU could be diverted to the National Health Service has been credited with swinging voters toward Leave . The new document, which will be issued from October 2019, will come with enhanced security features, immigration minister Brandon Lewis said, and will be introduced as old passports expire and at no extra cost to the taxpayer. Speaking to the BBC, Lewis said even people who voted remain still had an attachment to the dark blue passport. Responses to May s tweet were overwhelmingly negative, however, with many Twitter users pointing out that Britain could have kept the old color under EU rules. Others bemoaned the fact that Britons would lose the right to live and work in 27 other EU countries as a result of Brexit. Wow this passport s fancy. Must have some kickass features, read one tweet accompanied by a picture of a smiling family collecting their new passports. How many countries do you have the right to work in on this bad boy? One Huh. Still, blue though... ",1 " Bernie Sanders Roasts Donald Trump: ‘I Don’t Have To Spend Money’ To Make Him ‘Look Dumb’ (VIDEO)On Tuesday s edition of The Nightly Show, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders promised to steal the White House from Republican front runner Donald Trump if the two should ever face off in the presidential election.On the show, host Larry Wilmore asked Sanders what he thought about Trump s much-reported use of the word schlong to insult Hillary Clinton. Sanders, making a joke out of Trump s numerous nonsensical remarks, said: I don t know the answer to that. I have yet to recover from Trump s shock that women go to the bathroom. I m still recovering from that, so schlonged, I haven t figured out yet. Wilmore pressed on, asking Sanders if he would schlong The Donald if they went head to head for the presidency. Sanders replied, Let me say, we will beat him badly. How s that? Wilmore also brought up the fact that someone had been writing anti-Trump messages in the sky last weekend, right above the Rose Bowl Parade. Wilmore asked Sanders if he d had anything to do with it, since there had coincidentally been a rally for Sanders at the same time. Sander responded with something we all know to be true: I don t have to spend money to make Donald Trump look dumb he does it all by himself. You can watch Sanders roast The Donald below: The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore Get More: The Nightly Show Full Episodes,The Nightly Show on Facebook,The Nightly Show Video ArchiveIn later parts of the interview, Sanders took the opportunity to express his support for President Barack Obama s executive action on guns, blasting Republicans for trying to hold back an initiative that was so badly needed in America. We re not getting any cooperation from the Republicans, no matter how many horrific mass shootings we see. I think the most important thing we have to do now is to expand and improve the instant background check. What the president is trying to do now is deal with the so-called gun show loophole. Many of Sanders constituents in Vermont are responsible gun owners, but Sanders said they accept the dangers that can come with firearms and don t argue that policies must be in place to avoid their misuse. People hunt and they do outdoor things that s what we do. But the vast majority of the people understand, in my state, and I think around the country, that it s imperative that we do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. Criminals (and) people who are mentally unstable should not own a gun. That s my view, and there is a broad consensus around that. Also touching on the Black Lives Matter movement, Sanders and Wilmore agreed that the media has blown controversial issues out of proportion. Sanders said, I think white people are as appalled as African-Americans and Latinos in seeing what we re seeing on television, and that is unarmed people being killed while they re in police custody. The Vermont senator, who has made criminal justice reform a crucial part of his campaign, also stressed that reducing police brutality would be one of his priorities as president: The first, and maybe most, important is to make sure that if a police officer breaks the law, that officer like any other public official must be held accountable. Other things that we have to do is demilitarize many of our local police departments. We have to make police departments look like the communities they serve, in terms of diversity. What appalls me is that we have more people in jail today than any other country on Earth more than China, 2.2 million people and that s why we need real criminal justice reform. We ve got to make sure that kids have jobs and education, rather than hanging out on street corners unemployed. Featured image is a screenshot, via Raw Story",0 "Cuba denies involvement in incidents concerning U.S. diplomatsHAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba’s government said on Wednesday it would never allow actions against diplomats and their families on the island, after the U.S. State Department reported “incidents” had caused physical symptoms in Americans serving at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. “Cuba has never, nor would ever, allow the Cuban territory to be used for any kind of action against accredited diplomats or their families,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Earlier on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said it had expelled two Washington-based Cuban diplomats in May after the unspecified “incidents” in Havana. ",1 "Lebanon ex-PM meets French, UK, EU, U.S. diplomats in Riyadh: PM's officeBEIRUT (Reuters) - Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as Lebanon s prime minister last weekend, met the French ambassador to Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on Thursday, Hariri s office said in a statement. Hariri, who quit in a video broadcast from Saudi Arabia on Saturday but has not yet returned to Lebanon, also met diplomats from the European Union, Britain and United States in the past two days. ",1 " California Trump Rally Leads To Violence Between Thousands Of Protestors And Supporters (VIDEO)One of the most tragic aspects of Donald Trump s candidacy (and there have been lots of tragic aspects) is that he s managed to do something no one thought to be possible for a candidate running for president in 21st Century America: He s managed to not only normalize racism, but violence as well. There have been so many instances of violence that they ve become normalized. In other words, we ve come to expect violence, and even more alarmingly, we ve also come to accept the violence. However, it s important to fight this normalization and continue to report on the absurdity that is Donald Trump.That absurdity was on display outside a Trump rally in California on Thursday as supporters clashed with protestors. Many of the anti-Trump protestors held Mexican and American flags and were outraged at Trump s rhetoric. About 20 protesters out of hundreds were arrested outside of the rally, a Trump supporter was beaten, and property was damaged including a police vehicle.Watch video here:Since he declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination, Trump has made a series of inflammatory remarks about Mexicans, calling some of the immigrants rapists and murderers. He continuously talks about building a wall to prevent Mexican immigrants from coming into the country. His rhetoric has created a divisive atmosphere that has bred racism and violence.The bottom line is that Trump has created an environment that is tearing the country apart rather than working for unity. If his candidacy is any indication of what his presidency will be like, we are all in deep trouble as a society. He is normalizing the toxicity of violence and racism and should he be elected, America will become a very dangerous place for a lot of people.Featured image via video screenshot. ",0 Greece moves to ban far-right Golden Dawn party,0 "Turkey seeks arrest of 360 people in probe targeting Gulen network in army: mediaISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish prosecutors have issued detention warrants for 360 people in an operation targeting supporters of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen within the army, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday. It said 333 of those facing arrest in the Istanbul-based operation were soldiers, 216 of them serving personnel. Ankara accuses Gulen and his network of orchestrating an attempted coup last year. Gulen denies the charge. Istanbul police officers were continuing operations to capture the suspects, it said. The private Dogan news agency said seven of those facing arrest were pilots. More than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over links to Gulen, while 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the public and private sectors since the July 15 failed putsch, in which 250 people were killed. Sixteen months on, operations targeting supporters of the U.S.-based preacher are continuing on a daily basis. Last week, nearly 700 people were detained in related investigations. While Turkey s Western allies and rights groups have voiced concern that Ankara is using the investigations to crack down on dissent, Turkey says only such a purge could neutralize the threat represented by Gulen s network, which it says infiltrated institutions such as the military, judiciary and schools. ",1 Vatican protests Israeli TV show,0 "Daily NK reports North Korea declares China an enemy and threatens a ""nuclear storm"" against them",1 BP CEO to receive 20% pay rise to $20m/14m,1 "The Guardian reports that, Tony Blair helped Murdoch overcome an official investigation which was jeopardising one of his big investments...",0 U.S. Is Considering Sending Arms To Ukraine,1 " Trump Fan Running For Congress Says He Will ‘Make America White Again’For those who think Donald Trump isn t bringing horrible racism out from the depths of the right-wing s closet, there s Rick Tyler, an independent candidate running for office in Tennessee s third Congressional district. He s so worried about the browning of America that he s actually running his campaign on taking us back to the 1960s, when there were fewer problems, by making America white again.Yes, that s literally what he wants. He even had campaign billboards put up that said, Make America White Again, around Benton, Tenn. Tyler claims that he s got no hatred for people of color. He just wants America to go back to a 1960s, Ozzie and Harriet, Leave it to Beaver time when there were no break-ins; no violent crime; no mass immigration. Right, there s totally no racism there. We re sure some of his best friends are people of color, too. He thinks that white people are the architects of advanced society, so elevating white people is the best way to make America great again. He also had a billboard up that was a picture of the White House ringed with Confederate flags, which said, I have a dream. For someone who allegedly isn t racist, he certainly enjoys racist sayings and symbols, and implying that people who aren t white are responsible for all our ills today.To co-opt one of the most famous messages from one of the most famous civil rights leaders in American history for his racist agenda is just vile.How does Trump fit into this, besides his rampant, blatant racism? Tyler wrote the following on his website: [T]he Trump phenomenon has and will continue to produce spin off effects and fall out that can be beneficially seized upon by the elect remnant of the God of Scriptures. In our present political season the dominant presence of Donald Trump has served to open us channels of discourse and dialogue that have previously been off limits. His advocacy of a temporary ban on Muslim immigration and the construction of a wall on the Southern border have created a climate conducive to conversation relative to the elephant in the living room no one wants to talk about namely, the urgent and vital subject of race. There it is, the hatred and fear of political correctness that pervades the thinking of these racists. They believe it s not racist at all to say that race plays a role in America s downfall, and imply that whites are the only race capable of restoring us to our former glory. Nope. It s just telling it like it is, and Tyler seems to have embraced that Trumpian mentality wholeheartedly.The signs have been taken down, but Tyler didn t do it. He wants them back up, saying he paid for them to be up through November s election: If I could I d have hundreds of these billboards up across the 3rd District. That would go over just as well as his initial billboards did. Tyler is delusional though. He believes that his signs do reflect the feelings of a majority of people, despite the people from Tennessee s third district calling into WCRB-TV to say that their county does not, in fact, feel this way. The billboards were likely removed because those people Tyler thinks are so supportive of his views were actually upset.Featured image via screen capture from WRCB report",0 "Trump sounds off on abortion; criticism comes from all sidesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said on Wednesday that women who end pregnancies should face punishment if the United States bans abortion, triggering a torrent of criticism from both sides of the abortion debate, including from his White House rivals. After MSNBC broadcast a clip of an interview with Trump, the billionaire businessman rowed back his remarks, first saying that the abortion issue should be handled by states and later that doctors who performed abortions should be the ones held responsible. “The doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman,” Trump said in his last statement. “The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb.” Trump’s earlier statements drew heavy fire from abortion rights supporters and opponents alike. Abortion has long been a divisive issue in American politics, even though the procedure was legalized in a Supreme Court ruling more than 40 years ago. Opposition to abortion has become a central plank in the platform of most conservative politicians. Trump has won support from Republican voters for selling himself as a Washington outsider. But the New York real estate tycoon, who once supported abortion access, has come under pressure from conservatives to prove he is truly one of them. At the same time, he has drawn criticism for comments that offended women and minority groups. “Of course, women shouldn’t be punished,” rival Republican candidate John Kasich said on Wednesday, saying he opposed abortion except in specific cases such as rape. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the third candidate for the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 election, said Trump had not thought through the issue. “What’s far too often neglected is that being pro-life is not simply about the unborn child, it’s also about the mother,” he said in a statement. Abortion rights supporters were equally incensed. “What Donald Trump said was outrageous and dangerous. I’m constantly taken aback at the kinds of things that he advocates for,” Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton told MSNBC. “Once again, he has showed us who he is.” Dawn Laguens of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the political arm of the women’s health group, called Trump “flat-out dangerous” in a statement. Abortion was legalized in the United States in 1973, when the Supreme Court declared that a woman’s constitutional right to privacy protected her decision to end a pregnancy. In the decades since, there have not been enough votes on the Supreme Court to reverse the ruling, but numerous states have passed laws aimed at restricting abortion. In the MSNBC interview, which is to air in full later on Wednesday, Trump said if the United States banned abortion, some women would seek to end pregnancies illegally. “There has to be some form of punishment,” he said. Asked what form he would advocate, Trump said: “That I don’t know.” Anti-abortion groups said Trump’s comments were at odds with their own stance. “In all the positions the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken around the issue of abortion, they have not called for punishment of women who’ve had abortions,” said Don Clemmer, a spokesman for the group. After the backlash started, Trump’s campaign sought to moderate his view. “This issue is unclear and should be put back into the states for determination,” Trump said in a statement provided to Reuters by email. Later, Trump walked back his comments further to say doctors, not women, should be responsible. The dust-up was evidence of further discord among Republicans over Trump’s candidacy. On Tuesday, both Trump and Kasich, the Ohio governor, abandoned pledges to support the party’s eventual nominee. Cruz did not explicitly abandon the pledge but said Trump would not be the nominee. Trump had already outraged many women after he said Fox News’ Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever” when she asked tough questions in a televised debate, which many saw as a reference to menstruation. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in March, 66 percent of all likely women voters said they had an “unfavorable” view of Trump. But among the 460 Republican women who responded to the poll, 62 percent had a “favorable” view of him, while 38 percent did not. In other remarks that have set off furious reactions, Trump has called illegal immigrants from Mexico criminals and rapists and has pushed for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. In Wednesday’s MSNBC interview, Trump said he would not rule out the possibility of using nuclear weapons to combat Islamic State militants. “I would never take any of my cards off the table,” he said. ",1 "US WikiLeaks Suspect Bradley Manning's Jail Conditions Criticized By Germany's Parliament",1 "WHEN A GOVERNMENT PUTS IMMIGRANTS BEFORE CITIZENS: Swedish Citizens Have No Place To Live, No Jobs, Need To Carry Guns Everywhere They GoBarack Obama and the Democrat party would like us to go the way of the Swedes. Do Americans have the fortitude to fight back against a government hell-bent on putting political correctness before national security?The Swedes see the welfare systems failing them. Swedes have had to get used to the government prioritizing refugees and migrants above native Swedes. There are no apartments, no jobs, we don t dare go shopping anymore [without a gun], but we re supposed to think everything s great. Women and girls are raped by these non-European men, who come here claiming they are unaccompanied children, even though they are grown men. You Cabinet Ministers live in your fancy residential neighborhoods, with only Swedish neighbors. It should be obligatory for all politicians to live for at least three months in an area consisting mostly of immigrants [and] have to use public transport. Laila, to the Prime Minister. Instead of torchlight processions against racism, we need a Prime Minister who speaks out against the violence Unite everyone. Do not make it a racism thing. Anders, to the Prime Minister. In all honesty, I don t even feel they [government ministers] see the problems There is no one in those meetings who can tell them what real life looks like. Laila, on the response she received from the government.The recent double murder at IKEA in V ster s, where a man from Eritrea who had been denied asylum grabbed some knives and stabbed Carola and Emil Herlin to death, letters and emails poured into the offices of Swedish Prime Minister (PM) Stefan L fven. Angry, despondent and desperate Swedes have pled with the Social Democratic PM to stop filling the country with criminal migrants from the Third World or, they write, there is a serious risk of hatred running rampant in Sweden. One woman suggested that because the Swedish media will not address these issues, L fven should start reading foreign newspapers, and wake up to the fact that Sweden is sinking fast.During the last few decades, Swedes have had to get used to the government (left and right wing parties alike) prioritizing refugees and migrants above native Swedes. The high tax level (the average worker pays 42% income tax) was been accepted in the past, because people knew that if they got sick, or when they retired or otherwise needed government aid, they would get it.Now, Swedes see the welfare system failing them. More and more senior citizens fall into the indigent category; close to 800,000 of Sweden s 2.1 million retirees, despite having worked their whole lives, are forced to live on between 4,500 and 5,500 kronor ($545 $665) a month. Meanwhile, seniors who immigrate to Sweden receive the so-called elderly support subsidy usually a higher amount even though they have never paid any taxes in Sweden.Worse, in 2013 the government decided that people staying in the country illegally have a right to virtually free health and dental care. So while the destitute Swedish senior citizen must choose between paying 100,000 kronor ($12,000) to get new teeth or living toothless, a person who does not even have the right to stay in Sweden can get his teeth fixed for 50 kronor ($6).The injustice, the housing shortage, the chaos surrounding refugee housing units and the sharp slide of Swedish students in PISA tests all these changes have caused the Swedes to become disillusioned. The last straw was that Prime Minister L fven had nothing to say about the murders at IKEA.Gatestone Institute contacted to the Swedish government, to obtain emails sent to the Prime Minister concerning the IKEA murders. According to the principle of public access to official documents, all Swedes have the right to study public documents kept by authorities with no questions asked about one s identity or purpose. The government, however, was clearly less than enthusiastic about sharing the emails: It took a full month of reminders and phone calls before they complied with the request.What follows are excerpts from emails sent from private citizens to Prime Minister Stefan L fven:From Mattias, a social worker and father of four, a dad who wants my kids to grow up in Sweden the way I had the good fortune of doing, without explosions, hand grenades, car fires, violence, rape and murder at IKEA : Hi Stefan. I am a 43-year-old father of four, who is trying to explain to my children, ages 6-16, what is going on in Sweden. I am sad to say that you and your party close your eyes to what is happening in Sweden. All the things that are happening [are] due to the unchecked influx from abroad. You are creating a hidden hatred in Sweden. We are dissatisfied with the way immigration is handled in Sweden, from asylum housing to school issues. And it takes so long to get a job, many people give up before they even get close. Mattias Marcus, 21, wrote: Hi Stefan, I am one of the people who voted for you. I live in Helsingborg, still with my parents because there are no apartments available. I can see where I live that as soon as an old person moves out, eight foreigners immediately move in: they just bypass us young, Swedish people in line. With all that is going on in Sweden rapes, robberies, the IKEA murders and so on why aren t non-Swedes sent back to their countries when they commit crimes? Of course we should help refugees, but they should be the right kind of refugees. I m sorry to say this, Stefan, but the Sweden Democrats should be allowed to rule for four years and remove the people who do not abide by the laws, and who murder or destroy young women s lives. It is horrible, I have a job that pays poorly because there are no jobs. Sweden has more people than jobs. Peter wrote: Esteemed Prime Minister. I am writing to you because I am very worried about the development in Swedish society. I am met daily by news of shootings, exploding hand grenades/bombs, beatings, rapes and murders. This is our Sweden, the country that, when you and I grew up, was considered one of the safest in the world. You, in your role as Prime Minister, have a responsibility to protect everyone in the land, regardless of whether they were born here or not. Unfortunately, I can see that you are not taking your responsibility seriously. I follow the news daily, and despite our now having suffered another act of madness, this time against a mother and son at IKEA, I do not see any commitment from you? You should emphatically condemn the violent developments we see in this country, allocate resources to the police, customs and district attorneys to slow and fight back (not just build levees and overlook) criminal activity. Sebastian wrote: Hi Stefan! After reading about the horrible deed at IKEA in V ster s, I am now wondering what you are going to do to make me feel safe going to stores and on the streets of Sweden. What changes will there be to make sure this never happens again? Will immigration really continue the same way? Benny wrote: Hi, I m wondering, why is the government quiet about such an awful incident? The whole summer has been characterized by extreme violence, shootings, knifings and explosions. The government needs to take vigorous action so we can feel safe. Laila s subject line reads: Is it supposed to be like this? Are we supposed to go outside without arming ourselves? Rape after rape occurs and no one is doing anything about it. I was born and raised in V rby G rd, but seven years ago, we had to move because we couldn t take the dogs out in the evenings due to the non-Europeans driving on the sidewalks. If you didn t move out of the way, they would jump out of the car and hit you. If you called the police, they do nothing in a suburb of Stockholm. When my brother told some of these men off, a rocket (the kind you use at New Year s) appeared in his mailbox. You can imagine how loud the blast was. Women and girls are raped by these non-European men, who come here claiming they are unaccompanied children, even though they are grown men . It is easy to get weapons today, I wonder if that is what we Swedes need to do, arm ourselves to dare to go shopping. Well, now I am getting to what happened at a major department store: Two people were killed and not just killed, there is talk online of beheading. The Prime Minister will not say a word, but resources are allocated to asylum housings, a slap in the face for the relatives who just had two of their kin slain. Swedish newspapers will not say a word, but fortunately, there are foreign newspapers that tell the truth. We Swedes can t change apartments, we live five people in three bedrooms. Two of us are unemployed, looking, looking and looking for work. The only option is employment agencies. I m 50 years old, on part-time sick leave because of two chronic illnesses, I cannot run around from one place to another. But more and more asylum seekers keep coming in. There are no apartments, no jobs, we don t dare go shopping anymore, but we re supposed to think everything s great. Unfortunately, I believe the Prime Minister needs to start reading foreign newspaper to find out that Sweden is going under. I found out that the mass immigration costs billions every year, and the only thing the immigrants do is smoke waterpipes in places like V rby G rd. This is happening in other places too, of course. Now it s starting to spread; you will see that in the opinion polls, next time they are published. Soon, all Swedes will vote for the Sweden Democrats. They are getting more and more supporters every day. You Cabinet Ministers do not live in the exposed areas, you live in your fancy residential neighborhoods, with only Swedish neighbors. It should be obligatory for all politicians to live for at least three months in an area consisting mostly of immigrants, the car should be taken from you so you d have to use public transport. After three months, you would see my point. I am scared stiff of what is happening in this country. What will the government do about this? Anders wrote: Hi Stefan, why don t you, as our Prime Minister, react more against all the violence that is escalating in our country? [Such as] the double murder at IKEA in V ster s. Add to that the bombings and other things happening in Malm . Instead of torchlight processions against racism, we need a Prime Minister who speaks out against the violence, who says that it s wrong no matter which ethnic group is behind it or at the receiving end of it. Because all the people living in Sweden are Swedish, right? A torchlight procession against racism only highlights the fact that it s immigrants committing these crimes. What we need now is a clear signal from our popularly elected [officials] that violence needs to stop now. Sweden is supposed to be a haven away from violence. I m asking you as our Prime Minister, take a stand against the violence. Unite everyone in Sweden into one group and do not make it a racism thing. Some of the people received a reply from Carl-Johan Friman, of the Government Offices Communications Unit; others have not received any reply at all. A typical response goes: Thank you for your email to Prime Minister Stefan L fven. I ve been asked to reply and confirm that your email has reached the Prime Minister s Office and is now available for the Prime Minister and his staff. It is of course not acceptable that people should be exposed to violence and criminal activities in their everyday life. Many efforts are made to counteract violence, and quite correctly, this needs to be done without pitting groups against each other. Thank you for taking the time to write and share your views, they are important in shaping government policies. Via: Zero Hedge ",0 Second gas leak in Timor Sea,0 "MICHIGAN Senate Approves Bill To Allow Concealed Carry In “Gun Free Zones” Or “Mass Murderer Empowerment Zones”Should legal gun owners be allowed to freely carry anywhere in their state, including dorm rooms and school campuses?In the wake of mass shootings in Las Vegas and Texas that left dozens of people dead or injured, a Michigan Senate committee approved bills Tuesday that will allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons in gun-free zones such as schools, churches, day care centers, bars, dorms, and stadiums.The shooting at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, which left 26 people dead and 20 more injured, makes state Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, a Republican from West Olive, Mich., more certain that now is the time to take up the gun legislation. Some have said it s insensitive to bring up these issues now, but I feel quite the opposite, he told a standing-room-only crowd in the Senate Government Operations Committee. The recent events will allow us to look at how we can deter those who want to do harm. And responsible, well-trained, licensed concealed-pistol holders can be one of those deterrents. The bills taken up in the Senate Government Operations Committee passed on a party-line vote with Republicans supporting the three-bill package and Democrats opposing it. The bills also would close the open-carry loophole, effectively barring gun owners from openly carrying their weapons in gun-free zones.He gained support from gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association and the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners. The idea of having the ability to arm a well-qualified, well-trained individual is tantamount to setting out a scenario where we no longer set up a sheep for the wolf, said Robert Rudowski of the gun owners group.Gun-free zones should be called mass murderer empowerment zones, said Steve Dulan, spokesman for the gun owners group.Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, vetoed similar legislation in 2012, just four days after a horrific shooting in Newtown, Conn., when a heavily armed man muscled his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first-graders and six adults.Snyder said that bill had a fatal loophole that didn t allow for those institutions to opt out of the new legislation and prohibit weapons from their buildings. His spokeswoman, Anna Heaton, said Tuesday that Snyder hasn t seen the latest version of the concealed- carry bills and hadn t taken a position on them.Meekhof said he has talked with Snyder about the new legislation and that he s not necessarily on board with it. USA Today Never-Trumper Governor Rick Snyder (R), who some Republicans believe leans to the left on more than one important issue, like vetoing legislation that would require MI voters to have a valid ID in order to vote, is currently facing some serious allegations related to the Flint water crisis.WXYZ Harvey Hollins, the man Gov. Snyder appointed to handle the Flint Water Crisis, recently testified that he told the governor about increasing lead in Flint water months before Snyder told Congress he learned about it.The testimony came during the preliminary hearing for Michigan Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyons, who is facing involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office charges for his alleged role in the water crisis.Hollins testified that he told Snyder in July 2015 and August 2015 that there were concerns about increased lead levels in Flint s water.During congressional testimony in March 2016, Snyder testified that he didn t even learn about the dangerous levels of lead in Flint s water system until October 2015. I told the governor that we re hearing a lot more folks complaining about lead, copper, and TTHM (total trihalomethanes), Hollins testified.We d love to hear what you think about legal gun owners being able to carry anywhere in their state? ",0 "ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PLANS ‘BLACKS ONLY’ FIELD TRIP TO COLLEGE FOR THIRD GRADERSBecause there wouldn t be any outrage over a white kids only field trip to a local college would there?Parents criticized Indiana school officials Thursday for a trip planned to local colleges that was only offered to black third-graders, ABC 57 reported.School officials defended the trip, saying the outing sends a positive message to black students who may believe the prospect of college is out of reach. We take them to a college campus, have them meet African-American students, modeling the idea that as a black person, college is a great place, Dr. G. David Moss, the head of the African-American services at the South Bend Community Schools Corporation, told the station.The initiative has been criticized by parents in the community, not because of its ambitions, but because it excludes students with other backgrounds.One parent whose son is going on the trip told the station that she believes all kids should be going. Moss told the station that he did not mean to offend anyone with the trips, but said he was hired to look at the issues facing African-American kids in the community.Via: FOX News",0 "U.S. blacklists 10 Venezuelans for corruption, undermining state voteWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned 10 more Venezuelan officials, including several government ministers, who it said had helped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s attempts to undermine democratic rule in the country. “These individuals are associated with undermining electoral processes, media censorship, or corruption in government-administered food programs in Venezuela,” the U.S. Treasury said in a statement. On Oct. 15, state elections were held in Venezuela. The list of officials includes Julian Rodriguez Diaz, Venezuela’s ambassador to Italy; Ernesto Emilio Villegas Poljak, Venezuela’s new minister of culture; Freddy Bernal Rosales, Venezuela’s minister for urban agriculture; and Manuel Fernandez Melendez, who heads the country’s National Telephone Company. ",1 THIS IS GREAT! You’ll Love What Joy Villa Wants To Do With Her MAGA Grammys Dress [Video] ,0 Former KGB Agent: Weapons Expert David Kelly Did Not Commit Suicide,1 " Paul Ryan Was So Desperate To Pass Failed Trumpcare Bill That He Got On His Knees To Beg For VotesThis is what being pathetic looks like.House Speaker Paul Ryan was so desperate to secure Republican votes for his disastrous healthcare bill that he literally got down on his knees to beg one lawmaker for his support.As we all know, the floor vote was canceled on Thursday after it became clear that not enough Republicans were willing to support the bill.Donald Trump even met with and threatened Republicans with consequences if they didn t fall in line. But the meeting backfired as even more Republicans leaned against the bill after hearing Trump speak.The cancellation of Thursday s vote infuriated Trump, who proceeded to demand a vote on Friday and Republican leaders reluctantly caved.And so, Paul Ryan spent time fruitlessly begging his Republican colleagues to throw their support behind a bad bill that would have stripped healthcare from over 20 million Americans and caused the cost of healthcare premiums to skyrocket.One lawmaker Ryan approached was Alaska Rep. Don Young.According to the Washington Post, Ryan actually got down on one knee to beg Young to endorse the bill.Leaders continued to plead with individual lawmakers to support the measure well into Thursday night, with the House Rules Committee slated to meet early Friday morning to consider the proposed changes.Ryan got down on a knee to plead with Rep. Don Young, an 83-year-old from Alaska who is the longest-serving Republican in Congress and remains undecided.But Young ignored Ryan desperate plea and remained in opposition and even praised the cancellation of Friday s vote a victory for Alaska. My job is to represent those people in that state, and I think we did this this week, Young told Alaska Dispatch News. I work with (House Speaker Paul Ryan), don t get me wrong the speaker talked to me quite a bit. But it didn t come to a point where I could support this bill. He needed my vote. Yeah, he needed it so much that he begged for it on bended knee. Sad!Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images",0 "Iraq has run out of money to pay for widows' benefits, farm crops and other programs for the poor, the parliament leader on Sunday told lawmakers who have collected nearly $180,000 so far this year in one of the world's most oil-rich nations.",0 A U.N. resolution has justified the targeting of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and a made him legitimate target.,0 " Supreme Court Gives A Big ‘F You’ To GOP, Rejects Racist GerrymanderingThe Supreme Court did something amazing on Monday. They decided, with a unanimous conscience, that the principle of one person one vote was the way to go in a Democratic Republic like the United States.Still reeling from the disastrous decision that struck down the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republicans sought to double down on their assaults on voting rights through racist gerrymandering.Today, the Supreme Court gave Republicans a well-deserved F-You when they rejected the GOP s appeal to a lower Virginia court ruling that overturned the redistricted map.Sending the case back to the lower court, the Supreme Court basically said they got it right, and see no reason to consider an appeal, thus giving Democrats (and the people of Virginia) the fairness they deserved and were robbed of in 2012.Two years ago, a federal court struck down Virginia s newly drawn congressional maps because the drawers packed tens of thousands of black voters into an already heavily black, heavily Democratic congressional district. The redrawing, which heavily favored Republicans, allowed the GOP to win 8 out of the state s 11 congressional districts, even though President Obama won the state by three points and the electorate was down ticket.While it won t capture a majority of the 8 seats held by Republicans, the decision will certainly be turning the 4th Congressional District blue. Currently represented by Randy Forbes, the district will go from having a 48 percent Democratic electorate to a rightful 60 percent.With Democrats aiming to take back the House and keep the swing state of Virginia blue in November, this decision has come at a very good time.Looks like another gerrymandering, redistricting ploy from the Republicans to steal the elections has gone down in flames. Last year, the Supreme Court smacked down Republicans in Arizona when they tried to pull the same shenanigans. With Arizona s booming Hispanic and Latino populations, GOP control is on the verge of collapsing.Republicans want to hold onto absolute power, and they are seeing it slip away from them. So they try to cheat to win. And sometimes the Supreme Court does he right thing and blocks them from doing just that.Since it wasn t picked up, that means at least 5 Justices (out of eight) or more said no. If Scalia was still alive, I wonder if the case would have been picked up. And had it been picked up, how would the Court have decided it?Maybe Republicans shouldn t be so quick to turn down a moderate Merrick Garland confirmation. Not that he outcome would have been any different in their favor.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images",0 " This One Image From The RNC Is All You Need To SeeDonald Trump is terrible. He wants to build a wall to keep brown people out of the country, blames all of our nation s problems on certain religious and ethnic groups, wants to force members of a single religion to be registered in a national database and to wear special little badges as they are rounded up and thrown into internment camps as a temporary measure, thinks Mexicans are mostly rapists hell, he even has been known to keep a book of Adolf Hitler s speeches by his bedside for light reading.Trump regularly retweets white supremacists, including their propaganda about African-Americans, throws out antisemitic imagery, and attracts the KKK and other white supremacist groups in droves.Unfortunately, the Republican Party proved themselves to be utterly without principles when they officially adopted many of Trump s ridiculous ideas into their official platform, and even continued his tradition of courting white supremacists by blowing up a tweet from one on a giant f*cking marquee. Nothing can sum up what the Republican Party has become under Trump better than a scene from right-wing propagandist Laura Ingraham s speech at the RNC Wednesday.The content of Ingraham s mindless babbling that vaguely passes for a speech is unimportant it s how she ended it that is. In the background was an image of Donald Trump with his arm and palm outstretched one that matches a familiar gesture commonly associated with a man whose name rhymes with Schmadoff Schmittler. Ingraham turned to that photo and returned the gesture, then waved to the crowd.#RNCinCLE in one GIF: pic.twitter.com/OlrqbnKUVd Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) July 21, 2016Here is a still of the rather chilling scene:Twitter accuses Laura Ingraham of giving Trump 'Nazi salute' at the RNC https://t.co/YOjSZrkhQR pic.twitter.com/ETXqMvlQKD Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) July 21, 2016Yes, that sure appears to be a brief Sieg heil to Donald Trump s photograph.This is what the Republican Party has become. Take a good long look, and vote BLUE in November.Featured image via screengrab",0 "PROMINENT DEMOCRAT CLAIMS Old, White, Leftist Males Are Waiting In The Wings For Hillary To FallThe party of diversity waits for Hillary to be dragged out of the primary in handcuffs kicking and screaming Former GOP presidential candidate George Pataki is predicting that Democrat Hillary Clinton s legal issues will force an outside candidate to jump into the 2016 White House race as a white knight. People talk about the problems in the Republican Party, but I think Democrats have a bigger problem, the former New York governor told host John Catsimatidis on The Cats Roundtable on New York s AM-970 on Sunday. Hillary Clinton is cratering, the scandals just keep coming. She has grave legal issues that could totally prevent her from continuing her campaign, and the alternative is a self-avowed socialist who has never run anything. Pataki added that it would not surprise him to see an outsider jump into the race like Vice President Joe Biden, California Gov. Jerry Brown or Secretary of State John Kerry. Despite his previous pronouncements that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has no chance at the GOP nomination, Pataki conceded that his prediction isn t borne out by reality. He s just tapped into anger towards Washington, anger towards politicians, he said. I understand the anger, but the solution is not to get behind someone who expresses the anger but does not have the necessary solution. I hope people coalesce around somebody who has a positive vision about how to bring Americans together. Via: The Hill",0 "GA POLICE Sergeant FIRED For Flying Confederate Flag At Her HomeThe political correctness police are apparently more powerful than those who have been trained and dedicate their lives to defending citizens A Roswell police sergeant who was fired from her job this month for flying the Confederate battle flag in front of her house is appealing her termination and said Tuesday she had no idea the flag was controversial.In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, former police sergeant Silvia Cotriss said she had been flying the battle flag below the American flag in front of her Woodstock house for more than a year with no complaints from neighbors or passersby. So she was surprised the week of July 11, when detectives with the department s internal affairs division notified her that she was being investigated for conduct unbecoming an officer on or off duty. If I knew it offended someone, my friends, my family, I wouldn t do it, Cotriss told the AJC. Police officers have to adjust a lot of things in our lives, and for 20 years my whole life has been about making change and being held to a higher standard. We take an oath to help and protect people, so we can t have a private life that s really bad. A man who lives nearby her home was driving his daughter and son to pre-school and noticed a Confederate flag in Coteries yard. It is unclear whether he knew Cotriss, but the man said in an email to Grant that, It is very difficult to explain to my daughter that we should trust our police. But in the same sentiment if I were to ever be pulled over or some situation where my family needs the police to protect and serve, my first thought/fear is that it may be the officer proudly flying his/her Confederate flag. The man claimed Cotriss police vehicle was in the driveway, a charge Cotriss denies.Cotriss said she and her husband, who died recently, had gotten a battle flag in May 2015 during a vacation to Panama City, Fla., for Thunder Beach, a popular biker festival. The battle flag had a motorcycle in the center, and Cotriss flew it beneath the American flag on a towering pole in her front yard. Over time the Confederate emblem became tattered and she recently asked a friend to take it down, she said. A neighbor offered her a new one, without a motorcycle, and her friend accepted it for herThe day before the man had attended Eagle s Nest Church, a predominantly African-American congregation in Roswell, where Grant and the entire Roswell police force had been invited to worship in the aftermath of the Dallas police massacre. Pastor Lee Jenkins extended the invitation and Grant said, in a previous interview, that he accepted because, For me the takeaway from (the protests in) Ferguson was that a lot of African-Americans don t trust police officers and don t see them as I did when I was growing up. And since the unrest in Ferguson, after the shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer, Grant had been visiting several churches in the Roswell area to build bridges. Grant was the only police official to attend the Eagle s Nest service and Jenkins said after the chief addressed the congregation, they gave him a standing ovation.The man who lodged the complaint against Coteries referenced the service in his email to Grant and in an email to Jenkins. Via: AJC",0 "Shrek, a renegade Merino sheep that hid in caves to avoid being sheared, became a national icon in New Zealand, a country said to have more sheep than people.",0 "Senators grill U.S. education secretary on proposal to slash budgetWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced hostile questions from a Senate committee on Tuesday as she tried to win lawmakers over to President Donald Trump’s proposal to slash her department’s funding by 13 percent. DeVos, a Republican who narrowly won Senate approval for her post in February after strident opposition from Democrats and a few fellow party members, testified before the Senate appropriations subcommittee on education about the proposed budget Trump submitted to Congress last month. Trump’s plan to cut $9 billion from the Education Department’s budget would “improve educational opportunities” and shift the federal role in education, DeVos told the panel. “I understand those figures are alarming for many,” she said. “However, this budget refocuses the department on supporting states and school districts in their efforts to provide high-quality education to all our students.” Democrats took turns asking DeVos about the bigger budget line-items and talking about students who they say could be hurt by large spending cuts. The most pointed exchanges were on whether private schools that receive federal funds would have to agree not to discriminate against students. DeVos would only repeat that schools taking federal money must abide by U.S. law. But Senator Jeff Merkley and his fellow Democrats said she was refusing to answer the question because federal law is unclear in many areas of possible discrimination, such as the rights of transgendered people. Lawmakers are expected to alter Trump’s proposed budget before voting on it. The subcommittee’s chair, conservative Republican Roy Blunt, said he believed Congress would not approve the budget as proposed. “Such a significant cut to the department’s budget is likely untenable,” Blunt said, pressing specifically to preserve funds for technical programs, work-study financial aid and the Special Olympics. Civil rights groups and Democrats say the budget would send public dollars to private companies, disband after-school care, hurt schools in poor neighborhoods, shrink the ranks of teachers, and make it harder for many to afford college. DeVos is currently working on major transformations in student loans. The budget suggests changing income-based repayment plans and ending loan forgiveness for workers in the public sector, which DeVos said would clear up confusion around the loans. With the stated aim of giving parents more choices for their children’s education, DeVos and Republicans support charter schools, which are publicly funded but operate independently, frequently by corporations, as well as subsidies to help pay private-school tuition. Many Republicans on the panel applauded the budget’s proposal to boost such “school choice” programs. But the subcommittee’s senior Democrat, Patty Murray, said the cuts “highlight the ways that the policies and priorities you and President Trump are pushing would hurt students, hurt communities, and represent a clear broken promise to workers and the middle class.” ",1 Will Brazil be able to successfully host the 2014 World Cup? Al-Jazeera reports that maybe they won't.,1 North Korea said it is weaponizing plutonium and enriching uranium and told the United Nations to choose between talks or imposing sanctions over its nuclear program.,1 Mohammed is now the most popular name for baby boys in London,0 " Fox Goes Full-Stupid: Planned Parenthood ‘Does Late-Term Abortions’ To ‘Sell Baby Parts’ (VIDEO)It s finally happened. The baby parts lie fabricated by two felons at the deceptively-named Center for Medical Progress has been mindlessly parroted throughout right-wing media that they are now claiming the women s health organization violates federal law by performing later-term abortions in order to sell baby parts. On Monday, O Reilly Factor, the discussion turned to Hillary Clinton s statement on abortion at the Fox News Town Hall. Asked whether she supports late-term abortions, Clinton said that it should be an option if the life and health of the mother is at risk. While this would seem sensible to even most adamantly anti-abortion individuals, Fox contributor Katie Pavlich naturally idiotsplained that Clinton is as evil as the most infected cyst on Satan s behind. She was asked specifically about late-term abortion and there was an incredible poll that came out in January showing 80 percent of Americans, including 80 percent of women, think late-term abortion should be banned, Pavlich said, ignoring that Clinton had explained that the exception only pertained to saving the mother s life.Juan Williams pointed out that Planned Parenthood is very popular in the United States, but Pavlich had a dirty little secret to drop for her incredibly stupid crowd:Does she have any evidence to back her claim? Of course not numerous investigations failed to prove that Planned Parenthood had sold a single baby part. The organization did accept reimbursement for expenses, but it is a crime to actually profit from fetal tissue sale. After the Right foamed at the mouth over the fake controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood, the organization stopped accepting reimbursement altogether to appease the Stupid Part of America.While it is obvious that the gerbils that operate Pavlich s brain are having difficulties overcoming such a baffling level of stupidity, you might be wondering: is this a work slowdown, or did they just say f*ck it and go on strike? Does Planned Parenthood even perform late-term abortions?They don t. During the baby parts witch hunt, Richards was clear that the organization does not perform late-term abortions. Politico reported at the time:When late-term abortions came up, Richards maintained that Planned Parenthood doesn t perform abortions past viability. But as the National Right to Life Committee points out, Planned Parenthood clinics advertise and perform abortions well into the second trimester, even up to 24 weeks, while research says about a quarter of infants born at 22 weeks survive.Richards professed to have never heard of a baby surviving an abortion, even though survivors have testified before Congress. She said a baby born alive after an attempted abortion should get medical care a significant concession given people on her side of the abortion debate, including Barack Obama in Illinois, have previously opposed legislation to protect born-alive infants.That s right. Thanks to the continuous strain and lackluster benefits involved with operating Pavlich s thinkie-thingie and after numerous on-the-job deaths, the little critters in her head are refusing to work. Rumor has it that they are demanding more break time, paid lunch, a raise, and better healthcare, and that Pavlich refuses the only explanation for the words that just came out of her mouth.Visibly perplexed that a human being can be this utterly ignorant, Williams shot back: This is exactly where I think Republicans go off the rails. The people who tried to argue that Planned Parenthood was selling baby parts, they got indicted. In Texas. In a red state. For violating people s rights and for making up stuff. Watch this monumental reminder that it s important to VOTE BLUE in November below:Featured image via screengrab",0 "MEDIA GOES NUTS After Trump Tweets HILARIOUS VIDEO Showing Him Body-Slamming CNNPresident Trump on Sunday tweeted a video of him body-slamming World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon whose face was replaced by the CNN logo.The tweet, which said, #FraudNewsCNN #FNN, linked to a video of the president decking, pummeling and then shaving off McMahon s hair during a Battle of the Billionaires stunt at WrestleMania XXIII in 2007.#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017McMahon is the husband of Linda McMahon, who heads Trump s Small Business Administration.President Barack Obama hosted felon and radical organizer Bob Creamer (the guy who was caught on video talking about how he was organizing paid protesters to incite violence at Trump rallies) at the White House over 100 times while he was in office. After the undercover video was released that exposed the Democrats plan to incite violence against innocent Trump supporters, the media was silent. The media was also silent when it was discovered that Obama s Attorney General Eric Holder, used taxpayer funds to pay people to protest against George Zimmerman in the heated Trayvon Martin case, which was the birthplace of the violent Black Lives Matter movement. Those protests marked the first step in Obama s plan to divide America.In a statement on Twitter, CNN recalled comments from White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week that the president doesn t condone violence against the media. The President in no way form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence. If anything, quite the contrary. @SHSanders45 6/29/17, the CNN tweet said.Bipartisan condemnation against the take-down video continued to build Sunday morning.GOP Rep. Eric Swalwell urged all Republicans to rebuke the Tweet or be complicit in its message. I am calling on EVERY @HouseGOP Member of Congress to condemn this. You were elected to be a check on power. Check it, or you condone it, the California representative tweeted on Sunday.Minority House Leader Nancy Pelosi also blasted the tweet. Violence & violent imagery to bully the press must be rejected. This #July4th, celebrate freedom of the press, guardians to our democracy, she wrote on Twitter.Paul Joseph Watson sums up the media hypocrisy beautifully with this one tweet:Trump is ""inciting violence"" with a wrestling meme, says same media that literally painted a crosshair target on Trump's head. pic.twitter.com/m8V8XjYHU0 Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) July 2, 2017A Trump administration official said he doesn t view Trump s tweet as inciting violence against the media. Certainly not, though I think that no one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don t. I do think that [Trump is] beaten up in a way on cable platforms that he has a right to respond to, Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert said on ABC s This Week. He said cable news shows are not always very fair to the president, who developed a social media platform to speak directly to the American people. Trump is the most genuine president and the most non-politician president we ve seen in my lifetime, he said.Watch #FakeNewsCNN experts call Trump Dangerous and a Fascist :The president was also the subject of bipartisan scorn last Thursday when he posted the bleeding badly tweet about Brzezinski, with many lawmakers saying it was beneath the dignity of the office.Trump defended his use of social media in a tweet on Saturday. My use of social media is not Presidential it s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!, he wrote. NYPNOTE TO CNN: Re-tweeting a video that s been around for years showing a fake body-slam by then businessman Trump is a far cry from promoting violence. If you were so concerned about violence, why didn t you do any stories on felon, husband of a United States Congresswoman and Democrat operative who was caught on tape planning to incite violence at Trump rallies before he even became our President? ",0 "WOW! LOOSE CANNON HILLARY Leaked Major Nuclear Secret To World During Final Debate [VIDEO]Is it not enough that Hillary has compromised our national security with her unsecured email server that contained top classified security emails? In her rush to prove how much more she knows that Donald J. Trump when it comes to national security, Hillary just committed treason when she revealed damning information that could compromise the safety and security of our nation Is this treasonous, loose cannon the person Democrats want representing our nation simply because it s her turn or because she has the proper genitalia? She s been accused during sworn testimony of disrespecting security agents and putting them in danger.She abaonded her friend Ambassador Chris Stevens and left him to the Islamists who slaughtered him in Benghazi.Tonight during the final presidential debate Hillary Clinton leaked more national security secrets.Hillary said it took four minutes between the nuclear order and nukes flying. GPCareless Hillary told the WORLD the US 'Nuclear Response' Time!! REALLY??#ChrisWallace #debatenight @seanhannity @realDonaldTrump #Trump pic.twitter.com/grOKowwVQI John T. Miller (@cyvault) October 20, 2016https://twitter.com/WDFx2EU7/status/788945122176081920 ",0 "AS SEEN ON REDDIT: Please help Sergio Lopez Family, fire victim, 3 kids, house burned, lost his wife, and job... ",0 6 die as 'trashslide' buries houses in Philippines,1 "In elaborate hoax, websites say NFL Redskins renamed as Redhawks(Reuters) - Native American advocates launched an elaborate hoax on Wednesday, creating authentic-looking web pages of major media that purported to report that the National Football League’s Washington Redskins had changed their name to the Redhawks. The campaign, led by a group called the Rising Hearts Coalition, created web pages that appeared strikingly similar to the real pages of those of The Washington Post, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and Bleacher Report, plus one for the team itself with a new Redhawks logo. Some Native Americans consider the Redskins name highly offensive and evocative of the genocide of North American tribes by American settlers of European descent. “We created this action to show the NFL and the Washington Football franchise how easy, popular and powerful changing the name could be,” Rebecca Nagle of the Cherokee Nation said in a news release that identified her as “one of the organizers of the stunt.” “What we’re asking for changes only four letters. Just four letters! Certainly the harm that the mascot does to Native Americans outweighs the very, very minor changes the franchise would need to make,” Nagle said. All the online pages added disclaimers announcing the website as a parody and not endorsed by nor affiliated with sites they were imitating. A Washington Post spokeswoman provided a link to the newspaper’s own report on the stunt, but declined to comment further. U.S. President Donald Trump regularly derides the mainstream media as “fake news,” raising the stakes for news organizations that might be victims of a hoax. The Redskins have long declined to change their name, saying their fans support keeping it. A Washington Post poll released last year found 90 percent of Native Americans were not offended by the name, but a rival study by the Center for Indigenous Peoples Studies at California State University, San Bernardino found 67 percent of Native Americans considered the name racist. “This morning, the Redskins organization was made aware of fraudulent websites about our team name,” Tony Wyllie, the team’s senior vice president for communications, said in a statement. “The name of the team is the Washington Redskins and will remain that for the future.” ",1 "More Than 1 Million Flee, Ukraine Close to 'Humanitarian Catastrophe'",0 "At least 30 police die in clash in Egypt's Western desert: security sourcesCAIRO (Reuters) - Armed militants killed at least 30 policemen in a shootout during a raid on a suspected militant hideout in Egypt s Western desert, security sources said on Friday. A number of suspected militants were also killed and security forces are combing the area, a statement by the Interior Ministry said. Egypt is facing an Islamist insurgency concentrated in the Sinai peninsula from two main groups, including an Islamic State affiliate, that has killed hundreds of security forces since 2013. Islamist militants have launched several major attacks, most recently targeting churches in Cairo and other cities with the loss of dozens of lives. The security sources said authorities were following a lead to a hideout deep in the desert thought to house eight suspected members of Hasm, a group which has claimed several attacks around the capital targeting judges and police since last year. A convoy of four SUVs and one interior ministry vehicle was ambushed from higher ground by militants firing rocket-propelled grenades and detonating explosive devices, a senior source in the Giza Security Office said. The number of dead was expected to rise, two security sources said. Two security sources said eight security personnel were injured in the clashes, while another source said that four of the injured were police and four others suspected militants. Egypt accuses Hasm of being the militant wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group it outlawed in 2013. The Muslim Brotherhood denies this. The Islamist insurgency in the Sinai peninsula has grown since the military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule. The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen and has started to target other areas, including Egypt s Christian Copts. (This version of the story was refiled to say policemen in first paragraph from police officers as the rank of the dead was not immediately known) ",1 "U Of WI STUDENTS SELL Hateful Hoodies: “All White People Are Racists”…Message Promoting Violence Against CopsUniversity of Wisconsin Madison, where NOT to send your kids to school The sale of hateful racist sweatshirts or hoodies on campus is really not surprising considering the University of WI Madison has been a hotbed for radical students and faculty for quite some time now. We shared a story about a U of WI Madison student who was given cover by his professor when the police came to talk to him during class after he was caught on camera spray painting racist graffiti all over school property. Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are asking people to buy sweatshirts promoting violence against police officers and classifying all white people as racists. Racism, claims one hoodie s page, is a set of systematic, institutional, cultural, and epistemological (although not limited to said forms) structures that inherently empowers white folk and in turn disempowers people of color. This power dictates who lives, have housing, access to education/healthcare etc. Racism has little to do with hatred and mostly to do with who has power. White folk or those who see themselves as white are given said power inherently regardless of socioeconomic class, education etc. This is why white men created race in the first place to maintain power. Racism gave birth to the idea of race. This is a [sic] oversimplified definition, the description continues.Facebook has already removed an original picture of the sweatshirt for not following Facebook s Community Standards. However, as of this writing, Facebook has yet to remove the post selling the sweatshirts.One of the sweatshirt says If I Encounter Another Cop With A God Complex I m Going To Have To Show The World That They Are Human , seemingly promoting violence towards police.Via: Campus Reform",0 "LAURA INGRAHAM ON FIRE: Nails Republicans On These Key Points In Budget Battle [Video]Laura Ingraham is dialed in on the Republican s inability to get a good budget bill. She held up the Washington Post to show how Pelosi and Schumer are celebrating the victory of the budget. The Democrats got pretty much everything they wanted at the expense of the American people. We do not have a Republican Party on Capitol Hill that can get its act together. Laura IngrahamLet s face it the Republicans didn t fight for us and Ingraham knows it. She mentions key parts of the spending bill in her rant on Fox & Friends. We re happy she mentioned the ***Refugee Resettlement Program because that s one part of the bill that we re very disappointed in. The Refugee Resettlement Program is so bloated and needs to be overhauled or defunded altogether. We re sick about it:The bill would include a total of $3 billion towards migration and refugee assistance, which is roughly the same that was spent in Fiscal Year 2016. It would also include $50 million towards the emergency refugee and migration assistance fund, which is also the same amount spent in the previous fiscal year. Via: Daily Caller***For more information: Refugee Resettlement ",0 "Agony And Ivory --- On illegal ivory trade. ""We are greeted by the nauseating stench of rotting flesh. Fifty yards from the blood trail, the dead, decomposing elephant is kneeling in a pool of its own fluid, which is swarming with flies""",0 "Trump, UK's May talk Middle East peace - White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May talked about ways to move towards peace in the Middle East in a phone call on Tuesday, the White House said. The president and Prime Minister discussed next steps in forging peace in the Middle East, the White House said in a brief statement that made no mention of Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Both leaders also emphasized the urgency of addressing the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Trump also congratulated May on the decision by European Union leaders to move to the second phase of the Brexit negotiations, the White House said. ",1 A judge in Chile has closed the case on the death of President Salvador Allende after an authoritative autopsy confirmed it was suicide,1 "Obama cuts short prison sentences for 214 convictsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama cut short the prison terms of 214 convicts on Wednesday, the largest number of commutations a U.S. leader has granted in single day since at least 1900, the White House said. Obama has now granted a total of 562 commutations during his presidency, more than the number by the past nine presidents combined, it said. In Wednesday’s batch, 67 convicts were serving life sentences. The convicts were serving time for crimes including possession of crack cocaine and methamphetamine, with intent to distribute. Some were imprisoned on charges of gun possession. One of the convicts, James Wright of Baltimore, Maryland, was serving a 20 year sentence that began in 2006 for possession of crack with intent to distribute. He will be released in December. Obama has worked to reform the U.S. criminal justice system and reduce the number of people serving long sentences for nonviolent drug offences. It is a rare issue on which Obama gets support from Republican lawmakers. For years crack offenders faced stiffer penalties than powder cocaine offenders, even though the substances are similar at the molecular level. Critics have said the disparity has unfairly harmed minority and poor communities. In 2014, Obama announced the most ambitious clemency program in 40 years, inviting thousands of drug offenders and other convicts to seek early release. But the program has struggled under a flood of unprocessed cases. “Our work is far from finished,” White House counsel Neil Eggleston said about the commutations. Eggleston urged Congress to take action. “While we continue to work to act on as many clemency applications as possible, only legislation can bring about lasting change to the federal system,” he said. The program automatically expires when Obama leaves office next January and it is uncertain whether the next president would continue with a similar plan. Donald Trump, the Republican candidate in the Nov. 8 election, has championed “law and order” in his campaign. Democrat Hillary Clinton has called for criminal justice reform. ",1 Japan ignored own radiation forecasts,1 " Deaths of Hostages Held by Somali Pirates ""Increasing""- The number of hostages killed or injured by Somali pirates increased significantly last year. Levels of violence against seafarers in coastal waters around east Africa & the Gulf of Aden also remained high.",1 CLASS ACT! WATCH THE TODAY SHOW’S MATT LAUER Get Shot Down By Trump’s Friend New England Patriots Owner Bob Craft [Video] ,0 "March in Poland mourns man who set himself on fire in anti-government protestWARSAW (Reuters) - Several hundred people walked in silence on Monday night in Warsaw in memory of a 54-year-old man who died late last month after setting himself on fire in protest against the ruling conservatives policies. Piotr Szczesny, a married father of two from the small town of Niepolomice in Poland s south, died on Oct. 29, after setting himself on fire on Oct. 19 in front of the Palace of Culture, a Warsaw landmark. The Polish government, led by the right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) which came to power two years ago, has been criticized by the European Commission for policies Brussels says jeopardize the freedom of the media and independence of courts. I love freedom above all, Szczesny, wrote in a leaflet, copies of which he scattered around himself. That s why I decided to commit the act of self-immolation and I hope that my death will shake the conscience of many people.... One of the protesters on Monday, Jacek Rabinski, a 38-year-old training to be a paramedic, said that he mourned Szczesny s life and was full of respect for his decision. We are here because we are worried about the situation in our country, the political situation, Rabinski said. Many people live in the conviction that politics doesn t concern them. Politics is us, we ordinary people create politics. ",1 "CIA torture report: Dianne Feinstein called its findings ""shocking"" and the CIA's behavior ""in stark contrast to our values as a nation""",0 "Farah breaks Moorcroft's 3,000m British record(Reuters) - Double Olympic champion Mo Farah continued his build-up to the Rio Games by breaking David Moorcroft’s 34-year-old British record in the 3,000 meters at a Diamond League meeting in Birmingham on Sunday. Farah, the 5,000 and 10,000m gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, won in seven minutes 32.62 seconds after striding out at the front in a determined effort to beat Moorcroft’s 1982 time of 7:32.79. “Did I get it?,” the 33-year-old, who pulled out of the meet last year after being angered by allegations surrounding his coach Alberto Salazar, who denied violating anti-doping rules, asked a BBC interviewer. “That’s incredible... I thought I’d just missed it. It was a bit tight on the last lap, I had to dig in,” added Farah, who paid tribute to his boyhood hero Muhammad Ali before the race by striking a boxing stance. Former Olympic and world heavyweight champion Ali died on Friday aged 74 and Sunday’s meeting held a minute’s applause for the man known as ‘The Greatest’. “He was a big hero of mine and I send all my condolences to his family and friends,” said Somali-born Farah, who will defend his titles in Rio in August. Kenya’s Mathew Kiptanui was second in 7:44.16 with compatriot Hillary Maiyo third. Kenyan David Rudisha, the Olympic 800m champion and world record holder, ran the second fastest 600m ever with his time of 1:13.10, not far off the world best of 1:12.81 in the little-run distance. He felt he could have gone faster. “I think I lost it in the last 100 meters,” he said. Apart from Farah and Rudisha, there were four other world leading times at the meet including for Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya in winning the men’s steeplechase in 8:00.12 and for his compatriot Asbel Kiprop who took the 1,500 in 3:29.33. Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim won the men’s high jump with a world leading leap of 2.37 meters, while Cuba’s Yarisley Silva produced a year’s best of 4.84 in the women’s pole vault. Britain’s Greg Rutherford, another 2012 Olympic champion, was beaten in the long jump for the first time since last July. He said after his jump of 8.17 left him fifth, with American Marquise Goodwin winning comfortably with a mark of 8.42, that he was struggling with a “mild neck injury” from the previous round in Rome last week. “We have tried to get it 100 percent ready in time. Sadly I have made it worse on the first landing and I am currently unable to move my neck,” he said. “The doctor thinks it is a bad whiplash but it won’t affect my Olympic bid. I am positive the British Athletics medical staff will be able to fix it over the next week.” Australia’s Sally Pearson, the Olympic 100 meters hurdles champion, made her competitive return a year after shattering her wrist in a fall in Rome but finished seventh in a race won by American Kendra Harrison in 12.46 seconds. ",1 EU proposes Gaza reconstruction for Hamas disarmament,0 "Draining the swamp: Hard-hit Everglades town mops up after IrmaEVERGLADES CITY, Fla. (Reuters) - As Hurricane Irma raged through Everglades City, a tiny fishing village in a vast alligator-infested swamp, Howie Grimm hunkered down inside his house with his 88-year-old mother, a useless cell phone and a new job title. He had been acting mayor for less than a week. When the winds started to wane, he jumped in his truck and moved his mother to a higher perch a trailer on stilts because he knew a storm surge would follow the eye of the storm. He watched from the trailer as the surge swallowed his truck. And that s how it all started, my what do you call it? mayorism? he recalled with a laugh on Monday, as he leaned on a flooded forklift in front of his business, Grimm s Seafood. While most of South Florida was spared the worst of the dangerous storm, this remote hamlet of about 400 residents in the southwest part of the state, felt the full wrath of Irma s winds and waves. And yet residents here seemed to take it in stride, surveying the damage with a good humor and a shrug of the shoulders. Little help had arrived from the outside world the day after the storm, but no one here seemed to be asking for much help, either. In a town surrounded by marshlands, storms and floods are part of the deal. The few residents that remained in this outpost for Irma s landfall on Sunday watched a surge up to eight feet high inundate roughly half of the homes and businesses - all the ones that were not up on stilts - and cake the town in gray swamp slime. Sammy Hamilton, 83, the city s mayor for 22 years until last week, lost two buildings housing tourism businesses, along with several vessels. One of his 55-foot tour boats ended up in a tree an ornament of sorts. That s how we decorate here for Christmas, said Hamilton, who stepped down over his handling of the town s sewer plant, which had fallen out of compliance with state environmental regulations and faces a major overhaul. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection sued the city in 2015, after inspectors caught the plant pumping sewage into nearby mangroves. Few residents expressed much anger with Hamilton over the sewer plant or his resignation days before a major flood. I love the old mayor, said Grimm, the acting mayor, who had criticized Hamilton s handling of the sewer debacle. He s done a lot of good. He just decided he d had enough. Everglades City is isolated geographically and culturally from the rest of South Florida by 1.5 million aces of preserved wetlands. Founded in the late 1800s, it later became the last stop on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Its historic Rod and Gun Club, which has hosted a half dozen U.S. presidents, including Harry Truman when he dedicated the swampland surrounding the city as a national park in 1947. Today, the city s economy rests on three main commodities: stone crabs, alligators and airboats. The commercial catch of stone crabs once played a bigger role than tourism - which primarily involves scouting alligators on airboats - but that mix is changing, said Vicky Wells, a fifth-generation resident. Her brother was among those who happily made the switch from processing crabs to toting tourists around on airboats. It was a lot more money for a lot easier work, Wells said. People here do whatever they need to do to feed their family. And many do whatever is needed to protect their family from wind and water. Having weathered many storms, the Wells family built their home a decade ago to withstand a major hurricane. Vicky s husband, Bob Wells, 72, drove pilings 23 feet into the ground and used rebar to reinforce a concrete foundation every two feet. He encased the windows in concrete, too. We built this thing to stay. It stayed, Bob said. Across the street from the Wells home, Ricky Collins, a 68-year-old Everglades City native, washed muck from his driveway as his grandson pushed it out of his house with a broom. The flood didn t rattle him, and he didn t think it would change how his neighbors, even the newer arrivals, viewed living there. The difference in this town now is that we have a lot of foreigners I mean, people from out of state, he said. But they ll stay, too. They ll probably do better than we will, because they have better insurance and everything. Among the newcomers is Marlene Sassaman, 69, who moved here four years ago. She stayed for the storm and spent the next day mopping the mud out of her first floor. If you have a strong house, you re fine, Sassaman said As for the departure of the old mayor, she said she preferred to steer clear of any controversy. Let s just say he retired. I don t want to go there, she said. He was born and bred here, and his pappy was born and bred here I really love this place, because it s one of the last small towns in the country. ",1 The dark side of Dubai,0 "Tony Nicklinson, British sufferer of 'Locked In Syndrome', dies.",0 Japan sea radioactivity 'rises',1 "BREAKING: BEN CARSON Makes Surprising Announcement After Saying He Would NOT Serve On Trump’s Cabinet [VIDEO]#BREAKING @RealBenCarson on #foxreport: If after meeting and they (Trump Transition Team) decide they want me, then I wouldn't turn it down HARRISFAULKNER (@HARRISFAULKNER) November 21, 2016 I didn t 100% say that I would never serve. I just said that my preference would be to stay outside. Basically I ve said, my preference was to be outside, and to act as an advisor. But if after going through the process, they all conclude that, you now, that it would be much better to have me in the cabinet, I would have to give that some serious consideration. It s just not my preference. Watch here at the 1:20 mark:https://youtu.be/-zuSHm0ASNc",0 "Illinois Republican lawmaker resigns, cites Facebook, Twitter hacksCHICAGO (Reuters) - A prominent Illinois Republican has resigned from the state legislature, citing multiple incidents of fake Facebook and Twitter accounts set up in his name in recent weeks. “After some cyber security issues arose, I began to re-evaluate my continued public service,” Representative Ron Sandack, House Republican floor leader, said in a resignation letter dated Sunday and provided on Monday by the Republican Caucus. Sandack, known as an adamant defender of Republican Governor Bruce Rauner’s initiatives on the floor of the Democratic-dominated House, was up for re-election in November against Democrat Greg Hose. His resignation comes as both major U.S. political parties are increasingly bedeviled by hacking, including Friday’s leak of emails that have embarrassed Democrats as they gather for the party’s convention in Philadelphia this week. Sandack had been battling since July 4 to remove multiple fake Facebook and Twitter accounts in his name, he told Capitol Fax, a respected political blog based in Springfield, the state capital. It is not clear what, if anything, the fake accounts posted in his name. Sandack, who was an active user of social media, has shut down his Facebook and Twitter accounts and has filed a police report regarding the fake ones, Capitol Fax reported. A spokeswoman for Jim Durkin, leader of the House Republicans, did not respond to a question on who would replace Sandack as Republican candidate for his seat. Rauner did not respond to reporters’ questions about Sandack following an event on Monday morning. Sandack is a Chicago lawyer and former mayor of Downers Grove, Illinois. He was appointed in 2010 to the Illinois Senate to fill in for a senator who resigned, and went on to be elected as representative for his suburban Chicago district. In his resignation notice he also said he was no longer willing to miss so many family events. ",1 " Trump Tried To FIRE The Woman He Worked So Hard To Sleep With After She Spurned HimThe woman that Trump claimed he tried so hard to sleep, and admittedly failed to do so, is Nancy O Dell, who hosted the Miss USA pageant in 2004 and 2005. Trump spoke of sexually assaulting her in 2005, but what many may not know is that he apparently tried to have her fired after that.At the time, he said he didn t like the way she looked while she was pregnant. TMZ reported, back in 2007, that Trump couldn t do that. O Dell s contract was with NBC, not with Trump, and he got overruled. O Dell kept her job, and Trump got to sulk in the background.So the official reason for wanting to fire her was that he didn t like the way she looked pregnant. Knowing Trump, though, he was butthurt that she d spurned him and wanted to punish her for the audacity. This is the man that pretended to be a PR person to hype up his own prowess with women back in the early 90s, after all.Trump claims he was just joking with Billy Bush on an Access Hollywood bus when the ahem disgustingly unfortunate comments about assaulting O Dell were made. O Dell was slated to host Miss USA with Bush that year, making this all the more terrible.Billy Bush is now a co-host of NBC s Today Show, and is probably in some hot water, considering this is the third time he s given NBC problems. He issued an apology for his role in pushing sexual harassment and assault as something men can just do when they re famous, saying: I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I m very sorry. Yeah, younger and less mature totally excuses this. It also totally excuses trying to fire her afterward. Trump s true motives may never be known, but it s highly suspicious, and knowing Trump, it s because her rejection just rankled him and he had to put her in her place.Photo of Donald Trump by Ralph Freso/Getty Images. Photo of Nancy O Dell by David Becker/Getty Images. Images merged by Rika Christensen",0 "FAST AND FURIOUS Hearing Rips Obama and Holder for Obstruction: “ATF and DOJ officials implemented an all-out campaign to silence me” [Video]Members of a congressional committee ripped Obama and his attorney general for covering up an investigation into the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Terry was killed as a result of a botched government gun-running project known as Operation Fast and Furious:The House Oversight Committee also Wednesday released a scathing, nearly 300-page report that found Holder s Justice Department tried to hide the facts from the loved ones of slain Border Patrol Brian Terry seeing his family as more of a nuisance than one deserving straight answers and slamming Obama s assertion of executive privilege to deny Congress access to records pertaining to Fast and Furious.Senator Grassley accused the DOJ and ATF officials of obstructing the investigation and working to silence ATF agents who informed the Senate of Fast and Furious: The Department of Justice and ATF had no intention of looking for honest answers and being transparent. In fact, from the onset, bureaucrats employed shameless delay tactics to obstruct the investigation. One of the silenced ATF agents, John Dodson, testified Wednesday that he remains in a state of purgatory since objecting to Fast and Furious and has been the subject of reprisals and ridicule at the agency: That decision, the single act of standing up and saying, What we are doing is wrong instantly took my standing from being that of an agent of the government to an enemy of the state. ATF and DOJ officials implemented an all-out campaign to silence and discredit me. Suffice to say, the last six to seven years at ATF have not been the best for me or my career. Grassley s and Dodson s testimony reinforced findings of the report, which states that the Justice Department knew before Terry s death that the ATF was walking firearms to Mexico and knew the day after the agent s death that Fast and Furious guns were involved in the shootout despite denying these facts to the media. It goes on to state that the Justice Department s internal investigation focused more on spinning the story to avoid negative media coverage than looking into lapses by either the DOJ or ATF.The whistleblower testimony is especially compelling at the 42:00 point of the video:Several emails revealed in the report appear to indicate that some Justice Department staffers were working to keep information from political appointees at the department. I don t want to jinx it but it really is astounding that the plan worked so far, former Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote in an email to Holder, according to the report.The report also says that Holder s Justice Department stonewalled inquiries from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and deceptively told him that the ATF makes every effort to interdict firearms purchased by straw buyers. There are important reasons for not giving Grassley everything he is asking for: it would embolden him in future fights and would use up a lot of the material that we will eventually need to release to (California Rep. Darrell) Issa . . . as the oversight struggle continues, the Office of Legislative Affairs Assistant Attorney General Ron Welch said in an email to DOJ colleagues.Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry died in a gunfight between Border Patrol agents and members of a six-man cartel rip crew, which regularly patrolled the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border looking for drug dealers to rob.Read more: FOX",0 Madagascar on the brink of civil war,1 "German police arrest alleged Islamic State militant in ice rink truck attack plotBERLIN (Reuters) - German police arrested a 29-year-old man they said was an active member of Islamic State who was plotting a truck attack on an ice rink. The arrest, a year after Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck and drove it into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people, comes as security services have warned of growing numbers of radical Islamists in Germany. He was considering an attack on the ice rink on the Schlossplatz in Karlsruhe, police in the south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said, adding that the suspect was a German citizen whose name they gave only as Dasbar W. To that end he was assessing areas around Karlsruhe Castle and, from September 2017, had begun seeking employment as a delivery driver - without success, the police statement said. In 2015, the suspect traveled to Iraq to fight for Islamic State, receiving weapons training and working as a scout seeking potential attack targets in the city of Erbil, police said. He returned to Germany the following year. Before leaving for Iraq, Dasbar worked for Islamic State from Germany, producing propaganda videos and proselytizing to converts in online chat rooms, police said. Earlier this month, Germany s security service warned that the number of Salafists - followers of a radical Islamist ideology - had risen to an all-time high of 10,800, though the number prepared to mount attacks was in the order of hundreds. ",1 Spain Is In A 'Vicious Downward Spiral' Right Now,1 " You Won’t Believe The Racist Image Trump Just Tweeted About Megyn Kelly (IMAGE)Donald Trump is known for his controversial and often racist comments and he continues to be unrelenting. During his latest feud with Fox News and specifically Megyn Kelly, Trump tweeted an image of Kelly meeting with a Saudi prince and a woman dressed in niqab.@Drudge_Report_ @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/yjQSzw2GaR Brad (@BradCross4) January 28, 2016As you can probably guess, the image is a fake and was retweeted by Trump from an unapologetic racist who has also tweeted images of Michelle Obama as a monkey and having sex with an ape.Not that Trump seems to care where he gets his information from.In the past, he has retweeted white supremacists, including fans of Adolf Hitler, and has promoted fake crime statistics fabricated by neo-Nazis, which he later defended as very credible. In his latest racist tweet, Trump does what he does best which is to play on the fears of individuals. This time, just like many times before, Islam was used as a vehicle in which to do so. He has called for banning Muslims from entering the United States, stood by and did nothing while a Muslim woman was kicked out of one of his rallies for simply being a Muslim, and has attacked the religion and its followers to the point where there has been a surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the country because of his comments. Thus, the fake image of Megyn Kelly is designed to associate Kelly with Islam and Muslims, which in Trump s as well as his racist associates warped minds means something terrible and something un-American.Trump is a disturbing and a disgusting individual who appeals to folks just like him. Let s hope that when all is said and done in terms of the elections, we can all look back and reminisce at the big bad joke that was Donald Trump running to be president of the United States.Featured Image Via Wikimedia Commons",0 spy called 'The Spaniard' may have betrayed British and U.S. secrets to Russia for more than a decade,1 "PAUL RYAN “BETRAYED” A Wealthy Businessman Who’s Now Running Against HimThis is great! More citizens need to take it to the establishment politicians who promise one thing to get elected and then do something totally different once in office. Paul Ryan needs to go and it sounds like this guy is the one to do it! A wealthy businessman with tea party ties confirmed Sunday that he is mounting a primary challenge to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, saying that after donating to the Wisconsin Republican s past campaigns he feels betrayed by the speaker on trade deals and immigration.The businessman, who is not yet revealing his identity, promised that his run will shake up the establishment in a profound way, according to a political consultant close to the prospective candidate.The emergence of a viable Republican challenger in Wisconsin s 1st Congressional District is the culmination of a monthslong recruitment effort by tea party activists who say they were double-crossed by Mr. Ryan when he passed a $2 trillion spending package late last year.Eric Odom, a conservative activist and political consultant in Wisconsin, confirmed with 100 percent certainty that a local business leader would be running to oust Mr. Ryan. I ve had the privilege of attending multiple meetings with this individual, during which he has expressed his sense of betrayal by Speaker Ryan. He has a strong desire to see real representation for the people of the district versus a congressman who represents special interests in Washington, he said. It s very personal for him, Mr. Odom added. He intends to run a full-scale candidacy that will shake up the establishment in a profound way. Read more: WT",0 " 9th Circuit BURNS Trump BAD By Sticking 5th Grade Civics Lesson In Their Decision Against HimProbably the biggest point of contention with Trump s Muslim ban was that it was originally written to include everyone. Refugees, people on every type of visa we issue, and even green card holders. Green card holders are people living and working in the United States legally and permanently, and yet Trump tried to tell those who were traveling that they couldn t come back to their country of legal residence.Because that caused such a massive brouhaha that compounded the rest of the chaos surrounding implementation, White House counsel Donald F. McGahn issued authoritative guidance saying that the relevant sections of the order didn t apply to legal permanent residents.The administration has also made claims that courts don t have access to the classified information they do, and the 9th Circuit schooled them there, too.So here s a rub. The decision states (on pages 21 and 22): At this point, however we cannot rely upon the Government s contention that the Executive Order no longer applies to lawful permanent residents. The Government has offered no authority establishing that the White House counsel is empowered to issue an amended order superseding the Executive Order signed by the President and now challenged by the States, and that proposition seems unlikely The White House counsel is not the President, and he is not known to be in the chain of command for any of the Executive Departments. The court called Trump on the carpet for being unwilling to create, or formally authorize, any exemptions to his Muslim ban. They also implied that he was too idiotic to seek his own guidance, and/or understand that he signed the order, so nobody can amend it without specific authority.So McGahn can t actually amend the order and Trump can t get away with refusing to do real work.But that s not all. The court also nailed him on the uncertainty surrounding the order because everyone interprets it differently: Moreover, in light of the Government s shifting interpretations of the Executive Order, we cannot say that the current interpretation by White House counsel will persist past the immediate stage of these proceedings. On this record, therefore, we cannot conclude that the Government has shown that it is absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur. So the court is basically saying, We don t trust you. You ve given us zero reason to trust you. And here s another rub. Trump & Co. think they re the only people with access to the information needed to keep us safe, and they think that nobody outside their circle should get it because what if the bad people hear it? The 9th Circuit s schooling on that said (on page 28): [T]he Government asserts that, [u]nlike the President, courts do not have access to classified information about the threat posed by terrorist organizations operating in particular nations, the efforts of those organizations to infiltrate the United States, or gaps in the vetting process. But the Government may provide a court with classified information. Courts regularly receive classified information under seal and maintain its confidentiality. Rules and regulations have long been in place for that. Why? Because when a court is hearing a case about the legality of a certain policy decision, they need access to all information available, even if it s classified. Trump and his minions, though, likely believe that the courts are not to be trusted with classified info. If they truly wanted to make their case, though, once again, they would have consulted someone with expertise to see what they could and should give to the courts.When the courts have to teach the lawmakers basic things about the law, we really have to sit back and gawk at the fact that it s a wonder these orders aren t written in entirely in crayon using single-syllable words.Featured image by Andrew Harrer via Getty Images",0 "Hong Kong scraps 24-hour BBC World Service radio channel despite criticismHONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong s public broadcaster RTHK dropped a 24-hour BBC World Service channel from its airwaves on Monday, replacing it with state radio from China in what critics say is a sign of encroaching Chinese control in the former British colony. Tensions between Hong Kong and Beijing s ruling Communist Party leaders have grown in recent years, particularly over the Occupy civil disobedience movement in 2014 when tens of thousands of protesters blocked roads for 79 days demanding full democracy. Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of wide-ranging autonomy under a one country, two systems formula. An online petition, titled RTHK: Give us back our BBC World Service , had been signed by nearly 1,000 people in a bid to keep the British broadcaster s round-the-clock programming, saying the switch would make Hong Kong feel more parochial and inward-looking . However, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), the city s main public broadcaster, went ahead with scrapping the exclusive BBC channel at midnight on Sunday. Instead, China National Radio - a state-run outlet carrying no sensitive or critical reporting on China - would be broadcast on its own RTHK channel. The broadcasts are mostly in Mandarin, rather than the city s main Cantonese dialect. Amen Ng, a spokeswoman for RTHK, told Reuters earlier there were no political considerations in the decision and said the Chinese broadcaster would enhance cultural exchanges. She said there would still be BBC World Service broadcasts, although only overnight from 11 pm to 7 a.m. and occasionally on weekends. Other RTHK staff said the move had been forced through without broader consultation. Nobody knew anything about it. We were told in a meeting just before it was announced, said a senior RTHK editorial employee who declined to be identified because he wasn t authorized to speak to the media. People see it as a negative thing. The BBC is generally regarded as independent, and (Chinese) state media is not, he said. Some listeners said the move could hurt RTHK s trusted place in the public eye with its self-professed mission for editorial independence, not unlike the BBC after which it was modeled. I m quite disappointed. It s a shame but I don t know what we can do, seriously, said Dorothy Tang, an IT consultant. Others said the move was in line with a gradual mainlandization of Hong Kong that has seen Beijing s creeping influence in many sectors, including local government, law enforcement, politics, education, the judiciary, and the media. Gladys Chiu, the head of RTHK s program staff union, said there had been several recent incidents that had challenged RTHK s editorial independence, including staff being heckled by pro-Beijing voices on radio talk-shows and at public forums. Sometimes the pressure is very direct, Chiu said. ",1 "Trump says Israeli-Palestinian deal may be impossibleSUMTER, S.C. (Reuters) - Donald Trump, who has argued his experience negotiating tough real estate deals makes him best qualified to be U.S. president, said on Wednesday it might be impossible to forge a lasting peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. During a televised town hall session hosted by MSNBC in South Carolina, Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, said he believed getting a deal done would be “very, very tough.” The remarks were notable not only because Trump rarely discusses Israel or the Mideast peace process on the campaign trail, but also because they seemed to show a shift in Trump’s views on the feasibility of a deal. Trump said in December he would start working on a deal between the two sides within the first six months of taking office if elected. In those earlier comments, he also said he thought a deal would be hard to make, but added he thought it depended whether the Israelis really wanted to make one. In his comments on Wednesday, Trump said he’d heard from an Israeli that “the other side has been trained from the time they’re children to hate Jewish people,” and that was why a deal might not work. “You have one side in particular growing up and learning that these are the worst people,” he said. “I would say if you can do that deal you can do any deal,” he added. “That’s probably the toughest deal in the world right now to make and it’s possible it’s not makeable.” The town hall was part of Trump’s final push to translate his substantial lead in the South Carolina polls to a victory in the state’s Republican primary election, which takes place on Saturday. He also appeared before South Carolina audiences on Wednesday in the towns of Bluffton, Walterboro and Sumter. Trump said he’d still try to get a peace deal done, even if the odds for success were slim: “I’m going to give it a shot.” (Reporting By Emily Flitter in Sumter, South Carolina; Editing by Michael Perry) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.",1 Recent scenes from North Korea,0 Obama secures Iran nuclear deal with Barbara Mikulski vote,1 " Keith Olbermann Lashes Out At Trump For Whining About Leaks With One Perfect TweetKeith Olbermann just fired an angry tweet at Donald Trump that will almost certainly leave him seething in fury.Last week, Trump gave highly classified intelligence to Russian officials during a meeting in the Oval Office in which Russian state media was allowed but American journalists were banned.Spilling the intel puts the source of the information in jeopardy and hurts our national security.The Russians can even use the information in order to silence the source from revealing their own activity in Syria. In short, American intelligence gathering efforts against ISIS and Russia have just been seriously compromised.Outrage immediately ensued after the story broke, with both Democrats and Republicans expressing concern over Trump s actions. The optic are also terrible in light of the fact that Trump is embroiled in a growing scandal involving Russia and had fired FBI Director James Comey the day before the meeting.Of course, Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday to defend his actions, ending his rant by whining about leakers despite the fact that he leaked highly classified information to the Russians.As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017 to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017I have been asking Director Comey & others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community .. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017GQ special correspondent Keith Olbermann was NOT impressed, especially after reading the last tweet. So he lashed out at Trump with words every American wants to say to him right now.YOU are the leaker, you stupid, pea-brained, motherfucking traitor. RESIGN. https://t.co/ZRXevAonG9 Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) May 16, 2017Donald Trump is a traitor. He violated his oath of office and violated the trust of an ally by sharing this intel with the Russians, who interfered with the 2016 Election by hacking into our political institutions. Was this the price the Russians demanded in exchange for helping Trump win? Because if it is, our national security is at serious risk. Russia would love nothing more than know everything we know. What s next? Will Trump share NATO strategies with Russia? How about the nuclear codes?Clearly, Trump is willing to give his Russian buddies anything, whether or not they actually ask for it. This is a violation of the American people s trust and there should be consequences. He should either resign in disgrace or be impeached and put behind bars where traitors belong. The Russians have a mole in the White House. His name is Donald Trump.Featured Image: Screenshot",0 """Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told Mr. Obama by telephone on Sunday that after speaking with Mr. Putin she was not sure he was in touch with reality, people briefed on the call said. In another world, she said.""",1 "NATO helicopters entered Pakistan to kill insurgents | Top News | Reuters",0 Eighty-six percent of those killed in Gaza were civilians,1 " Republican Governor Helped Kill 11 Elderly People By Deleting Their Messages Begging For HelpHurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms ever recorded, was responsible for the deaths of at least 102 people, 44 of whom were in the Caribbean. Of the fatalities recorded in the mainland US, at least 50 were in Florida, 11 of which were due to the stifling conditions inside a South Florida nursing home after it lost power. Those 11 deaths could have possibly been avoided if Republican Florida Governor Rick Scott had heeded the emergency calls he had received about the worsening conditions in the home.A criminal Probe has been opened into the tragedy at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hill, a nursing home in Hollywood, Florida, north of Miami, where five bodies were found inside the home itself, with more patients dying later in a nearby hospital. The Vice President of The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, Natasha Anderson, attempted to contact Governor Scott by phone on four separate occasions in the two days leading up to the death of the first patient, leaving a message each time about the worsening conditions inside the home and asking for immediate assistance. When Scott s office was contacted in regards to the messages, a spokeswoman said, The voicemails were not retained. In what could amount to possible charges of criminal negligence against Scott, the spokeswoman wrote in an email: The voicemails were not retained because the information from each voicemail was collected by the Governor s staff and given to the proper agency for handling. Despite Anderson s claims that she requested immediate assistance, Scott has stated that nobody from the nursing home said the patients were in Danger or that the situation was at crisis level.Anderson called Florida Power and Light after the 152-bed facility lost power to its air-conditioning at around 3pm on September 10. FPL said they would have crews dispatched the next morning, but to no avail so on the evening of September 11, Anderson called a cellphone number provided by Scott during a conference call prior to the emergency in which he claimed they could contact him him if trouble arose, however, she was only able to get his voicemail. She tried three more times the following day, met with the same result. Patients at the home began to suffer from a variety of health problems between 3am and 6am on the morning of September 13, some of whom had body temperatures recorded as high as 109 . None of this changes the fact that this facility chose not to call 911 or evacuate their patients to the hospital across the street to save lives, a spokeswoman noted. I am going to work to aggressively demand answers on how this tragic event took place, Governor Rick Scott said in a statement. This situation is unfathomable. Every facility that is charged with caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their patients safe. The governor has since shut off the facility s Medicare and Medicaid funding.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images",0 South Korea to retaliate against North by blaring propaganda across the border,0 "Republican senator recorded criticizing TrumpWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins on Tuesday was recorded making critical comments about the Trump administration’s understanding of the legislative process during a Senate subcommittee hearing. Collins discussed Republican President Donald Trump and the federal budget with Democratic Senator Jack Reed at the end of a Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies subcommittee hearing, according to a tape obtained by the Washington Post. On the recording, Collins suggests the Office of Management and Budget is being capricious in its approach to reducing spending. “No thinking about it, no metrics, no nothing. It’s just incredibly irresponsible,” Collins said, according to a Post report and accompanying audio. “I think — I think he’s crazy,” Reed replied in an apparent reference to Trump. “I don’t think he knows there is a BCA (Budget Control Act) or anything,” Collins later said, apparently referring to the president and a 2011 budget law. Collins spokeswoman Annie Clark told Reuters that Collins is worried about the elimination of funding for transportation and housing programs in Trump’s budget. Reed spokesman Chip Unruh said the senator was “letting Senator Collins know he’s in her corner.” “He has said it publicly and privately: The Trump Administration is behaving erratically and irresponsibly,” Unruh said in an email to Reuters. Later in the recording, Collins also responds to a Republican representative, Blake Farenthold, who said recently that he wished he could to challenge her to a duel over her healthcare bill opposition. Collins was one of just two Senate Republicans on Tuesday who voted against beginning debate on a bill to replace Obamacare. “Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to this Playboy bunny?” Collins asked Reed, saying that Farenthold was “huge,” and referencing a 2010 picture of Farenthold that made the rounds on Twitter. Collins said in a statement that “neither weapons nor inappropriate words” were the right way to resolve legislative disputes. “I received a handwritten apology from Rep. Farenthold late this morning. I accept his apology, and I offer him mine,” she said. ",1 "Police fire tear gas at Congo opposition leader's supportersKINSHASA (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas to disperse supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo s opposition chief on Sunday as they gathered in the capital amid high tensions over election delays keeping President Joseph Kabila in power, a Reuters witness said. Felix Tshisekedi, head of an opposition coalition, is due to fly back to the capital Kinshasa on Sunday after a prolonged absence abroad. Around a dozen supporters had gathered at his family residences in the morning, although there was no sign of violence. Tshisekedi intends to call for a civil disobedience campaign in order to pressure Kabila, whose mandate expired last year, to step aside. Congolese authorities banned the coalition s planned meeting on Sunday, citing a risk of violence in the Central African country of more than 70 million people. ",1 Mexico won't send candidate to Miss Universe over Trump comments-Televisa,1 " Trump ERUPTS At Secret Meeting With The Press, Transition In Chaos (TWEETS)Donald Trump has had a rocky relationship with the press ever since his presidential campaign, and he s only punished them further for trying to report the truth since becoming the President-elect.On Monday, Trump was set to have an off the record meeting with television networks to try and hash out presidential press access. This meeting was particularly important because Trump has previously limited press access, and has ditched two protocol press pools since getting elected.Some reporters in attendance were NBC s Deborah Turness, Lester Holt and Chuck Todd; ABC s James Goldston, George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz; CBS Norah O Donnell and Charlie Rose; Fox News Bill Shine, Jack Abernethy, Jay Wallace, Suzanne Scott; MSNBC s Phil Griffin; and CNN s Jeff Zucker and Erin Burnett. It was a good group, and it could have been a very effective meeting if only things had gone according to plan.Unfortunately, instead of having a respectful conversation and coming up with an amicable way to move forward, what the press got was a baby Trump temper tantrum of epic proportions. Or, as one person put it, It was like a f*cking firing squad. Trump made zero attempt to hide his disrespect for the media. According to The New York Post, one anonymous source said: The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down. This claim was backed up by another person, who said: The meeting took place in a big board room and there were about 30 or 40 people, including the big news anchors from all the networks. Trump kept saying, We re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong. He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was network of liars. This attack left reporters stunned, and even as they tried to keep bringing up press access to stay on topic, Trump barely let them speak. While this is certainly shocking, this behavior is completely typical of Trump. He has always hated the free press because it has held him accountable and reported on his mistakes and shortcomings.Americans on social media are already coming to terms with how terrifying this is:TwitterTwitterTwitterInterestingly enough, Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway had the nerve to say the meeting went well. She said: Excellent meetings with the top executives of the major networks. Pretty unprecedented meeting we put together in two days. Disgraceful.Featured image by Christopher Furlong via Getty Images",0 "Afghan couple hack off nose, ears of cleric who sexually assaulted their daughter",1 "The actual shock of losing everything and having to build yourself up again has occupied people's energies for a very long time. Now, it's time to reclaim our history, our culture, our towns, our architecture, our geography before the Israelis demolish everything. ",0 """More than 10,000 crocodiles are starving to death on a farm in Honduras after the wealthy family owning them had their assets frozen because of US accusations they laundered money for drug traffickers.""",1 "State Department to resume briefings in March after six-week hiatusWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department will resume news briefings the week of March 6, a spokesman said on Friday, breaking a silence under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that had caused consternation among American diplomats and contributed to confusion abroad about U.S. positions on key issues. The briefings, which in the past were televised and held daily, are watched closely by U.S. allies and adversaries for signals on American positions on major international crises and developments around the world. But they have been halted ever since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, a move that is unprecedented in at least the last three inter-party presidential transitions, according to online archives of briefing transcripts. The last televised news briefing at the State Department was held on Jan. 19, the last full day of Barack Obama’s presidency. The question-and-answer sessions allow reporters to press spokespeople on the nuances of U.S. foreign policy and the actions of diplomats abroad. “The Department will host press briefings beginning the week of March 6,” said Mark Toner, the State Department’s acting spokesman. “We continue to be responsive to media queries and breaking news on an ongoing basis.” Toner did not say if the briefings would be held every day, or if they would all be televised. In a statement earlier this week, Toner said the briefings might be made available to reporters outside Washington via remote video. Top officials in the Trump administration - including Vice President Mike Pence, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Homeland Security chief John Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and Tillerson - have at times made conflicting or diverging statements from Trump himself on issues including U.S. support for the NATO alliance, support for the two-state solution to conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, attitudes toward the news media, and the role of the U.S. military in immigration operations. The diverging messages have raised questions in foreign capitals over who actually speaks for the Trump administration and which policies it will pursue. The silence from the State Department during the tumultuous first month of Trump’s presidency has also raised fears among current and former American diplomats that the department is being sidelined and is less able to help shape U.S. foreign policy. ",1 " Trump Kicks His Own Teen Supporter Out Of Rally ‘For Having Dark Skin’ (VIDEO/IMAGE)It s no secret that Donald Trump has a hard time with not only attracting minority voters, but also the votes of millenials that have grown up in a less racist, more diverse and accepting country than the America that Trump wants to enforce if he wins this election.But there are still young voters that are attracted to Trump, like 18-year-old Jake Anantha from Charlotte, North Carolina. Rather than be thankful for Anantha s support at a time when Trump is basically dying in the polls, the Trump campaign decided to kick this young Republican out of a rally on Thursday because he wasn t white.Jake was more than excited to attend Trump s event and give Trump his first primary vote. He was even wearing a Trump shirt to the rally, but his joy quickly left him when he was removed by police from the Charlotte Convention Center because the Trump campaign had accused him of being a protester. Jake s only offense was having dark skin, according to Ramesh Anantha, Jake s father.Ramesh complained that as a young person of color, his son should have been been treated with respect especially since Trump s rally was about supporting minorities. Ramesh, whose parents immigrated from India, said, It s unbelievably ironic and argues that his son should have been looked at as a perfect Trump supporter. He should have been somebody they re putting up on stage. Screenshot of Jake being removed by securityAccording to the young supporter himself, this incident has changed his mind about supporting Trump, now that his campaign s true colors have shown. In an interview on Friday, Jake said that initially, he didn t mind Trump s brash campaign: When I saw him on TV, I personally didn t mind his rhetoric. I defended him. When people called him a racist, I said he s a critic of our flawed immigration system. He s strong on Islamic terrorism. Jake had gotten to the rally early and was able to get a position near the stage. He was just standing there innocently minding his own business when security tapped him on the shoulder and tried to escort him out. They said, We know who you are. You ve been at many other rallies. Jake tried to object and plea that it had been his first Trump rally and was not a protester, but police removed him anyway. The event had been private, so Trump s staff had full control over who could attend and Jake was apparently not white enough. Forced to stay outside the Convention Center or risk being arrested, Jake watched white people enter the rally effortlessly. He said: I thought (Trump) was for all people. I don t believe he is for all people anymore. Why are all these white people allowed to attend and I m not? The Trump campaign has failed to apologize to Jake, and the young voter says that this incident has made him change his mind about Trump. He is now planning to vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson.Jake was not the only minority to be ejected from this event. Rose Hamid, a Muslim who was peacefully protesting by handing out flower pens, was also removed when Jake was taken out of the rally. You can watch a video of Jake and Rose being removed below:Featured image via Mark Wallheiser / Getty Images",0 "TWITTER Posts Hilarious Images After Announcement That It’s NOW ILLEGAL To Post Images Of Putin As “Gay”Here s the original post by the Washington Post:It s now illegal in Russia to share an image of Putin as a gay clown https://t.co/trihoOp6nt Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 5, 2017Here are some of the hilarious responses:Huh. Is this illegal? pic.twitter.com/ZIK2xBHslt Jessica (@NoFascistsPls) April 5, 2017Like this? pic.twitter.com/YNa6CB61ML B3r$A (@ScamGoggles) April 6, 2017What about this pic.twitter.com/LlA6cEV6KT Jessica (@NoFascistsPls) April 5, 2017Really? Because I like this one. pic.twitter.com/ZiEVbUddqr Lisa Stewart (@holachola) April 6, 2017Or this? pic.twitter.com/29syZcNkbt Jessica (@NoFascistsPls) April 5, 2017Well, the demand for gay Putin clowns just went up. I m gonna capitalize on this meme. pic.twitter.com/iD2wST92q9 Tyler (@Dy5function) April 5, 2017Here ya go.Courtesy of https://t.co/tJWNKZbBEv pic.twitter.com/Bi0VGOKe4a Stranger Thingamabob (@MikeyMooseNC) April 5, 2017 ",0 "Fighting China's Golden Shield: Cisco sued by Chinese political prisoners for allegedly providing the technology and expertise used by the Chinese Communist Party to monitor, censor and suppress the Chinese people",0 "U.N. special envoy urges Poland to open up debate on judicial reformWARSAW (Reuters) - Poland s political establishment must open up negotiations on proposals to reform the country s courts to avoid further damage to the country s judicial system, a United Nations envoy urged on Friday. Secrecy surrounding the proposals, if not dispelled, could do lasting harm to Poland s court system, said Diego Garcia-Sayan, a UN special rapporteur on the independence of the judiciary. The proposed changes risk hampering the capacity of judicial authorities to ensure checks and balances and protect and promote human rights, Garcia-Sayan said at a briefing after a four-day mission to Warsaw. Poland s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party is embroiled in a confrontation with President Andrzej Duda over reforming the court system. The standoff began in July, when the president, a PiS ally, unexpectedly vetoed bills that would have changed the makeup of the Supreme Court and how judges are chosen. PiS says the judicial system needs to be reformed because the courts are slow, inefficient and steeped in a communist-era mentality. But critics of the plans say they are part of a drive toward authoritarianism. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of PiS and Poland s paramount politician, has since met privately with Duda four times for talks on the reforms. Details of those meetings have been kept secret, and it is not known whether a consensus is in sight. Garcia-Sayan said it was difficult to understand how in a democracy work on major legal reforms could take place behind closed doors. It s not a technicality that s being discussed, but a major thing that will have to do with justice, checks and balances, and so on, he said. So, a major suggestion is, please, open political, substantial dialogue. He added that the judiciary reform that PiS has been pushing since coming to power in late 2015 has been presented as a cure, but appears to be worse than the disease affecting the Polish judiciary. Garcia-Sayan s comments were not supported by facts and were harmful for Poland and the Polish people , Rafal Bochenek, a government spokesman, told Poland s state news agency, PAP. ",1 "No Brexit deal would be 'a very bad deal' warns EU's BarnierBERLIN (Reuters) - European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Wednesday that the bloc had to be, and was, united in dealing with Britain on its withdrawal from the bloc and warned that failure to reach agreement would be very bad. No deal would be a very bad deal, Barnier said, switching from French to English in a speech to Germany s BDA employers association. It was his third speech to a German audience on Brexit in the day so far. Barnier also said he hoped to have made progress on the principles of Britain s divorce from the EU by next week and that London knew it could not have one foot in the single market and one foot out of it. ",1 "Palestinian rivals Fatah, Hamas sign reconciliation accordGAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) - Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal on Thursday after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of Gaza, including the key Rafah border crossing, a decade after seizing the enclave in a civil war. The deal brokered by Egypt bridges a bitter gulf between the Western-backed mainstream Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, an Islamist movement designated as a terrorist group by Western countries and Israel. Palestinian unity could also bolster Abbas s hand in any revival of talks on a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory. Internal Palestinian strife has been a major obstacle to peacemaking, with Hamas having fought three wars with Israel since 2008 and continuing to call for its destruction. Hamas s agreement to transfer administrative powers in Gaza to a Fatah-backed government marked a major reversal, prompted partly by its fears of financial and political isolation after its main patron and donor, Qatar, plunged in June into a major diplomatic dispute with key allies like Saudi Arabia. They accuse Qatar of supporting Islamist militants, which it denies. Israel viewed the Palestinian accord warily, saying it must abide by previous international agreements and terms set out by the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators - including the recognition of Israel and the disarming of Hamas. Israel will examine developments in the field and act accordingly, said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s office. Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets across Gaza on Thursday in celebration of the unity pact, with loudspeakers on open cars blasting national songs, youths dancing and hugging and many waving Palestine and Egyptian flags. Egypt helped mediate several previous attempts to reconcile the two movements and form a power-sharing unity government in Gaza and the West Bank, where Abbas and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) are based. Hamas and Fatah agreed in 2014 to form a national reconciliation government, but the deal soon dissipated in mutual recriminations with Hamas continuing to dominate Gaza. The legitimate government, the government of consensus, will return according to its responsibilities and according to the law, Fatah delegation chief Azzam Al-Ahmed said at the signing ceremony in Cairo. He said the unity government would run all institutions without exception, including all border crossings with Israel and in Rafah, Gaza s only access point with Egypt. The agreement calls for Abbas s presidential guard to assume responsibility of the Rafah crossing on Nov. 1, and for the full handover of administrative control of Gaza to the unity government to be completed by Dec. 1. Analysts said the deal is more likely to stick than earlier ones, given Hamas s growing isolation and realization of how hard Gaza, its economy hobbled by border blockades and infrastructure shattered by wars with Israel, was to govern and rebuild. Deeper Egyptian involvement, believed to have been backed by Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, also helped cement the deal. We in Hamas are determined and are serious this time and just like all other times ... We have dissolved the administrative committee (shadow government)... We have opened the door to reaching this reconciliation, Saleh Arouri, the head of Hamas negotiators in Cairo, said after the signing ceremony. Delegations from the two rivals have been in talks in Cairo this week to work out the details of the administrative handover, including security in Gaza and at border crossings. Key was the Rafah crossing, once the gateway to the world for the 2 million people packed into the small impoverished territory. Fatah said it should be run by the presidential guards, supervised by the European Union border agency, EUBAM, instead of the Hamas-linked employees now deployed. EUBAM Rafah maintains readiness to redeploy to the Rafah crossing point when the security and political situations will allow, said Mohammad Al-Saadi, press officer for the EU Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support. Any decision on EUBAM deployment would be taken in conjunction with the Palestinian Authority and Israel s government, he said in a statement. Some 3,000 Fatah security officers are to join the Gaza police force. But Hamas would remain the most powerful armed Palestinian faction, with around 25,000 well-armed militants. Both rivals hope the deal s proposed deployment of security personnel from the PA to Gaza s borders will encourage Egypt and Israel to lift tight restrictions at frontier crossings - a step urgently needed to help Gaza revive a war-shattered economy. Another major issue in talks on the deal was the fate of 40,000 to 50,000 employees Hamas has hired in Gaza since 2007, a thorny point that helped crash the 2014 unity accord. Under the deal, these employees will receive 50 percent of what their PA salary would be - or equivalent to what they are paid now by Hamas - pending vetting of their professional qualifications. Hamas and Fatah are also debating a potential date for presidential and legislative elections and reforms of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is in charge of long-stalled peace efforts with Israel. The last Palestinian legislative election was in 2006, when Hamas scored a surprise victory. That sparked the political rupture between Hamas and Fatah, which eventually led to their short civil war in Gaza. ",1 "RUSH Limbaugh DESTROYS Hillary With Montage Of LIES In VIRAL VIDEO After She Blamed “Fake News” For Her LossNot because she s an unlikeable elitist liar, with no fresh ideas, who felt entitled to the White House.What s even more absurd than the left s inability to accept REALITY, is the fact that no one spread more FAKE NEWS than liberals and even Hillary herself. TruthfeedRush Limbaugh brilliantly exposes the lies Hillary told in this montage: ",0 "Mexican military chopper crosses the border, shoots at US Border agents",1 "Nigerian Taliban kill 200 since Sunday in their fight to stop the spread of western ideas ""Like saying the world is a sphere""",0 "Nigeria offers amnesty and a stipend to oil militants willing to give up their weapons and retrain. The country\'s main militant groups says, ""No, thanks.""",0 "Senate Ethics Committee opens probe of Senator FrankenWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee said on Thursday it has opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged misconduct by Senator Al Franken, who has been accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriately touching women. Franken, a Democrat, said this week he was embarrassed and ashamed by his behavior but would not resign. He said he would cooperate with an Ethics Committee investigation. “While the committee does not generally comment on pending matters or matters that may come before it, in this instance, the committee is publicly confirming that it has opened a preliminary inquiry into Senator Franken’s alleged misconduct,” the committee said in a statement. Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Franken said the senator was committed to cooperating fully with the ethics investigation. Franken is one of several prominent American men in politics, media and entertainment to be accused in recent months of sexual harassment and misconduct. He was accused of sexual misconduct by Leeann Tweeden, a radio broadcaster who in 2006 appeared with Franken in an entertainment tour for U.S. troops serving in war zones. Another woman, Lindsay Menz, accused Franken of touching her buttocks when they were being photographed at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010. Prior to winning his Senate seat in 2008, Franken was a well-known comedian, television writer and author. ",1 "BRUTALIZED TRUMP SUPPORTERS WIN ONE! Federal Lawsuit Against City of San Jose Goes Forward [Video]A judge has refused to toss out a federal lawsuit against the city of San Jose, California, in which the city police are accused of allowing an angry mob of left-wing agitators and violent protesters to target peaceful pro-Trump fans. Several people were injured during the June 2 rally:The city was sued by attorney Harmeet Dhillon, in a pro bono case, representing some of the victims. Dhillon, the national committeewoman of the California Republican Party and a contender to lead the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, also attended the rally. Citizens ranging from their teens to their 70s were assaulted, abused, chased, hunted, and terrorized in a situation for which the city is responsible, and must now answer, Dhillon told LifeZette. This lawsuit seeks to vindicate the principle that every American regardless of his or her political beliefs is entitled to equal protection of the laws, and to the rights of free speech and free assembly, particularly in the support of their candidate of choice. The unfortunate series of events happened just weeks after Republican businessman Donald Trump had sewn up the GOP presidential nomination in May 2016. The Trump supporters were leaving the San Jose rally, exiting the convention center on June 2.Read more: Lifezette",0 Baby burned to death on bonfire in Chile after cult leader decided she was the antichrist,1 "Senator McCain treated for side effects of cancer therapyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain was undergoing treatment at a military hospital outside Washington for side effects of cancer therapy, his office said on Tuesday. McCain, 81, who was diagnosed with brain cancer during the summer, will return to work as soon as possible, a statement from his office said. “Senator McCain is currently receiving treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center for normal side effects of his ongoing cancer therapy,” the statement said. “Senator McCain looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible.” McCain, an Arizona Republican who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008, was found to have an aggressive form of brain tumor, glioblastoma, after surgery in July for a blood clot above his left eye. He has been receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatment in the Washington area while continuing to work in the Senate. He has missed Senate votes this week. A critical vote on the Republican tax overhaul is expected in the Senate early next week. McCain’s absence would make it more difficult, but not impossible, for Republicans to pass the bill. McCain was re-elected to a sixth Senate term last year. ",1 UK: Thatcher Considered Jailing Reporters,0 Professor David Nutt: The population is with me,1 "Germany's FDP does not rule out renewed coalition talks: BeerBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) on Wednesday said they would not rule out renewed talks on a three-way coalition government if Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives and the Greens offered a completely new package of proposals. If it really was possible to build a modern republic in the coming years, then we are the last ones who would refuse to talk, FDP Secretary General Nicola Beer told ntv German television. But she added: I can t imagine that this will work. ",1 "Central Obrera Boliviana, the largest union in Bolivia and long-time ally of president Evo Morales, has called for an indefinite strike starting tomorrow asking for a bigger increase in wages than the 5% announced last week.",1 "Austrian conservative Kurz says needs more time on coalitionVIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz said on Monday he needs more time to decide which party he will hold coalition talks with but did nothing to dampen expectations that he will turn to the far right. Kurz s People s Party (OVP) won last week s parliamentary election with 31.5 percent of the vote, well short of a majority, which means it needs a partner to form a stable government. He had been expected to announce which party he would be inviting to coalition talks on Monday after spending the weekend talking with the leaders of all parties entering the new parliament. It has yet to be decided with whom we want to start negotiations. I will clarify that in the coming hours or days, Kurz said after meeting President Alexander Van der Bellen. There are certain issues that I would like to discuss again informally or clear up before I start negotiations, he told reporters, declining to elaborate. European leaders have expressed guarded concern about the possible return to power of the Freedom Party (FPO), which was founded in the 1950s by ex-Nazis and was last in government more than a decade ago. The FPO once argued against membership in the European Union but has become steadily more mainstream, dropping those calls and expelling members for anti-Semitic statements. Kurz, who is just 31, has maintained that any future government will be pro-European. But he campaigned on an anti-immigration platform that was very similar to the FPO s, after Europe s migration crisis left many voters feeling Austria was being overrun. Only two parties the Social Democrats (SPO), who came second in the election, and the FPO, which came third have enough seats to give Kurz a majority if they go into coalition with him. But a partnership between the two centrist parties has never been considered the most likely outcome, even though they have governed together for 44 of the 72 years since World War Two. Kurz forced last week s election when he called an end to the current coalition with the SPO after he took over as OVP leader, and the two sides are now at loggerheads. The Social Democrats said on Monday they were planning on going into opposition. In principle, however, any tie-up between two of the top three parties could take place. And none of those options have been fully ruled out, including a coalition of losers between the FPO and Social Democrats. Kurz has also said a minority government is an option if coalition talks fail. The head of Austria s main Jewish group earlier on Monday warned Kurz not to do business with the wolf of the FPO. When the nationalist wolf puts on a blue sheep skin it does not change its nature, only its appearance, the head of Austria s main Jewish group, Oskar Deutsch, said in an open letter to both centrist parties. Blue is the colour of the FPO, which is staunchly anti-Islam but now openly courts Jewish voters, with limited success. If OVP and SPO believe they can tame the wolf, they are deceiving themselves, Deutsch said. The FPO s Davis Lasar, a Jewish lawmaker, responded by saying in a statement: The FPO has always been committed to the safety of Austria s Jewish population. ",1 " WATCH: John Oliver Presents GOP Debates As ‘Clowntown F*ck-the-World Sh*tshow 2016’John Oliver isn t known for mincing words when it comes to his description of Republicans. Last night was no exception as he left no hold barred when he discussed the insanity of the Republican candidates during the debates.His primary focus was on the man that has an uncanny tendency for outdoing himself for his insane behavior: Donald Trump. This time, however, he had a partner in Marco Rubio. After showing a clip of Rubio s size-of-hands-equals-penis joke and Trump s response, Oliver said: That s right, Donald Trump just talked about his dick during a presidential debate. A dick which I presume looks like a Cheeto with the cheese dust rubbed off! Building on the momentum, Oliver included clips of many Republicans disavowing their support for Republican front runner Donald Trump, including commentator Doug Heye who called a possible Trump nomination, an abortion on our own party and the end of the Republican Party as we know it. Oliver said: Holy shit! You know they re getting desperate when they re just throwing in their favorite buzzwords. He won t just be an abortion, he ll be a sharia law wrapped in a Benghazi-themed gay wedding. Oliver then went on to give a reading of from former wife Ivana Trump s creepy thinly-veiled autobiographical soft-core novel For Love Alone, as read by actress Morgan Fairchild: In a moment, they were on the floor, on top of the mink coat, Katrinka s legs gripping his waist, as he moved deeper and deeper into her. As Adam pulled away from her, his c*ck fell for a moment into the valley between her legs, leaving a smear of semen on the dark silk. He smiled with satisfaction. Now you have to keep the coat. Watch the video here: Featured image via video screenshot.",0 "China to amend party constitution at October congressBEIJING (Reuters) - China s ruling Communist Party is expected to amend its constitution at a key party congress next month, state media said on Monday, in a sign that President Xi Jinping aims to enshrine his guiding ideological doctrine in the charter. Since assuming office almost five years ago, Xi has rapidly consolidated power, with moves such as heading a group leading economic reform and appointing himself military commander-in-chief, although as head of the Central Military Commission he already controls the armed forces. The Politburo, one of the party s elite ruling bodies, deliberated a draft amendment to the constitution to be discussed at the congress that would include major theoretical viewpoints and major strategic thought , the official Xinhua news agency said. While the Xinhua report did not elaborate, a key measure of Xi s power will be whether he manages to have his name crowned in the constitution, elevating him to the level of previous leaders exemplified by Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory. Xi s more recent predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, both had the party constitution amended to include their guiding thoughts, but without their names directly attached. Jiang has his Three Represents, which embraced private entrepreneurs, written in, while Hu, Xi s immediate predecessor, had his economic doctrine of scientific development included. The party has been pushing Xi s Four Comprehensives, which refer to China working comprehensively to build a moderately prosperous society and strengthen reforms, rule of law and party discipline, but it is not clear yet what wording could be put into the constitution to reflect Xi s thought. Amending the constitution at the 19th CPC National Congress on the basis of the new situation and tasks would promote the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and Party building, Xinhua said. The amendments should include the key theories and strategic thoughts presented by a work report at the start of the congress, which opens on Oct. 18, it added. The amended constitution should fully represent the latest sinicisation of Marxism, new governance concepts and the fresh experiences in adhering to, and strengthening, Party leadership, and in strict Party governance , Xinhua said. The amendment should make the Communist Party more vigorous, stronger and enable it to keep a close connection with the people. The draft amendment will be submitted on Oct. 11 to a party plenary meeting, it added, a smaller scale gathering of about 200 of the most senior leaders to finalize the agenda for the congress. ",1 UNESCO approves Palestinian membership bid,0 Iraqi shoe-thrower Muntazer al-Zaidi 'was waterboarded',0 Brazil Catholic Priest Excommunicated For Defending Gay Rights,1 "Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address at a St. Patrick's Day celebration at the White House when he realized something sounded way too familiar. Turns out, he was repeating the speech President Barack Obama had just given.",1 Syria forces airstrike on Aleppo Hospital: At least 40 people killed,1 "Saudi-led coalition wants Yemen weapons checks strengthened before main port reopensDUBAI (Reuters) - The Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen said it will continue to block the main aid route into the country until it is satisfied its Houthi opponents cannot use it to bring in weapons. The coalition closed all air, land and sea access to Yemen last week following the interception of a missile fired toward the Saudi capital, saying it had to stem the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. Aid agencies warned the move would worsen the humanitarian crisis in the country, where the war has left an estimated seven million people facing famine. Ports controlled by Yemen s exiled government would reopen soon, the coalition said on Sunday in a statement issued by the Saudi mission at the United Nations. However other ports, including Houthi-controlled Hodeidah where some 80 percent of Yemen s food supplies enter will remain closed until a U.N. verification regime is reviewed to ensure no weapons reach the Houthis, the statement said. The coalition, in consultation and full agreement with the legitimate government, will begin steps related to re-opening of airports and ports in Yemen to allow the transport of humanitarian and commercial cargo, the statement said. It said the first steps will start within 24 hours and will include the southern ports of Aden and Mukalla and the Red Sea port of al-Mokha, which are all controlled by Hadi s government. The coalition asked U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to send a delegation to Riyadh to review current inspection measures to reinforce and introduce a more effective inspection and verification regime (UNVIM) aimed at facilitating the flow of humanitarian and commercial supplies and prevent smuggling of weapons, ammunition and missile parts... Saudi Arabia has accused arch-foe Iran of supplying the ballistic missile which was shot down near Riyadh airport without causing any casualties. Iran has denied the accusation. The United Nations and international aid organizations have repeatedly criticized the coalition in the past for blocking aid access, especially to the north, which is held by the Iran-aligned Houthis battling the Saudi-led coalition. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which pits the internationally recognized government, backed by Saudi Arabia and its allies, against the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Saudi-led coalition has been targeting the Houthis since they seized parts of Yemen in 2015, including the capital Sanaa, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee and seek help from neighboring Saudi Arabia. ",1 "Seals carried tuberculosis across the Atlantic, gave it to humans. Disease was present in the Americas prior to European contact.",0 Spain makes abortion a criminal offense,1 "James Clapper Himself Debunks “Russia Hacked US Election” Meme21st Century Wire says We ve seen it over and over again in the mainstream media, Russia Hacked the US Election. It has been a pervasive meme in the media ever since Donald J. Trump won the US Presidential election and it inspires consumers of mainstream media to believe that Russia actually used cyber intelligence agents to hack into the computers that are used to track the voting. Surveys show that many Americans believe that there was a literal computer hack of the election to change the results.Americans who believe this are duped by a false meme that has been bludgeoned into their psyches by their mainstream media outlets. James Clapper, head of all US intelligence, admitted while speaking at the Congressional Armed Services Committee that Russia had no hand in changing the vote tallies and did nothing of that sort. Washingtons Blog reports Due to incredibly sloppy reporting by the mainstream media constantly repeating the phrase Russia hacked the election many Americans believed that Russia literally changed votes on election day.A YouGov poll from last month found that half of all Democrats believe that Russia directly tampered with vote tallies:But today, the head of all U.S. intelligence James Clapper told Congress (specifically the Armed Services Committee): They did not change any vote tallies or anything of that sort. So will the media apologize Continue this report at the WashingtonBlogREAD MORE RUSSIAN HACK NEWS AT: 21WIRE Russian Hack Files ",0 "BOOM! It’s Payback Time For Gun-Grabbing Gov: GOP Works To Strip Him Of Armed Protection DetailDo you think our Gun Grabber In Chief should be next?Virginia state senator Bill Carrico (R-Dist. 40) is responding to Governor Terry McAuliffe s (D) relentless gun control push by introducing a budget amendment to remove funding for McAuliffe s protection detail.Carrico said, If he s so afraid of guns, then I m not going to surround him with armed state policemen. McAuliffe has pushed numerous gun controls as governor and, in August, infamously pushed for expanding background checks after Virginia reporter Alison Parker had been shot on air. McAuliffe made the push for expanded background checks before the gunman who killed Parker had been caught and, therefore, before he had any knowledge of how the gunman acquired his gun. As it turned out, gunman Vester Lee Flanagan acquired his gun via a background check.Moreover, on October 15, McAuliffe issued an executive order banning the open carry of firearms in state buildings used by the Virginia executive branch and calling for enforcement to ensure that the only people in the business of selling guns in Virginia are those with a Federal Firearm License (FFL).Senator Carrico is responding to these things and more by trying to be sure McAuliffe does not have to be around guns at all if they bother him so much. According to the Bristol Herald Courier, Carrico said he will address this matter when the General Assembly convenes in January, saying:A lot of the governor s power is deferred to the General Assembly at that point and I ll be getting with my colleagues to circumvent everything this governor has done on this point. I have a budget amendment that I m looking at to take away his executive protection unit. If he s so afraid of guns, then I m not going to surround him with armed state policemen. Via: Breitbart News",0 "Defying Trump, over 120 countries at U.N. condemn Jerusalem decisionUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - More than 120 countries defied President Donald Trump on Thursday and voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor. A total of 128 countries backed the resolution, which is non-binding, nine voted against and 35 abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote. Trump s threat appeared to have some impact, with more countries abstaining and rejecting the resolution than usually associated with Palestinian-related resolutions. Nevertheless, Washington found itself isolated as many of its Western and Arab allies voted for the measure. Some of those allies, like Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, are major recipients of U.S. military or economic aid, although the U.S. threat to cut aid did not single out any country. A spokesman for Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the vote a victory for Palestine. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the vote. Earlier this month, Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy by announcing the United States recognized Jerusalem - home to major Muslim, Jewish and Christian holy sites - as the capital of Israel and would move its embassy there. The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the 193-member General Assembly ahead of Thursday s vote. We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world s largest contribution to the United Nations, and so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit, she said. Later on Thursday, Haley asked the 64 countries who voted no, abstained or did not cast a vote to come to a Jan. 3 reception to thank you for your friendship to the United States, according to the invitation seen by Reuters. The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, who were furious over Trump s move. The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the full city. French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre said in a statement: The resolution adopted today only confirms relevant international law provisions on Jerusalem. France voted in favor. Netanyahu described the resolution as preposterous. Jerusalem is our capital, always was, always will be. But I do appreciate the fact that a growing number of countries refuse to participate in this theater of the absurd, he said in a video on his Facebook page. Israel captured East Jerusalem in a 1967 war and Palestinians want it as the capital of a future state they seek. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet the vote was a clear international rejection of the Trump administration s thuggish intimidation. Among countries that abstained were Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. Guatemala, Honduras, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo joined the United States and Israel in voting no. Honduras vote against the motion comes after the United States signaled it would recognize President Juan Orlando Hernandez as the winner of an election the Organization of America States said should be scrapped over fraud claims. Since Trump s election, Mexico has aligned its foreign policy more closely with Washington in what diplomats say is an attempt to curry favor in face of threats to withdraw from the NAFTA free trade agreement. Trump s rhetoric on cutting aid startled some U.S. allies but State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Thursday s vote was just one factor that Washington would take into consideration in its foreign policy. I just wanted to reiterate what the president had said yesterday and that that was the U.N. vote is really not the only factor that the administration would take into consideration in dealing with our foreign relations and countries who have chosen to vote one way or the other, she told reporters. According to figures from the U.S. government s aid agency USAID, in 2016 the United States provided some $13 billion in economic and military assistance to countries in sub-Saharan Africa and $1.6 billion to states in East Asia and Oceania. It provided some $13 billion to countries in the Middle East and North Africa, $6.7 billion to countries in South and Central Asia, $1.5 billion to states in Europe and Eurasia and $2.2 billion to Western Hemisphere countries, according to USAID. The General Assembly vote was called at the request of Arab and Muslim countries after the United States vetoed the same resolution on Monday in the 15-member U.N. Security Council. The remaining 14 Security Council members voted in favor of the Egyptian-drafted resolution, which did not specifically mention the United States or Trump but which expressed deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem. Thursday s resolution affirms that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded. The U.N. action comes a year after the Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements. That was approved with 14 votes in favor and an abstention by former U.S. President Barack Obama s administration, which defied heavy pressure from longtime ally Israel and Trump, who was then president-elect, for Washington to wield its veto. ",1 Something is rotten here: O'Dwyer's extradition to US approved,0 Pakistan's Taliban chief possibly dead from kidney failure.,1 The Islamic State's Terror Laptop of Doom - Buried In a Dell Computer Captured in Syria Are Lessons For Making Bubonic Plague Bombs and Fatwas On Using Weapons of Mass Destruction.,1 " Hillary’s Message To Former Miss Universe Called ‘Miss Piggy’ By Trump Is PERFECT (TWEET)Miss Universe 1996 Alicia Machado is now an American citizen and will be voting for the first time this November, and it s become apparent who she ll likely be voting for, and it s not Donald Trump.You see, after Machado won her crown she gained a little bit of weight, which apparently did not please Trump, who is the man behind the pageant. He even called her Miss Piggy and said that she must be somebody that likes to eat. He then forced her to work out and try to lose weight.When asked if she d vote for Trump this fall, all Machado could do was laugh.When Hillary Clinton heard about the insults and the response to if Machado would vote for Trump, she tweeted out: Congratulations on becoming a U.S. citizen, Alicia. Enjoy casting that vote. Congratulations on becoming a U.S. citizen, Alicia. Enjoy casting that vote. https://t.co/jewmwZrrOA Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 20, 2016Very clearly insinuating that Machado will be voting against Trump, and most likely for Hillary Clinton.And honestly, what better revenge is that? That s called karma, Mr. Trump, and it s best served cold.Trump is as good for women as he is for hair care products he clearly doesn t give a damn about either, and will say and do as he pleases no matter how ugly.Good on you Machado for standing up against Trump, and kudos to you, Hillary for embracing her.Featured Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images video screen capture",0 Germany warns anti-semitism rising on back of Middle East violence,1 "FIGHTING TO WIN: Russia Annihilates Dozens Of ISIS Oil Tankers…And Shares The Video With The WorldOnce again, Putin reminds our weak and ineffective Commander In Chief what winning a war against terrorists looks like When US attack planes destroyed 116 ISIS oil trucks on November 16 (allegedly after dropping leaflets warning innocent drivers to scatter), it purportedly marked a shift in strategy. Somehow , the Obama administration had grossly underestimated the proceeds ISIS derives from the illicit oil trade while overestimating the damage US warplanes had inflicted on the group s oil infrastructure.Here is the video from the Russian Defense Ministry:Additionally, Bloomberg suggests the Pentagon routinely declined to take out tanker trucks for fear of collateral damage. None of these guys are ISIS. We don t feel right vaporizing them, so we have been watching ISIS oil flowing around for a year, Michael Knights, an Iraq expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told Bloomberg.There are a couple of things that should jump out at you there. First, it s not exactly clear why it matters that the administration underestimated the amount of revenue ISIS derives from oil. That is, the difference between $100 million and $400 million per year would be quite meaningful if you were talking about a corporation here, but this is a terrorist group. Sure, it matters that they re making four times more than you thought when it comes to assessing their operational capabilities (the more money you have, the more you can do), but it shouldn t matter when it comes to formulating a strategy to cripple their ability to produce oil. It s not like you can say oh, well they re only making $100 million per year, so that s fine.. now if it s $400 million, that s where we ll have to draw the line. Second, since when is the US worried about collateral damage when it comes to taking out terrorists? As The Intercept laid bare in a series of recent investigative reports, 90% of those killed in drone strikes aren t the target. It s not as if the CIA isn t aware of that statistic each and every time they pull the trigger on an MQ9 Reaper.So sure, perhaps the US overestimated the effect its airstrikes were having on Islamic State s oil production capabilities and perhaps The Pentagon was concerned with killing innocent truck drivers, but it could also be that, as Sergei Lavrov suggested earlier this week, the US has until now intentionally avoided hitting ISIS where it hurts in order to keep them in the game and ensure they can still be effective at destabilizing Assad. If you cut off the oil trade, they lose the ability to battle the regime.In any event, there are other pressing questions about ISIS and oil and we encourage you to read more in The Most Important Question About ISIS That Nobody Is Asking, but for now, we turn to Russia and The Kremlin s efforts to dent Bakr al-Baghdadi s wallet.According to Russian General Staff spokesman Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov, around 500 fuel tanker vehicles transporting illegal oil from Syria to Iraq for processing have been destroyed by Russia s Air Forces. In recent years, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and other extremist groups have organized the operations of the so-called pipeline on wheels on the territories they control, Kartapolov continued, adding that in just the first few days, [Russian] aviation has destroyed 500 fuel tanker trucks, which greatly reduced illegal oil export capabilities of the militants and, accordingly, their income from oil smuggling. Via: Zero Hedge ",0 "Castro admits 'injustice' for gays and lesbians during revolution: ""They were moments of great injustice ... if someone is responsible, it's me."" ",1 "WOW! REFUGEES EXPOSED: Here’s the cold hard truth the media won’t tell you…“If Saudi Arabia is refusing to accept them because they are a national security threat, why are we accepting them?” [VIDEO]Brigitte Gabriel is an intelligent and important voice of reason when it comes to the subject of Muslim refugees who are migrating West. She is the Founder and President of Act for America. She is one of the leading national security experts in the world -providing information and analysis on the rise of Islamic terrorism. Ms. Gabriel lectures nationally and internationally about national security and current affairs. Her expertise is sought after by world and business leaders.Gabriel is a Christian born who was born and raised in Lebanon. Her story is very compelling, and serves as a warning to Americans who are fighting to keep the flow of unvetted refugees coming into the United States: I lost my country of birth to radical Islam I do not want to lose my adopted country, America. Gabriel declared.Muslims started coming to Lebanon so their children could study at the country s universities. They also stayed to work in their economy. We built refugee camps for them in Lebanon, we took them in because we wanted to take care of them, but these people turned against us, and they destroyed our country, Gabriel recalled, bitterly. She said the tipping point was when Muslims became the majority population. Lebanon went from being the Eden of the Middle East to being the terrorist pit of the Middle East, she declared. The country is run by a terrorist organization, and has no rule of law. Currently, there is not even a president in Lebanon, as none has been elected. They are drowning in their own garbage, the government is falling apart. This is what happens when you import people into your country that do not share your values that do not share your idea of freedom or democracy, your idea of tolerance, Gabriel explained.Gabriel did not deny the charitable impulse of helping people in need. We can still do humanitarian work, but we need to make sure we are protected first, she declared. We know ISIS infiltrated them, they were coming here under the disguise of refugees, but they are actually ISIS recruiters and ISIS sympathizers, Gabriel told PJ Media in an interview at the Values Voter Summit on Saturday. She added that the refugees are making up names they can tell us anything, and there is nothing we can do to check it. These people don t have passports. We don t even know if the name they give is their real name, Gabriel explained. The refugees also are not just coming from embattled countries like Syria and Iraq, she argued. They also come from Tunisia, Libya, Eritrea, Djibouti and Afghanistan migrants fleeing poor countries to go to rich countries.Gabriel argued that the refugees must have a reason for going further west, as opposed to other countries in the Middle East. These refugees can go to any country in the region, where they speak the Arabic language, where their children can assimilate and continue in their schooling with Arabic schools. Why are they coming to Europe? One reason, she alleged, is that the word got out that if you want a freebie, this is the opportunity to come to Europe and live off the government. Perhaps more importantly, however, many Middle Eastern countries would turn the migrants away. Saudi Arabia is a very wealthy country and a very big country they have a lot of space, Gabriel noted. She explained that Saudi Arabia, Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait are refusing to accept these refugees because they are a national security threat. When Arabic countries suspect terror activity from the refugees, why should we overlook it? If Saudi Arabia is refusing to accept them because they are a national security threat, why are we accepting them? Gabriel asked. Are we that dumb? Watch Gabriel as she exposes the truth about the refugees we are bringing to America: It is not difficult to see how the tens of thousands of refugees who have entered Europe and other western countries recently are having a devastating impact in their host nations. Areas holding these refugees have seen an increase in rape, theft, gang activity, intimidation, and organized crime. Media in Europe have reported that thousands of the refugees have disappeared and are unaccounted for. Terror groups such as the Islamic State publicly announce how they are using refugees as cover to infiltrate the West.An Egyptian-American made this interesting comment under the video. He gives us an idea of what it s like to be a Christian in a Muslim dominated nation:Ms. Gabriel has addressed the United Nations, the Australian Prime Minister, members of the British Parliament/House of Commons, members of the United States Congress, the Pentagon, the Joint Forces Staff College, the U.S. Special Operations Command, the U.S. Asymmetric Warfare group, the FBI, and many others.She speaks Arabic, French, English and Hebrew.",0 " Sarah Palin And Her White Trash Friends Get TORCHED For Disrespecting Hillary Clinton’s White House PortraitIt s bad enough they were even allowed to step foot in the White House.But Sarah Palin, Kid Rock, and Ted Nugent also decided to stand in front of Hillary Clinton s portrait and completely disrespect it.When two gay activists raised their middle fingers toward Ronald Reagan s White House portrait a few years ago, conservatives threw a collective temper tantrum over it. They complained for days about the utter lack of respect shown toward Reagan. Of course, Reagan s inaction during the AIDS epidemic during his presidency understandably angers many people.However, two gay activists from Philadelphia is not the same as three people who are public figures. Nugent and Kid Rock are both musicians and Palin is a former vice-presidential candidate.As such, they are and should be held to a higher standard.Sarah Palin was invited to the White House by Donald Trump, who told her to bring some friends. For some reason, she chose Nugent, a man who shit his pants to avoid serving his country in Vietnam and later wrote an ode to pedophilia, and Robert Ritchie (Kid Rock), an alcoholic who has committed assault and battery and has a sex tape.Seriously, these people got to pal around in the Oval Office. It s disgraceful.But the trio did more than that. Instead of just acting like adults for the day, they decided to act like complete jackasses by mocking Hillary Clinton s White House portrait. Hillary Clinton has a White House portrait because she was the First Lady. And a classy First Lady at that, unlike Melania Trump, whom you can find nude photos of simply by running a search on Google.In the photo, Nugent holds his thumb out as if to say Clinton is outta here while Palin had a look of disgust on her face. Ritchie merely folded his arms across his chest in disdain.Here s the photo via Facebook:Of course, conservatives are cheering about this utter lack of disrespect even though they would have thrown a massive hissy fit had three liberal celebrities done the same to a portrait of a Republican First Lady.Most Americans, however, did not appreciate Palin and her friends disrespect of a former First Lady.Again, Sarah Palin is a quitter and grifter who will never work in the White House. Ted Nugent is a racist who has a thing for underage girls. And Kid Rock is the poster boy for who the war on drugs should be waged against. Donald Trump degraded the White House by inviting these three losers to visit and he should be ashamed of himself for once again demonstrating why America is a laughingstock around the world.Featured Image: Facebook",0 "Zimbabwe's military muscles into first post-Mugabe cabinetHARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed senior military officials to top posts in his first cabinet on Friday in what was widely seen as a reward for the army s role in the removal of his predecessor, Robert Mugabe. Sworn in as president a week ago after 93-year-old Mugabe quit in the wake of a de facto military coup, Mnangagwa made Major-General Sibusiso Moyo foreign minister and handed Air Marshal Perrance Shiri the sensitive land portfolio. The new president, who later on Friday spoke publicly about the need to draw on local expertise and skills to put the economy back on robust footing, also brought back Patrick Chinamasa as finance minister despite his chequered record in that post previously. Most Zimbabweans remember Moyo as the khaki-clad general who went on state television in the early hours of Nov. 15 to announce the military takeover that ended Mugabe s 37-year rule. Shiri is feared - and loathed - by many Zimbabweans as the former commander of the North Korean-trained 5 Brigade that played a central role in the so-called Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland in 1983 in which an estimated 20,000 people were killed. The land portfolio is a sensitive but economically crucial one since land reforms in the early 2000s led to violent seizure of thousands of white-owned farms and the collapse of the nation s economy. For most observers, this (the new cabinet line-up) looks like a reward for the military - or more specifically like the military asserting its authority, London-based political analyst Alex Magaisa wrote on Twitter. Mnangagwa, a former state security chief known as The Crocodile , dropped allies of Mugabe s wife, Grace, but brought back many Mugabe loyalists from the ruling ZANU-PF party, disappointing those who had been expecting a break with the past. Zimbabweans were expecting a sea change from the Mugabe era. After all, had there not been a revolution, or so they thought? Magaisa said. New information minister Chris Mutsvangwa, leader of the powerful liberation war veterans, was not immediately available for comment. Mnangagwa s opponents from Grace Mugabe s ousted G40 faction derided the line-up as old wine in a khaki bottle. Even #Nigeria didn t have so many commanders in Cabinet in its coup days! former information minister and G40 leader Jonathan Moyo, who remains in hiding, said on Twitter. Chinamasa, a lawyer by training, had been finance minister since 2013 until he was shifted to the new ministry of cyber security in a reshuffle this year. His predecessor and Mugabe ally Ignatius Chombo, is in jail facing corruption charges dating back more than two decades. A high court on Friday postponed Chombo s hearing to next Tuesday. During Chinamasa s time in charge, though, the economy stagnated, with a lack of exports causing acute dollars shortages that crippled the financial system and led to long queues outside banks. The issuance of billions of dollars of domestic debt to pay for a bloated civil service - a key component of the ZANU-PF patronage machine under Mugabe - also triggered a collapse in the value of Zimbabwe s de facto currency and ignited inflation. I had expected a more broad-based cabinet, said economist Anthony Hawkins, adding that Mnangagwa s faith in Chinamasa suggested loyalty trumped ability. Chinamasa s appointment was to be expected, notwithstanding his appalling record. With elections due next year, Mnangagwa needs to deliver a quick economic bounce and has made clear he wants to curb wasteful expenditure. His cabinet has 22 ministers compared to Mugabe s 33. One of his most pressing tasks will be to patch up relations with donors and the outside world and work out a deal to clear Zimbabwe s $1.8 billion of arrears to the World Bank and African Development Bank. Without that, the new administration will be unable to unlock any new external financing. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told Reuters this week London was thinking about extending a bridging loan to Harare to allow this to happen, although said it depended on how the democratic process unfolds . Speaking publicly for the first time as president at a graduation ceremony at a university in Chinhoyi, 110 km (68 miles) south of Harare, Mnangagwa, however, appeared to be looking to local expertise to put the economy on a stronger footing. As we engage the world it is of great importance to have our own home-grown solutions to develop our economy and benchmark ourselves on the best in the global village, he said. ",1 "Israeli maxim: Occupy a country and then make the people pay a price to get part of it back. When they object, accuse them of refusing to take advantage of opportunities for peace.",0 'Hero' Greek woman sets fire to drunken Briton's genitals - Telegraph,1 Islamic State bombings in southern Yemen kill 38 people,1 Cameron gives top environment policy job to oil man ahead of major climate talks,0 "China's Jade Rabbit moon rover that has broken down on the surface of the moon may be beyond repair, state media hints",0 "Australian spies are helping the United States secretly monitor telephone calls across the Philippines, leaked US intelligence documents reveal.",0 There is a context to London's riots that can't be ignored,1 " Trump LIVID After His Twitter Attacks HELP ‘Hamilton’ Break Broadway Sales Record (TWEETS)It was just a few weeks ago that President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly attacked the cast of Broadway show Hamilton for giving a respectful speech about equality and diversity to his Vice President, Mike Pence. Despite the fact that Pence was not offended and did not want an apology, Trump railed against the cast for days, causing his rabid supporters to call for a boycott.It turns out, Trump and his supporters got a brutal reality check today. Hamilton, the Broadway show that Trump called overrated in one of his tweets, just broke a record for ticket sales. Guess the #BoycottHamilton movement didn t really have the effect Trump and his minions had hoped!TwitterHamilton shattered the Broadway record for the most money made in a single week, selling $3.3 million in tickets. The last time any Broadway show came close to this was in 2013, when Wicked sold $3.2 million in a nine-show week. Hamilton only had eight shows, and it still surpassed Wicked. And that s not all. According to the New York Times, whom Trump also attacks regularly, this also happened: [Hamilton] set a record for the highest premium ticket price charged by a Broadway box office $998 although some people have paid more buying tickets from resellers. TwitterTwitterIt just goes to show that although Trump, Pence and their moronic supporters want to set this country back several decades, that s not what the majority of the country wants. When the Hamilton cast spoke about freedom, diversity, and equality, those are the values that resonate with most of us. The outpouring of support that Hamilton has received since the #HamiltonBoycott proves that the majority of the country does not agree with Trump (after all, he lost the popular vote by MILLIONS) and his bigotry has no place in America.Featured image via Alex Wong and Facebook",0 "Commercial fisherman catches a 6.5 Metre, 3 Tonne Basking Shark; Instead of selling the fins for profit, donates the whole specimen to Melbourne Museum.",1 "EP #11: Patrick Henningsen LIVE – ‘Top Trump Trends for 2017’ with guest Gerald CelenteJoin Patrick every Wednesday at Independent Talk 1100 KFNX and Alternate Current Radio for the very best in news, views and analysis on all top stories domestically and abroad THIS WEEK: Episode 11 This week we ll cover some of this week s headline stories including Trump s ascendency to the White House, and what s happened in his first week at the Oval Office.In our main feature segment, host Patrick Henningsen is joined by special guest Gerald Celente, best selling author and Director of the Trends Research Institute in New York, to discuss the real impact of the 2016 Election and America s new President Donald J. Trump. Listen Listen to EP 11: Patrick Henningsen LIVE with Gerald Celente on Spreaker.This program broadcasts LIVE every Wednesday night from 8pm to 9pm MST, right after the Savage Nation, on Independent Talk 1100 KFNX over the terrestrial AM band across the greater Phoenix and central Arizona region, and live over global satellite and online via www.1100kfnx.com.LISTEN TO MORE INTERVIEWS AT PATRICK HENNINGSEN LIVE SHOW ARCHIVESSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 Swiss investigating 53 cases of possible money laundering at Fifa,1 Russia under suspicion after sabotage of Swedish telecom mast,0 Taliban commander turns himself in demanding $100 reward offered on his own 'Wanted' poster,0 "OBAMA’S RACE WAR BACKFIRES: Shocking Number Of Students Chose NOT To Attend U Of Missouri After Black Lives Matter TantrumsThe University Of Missouri students, and many on the faculty joined Obama s race war in November, 2015. Together, they began a PR campaign to ensure black students were guaranteed special treatment on campus that would only be afforded to them. Of course white students who ve been ovewhelmed by White guilt, (thanks to professors and teachers who make it their business to shame students for being born white) joined the cause to help relieve them of the burden they carry, as a result of their ancestors crimes. As a side note, it makes no difference if you just became a citizen last year. If you re white and live in America you re guilty! We covered the Black Lives Matter protests at Mizzou extensively. We told you about Dr. Dale Brigham, a beloved University of Missouri professor, who resigned after he refused to cancel a school exam during the Mizzou hunger strike and athlete s boycott. We showed you a DISTURBING VIDEO of an innocent Asian reporter who was bullied by Black Lives Matter protestors while attempting to cover the hunger strike of a not-so-poor oppressed student, who we exposed as the son of a multi-millionaire railroad executive. We reported about the Mizzou teacher who assaulted a reporter. We exposed the spoiled and self-centered behavior of the students involved in this divisive movement, when they admonished the world for caring more about the Paris terror attacks than their plight for justice. And finally, we reported about a highly recruited football player who after watching the hateful, divisive rhetoric being spewed by the professors and students at Mizzou decided to decline their offer to play football. This was the first step in the unravelling of the University Of Missouri.Here are a few of the tweets we saw from protestors and supporters claiming victory in their fight for justice :Protest works y'all. Proof. We know where the power lies. #ConcernedStudent1950 Brian Kennedy II (@BrianEKennedy2) November 9, 2015The #ConcernedStudent1950 protest at @mucampusdining Plaza 900 earlier today. pic.twitter.com/ryEJ82uqSe Anurag Chandran( ) (@AnuragRC) November 7, 2015To have the university system president to resign, that's huge! Wow great work #ConcernedStudent1950 other schools are on notice! Antifa Jackson (@dthom24) November 9, 2015Jump to March, 2016, to see what the Black Lives Matter students and professors were able to accomplish for the good of the University:University of Missouri (MU) is losing about 1500 students and is facing a huge $32 million budget shortfall four months after it attracted national attention as the site of massive race-based campus protests. I am writing to you today to confirm that we project a very significant budget shortfall due to an unexpected sharp decline in first-year enrollments and student retention this coming fall. I wish I had better news, said MU interim chancellor Hank Foley in a Wednesday letter to school staff that was obtained by Fox Sports.According to Foley s letter, MU will have about 1500 fewer students in fall 2016 compared to last year, an unexpected drop that is in turn causing a big dip in the school s tuition income.Because of the abrupt and unexpected nature of the shortfall, Foley is taking immediate and severe steps to fix the situation: The school budget is being cut 5 percent across the board, all hiring is being frozen (barring exceptional circumstances), and annual raises have been canceled. ",0 Badly disabled woman told she's fit to work.,1 "Indian lawyer Kapila Hingorani, who - assisted by her three practicing lawyer children - fought more than 100 cases in the Supreme Court, voicing concern for the poor, tortured and remedy-less before the judiciary for 60 years, has died. She was 86.",0 Russia vs. The United States: A visual comparison from mint.com. (images),1 """Nuclear weapons [...] are weapons of the weak.""",0 Goldman Sachs in spotlight over 'aluminium price-hike' scandal,1 "Palestinians tell Trump they are still committed to two-state solutionRAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday demanded a halt to Israeli settlement expansion in occupied territory and said he was committed to a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he could be open to alternatives. Abbas’s office issued a statement after Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a news conference in Washington before a meeting. At the news conference, Trump said to Netanyahu: “I’d like to see you pull back on settlements for a little bit.” But Trump also dropped U.S. insistence on a two-state solution, a longstanding bedrock of Middle East policy, upending a position embraced by successive administrations and the international community and a U.S. commitment to the eventual creation of a Palestinian state. Abbas said he agreed with Trump’s call for Israel to refrain from settlement building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. “The presidency demands that (Israel) agree to (Trump’s call), and that of the international community, to halt all settlement activities including in occupied East Jerusalem,” the statement said. But the Palestinians stressed that they wanted the two-state option. “The Palestinian presidency stressed its commitment to the two-state solution and to the international law and international legitimacy in the way that secures ending the Israeli occupation and establish the Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital.” Giving a convoluted response to a question on whether he backed a two-state solution, Trump suggested that he could abide by whatever the two parties decided. “I’m looking at two states and one state, and I like the one both parties like,” he said as he stood alongside Netanyahu. “I can live with either one.” Abbas’ statement added that the Palestinians affirmed their “readiness to deal positively with the Trump administration to make peace”. Talks have been frozen since 2014. The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state in the Israeli occupied West Bank, territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war and the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Islamist Hamas, with East Jerusalem as its capital. ",1 Sweden drops sexual assault probe against Julian Assange as deadline expires,1 "Philippines seeks big cut in drug rehab budget, stoking lawmakers' concernMANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines plans a cut of 75 percent in spending next year on drug rehabilitation facilities, while at the same time seeking a massive hike in funding for a war on drugs that has killed thousands, fuelling concerns among lawmakers. The government has rejected criticism that it lacked the commitment to rehabilitate drug users, saying it has attracted financing and is building treatment facilities, but had underestimated the scale of addiction. More than 3,800 people, most of them drugs suspects, have died in police operations in the drug war unleashed by President Rodrigo Duterte in July last year. Police deny they were executing suspects, saying those killed had violently resisted arrest. Senator Ralph Recto, who has questioned the government s anti-drugs budget, said he would scrutinize its proposal to cut expenditure on drug rehabilitation centers by 2.3 billion pesos ($45.23 million), compared to this year. The government has asked Congress for an increase of more than 40 times in next year s police budget for anti-drugs operations next year. I will discuss these issues when the budget is formally presented, Recto told Reuters in a text message. The lack of rehabilitation centers would cripple the declared government policy to wean substance abusers off drugs, Recto said in a statement over the weekend. In August, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said eight drug rehabilitation centers would be built across the Philippines, funded by private firms, including conglomerate San Miguel Corp and property firm Megaworld. Last year, Manila opened what it called a mega drug rehabilitation facility to treat up to 10,000 patients and funded by a Chinese tycoon. The Department of Health submitted a budget of 759.6 million pesos for state-managed rehabilitation facilities under the government s proposed 2018 spending plan, significantly less than this year s budget of 3.08 billion pesos. Methamphetamine use for a year or more would shrink the brain of a person, Duterte said in a speech in August last year, adding, Therefore he is no longer viable for rehabilitation. He estimated there are already more than 3 million Philippine drug users in a country of more than 100 million people. The government s 13 drug abuse treatment and rehab facilities treated 14,733 out-patients in 2016, up more than three times from the previous year, and close to 30,000 in- patients, up four percent over 2015, the health department says. Duterte has said the drugs war will continue and would be unremitting as it will be unrelenting . ",1 National outrage in China after car thief kills a 2 month old baby he discovered in the back seat.,1 "Peru's Indigenous Women Demand Justice for Forced Sterilization.More than 300,000 women and 20,000 men were subjected to forced steralization to reduce births among Indigenous peoples.",1 " Trump’s Problems With Women Get Worse As Another Beauty Queen Comes Forward With Assault StoryDonald Trump keeps saying that all the women who have come forward alleging that he acted in a sexually inappropriate way toward them are liars. However, the stories are remarkably similar, and they reflect Trump s own words on the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape where he bragged to then-host Billy Bush about sexually assaulting women. Well, on Thursday, those issues deepened, as a 12th woman came forward.Ninni Laaksonen once held the title of Miss Finland. Speaking with Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat, she says that Trump touched her rear end inappropriately in 2006, where the pageant participants were doing an episode of The Late Show with David Letterman. Laaksonen says: Before the show we were photographed outside the building. Trump stood next to me and suddenly he squeezed my butt. He really grabbed my butt. I don t think anybody saw it but I flinched and thought, What is happening? What is most interesting here is the fact that this young woman didn t go out of her way to go public with these allegations. The paper she spoke with, which is supposedly the second-biggest publication in all of Finland, went looking for women in the nation who had histories with Trump. That is how Laaksonen was found, which makes her allegations against Trump all the more credible. She didn t go looking to attach her name to this scandal unfolding in the United States presidential election, but that is what happened, just because she chose to be brave.Perhaps the grossest part of all of this is what Laaksonen says someone told her regarding Trump s attraction to her: Somebody told me there that Trump liked me because I looked like Melania when she was younger. This is just disgusting. The GOP really should be addressing this with the public. They are literally trying to put a sexual predator in the Oval Office. This just goes to show that they do not care about the women of this country, or about the nation itself at all. They care about their party and their careers, and that s it.Hopefully, more women are found between now and election day, and they won t be able to be ignored.Featured image via screen capture",0 "NASA officially announces Manned Mars Mission, test launch will begin tomorrow testing orbiter.",0 Mexico City joins others in banning animals in circuses,1 " MSNBC Just Fact Checked Trump’s Voter Fraud Lies In Real Time And It Was GLORIOUS (VIDEO)Although most of America did not want Donald Trump to be the country s next President, many of us were holding on to hope that we might see an improved version of what we witnessed during the former reality TV star s presidential campaign. Unfortunately, Trump and his team are proving to be worse than we thought, and they re only churning out more fear mongering and lies during his first week in office.New White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has continuously been backing up Trump s voter fraud claims since starting his new position. Trump has been trying to convince America that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the 2016 election, and Spicer has doubled down on those comments recently. Fortunately, the media has been on top of it, obviously frustrated at the lack of transparency from the new President. As Spicer lied his ass off on national television, MSNBC s Katy Tur fact-checked him in real time, and it was pretty amazing. Despite having zero actual evidence that voter fraud occurred, Spicer said: I think there s been studies that came from Pew in 2008 that showed fourteen percent of people who voted were not citizens. There are other studies that have been presented to him. It s a belief he maintains The President does believe that, I think he s stated that before, and stated his concern of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign and continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence people have brought to him. Here s what Tur said as she fact-checked Spicer on air: We want to do a little bit of fact checking on that statement because the White House now is referring to the same research that the campaign had referred to, and the transition had referred to. One was a Washington Post commissioned study which the Washington Post itself debunked, and the other one was a Pew study from 2012, which is actually from 2008, which said that approximately 24 million one in every eight people are on voter registrations in the United States that no longer valid and they are significantly inaccurate. Listing people who had died in the past, obviously, on the voter rolls. It doesn t mention anything about undocumented immigrants, so their basis of evidence isn t quite correct at all. You can watch that brilliant moment below:Here s @KatyTurNBC with an instant fact-check after Spicer said Trump believes millions voted illegally based on studies and evidence pic.twitter.com/Eb10dxtmqd Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) January 24, 2017MSNBC is far from the only network to prove Trump wrong. CNN, the media outlet that Trump has dubbed fake news, ran a headline that said, Trump believes millions voted illegally, WH says but provides no proof .Hopefully, we re going to see more real-time fact checking from the media, because Trump and his team are the most dishonest administration we ve ever seen.Featured image by Joe Raedle via Getty Images",0 Egyptians find torture tools in secret police raid,0 "Iranian film 'A Separation' wins Oscar for Best Foreign Film, pleas for the people of Iran to be recognized for their contributions to culture",0 "U.N. seeks urgent medical evacuation of 500 from Syria's eastern GhoutaGENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations called on world powers on Thursday to help arrange the medical evacuation of 500 people, including 167 children, from eastern Ghouta, saying the besieged Damascus suburb has now become a humanitarian emergency . Nine people died in recent weeks waiting for permission from the Syrian government for the sick and wounded to be evacuated from the rebel-held area to hospitals less than an hour drive from the capital, said Jan Egeland, the U.N. humanitarian adviser on Syria. Russia and Iran, as well as the United States and France, pledged to help during the weekly humanitarian meeting, he said. It would be incredible if they cannot deliver a simple evacuation of mainly women and children, a 40-minute drive to Damascus city, Egeland told a news conference in Geneva. We are convinced that we can do the evacuation if we get a green light from the government. We can then negotiate calm with both sides. Dozens of mortar bombs landed on Ghouta, the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus, on Wednesday, a war monitor and a witness said, despite a 48-hour truce proposed by Russia to coincide with the start of peace talks in Geneva. Eastern Ghouta, next door to Damascus, is the eye of the hurricane, it is the epicentre of this conflict. At the moment there are 400,000 people there, Egeland said. In the past two months, U.N. convoys have delivered supplies to only 68,000 of the 400,000 trapped civilians, he said. Our not being able to reach eastern Ghouta for many months in most of areas has now led to an undoubtedly catastrophic situation, Egeland said. Acute malnutrition rates among children there is nearly 12 percent, above the 10 percent emergency threshold, and a five- or six-fold increase since January, he added. In general I would say that no, there is no calm in this de-escalation zone, there is only escalation in this de-escalation zone, Egeland said. That has ended in eastern Ghouta except for (a pause of) two days only, there has been massive loss of civilian life, hundreds and hundreds have been wounded. We need sustained calm to be able to feed 400,000 people who now beyond doubt are in a humanitarian emergency , he said. Civilians in Damascus have also been killed or wounded by mortars coming from eastern Ghouta, he added. In Hassakeh, in northeastern Syria, U.N. aid workers found a desperate situation, Egeland said. They told about children walking around barefoot, recently displaced children, barefoot in the snow and the cold. He hoped that the U.N. Security Council would agree on a resolution allowing cross-border aid to continue to enter Syria, supplying 2.7 million people in rebel-held areas. It is my clear understanding from all members of the Security Council that none wants a break of the pipeline. ",1 TransCanada suspend its US permit application for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline,1 Israel cancels settlement plans due to international pressure,0 Police close Australia Greenpeace HQ after activists destroy genetically modified wheat crop,1 "Morocco arrests six suspected Islamic State militantsRABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan authorities said on Monday they had arrested six suspected Islamic State militants who had been planning attacks. The arrested belonged to a group linked to Islamic State that was dismantled this month which had been active in eight towns and cities and which had planned terrorist operations, an official statement said. One of the six arrested was an expert in explosives, the statement said. Eleven other militants had already been arrested earlier this month. Moroccan authorities say they have dismantled dozens of jihadist cells since 2002, including about 50 with alleged links to Islamic State. ",1 "Trump refuses to condemn violence at his U.S. presidential ralliesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that “professional agitators” bore much of the blame for violence at his rallies as video showed a protester being beaten and another apparently being grabbed by Trump’s campaign manager. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Trump defended campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and declined to condemn supporters who have attacked protesters at his increasingly chaotic rallies. Nor did he back down from his warning that there would be riots in the streets if the Republican Party denied him the nomination for the November election, despite his being the most popular candidate among Republican voters. Senior figures in the party are openly plotting to prevent Trump from becoming the nominee because they view him as insufficiently conservative, and Trump was due to privately meet with some party leaders in Washington on Monday, the Washington Post reported. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I will say this, you’re going to have a lot of unhappy people,” he said on “This Week,” predicting anger at the party’s national convention in July should someone else end up the nominee. “I don’t want to see riots, I don’t want to see problems. But you’re talking about millions of people.” Scenes of mayhem have become increasingly common at the billionaire New York businessman’s rallies, which have been frequently interrupted by protesters, many of them Democrats, who say Trump’s controversial remarks on immigrants and Muslims are dangerous. The 69-year-old candidate has sometimes encouraged his supporters using violence on protesters, and on at least one occasion said that he would like to punch a protester himself. Television footage from an Arizona rally on Saturday showed a man punching and kicking a protester as he was led out of the event. Another video appeared to show Lewandowski grabbing a protester by the back of his shirt. Trump declined to condemn the violence and said it was often provoked by protesters, who briefly blocked a highway leading to an Arizona rally on Saturday. “These people are very disruptive people. They’re not innocent lambs,” he said. He also defended Lewandowski and said a security official had actually grabbed the protester. Lewandowski also manhandled a reporter last week, according to the Washington Post. “I give him credit for having spirit,” Trump said of Lewandowski. Republican leaders have said Trump needs to more clearly discourage his supporters from engaging in violence. About two dozen senior Republican figures will meet with Trump at a law firm near the Capitol on Monday afternoon in what the Trump campaign described as an effort to improve “party unity”, the Washington Post reported. The newspaper did not say who would be attending. Candidates were also required to submit their most recently monthly financial disclosures to the Federal Election Commission on Sunday. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic Party’s nomination, raised $30.1 million in February, according to filings, about $12 million less than that raised by chief rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the same period. Clinton began March with $31 million in cash on hand, according to filings. ",1 Sick Businessman Lodges Physical Abuse Complaint Against Ryanair,0 YOU WON’T BELIEVE Who Rachel Maddow Blames for Her Trump Tax Dud [Video] ,0 French Journalist Killed in Syria,0 "Trump to nominate former NASA chief Griffin for defense undersecretaryWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump intends to nominate Michael Griffin, a former administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, the White House said on Monday. The White House had said in October that Trump intended to tap Griffin for principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics. Monday’s announcement did not give a reason for the change. Griffin most recently served as chairman and chief executive officer of the Schafer Corporation, a provider of scientific, engineering, and technical services and products in the national security sector, the White House said. He held the top NASA job from 2005 to 2009. ",1 "Mexico's Carstens says 'implicitly' weighing risk of Trump victoryMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico central bank governor Agustin Carstens said on Friday he is “implicitly” factoring in the possibility of Republican hopeful Donald Trump becoming U.S. president in the bank’s economic risk models. In an interview with El Financiero/Bloomberg Carstens was asked whether the chances of Trump, a persistent critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement, becoming the next president of the United States was in the central bank’s risk models. “Well, explicitly, no,” Carstens said. “But implicitly all of us have it in our heads, this possibility.” Carstens was also asked about Mexican monetary policy in the coming months after the bank launched a surprise rate hike on Feb. 17 to shore up the peso currency, which had been falling sharply against the dollar since the end of 2014. He reiterated that the February move was not the start of a monetary policy tightening cycle, but that the bank would be following moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve closely. “Our monetary policy will above all be led by ... the exchange rate, the monetary policy relative to the United States and the inflationary pressures that could occur due to the economic cycle in Mexico,” the central bank governor said. Trump, front-runner to win the Republican presidential nomination for the Nov. 8 election, sparked outrage in Mexico with campaign vows to slap tariffs on Mexican exports and to build a southern border wall and make Mexico pay for it. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said this month his country would not pay for Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and likened his “strident tone” to the ascent of dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Dave Graham; Editing by Richard Chang and Sam Holmes) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 US investigates illegal military equipment shipments from Israel to Iran: US Homeland Security says Israeli arms dealers have been sending spare military jet parts to Iran in breach of sanctions,0 Putin was surprised at how easily Russia took control of Crimea - Washington Post,1 Island of St Helena faces economic collapse unless Britain builds them an airport soon,0 "Kerry says can't comment on content of Clinton emailsQUEBEC CITY (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday said he could not comment on private email chains of his predecessor Hillary Clinton, saying they were being withheld at the request of the U.S. intelligence community. “I can’t speak to the specifics of anything with respect to the technicalities, the contents ... because that’s not our job,” Kerry told a news conference in Canada. “We don’t know about it, it’s in other hands.” ",1 "Protestors torch KFC in Tripoli, Lebanon (PHOTOS)",1 "THE STATE THAT GETS MORE REFUGEES THAN ANY OTHER IN AMERICA MAY SURPRISE YOUHere s one sure way to turn a solidly red state blue In Fiscal year 2014, Texas resettled 7,234 refugees. However, that doesn t tell the whole story because according to the Texas Dept. of State Health Services (an excellent source of information on refugees in Texas), the actual number of migrants legally being treated as refugees last year was really 12,800 (up 24% from the previous year!).The website also tells you which counties got the most refugees.The 12,800 includes refugees, asylees, parolees, special immigrant visa holders (these are Afghans and Iraqis), and victims of trafficking.They hailed from 58 countries (therefore Texas taxpayers are on the hook for many expensive translators gratis a Bill Clinton executive order for all sorts of reasons access to health care, school system problems and the criminal justice system).When I went to several different sources, I find that over 150,000 refugees have been resettled in Texas since 1983, and that number doesn t include secondary migrants from other states (Dallas County got the most secondary migrants last year 60% of all those arriving in Texas).And, of course, it doesn t include all of the children produced in three decades! Nor does it include the thousands of unaccompanied alien children that may not have been distributed around the nation from last year s border invasion. Obama would like nothing more than to have them declared refugees as well (refugees get all forms of welfare upon arrival!).The top resettlement cities in Texas are (resettlement is not limited to these sites, dozens and dozens of smaller cities and towns are receiving refugees):AbileneAmarilloAustinCorpus ChristiDallasEl PasoFort WorthHoustonSan AntonioFor new readers, you might want to have a look at our archive on Amarillo which has developed into a pocket of resistance as the mayor there has asked the federal government to slow the flow since the school system is suffering with the influx of non-English speaking children many of whom are illiterate in their own language. The meatpacking industry is responsible for much of the resettlement to Amarillo (hunger for cheap labor!).The top nations from which Texas received refugees in 2014 were in this order: Iraq, Cuba, Burma, Afghanistan, and tied for 5th place Somalia and Bhutan(Nepal).So when did Texas move into the number one spot in the nation?For years and years other states ranked above Texas including California, New York and Florida. According to this very cool graph (above right), it was in 2011 that Texas gained this dubious distinction.And, if you are wondering why the number dipped in 2011, this is why: That year it was learned that Iraqi terrorists disguised as refugees were arrested in Kentucky. Turns out the pair had lied (can you believe it, they lied!) on their refugee application and it was only when they were found to be planning on helping Al-Qaeda in Iraq was it discovered that one of them had left fingerprints on an IED shard that was warehoused by the US military. The shard came from an IED that had killed Pennsylvania National Guard troops. They are in prison for life.The arrest threw the Refugee Admissions Program of the US State Department into chaos because they had to re-screen thousands and thousands of Iraqis headed to America. Iraqis make up the largest ethnic group we are admitting to America now at a rate of about 20,000 a year. The majority are Muslims (both Shiites and Sunnis as we import their centuries old squabble to your towns!).IT S PROBABLY NO ACCIDENT THAT BARACK OBAMA GAVE THE Teacher of the year award to Shanna Peoples, A high school English teacher from Amarillo, Texas, who works with refugees:In order to question this 35-year-old legal immigration program, you must first get the facts!* Read our Fact Sheet, here. Open and read all the links in this post!* Go to the Texas Department of State Health Services website and learn all you can about the refugees coming to Texas. Don t miss the stats on their health conditions (refugees are admitted with TB, HepB, HIV and parasites).* You have a State Refugee Coordinator and her name is Caitriona Lyons (she is Irish, btw), call her and ask her to direct you to the Texas refugee plan. Here is a description of the plan and the legal requirement that every state have one (and they must keep it current). Ask her to direct you to it and read it!Remember in Texas your governor does have a say in what happens with refugee resettlement! Where has he been?Via: Refugee Resettlement Watch",0 "Britain's M1 motorway partially closed after suspicious object discoveredLONDON (Reuters) - Part of Britain s M1 motorway was closed on Tuesday after what police described as a suspicious object which appeared to be some form of chemical was found under a bridge. The object was discovered at around 0630 GMT and prompted police to close the motorway in both directions between Milton Keynes and Northampton in central England. Thames Valley Police said bomb disposal experts had examined the object and found it had no explosive element. However chemical analysis is ongoing on the object to ascertain what the object might be but it appears to be some form of chemical, police said. Photographs on social media showed long queues on the motorway, one of Britain s main road arteries between London and the north. Police said they were working to divert motorists away from the scene and to move those who had been stuck on the carriageway. They appealed to drivers to avoid the area. ",1 Hackers Stole Secrets of U.S. Government Workers Sex Lives,1 "ACAPULCOIn another grisly turn in Mexico's drug war, police have recovered 18 bodies from a mass grave . . . the victims were from a tourist group kidnapped in Acapulco a month ago",1 Battle of Britain veteran who bailed out of his Spitfire over the English Channel dies aged 99,0 EU: Google's new privacy policy is illegal,0 Massive Student Protests Rock UK,1 "DEMOCRATS PUSH FOR BAN OF WORDS “HUSBAND” AND “WIFE”ENOUGH ALREADY! A California Dem and two dozen others want to have gender neutral terms now. Everyone s equal now? Um, not really.More than two dozen Democrats have proposed legislation that would eliminate the words husband and wife from federal law.Those gendered terms would be replaced by gender-neutral words like spouse or married couple, according to the bill from Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif. The Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act recognizes that the words in our laws have meaning and can continue to reflect prejudice and discrimination even when rendered null by our highest courts, Capps said. Our values as a country are reflected in our laws. I authored this bill because it is imperative that our federal code reflect the equality of all marriages. The Supreme Court ruled in June that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution means all states have to license same-sex marriages, a ruling that effectively ended the same-sex marriage debate in America. Capps said her bill was aimed at taking the next step, which is to ensure the United States Code reflects the equality of all marriages. Via: Washington Examiner",0 Britain's top secret invasion plans stolen in Iranian embassy attack... good job they were for invading France in 1943,1 " WATCH: The New Man In Trump’s Life Is Kissing His A** Like Nobody Else Ever HasIn case everyone didn t know, Trump can throw a perfect spiral through a tire, swishes foul shot after foul shot, and, additionally, is clearly sleeping with Anthony Scaramucci.Donald Trump s newest hire wasted no time before immediately swooning over his new boss.On Friday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigned after Scaramucci was picked as the White House Communications Director.Scaramuccia took to the podium and spoke to the White House Press Corps for about an hour, during which, he professed his deep love of Donald Trump and acted as a glorified hype-man desperate to portray Trump as heroic, intelligent, and physically impressive. I think he s got some of the best political instincts in the world, and perhaps in history, Scaramucci said, immediately commencing with the ass-kissing.When asked if Trump will get his terrible healthcare bill passed, Scaramucci practically gushed over him. The president has really good karma, OK? he said. And the world turns back to him. He s genuinely a wonderful human being and I think as members of Congress get to know him better and get comfortable with him, they re going to let him lead them to the right things for the American people. Scaramucci didn t stop there. He went full groupie by openly admiring Trump s competitiveness and was in full awe of Trump s alleged athletic feats. I ve seen this guy throw a dead spiral through a tire. I ve seen him at Madison Square Garden with a topcoat on. He s standing in the key; he s hitting foul shots and swishing them, all right? He sinks 30-foot putts. Here s the video via Twitter.there s been a lot of lies from the White House but trump is a phenomenal athlete might take the cake pic.twitter.com/ru5YIfZvCi jordan ?? (@JordanUhl) July 21, 2017Now, Scaramuccia may have actually seen Trump do these things, and there is some footage of Trump throwing a football through a hole. But as the Washington Post pointed out, nothing Scaramucci bragged about proves that Trump is competitive because nothing he did was in the heat of competition.But the fact that Scaramucci went out of his way to suck up to Trump in this fashion absolutely proves that he is nothing more than an ass-kisser on a level that must be making Sean Hannity insanely jealous.With that being said, here s Trump and Scaramucci s song. Clearly, it should have been the background music playing during the press briefing.Featured Image: Screenshot",0 "UFO investigations unit closed by Ministry of Defence - In over 50 years, no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom",0 A firing squad of the Islamic State terrorist group on Saturday executed at least 300 civil servants who worked for the Iraqi Supreme Electoral Commission at a military camp in Iraqi city of Mosul.,1 "Food price crisis feared as erratic weather wreaks havoc on crops: 'What the world economy really needs right now is a break', one economist says, but instead it appears headed toward upheaval ",0 David Cameron accused of sanctioning detention of Glenn Greenwald's partner David Miranda,0 "Ex-rival sues Illinois House speaker for 'dirty' election tacticsCHICAGO (Reuters) - A vanquished challenger to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the longtime Democratic leader, accusing him of using dirty tactics to beat him in a March primary election. Chicago Democrat Jason Gonzales accused Madigan of defaming him and crowding the primary with “phony” candidates to dilute his opposition. Gonzalez named the 45-year incumbent, the speaker’s political funds, a top aide and his two other opponents, among others, in a 39-count lawsuit over an alleged scheme to swing the four-way race in the speaker’s favor. “Madigan won because he engaged in dirty, illegal, fraudulent tactics,” Gonzales, who finished second in his bid to topple Madigan with 27 percent of the vote, said in a telephone interview. Madigan received slightly more than 65 percent. Madigan said in a statement that the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, was “without merit.” “Voters of my district soundly re-nominated me based on my strong record of service, giving me more than 65 percent of the vote, and they emphatically rejected Jason Gonzales because they knew he couldn’t be trusted,” said Madigan, who is Illinois’ longest-serving officeholder, representing Chicago’s southwest side since 1971. Neither Grasiela Rodriguez nor Joe Barboza, the two other candidates named in Gonzales’ lawsuit, could be reached for comment. Gonzales accused Madigan of falsely calling him a felon on television commercials and in political mailers based on several arrests and criminal convictions between 1991 and 1994, including the use of stolen credit cards as an 18-year-old. Gonzales alleged that Madigan improperly publicized those criminal records, which should not have been made public after former Democratic Governor Pat Quinn granted a pardon and expunged Gonzales’ criminal record in January 2015. “Madigan’s defamatory statement was one that harmed Gonzales’ reputation to the extent it lowered Gonzales in the eyes of the community and deterred the community from associating with him,” his lawsuit alleged. “As a direct and proximate result of the foregoing acts and/or omissions by Madigan, Gonzales suffered injuries of a personal and pecuniary nature, including emotional distress, damage to reputation and further punishment despite being granted full pardons,” the lawsuit said. Gonzales also accused Madigan and his aides of diluting the Hispanic vote in a legislative district that is about 70 percent Latino by planting two opponents with Hispanic surnames on the ballot. Neither of the candidates, who collectively received nearly 8 percent of the vote, actively campaigned. Gonzales’ case is being handled by Tony Peraica, a former Republican member of the Cook County board. “I couldn’t find a Democratic lawyer who was wiling to take the case,” Gonzalez told Reuters. “Everybody was scared of Madigan.” ",1 "Homophobic? Not me, says Putin... I like Elton John",0 "Porn websites visited 250,000 times on UK parliament computers",1 "Trump met Stanford's John Taylor in Fed chair search: officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump met on Wednesday with Stanford University economist John Taylor in his search for a new chair of the Federal Reserve, a White House official said. Trump was joined for the meeting by Vice President Mike Pence and members of his team helping in his search for a Fed chair, including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the official told Reuters. Trump is working from a short list that includes Jerome Powell, a Fed governor, Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, his top economic adviser Gary Cohn, and current Fed Chair Janet Yellen, whose term expires in February, sources have said. ",1 "Saudi Arabia accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of hypocrisy on Sunday, telling an Arab summit that he should not express support for the Middle East while fueling instability by supporting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.",1 Egyptians Protest 30 Years of Emergency Law,1 Soldier sacked by the army 72 hours before he gets his full pension,1 "Confronted by growing evidence that sex between men is a significant driver of new HIV infections, the Kenyan government has shed a long-time refusal to acknowledge the existence of homosexuality and will launch a survey of gay attitudes and behaviors in its three biggest cities next year.",1 " WATCH: Trump Education Minion Betsy DeVos Runs Away After Being Blocked From Entering Public SchoolDonald Trump s Education Secretary found out how hated she is on Friday.Betsy DeVos bought her way onto Trump s Cabinet earlier this month after a long confirmation battle. DeVos nearly lost in the Senate and it took a tie-breaking vote from Mike Pence to secure her confirmation. Of course, DeVos is only in her position today because she gave millions of dollars to sitting Republican senators.Her nomination was hotly contested because she wants to destroy the public education system in favor of religious schools. It also didn t help that she supports an organization that thinks children should be able to work in mines and thinks guns belong in schools to defend against bears.Seriously.Anyway, when DeVos attempted to visit a pubic school in Washington DC on Friday she was met by protesters who refused to let her in the door. The shamed her and ordered her to leave. She does not represent anything that they stand for! one protester said. Keep giving money to Senate and buying your way into the position, said another. You should be so proud of yourself! Rather than keep trying, DeVos ran away, got in a vehicle and drove off as protesters continued yelling their disapproval.Here s the video via Twitter.WATCH: Sec. Betsy DeVos physically blocked by protesters from entering DC school turned away and left. Video: @SweeneyABC pic.twitter.com/RAycuKEVgm ABC 7 News WJLA (@ABC7News) February 10, 2017According to Huffington Post,Sitting Republican senators have received $115,000 from Betsy DeVos herself, and more than $950,000 from the full DeVos clan since 1980. In the past two election cycles alone, her family has donated $8.3 million to Republican Party super PACs.Furthermore, DeVos had openly admitted that she and her family have spent millions of dollars to buy influence and said she expects something in return. I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence, she once wrote. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect something in return. And that is why she is now Secretary of Education and why millions of parents across the country are pissed off. They should not only block her from entering schools, they should block her from entering the Education Department.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 "HOW MEXICO COULD ACTUALLY Benefit From A Trump PresidencyIt s easier to hate Trump and spew venom at him and his supporters than to use logic and reason Donald Trump has already forced Mexico to clean up its national image, underscoring how the country suffering from NAFTA could actually benefit from a Trump presidency.Mexico is launching a massive PR campaign to improve perceptions of the country after Trump exposed many of its problems, but this is a good thing: sometimes it takes your worst critic to enforce needed change.In fact, Trump s proposed border wall, hatred of the North American Free Trade Agreement and nationalistic views could help America s southern neighbor.For one thing, a lot of people don t realize NAFTA has fueled mass unemployment in Mexico, which has caused thousands of illegal immigrants to flood into the U.S. looking for jobs. There are no jobs [in Mexico] and NAFTA forced the price of corn so low that it s not economically possible to plant a crop anymore, Rufino Dom nguez, the former coordinator of the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations, revealed. We come to the U.S. to work because we can t get a price for our product at home. There s no alternative. NAFTA disrupted Mexico s corn production so badly that 75,000 Iowa farmers were able to grow twice as much corn as 3,000,000 Mexican producers and at half the cost because the U.S. maintained its corn subsidies under NAFTA.That resulted in the mass migration of Mexican farm workers flowing into America. The big wave in illegal immigration from Mexico began in the 1980s, but it picked up strongly after NAFTA that wasn t unexpected, NPR s Tim Robbins reported.And which presidential candidate has spoke out against NAFTA and other destructive trade agreements? Donald Trump. It s a disaster, he said in Sept. We will either renegotiate it, or we will break it. For entire story: Prison Planet ",0 "WATCH: HOME IMPROVEMENT’S TIM ALLEN Reminds Us Of What A “Man’s Bathroom” Should Look LikeNOTE TO TARGET There Aren t Any Feminine Product Dispensers On The WallRemember when there wasn t any gray area when it came to which restroom you would choose in America? For as long as restrooms have existed in the United States, using the proper restroom was as simple as being able to read the labels on the door, or choose picture that matched the gender God assigned to you in the womb.The passage of North Carolina s HB2, Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, prohibiting men from using a public women s restroom or changing room in their state causing the politically correct Left to go ballistic. Following the passage of that common sense bill, Target stores set off a firestorm when they announced they would be siding with .2% of the transgender community and against 98% of non-transgender Americans by allowing men to use women s bathrooms and dressing rooms. So far, over 1 million people have signed a petition pledging to boycott Target unless and until they reverse their decision to put women and children in danger by allowing men to share their safe bathroom and dressing room spaces. PayPal decided they weren t going to build a global HQ even though they have HQ s in places like Singapore, which arrest gays on site just for being gay. More hilariously, porn site xhamster.com, has stated that they have blocked service to anyone with a North Carolina IP address due to their passing of the bathroom law. This puts a monumental burden on other porn sites, who now have to get down to the task of figuring out how they could ever thank xhamster enough for the added traffic.The men s professional basketball association, (NBA) decided to do their part by showing support for the demasculinization effort by feminists and the LGBT-XYZ mafia by threatening to pull their all-star game from Charlotte, North Carolina if they don t change their open bathroom law.Here is the list of oh-so tolerant celebrities who have said they won t perform in North Carolina until they allow men to pee in the bathrooms next to your wife, your sister, your mother and your daughters:Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Jimmy Buffet, Ringo Starr, Cyndi Lauper and Laura Jane Grace (punk rocker). Sharon Stone has also said she ll refuse to",0 "RAF Fighter jets reported ""escorting passenger plane to Stansted Airport""",1 Ukraine seeks $1 billion to seal Chernobyl,0 Guantnamo film shows plight of Canadian national detained at 15,1 'The civil war in Iraq has already begun': Politician claims conflict has started and warns it will be worse than Syria,1 """We're going to have a system where the middle classes are discouraged from breeding because it's jolly expensive But for those on benefits, there is every incentive. Well, that's not very sensible.""",0 "Glenn Greenwald's partner detained at Heathrow airport for nine hours, under controversial Terrorism Act 2000. He was denied access to a lawyer, and had his possessions confiscated.",0 "Congressman Conyers not planning to resign: lawyer tells Detroit News(Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Representative John Conyers has no immediate plans to resign after several women accused him of sexual misconduct, his lawyer told the Detroit News on Wednesday. “He’s not going to be forced out of office, and no one has told him he has to leave,” said attorney Arnold Reed, according to the newspaper. “He has not indicated he’s going to resign at this point,” Reed said of the 88-year-old congressman from Michigan. ",1 "In Ohio, a struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party is playing outLOWELLVILLE, Ohio (Reuters) - On a sweltering evening in a rural corner of Ohio, the struggle for the soul and identity of the Democratic Party is playing out over wine, meatballs and recriminations about Hillary Clinton’s defeat in last year’s presidential election. Joe Schiavoni, the former top Democrat in the Ohio state senate, is talking to a crowd at a fundraising event for his fledgling bid to become their next governor. He believes leaders of his party in Washington have lost touch with voters. It’s a familiar refrain among Democrats in a state that helped catapult Republican Donald Trump into the White House in November. “You can’t just talk about things and send out press releases,” says Schiavoni, a former boxer who revels in his blue collar roots. Many in the crowd, a few miles from the Rust Belt city of Youngstown, nod in vigorous agreement. Meeting voters and hearing their daily concerns is vital, he says. In Ohio, as in other politically competitive “swing” states that Democrats won in 2012 but lost in 2016, Democrats are struggling to come up with a clear message and identity to win back the voters they lost. Listening to voters is the key to moving forward, some three dozen Democratic Party members across Ohio said in interviews. But there was little consensus on how to win over those voters. Many of those interviewed said the party’s national leaders have not learned the lessons of last year’s defeat, when many voters rejected the party as too elitist and out of touch with working Americans. David Pepper, chairman of the state party, dismissed that criticism in an interview, saying he and his team have been traveling around Ohio, talking to voters and visiting their homes. They have been especially focused on two groups: the people who voted twice for President Barack Obama and then Trump, and Democratic voters who sat out the last election. Democrats across America, as in Ohio, are desperate to win again as they look ahead to next year’s congressional elections. The stakes are high. Without a significant shift in voting patterns, the party will fail to recapture the House of Representatives and could lose more seats in the Senate, where they are already in the minority. On Monday, the national Democratic Party unveiled an economic platform they said would help U.S. families. Called “A Better Deal,” it was the first major step by the party to try to reconnect with voters since the election. The plan called for creating 10 million jobs over five years and cracking down on monopolies and big corporate mergers. “But the plan was missing a vital piece,” said Alan Melamed, a longstanding member of the Ohio Democratic Party’s executive committee and a political consultant who has worked on dozens of campaigns for more than 40 years. “We need to show we are fighting for people. The plan failed to do that.” Since Clinton’s defeat in November, Tom Perez, the head of the Democratic National Committee – the body which runs the national party – has conducted a nationwide “listening tour” to hear why so many traditionally Democratic voters defected to Trump last year. Yet when he came to Ohio, some Democrats said, he didn’t do much listening – just a lot of talking. In June, the listening tour came to Youngstown. About 75 party stalwarts paid $25 each to attend a “Pizza with Perez” event at a local pizzeria. “What I saw was a typical campaign event, with the audience doing the listening while Democratic operatives touted their positions,” said John Russo, the former co-director of the Center for Working Class Studies at Youngstown University and a political analyst. “We paid $25 to be told by Perez what he thought we were thinking.” Michael Tyler, a spokesman for Perez, disputed that account, saying Perez had done a lot of listening at the event. “Too many in Ohio and elsewhere feel politically homeless because for too long the national party focused solely on electing the president of the United States at the expense of local concerns,” Tyler said. “That’s exactly why Ohio was among the first places Tom visited when he decided to run for DNC chair.” One of the national politicians unveiling “A Better Deal” in the town of Berryville, Virginia at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley, was Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mention Pelosi to Democrats in Ohio and many roll their eyes. A California liberal, Pelosi is part of the problem, not the solution, they said in interviews. They view Pelosi as part of a coastal elite that does not understand the struggles of Americans in the Midwest. Christopher Celeste, the son of former Ohio governor Dick Celeste and a major Democratic Party donor at both the state and national level, said the retention of Pelosi as a party leader earlier this year was “mindboggling.” Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, said the Democratic leader has raised almost $570 million for Democrats since becoming part of the party leadership in 2002, and was a master legislator and strategist. “While some may find it politically advantageous to engage in a circular firing squad, Leader Pelosi isn’t in Congress on a shift. She’s on a mission to protect the Affordable Care Act,” said Hammill, referring to Obama’s healthcare reform law which Trump wants to repeal. Joyce Beatty, a congresswoman from central Ohio, also defended Pelosi. “To just blame Nancy Pelosi is not only wrong, but it’s wrong for Democrats to do it. If there has been a failure we all need to own it.” Angered by last year’s defeats up and down the ballot in Ohio, a group of political consultants circulated a memo to every member of the state party’s executive committee in December. The memo, which has not been previously reported, lambastes the party leadership for the “electoral carnage” of 2016. (Read the memo here tmsnrt.rs/2h2sTgT) Clinton lost Ohio, a key battleground, by over eight points. Only one Democratic presidential candidate in the past 40 years – Walter Mondale in 1984 – won fewer counties in Ohio than Clinton. Ohio Democrats also lost the U.S. Senate race, both Democratic nominees for the Ohio Supreme Court were defeated, and state races were lost. Ohio’s Democratic congressional delegation in Washington is at its lowest in decades and Republicans control the governor’s mansion and both the state House and Senate. “The status quo cannot stand,” the memo says. It calls for “new messages – and more effective strategies for delivering them.” The memo does not make clear what those messages should be. A source close to the state party leadership dismissed the memo as sniping by disgruntled consultants. Pepper, the Ohio party leader, does not want to relitigate the past. “We need to go and talk to voters and win them back,” he said. ",1 "U.S. House passes $1.2 trillion measure to fund governmentWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $1.2 trillion bill to fund most government activities in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, knowing the Senate will disagree with many controversial elements and force a negotiation that could stretch into December. The bill, passed by a 211-198 vote largely along party lines in the Republican-controlled House, provides $658.1 billion for the Department of Defense and $44.3 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including roughly $1.6 billion for construction of physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexican border. The $31.4 billion allotted for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Forest Service, the Indian Health Service and related agencies cut the EPA’s funding by $534 million when compared to the prior fiscal year. The funding measure also included a provision that would stop the Internal Revenue Service from implementing a provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, that imposes a tax penalty on individuals who elect to go without health insurance. Representative Kevin McCarthy, a member of Republican leadership, said the funding measure would make “major changes to the way Washington spends taxpayer dollars.” “Our funding legislation forces the government to do what it ought to do and to stop doing what it shouldn’t do,” McCarthy said in a statement, praising it for “strengthening our national defense, veterans’ programs, and border security,” and “cutting abusive Washington agencies like the IRS and the EPA.” Democrats warned that the bill, which bundled together 12 separate funding measures and earned just one Democratic vote, would need substantial revision in the Senate, where Republicans hold 52 of 100 seats but most legislation requires 60 votes for passage. “These bills cannot be enacted into law because they cannot gain Democratic votes,” Democratic Representative Nita Lowey said in a statement, calling the House-passed bill “inadequate and partisan.” ",1 " WATCH: Trump’s Campaign Manager Gets Brutally Called Out For This Pathetic Lie (VIDEO)Donald Trump s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was grilled by Fox News Chris Wallace over Trump s dismal polling numbers with women and Hispanic people.Trump, being the giant blowhard that he is, recently insulted the Republican governor of New Mexico, who happens to be a Hispanic woman. Not the best move to make if your goal is to take the White House in November.During the interview, Wallace asks Lewandowski about the matter: Corey, why on earth would the now Republican nominee since he s clinched the nomination, why would he call out the popular governor of a swing state like New Mexico who just happens to be the head of the Republicans Governor Association? Lewandowski evades the question, giving Wallace a stock Trump s just being Trump non-answer: Well, here s what happened, Chris, and you know this. Every time Mr. Trump goes to speak somewhere, he lays out the problems with that given location, whether it s Ohio or Michigan, or Indiana, you know, your country is a mess right now. Wallace presses Lewandowski on the issue, playing a clip of Newt Gingrich where he states that Trump needs to do more to appeal to Latinos and women.That s when Lewandowski drops a lie that is so embarrassingly blatant, it should end his career. These are things that are said everywhere we go. And so, you know, if Donald Trump is winning with Latinos, if you look at the last poll, he s winning with Hispanics. If you look at the polls, he s doing very well with women. He has a much more Wallace cutsLewandowskii off to say: Corey, wait, he s not winning with women and he s not winning with Hispanics. His numbers are hugely underwater with both. Ouch, that has got to sting. Wallace is telling the truth. Trump s polling numbers with both women and Hispanics (not surprisingly) are extremely low. This call out probably won t stop Trump and the rest of his campaign staff from repeating this ludicrous lie.You can watch the interview in full, below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZpTrryZnxAFeatured image from video screenshot",0 "Remember the ""OMG! Fraud in Iran"" graph that circulated? Well it was propaganda, as the same trend can be found within real time US Election data.",0 "Atlantic City, N.J., to hold emergency meeting to discuss bankruptcy(Reuters) - Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian on Thursday called an emergency City Council meeting next week to discuss whether the distressed New Jersey gambling hub should file for municipal bankruptcy. Governor Chris Christie’s veto on Tuesday of legislation that aimed to stabilize the city’s tax base and boost its cash flow left the city with “no other option but to explore bankruptcy,” Guardian said in a statement. State lawmakers have been pushing for a full takeover of city operations, saying local officials have not done enough to cut costs. Only city officials can file for bankruptcy, but the state, which already oversees the city’s finances, must ultimately approve it. ",1 Two Paris attack link suspects arrested in Austria refugee centre,0 "Scientists in Iran clone endangered mouflon born to domestic sheep: Poaching has driven the Isfahan mouflon close to extinction in Iran, where scientists are hailing the rare successful example of interspecies cloning.",0 " WATCH: CNN Host Destroys Trump Campaign Manager For Denying Trump Acted As His Own PublicistDespite the fact that Donald Trump has admitted in the past that he has acted as his own publicist, he and his campaign continue to deny that it was his voice on the recordings. Jake Tapper confronted Trump s campaign manager on the issue and his defense of Trump was sloppy and full of nonsense.On Sunday morning s State of the Union, Tapper played the now infamous tape of Trump impersonating his own PR guy, and then asked campaign manager Paul Manafort if the campaign is seriously claiming that wasn t Mr. Trump? Manafort stuck to his story but Tapper pressed on and put Manafort on the spot. Tapper said: In 1990 under oath he testified he did use the name John Barron, and in 1991 he told People magazine he did use the name John Miller so this has already been admitted previously. I don t understand why now. Manafort then said, I don t know those facts to be true or not. I just know that he said it s not him. I believe him. He then went on in an attempt to change the subject, citing what he said was the lack of importance of the issue: I don t even know the relevance of this frankly. It s 25 years old and they re not dealing with the issues that Trump is trying to focus on today. Jobs, terrorism, immigration problems. These are the issues we should be talking about. Why the media is spending so much time going by 25 years, talking about People magazine on a tape that may or may not be Trump. But Tapper wasn t having it, and he explained the relevance of the story to Manafort. Here s what he said: This issue is here you have a man who in his 40 s allegedly is his own public relations agent, bragging about his exploits with women while married to Ivana Trump, the mother of his three children and speaks to a certain kind of character issue don t you think? Indeed, the character flaws here are tremendous. The lies along with the alleged betrayal of his wife and his disgusting talk about women should all be taken as important issues, especially since Trump is trying to become president. Let s hope it never comes to that scenario.Watch video here on mediaite.comFeatured image via video screen capture",0 "North Korea satellite 'tumbling in orbit,' U.S. official says: The satellite North Korea fired into space on Sunday is ""tumbling in orbit"" and incapable of functioning in any useful way",0 "Africa can easily grow wheat to ease hunger, price shocks: study ",0 "Food and drug chief Gottlieb skirts health secretary talk, says most effective at FDA(Reuters) - U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, considered a potential successor to recently departed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, said on Tuesday he believed he could best serve the Trump administration in his current role. “I feel like I want to continue to follow through on the policies we’ve put out and it’s where I think I can be most effective,” Gottlieb told Reuters in an interview in New York. He declined to say whether he had been approached about the job by the White House. “I’m not going to get into private discussions I might have had around that,” he said. Gottlieb is one of several potential candidates for the top job at HHS, a post vacated by Price last month following an uproar over his use of private jets for government business. Other names mentioned by health policy experts include Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Gottlieb has won mostly positive reviews since taking over as FDA commissioner in May. He has introduced policies tackling some of the country’s biggest health challenges, including opioid and tobacco addiction and rising prescription drug prices. The top post at the FDA has always been difficult to fill, Gottlieb noted, and there have been long stretches where the agency has operated under an acting commissioner. Gottlieb once served as senior adviser to FDA commissioner Mark McClellan, who left the agency in 2004 after just two years to run CMS, a move that Gottlieb said was detrimental to the agency. “It’s always challenging to move an FDA commissioner,” he said. “Continuity of leadership there is important.” In a wide-ranging interview, Gottlieb said the situation on the ground in Puerto Rico, where 10 percent of drugs prescribed in the United States are made, was “very bad” and that shortages of some drugs could emerge within as little as two to three weeks. He also said the agency is going to more clearly define regulations around cell therapies. The law currently states that if a cell is extracted from a patient’s body and more than minimally manipulated it is a drug subject to FDA regulation. “Historically the FDA hasn’t vigorously enforced around that line because it didn’t have the implementing guidelines to do that,” he said. At the same time, the agency plans novel measures to make it easier for small academic centers to apply for FDA product approval by pooling data generated from similar work. “If academicians working at different academic sites are doing a similar procedure with stem cells, if they are all following the same protocol, then they’re going to be able to pool their data to submit it for regulatory approval,” he said. ",1 "German troops in Afghanistan call on Angela Merkel to explain why they're at war - 'They want the Chancellor, their ultimate boss, to finally find the clear words to put the war against the Taliban into black and white,' Bild Zeitung, Germanys biggest daily paper, said today.",1 Saudi Arabia to reward outstanding teachers with BMW cars and cash gifts,0 "Republican lawmakers propose more conservative Obamacare fixWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two prominent Republican lawmakers from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on Tuesday proposed short-term measures to stabilize Obamacare health insurance markets that would compete with bipartisan legislation under discussion in the Senate. The proposal outlined by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Republican Representative Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, includes provisions to suspend requirements for individuals and employers to buy health coverage under former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. The recommendations appear to address many of the Trump administration’s objections to a short-term fix drafted by senators Lamar Alexander, a Republican, and Patty Murray, a Democrat. Democrats are likely to oppose such changes as undermining the viability of Obamacare’s subsidized insurance market for individuals. Like the bipartisan proposal, the Hatch-Brady fix would reinstate billions of dollars in subsidy payments to insurers that Trump jettisoned earlier this month. Insurers say they had to raise monthly premium rates by 20 percent on average for 2018 to account for the lost subsidies, but could reduce consumers costs if they are restored. “It is encouraging to see a growing consensus that Congress should fund the cost-sharing reduction payments for two more years,” Alexander said in response. But the Hatch-Brady legislation would also repeal the individual mandate, or requirement that everyone purchase health insurance or else pay a fine, from 2017 to 2021. It would retroactively repeal the employer mandate from 2015 to 2017 and introduce restrictions on abortion that have yet to be detailed. Health industry experts and Democrats say the individual and employer mandates are critical to making Obamacare work. Murray called on the Senate to move forward with the deal she has worked on with Alexander “and move away from partisan dysfunction on healthcare,” which she said could take health coverage away from millions of people. The Alexander-Murray bill is expected to have the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate, but it is not clear whether it could find enough support in the House. President Donald Trump initially expressed support for the deal, but has since insisted it include more far-reaching provisions toward repealing Obamacare. ",1 Turkey military says will not get involved in political crisis,0 Access to Amnesty Internationals website has been blocked in Saudi Arabia following the organizations criticism of a draft anti-terror law that would stifle peaceful protest in the kingdom,0 "Ten Years After Decriminalization, Drug Abuse Down by Half in Portugal ",1 UK Police call for remote button to stop cars,0 "White House seeks quick vote on healthcare overhaul but hurdles remainWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top aides to President Donald Trump on Monday predicted the House of Representatives would move this week to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, though Republicans remained divided on how to protect sick Americans from insurance price hikes. The White House is eager to move forward on legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, to make good on a key campaign promise. Republicans tried but failed to pass a replacement bill in March in an embarrassing setback for the Trump Administration. Lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow states to opt out of Obamacare protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions - provisions that force insurers to charge sick people and healthy people the same rates. It was unclear when or if a vote would be scheduled. Trump told Fox News Channel that he would not set a deadline for the vote, and indicated he was open to improvements. “We’re either going to have a great plan or I’m not signing it,” he said in the interview. In a separate interview with Bloomberg News, Trump insisted that the new bill would maintain protections for pre-existing conditions. “I want it to be good for sick people. It’s not in its final form right now,” he told Bloomberg. “It will be every bit as good on pre-existing conditions as Obamacare.” Ten major patient advocacy groups said they opposed the reworked healthcare bill, including the American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association. Other major medical groups such as the American Medical Association have also expressed concerns over coverage losses and unaffordable insurance for those with pre-existing conditions. Republican lawmakers have struggled to unite around legislation, with moderates and conservatives within the caucus divided over key provisions. Once a plan passes the Republican-controlled House, it is expected to face a tough fight in the Senate, where Republicans have a narrower majority and where some party senators have expressed misgivings about the House bill. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and White House economic adviser Gary Cohn on Monday said in separate interviews with CBS’ “This Morning” that they thought there were enough votes to pass the bill this week. House Republican leaders were more cautious. As of Monday afternoon, no vote had been scheduled and backers of the healthcare proposal had not released legislative language. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the House Republican conference, said Republican members needed time to understand new tweaks to the bill. “We are having those member-to-members conversations right now,” McMorris Rodgers told Fox News. Vice President Mike Pence made his way to Capitol Hill late on Monday to make the case to members who are on the fence, a Republican aide said on condition of anonymity, noting leaders are believed to be within five or six votes of having enough support to pass the bill. The Freedom Caucus, which brought down the previous effort to pass a healthcare bill, has endorsed the new measure. The Republican aide told Reuters all but one or two members of the group will support the reworked plan. “This bill doesn’t get all the way there but it’s a good step and is ... the best we can get out of the House right now,” Representative Jim Jordan, chairman of the group, told CNN. But several moderate Republicans were either undecided or opposed the bill for fear that it would not protect those with pre-existing conditions and cause millions to lose health insurance. Representative Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania, said he still had problems with the latest plan and suspected there were not enough votes to pass it. “Too many Americans are going to be without coverage,” Dent told MSNBC, adding that the plan could make things even worse for vulnerable Americans. ",1 Islamic Jihad kills Israeli child in West Bank,1 "Aleppo's Silk Road souk burns to ashes in battle for Syrian city. Flames destroys 1,500 shops in Souk al-Madina, a world heritage site, fuelled by fabric stored beneath ancient arches",1 "SAY WHAT? UN Working With Obama Regime To Create Global Police Force In Several American CitiesWhiskey, Tango Foxtrot!!! A Sharia compliant UN working with Obama to create a Global police force? Does anyone else have alarm bells going off in their heads? On Wednesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced at the United Nations that her office would be working in several American cities to form what she called the Strong Cities Network (SCN), a law enforcement initiative that would encompass the globe.This amounts to nothing less than the overriding of American laws, up to and including the United States Constitution, in favor of United Nations laws that would henceforth be implemented in the United States itself without any consultation of Congress at all.The United Nations is a sharia-compliant world body, and Obama, speaking there just days ago, insisted that violent extremism is not exclusive to Islam (which it is). Obama is redefining jihad terror to include everyone but the jihadists. So will the UN, driven largely by the sharia-enforcing Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the pro-Islamic post-American President Obama, use a global police force to crush counter-jihad forces?After all, with Obama knowingly aiding al-Qaeda forces in Syria, how likely is it that he will use his global police force against actual Islamic jihadists? I suspect that instead, this global police force will be used to impose the blasphemy laws under the sharia (Islamic law), and to silence all criticism of Islam for the President who proclaimed that the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. What is a global police force doing in our cities? This is exactly the abdication of American sovereignty that I warned about in my book, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration s War on America. The Obama Department of Justice made it clear that it was exactly that when it distributed a press release last week announcing the Launch of Strong Cities Network to Strengthen Community Resilience Against Violent Extremism. In that press release, the DoJ complained that while many cities and local authorities are developing innovative responses to address this challenge, no systematic efforts are in place to share experiences, pool resources and build a community of cities to inspire local action on a global scale. So if the local and municipal effort to counter the euphemistic and disingenuous violent extremism is inadequate and hasn t developed systematic efforts are in place to share experiences, pool resources and build a community of cities to inspire local action on a global scale, the feds and the UN have to step in. Thus the groundwork is being laid for federal and international interference down to the local level. The Strong Cities Network, Lynch declared, will serve as a vital tool to strengthen capacity-building and improve collaboration i.e., local dependence on federal and international authorities.Lynch made the global (that is, United Nations) involvement clear when she added: As we continue to counter a range of domestic and global terror threats, this innovative platform will enable cities to learn from one another, to develop best practices and to build social cohesion and community resilience here at home and around the world. This internationalist character was brought to the fore by the fact that the Strong Cities Network was launched on September 29 not at the White House or the Department of Homeland Security, or at the FBI headquarters or anywhere else that might be fitting for a national project, but at the United Nations.Even more ominously, the DoJ press release says that the Strong Cities Network will strengthen strategic planning and practices to address violent extremism in all its forms by fostering collaboration among cities, municipalities and other sub-national authorities. Sub-national and international: the press release then quotes Governing Mayor Stian Berger R sland of Oslo, Norway, a participant in the Strong Cities Network, saying: To counter violent extremism we need determined action at all levels of governance. To succeed, we must coordinate our efforts and cooperate across borders. The Strong Cities Network will enable cities across the globe pool our resources, knowledge and best practices together and thus leave us standing stronger in the fight against one of the greatest threats to modern society. But what is that greatest threat, exactly? Remember, the DoJ presser says that the SCN will address violent extremism in all its forms. It also says that it will aid initiatives that are working toward building social cohesion and resilience to violent extremism. Building social cohesion is a euphemism for keeping peace between non-Muslim and Muslim communities mostly by making sure that non-Muslims don t complain too loudly about, much less work against, rapidly expanding Muslim populations and the Islamization of their communities.The DoJ presser noted that at the launch of the Strong Cities Network, welcoming remarks would be offered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra ad Al Hussein and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City. The involvement of New York City s Marxist internationalist mayor is yet another warning sign.Assert American sovereignty and individual rights. Contact your representatives now. Exhort them to oppose SCN now. Exhort them to keep America free while it still is. Via: Breitbart News ",0 " Kellyanne Conway’s Husband Just Publicly Bashed Trump’s Travel Ban While She Was Defending It On TVSo the Conway marriage just took a turn and Kellyanne, still doing the tv circuit to promote Trump s latest lies, may not even know it yet.While Kellyanne was busy going on cable to say Trump s incoherent, dangerous tweets should be ignored and people should focus on his incoherent, dangerous actions instead, her husband had apparently reached a breaking point with the stupidity. On Twitter, he quoted the same idiotic tweets his wife was on TV defending and called them what they were: complete garbage.George Conway s Twitter account is not verified but reporters double-checked and it s him.Wow. Kellyanne Conway's husband on Trump's travel ban tweets: https://t.co/5pJLIhFFJz Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 5, 2017George Conway is a high-profile lawyer. He knows the law. And he took one look at Trump s tweets calling for a Muslim ban (Trump is back to calling it a travel ban ) and said they probably just cost him the Supreme Court. Trump, in his rage-spiral, all but proved his ban was meant to exclude Muslims from certain Middle Eastern countries in the tweets. This, of course, is patently unconstitutional and discriminatory. The Supreme Court will likely use Trump s tweets in deciding against his case. Nice going, Trump!George Conway also recently took himself out of the running to be Trump s latest nepotistic hire. He was originally considered to lead the Justice Department s Civil Division. It seems apparent that he isn t exactly Trump s biggest fan.George Conway, who recently took himself out of the running to lead Justice Dept. Civil Division, on president's travel ban Tweets. https://t.co/OQCSdzDD2t Matt Zapotosky (@mattzap) June 5, 2017Meanwhile, Kellyanne has been trying her best to defend her indefensible boss. Her husband isn t helping matters. By telling the truth, George is hurting the one thing Kellyanne Conway can resort to: A fictional narrative where up is down and Trump is smart. And she was trying so hard to spin things this morning!WATCH: This obsession with covering everything he says on Twitter and very little what he does as president @KellyannePolls pic.twitter.com/iyS3WnHoxh TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 5, 2017Dinner at the Conways tonight is going to be super awkward.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 The story of Maria Aman: Court denies residency to Palestinian Child paralyzed in Israeli attack that killed three members of her family,0 Belarus president: US have given an asylum to hundredths of Russian traitors. In place of our Russian friends I'd give Snowden a political asylum without worrying much (article in russian media).,1 "British Labour leader Corbyn tells Morgan Stanley: 'We're a threat'LONDON (Reuters) - Britain s opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned Morgan Stanley that bankers are right to regard him as a threat because he wants to transform what he cast as a rigged economy that profits speculators at the expense of ordinary people. Morgan Stanley cautioned investors on Nov. 26 that political uncertainty in Britain was a bigger threat than Brexit given the risk of Corbyn winning power and then dismantling what was once seen as one of the world s most stable free-market economies. Bankers like Morgan Stanley should not run our country but they think they do, Corbyn, a 68-year-old socialist, said in a video posted on Twitter that showed the towers of the City of London and Canary Wharf financial districts. So when they say we re a threat, they re right: We re a threat to a damaging and failed system that is rigged for the few, he said. Morgan Stanley declined to comment. London, which vies with New York for the title of the world s financial capital, dominates the $5.1-trillion-a-day global foreign exchange market and is home to more banks than any other financial center. But many bankers, CEOs and investors were spooked by the shock 2016 vote for Brexit and have been dismayed by the political turmoil which followed, including Prime Minister Theresa May s botched gamble on a snap election in June. May lost her party its majority in parliament in that election while Corbyn s unexpectedly strong result in the vote has convinced many of Labour s opponents that Corbyn is a potential prime minister if May s government falls. Kept in power with the support of a small Northern Irish political party, May has just over a year to negotiate Britain s divorce from the EU that will shape Britain s prosperity and global influence for generations to come. Now many investors fear Corbyn, who was once dismissed by his own party as an out-of-touch peace campaigner with no hope of ever winning power, could win the top job if the political turmoil continues in London. One senior executive at a top U.S. investment bank said that at a meeting in New York recently concerns over Corbyn trumped concerns about Brexit. Their top concern was not what s happening in Germany and Spain, or North Korea and Trump: their main concern was what s happening in the UK and what Corbyn might mean for the country, the executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity said. It s like Cuba without the sun, the executive said. Morgan Stanley said Britain now faced a double whammy of uncertainty from Brexit and the domestic political instability. From a UK investor perspective, we believe that the domestic political situation is at least as significant as Brexit, Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note to clients. Morgan Stanley said there was a high likelihood of another national election in late 2018 just months before Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29 2019. The bank s analysts said a Labour victory could mark the biggest shift in British politics since the late 1970s when Margaret Thatcher won victory, started to privatize chunks of the economy and opened up London to U.S. and Japanese banks. It is certainly plausible that the Labour Party could ultimately moderate some of its more radical policy ideas; the alternative could be the most significant political shift in the UK since the end of the 1970s, Morgan Stanley said. Corbyn has cast bankers as the villains behind the 2008 financial crisis and has promised to increase taxes on the banks and investment funds which trade out of London, including their staff through higher income taxes. Corbyn, who has promised sweeping renationalisation, higher public spending and tax rises for the rich, said banks like Morgan Stanley were speculators who had left ordinary people to pay the price for their greed. These are the same speculators and gamblers who crashed our economy in 2008 and then we had to bail them out, Corbyn said. Their greed plunged the world into crisis and we re still paying the price. Corbyn said Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman earned tens of millions personally and banks paid out billions of pounds worth of bonuses while Labour was the party of the people and a government in waiting. Such banker bashing could be popular with some voters in Britain where financiers are often portrayed as vastly overpaid. Financial services contributed 11.5 percent of total UK government tax receipts in 2016. Corbyn s Labour won 40 percent of the votes cast in June 2017 while May s Conservatives won 42 percent. Morgan Stanley, which opened on Wall Street in 1935, set up its European headquarters in London in 1977 and it now has over 5,000 staff, most at a block in Canary Wharf. Morgan Stanley did not receive a British government bailout during the 2008 crisis. ",1 US-Backed 'Moderate' Free Syrian Army Factions Join ISIS Terror Group,0 "Confidential documents have revealed the formidable lobbying operation waged by tobacco giant Philip Morris seeking to undermine efforts to make cigarettes less attractive to children and women, and force packs to carry larger health warnings.",1 "How Gogol Explains The Post-Soviet World --- ""Here is a not entirely frivolous suggestion: How about skipping the political science textbooks when it comes to trying to understand the former Soviet Union and instead opening up the pages of Gogol, Chekhov, and Dostoyevsky?""",0 "Japan's slide into war chronicled in Emperor Hirohito's memoirNEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan s Emperor Hirohito did not veto his advisers decision to declare war on the United States in 1941 because he feared triggering an internal conflict that would destroy his country, he said in an account dictated to an adviser. Set for auction in New York on Wednesday, the handwritten document throws light on Japan s role in World War Two, as it records events dating from the 1920s, such as Hirohito s resolve not to oppose future cabinet decisions, even if he disagreed. He realized that if he wanted to be in power, he had to do what they wanted, Tom Lamb, director of the books and manuscripts department at auction house Bonhams, told Reuters. And that is an interesting fact, since, throughout the late 1930s and through the 1940s, military decisions were made, which he could not contest, he said. The auctioneers have put an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000 on the manuscript, which consists of two browning twine-bound notebooks written in pen and pencil by Terasaki Hidenari, an interpreter and adviser to the emperor, in 1946. The memoir concludes with the emperor s statement that if he had vetoed the decision to go to war, it would have resulted in a civil conflict that would have been even worse and Japan would have been destroyed, the auction house said on its website. Known in Japanese as Dokuhakuroku , or The Emperor s Monologue , the remarks may offer insight into the role the monarch played in the war campaign. This is a topic academics say has never been fully pursued in Japan, largely due to U.S. occupation authorities decision to retain the emperor as a symbol of a newly democratic nation. The Americans needed Emperor Hirohito to bind the country together, which he did, Lamb added. The whole of Japan changed from a rather military pre-war style to a postwar economic powerhouse, and obviously the emperor was part of that. ",1 Snowden's father says FBI asked him to fly to Moscow to persuade son to return home to US,0 "Toll of U.S. staff hurt in mysterious Cuba incidents now 21: officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials are aggressively investigating what caused symptoms ranging from hearing loss to mild brain injury in 21 people linked to the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, a State Department official said on Thursday. Spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing that no new incidents had been reported since late August but testing continued, with 21 people saying they had been injured in what some media accounts have called an acoustic attack. We are, at the State Department, very deeply concerned about what has taken place and what has happened to our American personnel who have been serving at our embassy in Cuba, Nauert said. This has certainly turned out to be a difficult situation for some of our people. The incidents, which began in late 2016, were first confirmed by a U.S. official in August. Nauert said at that time 16 people had been injured. Some of those had returned home for testing and treatment, Nauert said, while others had been tested in Cuba, where the embassy has a fulltime medical officer. News media have reported that Americans and Canadians working in Cuba have been diagnosed with hearing loss, nausea, headaches, balance disorders and conditions as serious as mild traumatic brain injury and damage to the central nervous system. The investigation into all of this is still underway. It is an aggressive investigation that continues and we will continue doing this until we find out who or what is responsible for this, Nauert said. She said U.S. diplomatic security personnel had been able to look through the rooms of some of those injured and conducted searches but still had not determined the cause of the injuries. Nauert said people were still being tested and it was possible the number of injured personnel would rise. ",1 "US Admiral: Russian Bombers send a message, we do the same - it wouldn't surprise me if Russia sends bomber patrols through the Gulf of Mexico - ""If you have long-range aircraft, you want to exercise them. In order to exercise them you need to fly long-range missions",1 "How the FBI Creates ‘Domestic Terror’ in the United States21st Century Wire says This is a bit of an oddity as far as TED talks go Investigative journalist Trevor Aaronson actually delivers a TED presentation which calls out the FBI for being the party responsible for creating the majority of so-called domestic terror and Islamic terror busts in the US since 9/11.Just this week, the FBI are boasting of a high level domestic extremist terror bust of a militia group in Kansas, but when you read the fine print of the case, it features several FBI confidential informants, no doubt helping to egg-on and steer their prey into a preconceived trap.21WIRE has been saying this for years, and it s refreshing to see what is normally a bland, mainstream talking shop like TED actually allow a speaker to present a real anti-establishment subject like this one.In truth, the FBI s shady record in this area stretched back well before 9/11, when FBI informants (under FBI supervision) helped to organize the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing. Despite this, idiotic mainstream media and politicians in the US still claim that the 1993 WTC event was linked to al Qaeda. NOTE: The following speaker Trevor Aaronson claims that both the Boston Bombing and the attempted Times Square car bombing. This statement is very likely to be incorrect. It has already been confirmed that the FBI s lead suspect in Boston, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was being active recruited by the FBI for at least two years prior to the event in question, as well as being associated with a CIA front org called the Jamestown Foundation. Similarly, the alleged Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, appeared to have fled to Pakistan with a handler who has connections to the CIA and MI6. Otherwise, we welcome this topic raised by journalist Aaronson.Brasscheck TVGuess who is behind more terrorist incidents in the US than al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab and ISIS combined?The FBI and when given the change to set the record straight, they don t dispute it.As law enforcement scams go, this is one of the most reprehensible. The FBI finds mentally ill people, puts ideas into their heads, works up plans for them and then gives them the money to carry them out an then arrests them for terrorist plots.They then declare victory in the war on terror. Domestic anti-terrorism efforts cost $100 billion a year or $1 trillion per decade.And you, your kids and grand kids pay for all this in the form of a reduced standard of living to make sure this useless anti-American scum get nice big paychecks and bloated tax-payer guaranteed pensions for their years of service. Watch:. READ MORE DAILY SHOOTER NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Daily Shooter Files",0 " Anti-Gay Texas Attorney General Faces DisbarmentThe Texas Bar Association is stepping up to the plate to nail Ken Paxton for violating legal ethics.After the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal across the nation last summer, some red states threw a collective hissy fit over the decision. In Alabama, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered county judges to disobey the highest court in the land.Texas Republicans also threw a temper tantrum, especially Attorney General Ken Paxton, who told county clerks to defy the Supreme Court ruling as well. I will do everything I can from this office to be a public voice for those standing in defense of their rights, Paxton vowed a day after the ruling came down. But unlike Moore, Ken Paxton could end up losing his status on the bar.Because he told clerks to violate the law as interpreted by the Supreme Court, the Texas Bar Association has launched an investigation against Paxton for ethics violations.The new investigation against Paxton comes on top of his indictment for committing securities fraud. If convicted, he faces up to 99 years in prison.Houston lawyer Eddie Rodriguez said that the Board of Disciplinary Appeals is looking into whether or not Paxton should be disbarred, which would prevent him from practicing law in the state, provided being thrown in prison doesn t do the trick first. Attorney General Paxton has a right to disagree with a ruling of the Supreme Court, Rodriguez told Reuters. Lawyers do that every single day. What makes a difference is that you cannot encourage people to violate that ruling and that law. Of course, Paxton denies being an unethical slug. This complaint has always lacked merit, and we are confident the legal process for resolving these complaints will bear that out, a statement from his office said.As usual, it will take time for the investigation to run its course before a decision is made, but it s hard to believe a legitimate bar association would allow Paxton to continue being a lawyer since it is clear that he defied federal law and the order of the Supreme Court to let same-sex couples legally marry. If they don t remove him from the bar, what does that say about the ethics of the Texas Bar Association itself?Featured image from texasattorneygeneral.gov",0 Australian authorities are failing to protect Great Barrier Reef because of Australian PM Tony Abbott's approval of the dumping of dredge soil,1 Israeli settlers throw out a Palestinian family from their home of 70 years,0 " In RARE Case Of Factual Reporting, Fox Shows How Cruz Is Too Stupid To Run For President (VIDEO)For a party so terribly interested in governing this country, Republicans sure do lack the basic knowledge about how governing actually works. One of the latest examples of this is Ted Cruz and his choice to pick a vice presidential running mate at this stage in the process. In an incredibly rare case of factual reporting, Fox News explained in detail exactly why Cruz completely screwed up by doing this in the video below.Cruz made a huge deal out of the fact he picked a VP. He had a press conference just to announce it. Signs were made, people were cheering and then it turned out to be Carly Fiorina? Her low popularity makes her a strange choice, but when you re Ted Cruz it s very likely you can t get a lot of the more popular people to hang out with you.Unpopularity aside, Cruz s pick of a VP is actually pretty ignorant for another reason and this has nothing to do with Carly the Wicked Stepmother. There s virtually no chance that Ted Cruz will get the nomination outright. He would come up about 100 delegates short, even if he won every single one of them from here on out. This means that if Trump doesn t win outright (which he still can), the only hope Cruz has is a contested convention.That s where things completely go wrong for Cruz. Convention rules clearly state that a nominee cannot pick their own VP in a contested convention. The VP pick is up to the delegates, and if one were to make an educated guess, Carly Fiorina would NOT make the cut.Carly Fiorina s popularity is non-existent. Her entire campaign only lasted for two states, and then she was out. Convention delegates are extremely unlikely to pick a VP who they feel would be damaging to the party s chances of winning in November. So, this begs the question, did Ted even bother to read up on the rules of how you run a campaign for the presidency? Imagine his embarrassment after all the hoopla surrounding his pick, only to have her booted at the RNC.Watch Fox News explain how Ted Cruz has no clue how running for president works:Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images",0 "[VIDEO] LEFTIST CNN ANCHOR TELLS RACIST US REP THE #BaltimoreRiots Are Vets Fault “They come back from war…and they’re ready to do battle”Whiskey, Tango, Hotel Don t worry, Brooke clarified her ludicrous statement by saying: These veterans are coming back from war and they just don t know their communities. Yeah okay thanks for clarifying Brooke Radical leftist and open racist, Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings appears to have the answer however, he s got the DOJ involved in an investigation from top to bottom of the Baltimore Police Department. Once their shake-down is complete, the racist crackers will be outed, they ll be fired and everyone can go back to business. As usual, where s there s a Democrat, there s a taxpayer funded government solution As if it s not hard enough to have to watch racist Democrat, US Rep. Elijah Cummings offer his expert opinion on the Baltimore riots/race war he s just giddy about we now have to listen to leftist CNN reporter Brooke Baldwin tell us these riots are the fault of our returning US Veterans How much more idiocy can America take? Here s a great example of a courageous US Veteran who stood tall last night in the face of a large group of thugs who were threatening the Baltimore Police with rocks and other projectiles. Is this who you were referring to Brooke?Here s the original interview with US Rep. Elijah Cummins:After more than a year of CNN pouring gasoline all over America with hysterical, and oftentimes phony, stories of American racism, the left-wing network s afternoon anchor Brooke Baldwin finally took it to the next level by blaming American veterans for the Baltimore riots.In a pathetic suck-up interview with Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummins, Baldwin never once had the moral courage to ask the failed Baltimore City congressman if the left-wing policies ushered in by a half-century of a Democrat monopoly in Baltimore might have something to do with the city s ills. Instead, she said of young military veterans who become police officers, I love our nation s veterans, but some of them are coming back from war, they don t know the communities, and they are ready to do battle. The context was a discussion about increased training and retraining for the Baltimore police.There s no question Baldwin is hoping to launch a narrative with that smear.This is pure CNN; throwing out anti-science smears towards the best people this country has to offer while it is in reality the rioters who are doing battle. It is savages who are looting and burning and causing anarchy, not the police. But it is the Baltimore police who have 15 wounded among their ranks. It is the Baltimore police who calmly did not do much battle during Monday night s riots.Baldwin and CNN just can t help themselves. This is a cable news network that relentlessly launches Hate Campaigns to smear decent people, like Christians, as a way to deflect from the evils done by the Gaystapo and the thugs who are tearing down predominantly black, working class cities like Ferguson and Baltimore.Essentially, what Baldwin said to the world was, Don t hire veterans! They re too damaged to be trusted with authority. We re back to the Vietnam-era where leftists smear our heroes to cover up the real problems. CNN wants us to believe unstable veterans are the problem in Baltimore, not unstable families.But she loves veterans.Here s a great follow up interview with Mr. Valentine, the fearless veteran the residents in the city of Baltimore are fortunate enough to have living amongst them:Wine and live television tend to reveal just how ugly some people really are.Via: Breitbart News",0 "WikiLeaks: ""Israel actively supported Hamas"" | Documents allegedly show that Israel was interested in empowering Hamas in attempt to end the first Intifada.",0 "Egypt's Sisi, Israel's Netanyahu meet for first time in publicCAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have met for the first time in public in what Egypt said was part of an effort to revive the Middle East peace process. Egyptian authorities said in a statement the two had met on Monday ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Sisi separately met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at his residency, where they agreed to continue working toward a two-state solution. The meeting came just days after Egypt helped broker an agreement with the Palestinian Hamas group to dissolve the administration that runs Gaza and hold talks with Abbas Fatah movement, its Palestinian rivals . For much of the last decade, Egypt has joined Israel in enforcing a land, sea and air blockade of the Gaza Strip, a move to punish Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since a brief Palestinian civil war in 2007. Netanyahu has said in recent weeks that ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors have been improving and that cooperation exists in various ways and (at) different levels . Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognize Israel under the U.S.-sponsored peace accord in 1979. But Egyptian attitudes to its neighbor remain icy due to what many Arabs see as the continued Israeli occupation of land that is meant to form a Palestinian state. In recent weeks, Egypt has hosted delegations from Fatah and Hamas to help reach an agreement between the two sides and talk about the Gaza border. But reunification a decade after their battle for control may hinge on whether complex power-sharing issues can be resolved. Under pressure from the blockade, Hamas has sought to mend ties with Egypt, which controls their one border crossing. Egypt under Sisi has been wary of ties between Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, which Sisi ousted from power after mass protests. (This story has been refiled to remove extraneous words in paragraph 2.) ",1 Meet the 92 year-old teacher finally calling it a day,0 "Pope Francis drew 6.6 million to Vatican in 2013, three times Benedict",0 "Canada suggests it could quit NAFTA talks over dispute mechanismOTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada laid down a tough line ahead of talks on modernizing NAFTA on Monday, suggesting it could walk away if the United States pushed to remove a key dispute-settlement mechanism in the trade deal. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, giving the most substantive outline yet of Canada’s goals, said she was “very optimistic” the negotiations would be a success. North American Free Trade Agreement members Canada, Mexico and the United States hold their first session in Washington on Wednesday. Canada, heavily reliant on exports to the United States, opposes Washington’s push to scrap the so-called Chapter 19 dispute settlement mechanism, under which binational panels make binding decisions on complaints about illegal subsidies and dumping. The United States has frequently lost such cases. “Canada will uphold and preserve the elements in NAFTA that Canadians deem key to our national interest – including a process to ensure anti-dumping and countervailing duties are only applied fairly when truly warranted,” Freeland said in a speech at the University of Ottawa. Noting that Canada had withdrawn its chief negotiator from 1987 talks on a bilateral trade treaty with the United States over the same issue, Freeland said “our government will be equally resolute.” Freeland later sidestepped reporters’ questions about whether maintaining Chapter 19 was a make-or-break issue for Canada, saying she would let her U.S. counterparts know how important the matter was to Ottawa. Trade among the three nations has quadrupled since NAFTA came into effect in 1994, surpassing $1 trillion in 2015. But U.S. President Donald Trump regularly calls the treaty a disaster and has threatened to walk away from it unless major changes are made, citing U.S. job losses and a trade deficit with Mexico. Toronto trade lawyer Mark Warner said there few surprises in Freeland’s announcement, given Ottawa had already signaled its stance on major issues. “It’s the beginning of a negotiation. Everybody expects posturing,” he said by phone, noting Washington had reacted calmly to previous Canadian statements about the importance of dispute settlement. Freeland, who predicted there would be moments of drama during the talks, said Canada wanted a progressive trade deal featuring stricter environmental and labor standards as well as a focus on climate change, a concept Trump has little time for. Canada, like Mexico, sends the majority of its exports to the United States and would be hurt by U.S. protectionist moves. The United States runs a slight surplus in trade of goods and services with Canada, which has mounted a major outreach campaign to persuade U.S. business leaders and politicians that NAFTA is a success. “American partners have been listening,” Freeland said. “They understand ... our relationship, the greatest economic partnership in the world, is balanced and mutually beneficial.” Freeland stressed that Canada would protect tariffs and quotas that keep domestic dairy prices high and imports low. U.S. dairy farmers strongly dislike the system. A modernized NAFTA should take into account technological advances and make it easier for professionals to move from one member nation to another, she added. ",1 "Trump's offer to Russia: an end to sanctions for nuclear arms cut - London TimesLONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will propose offering to end sanctions imposed on Russia over its annexation of Crimea in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal with Moscow, he told The Times of London. Criticizing previous U.S. foreign policy in an interview published on Monday, he described the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 as possibly the gravest error in the history of the United States and akin to “throwing rocks into a beehive”. But Trump, who will be inaugurated on Friday as the 45th U.S. president, raised the prospect of the first big nuclear arms control agreement with Moscow since the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed by President Barack Obama in 2010. “They have sanctions on Russia — let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia,” the Republican president-elect was quoted as saying by The Times. “For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that’s part of it. But Russia’s hurting very badly right now because of sanctions, but I think something can happen that a lot of people are gonna benefit.” The United States and Russia are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers. The United States has 1,367 nuclear warheads on deployed strategic missiles and bombers, and Russia has 1,796 such deployed warheads, according to the latest published assessment by the U.S. State Department. Under the 2010 New START treaty, Russia and the United States agreed to limit the number of long-range, strategic nuclear weapons they can deploy. Trump has said he will seek to improve relations with Moscow despite criticism that he is too eager to make an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The United States and other Western powers imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 over its annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine and its support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Asked whether he would trust German Chancellor Angela Merkel or Putin more, Trump said: “Well, I start off trusting both —but let’s see how long that lasts. It may not last long at all.” His relations with Moscow have faced renewed scrutiny after an unsubstantiated report that Russia had collected compromising information about Trump. The information was summarized in a U.S. intelligence report which was presented to Trump and Obama this month. The report concluded Russia tried to sway the outcome of the Nov. 8 election in Trump’s favor by hacking and other means. It did not make an assessment on whether Russia’s attempts affected the election’s outcome. Trump accused U.S. intelligence agencies of leaking the information from the unverified dossier, which he called “fake news” and phony stuff.” Intelligence leaders denied the charge and Moscow has dismissed the accusations against it. In the interview with The Times, Trump was also critical of Russia’s intervention in Syria’s civil war which, along with the help of Iran, has tilted the conflict in President Bashar al-Assad’s favor. “I think it’s a very rough thing,” Trump said of Russian intervention in Syria. “Aleppo has been such a terrible humanitarian situation.” The war has killed more than 300,000 people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis and aided the rise of the Islamic State militant group. On NATO, Trump repeated his view that the military alliance was obsolete but said it was still very important for him. “I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete,” Trump told The Times, referring to comments he made during his presidential election campaign. “It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.” Trump said many NATO member states were not paying their fair share for U.S. protection. “A lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States,” Trump said. “With that being said, NATO is very important to me. There’s five countries that are paying what they’re supposed to. Five. It’s not much.” Trump said he would appoint his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to try to broker a Middle East peace deal, urged Britain to veto any new U.N. Security Council resolution critical of Israel and criticized Obama’s handling of the deal between Iran and six world powers including the United States which curbed Tehran’s nuclear program. On Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, Trump said: “Brexit is going to end up being a great thing” and said he was eager to get a trade deal done with the United Kingdom. ",1 “BIKERS FOR TRUMP” Vow To Defend Trump During Inauguration Day…Plan Celebration! [Video] ,0 "China\'s media ""freedoms"" are reduced. New measures include cameras in internet cafes and pictures taken of all users",0 "Republican green groups seek to temper Trump on climate changeNEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s outspoken doubts about climate change and his administration’s efforts to roll back regulation to combat it have stirred a sleepy faction in U.S. politics: the Republican environmental movement. The various groups represent conservatives, Catholics and the younger generation of Republicans who, unlike Trump, not only recognize the science of climate change but want to see their party wrest the initiative from Democrats and lead efforts to combat global warming. Conservative green groups such as ConservAmerica and republicEn, along with politically neutral religious groups such as Catholic Climate Covenant and bipartisan groups such as the Citizens Climate Lobby, have ramped up efforts to recruit more congressional Republicans to work on addressing climate change since Trump’s election. Conservative environmental advocates promote what they call “free enterprise” solutions to climate change, like a carbon tax. That stands in contrast to the approach of liberal environmentalists under former President Barack Obama, who backed bans on certain kinds of oil drilling and regulations aimed at discouraging petroleum use. But whatever their differences, the conservative groups say they have an important role to play. “Conservatives now have a chance to earn back the trust of Americans on environmental issues,” said Alex Bozmoski, director of strategy for republicEn. “They can lead in a completely different direction that actually grows the economy while cutting greenhouse gasses.” The activists’ efforts have not swayed anywhere near a majority yet on Capitol Hill. Only 20 or so of the 237 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have spoken out on climate change this year. But they hope to build a big enough bloc in Congress, or enough influence at the White House, to temper Trump’s agenda. Lobbying has yielded some early results: a pro-environment voting bloc in Congress, the Climate Solutions Caucus, for example, has signed on more Republicans in the last two months than in it had in the final year of Obama’s administration - its first year in existence. Urged on by a coalition of conservative and religious groups, including the Catholic Climate Covenant, a handful of additional Republicans have also signed a congressional resolution pledging to address climate change. The resolution was non-binding, but it represented a direct challenge to Trump’s climate stance, a high-profile signal of dissent within his party. “It’s like Alcoholics Anonymous — you’ve got to first recognize you’ve got a problem before you can deal with it,” said Mark Sanford, a Republican Congressman from South Carolina who signed the resolution. Melinda Pierce, legislative director for the more than 100-year-old Sierra Club environmental group, said she was happy to see “enlightened Republicans” beginning to act on climate change. But Pierce added, “Legislative action is a long time away based on, at least, the Republican leadership.” Pierce also said she was skeptical of free enterprise solutions advocated by conservative environmental groups like republicEn, which she said sounded to her like “we have to pay them not to pollute.” Jose Aguto, associate director of the Catholic Climate Covenant, said Republicans are the only major political party in the world not convinced by climate change. “Once they accept the reality and science of climate change, we will have reached a tipping point in the political will for solutions.” Trump has raised the hackles of many environmentalists since taking office. He has overturned several Obama-era environmental regulations, and last week he proposed slashing the Environmental Protection Agency budget by 31 percent. During his presidential campaign Trump called climate change a “hoax” and vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris accord, a global pact to fight it – tapping into a well of Republican concern that the United States’ energy habits would be policed by the United Nations. But Republican bias against climate science is out of step with the majority of Americans. A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows a majority of Republican supporters agree the United States should play a leading role in combating climate change. “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that more and more Republicans are interested in this issue,” said Republican Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida. “This issue was regrettably politicized some 20 or so years ago, and we are in the process of taking some of the politics out.” On Feb. 8, representatives from a newly formed group of Republican statesmen, the Climate Leadership Council, including former Treasury secretaries Henry Paulson and James A. Baker, met with senior administration officials to push a carbon tax. “We got a very respectful hearing,” said the council’s CEO, Ted Halstead. “We’ve also been meeting with Republicans on the Hill and have found open minds.” The White House did not comment on the meetings. Billionaire Republican donor and environmental advocate Andy Sabin, meanwhile, said he has been speaking directly with White House officials in hope of becoming Trump’s unpaid climate change adviser – modeled on the role of fellow billionaire Carl Icahn in advising Trump on regulation. Focusing on health concerns would be the most effective way to get Trump to try to slow climate change, said Sabin, a precious metals magnate. When asked about the chances of Sabin getting the position, a White House spokeswoman said, “We don’t have an announcement at this time.” Republican Senator James Inhofe incurred public ridicule two years ago after marching into the Capitol Building with a snowball, claiming the cold weather disproved Obama’s climate change claims. This year, republicEn used the incident as part of a humorous rallying call on Valentine’s Day. Volunteers delivered greeting cards to lawmakers quoting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in his former role as chief executive officer of Exxon, declaring climate change to be a serious risk warranting “thoughtful action.” Along with the card were coconut-coated cakes called Sno Balls, a photograph of Inhofe and a poem: “Roses are red, snowballs are white, together we’ll get the solution right.” ",1 "Media coverage of Syrian violence partial and untrue, says nun",0 A Dubai court has sentenced an Irish man and British woman to three months in jail for an intimate encounter in the back of a taxi.,1 "Second judge says Clinton email setup may have been in 'bad faith'NEW YORK (Reuters) - A second federal judge has taken the rare step of allowing a group suing for records from Hillary Clinton’s time as U.S. secretary of state to seek sworn testimony from officials, saying there was “evidence of government wrong-doing and bad faith.” The language in Judge Royce Lamberth’s order undercut the Democratic presidential contender’s assertion she was allowed to set up a private email server in her home for her work as the country’s top diplomat and that the arrangement was not particularly unusual. He described Clinton’s email arrangement as “extraordinary” in his order filed on Tuesday in federal district court in Washington. Referring to the State Department, Clinton and Clinton’s aides, he said there had been “constantly shifting admissions by the Government and the former government officials.” Spokesmen for Clinton did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case is a civil matter, but the order adds to the legal uncertainty that has overshadowed Clinton’s campaign to be the Democratic nominee in the Nov. 8 presidential election. The FBI is also conducting a criminal inquiry into the arrangement after it emerged that classified government secrets ended up in Clinton’s unsecured email account. Clinton has said she does not think she will be charged with a crime. Lamberth’s order granted the request by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group suing the department under open records laws, to gather evidence, including sworn testimony. The group has filed several lawsuits, including one seeking records about the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. “Where there is evidence of government wrong-doing and bad faith, as here, limited discovery is appropriate, even though it is exceedingly rare in FOIA (freedom-of-information) cases,” Lamberth noted in his order. The government is normally given the benefit of the doubt that it properly searched and produced records. Since the email arrangement came to public knowledge a year ago, the State Department has found itself defending Clinton in scores of lawsuits from groups, individuals and news outlets who say they were wrongly denied access to Clinton’s federal records. Clinton left the department in 2013, but did not return her email records to the government until nearly two years later. Last month, Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is overseeing a separate Judicial Watch lawsuit over other Clinton-related records, allowed a similar motion for discovery. (Story refiles to fix date of presidential election, paragraph 6.) ",1 Japan's ambassador to China mysteriously dies in Tokyo ,0 Christopher Hitchens: Don't call what happened in Iran last week an election,0 " Trump Promises To Defend Racist Fans That Attack Protesters (VIDEO)When Donald Trump isn t bragging about the size of his d*ck, threatening his enemies, spouting horrific racist remarks, attacking easy targets Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, or screaming angrily that prominent religious figures disagree with his bigotry, he falls back on one of his favorite hobbies: enjoying the show as his racist, violent supporters beat people up in his name. It s almost impossible to watch the three-ring circus that is a Trump rally without seeing his uneducated fans beat someone up for expressing an opinion.Trump s supporters favorite targets are rather unsurprising given his massive support among white supremacists. Recently, The Donald ordered police to remove about 30 peaceful African-American students from one of his rallies just for being there while black. But, of course, things could have been much worse for them. Normally, if an African-American speaks out against Trump at one of his events, he or she is met with violence.After an African-American man at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama, stood up for himself and declared that black lives matter just as much as white lives, Trump supporters descended on him, punching, kicking, and dragging the man simply because expressed an opinion as well as calling him a n*gger and other slurs. Trump could have denounced this violence and hate. Instead, he explained that maybe he should have been roughed up. One Trump supporter, Robert Kiger, told CNN at the time that the man deserved it because Birmingham, Alabama, a historical hotbed of KKK activity in which many civil rights battles took place, is no place for Black Lives Matter to try to bring their issues to the forefront. More recently, a Trump fan was discharged from the United States Marine Corp. for his role in an attack on a black woman at a rally in Louisville, Kentucky. Again, Trump responded to the controversy surrounding the regular attacks (In this case, he chose to reference an attack on a New Hampshire protester who was one of the few white people his supporters attacked) by telling his supporters it s OK to attack protesters. The Donald called the various beatings protesters receive at the hands of his fans really amazing to watch, and explained that he was tired of political correctness the right-wing term for not being a homophobic, racist, misogynist prick when it came to how dissent is handled at his rallies. When he was interrupted by a protester, he again condoned his supporters actions: Are Trump rallies the most fun? he said. We re having a good time. While most would consider an environment where violence is the response to mild dissent an absolute f*cking nightmare,While most would consider an environment where violence is the response to mild dissent an absolute f*cking nightmare, Trump and his fans embrace it wholeheartedly.Watch Trump give his supporters permission to attack protesters below:Featured image via screengrab",0 CNN ANCHOR Shockingly Tries To Support Obama’s Iran Ransom Payment…Over and Over! [Video]CNN is ridiculous but this is insane! Check out the anchor and how he tries to legitimize the Iran ransom unreal! ,0 NASA will pay $US5000 for your best ideas on what you'd need to survive on Mars,0 Saudi Arabia arrests a Kuwaiti woman driving her diabetic father to a hospital,1 "SUPER BOWL CHAMP PLAYER Busts Into WH Press Briefing: “Need any help?”…Liberal Snowflakes Have A Meltdown! [Video]IT S INTERESTING THAT A LIGHTHEARTED MOMENT LIKE THE ONE BELOW COULD CAUSE SUCH ANGER AND OUTRAGE FROM THE LEFT!Rob Gronkowksi popped into today s White House press briefing to ask Sean Spicer if he needed any help. Spicer, a Patriots fan, declined the offer. Mild laughs were had. Gronkowski then disappeared, presumably to cause more mischief in other parts of the building.It s not surprising that the tight end performed a bit like this. That he was wearing a shirt while doing it was a bit of a shock.Right after this video was posted Facebook comments were brutal about how unprofessional it was to have this guy pop into the briefing. We had Obama s antics for 8 years and these people can t take one light moment like this?The left went nuts with faux outrage: We can think of many moments during the Obama administration where some unprofessional antics took place. The only problem is that these antics are much more serious Remember Jay Carney? Well, here are 6 big moments he s caught in BIG lies. We consider this to be much more important than what happened today.6 OF THE TOP ANTICS FROM WHITE HOUSE PRESS BRIEFINGS UNDER OBAMA JAY CARNEY S NOT FUNNY BUT SERIOUS GAFFES : 1. When he said he knows 3 people named Hilary Rosen. After Obama adviser Hilary Rosen said Ann Romney hadn t worked a day in her life, it was discovered Rosen had visited the White House numerous times. When questioned on it, Carney claimed he knew 3 separate women named Hilary Rosen. 2. That one time he stumbled when asked why the Obama Administration withheld a crucial Benghazi email.3. That day when he called a reporter s repeated questions on Kathleen Sebelius lame. 4. That time he admitted White House staff knew of the IRS scandal and didn t tell Obama.5. That time he admitted that the Obama Budget wouldn t balance.6. That moment when he finally admitted Obama s Keep Your Plan promise wasn t true.Shouldn t the liberal snowflakes be outraged at what Jay Carney did? ",0 " Trevor Noah Brutally Dropkicks Ted Cruz For His ‘Jackass’ Response To The Brussel’s Bombings (VIDEO)Daily Show host Trevor Noah got brutal with Ted Cruz over his appalling response to the bombings of EU capital Brussels this week, an attack in which dozens (including Americans) lost their lives.The Republican presidential hopeful, currently coming second in the race to Donald trump, launched an all-out attack on President Obama in the wake of the attacks. First, Cruz railed against Obama for not flying immediately to Brussels when not even European leaders responded this way. Secondly, Cruz issued a hysterical demand for police to patrol and secure Muslim-American neighborhoods, effectively placing Muslim citizens in a police state.The idea drew a swift and sharp response from President Obama, who reminded the Texas senator:As far as the notion of having surveillance of neighborhoods where Muslims are present, I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance. Which, by the way, the father of Senator Cruz escaped for America, the land of the free. The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense.The President was backed up by furious comments from NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton, who saw the consequences when his police force implemented similar tactics in the past. He said: He doesn t know what the hell he is talking about To be frank with you, while he s running around here, he probably has some Muslim officers guarding him. Now Trevor Noah has piled in with a brutal dropkick of Ted Cruz over the matter, which begins: First of all, you re a sanctimonious jackass, Second of all, President Obama doesn t need to go to Belgium for them to know that he s an ally. It s not like all the European presidents went to Belgium after the attacks and they re within driving distance. Then Noah turns to the President s comments that we cannot let terrorists achieve their core aim which is to sow terror in us, saying: It s very important for us to not respond with fear. Then, turning to Cruz s attempt to do exactly that, by in turn terrorizing the American Muslim community in response, Noah says: Unfortunately, there are always those who use these times to score political points, Adding, Terrorists win when we allow them to disrupt our way of life. While Cruz may persuade the right-wing of his party that persecuting American Muslims for the actions of a handful of Muslims in Belgium is a good idea. But he will not win that argument with the wider country and that s why this dropkick is so brutal, because it s true.Featured Image via Screengrab",0 MUST WATCH VIDEO! HERE’S THE MOST IMPORTANT AND DANGEROUS Thing Obama And Clinton Have In CommonPolitics before anything else that s what Obama and Clinton have in common. Putting American safety before politics is what these people were supposed to do but they didn t. Shameful! ,0 "Full Brexit in Jan. 2021 as EU sets transition deadlineBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union wants a transition period after Brexit to end no later than the last day of 2020, according to the European Commission s negotiating directives agreed on Wednesday. That date, coinciding with the end of the EU s seven-year budget period and 21 months after Britain departs the EU, had long been expected as the target end point of the transition. But this was the first official confirmation that it is the goal of the Union s negotiators. British Prime Minister Theresa May had sought a transition lasting around two years. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, speaking at a news conference after the EU executive had agreed the terms, said the 2020 deadline was logical and would avoid complications in the next 2021-2027 EU budget period. The four pages of new directives for Barnier were in line with guidelines issued by EU leaders at a summit on Friday and will form the basis of talks on the transition that he hopes to start next month. He has said in the past he hopes a free trade pact could be ready to take effect in January 2021. The directives spell out that Britain will effectively remain in EU institutions, bound by all their rules including new ones, while not having a say in their making. The EU will also offer Britain a non-voting place at some meetings where decisions may affect specific issues and will set up special arrangements for a UK role in setting annual EU fishing quotas. The directives also spell out more clearly that EU treaties with other countries and international organizations will no longer apply to Britain during the transition period. However, the document adds: Where it is in the interest of the Union, the Union may consider whether and how arrangements can be agreed that would maintain the effects of the agreements as regards the United Kingdom during the transition period. This has been important to Britain since it could mean that it no longer benefits automatically from free trade agreements which the EU has with, say, Canada or South Korea, while it would still have to apply EU trade policy for example collecting EU customs duty at UK ports. Barnier said he understood that Britain was working with other countries to try to retain the advantages of some of the nearly 750 international agreements to which London is currently party as an EU member. Among elements spelled out more in the directives than in the leaders guidelines last week was a repetition of a previously agreed EU position that everything applying to Brexit for Britain would also apply to other British territories. Brussels has said the Spanish government must agree any future arrangements with Britain that affect the British territory of Gibraltar on Spain s southern coast. Asked about his previously expressed view that a future trade deal may offer little automatic access for the City of London s financial services firms to the EU market, Barnier repeated that free access would be unprecedented as far as he was aware. I remind you that I m not aware of any free-trade deal in the past between the European Union and third countries that would have allowed privileged access for financial services, he told a news conference. British negotiators have said Britain s size and proximity give it the leverage to negotiate a more ambitious relationship with the EU than any other state. During the transition, Britain will maintain access to the European single market, Barnier added. Britain will keep all the benefits, but also all the obligations of the single market, the customs union and the common policies, he said, ruling out a la carte terms. Barnier welcomed agreements made earlier this month on issues such as the Irish border, citizens rights and the divorce settlement. We are not at the end of the road, he said. But it is an important stage of this road towards an orderly withdrawal rather than a disorderly one. ",1 "Palmyra ruins mostly intact, Syria antiquities chief reports after regime forces recaptured the desert oasis from the Islamic State group.",1 31 possible Rio Olympians 'failed drug tests' in Beijing,0 " White Supremacist Kills Black Man, Planned On Murdering More (VIDEO)James Harris Jackson, 28, eventually surrendered to police in New York City to admit to fatally stabbing a 66-year-old black man in the chest with a 26-inch sword that has an 18-inch blade. The sword exited the victim s back after being plunged into his chest. Jackson, an army veteran from Baltimore, held a long-time hatred of black people and had traveled to Manhattan with the goal of killing black men.This is an attack you won t see amateur president Donald Trump tweeting about.Timothy Caughman, 66, the white supremacist s victim, stumbled into a police station bleeding from stab wounds to his chest and back, Assistant Chief William Aubry, the commander of Manhattan South detectives, told reporters at Police Headquarters, according to the New York Times.After taking down his first victim, Jackson set his sights on another black person just blocks away but something reportedly spooked him. He appeared to be very close, following a black guy, a source said. He slows down and at one point he turned around and came back. It s clear he was really focused on the guy for some time. Then, he falls out of camera view and doesn t attack the guy. He made statements that he was following the guy but something spooked him. Jackson was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder, but the chief said they wanted to upgrade the charge by classifying it a hate crime.Watch:.@NYPDMTS walk James Harris Jackson, an army veteran & member of a hate group in Maryland, accused of killing a #NYC black man @NYDNVideo pic.twitter.com/DWwGxM0GgG Edgar Sandoval (@edjsandoval) March 22, 2017Surveillance video of Jackson near the scene:Jackson admitted to police that he was a member of a white supremacist group and said that he detailed his racist views on his laptop computer, according to the Daily News.Jackson told the authorities that he initially wanted to stab a black man, then grab a police officer s gun and shoot some people, a police source said.Aubry said, He wanted to make a statement. Jackson told police that he has been harboring (racist) feelings for quite some time, and it s believed he had these feelings for over 10 years, police said. He knew what he was doing when he was coming up here, Aubry said at a press conference. It is believed he was specifically intending to target male blacks. It s been well over 10 years that he has been harboring his hate towards blacks. Jackson reportedly said he doesn t like interracial relationships. More than an unspeakable human tragedy, this is an assault on what makes this the greatest city in the world: our inclusiveness and our diversity, Mayor de Blasio said Wednesday. Now it s our collective responsibility to speak clearly and forcefully in the face of intolerance and violence here or across the country. We are a safe city because we are inclusive. We are a nation of unrivaled strength because we are diverse. No act of violence can undermine who we are. The last words Caughman said to his attacker were, What are you doing? Good question.Image via screen capture.",0 Isis members can now be stripped of Australian citizenship,1 "“BILL CLINTON IS A RAPIST” MOVEMENT EXPLODES…Watch Awesome Truth-Tellers Hijack Mainstream Media, Leftist Cable Audiences With Brutal Message [VIDEO]Infowars Alex Jones is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone who can get on TV with his Bill Clinton RAPE t-shirt clearly displayed for viewers to see. If they can display a Bill Clinton Is A Rapist T-shirt and clearly proclaim, Bill Clinton is a racist they will get a $5,000 reward. He plans to spend up to $100,000 to get this important message out to America. Why is it important? It s important because not only is Bill a sexual predator who has no business entering our White House ever again, Hillary has been acting as his enabler, threatening and intimidating victims of Bill s for years The mainstream media has declared war on Donald Trump, while providing cover fro Hillary and her multiple crimes and offenses. We re in a war with a collective media and a radical leftist government. Thank goodness for people like Alex Jones who aren t afraid to get into the trenches and pass along a message that the mainstream media will never expose.",0 "BREAKING: At Least 14 US Coalition Military Officers Captured by Syrian Special Forces in East Aleppo Bunker Syrian Army soldier holds up Al Nusra Front (al Qaeda in Syria) flag in the Umayyed Mosque, Old City, after government troops liberated terrorist-occupied East Aleppo this week (Image: Vanessa Beeley for 21st Century Wire) 21st Century Wire SPECIAL REPORTDAMASCUS According to two reports coming out of Aleppo today, at least 14 US Coalition military officers were captured this morning in an East Aleppo bunker by Syrian Special Forces.This story was quietly leaked by Voltaire.net, who announced, The Security Council is sitting in private on Friday, December 16, 2016, at 17:00 GMT, while NATO officers were arrested this morning by the Syrian Special Forces in a bunker in East Aleppo. Fares Shehabi MP, a prominent Syrian Parliamentarian and head of Aleppo s Chamber of Commerce published the names of the Coalition officers on his Facebook page on the 15th December (emphasis added):Mutaz Kano lu Turkey David Scott Winer USA David Shlomo Aram Israel Muhamad Tamimi Qatar Muhamad Ahmad Assabian Saudi Abd-el-Menham Fahd al Harij Saudi Islam Salam Ezzahran Al Hajlan Saudi Ahmed Ben Naoufel Al Darij Saudi Muhamad Hassan Al Sabihi Saudi Hamad Fahad Al Dousri Saudi Amjad Qassem Al Tiraoui Jordan Qassem Saad Al Shamry Saudi Ayman Qassem Al Thahalbi Saudi Mohamed Ech-Chafihi El Idrissi MoroccanListen to Fares Shehabi s interview on the Sunday Wire radio show: Liberation Aleppo In addition to Voltaire.net, the other original report was provided by Damascus-based Syrian journalist Said Hilal Alcharifi. According to Alcharifi, captured NATO officers were from a number of member states including the US, France, Germany and Turkey, as well as Israel. Here is his statement (translated from French): Thanks to information received, Syrian authorities discovered the headquarters of high ranking western/NATO officers in the basement of an area in East Aleppo and have captured them alive. Some names have already been given to Syrian journalists, myself included. The nationalities are US, French, British, German, Israeli, Turkish, Saudi, Moroccan, Qatari etc. In light of their nationalities and their rank, I assure you that the Syrian government have a very important catch, which should enable them to direct negotiations with the countries that have tried to destroy them. Although these initial reports describe the individuals in question as NATO officers, it s unlikely they would have been carrying NATO colors on a covert operation and might be more accurately labeled as US Coalition officers. Note that early reports suggest that these are not standard street rebel or jihadi terrorists but actual Coalition military personnel and field commanders.SEE ALSO: The REAL Syria Civil Defence Exposes Fake White Helmets as Terrorist-Linked Imposters21WIRE also received unconfirmed reports yesterday that militants had fired a missile into the Ramousa area and then tried, unsuccessfully, to get cars out of East Aleppo. It s possible this incident could be related to today reports of captured western operatives.This report from the Syrian Arab News Agency (emphasis added): The agreement on evacuating militants and weapons from the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo city has been suspended after terrorist groups breached it, special sources told SANA correspondent in Aleppo.The sources said that the suspension of the agreement will remain in place until obtaining guarantees that oblige the terrorist groups to abide by all the agreement s provisions, stressing on the Syrian side s full adherence to the agreement and its keenness to end the bloodshed and restore security and stability to the entire city of Aleppo. Earlier, SANA reporter said that the terrorist groups have breached the agreement as they smuggled heavy weapons, including TOW missiles, heavy machineguns and kidnapped people via the buses and cars transporting terrorists and their families towards the southwestern countryside of Aleppo city.The reporter added that the terrorist groups fired shells and sniper bullets on the buses and ambulances at al-Ramousseh crossing, noting that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which are supervising the evacuation process had to withdraw all buses and cars from the crossing.Over the past 24 hours, some 8079 terrorists and members of their families were evacuated via busses and ambulances from the neighborhoods of Salah-Eddin, al-Ansari, al-Mashhad and al-Zibdiyeh to the southwest countryside of Aleppo city If true, this latest news would also mean that both the Syrian and Russian governments would have additional leverage going forward in any bilateral negotiations with the US-led Coalition.If, however, this story is kept under wraps by NATO member governments and is summarily blacked out by the US and European media outlets, then it might indicate that a deal has been struck, albeit behind the scenes, for the return of captured NATO operatives in exchange for other concessions.If today s report from East Aleppo is accurate, this might also help explain the hysterical behavior by the US State Department and western UN officials who have been demanding an immediate ceasefire despite the fact that 99% of East Aleppo has already been liberated by Syrian government forces.The western establishment hysterical reactions to Al Nusra s defeat in Aleppo have included wild claims that the Syrian Army had unleashed death squads, on its own residents in East Aleppo and were openly executing women and children in the street, and burning children in the street, as well what appear to be more fictional reports circulated in US media mainly by Michael Weiss of The Daily Beast via CNN, claiming that Syrian Army was committing mass rape against residents of East Aleppo. His article entitled, Women in Aleppo Choose Suicide Over Rape, Rebels Report, made a number of outlandish claims including: Activists and rebels in the besieged city say mass executions have begun and children are burned alive as Assad s Iranian- and Russian-backed forces move in. Not surprisingly, aside from unnamed UN sources , Weiss claims to have received his information from none other than the discredited US and UK-financed pseudo NGO known as the White Helmets.SEE ALSO: Tulsi Gabbard Introduces Bill to Stop US Government Funding and Arming Jihadist Terrorists in SyriaBack in September, numerous reports suggested that a western command center located behind terrorist-held lines had been targeted and destroyed by a Russian missile strike. Prof Michel Chossudovsky wrote: The US and its allies had established a Field Operations Room in the Aleppo region integrated by intelligence personnel. Until it was targeted by a Russian missile attack on September 20, this semi-secret facility was operated by US, British, Israeli, Turkish, Saudi and Qatari intelligence personnel. This report was neither admitted, nor was it denied by US Coalition sources at the time. However, one mainstream Israeli source, The Times of Israel, did report the incident.For anyone who has been paying close attention to the Syrian Conflict, seeing NATO special forces or contractors working with rebel or terrorist fighters inside of Syria is nothing unusual. Numerous reports have been filed of British soldiers assigned to fighting groups to help with training, strategy and logistics. In June 2016, The Telegraph admitted that British special forces were helping one rebel group, with logistics, like building defences to make the bunkers safe, said one rebel fighter. Other reports, including the LA Times which detailed CIA operations used to arm militants, including Al Nusra Front (al Qaeda in Syria) who were the terrorist force in charge in East Aleppo. Other revelations of US covert involvement include The New York Times, and also information on US (NATO by another name only) covert operations provided to the Wall Street Journal.South Front also notes: Earlier in December, SF already noted that the US despearate attempts to push a diplomatic solution in Aleppo could indicate that the Obama administration stalling for time to extricate US mercenaries and special service members from the Aleppo pocket: Considering that US-led coalition military advisers have been widely operating across Syria, training and assisting to the so-called moderate opposition openly linked with al-Qaeda, the recently appeared reports are likely true.For instance, British military advisers have officially arrived to Syria to restore combat capability of the moderate opposition, retreated from Aleppo 21WIRE can also point out that throughout fighting in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine, during the period of May 2014 to the present, numerous incidents have been reported where NATO military soldiers and operatives have been both spotted, and captured by rebel forces, and in most cases these reports have been muted, more than likely because of horse trading taking place as an extension of wider diplomacy.Contributors to this report were Patrick Henningsen and Vanessa Beeley.STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES . READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@21WIRE.TV",0 "Germany: Beware Putin's Push For Brexit - Vladimir Putin could try to fund anti-EU efforts in Britain in an attempt to weaken Europe, a key ally of Angela Merkel warns.",0 "In breathless U.S. election, Twitter generates buzz not cashNEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - This year’s presidential election might be the perfect microcosm of Twitter’s woes.        While some of the most memorable moments of the campaign for the White House have played out on the platform, Twitter has been unable to turn the attention and activity into ad dollars or user growth.     Well suited to quick updates on a noisy and unpredictable campaign, Twitter has been the dominant social media platform in 2016 for candidates, pundits and journalists. Republican nominee Donald Trump’s frequent tweeting of tirades against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, fellow Republicans and the media have been a mainstay of the campaign, setting off furious online debate. But Twitter Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto acknowledged when the company reported its quarterly earnings Thursday that the election has had “no noticeable impact” on Twitter’s user growth, which analysts say is essential for boosting revenue.    Campaigns and political organizations told Reuters that Twitter is simply not a great medium for political advertising. It is not as effective as rival Facebook at targeting crucial independent voters, and high-profile Twitter users like Trump and Clinton can use it as a megaphone without buying any advertising. “We haven’t really used Twitter, largely because our core mission is to reach those undecided voters,” said Alixandria Lapp, executive director of the House Majority PAC, which supports Democratic U.S. House of Representatives candidates. A flood of hate speech and misinformation, which Twitter has done little to tamp down, can also be a barrier to ad buys, campaign digital strategists said. Facebook has emerged as the social media ad platform of choice. It reaches about 94 percent of voters who are registered as independent or are not affiliated with a political party; Twitter only reaches 45 percent of these voters, according to data of mobile users by tracking service Comscore Inc. Vincent Harris, an Austin-based digital strategist who has worked for U.S. Senator Rand Paul and does some work for Trump, estimated that about 30 percent of his clients’ budgets are spent on Facebook, while only 5 percent are spent on Twitter. A recent survey conducted by his company Harris Media found that 81.6 percent of voters said they spent time on Facebook in the last month, while only 28.7 percent spent time on Twitter. “MINUTE-TO-MINUTE” As Clinton digital strategist Teddy Goff put it, Twitter is the “place to be for obsessively tracking the minute-to-minute of this election” but “Facebook is a much purer platform for message dissemination and talking about the issues voters care about.” Doug Watts, the national executive director of the pro-Trump Committee for American Sovereignty Super PAC, said: “We use Facebook the most, partially because of the scale, but also when you are talking conservative politics, they have an older audience that fits our target.” Twitter, he said, is “not really for advertising per se.” The Trump campaign has promoted tweets and placed ad content, said Jessica Ditto, a campaign spokeswoman. But she said it is difficult to use Twitter to collect donations and email addresses because promoted content does not typically get a lot of clicks. The perception is a costly one for Twitter. Elections often provide a big financial boost for advertising platforms such as television and radio stations. In the 2016 contest, CNN has taken in $100 million more than expected due to intense interest in the election, according to David Folkenflik, National Public Radio’s media reporter. But on Twitter’s earnings call on Thursday, CFO Noto said: “We really need to have a (presidential) debate on Twitter every day for it to meaningfully improve the quarterly metrics.” Some advertisers have tried to take advantage of Twitter’s central role in the election. Earlier this month, Harris used Twitter to promote a digital campaign that was launched by the conservative anti-immigration group Secure America Now. More common, though, is the way Clinton operatives use Twitter to engage with what Goff described as a “politically attuned audience.” The Clinton campaign collects automated donations via its Troll Trump tool, which asks supporters to pledge a small amount to the campaign every time Trump sends a tweet. The feature is now bringing in $1,588 per tweet, at an average of $11,823 per day, the campaign said.    After Trump called Clinton a “nasty woman” during a presidential debate, her female supporters co-opted the term on Twitter, using #NastyWoman to show their support. Representative Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, tweeted: “From one #NastyWoman to another, you were an inspiration last night.” Women’s health provider Planned Parenthood tweeted this week that “Early voting shows a surge of #NastyWomen at the polls – and we’re just getting started.” ",1 "Israel Hints at New Strikes, Warning Syria Not to Retaliate",0 "White House budget director: unclear if House healthcare bill can pass - ABCWASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Friday he did not know if there was enough support in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass Republicans’ healthcare bill to dismantle Obamacare. “That’s up to the House to count their own votes,” Mulvaney told ABC News in an interview. President Donald Trump has called for a Friday vote on the bill to replace Democratic President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act. ",1 "CHER ATTACKS TRUMP: Compares Bill Clinton’s Infidelities To Trump’s 3 Marriages…Forgets One Important FactReally Cher? We re not excusing infidelity, but it should be pointed out that Donald Trump, who fell in love with Marla Maples, ended up marrying her. How many twisted affairs that Bill had during his marriage to Hillary had a happy ending for the women involved? Did Bill have multiple affairs with women because he loved them, or simply because he s a pervert who clearly has no respect for the sanctity of marriage? We all make mistakes, and comparing a single affair that Trump had, to a serial philanderer is simply not a fair comparison.TRUMP CANT THROW ONE STONE AT PRES CLINTON, REGARDING CHEATING. TRUMP HUMILIATED BOTH HIS WIVES IN HEADLINES 4WKS,BECAUSE OF HIS CHEATING Cher (@cher) January 5, 2016Marla Maples and her true feelings about Donald Trump:And then there s the our former President, convicted liar and serial pervert, Bill Clinton: SAID THIS B4,BUT MUST REITERATE,IF THERES PRES TRUMP2016,U CAN THANK THE MEDIA NEWS SOURCES HAVE HANDED HIM WIN ON A SILVER PLATTER,4FREE Cher (@cher) December 30, 2015Honestly Think Pathological Side Of Trump Has Always Existed..However,This Campaign has opened Pandora s Box.He s Lowest Common Denominator Cher (@cher) December 29, 2015By way of comparison,(aside from the famous White House affair with teenager and intern, Monica Lewinsky) here s the list of accusations against serial pervert, Bill Clinton:Juanita Broaddrick (AR)- rapeEileen Wellstone (Oxford) rapeElizabeth Ward Gracen rape quid pro quo, post incident intimidationRegina Hopper Blakely forced himself on her, biting, bruising her Kathleen Willey (WH) sexual assault, intimidations, threatsSandra Allen James (DC) sexual assault22 Year Old 1972 (Yale) sexual assaultKathy Bradshaw (AK) sexual assaultCristy Zercher unwelcomed sexual advance, intimidationsPaula Jones (AR) unwelcomed sexual advance, exposure, bordering on sexual assaultCarolyn Moffet -unwelcomed sexual advance, exposure, bordering on sexual assault1974 student at University of Arkansas unwelcomed physical contact1978-1980 seven complaints per Arkansas state troopersMonica Lewinsky quid pro quo, post incident character assaultGennifer Flowers quid pro quo, post incident character assaultDolly Kyle Browning post incident character assaultSally Perdue post incident threatsBetty Dalton rebuffed his advances, married to one of his supportersDenise Reeder apologetic note scanned",0 "Detained asylum-seekers win right to sue PNG government for compensationMELBOURNE (Reuters) - A Papua New Guinea court has given hundreds of asylum-seekers who were held for years in a controversial Australian detention center the right to sue the PNG government for compensation, Australian media reported on Saturday. Papua New Guinea s Supreme Court rejected an attempt by the PNG government to stop the asylum-seekers seeking compensation on Friday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The government had tried to argue that the time frame for such attempts to sue for compensation had passed but the court rejected its application. The finding opens the way to a major compensation and also for consequential orders against both the PNG and Australian governments, Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul told Australian Associated Press. The decision comes two months after the PNG government closed the detention center on remote Manus Island, which had housed about 400 male asylum-seekers. Conditions in the camp, and another on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru, have been widely criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups. The two camps have been cornerstones of Australia s contentious immigration policy, under which it refuses to allow asylum-seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores. The policy, aimed at deterring people from making a perilous sea voyage to Australia, has bipartisan political support. The closure of the Manus island camp, criticized by the United Nations as shocking , caused chaos, with the men refusing to leave the compound for fear of being attacked by Manus island residents. Staff left the closed compound and the men were left without food, water, power or medical support before they were expelled and moved to a transit camp. Papua New Guinea s Supreme Court declared in 2016 that the detention of asylum-seekers on behalf of the Australian government was illegal and that it breached asylum-seekers fundamental human rights. The asylum-seekers will now go back to court in February to seek orders from Australia and Papua New Guinea for them to be settled in a safe third country. The United States announced on Friday that it had agreed to accept about 200 more refugees from Manus island and Nauru under a deal struck between Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and former U.S. President Barack Obama. Another 50 refugees had already been accepted as part of the deal, under which Australia agreed to accept refugees from Central America. U.S President Donald Trump has called the deal dumb . ",1 "'Trump dossier' on Russia links now part of special counsel's probe: sourcesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The special counsel investigating whether Russia tried to sway the 2016 U.S. election has taken over FBI inquiries into a former British spy s dossier of allegations of Russian financial and personal links to President Donald Trump s campaign and associates, sources familiar with the inquiry told Reuters. A report compiled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele identified Russian businessmen and others whom U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded are Russian intelligence officers or working on behalf of the Russian government. A spokesman for special counsel Robert Mueller declined comment. The FBI also declined comment. Three sources with knowledge of Mueller s probe said his investigators have assumed control of multiple inquiries into allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump, a Republican. Russia has repeatedly denied any meddling in the election. Two officials familiar with the investigations said that both Mueller s team and the Senate Intelligence Committee are seeking any evidence that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort or others who had financial dealings with Russia might have helped Kremlin intelligence agencies target email hacking and social media postings undermining Trump s election opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. On Wednesday, the Senate panel s chairman Richard Burr told reporters that the issue of whether Trump s campaign colluded with Russia remains an open question. We have not come to any determination on collusion, Burr said. Trump, who has called allegations of campaign collusion with Moscow a hoax, has faced questions about the matter since he took office in January. Trump was told by former FBI director James Comey that Steele s report contained salacious material about the businessman-turned-president. Burr said on Wednesday that the Senate panel had made several attempts to contact Steele and to meet him and those offers have gone unaccepted. The committee cannot really decide the credibility of the dossier without understanding things like who paid for it, who are your sources and sub-sources, Burr said. Burr said the panel wanted to finish its investigation by the end of the year. Although several news organizations, including Reuters, were briefed on Steele s dossier before the election in November, most decided not to report on the material because its inflammatory and sometimes salacious content could not be verified. In a report published in January four U.S. intelligence agencies said they took the dossier s allegations seriously. Separately, three Russian businessmen, Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan have sued Washington investigations firm Fusion GPS and its founder, Glenn Simpson, with allegations that they were libeled in Steele s dossier. A spokeswoman for Simpson and Fusion GPS declined to comment on the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington. The lawsuit said that Steele s reports were gravely damaging to the businessmen because they accused them of criminal conduct and alleged cooperation with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 presidential election. The information on Trump collected by Steele, whom officials say was one of MI6 s most respected Russia hands, was laid out last year in political opposition research initially financed by supporters of one of Trump s Republican primary election opponents. After Trump won the Republican nomination in July, backers of Clinton picked up the support of Steele s work. The lawsuit said the dossier s allegations are false in implying an improper ongoing relationship between the businessmen, the Alfa Group financial company in which they were investors and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that a Russian government official acted as middleman in such contacts. ",1 "Cameroon illegally deported 100,000 Nigerian refugees: rights groupABUJA (Reuters) - Cameroon has broken international law by forcibly deporting at least 100,000 Nigerians who had fled there to escape Islamist Boko Haram militants, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday. Cameroon s minister of communications declined to comment on the report, which said the army had been detaining the refugees and torturing some of them, before the authorities pushed them back into neighboring northeast Nigeria. Human Rights Watch said the expulsions reported since 2015 were one of the largest illegal forced repatriations it had seen in recent years, and were in flagrant breach of global and Cameroonian law. Boko Haram militants have killed tens of thousands in their fight to carve out an Islamist state in northeast Nigeria. The violence has forced hundreds of thousands to flee, many across the border into Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Cameroon s army has been aggressively screening newly arriving Nigerians at the border, subjecting some to torture and other forms of abuse, and containing them in far-flung and under-serviced border villages, the report said. This policy of blocking asylum seekers from accessing protection has made it easier for Cameroon to deport them, it said, adding that the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has been denied access. The UNHCR said the report was broadly in line with its own understanding of the situation, though it could not confirm all the details in the paper. Forced returns in any context are of serious concern to us and in the case of Cameroon and Nigeria we have raised these concerns repeatedly and publicly, said a UNHCR spokesman. Cameroon signed a treaty in March with Nigeria and the UNHCR to ensure that all refugee returns are voluntary but the rights group said Cameroon s violations had continued. They humiliated us like animals and beat us like we were slaves, the report quoted one refugee as saying. His brother died from the resulting internal bleeding, he added. Some deportees, including children, were so malnourished or sick they did not survive their return to Nigeria, said HRW. Nigeria is struggling to cope with millions of people dependent on emergency relief for food, shelter and medicine, victims of an eight-year conflict in which at least 20,000 have been killed. At least 10.7 million people are in need of assistance in the region, mainly in Nigeria but also in Chad, Niger and Cameroon, according to the United Nations. ",1 US Wins Appeal in Battle to Extradite Kim Dotcom,1 "Yemenis take to the streets calling for President Saleh to step down As unemployment rises and oil and water reserves dwindle, thousands demand an end to president's 32-year reign",1 "Vietnam, China avoid quarrel over South China Sea during visit(Reuters) - China and Vietnam avoided conflict over the South China Sea on Sunday when Chinese President Xi Jinping met Vietnam’s General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump offered to mediate maritime disputes. Relations between Hanoi and Beijing have been particularly strained since July, when China put pressure on Vietnam to stop oil drilling in a disputed area in the South China Sea. Vietnam’s state television said the Chinese president had told the Vietnamese leader he wanted to work with Southeast Asian nations on a code of conduct in the sea. China’s Xinhua news agency said China and Vietnam had agreed to properly handle maritime issues and strive to maintain peace and stability. Reefs and islands in the South China Sea are disputed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan as well as China and Vietnam. Since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has grown closer to China, Vietnam has emerged as China’s main challenger in the area. China’s move to pressure Vietnam to stop oil drilling in a disputed area in July brought relations between the Communist neighbours to a low. Xi and Trump both held bilateral meetings with Vietnamese officials in the wake of a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in the Vietnamese city of Danang. Trump told Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang that he was prepared to mediate between claimants to the South China Sea and said China’s position was a problem. Trump and President Quang issued a joint statement underscoring the importance of free and open access to South China Sea, and saying parties should halt escalatory action. (This story has been refiled to fix reversed word order in paragraph one.) ",1 "Israeli missiles hit military post near Damascus: Syrian state TVBEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli missiles struck a military position near Damascus and Syria s air defence system responded on Saturday, destroying two of them, Syrian state television said. The Israeli enemy launched...several surface-to-surface missiles towards a military position, it said, adding there had been material losses at the site. An Israeli military spokeswoman had declined to comment on earlier reports of such an attack overnight. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said missiles, probably fired by the Israeli military, struck an arms depot of the Syrian army or its allied forces after midnight. The Britain-based group, which monitors the war through a network of contacts in Syria, said the attack hit near al-Kiswa town south of the capital Damascus, causing loud explosions. The Israeli air force has said it struck arms convoys of the Syrian military and Lebanon s Hezbollah nearly 100 times during more than six years of the Syrian war. Israel has grown deeply alarmed by Iran s expanding clout during the conflict, and has warned it would act against any threat from its regional foe Tehran. Iran has provided critical support to President Bashar al-Assad s military in fighting Syrian rebels and Islamic State militants. Iran-backed Shi ite militias, including Hezbollah, have helped Damascus regain control of swathes of the country. On a visit to Damascus in October, Iran s military chief warned Israel against breaching Syrian airspace or territory. ",1 "Carlos the Jackal, feared Cold War terrorist, goes on trial in France",1 "More Bali flights canceled on forecast of volcanic ashDENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Airlines canceled more flights departing the Indonesian holiday island of Bali on Saturday, citing forecasts of deteriorating flying conditions due to a risk of volcanic ash from the erupting Mount Agung volcano. A Bali airport spokesman said the airport was still operating normally, but airlines such as Jetstar and Virgin Australia had opted to cancel some flights Bali flying conditions expected to be clear throughout the day, but forecast for tonight has deteriorated so several flights have been canceled, Australian budget airline Jetstar said on its Twitter account. The erupting volcano had closed the airport for much of this week, stranding thousands of visitors from Australia, China and other countries, before the winds changed and flights resumed Twenty flights were canceled on Friday evening due to concerns over ash. Some airlines including Malaysia s AirAsia Bhd have said they would only operate out of Bali during the day, as the ash could impair visibility at night and wind conditions in the area were unpredictable. Airlines avoid flying through volcanic ash as it can damage aircraft engines, clogging fuel and cooling systems, hampering pilot visibility and even causing engine failure. There are also concerns over changing weather conditions with a tropical cyclone south of Java island impacting weather and wind in the area, including for Bali, the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics agency said With some airlines continuing to fly normally on Saturday, there was frustration among passengers. Australian couple Justine and Greg Hill were on holiday with their two teenage children and had been due to fly out today but their flight later this evening was canceled. It s more an inconvenience than anything. Don t understand why if other airlines are flying, some others aren t. Obviously there must be safety protocols but there s no detailed explanation, said Greg Hill, 46, who was waiting at the airport. Several foreign consulates have set up booths in the international departures area to assist stranded passengers. Subrata Sarkar, India s vice consul in Bali, told Reuters at the airport s international departure area that they had helped around 500 passengers so far this week. We have advised citizens the volcano may erupt. We never say please don t come . But we have issued travel advisories. If it s urgent business, then ok, but if it s only tourism, then plans should be reconsidered, said Sarkar. For an interactive graphic on Mount Agung volcano, click - tmsnrt.rs/2hYdHiq For a graphic on the Pacific ""Ring of Fire,"" click - tmsnrt.rs/2BjtH6l ",1 "Gay sex not a crime, says RSS, raises hopes of govt rethink - Times of India",1 " Dan Rather Has SHOCKING Response After Trump Sides With Assange Over America (TWEET)Legendary reporter Dan Rather has commented on the ridiculous antics of President-elect Donald Trump before, but it seems as though Trump s foolishness and erratic behavior has finally struck a nerve that Rather can t shake off.Earlier today, Trump sent out a tweet that took the side of Julian Assange after the WikiLeaks founder claimed he had not gotten the Democratic National Committee s emails from Russia in an interview with Fox News. Trump pathetically used this information to defend Russia despite the fact that multiple intelligence reports have pointed right to the Kremlin.In response to this, Rather took to Facebook to rip Trump a new one for his cavalier dismissal of Russia s involvement in the U.S. election. Rather didn t mince his words, perfectly stating what many of us are feeling at this point, as our future President sides with our adversaries. Rather wrote: Stunned disbelief. Anxiety. A mounting sense of betrayal. These are the smoke signals rising from those in and around the United States intelligence community over President-elect Donald Trump s dismissal of the evidence of Russian hacking in the presidential election. Rather blasted Trump for trusting Assange over America s own intelligence communities, remarking on Trump s stupidity for trusting someone who clearly doesn t have the United States best interest in mind: Assange, in an interview with Fox News Sean Hannity (who at this point must be considered a full-fledged propagandist and abetter) said he didn t get the information from Russia. Well if he says so Let s just use that same standard for all of our adversaries. Nothing to see here. Why waste all these billions of dollars on intelligence gathering? Rather also raised a question that many of us have been wondering when he asked how the many people risking their lives and using their immense analytical skills instead of making millions on Wall Street feel about Mr. Trump s cavalier dismissal of their work. Rather perfectly stated that Trump s denial and refusal of the intelligence reports is dangerous and affects all Americans, and people around the world. The legendary reporter called on Trump s fellow Republicans and advisers to knock some sense into the President-elect: Hopefully patriots within Mr. Trump s own party and in his inner circle will step up and tell the incoming president how dangerous this rhetoric is. Heaven forbid we suffer another horrible attack. Heaven forbid our intelligence community was hollowed out, wasn t listened to or respected. These are the stakes. No one could have said it better. You can read Rather s response to Trump s idiocy below:Featured image via screen capture ",0 "Ending Iran nuclear deal would worsen North Korea situation: KerryGENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump risks driving Iran towards nuclear proliferation and worsening a standoff with North Korea if Washington ends a nuclear deal with Tehran, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said late on Thursday. Kerry, who negotiated the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, was speaking a week after Trump refused to certify that Tehran was in compliance with it, amid growing tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. If you want to negotiate with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un, and your goal is to avoid war and try to be able to have a diplomatic resolution, the worst thing you can do is first threaten to destroy his country in the United Nations, Kerry said. He was speaking in a private lecture delivered at Geneva s Graduate Institute. And secondly, screw around with the deal that has already been made because the message is, don t make a deal with the United States, they won t keep their word, he said. The nuclear deal places Iran under tough restraints, including inspections, round-the-clock surveillance and tracking every ounce of uranium produced, Kerry said. We would notice an uptick in their enrichment, like that, he said, snapping his fingers. And nobody that I know of with common sense can understand what the virtue is in accelerating a confrontation with the possibility that they might decide they want to break out and make it (a nuclear bomb) now instead of 10 or 15 or 25 years from now. Kerry, a former Senator who headed the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Swiss media that Trump s leaving the Iranian deal s fate to Congress was very dangerous and opened the door to party politics . Congress cannot unilaterally renegotiate a multilateral accord, the Geneva daily Le Temps quoted him as saying. It is possible that Congress would make an unreasonable decision that would put Iran s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a very complicated political situation that could force him to retaliate. It s a slippery slope. Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran would stick to its accord as long as the other signatories respected it, but would shred the deal if Washington pulled out, state TV reported. If Iran violated the accord, U.N. sanctions would snap back into place, Kerry told the audience. Moreover, at that point in time folks, we have a year of break-up. We have all the time that we need in the world to be able to bomb their facilities into submission. Ending the deal could lead to Iran hiding fissile production facilities deep in a mountain where we have no insight . So the scenario that Trump opens up by saying let s get rid of the deal is actually proliferation, far more damaging and dangerous, Kerry said. ",1 "The South African government has banned four country's sporting bodies (cricket, rugby, netball and athletics) from bidding to host global events because there aren't sufficient black players in national teams.",1 Japan is breaking from economic orthodoxy with interesting results,1 BREAKING NEWS: Mubarak will NOT step down. Will NOT bow to foreign pressure.,1 "Buoyed by mayoral votes, Venezuela socialists eye presidency raceCARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro has set his sights on Venezuela s 2018 presidential election after the ruling Socialist Party dominated mayoral polls with the help of a partial boycott by a divided opposition. Enjoying a political breather after a year of ferocious domestic protests and damaging foreign sanctions, the 55-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez said the government had won at least 90 percent of the 335 mayorships in Sunday s election. Latest official results gave him 21 of 23 state capitals as well as Caracas main district, with full results due later on Monday. The landslide win for the socialists was no surprise, given three of the biggest opposition parties did not field candidates. The elections left Maduro favorite to be the socialist candidate in next year s presidential race, despite the ambitions of rivals within government and an economic crisis that has pummeled the OPEC nation since his 2013 election. Let s get ready for 2018! he told cheering supporters in a Caracas square shortly before midnight on Sunday, next to a statue of Venezuela s independence hero Simon Bolivar. Maduro also declared fixing Venezuela s broken economy a priority. But opponents and even some government dissenters say it is his stubborn adherence to Chavez-era economic policies, such as currency controls, that is to blame for the crisis. Venezuela s 30 million people are enduring one of the worst economic meltdowns in recent Latin American history. Millions are skipping meals, missing medicines, and lining up for hours at shops during acute shortages and crippling inflation. Opposition parties said Sunday s vote was full of irregularities and meaningless, and reiterated demands for changes to the electoral system for the 2018 vote. What we saw yesterday was an electoral farce that in no way represents the will of the people, said Popular Will party leader Juan Andres Mejia, citing abuse of state resources and coercion of government employees to vote. MADURO WELL-POSITIONED FOR RE-ELECTION Three of the opposition coalition s main parties - Popular Will, Justice First and Democratic Action - boycotted Sunday s polls, saying the election board was a pawn of the government. But other opposition parties did put up candidates, adding to confusion and acrimony within opposition ranks. Maduro said the three abstaining parties should be banned from participating in future elections. That brought a rebuke from the U.S. State Department, which called his remarks another extreme measure to close democratic space in Venezuela and consolidate power in his authoritarian dictatorship. Venezuela s presidential election has traditionally been held in December, but there is speculation in political circles that it will be brought forward to the first half of 2018 so the socialists can take advantage of the opposition s disarray. Despite the regime s economic incompetence and the inherent weaknesses of Maduro s authoritarianism, he is well positioned to achieve re-election next year, said Nicholas Watson, of the Teneo Intelligence consultancy. With its most popular leaders barred - Leopoldo Lopez is under arrest and Henrique Capriles is prohibited from office - the opposition may struggle to find a flagbearer. Uniting parties and reigniting enthusiasm among despondent grassroots supporters will also be huge challenges. Street protests earlier in 2017 put pressure on Maduro and left 125 people dead. Foreign pressure hardened too, with U.S. President Donald Trump imposing sanctions on Venezuela for alleged government rights abuses and corruption. Yet after facing down demonstrators, pushing through a controversial legislative superbody in a July vote also boycotted by the opposition, and notching a majority in October gubernatorial polls, Maduro has ridden out the storm for now. I think the current government can fix things if they are allowed to get on with it, said mechanic Melix Jordan, 56, voting for the government in a rural part of Paraguana. Social discontent is running deep, however. There is no sign so far of an alternative presidential candidate, despite calls in some quarters for popular billionaire businessman Lorenzo Mendoza to run. My vote maybe doesn t change anything, said gardener Hector Machado, 64, who voted for the opposition in Tachira state. But I still have hope for something better next year. ",1 World is on the brink of the longest oil glut in at least 30 years with no end in sight,0 "DNC PAY TO PLAY LIST REVEALED: Federal Positions Awarded To Donors Including Commie Jeh JohnsonThe hacker Guccifer 2.0 released more DNC e-mails overnight and they are REALLY telling. We reported last night on the reason Guccifer released the e-mails:BREAKING: MORE HACKED E-MAILS From DNC Released By A Vengeful GucciferCorruption and pay to play runs rampant with this White House Federal positions were given to the highest donors as you ll see below:This is obviously a partial list but it gives you an idea of what s going on here. A few more below: The hacked documents contained detailed lists of 100,000 alleged donors, addresses, and phone numbers, and well as amounts donated. This is not the end of the leaks! There are more to come from Hillary Clinton s e-mails. We think the bigger story should be how easy it was for the DNC and government officials to be hacked!",0 Chinese Companies Pull Out of US Stock Markets ,0 "Iran\'s anti-government demonstrators have taken their protests to a new venue: writing ""Death to the Dictator"" and other opposition slogans on bank notes",0 Huge blazing fireball sighted in sky above Ireland,0 "CHEVY CHASE ADMITS To Using Position At SNL To Push Democrats Over Republicans To Millions Of ViewersComedian Mark Dice explores the influence so-called comedians have on their viewers when it comes to pushing their political views on fans. As part of his example, Dice shows his viewers a clip from a 1980 interview with leftist comedian Chevy Chase. Chase is not only unapologetic for using his position as a writer for SNL to push his liberal propaganda down the throats of unsuspecting viewers, he s actually quite arrogant about the power he believed he had over his fans on SNL.In the 1980 interview with CNN, Chevy Chase admits to using his position to affect the outcomes of the Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter election. Chase admits to wanting to take down Gerald Ford and to promote Jimmy Carter: I just went after him [Ford]. And uh I certainly, and obviously my leanings were Democratic and I wanted Carter in and I wanted him out. And I figured look, we re reaching millions of people uh..every weekend, so why not do it? The CNN reporter seems stunned by Chase s admission asks, Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that in the back of your mind you were thinking, Hey I want Carter and I m gonna make him [Ford] look bad? Chase, who seemed very pleased with his arrogant self bragged, Oh yeah! Mark Dice goes on to expose and destroy the credibility of modern day comedians/propagandists Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.Watch:",0 "LIBERALS HAVE NO BUSINESS Criticizing President Trump Until They Can Explain What Former President Obama Is Doing In This PhotoThe Democrats and their allies in the media have spent most of this entire week condemning President Trump for blaming both sides for the violent confrontations in Charlottesville, Va. The problem is, President Trump never once condoned the actions of the KKK or the Nazi sympathizers. Trump simply said that both sides (including the violent Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters) were at fault.Where was the condemnation from the media and the Democrat Party when President Barack Obama eulogized the former KKK Grand Dragon Robert Byrd? In the early 1940s, a politically ambitious butcher from West Virginia named Bob Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to form a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. After Byrd had collected the $10 joining fee and $3 charge for a robe and hood from every applicant, the Grand Dragon for the mid-Atlantic states came down to tiny Crab Orchard, W.Va., to officially organize the chapter.As Byrd recalls now, the Klan official, Joel L. Baskin of Arlington, Va., was so impressed with the young Byrd s organizational skills that he urged him to go into politics. The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation, Baskin said.The young Klan leader went on to become one of the most powerful and enduring figures in modern Senate history. Throughout a half-century on Capitol Hill, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) has twice held the premier leadership post in the Senate, helped win ratification of the Panama Canal treaty, squeezed billions from federal coffers to aid his home state, and won praise from liberals for his opposition to the war in Iraq and his defense of minority party rights in the Senate. Washington PostWhen the KKK Grand Dragon died in July of 2010, President Barack Obama eulogized him, while Hillary Clinton sang the praises of the West Virginia Democrat Senator Robert Byrd she called her mentor. During his eulogy, President Barack Obama expressed his admiration for the KKK Grand Dragon and later, the US Senator Robert Byrd: And as I reflect on the full sweep of his 92 years, it seems to me that his life bent towards justice, Obama said. Like the Constitution he tucked in his pocket, like our nation itself, Robert Byrd possessed that quintessential American quality, and that is a capacity to change, a capacity to learn, a capacity to listen, a capacity to be made more perfect. ",0 Second flight recorder from Germanwings 9525 found,1 "“AM I NOT SPEAKING ENGLISH?”…REPORTER RIPS Into State Department Rep Over Evasive Answers On Clinton E-mails [Video]We love AP Reporter Matt Lee! He is a lone voice in the effort to get the truth from our government the Stae Department spokespeople are unbelievable in their evasiveness! How do these reporters get any truth? Well, they don t it goes in a circle as you ll see in the video below. Ugh!A newly released State Department email features Clinton Foundation-related requests, raising potential ethical issues about the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton s four years as Secretary of State. So that s what a bunch of reporters confronted State spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau about yesterday.Three separate reporters starting with NBC s Abigail Williams asked Trudeau about whether there was any improper relationship between State and the Clinton Foundation. Trudeau repeatedly downplayed the emails and said the department is regularly in touch with a wide range of people.One reporter pointed out that Clinton had made a pledge not to involve herself with the foundation while she was Secretary of State. Trudeau shot back that the agreement did not preclude others from talking to foundation staff.At one point, as another reporter the AP s Matt Lee was getting frustrated with the lack of answers, he said this: I m sorry, are you am I not speaking English? Is this I mean, is it coming across as a foreign I m not asking you if no one is saying it s not okay or it s bad for the department to get a broad variety of input from different people. Asking the question is whether or not you have determined that there was nothing improper here. We love you Matt Lee! ",0 The Unmaking of Israel: How government policies have caused the surge in ultra-Orthodox Judaism in Israel. ,0 "Every MP to receive a copy of Orwell\'s ""Nineteen Eighty-Four""",0 "Indian Government not to allow cultivation of genetically modified Brinjal, for now.",0 "U.S. State Dept keeps hiring freeze as Tillerson looks to downsizeWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has maintained a hiring freeze at the State Department even though it was lifted for the rest of the federal government, a spokesman said on Thursday, as the agency begins to downsize before Congress approves funding cuts. Acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed that the hiring freeze would remain until the plan to downsize and reorganize had been fully developed. He could not give a timeline for the reorganization. “We can’t be onboarding people when we don’t know what our reorganization is going to ultimately look like,” Toner told a briefing for reporters. Trump’s budget proposal for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 would cut 28 percent of the budget for U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid. Republicans and Democrats in Congress, which approves the budget, have rejected the prospect of such cuts. It was not known whether the White House directed Tillerson to keep the hiring freeze in place for the State Department or whether other agencies would also refuse to lift the hiring ban. Two State Department officials said Tillerson plans to downsize staff over a period of two to three years. Tillerson informed State Department employees of the decision on Wednesday, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. While Trump’s original hiring freeze notice on Jan. 23 excluded political appointees, it has stopped the hiring of rank-and-file workers and the replacement of others who have resigned or retired. William Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank, said the Trump administration may have to seek congressional approval if the hiring freeze changes the function of programs congress explicitly voted to fund. Hoagland said the administration would have to send what is known as an impoundment resolution if the State Department “jeopardizes what that agency is there to begin with by not filling positions that are vacated.” Congress would then have to approve the resolution, Hoagland said. The State Department’s Toner said Tillerson was not breaking any federal rule by maintaining the hiring freeze. “My understanding is that (Tillerson) has the jurisdiction to keep this freeze in place as we go about this presidentially-mandated” reorganization, Toner said. The Office of Management and Budget, which handles federal budgeting, did not respond to a request for comment. Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Tuesday that the hiring freeze would be lifted but that agencies will be asked to remain mindful of Trump’s goal to reduce the federal work force. Tillerson said in March that the State Department’s current spending was “simply not sustainable.” ",1 Japan to press for resumption of annual whale hunt,1 "IT’S A WIN! Karen #Handel Beats Democrat…Crowd Chants “Trump, Trump, Trump!” [Video]Karen Handel won a hard fought Congressional seat in Georgia s 6th district. The Democrats poured 50 Million dollars into Jon Ossoff s campaign making it the most expensive Congressional race ever! Handel spoke and thanked President Trump the crowd went nuts and chanted Trump, Trump, Trump!Congratulations Karen Handel. Love the #GA06 chant! pic.twitter.com/VaH3RvmiM0 Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) June 21, 2017 LONG FACES AT CNN AFTER KAREN HANDEL WINS!PRICELESS .. Liberal Tears CNN IS ISIS #GA06 #Handel #Ossoff pic.twitter.com/cGQdKK0TqS STOCK MONSTER (@StockMonsterUSA) June 21, 2017 ONE OF THE BIGGEST ISSUES WAS THAT OSSOFF DIDN T LIVE IN THE DISTRICT: Democrat Jon Ossoff said Tuesday that he believes voters in Georgia s sixth congressional district do not care that he does not live in the district he is running to represent, dismissing questions on his residency. Well, he did work for Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson for 5 years Johnson famously said the island of Guam would tip over but was reelected anyway. Details, meh Ossoff s residency has been a persistent problem for him during his special election campaign to fill Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price s vacant House seat.OSSOFF SAID HE LIVES DOWN THE STREET BUT IT TOOK A WASHINGTON FREE BEACON REPORTER OVER 2 HOURS TO WALK FROM OSSOFF S HOUSE TO THE 6TH DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS!The Georgia Democrat lives a two-hour walk away from the sixth district, so that his fianc e can walk to her medical school classes.The question of where he lives came up again when Ossoff appeared on MSNBC. Host Stephanie Ruhle asked why, in such a close race, Ossoff has not made a greater effort to address his residency outside of the district. Voters just aren t asking me this question, Ossoff responded. Folks here in Georgia s sixth district care about how their representation is going to impact their daily lives, he added.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9M5h99tq9c I grew up in this community. As you mentioned, I live a couple of miles down the road to support my fianc e while she finishes medical school, Ossoff said. I m running to serve my home town in Congress, and I want to make them proud. Ruhle pushed Ossoff on why he would not address the issue in such a tight race. Since the special election, where you were at 48.1 [percent], things have only moved to 48.8, with 50 million bucks under your belt. Voters care about a lot. If you look back on this and things are that tight, wouldn t you say to yourself, just get an apartment in the district? Ruhle asked. If voters were raising that as a serious concern, Steph, maybe I would, Ossoff said. But voters care about how policy and about how representation is going to impact their daily lives, he continued. They know I grew up in this community. They know I grew up in the sixth district. They know why I m a couple of miles south of the line. It s just not a major issue in the race. Because he lives outside of the district, Ossoff cannot vote for himself on Tuesday in his congressional bid against Republican Karen Handel.Via: WFB",0 "Trump, Macron agree to work together on North Korea: White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone on Saturday and agreed to work together on a crisis on the Korean Peninsula, the White House said in a statement. “They discussed the need to confront the increasingly dangerous situation associated with North Korea’s destabilizing and escalatory behavior,” the White House said in a statement. In recent days, Trump and the North Korean regime have engaged in heated rhetoric about the Asian nation’s nuclear weapons program. ",1 "Canada, U.S. agree to use each other's troops in civil emergencies",1 "DISGUSTING! Abusive “Transformers” Star Shia LaBeouf Repeatedly SCREAMS, “He Will Not Divide Us” In Face Of Young Trump Supporter [VIDEO] Shia Labeouf maniacally screams ""he will not divide us!"" in a Trump supporter's face thereby becoming the physical embodiment of division. pic.twitter.com/vwCUn6acNL Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) January 22, 2017Commencing at 9am on January 20, 2017, the day of the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States, the public is invited to deliver the words HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US into a camera mounted on a wall outside the Museum of the Moving Image, New York, repeating the phrase as many times, and for as long as they wish.Open to all, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the participatory performance will be live-streamed continuously for four years, or the duration of the presidency. In this way, the mantra HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US acts as a show of resistance or insistence, opposition or optimism, guided by the spirit of each individual participant and the community.",0 "BAM! ANN COULTER EXPOSES DELTA: Flight Attendant Group Confirms She Was TargetedWow! Conservative Ann Coulter was in fact targeted by Delta employees who wanted to make the popular Republican uncomfortable. Coulter tweeted out a screenshot of a back and forth that confirms the employees decided to mess with her because of her political affiliation:BEWARE OF @DELTA REPUBLICANS. Texts from a flight attendant: It was political. @Delta still won t give a reason. pic.twitter.com/Tcxp2DlPa0 Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 18, 2017In case you missed it: CONSERVATIVE FIREBRAND ANN COULTER DESTROYS Delta Airlines On Twitter For Kicking Her Out Of Reserved Seat There are some people you probably shouldn t cross. Donald Trump is one, and conservative author and political analyst Ann Coulter is the other one Conservative columnist Ann Coulter flew into a fit of fury Saturday after Delta Airlines booted her from her reserved Comfort+ seat which comes with 3 additional inches of legroom and gave it to another passenger.In a two-hour tweeting tantrum,she quoted her exchange with a flight attendant: Why are you taking me out of the extra room seat I specifically booked? she asked.Their answer, she said, was I don t know. Before Coulter posted a picture of the woman Delta gave her extra-legroom reserved seat to, she tweeted this:Suckiest @Delta moved me from my PRE-BOOKED SEAT & gave it to some woman, not elderly, child, or sick. I have pictures so don t lie, @Delta! Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017But at least @Delta was nice @ it, summarily snatching my ticket from my hand & ordering me to move w/o explanation, compensation or apology Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017The 6-foot-tall Coulter, who is 55, tweeted a picture of the woman who got her aisle seat on the flight from LaGuardia to Florida, noting, Delta didn t give my extra room seat to an air marshal or tall person. NYP.@Delta didn t give my extra room seat to an air marshall or tall person. Here s the woman given my PRE-BOOKED seat: pic.twitter.com/iDNB8xXXOd Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 15, 2017The long-legged Coulter, who still appeared to furious about Delta s decision to boot her from her reserved seat with extra legroom, tweeted again to Delta about the daschund-legged woman who they gave her seat to:So glad I took time investigate the aircraft & PRE-BOOK a specific seat on @Delta, so some woman could waltz at the last min & take my seat. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 15, 2017Hey @Delta, if it was so important for the dachshund-legged woman to take my seat, she should have BOOKED THE SEAT IN ADVANCE. Like I did. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017The sharp-tongued conservative firebrand continued to rip into Delta Airlines in a series of tweets criticizing their customer service:.@Delta motto: ""How can we make your flight more uncomfortable?"" Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017.@Delta employee questionnaire: What is your ideal job: Prison guard? Animal handler? Stasi policeman? All of the above: HIRED! Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 16, 2017A Delta spokesman said it appeared Coulter was in the same extra-room row, just in a different seat. But he promised to look into it.",0 "32-Yr Old ILLEGAL ALIEN Repeatedly Raped and Impregnated 15-Yr Old Stepdaughter As Way To Stay In U.S.We assume Donald Trump was talking about illegal aliens like Horacio Alvarado who repeatedly raped his 14-year-old step-daughter and eventually impregnated her in hopes that it would be his ticket to citizenship.Daily Mail -An illegal immigrant in Milwaukee is accused of fathering his teenage stepdaughter s child in a misguided attempt to remain in the US.Horacio Alvarado, 32, allegedly impregnated the girl when she was 15 and then sought a paternity test, believing it would keep him in the country. The girl gave birth to the child back in 2012 but police only uncovered a lengthy history of alleged assaults last month when they started investigating a new sexual assault claim made by the victim.The step-daughter, now aged 22, was being interviewed over the recent sex assault allegation when she told police Alvarado had repeatedly abused her as a teenager, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.She told authorities Alvarado raped her on average three times a week from when she was 14 until she was 18 years old. The alleged abuse continued even after she gave birth to his child.The woman told police that Alvarado allegedly assaulted her when her mother, Linda Alvarado, was at work or sleeping late at night.She claims her mother once walked into the bedroom while Alvarado was raping her, but she left the bedroom without trying to stop him.The woman told authorities she kept the identity of her baby s father a secret from everyone except her mother, who she told shortly after the child was born.The Milwaukee County Circuit Court established Alvarado as the child s legal father in 2015.The criminal complaint states that Alvarado believed a positive paternity test would grant him permission to remain in the country.The girl s mother, Linda Alvarado, has also been charged with misdemeanor child neglect. She was released on a $500 bond. ",0 "IT BEGINS…RINO MEGA-DONOR Threatens Jeb Bush: No More Money To GOP Until Assault Weapons Are BannedA longtime Republican Party donor based in Florida vowed not to contribute any more money to candidates or electioneering groups until they pass legislation banning the sale of assault weapons to civilians.Al Hoffman Jr., a real estate developer and former ambassador to Portugal, has donated millions to Republicans over the years. On Saturday he sent an email to a half-dozen Republican donors, encouraging them to boycott candidates who oppose new gun legislation, the New York Times reported. FOX The New York Times reports that Hoffman made this announcement via an email that he sent to Jeb Bush and Gov. Rick Scott (R), among others. Hoffman was a major contributor to the George W. Bush presidential campaign. He also donated more than $1 million to a PAC supporting Jeb Bush s failed presidential campaign bid.Hoffman wrote, For how many years now have we been doing this having these experiences of terrorism, mass killings and how many years has it been that nothing s been done? It s the end of the road for me. He added, I will not write another check unless they all support a ban on assault weapons. Enough is enough! Predictably, the leftist media has now embraced the mega-Republican Party donor. CNN s Ana Navaro tweeted her praise for Hoffman s ultimatum. Navarro went as far as to call Republica Hoffman a friend : Very proud of my friend, Al Hoffman, for taking a stand. He s a West Point grad. He s a veteran. Has served in many capacities. He is a Republica. A father. A husband. A patriot: Prominent Republican Donor Issues Ultimatum on Assault Weapons via @nytimesVery proud of my friend, Al Hoffman, for taking a stand. He s a West Point grad. He s a veteran. Has served in many capacities. He is a Republica. A father. A husband. A patriot: Prominent Republican Donor Issues Ultimatum on Assault Weapons, via @nytimes https://t.co/flyZQ1vR7p Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) February 18, 2018Hoffman did not define an assault weapon, did not say whether it is a set type of firearm or just any rifle that has the cosmetic features banned by Democrats from 1994-2004. It must be noted that the Democrat ban did not ban the rifles, only the cosmetic features. Is that what Hoffman has in mind? Breitbart ",0 Women to be jailed in Mexico for having an abortion,1 "U.S. has lost trust in South Sudan, Trump envoy tells presidentJUBA (Reuters) - The United States has lost trust in South Sudan’s government for fueling the country’s civil war and it must bring peace or risk losing support from Washington, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the nation’s President Salva Kiir. Haley was the first senior member of President Donald Trump’s administration to visit South Sudan, which spiraled into civil war in 2013, just two years after gaining independence from Sudan. She met one on one with Kiir for some 45 minutes. “I let him know that the United States was at a crossroads and that every decision going forward was going to be based on his actions,” Haley told reporters after the meeting in the capital Juba. The United Nations has warned that the violence in South Sudan, which has forced some 4 million people to flee their homes, was providing “fertile ground” for a genocide. Kiir’s government has denied U.N. allegations of ethnic cleansing. Haley had to cut short a visit to a camp for South Sudanese displaced by the violence amid rowdy anti-Kiir protests. “He understood that Americans were disappointed in his leadership in South Sudan, I made that very clear. And he understood that all the aid or help that he hopes will go forward is not a given,” she said. Haley did not elaborate on what further action Washington could take, but said that Kiir “got what I was trying to say.” On Monday she said Washington was considering how to pressure Kiir into peace, though noted that withdrawing aid may not work. The Trump administration last month imposed sanctions on two senior South Sudanese officials and the former army chief. “We have lost trust in the government and we now need to regain that trust and the only way to regain that trust is through the actions of taking care of all of the people,” Haley told South Sudan’s Eye Radio. She demanded that Kiir allow full and consistent humanitarian aid access and bring peace and stability to the country. She said she pushed a timeline for Kiir to act, but declined to elaborate. Nhial Deng Nihal, a senior adviser to Kiir, said the president told Haley his government and a U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan had established “mechanisms that work jointly to improve and address the humanitarian problems.” He also told reporters that Kiir said government troops “will also be observing a cessation of hostilities in order to create an atmosphere for dialogue.” The civil war was sparked by a feud between Kiir, a Dinka, and his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer. It has plunged parts of the world’s youngest nation into famine. A fragile peace deal broke down last year and Machar fled the country. He is being held in South Africa to stop him stirring up trouble, sources told Reuters in December. Haley had to cut short a visit to a camp in Juba, where U.N. peacekeepers are protecting some 30,000 displaced people, after hundreds of rowdy pro-Machar protesters blocked nearby roads, yelling “Salva Kiir is a killer” and “Welcome USA.” Protesters held a large sign that read “South Sudan IDPs (internally displaced people) and refugees love President Trump, the peacemaker and supporter of human rights.” A spokeswoman for the U.N. mission said the protest “started to gain momentum after (Haley) left, IDPs became upset that she was not able to meet with them.” Haley was meeting with a displaced family when she had to leave early due to security concerns. The previous U.S. administrations of President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama were heavily involved in the birth of South Sudan, which signed a peace accord with Sudan in 2005 and gained independence in 2011. ",1 " Americans UNLOAD On Trump For Threatening North Korea And China On TwitterDonald Trump is a madman putting our nation on the brink of World War III and he isn t even in office yet.In a pair of tweets on Monday afternoon, Trump threatened North Korea after the country announced that they are nearly finished developig a nuclear missile allegedly capable of reaching the United States.North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won t happen! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2017Yes, let s just antagonize a country that is run by a dictator just as egomaniacal as Trump.But it gets worse.Trump also antagonized China, an ally of North Korea and the largest economy on the planet with the largest population.China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won t help with North Korea. Nice! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2017Keep in mind that this China bashing comes from a man who has his clothing line manufactured in China and a man who purchases steel for his buildings from Chinese companies instead of American companies. So Trump is complicit in the very things he is accusing China of doing.Regardless, China is a nuclear power with a strong military, and they will not hesitate to use it if the United States goes after North Korea. Such action could touch off a major war that would cause a horrifying number of casualties.And Trump s tweets are already terrifying Americans, many of whom took to Twitter to tell Trump to go cool off and keep his mouth shut because foreign relations should not be conducted on social media.@realDonaldTrump Was this over dinner with Kim Jong-un? Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump your are hardly fit to deal with this kind of challenge. Unstable. Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump that s why most Americans don t trust you to handle a crisis. We know you are emotionally disturbed, anxious, unwell. Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) January 2, 2017.@realDonaldTrump Sweetie, this is the perfect example of something you save for your Presidenting meetings, not glib little tweets. Bess Kalb (@bessbell) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump I m sure your public call for allowing South Korea to acquire nukes played no role in this Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump You re just like him. pic.twitter.com/BwrubjUo7p The Socialist Party (@OfficialSPGB) January 2, 2017@ZachHonig @realDonaldTrump he is making the world far more dangerous & not even POTUS yet. SMFH Chris Johnston (@bonsaikc) January 2, 2017.@realDonaldTrump This twitter diplomacy is real classy, you orange moron. Ben Berkon (@BenBerkon) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump you have mere days until you re sworn in as President. Do you really want to avoid it so badly that you ll kill us all now? Alex Zalben (@azalben) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump seriously, I ask you father to father, as a person who wants a future for his children: STOP TAUNTING NUCLEAR SUPERPOWERS. Alex Zalben (@azalben) January 2, 2017@JKendall4Trump @azalben @realDonaldTrump This is inviting them to launch nukes at us, literally. StopTrumpPutin16 (@fluffymnuffy1) January 2, 2017@rolandscahill and this is how it ends by a chump making threats on twitter. JustAGRL (@Clydearoo) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump I ve said it before, I ll say it again. Don t start a nuclear war. Matt Peterson (@mattbpete) January 2, 2017.@realDonaldTrump your goods are made in China and India you hypocrite. You don t care about the American working class. Emanuel Zbeda (@therealezway) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump go to your intelligence briefing and stop tweeting! Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump you re trying so hard to tweet us into WWIII. Nice! Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 2, 2017@realDonaldTrump I m sure plaintive, bitchy, mean-girl tweets like this will solve the problem. Krister Johnson (@KristerJohnson) January 2, 2017And just think Trump gets full control over the military and our nuclear arsenal in 17 days. Seriously, Trump is far too dangerous to be president.Featured Image: Wikimedia/Flickr",0 EU demands protection against U.S. data surveillance: EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding said she wanted Washington to follow through on its promise to give all EU citizens the right to sue in the United States if their data is misused.,1 "Speaker Ryan says Republican healthcare plan will pass HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday he believes there is enough support in the House of Representatives to pass the Republican healthcare plan, which has been criticized by some conservative groups and members of Congress. “This is the beginning of the legislative process ... we’ll have 218 when this thing comes to the floor (of the House), I can guarantee you that,” Ryan said, referring to the 218 votes needed to pass legislation in the Republican-controlled House. ",1 "U.S. expresses 'strong disappointment and protest' over Russia retaliationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, John Tefft, has “expressed his strong disappointment and protest” over Russia’s decision to cut U.S. diplomatic staff in Moscow and seize a dacha compound and warehouse used by American diplomats, a State Department official said on Friday. Russia’s moves came a day after the U.S. Senate voted to slap new sanctions on Russia, putting President Donald Trump in a tough position by forcing him to take a hard line against Moscow or veto the legislation and anger his own Republican Party. “We have received the Russian government notification,” a State Department official said on condition of anonymity. “Ambassador Tefft expressed his strong disappointment and protest.” ",1 Russia 'may face chaos' if extra sanctions imposed: Germany,0 "MEDIA PROMOTES Fake News That Shooter Connected to White Nationalist GroupThe mainstream media is guilty of fake news when it serves their desired narrative. In this case, the desire by the media to make the Florida shooter out to be a white nationalist is huge. They often go with the lie because by the time the lie is corrected, no one is listening. This is how the media hijacks the narrative in order to shape minds to think a certain way. Pretty evil, huh The media ran with the story but it s not true FAKE NEWS from the Associated Press to serve the purpose of the lefty media. This is nothing new but with the invention of social media and citizen journalists, we re able to correct the lies and hopefully get the truth out there. Nick Short and others called out the AP and other main stream media outlets for their lack of integrity in making claims that are a lie:According to law enforcement, there are no ties linking Cruz to the white nationalist group but it appears AP & the rest of the media didn t even bother to corroborate with authorities about this and instead gave a racist white nationalist free publicity. https://t.co/RFiDQc3d8b https://t.co/TScmiApfAe Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) February 15, 2018Tallahassee.com set the record straight:Local law enforcement sources have not found a connection between accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz and a Tallahassee-based paramilitary group.Leon County law enforcement sources told the Tallahassee Democrat that they could not find information linking Cruz, 19, to the Republic of Florida Militia, as claimed by the group s self-proclaimed leader Jordan Jereb.His comments to the Anti-Defamation League and The Associated Press set off a media firestorm Thursday at about midday that Cruz was connected to the alt-right, white nationalist group.HERE S WHAT HAPPENED IN A NUTSHELL:The ADL used 4Chan as a source, CBS used the ADL as a source.welcome to the future. pic.twitter.com/rBj61SUZC8 Tim Pool (@Timcast) February 16, 2018",0 " Ben Carson Gets Humiliating Trump Campaign Demotion – Claims He Requested it, Fools No OneBen Carson was (very) briefly the Republican frontrunner for President of the United States and now he s getting demoted by Donald Trump s campaign for being too big a liability. The campaign which once tweeted a picture of Trump eating a taco bowl with the caption I love Hispanics thinks Carson makes them look bad.And sadly, they re probably right.Ben Carson has managed to step on every rake in the yard in his bumbling attempt to help Trump get elected president. He s confided to reporters (on the record) that Trump might make a terrible president, but at least we re only looking at four years. How bad has Carson been for Trump? Dubbing him the worst surrogate ever CBS News Emily Schultheis pegged Carson early on:A campaign surrogate s job is to travel across the country and go on TV, saying nice things about the candidate and helping boost his or her chances at the presidency.What a campaign surrogate is not, however, supposed to do, is suggest their candidate is a bad person, admit he has a Twitter problem and an issue with humility, defend that candidate by suggesting a TV anchor has been charged with a crime, and reassure skeptics that, even if your candidate is a terrible president, it s only for four years.So when Carson made headlines yet again for screwing up this time naming a list of potential vice presidents Trump was considering including Alaskan campaign death knell Sarah Palin Carson was removed from the vice presidential planning group. Or as Carson s spin team meekly put it, he asked to be removed because he had many more super important jobs to do.That lie was exposed in less than a week. The real story is that Trump kicked Carson to the curb because Carson had absolutely no idea what he was doing.Three sources close to the Trump campaign said Carson didn t leave on his own. He was pushed.According to sources close to Trump s campaign, Carson was demoted after Trump specifically wanted him to head up the VP selection team. He submitted names that he thought would be valuable picks and inevitably lost his top spot days later. Carson allegedly called Trump afterwards and was angry that the situation played out like this.At this point, it s hard not to feel bad for Carson. Having seen the highs of being a front-runner, Carson got smoked in Iowa thanks to a vicious lie spread by Ted Cruz. Later he would be pulled into a literal closet to hear Ted Cruz tell him sorry not sorry. Only to finally give up and throw his lot in with Trump a man who once called him a pathological liar barely above a child molester. Now that same man is firing him and only because Carson s mouth almost never bothers communicating with his brain before saying things like He has some major defects, there s no question about it, just like the rest of us. But before we let Carson s sadsack routine tug on our heartstrings, let s remember that this is a man who ran for president on the premise that the Egyptian pyramids were grain silos only to give up and throw his weight behind a man he seems to have nothing but contempt for just to cling a bit longer to the political spotlight. Carson s right about one thing, he does have major defects.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images",0 " White People Have Gone Absolutely CRAZY In SNL’s ‘The Day Beyoncé Turned Black’ (VIDEO)After Beyonc came out with her new single Formation, which instantly became another hit for the artist, there was a lot of buzz surrounding the content of the lyrics. The song speaks truth to power and depicts the ongoing conflict that far too many people of color face in regards to police brutality. The song, however, doesn t have the usual music behind it that many of her past hits have had. So, if people aren t being critical of the content of the song, they re being critical of the composition and beat. Well, not all people, pretty much just white people. White people who would prefer Beyonc stick to pure pop and dance.To top it off, after Beyonc stole the show at the Super Bowl halftime performance, even more people became critical of the legendary singer. She was far too black for the folks over at Fox News, and seemingly many other places as well. After all, how dare she speak the truth and hurt the feelings of those who are too afraid to hear it?Saturday Night Live, noticing the ridiculousness of everyone criticizing Beyonc for her new song, perfectly satirized the outrage and confusion coming from far too many white people. In a sketch titled The Day Beyonc Turned Black, they show white people everywhere freaking the f*ck out and losing their damn minds after listening to her new song. It s as though they just found out, that after all these years of Beyonc releasing hit after hit that white people adore, all of a sudden she releases a song that shows her as a powerful black woman speaking truth to power, and no one knows what to do with themselves. Heaven forbid people of color have their own voice and not just be forced to cater to white people all the time, right?Anyway, this is absolutely brilliant.Featured image: Screencap",0 "A thrilling investigation into Viktor Bout, black-market Russian arms dealer, recently captured in Thailand. Portrays him as intelligent, calm, exacting businessman. No scruples, no ideology",0 WATCH Obama Mention Himself 119 Times During Hillary Endorsement Speech…And Then I Parted The Red Sea…LOL!Narcissist isn t a strong enough word to describe this twisted little man ,0 "Ukraine leader Poroshenko will meet Trump on TuesdayKIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday for talks on security, political and economic issues, Poroshenko’s office said. “It is very important that my meeting, as the Ukrainian president, in the White House will be earlier than (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s meeting,” it quoted Poroshenko, who is already in the United States, as saying. It will be their first meeting since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Poroshenko said that he also would meet top officials from the State Department, ministries of defence, trade and energy. “There never was such a powerful visit. And precisely in order to have the opportunity to talk about our cooperation in the security, political and economic spheres”, he added. Poroshenko praised the U.S. Senate for the decision to introduce new sanctions against Russia, saying that sanctions were a civilized mechanism “to force the aggressor to get away from Ukraine”, withdraw troops and equipment. Last week, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly for new sanctions punishing Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and to force Trump to get Congress’ approval before easing any existing sanctions. The move was intended to punish Russia over issues including alleged meddling in the election, which Moscow denies, annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and support for the government of Syria in that country’s six-year-long civil war. The Minsk peace agreement, brokered by France and Germany and signed by Russia and Ukraine in February 2015, calls for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and constitutional reform to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy. ",1 "Authorities Allowed NYC Chain Migration Terrorist To Stop Interrogation Several Times To Pray After Admitting He Was Triggered By CHRISTMAS PostersThe poor little ISIS-inspired, chain migration, snowflake, terrorist can t even walk by a Christmas poster without being triggered. How long before Mayor DeBlasio starts the dialogue about removing triggering signs of Christmas from NYC, so as not to offend non-Christians? The taxi driver behind the failed terror attack in a New York City told investigators he meant to detonate his homemade pipe bomb in the busy subway station after seeing the walls festooned with Christmas posters in revenge for violence against Muslims all over the world.While initial reports suggested the crude pipe bomb, made from a pipe, a 9-volt battery, match heads, sugar, Christmas tree lights and screws, had detonated prematurely, suspect Akayed Ullah, 27, insisted he set off the bomb deliberately.Ullah, who was arrested and taken for questioning after the bomb only partially detonated, told police he was walking through the underground tunnel at 7.20am, between the Port Authority station towards Times Square, when he saw the Christmas-themed posters on the wall, which reminded him of ISIS calls last month for militants and lone wolves to attack holiday markets. He acknowledges he purposely set it off then and there, a senior law enforcement official told the New York Post.The Bangladeshi immigrant added that he was specifically inspired by ISIS, not Al-Qaeda .Authorities say that if the explosive had fully detonated in the busy Midtown Manhattan subway station, there would have been more injuries and doubtless loss of life.The attack came days after Ullah s Brooklyn neighbors say they heard a huge row coming from his home, reporting yelling and screaming over the past two nights.Ullah, who was allowed to stop and pray multiple times during his interrogation, was taken to Bellevue Hospital to be treated for serious burns and lacerations to his abdomen and hands but is expected to survive. At the hospital, the Brooklyn resident told investigators that he was inspired to carry out the attack by the recent flare ups between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.Monday s attack was the first terror attack on U.S. soil since that proclamation, but only one of many violent demonstrations across the world since the controversial move was announced last Wednesday. It was also the second time in two months that New York City was the target of a terrorist attack.President Trump said in a statement that lax immigration policies were to blame for the attack, and urged Congress to enact legislative reforms to protect the American people .Authorities say Ullah took the A train subway to the Port Authority Bus Terminal stop Monday morning, and started walking east towards Times Square via an underground terminal when a pipe bomb hidden underneath his clothes prematurely exploded. Law enforcement officials don t believe the passageway was the intended target since the low-tech bomb attached to Ullah with Velcro and zip ties did not explode fully.The chemical explosive appears to have ignited but the pipe itself did not burst. Screws were found at the scene, indicating that they may have filled the pipe and were intended to be used as shrapnel.In the end, Ullah was the only one seriously injured by the explosive (three others reported to hospitals for ringing in the ears and headaches). Daily Mail ",0 I think more people need to understand what waterboarding is. [VIDEO],1 Israelis told to fight 'holy war' in Gaza,0 "Australia is safe once again. ""Female Ejaculation Films To Be Banned In Australia"" - Thank you, you fucking fundamentalist christian lunatics that have nothing better to do. That is all. ",0 " Racist TX High Schoolers Spray Paint ‘Whites Only’ Near Drinking Fountain (IMAGE)Several high school seniors in Texas won t be having such a high old time for graduation this year, and it s all their own damn fault. 17-year-old Ryan Westbrook, 18-year-old Ethan Sigmund, 18-year-old Christian Joeckel, 17-year-old Hayden Honoloka and 18-year-old Cameron Bodenstab will now be spending their remaining high school days facing charges for a racist crime. The teens allegedly spray painted whites only near a water fountain on their rival s campus, Martin High School. They claim it was a senior prank. Here is a photo of the graffiti, courtesy of the Arlington NAACP:In 2016, this is happening. We hope that @ArlingtonISD investigates & enforces policies soon. @NAACP @CornellWBrooks pic.twitter.com/FSxjvhU4ht Arlington, TX NAACP (@ArlingtonNAACP) May 25, 2016In addition to the whites only vandalism, the boys also spray painted trans only on a men s restroom, along with payback for the parking lot. The charges include their spreading hatred based upon race and sexual orientation. Arlington police Lt. Christopher Cook says of the situation: They re pretty remorseful. I don t think that they gave a lot of thought into the ramifications. Unfortunately you re held accountable and there s consequences when you engage in this behavior. Local station WFAA also says that there were other things that were spray painted on trash cans and banners at Martin High School by these geniuses that is unfit to be printed by any news outlet.Well, boys, this is much more than just a prank. You re clearly racists, and you deserve whatever you have coming to you. Well, those felonies you re charged with will sure look good on college applications, won t they you racist pricks?The boys could spend a year or more in jail for this disgusting prank, and good enough for them.Watch a news report below, via CBS VFW:Featured image via video screen capture",0 "Achtung! Papers Please! Canadian musician, Allison Crowe, ""barred from entry"" into England because of some obscure new anti-immigration, anti-terrorist rule",0 "U.S. House Democratic leader Pelosi calls for Confederate statue removalWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday joined calls for the immediate removal of Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol, shortly after President Donald Trump expressed regret over statues and monuments being removed in some cities. “There is no room for celebrating the violent bigotry of the men of the Confederacy in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol or in places of honor across the country,” Pelosi said in a statement. A spokesman for Republican U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said it was up to U.S. states to determine which statues were displayed on their behalf in the Capitol building. ",1 "U.S. judge to review FBI's Clinton emails search warrantNEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday directed federal prosecutors to show him the search warrant application used to enable the FBI to access emails related to Hillary Clinton’s private server that were discovered shortly before the Nov. 8 presidential election. U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan ordered prosecutors by Thursday to turn over the application, which investigators obtained shortly after FBI Director James Comey informed Congress of newly discovered emails on Oct. 28, 11 days before the election won by her Republican opponent Donald Trump. Castel made the order as he considered whether any portion of the search warrant materials could be made public in response to a lawsuit filed by Randol Schoenberg, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who specializes in cases to recover artwork stolen by the Nazis, seeking to force the release of the documents. In court papers, Schoenberg said the public had a “strong interest” in the disclosure of the search warrant materials, saying transparency was “crucial” given the potential influence the probe had on the election’s outcome. The search warrant was obtained after Comey issued a letter to top U.S. lawmakers disclosing that emails potentially related to the Clinton server probe had been discovered in an “unrelated case.” Comey’s Oct. 28 announcement roiled the campaign and drew new attention to a damaging issue for Clinton. Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, used the server while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Comey in July had recommended to the Justice Department that no criminal charges be brought against Clinton over her handing of classified information in the emails. Only two days before the election, Comey disclosed that the newly reviewed emails did nothing to change his earlier recommendation after all. Clinton days after her loss blamed Comey’s letter, so close to the election, as a reason she lost to Trump. Sources close to the investigation have said the emails were discovered during an unrelated probe into former Democratic U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. In court, Castel said he would not be surprised if prosecutors, in submitting the materials to him, cited the presence of an ongoing probe in a case unrelated to Clinton as a reason to keep the search warrant application confidential. “It could be potentially terribly unfair to a person who ultimately winds up not being charged,” Castel said, apparently referring to Weiner. Castel said it was possible information unrelated to the Clinton email probe could be redacted, and noted that in Clinton’s case, Comey later indicated in a subsequent letter that the server probe was closed. Castel invited prosecutors to propose redactions in case he decides to release the search warrant application. ",1 Israeli Troops Launch Attack on Gaza,1 "Unusual heatwave to rip through Aussie capitals.Temperatures were not normally seen until the height of summer, late January and early February.",0 Catholic Church in Germany drops sex abuse inquiry,1 " Elizabeth Warren Gives Trump Bad News After He Mocks Her For Not Getting VP Spot (TWEETS)Hillary Clinton announced her choice of Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her vice-presidential selection on Friday and, of course, Trump used the moment to mock Elizabeth Warren.In yet another effort to divide Democrats as the DNC Convention in Philadelphia approaches, Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to bully the Massachusetts Senator because she wasn t picked as Clinton s running mate. Pocahontas wanted V.P. slot so badly but wasn t chosen because she has done nothing in the Senate, Trump wrote before adding, Also, Crooked Hillary hates her! Pocahontas wanted V.P. slot so badly but wasn t chosen because she has done nothing in the Senate. Also, Crooked Hillary hates her! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2016Once again, the Republican nominee mocked Warren s Native American heritage and belittled her effort to fight for poor and middle class Americans in the US Senate.But Warren didn t let Trump get away with it and she responded by giving Trump bad news. I m right where I want to be, @realDonaldTrump, she wrote. Calling you out & holding you responsible for your reckless vision for America. I m right where I want to be, @realDonaldTrump: Calling you out & holding you responsible for your reckless vision for America. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 23, 2016One would think Donald Trump had learned his lesson about attacking Elizabeth Warren by now. After all, when he threw a temper tantrum by call her lazy, as well as a fraud and Pocahontas last weekend because she shredded his veep choice Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Warren ripped him a new one for it with a series of tweets that were a direct hit on how Trump is the REAL fraud.Here s just a few of them.You want to talk about who s a fraud, @realDonaldTrump? How about this? https://t.co/5UB05u8L4x pic.twitter.com/sTQrNKOoA1 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/HPPihIjqpX pic.twitter.com/dbhtFbhYF0 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/Ji9khMUbw6 pic.twitter.com/buEtsLMjfn Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/3ernRrO7q3 pic.twitter.com/wld65MAdsj Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Seriously, I could do this all day, @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/Q6Tv3m1SdX pic.twitter.com/Me3CULGxTI Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 You re nothing but a thin-skinned bully and a lousy, cheating businessman, @realDonaldTrump. The sham is over. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Seriously, Donald. Stay down. Elizabeth Warren has already kicked your ass several times. You don t want to mess with her. Unless you like getting destroyed by strong women. In that case, just wait till November and you ll receive the biggest beating of all.Featured image via Jeff Swensen/Getty Images",0 French president announces 1.5-bln-euro fund to finance transition to green energy,1 " Trump Declares That He Unanimously ‘WON’ The Third Debate And The Internet LAUGHS At HimGrab your popcorn and sit down because Trump just posted a tweet that proves how delusional he really is.It s been two days since the third presidential debate, and Donald Trump s campaign continues to roll downhill in flames like a rickety gasoline-soaked wagon on fire.But Donald Trump, in yet another lie to his supporters, actually claimed on Twitter that he won the debate by a unanimous decision. The results are in on the final debate and it is almost unanimous, I WON! Trump wrote. Thank you, these are very exciting times. The results are in on the final debate and it is almost unanimous, I WON! Thank you, these are very exciting times. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2016Apparently, Donald Trump is confused about what winning actually looks like.Because not only did most reaction polls indicate that Hillary Clinton won the debate, the scientific polls indicate she won as well.A CBS News poll found that 49 percent of debate watchers surveyed said Clinton won, which is 10 points higher than the 39 percent who say Trump won.Similarly, Clinton was declared the winner 46 percent to 37 percent of those surveyed by an NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll.Also, the CNN/ORC poll found that Clinton won the debate as well, with 52 percent saying Hillary won versus only 39 percent who said Trump won.And that s not all. Hillary also beat the hell out of Trump in a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll by 17 points, 43 percent to 26 percent.In other words, Trump LOST the debate on Wednesday night in Las Vegas just as he lost the first two.Twitter users certainly think Trump s declaration of victory is a joke. Because they mocked him mercilessly after he posted it.@realDonaldTrump HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAH(deep breath)HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHASo sad. But so funny. JordanHeath-Rawlings (@TheGameSheet) October 21, 2016.@realDonaldTrump So wait, is every poll saying you won or is the media biased? PICK A LANE PUSSY GRABBER! Ethan Lawrence (@EthanDLawrence) October 21, 2016I want some of whatever you re smoking. In the real world, the exact opposite is true.@realDonaldTrump https://t.co/k1Gucas64r Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) October 21, 2016.@realDonaldTrump You know this kind of tweet increases the credibility of fraud charges against you for Trump University, right? Lawrence O Donnell (@Lawrence) October 21, 2016@realDonaldTrump You did horrible in the final debate m a r y (@_MaryAli) October 21, 2016@_MaryAli @realDonaldTrump He did horrible in all three debates. Jeannie See (@JeannieSee) October 21, 2016.@realDonaldTrump Delete your account. Ryan Sager (@ryansager) October 21, 2016@realDonaldTrump u need to find a dictionary to check the meaning of unanimous Xain Gardezi (@XainGardezi) October 21, 2016@realDonaldTrump Did you actually *watch* the debate? Stefan Hechl (@StefanHechl) October 21, 2016@realDonaldTrump https://t.co/XAIbT9wVqO you sure about that!? Graham Love (@GLove39) October 21, 2016@realDonaldTrump OMG LOL Craig Scott (@TorbayToday) October 21, 2016@realDonaldTrump / HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! alonso arias (@lonchoarias) October 21, 2016@realDonaldTrump Yes, you did win. Second place. Congratulations! Be sure to collect your participation trophy, demented old man! Vaughan (@rvaughanw) October 21, 2016Can you imagine if Donald Trump declares himself the winner on Election Day after the popular and electoral vote reveal that Hillary won? Because while it s funny to watch Trump call himself the winner of a debate, it won t be very funny if he does the same thing on November 8th even though all of the results clearly show that he is wrong.Featured Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images",0 "WATCH MSNBC Anchor Make Outrageous Claim About Her Pre-existing Condition For Obamacare [Video]STEPHANIE RUHLE of MSNBC was on with a panel of liberals when she blurted out: I too have a pre-existing condition. I m a woman, Ruhle said to a panel that seemed to agree with her.The left has been broadening and redefining what a pre-existing condition is but this is ridiculous!Ruhle said that president Trump will have a hands-off approach to healthcare now because he got his win, but another panelist couldn t let that comment go as he claimed five times that this was not a win for the president. No, he didn t get a win. He got something he could claim is a win. It is so far from being a win; it is disgusting what he does by having a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden making it seem like he has a win but he s doesn t have a win. His win is not a reality. The anger and hate runs deep with this group https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=44&v=tWSH3JMVUaU SHE S BEEN IN HOT WATER BEFORE:OOPS! She had to apologize for saying FOX held their Christmas party at the Trump hotel.",0 " Donald Trump Nominates The Only Black Guy He Knows To Oversee Inner City HousingBen Carson Dr. Ben Carson Dr. Ben Carson the brain surgeon has been tapped as one of Donald Trump s cabinet members. Now, despite Carson s expertise being in medicine, Donald Trump has chosen Carson to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is the agency that gives low-income families access to housing.Despite living in the inner city of New York for all of his life, Donald Trump has a long habit of conflating black people with the inner city. Republicans in general have that habit.During the second presidential debate, Donald Trump was asked whether he could be a president to all the people in the United States. He had a very specific answer: I would be a president for all of the people, African Americans, the inner cities, he replied. Later in the debate, he spoke again of how he was going to help the African Americans, who lived in inner cities, suffering from high poverty rates, bad educational systems, and no jobs.Source: The AtlanticWell, it s simply not true. Most African-Americans do not live in the inner city and most live above the poverty line, but that doesn t stop Trump and Republicans from their two dimensional view of African-Americans, which is likely the exact reason Trump chose Carson as his inner city spokesperson. Carson is African-American, and the fact that he has literally no experience at doing anything remotely relevant to that job is completely beside the point. You see, black people, according to Trump, are black before they are anything else even black brain surgeons. Am I reading too much into the nomination? Well, here are Trump s words: I am thrilled to nominate Dr. Ben Carson as our next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities, Trump is quoted as saying in a statement released by his transition team Monday.Source: Washington PostTo be fair, Carson did grow up in public housing. Although, he turned his back on the inner cities and despite the fact that he wouldn t be where he is without government assistance, he, like so many Republicans, wants to deprive others of government assistance.And then there s the fact that he has no experience in the government, and even he acknowledged that he was too inexperienced for a position he might have actually been qualified for. His name had been fielded for being in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. Carson is reported to have turned it down, citing his lack of government qualifications.So why is he suddenly qualified for HUD? Well, it s likely because the Trump administration has no plans whatsoever to help those in need find housing. Carson will be a figure head, but his skin is dark, so who better to tell poor people that they ll be screwed for the next four years?Featured image via Ty Wright/Getty Images.",0 " Megyn Kelly Laughably Claims Fox News Does Not Have A Right-Wing Bias (VIDEO)You ll have a hard time not laughing out loud about this one.Despite having a clear right-wing bias, Megyn Kelly actually had the audacity to claim that Fox News is totally fair and balanced while whining about a supposed liberal bias in the rest of the mainstream media.During an interview with CBS host Charlie Rose on Sunday, Kelly accused most media outlets of having a liberal bias when reporting the news. I do believe that there is a left-leaning bias in news and most of news, Kelly somehow managed to blurt out without her nose growing like Pinocchio s. You don t believe there is a right-wing bias at Fox, a conservative bias at Fox? Rose asked even though Kelly s answer was predictable even before he uttered the question. No, I don t. I think that Fox News is fair and balanced. And I think the conservatives who are on air here make no bones about their ideology. Again, Kelly s nose remained the same even though Fox News does, indeed, have a clear right-wing bias and is the propaganda machine of the Republican Party and the evidence of that has piled up over the years.Here s the video via YouTube.In November 2014, Fox News did more than just report that Republicans had taken over the Senate, they openly celebrated about it.In April 2014, Fox head honcho and Kelly s boss Rupert Murdoch actually bragged that his network saved the Republican Party. A Gallup poll even confirms that an overwhelming 94 percent of Fox viewers lean or identify as Republicans.Additionally, even one of the most conservative senators in Congress has repeatedly pointed out that Fox is totally not fair and totally not balanced. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn urged his constituents to stop believing everything they hear on Fox because There are certain shows on Fox I can t watch because they re totally not fair and totally not balanced. Coburn said the same thing to constituents four years earlier in 2010 after Fox News tried to scare people by demonizing the Affordable Care Act and painting Nancy Pelosi as a bad person. The intention is not to put anybody in jail, Coburn said of the Fox claim that people would go to jail for not purchasing health insurance. That makes for good TV news on Fox, but that isn t the intention. What we have to have is make sure we have a debate in this country so that you can see what s going on and make the determination yourself, Coburn continued before blasting Fox for besmirching Pelosi s character. So, don t catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody s no good. Late last year, a Fox News HOST actually had the gall to claim that everyone benefited from locking up more black people in a racist statement that drew outrage.Fox News has even told blatant lies on the air about Muslims that they had to publicly apologize for telling.Next up, take a look at just one broadcast of Sean Hannity s show on Fox as an example of his own work to make the network a pit of right-wing bias even as he claims to be fair and balanced in the same breath. As one of my colleagues wrote,During a two-minute opening to the segment in which he makes his ludicrous claim, Hannity used the following words and phrases to describe President Obama: liberal, left wing, all out assault on the 2nd Amendment and the rights of law abiding Americans, trampling on your rights, What s his next target? The First Amendment, The Anointed One, failed on the economy, failed to create jobs, failed to reign in radical extremism abroad.Here s the video via Media Matters.Last time I checked, President Obama has not taken anyone s gun away, the economy is stronger than it was eight years ago, and jobs are being created at a record pace. Yet, Fox employees like Hannity still repeat the same accusations over and over again.And finally, let s take a look at Bill O Reilly, who got his ass handed to him by a group of high school students early last year for his lack of journalistic ethics. In their final report after watching a segment of the host s show, the students found that Fox News is not practicing journalism as much as they are practicing rank propaganda. In short, Fox News has never been fair and balanced and if Megyn Kelly wanted to be known as a credible journalist she should have had the courage to admit it rather than try to sell us another lie like Fox hosts do on a daily basis.Featured image via Myside s Spew",0 "Seeking to deport Rohingya, India tells court has evidence of militant linksNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India s home ministry said on Monday it would confidentially share intelligence information with the Supreme Court showing Rohingya links with Pakistan-based militants, in a bid to get legal clearance for plans to deport 40,000 Rohingya Muslims. The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal lodged on behalf of Rohingya against the deportation plan proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi s Hindu nationalist government. India s home ministry submitted an affidavit to the court arguing that the hardline stance was justified by the security threat posed by illegal immigrant Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, from where many have crossed into India. The ministry said the illegal influx of large numbers of Rohingya into India began four to five years ago, long before an exodus that saw more than 400,000 Rohingya flee to Bangladesh since Aug. 25 to escape a Myanmar military counter-insurgency offensive that the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing . The affidavit went on to say the government had reports from security agencies and other authentic sources indicating linkages of some of the unauthorized Rohingya immigrants with Pakistan-based terror organizations and similar organizations operating in other countries. It also said there was information on Rohingya involvement in plots by Islamic State and other extremist groups to ignite communal and sectarian violence in India. Senior home ministry official Mukesh Mittal said the Indian government would privately show the court material gathered from sensitive investigations to substantiate the claims in its affidavit. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who filed the plea on behalf of two Rohingya men, will file a rejoinder to the government s affidavit, his office told Reuters. The court will next hear the matter on Oct. 3. Meantime, police said on Monday that they had arrested a suspected member of al Qaeda who they believed was trying to recruit Rohingya living in the country to fight security forces in Myanmar. Senior police officer Pramod Kushwaha told Reuters that British national Shauman Haq, 27, was arrested near a bus stop in Delhi on Sunday. He had come to India via Bangladesh. Rohingya in India voiced worries that they were being unfairly tainted by the allegations and sought more understanding for their plight. We feel helpless and hopeless, said Rohingya youth leader Ali Johar, who came to India in 2012 and lives with his family in a Delhi settlement. The world s largest democracy has given us shelter but they should handle this situation more empathetically. Modi s government has been criticized by activists for not speaking out against Myanmar s recent military offensive against Rohingya insurgents, and right-wing groups in India have begun vilifying Rohingya living there. The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and regarded as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots that date back centuries. More than 800,000 Rohingya currently live in Bangladesh. ",1 China to loan South Sudan $8 billion to get started,0 "Nigerian president likens Myanmar crisis to Bosnia, Rwanda genocidesUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday likened the violence in Myanmar against Rohingya Muslims to genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda, urging a halt to the ongoing ethnic cleansing and safe return of refugees. The Myanmar crisis is very reminiscent of what happened in Bosnia in 1995 and in Rwanda in 1994, Buhari told the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. He added that the horrendous suffering had been caused by state-backed program of brutal depopulation of the Rohingya inhabited areas in Myanmar on the bases of ethnicity and religion. ",1 Oh My! Whatever Will The Oil Barons & Ministers Do? We need a rally for OPEC!!,0 Osama bin Laden's hand-written will reveals he left $40 million fortune to jihad instead of family,1 China is Heading for a Hard Landing,1 "The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has reacted to Binyamin Netanyahus speech to the US Congress by saying that the world and the American people are too intelligent to take advice from an aggressive and occupier regime that has itself developed an arsenal of nuclear weapons.",1 "More Advertisers Boycott News Of The World: Ford, Mitsibushi, The Co-operative Group, Vauxhall, Lloyds Banking Group and Virgin Holidays have suspended adverts in the News Of The World over phone hacking claims",1 Researchers identify command servers behind Google attack,1 "#Hashtag Hell & The Fake Left By Dady Chery and Gilbert MercierAll writers with a desire to rattle people out of their torpor occasionally wonder if it is worthwhile to continue to try to raise their voices over the din of lies and distractions.More and more for us, such thoughts are occasioned, not by the mainstream, which predictably treats all the pronouncements from the powerful as being newsworthy, but by the fake left, which lobotomizes most of whom it touches. The increasing sophistication of this group and its rate of expansion are astounding. Its purpose is to annihilate and replace the real left, and it is making great strides in this regard.The real left includes those who, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK), came to realize that quantum leaps are the way to proceed, rather than tiny incremental change. The real left does not curry favor or approval from those in power; it challenges the social status quo and respects the inherent right of an injured and indignant population to rebel against authority. It is not for rent or for sale, and it does not cave in to power. Martin Luther King March (Image Source: Wikicommons)By contrast, the motivations of the fake left are money and fame: the preservation of their place in their ivory towers, together with all the trimmings of an upper middle class or wealthy lifestyle. For them, the path is smoothed and the wheels of the machine are oiled for lucrative book deals, speaking tours, radio and television interviews, and articles that are infinitely reverberated through approved sites in the Internet. Their spokespeople channel political ideas toward electoral cycles and transform revolutionary musings into banalities, paralysis, and futile actions. They attack the public s thought process itself and engender an attention-deficit disorder. Ideas are not pursued, shared, honed, and acted upon but instead displaced by fleeting slogans like hope and change, or feel the Bern. Alternatively, the ideas are muddled, branded and labeled with names like shock doctrine, disaster capitalism, or climate capitalism, so that they may be put away and no longer examined. An important function of the fake left is to diffuse legitimate, spontaneous defense. Righteous anger is made to give way to confusion, and the impetus to revolt is transformed into the futility of virtual actions. Slogans are used as vaccines to prevent the contagion of dissent. Thoughts, not quite fully formed and the beginning of spontaneous actions, like blockage of bridges and highways, quickly dissipate. They are aborted into quick visual scans of an image or rapidly associated with a few words, like black lives matter, and then shared on social media. Today, Thomas Paine s Common Sense would not kindle a revolution; instead it would be quoted, posted, pinned, and tweeted. The fake left is a decoy: a hunter s trap to break the leg of any possible revolution. One of the fake left s godfathers is the multibillionaire George Soros, who obviously believes that wealth equals wisdom and has come up with a clever model to launder his vast financial gains into global political influence. Soros has developed an extremely diversified portfolio of intellectual properties and non-governmental organizations (NGO) in more than 37 countries. Artists throughout the world who present their people as victims, and promote passivity and despair, are rewarded with support and prestigious prizes. Supported organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are accused not only of selectively collecting data on human rights abuses but also of exploiting some of those data to pressure countries into policy changes that are unrelated to human rights. Independent journalism is a major focus of Soros Open Society Foundation, which was founded in 1993, soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union and right before the explosion of the Internet. When US-friendly corrupt governments, and US-sponsored institutions like USAID and the United Nations are exposed by the real left, Soros-sponsored think tanks and news organizations like the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) spring into action and become the voice of reason, demanding that these organizations self-reform. Countless others, also related to the Open Society Foundation, echo and amplify their message. Dismantlement and profound systemic change are never on the agenda. In most of the world, and especially the US, elections are staged, with the primary goal being to let off steam from targeted sectors of the population. A secondary goal is to make a rigged political process appear believable and give the impression of a free exchange of ideas. The candidates are presented as caricatures that trigger an emotional identification in specific groups of people. In the US in 2016, the mean, misogynist and racist ugly American stereotype is served well by Donald Trump for the right. On the other side, the reincarnated Occupy leftist champion of social justice is played by Bernie Sanders. Nonetheless it is Hillary Clinton s turn to win. Trump and Sanders serve to keep the elections in the news and to make Clinton the only supposed pragmatic choice. The ambition of Sanders to beat Hillary Clinton is questionable in light of the fact that he did not run for the presidency in 2012, although the issues were the same, and he could have benefited then from the energy of Occupy. Sander s platform is a reactivation of the Occupy themes. Occupy, however, is not what it used to be. Indeed it is a perfect example of something from the real left that was hijacked. It began as a leaderless anti-capitalist movement called US Day of Rage, but soon it acquired leaders like Chris Hedges, and its most radical elements, like the Black Bloc anarchists, were vilified and excluded. The fake left poaches the narrative of the real left so as to kill it. Outright plagiarism and abundant appropriations and rewrites are hallmarks of the fake left. Since it lacks a heartfelt leftist rhetoric, it must continually borrow one, ironically, to excoriate it so as to present a superficial version of it. Any critical examination will show that the self-proclaimed firebrands of the left have, for decades, never moved the revolutionary dial an iota. If books like Noam Chomsky s Occupy or Naomi Klein s Shock Doctrine, or Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco s Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt had been genuine, they would have brought people to the barricades in the streets, and there would surely have been attempts to suppress them. Instead the books have been celebrated and glorified by the media establishment, because these pseudo-radical manifestos have not brought action but paralysis.The latest offering by Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything, will, by design, change absolutely nothing at all, except the balance of her bank account. TOAST OF THE LEFT: Author Naomi Klein.Those few of us who are genuinely trying to change the course of events sometimes wonder how we can compete against this powerful new machine that appropriates our message, twists it, and then blasts a degraded version of it through countless bullhorns. Doesn t the public realize that wealth and fame are not the normal trappings of revolutionaries? Don t people know that revolution is never easy, and that if it appears to be, it is not real? If words like earth, nature, life, democracy, dissent, protest, love, and revolution are allowed to lose their weight, our voices will go the way of the song of the extinct Dodo bird. It is imperative that these words be reappropriated and reinfused with meaning.Revolutionary talk cannot be permitted to become an exercise in futile venting or a validation of passivity; to mean anything at all, it must be enacted in community.Dady Chery is the author of We Have Dared to Be Free, and Gilbert Mercier is the author of The Orwellian Empire. This article was originally published at New Junkie PostREAD MORE 2016 ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files",0 Blackwater Said to Approve $1 Million in Iraqi Bribes After Shootings ,1 "First projections see German Pirate Party at 8,5 % in Berlin state elections",0 "Former Hong Kong student leader escapes jail sentence for campus protestHONG KONG (Reuters) - The former leader of the Hong Kong University student union on Thursday received a court sentence of community service for his role in a campus protest, escaping the fate of a growing list of young activists put behind bars. The activists, many still university students, have been at the forefront of the former British colony s fight for democracy which peaked during the months-long Umbrella Movement street occupations in late 2014. But after failing to convince Beijing to allow full democracy in Hong Kong, many lost confidence in the city s one country, two systems arrangement, and began to call for total independence. Billy Fung, 23, who helped lead a protest last year by about 200 students seeking talks over the governance structure of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), was given 240 hours of community service for disorderly conduct in a public place, criminal damage and attempted forcible entry. I understand you have ideals and hope to change what is unjust in society, said magistrate Ko Wai-hung. But when you think these ideals are the absolute truth, you may neglect that other people have the right and reasons to hold different opinions. Wearing ties with the university emblem, both Fung and another student leader, Colman Li, 22, who is to serve 200 hours of community service, looked calm when the sentences were handed down, while about 100 young people in the courtroom applauded. Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, with the promise of a large degree of autonomy and civil liberties not permitted in mainland China. In the past few years, police have charged up to 100 activists, most of them young, over anti-government protests, a list compiled by activist groups shows. Fung s sentence came one month after the jailing of youth activist Joshua Wong, who had helped lead tens of thousands onto Hong Kong s streets. The issue of academic freedom has flared in recent weeks, after a campus display of pro-independence banners drew the ire of Chinese state media and Hong Kong officials, triggering heated standoffs between local freedom advocates and pro-China students and groups. In Fung s case, the governance issue drew scrutiny after the university council blocked a prominent HKU law school dean and human rights advocate, Johannes Chan, from taking the post of pro-vice-chancellor. (This story has been refiled to insert dropped word sentence in headline) ",1 "JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO: “Heads up Washington, we’re not listening to you anymore because we’re FED UP! [Video]Judge Jeanine rips into the Republican Establishment! Yes! ",0 "The United States abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern Greenland following a crash in 1968, a BBC investigation has found.",0 Taliban claim they pose no threat to west. Statement on known Taliban website may indicate that leaders are retreating from alliance with al-Qaida,1 "Canada, U.S. announce January meeting to keep pressure on North KoreaOTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada and the United States said on Tuesday they will co-host a meeting of foreign ministers in Vancouver in January to demonstrate international solidarity against North Korea s continued nuclear and missile tests. Following a meeting with Canada s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the pressure campaign on North Korea would not abate until the country agreed to give up its nuclear ambitions. ",1 "China to spend only $100K on Philippines relief: ""It was impossible to separate China's anger over territorial claims from the question of disaster relief.""",1 Bloody Sunday dead all innocent,1 "China: Six people are killed and ten others injured after a space shuttle simulator ride plunged to the ground at an amusement park in Shenzhen",0 Muslims condemn Britain's plans to combat extremism,0 "Around 700 of the 4,000 refugees who have been housed in Lower Saxony over the past week have gone missing and authorities mostly have no idea who or where they are. The astonishing number was revealed in a survey of local authorities in the north-west German state by the Neue Osnabrcker Zeitung.",0 Israeli military takes out 13 Hamas terrorists who crossed into Israel from Gaza via underground tunnel,0 British intelligence has uncovered evidence suggesting the Russian airliner was blown up by an onboard bomb,1 "India, 2,644 people died during clinical trial of drugs in 7 years",1 Bali police see tourists as ATMs: 'kick them and they spit out money',1 "After 18 hours of negotiations, Turkey and Brazil seal nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran, details awaited",1 "WHO IS THIS WOMAN And Why Did Hillary Have Her Copy Top Secret Info…Does She Hold The Secrets To Emailgate?Well, this is rich Hillary Clinton had her housekeeper print out sensitive government e-mails and documents! The former Secretary of State lectured her employees to remind them of how to keep information secure (video below) yet she s playing loose and free with top secret documents!What if Marina Santos was a spy for a foreign government that was hostile to the US? Ms. Santos is now in hot water and should be called upon to testify. The big question you re probably asking about now is why the heck Santos wasn t subpoenaed? Marina Santos could hold the secrets to Emailgate! You REALLY can t make this stuff up!As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton routinely asked her maid to print out sensitive government e-mails and documents including ones containing classified information from her house in Washington, DC, e-mails and FBI memos show. But the housekeeper lacked the security clearance to handle such material.In fact, Marina Santos was called on so frequently to receive e-mails that she may hold the secrets to E-mailgate if only the FBI and Congress would subpoena her and the equipment she used.Clinton entrusted far more than the care of her DC residence, known as Whitehaven, to Santos. She expected the Filipino immigrant to handle state secrets, further opening the Democratic presidential nominee to criticism that she played fast and loose with national security.Clinton would first receive highly sensitive e-mails from top aides at the State Department and then request that they, in turn, forward the messages and any attached documents to Santos to print out for her at the home.Among other things, Clinton requested Santos print out drafts of her speeches, confidential memos and call sheets background information and talking points prepared for the secretary of state in advance of a phone call with a foreign head of state. Pls ask Marina to print for me in am, Clinton e-mailed top aide Huma Abedin regarding a redacted 2011 message marked sensitive but unclassified.In a classified 2012 e-mail dealing with the new president of Malawi, another Clinton aide, Monica Hanley, advised Clinton, We can ask Marina to print this. Revisions to the Iran points was the subject line of a classified April 2012 e-mail to Clinton from Hanley. In it, the text reads, Marina is trying to print for you. Both classified e-mails were marked confidential, the tier below secret or top secret. Santos also had access to a highly secure room called an SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) that diplomatic security agents set up at Whitehaven, according to FBI notes from an interview with Abedin.From within the SCIF, Santos who had no clearance collected documents from the secure facsimile machine for Clinton, the FBI notes revealed.Read more: NYP",0 "WATCH HILLARY SQUIRM When Mainstream Media Asks If She Plans To Watch “13 Hours” MovieHillary was too busy to be bothered with making Benghazi a safer place for Ambassador Stevens, so it should really come as no surprise that she s too busy to watch 13 HOURS, the true story of Benghazi. By the way, whoever told Hillary that calling the families of the four men killed in Benghazi liars, just as the true story of what really happened under her watch is coming out in theaters nationwide, should be fired One of the enduring mysteries of the Benghazi tragedy is why anyone ever took seriously Hillary Clinton s blaming some obscure maker of a YouTube video for the attack. That mystery, however, is dwarfed by the way the media try to pretend that Hillary s denials of that happening are anything other than bald-faced (that bald-face would be pasty white, wrinkled, and bewhiskered). In testimony elicited by the Benghazi Committee and in released emails, it has become apparent that no one ever thought the video was to blame and Clinton has, herself, attempted to claim that she never blamed the video.Now there is a new wrinkle to the story. Hillary told the families that the video was the cause of the attack that led to the deaths of their family members. Now she is saying they are lying.First, there is her statement when she, shamelessly, stood in the hangar at Dover AFB as the bodies of the dead men returned home:CLINTON: Many others from across the Middle East and North Africa have offered similar sentiments.This has been a difficult week for the State Department and for our country. We ve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. We ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with.Then we have the families themselves:Transcript via TownhallTyrone Woods father (who took notes about their meeting): I gave Hillary a hug and shook her hand. And she said we are going to have the film maker arrested who was responsible for the death of my son She said the filmmaker who was responsible for the death of your son Sean Smith s mother: She s absolutely lying. She told me something entirely different at the casket ceremony. She said it was because of the video. Sean Smith s uncle: Mrs. Clinton really has a problem embracing the truth. Glen Doherty s sister: When I think back now to that day and what she knew, it shows me a lot about her character that she would choose in that moment to basically perpetuate what she knew was untrue. On ABC s This Week, Clinton family retainer, George Stephanopoulos, revisited the issue I have no idea why other than some misbegotten effort to set the record straight and got this response:https://youtu.be/jAUDS-aLGjISTEPHANOPOULOS: Did you tell them it was about the film? And what s your response?CLINTON: No. You know, look I understand the continuing grief at the loss that parents experienced with the loss of these four brave Americans. And I did testify, as you know, for 11 hours. And I answered all of these questions. Now, I can t I can t help it the people think there has to be something else there. I said very clearly there had been a terrorist group, uh, that had taken responsibility on Facebook, um, between the time that, uh, I you know, when I talked to my daughter, that was the latest information; we were, uh, giving it credibility. And then we learned the next day it wasn t true. In fact, they retracted it. This was a fast-moving series of events in the fog of war and I think most Americans understand that.So we have Hillary blaming the video at the arrival of the caskets. We have all four families agreeing that they were told it was a video. We have Hillary on record blaming the video in the week after the attack. And now she says it never happened.This woman is a pathological liar. The sad thing is that she could probably pass a lie detector test. Via: Red State ",0 "Trump says to spend extra day in Philippines during Asia tripWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Friday he would spend an extra day in the Philippines during his trip to Asia, which the White House confirmed would be to attend the East Asia Summit taking place there. “We’re actually staying an extra day in the Philippines. We have a big conference, the second conference, and I think we’re going to have great success,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for his trip. ",1 "North Korea drops propaganda leaflets, trash, cigarette butts on South Korea",1 " Palm Beach County Looks To Levy Tax On Mar-a-Lago To Pay For Cost Of Trump’s Expensive VisitsDonald Trump has been vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida nearly every weekend since taking office, and now Palm Beach County intends to force him him to pay for it.The cost of Trump s weekend forays have been devastating for local taxpayers and area businesses.For two months now, they have had to deal with providing extra security, directing traffic, shutting down a local airport, and all the economic hazards Trump has caused.Of course, Trump doesn t care about the people he hurts as long as he gets to throw parties and golf on the taxpayer s dime.So far, Palm Beach County has had to pony up $1.7 million for extra security when Trump is in town.And because of the extra security, businesses in Palm Beach are losing tens of thousands of dollars every weekend, causing many to literally go broke.In fact, Trump s weekend vacations has cost taxpayers on the national level over $10 million and counting and Trump is on pace to play more golf and go on more vacations and spend more money on those vacations in a single year than President Obama did during his whole eight years in office.Palm Beach county residents and officials are especially tired of Trump s visits, and they want their back, which Trump has so far refused to reimburse.So Palm Beach lawmakers are looking to classify Mar-a-Lago as a municipal service benefit unit so they can level a special tax on Trump to force the money out of him.County Commissioner Dave Kerner is looking into this method to provide relief to local taxpayers who have had to deal with the burden. It s one thing for a president to visit once in awhile, but every weekend is ridiculous.According to the Palm Beach Post,It could give the county a way to impose a special tax on Trump to reimburse the county for the millions it has shelled out for roadway management and security assistance during the president s frequent trips here.The tax would not be a property tax, Kerner said. Instead, it would be a tax pegged to the value of any special benefit the county has provided to Mar-a-Lago s owner Trump.In other words, if Trump wants to continue taking his little trips to Florida, he ll have to pay the price. And that will at least give the residents of Palm Beach something to smile about when Trump comes to town.Featured Image: Mario Tama/Getty Images",0 Canada to toughen terror laws,1 CIA torture survivors sue psychologists who designed infamous program,0 "Fearing Trump's next move, liberals urge Supreme Court conservative Kennedy to stayWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Liberal activists are urging U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative with whom they often disagree, to put off any thought of retirement, fearing President Donald Trump would replace him with a jurist further to the right. The liberal Democrats’ keep-Kennedy campaign, being pursued publicly and privately, reflects how powerless they have become against the Republican president when it comes to high court vacancies since the Senate in April reduced the vote tally needed to confirm a Supreme Court nomination to 51 from 60. It also shows how big the stakes are for both sides in any decision that Kennedy, who turns 81 in July, makes about his future on the court. If he were to retire, Trump would have a historic opportunity to recast the court in a more conservative posture, possibly for decades to come. Some former Kennedy clerks have said he is thinking about retirement. He has declined to comment on his plans, despite requests from many media outlets including Reuters. Right now, Kennedy “is the most important man in America. He is the vote that swings the court on the most important cases that reach it,” said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a left-leaning think tank. Nominated by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1987 to a lifetime court seat, Kennedy has been a crucial swing vote on the nine-member court for more than a decade. On most issues, such as campaign finance and religious rights, he has voted with fellow conservatives. He also voted with the minority to strike down the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. But on gay rights and abortion, he has sided with the court’s four liberals. If he stays in his post, the court’s long-standing ideological balance will be preserved. If he quits, Trump could replace him with someone who tilts further right, giving conservatives a solid five-vote majority. Wydra and other liberals are lionizing Kennedy and his legacy in the media. Some are reaching out to former Kennedy clerks and others who know him, asking them to urge him not to retire, said Michele Jawando, a legal advocate at the Center for American Progress think tank in Washington. One former Kennedy clerk confirmed being asked to urge him to stay on and said other clerks had asked him to do so. Other clerks said they had not been approached by liberal activists. Since he took office in January, Trump’s only significant domestic policy achievement has been winning Senate confirmation of his nominee to the high court, Neil Gorsuch, a former Kennedy clerk. Gorsuch replaced a fellow conservative, Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. The Gorsuch confirmation did not shift the court’s ideological balance, but it did trigger a change in the Senate rules for considering Supreme Court nominees. To get Gorsuch confirmed, Republicans exercised the “nuclear option,” ending Democrats’ ability to use a procedural maneuver called a filibuster to block a final vote on a Supreme Court nominee. As a result, Republicans, with a 52-48 Senate majority, can now confirm any future nominee without Democratic support. In another handicap, liberal groups said they lacked the money to sway public opinion via TV and online ads, unlike conservative groups that had $10 million to back Gorsuch. In view of those disadvantages, People for the American Way, another liberal group, issued a report earlier this month outlining the impact of a Kennedy retirement, describing it as a “disaster for the rights of all Americans.” Liberals want in part to protect the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. As a candidate, Trump said he would appoint court justices who would vote to overturn the decision. Perhaps seeking to reassure Kennedy that his legacy is in safe hands, Trump has consistently praised the justice. At Gorsuch’s swearing-in in April, Trump called Kennedy a “great man of outstanding accomplishment.” Trump and other Republicans have said they have heard rumors that Kennedy might retire, but have not publicly urged him to. The president has vowed to pick his next nominee the same way he chose Gorsuch, from a list of contenders he made public before the election. Among contenders viewed as possible Kennedy replacements are federal appeals court judges Raymond Kethledge and Thomas Hardiman, conservative lawyer and former Solicitor General Paul Clement and Brett Kavanaugh, a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington, according to a person with knowledge of the nomination process. ",1 "California AG pledges to defend birth control insurance coverageSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said on Friday he was “prepared to take whatever action it takes” to defend the Obamacare mandate that health insurers provide birth control, now that the Trump administration has moved to circumvent it. The administration’s new contraception exemptions “are another example of the Trump administration trampling on people’s rights, but in this case only women,” Becerra told Reuters. Becerra and other Democratic attorneys general have filed courtroom challenges to other Trump administration policies involving healthcare, immigration and the environment. ",1 "Trump picks financier Scaramucci to head White House communications: officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump picked Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci, a long-time supporter, to be his White House communications director on Friday, a White House official said. Currently at the Export-Import Bank, Scaramucci is expected to start his new job in August, the official said. No other changes were immediately expected in a communications operation that includes press secretary Sean Spicer and his deputy, Sarah Sanders, the official said. The appointment comes as the White House deals with questions around a special counsel probe and several congressional investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and potential collusion with Trump’s campaign. The communications position has been vacant since Michael Dubke resigned in May as communications director. Spicer has been serving a dual role as press secretary and communications director since Dubke left. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Scaramucci was interviewed by Trump on Friday morning and the job had been offered and accepted. Scaramucci, a Republican fundraiser and founder of Skybridge Capital, was earlier offered the post of U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. ",1 'torture tape' sheikh arrested but will probably only get a slap on the wrist,1 Iran unveils new cruise missile,1 Russian Governments Own Civil Society Organization Finds Crimean Referendum Falsified,0 "ONLY HOURS AFTER DEATH Of Supreme Court Justice Scalia, Democrats Demand Obama Chooses His ReplacementThe US Supreme Court is set to decide the first major abortion case in nearly 10 years as well as critical decisions on immigration, affirmative action and voting rights. Will the Republican party have the spine to stand up to these reprobates and demand that we wait until after the election to appoint a new US Supreme Court Justice? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday that the Senate should wait until a new president is elected to confirm a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, whose sudden death Saturday shook Washington and threatened to reshape the 2016 presidential race.Democrats said that with 11 months left in Mr. Obama s tenure, the Senate has enough time and indeed an obligation to confirm a replacement. The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president, the Kentucky Republican said in a statement.News of Scalia s death was just hours old before the debate heated up.With the court now divided between four Republican-appointed justices and four Democratic picks, Mr. Obama would have a chance to tilt the bench decidedly to the left, and liberal lawmakers said he should have that chance.Via: Washington Times",0 "'Hamas-Israel deal imminent,' to the dismay of Palestinian factions",1 "BREAKING: President Trump Makes FBI Pick One Day Before Comey Testimony [Video]President Trump has nominated Christopher Wray to be the new director of the FBI. The president announced the pick in a tweet Wednesday: I will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow. #BREAKING @POTUS nominates Christopher Wray for @FBI Director. #AmericaFirst #MAGA pic.twitter.com/7reLeV2ZE8 Boston Bobblehead (@DBloom451) June 7, 2017This comes one month after President Trump fired James Comey: While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau, Trump said in a letter to Comey. It is essential that we find new leadership for the F.B.I. that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission. You are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately. Trump interviewed a slew of candidates for the position, including FBI director Andrew McCabe, former Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, former FBI official Richard McFeely and John Pistole before settling on Wray.The interesting thing about the pick is that this was Trump s pick. This is also a brilliant move from the president to nominate a pick for FBI Director one day before Comey testifies.Christopher Wray was the lawyer for Chris Christie in the Bridgegate Investigation. The left will probably go bonkers over that fun fact.Here s a little more on Wray:Wray was nominated by President George W. Bush as assistant attorney general in charge of the Criminal Division, according to the U.S. Department of Justice website. He held that job until 2005.Christopher Wray is a graduate of Yale Law School. He led the Enron Task Force when he was with the Department of Justice.As head of the Criminal Division, Wray led investigations and prosecutions in securities fraud, health care fraud, money laundering, public corruption and several other areas of federal criminal law, according the the website of King & Spaulding, a Washington firm where he currently serves as a litigation partner.Via: Daily Caller",0 "Trump likely to visit China during November Asia trip: U.S. officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to make a stop in China in November during his first official visit to Asia, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, a trip that will come amid tensions over North Korea s nuclear tests. Washington and its allies have said there is a growing urgency for China, North Korea s top ally and trading partner, to apply more pressure on its already isolated neighbor to get it to back down on its nuclear weapons and missiles programs. Chinese President Xi Jinping had invited Trump to visit China during their meeting in April in Palm Beach, Florida. The two leaders also met on the sidelines on the G20 summit in July. Trump is set to attend the U.S.-ASEAN summit and the East Asia summit in the Philippines in November, as well as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam. China s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Trump s potential visit. Japanese public broadcaster NHK cited unnamed diplomatic sources saying that Trump was also considering visiting Japan and South Korea during his Asian tour in November. In February, Trump accepted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe s invitation to visit Japan by the end of the year. The February agreement is still valid. We would definitely like to make it happen sometime within this year. But no specific timing has been fixed yet, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. Also, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun said on Wednesday Japan, the United States and South Korea are in final stages of talks to hold a trilateral summit on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The newspaper, citing unnamed government sources, reported the meeting between Trump, Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in could take place on Sept. 21 and would focus on bolstering cooperation in response to North Korean provocation. On Monday, the U.N. Security Council unanimously voted to step up sanctions on North Korea, with its profitable textile exports now banned and fuel supplies capped. After several days of negotiations on the resolution, Washington dropped several measures to win the support of Russia and China, including a bid for an oil embargo and the blacklisting of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the national airline. In Hong Kong, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told the South China Morning Post the results of a U.S.-led investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property theft would be announced before the Beijing summit to reset bilateral trade. The far-right architect of Trump s 2016 election victory, Bannon told an investor conference, organized by a unit of China s largest brokerage, that Trump and Xi had a rapport that should enable them to work out differences, said an attendee at the meeting which was closed to the press. Bannon, who was let go by Trump last month, told a private lunch gathering in Hong Kong that he still speaks with President Donald Trump every two to three days, the Wall Street Journal reported. ",1 German flag burned on the streets as Greeks react angrily to historic Eurozone deal,1 After deleting 99% of it's state news archive - is North Korea trying to erase its history?,0 "Nuclear, renewables to help French CO2 reduction goals, Macron saysPARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday he would not follow Germany s example by phasing out nuclear energy in France because his priority was to cut carbon emissions and shut down polluting coal-fired production. I don t idolize nuclear energy at all. But I think you have to pick your battle. My priority in France, Europe and internationally is CO2 emissions and (global) warming, he told France 2 television in an interview. Macron, who has worked to establish his role as a global leader since his election win in May, presided over a climate summit in Paris last week to breathe new life into a collective effort to fight climate change. But renewable energy only amounts to a tiny share of French electricity production, which is dominated by nuclear for 75 percent of it. Nuclear is not bad for carbon emissions, it s even the most carbon-free way to produce electricity with renewables, Macron said. The 39-year old, who has sought to forge strong ties with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, did not show any enthusiasm for her decision to phase out nuclear energy, one of her landmark policies. What did the Germans do when they shut all their nuclear in one go?, Macron said. They developed a lot of renewables but they also massively reopened thermal and coal. They worsened their CO2 footprint, it wasn t good for the planet. So I won t do that. Macron said he wanted to boost the growth of renewable energy but would wait for the French nuclear watchdog s opinion before shutting ageing nuclear reactors or upgrading others. The ASN nuclear regulator said last month it would rule on a potential lifespan extension of France s 58 nuclear reactors - all operated by state-owned EDF - in 2020-21. This is what we ll base our decisions on, Macron said. So it ll be rational. So in the face of that, we ll have to shut some plants. Maybe we ll have to modernize others, he said. ",1 "As world helps shot Pakistani girl, Afghans ask ""what about us?"": The global attention bestowed on a Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban has sparked outcry amongst many Afghans dismayed by what they say is the unequal response to the plight of their women and children",1 "U.S. Congress shrugs off guns, Zika as summer break nearsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress is headed for a seven-week recess without addressing gun violence, the Zika virus outbreak and other pressing issues, amid persistent election-year bickering. Despite recent gun violence, the House of Representatives will not vote this week on a proposal to keep firearms out of the hands of people on terrorism watch lists, that chamber’s Republican leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday. Similarly, President Barack Obama’s request for $1.9 billion in funds to combat the Zika virus and the birth defects it can cause has been stalled in Congress since February. Republicans and Democrats were also at odds over spending bills to keep the government functioning beyond Sept. 30, when current fiscal year funding expires. When Republicans took control of Congress, they vowed to get things done but have had difficulty doing so during this election year, failing to pass a budget or even consider Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. Congress did, however, approve bipartisan legislation helping Puerto Rico out of a crippling debt crisis and is trying to make progress on legislation to improve police relations with local communities in the aftermath of gun violence. With barely four days left before the start of an unusually long recess, a failure to vote on guns would postpone any possible action by the House until at least Sept. 6, when lawmakers return. After that, they will work only for short stints ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential and congressional elections. Mass shootings in Orlando and Dallas, and gun violence in other cities, has again propelled gun control to prominence. But the National Rifle Association and its allies in Congress so far have staved off legislation. Gun control is generally opposed by Republicans and supported by Democrats. Some Republicans have talked about a gun bill possibly moving through Congress in the fall, in the midst of the campaign season, but Democrats were skeptical. “This Congress will do nothing on curbing gun violence,” Representative Xavier Becerra of California, a member of the House Democratic leadership, told reporters. The two sides even disagree on whether House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi talked about a proposal to establish a special committee to study gun violence. Democrats say Pelosi raised the issue with Ryan last week. Ryan’s office says he has never discussed the topic with anyone. Republicans in the House and Senate have signed onto a $1.1 billion Zika funding bill. But Democrats are balking over what they see as “poison pills” attached to the money that would deny funds to women’s healthcare provider Planned Parenthood and ease some environmental provisions. Democrats, who warn the current legislation will not pass the Senate, said on Tuesday that they offered to accept some Republican provisions. But Senate Republicans insist the bill cannot be altered. Ryan meanwhile showcased his “A Better Way” agenda, flashing a glossy pamphlet at a press conference listing proposals designed to lure votes in November but do nothing this year legislatively. Republicans have also pushed for new federal probes of Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, on her use of private emails while secretary of state. ",1 "Southeast Asia summit draft statement skips over Rohingya crisisMANILA (Reuters) - A draft of the statement to be issued after a Southeast Asian summit makes no mention of the exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar s Rakhine state following a military crackdown that has been described by the United Nations as ethnic cleansing. One paragraph of the communique, seen by Reuters on Monday, mentions the importance of humanitarian relief provided for victims of natural disasters in Vietnam and a recent urban battle with Islamist militants in the Philippines, as well as affected communities in northern Rakhine state. The statement was drawn up by the Philippines, current chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - which includes Myanmar - whose leaders met for a plenary session in Manila on Monday. The draft did not give any details of the situation in northern Rakhine or use the term Rohingya for the persecuted Muslim minority, which Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has asked foreign leaders to avoid. The government in mostly-Buddhist Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal migrants from Bangladesh and does not recognize the term. Well over 600,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh to find shelter in refugee camps after military clearance operations were launched in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts on Aug. 25. The plight of the Rohingya has brought outrage from around the world and there have been calls for democracy champion Suu Kyi to be stripped of the Nobel peace prize she won in 1991 because she has not condemned the Myanmar military s actions. In September, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation in Rakhine was best described as ethnic cleansing. Some members of ASEAN, particularly Muslim-majority Malaysia, have voiced concern. However, in keeping with ASEAN s principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of one another, the issue appears to have been put aside at the summit. In September, Malaysia disavowed a statement issued by the Philippines on behalf of ASEAN s foreign ministers as misrepresenting the reality because it did not identify the Rohingya as an affected community in Rakhine state. Suu Kyi, who did not mention the crisis in a speech after arriving in Manila on Sunday, criticized ASEAN s principle of non-interference herself in 1999 when she was fighting for democracy in a country then ruled by a military junta. This policy of non-interference is just an excuse for not helping, she wrote in an opinion column in the Thai daily the Nation at the time. In this day and age, you cannot avoid interference in the matters of other countries. Roberto Romulo, a former Philippine foreign minister, told the Philippine news channel ANC that there appeared to be no discussion about the Rohingya at the ASEAN summit. They re treating with a great deal of respect a discredited Nobel Peace Prize winner like Aung San Suu Kyi, he said. Amnesty International Philippines representative Wilnor Papa told ANC that the ASEAN leaders would talk about terrorism and peace and order ... but there are a whole lot of elephants in the room they won t be talking about, that people are trying to ignore. ",1 " Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Join Forces To Sue Arizona For Voter SuppressionWhile the New York primary election has unleashed harsh sentiments from both the Sanders and Clinton campaigns, it appears that the two are putting their differences aside to join forces in suing Arizona over its suppressive tactics with regards to voting in March.According to the Washington Post, the suit will focus exclusively on Maricopa County, where citizens had to wait as long as seven hours to vote due to a drastic cut in polling locations from 200 in 2012 down to 60 this election.The suit accuses Arizona officials of launching a massive effort to suppress the vote, saying the alarmingly inadequate number of voting centers resulted in severe, inexcusable burdens on voters countywide, as well as the ultimate disenfranchisement of untold numbers of voters who were unable or unwilling to wait in intolerably long lines. The suit also singled out the fact that black, Hispanic and Native American voters were especially burdened, and will ask the Court to review the polling location plan for the November election to ensure that mass disenfranchisement doesn t happen again.The suit is being filed in the US District Court in Phoenix by Marc Elis on behalf of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Arizona Democratic Party and individual Democratic leaders in the state. After it s filed. both the Sanders and Clinton campaign will sign on.Elias is a member of Clinton s general counsel and is a prominent DC elections lawyer, who formally worked a general counsel position with John Kerry and Al Franken. Elias also was a litigator on voting rights and redistricting lawsuits in Virginia, Ohio, Nevada, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida and North Carolina.A Department of Justice investigation is currently underway, a move lobbied by the Democratic mayor of Phoenix Greg Stanton.When Democrats join forces, this what happens they tackle the issues that effect average Americans who want to get ahead and be a part of the process. While Republicans openly celebrate suppressing the vote, Democrats want to expand it.Perhaps Democrats should do a little less fighting and a little more unifying like we re seeing in Arizona.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images",0 " WATCH: Donald Trump Explains His New Muslim Ban ‘Expansion’ PlanDonald Trump and the GOP appear to have finally found the messaging that they are using to sell Trump s flip-flop on banning Muslims from entering the United States.During an interview on MSNBC s Meet the Press Sunday morning, Trump told the Chuck Todd that he doesn t consider his recent changes to his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States a rollback. I actually don t think it s a rollback. In fact, you could say it s an expansion. I m looking now at territory, Trump told Todd. People were so upset when I used the word Muslim. Oh, you can t use the word Muslim. Remember this. And I m okay with that, because I m talking territory instead of Muslim. We re going to have tough standards, Trump went on to say. And if a person can t prove that they re from an area, and if a person can t prove what they have to be able to prove, they re not coming into this country. And I would stop the Syrian migration and a Syrian from coming into this country in two seconds. Let s be clear, Trump s proposal is a rollback. His initial call for a unilateral ban on Muslims entering the United States is both incredibly bigoted and unconstitutional. It also happens to be impossible to enforce and would severely damage the United States reputation. Even if Trump were to become president, it is hard to see how such a proposal would actually be implemented.That s why this rollbacked version of his proposal is actually far worse. That s because it can actually be implemented. While still divisive among the GOP, Trump would have far more support for his modified approval. More than half of the governors in the United States want to ban Syrians from entering the United States as of last year. There are even a few Democrats who would jump on board the xenophobia train.So, yes this is a rollback. It s also an expansion as Trump refers to it, in the sense that it is something that could actually become policy.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhpwEO7b7eoFeatured image via video screenshot",0 Europes first case of swine flu confirmed in Spain,0 "[VIDEO] Queensday celebrations in Holland disrupted by violent carcrash, Queen is safe.",0 "Man found guilty under UK terrorism laws after refusing to reveal passwordsLONDON (Reuters) - A man who refused to provide passwords to his electronic devices when stopped by British police was found guilty under terrorism laws at a court in London on Monday, in a case that campaigners say threatens personal privacy. Muhammad Rabbani, 36, the international director of campaign group CAGE was found guilty of wilfully obstructing or seeking to frustrate an examination or search, and given a conditional 12-month discharge, and was ordered to pay a 620 pound ($830) fine. CAGE is an advocacy group which campaigns against the impact of counter-terrorism policies, and came to international attention over its links to Jihadi John, a British Islamic militant, before he went to Syria. Rabbani said he was returning from a wedding in Qatar when he was stopped at Heathrow last November. Police seized his phone and computer, and demanded the passwords for the devices. Rabbani said that he had not provided the passwords as he wanted to protect the privacy of a client who he was working with on an anti-torture case. However, judge Emma Arbuthnot found that Rabbani was lawfully required to provide the passwords. Rabbani said he would appeal the decision. He was held under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which was used to detain David Miranda, the partner of the journalist who brought leaks from former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden to world attention in 2013. Rabbani said that the law poses a threat to personal privacy, and told reporters and supporters outside the court that the decision highlights the absurdity of the Schedule 7 law. They accept that at no point was I under suspicion, and that ultimately this was a matter of having been profiled, he said, referring to the judge and prosecution. There are important implications for our collective privacy, as Schedule 7 acts as a digital strip-search. But the police welcomed the verdict. Today s verdict is an important one. It s crucial that police are able to use the legislation that exists to help keep the public safe, said Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Met Police Counter Terrorism Command, in a statement, adding that Schedule 7 was a vital tool in the fight against terrorism. The Met has retained Rabbani s phone and laptop and is continuing its efforts to examine the contents. ($1 = 0.7437 pounds) ",1 Google 'may end China operations over Gmail breaches' ,0 Al-Qaida leader involved in Charlie Hebdo attack killed,1 "MCCONNELL PUSHES BACK ON MEDIA: I Understand ‘Your Job Is to Use the Democratic Talking Points’ [Video]WHO KNEW HE HAD IT IN HIM? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) pushed back against a reporter who asked a question critical of the Republican tax reform bill early Wednesday morning by pointing out it was the reporter s job to use Democratic talking points. McConnell held a press conference shortly after the Senate passed the $1.5 trillion package of tax cuts and tax code revisions in the chamber s 51-48 vote. The vote was at about 1:30 a.m. after much debate on the floor of the Senate. The Democrats are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Republicans. They are putting politics before what s best for America. Pro-growth is the way to go! MAGA!A MONTAGE OF HYSTERIA FROM THE LEFT OVER THE TAX BILL AFTER THE HOUSE VOTE BUT BEFORE THE SENATE VOTED ON IT: Check out the woman who breaks into the live feed to call the bill a scam Wow! What do you say to Sen. Schumer when he says that you guys are going to rue the day that you pass this bill that the politics of passing long-term corporate tax cuts with short-term individual cuts is going to catch up to you guys? a reporter asked.McConnell cleared his throat and told the reporter he understood his job to use the Democratic talking points before explaining why he believes the tax reform bill is good for Americans.",0 """Interpol said Tuesday that 25 suspected members of the loose-knit Anonymous hacker movement have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America.""",0 World over-using underground water reserves for agriculture,1 German company Solarworld has announced it's acquiring the complete solar business of Bosch. The takeover will result in the first German solar firm with a manufacturing capacity exceeding one gigawatt.,1 Court Convicts Congo Warlord Of Using Child Soldiers,1 Gordon Brown Resigns As Prime Minister and Labour Leader With Immediate Effect ,0 " JUST IN: Donald Trump Seriously Thinks Deaf People Are ‘Retarded’As if Donald Trump hasn t angered enough people already, he has now added the deaf to that long list.According to former staffers who worked on The Apprentice in 2011, the Republican nominee repeatedly questioned Academy Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin s mental capacity and referred to her as retarded just because she happens to be deaf.The staffers came forward to disclose Trump s treatment of Matlin anonymously due to non-disclosure agreements they had to sign.The staffers told the Daily Beast that Trump repeatedly insulted Matlin to her face and behind her back and would often equate that she was mentally retarded. During the taping of the show, Trump would often scribble down notes while sitting at the table of the boardroom the show s primary set. A person familiar with the notes who helped clean up after tapings said that on one of the pieces of paper, Trump wrote: Marlee, is she retarded?? Apparently, Trump didn t care about being on a hot mic because one staffer heard Trump make fun of her voice, too. It actually sounded a lot like what he did [to] the New York Times guy, the staffer described.As you may recall, a writer for the New York Times named Serge F. Kovaleski criticized Trump in an article. Trump then responded by openly mocking Kovaleski s disability on the campaign trail.Here s a video of the disgraceful incident via YouTube.For the record, being deaf means Matlin can t hear sounds. It doesn t mean she is mentally impaired. But Trump clearly either doesn t know the difference or does not care.But reportedly, Matlin didn t let Trump get away with insulting her. During a segment filmed in the boardroom, Matlin stood up for herself after Trump made insensitive remarks about her and treated her as if she had a mental handicap.Of course, that footage did not air as part of the episode and none of Trump s insults were aired during the season, probably because his behavior towards Matlin would have caused national outrage.And it should definitely cause national outrage now.Donald Trump has a history of insulting people with mental and physical disabilities, and this is unacceptable.Trump should publicly apologize to Matlin for how he treated her and he should definitely drop his bid for the presidency. America deserves a president who won t look down upon people just because they have a disability. Disabled people are not inferior. Donald Trump deserves nothing more than to be a disgraceful footnote in the dustbin of history.Donald Trump deserves nothing more than to be a disgraceful footnote in the dustbin of history.Featured Image: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images",0 "Trump faces obstacles in bid to re-shape key U.S. courtsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s effort to reshape influential U.S. courts by stocking them with conservative judges faces at least one significant impediment: some of the courts best placed to thwart his agenda have liberal majorities that are likely to stay in place in the short-term. Those courts, including an influential Washington appeals court and two appellate courts that ruled against Trump in cases involving his travel ban, all had an influx of fresh liberal blood under President Barack Obama. “Trump is not going to be able to make any significant dents into the Democrats’ control of those three (appellate) circuits,” said Arthur Hellman, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. After eight years in office, Obama was able to make enough appointments to leave a strong liberal imprint on the federal courts. When he left the White House in January, nine of the 13 federal appeals courts had a majority of Democratic-appointed judges. The federal appeals courts, divided into 11 geographic regions plus two based in the District of Columbia, often have the final say in major legal disputes. The conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court, which now includes Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch, can overrule appeals court decisions, but hears only a small number of cases, which leaves lower court rulings in place most of the time. The appeals courts can shape the interpretation of such issues as abortion, religious freedom, voting rights and race. Appellate court judges serve lifetime terms, and so far Trump’s opportunities to appoint new ones have been mostly limited to courts that already lean conservative. Among the courts conservatives would most like to shift are the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, both of which ruled against Trump in cases challenging the Republican president’s executive orders temporarily banning travel to the United States by people from six predominantly Muslim countries. The Supreme Court partially revived the ban last month. The ideological balance of those courts has provided some hope to Trump’s legal opponents, including Democratic state attorneys general, who have already sued the administration over the travel ban and other issues. “Strategic attorneys general can likely chart a path through Democratic-leaning courts - making it harder on the Trump administration to pursue its agenda through executive action,” said Sarah Binder, a scholar the nonpartisan Brookings Institution think tank. Thanks in part to efforts by the Republican-led Senate in the final two years of Obama’s presidency to block the Democratic president’s judicial appointments, Trump has 21 appeals court slots to fill, according to the federal judiciary’s administrative office. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved two of Trump’s appeals court nominees on Thursday. In some of the key courts, new vacancies in the near term are more likely to be in slots currently filled by Republican appointees, so Trump’s early appointments will be unlikely to change the court balance. A case in point is the announcement this week by Republican appointee Janice Rogers Brown on the Washington appeals court that she plans to step down. In Washington, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is often called the second-highest court in the land, in part because it hears a large number of cases concerning major government regulations on issues such as the environment and labor. Democratic appointees hold a 7-4 advantage among the 11 active judges. Of the Democratic appointees, Judge David Tatel is 75 and Judge Judith Rogers is 77. The next oldest is Merrick Garland at 64. Obama made four appointments to the court, the oldest of whom is 56. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is also stacked against Trump: out of 25 full-time judges, Democratic presidents appointed 18 and Republican presidents seven. The oldest Democratic appointee, liberal icon Stephen Reinhardt, is 86 years old. The 10 9th Circuit judges appointed by President Bill Clinton who still work full-time range in age from 63 to 72, and none have given any indication they plan to reduce their caseloads. The court currently has four vacancies, but three of those seats are based in states - California, Oregon and Hawaii - with two Democratic senators who are likely to resist attempts to place extreme conservatives on the court. Those dynamics make it extremely unlikely that Trump will be able to significantly alter the 9th Circuit’s orientation, Hellman said. The Virginia-based 4th Circuit has a 10-5 majority of Democratic appointees and no current vacancies. The oldest Democratic appointee is Judge Robert King, who is 77. Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the conservative Federalist Society, who has advised the White House on judicial nominations, is optimistic about Trump’s long-term prospects. “It takes time to recalibrate the federal courts,” he said. In the meantime, Leo said, every slot matters, since conservative judges on liberal-majority courts can offer critical dissents in important cases and serve a kind of signaling function to the Supreme Court. ",1 "How to Blow $700 Million: Al Jazeera America Finally Calls it Quits21st Century Wire says Al Jazeera America will go down in history as one of the biggest failures in broadcast media history.Ever since the US and its allies began plotting to overthrow Libya and Syria, Al Jazeera has deteriorated from a promising international news network in 2003 into what it has become in 2016 a full-blown agit prop media shop for the US State Department and the Pentagon. In fact, US Military Central Command (CENTCOM) for the Middle East region is located in Qatar s capital of Doha, conveniently located just down the road from Al Jazeera s headquarters. Nice and cozy.Al Jazeera s role in promoting regime change and the destablization of Syria is now recorded history, as are its many shameful exhibitions of media fakery.The Qatari royals tried to expand propaganda operations into North America, but no matter how much money they threw at it (and those royals just love throwing money at things to try and get them to work), no one cared about it, much less watched it. I know this will be a massive disappointment for everyone here who has worked tirelessly for our long-term future. The decision that has been made is in no way because AJAM has done anything but a great job, reads a company email from CEO Al Anstey, obtained by Politico.Indeed, they tried everything it seems, just short of paying Americans to watch their programs Al Jazeera America to close down https://t.co/EmFjBw9uC1 pic.twitter.com/HDea8ujTPt Al Jazeera America (@ajam) January 13, 2016In 2012, the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera purchased Current TV from Al Gore for an inflated $500 million. Wait, it gets worse MONEY FOR NOTHING: Gore got fat off the AJAM deal.In addition to the $500 million which Doha blew on buying Gore s lemon, Current TV, the Qataris have spent at least $50 million per year between 2012 2015, along with many millions spent on advertising AJAM on other network slots, online ads, along with billboards and print media promotions. This was the Qataris easy ticket on to US cable and satellite networks. Boy, did Gore pull a fast one there. In total, you would be looking at $700 million for the whole party. At its apex, AJAM would be lucky to pull in 30,000 viewers during prime time which really amounts to a nothing market share.With all that money, and considering the hundreds of staff and media executives and producers they employed, it s safe to say that someone(s) did not have a clue what they were doing.What a colossal joke.On the bright side, the Qataris can always blame the collapse in oil prices for their lack of spare cash to fund their propaganda mills.READ MORE MAINSTREAM MEDIA EPIC FAILS AT: 21st Century Wire MSM Watch",0 " Even White Nationalists Are Turning On Trump; One Nominee Is Giving Them HopeThe week of Donald Trump s election, white nationalists celebrated.In the bowels of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, three blocks from the White House, members of the so-called alt-right movement gathered for what they had supposed would be an autopsy to plot their grim future under a Clinton administration. Instead, they celebrated the unexpected march of their white nationalist ideas toward the mainstream, portraying Mr. Trump s win as validation that the tide had turned in their fight to preserve white culture. It s been an awakening, Richard B. Spencer, who is credited with coining the term alt-right, said at the gathering on Saturday. This is what a successful movement looks like. Source: NY TimesWhile they still agree with Trump s agenda, or at least what they think Trump s agenda is, they aren t celebrating anymore. They aren t happy with many of Trump s cabinet picks. Right after the election, I think it was euphoria, says Kevin MacDonald, a retired evolutionary psychology professor at California State, Long Beach and another white nationalist mainstay. But as we get into it now, there s more trepidation. MacDonald says Trump s appointments also have rattled the movement, especially his propensity for tapping rich Wall Street bankers. These are globalists in general. They love free trade, they love immigration big red flags for us, he says.Source: NPRSo odd that a businessman who brags about his international business ventures would hire globalists. Who could have seen that coming? Anyone who paid attention, that s who, but cheer up our neo-nazi brethren, there s hope for you still (just not for the rest of us). Trump still has his (bad pun ahead) Trump card: Jeff Sessions, who s been tapped for Attorney General. They also like Rex Tillerson, Trump s pick for Secretary of State.MacDonald hopes Sessions, Trump s nominee for attorney general, will clamp down on immigration. White nationalists also like the nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who s seen as being close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a darling of the alt-right.While Trump s cabinet might be a little too globalist for these mouth breathers, there s still plenty for them to love. There s little chance under this Republican government that anyone other than white men will make any sort of advances.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images",0 "Israeli UN Ambassador: Israel is the most isolated, lonely country in the world, and the biggest threat to its existence is not Iranian nuclear proliferation",0 "Brazil, you are next ISIS issue serious threat to 2016 Rio Olympics",0 "U.S. makes lower trade deficit top priority in NAFTA talksWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday launched the first salvo in the renegotiation of the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), saying its top priority for the talks was shrinking the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico. In a much-anticipated document sent to lawmakers, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he would seek to reduce the trade imbalance by improving access for U.S. goods exported to Canada and Mexico under the three-nation pact. For the first time in a U.S. trade deal, the administration also said it wants an “appropriate” provision to deter currency manipulation by trading partners. The move appeared aimed at future trade deals rather than specifically at Canada and Mexico, which are not considered currency manipulators. The 17-page document asserted that no country should manipulate its currency exchange rate to gain an unfair competitive advantage, an often-cited complaint about China in past years. Shortly before the release of the document, President Donald Trump lashed out against trade deals and unfair trade practices, saying he would take more legal and regulatory steps during the next six months to protect American manufacturers. Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said the U.S. list was “part of its internal process” although a source familiar with the Canadian government’s thinking said the document was “not earth shattering.” The source said officials from the United States, Mexico and Canada would meet in Washington on Tuesday to discuss logistics of the talks. No date has been announced for the NAFTA talks, but they are expected in mid-August. Mexico’s economy ministry said in a statement it would work “to achieve a constructive negotiation process that will allow trade and investment flows to increase and consolidates cooperation and economic integration to strengthen North American competitiveness.” Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Mexican government official said the list of priorities was “not as bad as I was expecting” and welcomed that the United States was not pushing to impose punitive tariffs, as Trump has threatened. Trade experts have argued that shrinking the yawning U.S. trade deficit will not be achieved through trade deals but rather by boosting U.S. savings. “The first bullet point shows their preoccupation with bilateral trade deficits and that’s unfortunate,” said Chad Bown, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “There’s not much that trade policy and trade agreements can do to change those. That’s more of a macroeconomic issue.” Among the priorities, Lighthizer said the administration would seek to eliminate a trade dispute mechanism that has largely prohibited the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases against Canadian and Mexican firms. There was no mention of active disputes between the United States and Canada over softwood lumber and dairy products, but the document targeted a range of agricultural non-tariff barriers, including subsidies and unfair pricing structures, that are currently at the heart of those standoffs. USTR said it would seek to strengthen NAFTA’s rules of origin to ensure that the pact’s benefits do not go to outside countries and to “incentivize” the sourcing of U.S. goods. It offered no details on such incentives and did not specify how much of a product’s components must originate from NAFTA countries. Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, a group representing U.S. automakers, welcomed the decision to include objectives on the removal of regulatory barriers and the provision on currency manipulation. A spokesman for Ford Motor Co said: “Foreign currency manipulation is the 21st century trade barrier, and we strongly support the inclusion of this top-tier issue in the U.S. negotiating objectives for NAFTA.” The document also outlined plans to upgrade standards for labor and the environment and govern digital trade. Canada and Mexico have already agreed to upgrade these areas as part of the defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Earlier on Monday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said NAFTA had been an “unequivocal failure” and should be completely renegotiated although he stopped short of calling on Trump to abandon the agreement if there was no agreement. “We will do everything we can to make this a good agreement and to hold the president at his word and make sure we get a renegotiation,” the head of the 12.5-million-strong union umbrella group told a conference call with reporters. “If it comes out that it is not a good deal, no deal is better than a bad deal,” Trumka said. NAFTA has quadrupled trade among the three countries, surpassing $1 trillion in 2015, but the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico exceeded $63 billion last year. ",1 "Pope says Trump 'not Christian' in a sign of global concernNEWBERRY, S.C. (Reuters) - Pope Francis forcefully injected himself into the U.S. presidential campaign on Thursday, assailing Republican candidate Donald Trump’s views on U.S. immigration as “not Christian” in a sign of growing international concern at the billionaire businessman’s election prospects. Trump struck back. No stranger to controversy, the longtime party front-runner in national opinion polls dismissed the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics as “disgraceful” for questioning his faith. He said he was a proud Christian. Francis told reporters during a free-wheeling conversation on his flight home from a visit to Mexico: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” Trump has accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug-runners across the United States’ southern border and has vowed if elected president to build a wall to keep out immigrants who enter illegally. It was not the first time U.S. allies have voiced concern over comments by Trump. More than half a million Britons signed a petition to bar him from entering Britain, where he has business interests, in response to his call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. British lawmakers decided against a ban as a violation of free speech. Asked if American Catholics should vote for someone with Trump’s views, Francis said: “I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that. We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.” It remained to be seen if the pope’s comments would strengthen Trump in the run-up to the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump’s swipes at rival candidates and heated exchanges with others have bolstered his standing in nominating contests and opinion polls. One of Trump’s Republican rivals, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, speaking in Columbia, South Carolina, said he would not question anyone’s relationship with God. But Bush, a Catholic, said: “It only enables bad behavior when someone from outside our country talks about Donald Trump.” Trump, a real estate developer and former reality TV show host, said: “If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’ ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president.” ISIS is one of the acronyms used for Islamic State. Trump was in South Carolina, which on Saturday will hold a Republican nominating contest. At a later town hall meeting televised on CNN, Trump said he had “a lot of respect” for Francis but that the pope had been influenced by hearing only Mexico’s side of the border issue. The pope’s statement also had been exaggerated by the media, he said. “I think he said something much softer than it was originally reported by the media. I think that he heard one side of the story, which is probably by the Mexican government,” he said. “He didn’t see the tremendous strain that the border is causing us with respect to illegal immigration, with the drugs pouring across the border.” Thomas Groome, director of the Boston College Center on the Church in the 21st Century, said Francis’ comments were entirely in keeping with his focus on mercy. “The pope is commissioned to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s his job,” Groome said. “So when he was asked a direct question, he gave Trump the benefit of the doubt, he said we have to be sure he said this, but if he said this, it is not Christian.” Groome called Trump’s suggestion that Islamic State militants would target the Vatican egregious. “Now it becomes a challenge to ISIS,” he said. Patrick Hornbeck, chairman of the department of theology at Fordham University in New York, said Francis’ words were not surprising given the poverty he had just seen in Mexico. “There is very little common ground between Pope Francis and Donald Trump,” Hornbeck said. He predicted the pope’s words on electoral politics would have little effect on any U.S. Catholics who liked Trump as a candidate. Trump has said he would deport millions of illegal immigrants if he wins the White House. Last week, responding to the pope’s plan to visit the U.S.-Mexican border, he said Pope Francis did not understand the issues. “The pope is a very political person ... I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico,” Trump told the Fox Business Network. Asked about being called a “political person,” Francis said on Thursday: “Thank God he said I was a politician because Aristotle defined the human person as ‘animal politicus.’ So at least I am a human person.” Republican Catholics appear to support Trump more than other Republicans do, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll that showed 43 percent of likely Republican Catholic voters supported Trump, compared with 38 percent of Republican voters generally. The Pew Research Center has said 71 percent of the U.S. population identifies as Christian. That includes the 21 percent of the U.S. population that identifies as Catholic. The pope was winning the social media battle on Thursday, with overall sentiment negative for Trump and positive for Francis, according to social media analytic firm Zoomph. Author Dan Dicker @Dan_Dicker tweeted: “Let’s see @realDonaldTrump insult his way out of this.” Trump’s social media director, Dan Scavino @DanScavino tweeted: “Amazing comments from the Pope - considering Vatican City is 100 percent surrounded by massive walls.” Evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr., who has endorsed Trump, described him as generous to his employees and family, adding: “I’m convinced he’s a Christian. I believe he has faith in Jesus Christ.” Trump was not always at odds with the pope. In 2013, the year Francis began his papacy, Trump compared himself to the pope favorably. “The new Pope is a humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much!” Trump tweeted on Christmas Day 2013. (Reporting by Emily Flitter and Steve Holland in South Carolina and Philip Pullella aboard the papal plane; Additional reporting by Anjali Athavaley, Susan Heavey, Chris Kahn, Scott Malone, Emily Stephenson, Amy Tennery, Mohammad Zargham and John Whitesides; Writing by Howard Goller and John Whitesides; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 "Kim DotCom to get monthly living expenses of $48,000: New Zealand court rules that the MegaUpload founder and alleged pirate will see more monthly cash and also be allowed the use of one of his cars",0 Israel officials warns against Palestinian UN bid. Israel's vice premier says the Palestinians would violate their peace accords with Israel by seeking recognition of an independent state of Palestine at the UN.,0 Sterling dips below Friday's 31-year low amid Brexit uncertainty,0 "Iran claims to have proof of US-led terror plots, plans to expose it",1 "Hurricane Matthew toll in Haiti rises to 1,000, dead buried in mass gravesPORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti started burying some of its dead in mass graves in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, a government official said on Sunday, as cholera spread in the devastated southwest and the death toll from the storm rose to 1,000 people. The powerful hurricane, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, slammed into Haiti on Tuesday with 145 mile-per-hour (233 kph) winds and torrential rains that left 1.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. A Reuters tally of numbers from local officials showed that 1,000 people were killed by the storm in Haiti, which has a population of about 10 million and is the poorest country in the Americas. The official death toll from the central civil protection agency is 336, a slower count because officials must visit each village to confirm the numbers. Authorities had to start burying the dead in mass graves in Jeremie because the bodies were starting to decompose, said Kedner Frenel, the most senior central government official in the Grand’Anse region on Haiti’s western peninsula. Frenel said 522 people were killed in Grand’Anse alone. A tally of deaths reported by mayors from 15 of 18 municipalities in Sud Department on the south side of the peninsula showed 386 people there. In the rest of the country, 92 people were killed, the same tally showed. Frenel said there was great concern about cholera spreading, and that authorities were focused on getting water, food and medication to the thousands of people living in shelters. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and can kill within hours if untreated. It is spread through contaminated water and has a short incubation period, which leads to rapid outbreaks. Government teams fanned out across the hard-hit southwestern tip of the country over the weekend to repair treatment centers and reach the epicenter of one outbreak. ",1 "Exclusive: Kim to reform North Korean economy after purge: source | Reuters",0 'Burglar' found stuck in chimney after several weeks,1 German prosecutors are investigating whether two Russian dissidents living in Berlin have been poisoned,0 "George Allen voted for budgets that increased the national debt by $16,400 for every second he served in the U.S. Senate.",1 "Trump to nominate Pruitt to lead U.S. environmental agency: statementWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a critic of federal environmental regulation, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, his transition team said on Thursday. The choice, which enraged environmental activists and cheered the oil industry, signals that the Republican president-elect plans to move ahead with his promise to cut back regulation and free up drilling and coal mining, in a likely reversal of Democratic President Barack Obama’s environmental agenda. “For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn,” Trump was quoted as saying in a statement from the transition team. Pruitt has been a harsh opponent of Obama’s measures to curb climate change and has helped lead a legal effort by some states to throw out an integral piece of Obama’s climate change strategy that requires states to curb carbon output. Since becoming the top prosecutor for the oil- and gas-producing state in 2011, Pruitt, 48, has launched multiple lawsuits against regulations put forward by the agency he is now poised to lead, suing to block federal measures to reduce smog and curb toxic emissions from power plants. “The American people are tired of seeing billions of dollars drained from our economy due to unnecessary EPA regulations, and I intend to run this agency in a way that fosters both responsible protection of the environment and freedom for American businesses,” Pruitt was quoted as saying. The transition team statement called Pruitt “a national leader against the EPA’s job-killing war on coal” who will help implement Trump’s energy plan. ",1 "TRUMP RETWEETS HILARIOUS Video Of Him Hitting Golf Ball That Hits Crooked Hillary In The Head…Left Goes NUTS!On September 13, President Trump warned Hillary on Twitter that the Americans she referred to as the deplorabes would come back to haunt her, as she travels around the nation on her blame anyone and everyone but me book signing tour for her embarrassing new book What Happened .The ""deplorables"" came back to haunt Hillary.They expressed their feelings loud and clear. She spent big money but, in the end, had no game! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2017Thousands of Trump supporters responded to his spot on tweet to Hillary with various comments and videos. The funniest video clip or GIF, came from Mike who sent a hilarious video of President Trump golfing and then showing the golf ball landing squarely on the back of Hillary s head, sending her flying into the cockpit of the plane she s boarding. While Hillary s trip into the cockpit is real, (probably a result of too much chardonnay that she s always bragging about drinking), Trump hitting her in the back of the head with his golf ball is obviously not real.Watch:Donald Trump's amazing golf swing #CrookedHillary pic.twitter.com/vKhxxFCBV1 Mike (@Fuctupmind) September 14, 2017Sadly, the left continues to prove that they re just a bunch of crybabies and delicate snowflakes who clearly can t take a joke. As we ve all come to expect by now, the left went nuts on Twitter simpy because our President retweeted a GIF that he found humorous. Here are a few of their responses:Apparently the only person left that has free speech is the @POTUS in this dictatorship! #impeachTrumpnow Julie-lynne (@Tattooed_Athena) September 17, 2017Hi @FLOTUS! Just wanted to bring to your attention an example of cyber bullying that promotes violence against women! 1/2 FDT (@BookReader93) September 17, 2017Mr. President, you may want to focus on your job, because that golf swing is ATROCIOUS! Ron Pompeii (@RPompeii) September 17, 2017This man is vile and is virtually one of the only people I have ever truly despised. Melissa Demidov (@DarthSiGi) September 17, 2017President Trump also retweeted this image of what the electoral map will look like after the 2020 presidential election if the Democrats continue down the same path of hate and division: pic.twitter.com/1zo6zc2pxt Trumpism 5.0 (@Team_Trump45) September 17, 2017",0 " Israeli PM agrees to renew peace talks based on 1967 lines ",1 "Congress finalizes $700 billion defense spending planWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of U.S. congressional defense committees said on Wednesday they supported a plan for $700 billion in defense spending in fiscal year 2018, backing President Donald Trump’s call for a boost for the military.  The House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services committees agreed on the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which would increase troop levels and purchases of fighter jets and ships for the federal fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. The act would increase active troop levels by more than 16,000 and includes plans to buy 90 stealthy F-35 fighter jets made by Lockheed Martin Corp. The spending plan is larger than the $603 billion in spending proposed by Trump in May. Trump wants to pay for a military spending increase by slashing non-defense spending. The Trump proposal included funding for the Department of Defense as well as nuclear weapons programs at the Department of Energy and other national defense programs. Senior staff for the Armed Services committees said the NDAA gives $634 billion for the same programs, with total defense spending, including the Pentagon and defense related programs at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies to $699.6 billion. The Pentagon alone would get $692 billion of that, including $65.7 billion for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. To become law the NDAA must be passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law by Trump. The bill, one of the few pieces of legislation that gets through Congress every year, has passed every year since 1961. The request for defense spending is well beyond last year’s $619 billion, defying “sequestration” spending caps set in the 2011 Budget Control Act. The caps would need to be lifted before the 2018 spending could be approved. In addition to more active-duty troops, the spending plan incorporates additional money recently requested for missile defense.[nL1N1NC20Q] The proposal also gives the Navy authorization for an additional five ships above Trump’s original budget request. The ships include an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer made by General Dynamics Corp and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc and a total of three Littoral Combat Ships built by Lockheed Martin and Australia’s Austal Ltd. ",1 FAKE NEWS ALERT! FORMER GOV OF MARYLAND Calls for Boycott of Trump Party for Totally FAKE Reasons [Video] ,0 "President Yoweri Museveni has signed the Ugnada anti-gay bill. The new law punishes first-time offenders with 14 years in jail, and allows life imprisonment as the penalty for acts of ""aggravated homosexuality"". The law makes it a crime not to report gay people.",1 " Sean Spicer Accidentally ADMITS Trump Lied About Obama Tapping His ‘Wires’Sean Spicer might be in a little bit of a trouble after an off-camera Wednesday press briefing. Though President* Trump and Spicer himself have been pushing The Donald s baseless conspiracy theory that President Obama tapped the wires at Trump Tower, Spicer accidentally admitted they were just making sh*t up. There is no reason that we should that we have to think that the President is the target of any investigation whatsoever, Spicy told reporters just minutes after he implied that he was unsure if the President was the target of a counter-intelligence investigation. I think that s what we need to find out. There s obviously a lot of concern, Spicer had said. But at the end of the briefing, he was handed a sheet of paper, from which he read his revised answer verbatim.The wiretapping allegations, clearly intended to distract from and detract from any ongoing investigations into Team Trump s connections to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, have become quite uncomfortable for Trump, who demanded that Congress waste time, resources, and effort looking into them, as just like everything else our alleged President says they are a lie one that is quickly getting out of hand.Last Thursday, Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sheldon White House (D-RI) sent a letter tp the Justice Department asking for any evidence of Trump s ridiculous claim: We request that the Department of Justice provide us copies of any warrant applications and court orders redacted as necessary to protect intelligence sources and methods that may be compromised by disclosure, and to protect any ongoing investigations related to wiretaps of President Trump, the Trump Campaign, or Trump Tower. All I can say is that the country needs an answer to this, Graham told CNN. The current President has accused the former President of basically wiretapping his campaign. Unfortunately, this is the norm for Donald Trump. Whenever things get too uncomfortably close to the truth, he starts a political forest fire that distracts the nation long enough for everyone to forget about it or at least to provide Trump sufficient time to figure out how to explain away whatever the current issue is.It is imperative that our elected officials stop falling for this and keep their eyes on what really matters that we have a President whose staff both during the campaign and during his presidency was caught colluding with a hostile foreign power.Here s the video:Featured image via screengrab",0 A drug rehabilitation centre with links to the Church of Scientology has been fined and ordered to remove unsubstantiated claims made online about curing patients.,0 "In Bollywood films, men routinely chase and harass women. The message from Bollywood is almost always that if you harass a woman enough, ""no matter how often she says no, she'll ultimately say yes"".",0 "Police raid house in drug bust, see that the resident has a wii, then... drop everything and play wii bowling for hours on end.[vid]",1 " Jimmy Fallon Debuts His Bernie Sanders Impression and It’s Hilarious (VIDEO)The Tonight Show s Jimmy Fallon debuted his impersonation of Senator Bernie Sanders, and it was hilarious and spot-on. After Sander s resounding victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Fallon-as-Sanders gave his victory speech. Repeatedly telling the crowd to be stop clapping, Fallon-as-Sanders said: I m speaking tonight to claim victory in the New Hampshire primary over She Who Must Not Be Named. New Hampshirites showed the world that you are good, decent people, even though you live in towns that sound like 18th-century porn stars.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua3aNP19ah8]Fallon-as-Sanders told the crowd that they wanted a candidate who looks like a Scooby-Doo villain before his mask is removed and that they got one in Sanders. He said that he feels like a million bucks, which of course means I will now evenly distribute myself among the middle class. Fallon already has a Trump impersonation he often does on the show but his debut of Sanders is an indication of the senator s rising star and his popularity among voters, especially younger generations, who regularly watch Fallon s show.If the resounding victory in New Hampshire is an indication of things to come, Fallon will be doing plenty of impersonations of Sanders victory speeches both in the primaries and in the general election in November. Featured image via screenshot",0 "Who among us has not followed girls? When you want to talk to a woman she wont at first, you have to put in a lot of effortIts the same all over the country. says an Indian legislator during the debate for passing anti-rape bill, in India's lower house of Parliament.",1 China restricts Ramadan fasting in Muslim region: Govt websites,1 The Falklands can no longer remain as Britain's expensive nuisance ,0 British and mainland Europeans have known for more than a year: new leather sofas from China are a hotbed of allergens,0 "David Icke on The Hillary, Donald & Bernie Show21st Century Wire says Author David Icke breaks down the US electoral dog and pony show, staring Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. There s no business like show business. ",0 "Trump to sign order sweeping away Obama-era climate policiesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to undo a slew of Obama-era climate change regulations, a move meant to bolster domestic energy production but which environmentalists have vowed to challenge in court. The decree, dubbed the “Energy Independence” order, will seek to undo former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan requiring states to slash carbon emissions from power plants - a critical element in helping the United States meet its commitments to a global climate change accord agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in December 2015. It will also rescind a ban on coal leasing on federal lands, reverse rules to curb methane emissions from oil and gas production, and reduce the weight of climate change in federal agencies’ assessments of new regulations. “We’re going to go in a different direction,” a senior White House official told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s order. “The previous administration devalued workers with their policies. We can protect the environment while providing people with work.” Trump will sign the order at the EPA with the agency’s Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday afternoon. The wide-ranging order is the boldest yet in Trump’s broader push to cut environmental regulation to revive the oil and gas drilling and coal mining industries, a promise he made repeatedly during his campaign for the presidency. “I cannot tell you how many jobs the executive order is going to create but I can tell you that it provides confidence in this administration’s commitment to the coal industry,” Kentucky Coal Association president Tyler White told Reuters. Environmental groups have promised to challenge the orders. “These actions are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American,” said billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, the head of activist group NextGen Climate. Green group Earthjustice said it will fight the order both in and out of court. “This order ignores the law and scientific reality,” said the group’s president Trip Van Noppen. Trump campaigned on a promise to sweep aside green regulations he said hurt the economy, and vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord. Since being elected, however, he has been mum on the Paris deal and the executive order does not address it. The White House official said Trump’s administration was discussing its approach to the accord, meant to limit the planet’s warming by reducing carbon emissions. The order will direct the EPA to start a formal “review” process to undo the Clean Power Plan, which was introduced by Obama in 2014 but has never been implemented in part because of legal challenges brought by Republican states. The review is likely to trigger legal challenges by environmental groups and some state attorneys general that could last years. The Clean Power Plan would have required states to collectively cut carbon emissions from power plants by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. ",1 "King Felipe of Spain dissolves parliament, clearing way for a rerun of national elections, for the first time since the countrys return to democracy in the late 1970s.",0 Break-through in Saudi Arabia: women allowed in parliament,1 All of 12 men arrested over a suspected bomb plot in the UK two weeks ago have now been released without charge.,0 "Pakistan warned US troops not to intrude on its territory Friday, after the two anti-terror allies traded fire along the volatile border with Afghanistan",1 "Barack Obama tells Gaddafi: Libya violence must stop - US president finally breaks silence on Libya to condemn ruling regime and make threat of sanctions ",0 "Captain deliberately sank illegal fishing vessel, claim Sea Shepherd rescuers - Conservationist groups 4-month pursuit of Thunder ended off west Africa, with the captain cheering & applauding as the boat went down, say rescue crew",0 "Senate passes measure that permanently repeals 'Cadillac' taxWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans passed a measure on Thursday that would permanently repeal Obamacare’s so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost employer-provided insurance without a single Democratic vote amid a broader debate to repeal the healthcare law. The measure passed along party lines by a 52-48 vote. To become law, it will need to be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. ",1 "MAN MAKES VIRAL VIDEO: Demonstrates How Obama Made Himself Cry During Gun Control Speech(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ""//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3""; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Obama Tears Share thisPosted by Dave Sayen on Thursday, January 7, 2016Don t take our word for it, watch Obama s speech on gun control in December, 2012. Pay close attention to the 1:01 mark, where he rubs his left index finger into the corner of his eye (exactly like he did last week) pauses, (like he did last week) puts his head down and pauses a bit longer (waiting for the menthol to work) and then (exactly like last week) he lifts his head and exposes the tears flowing, but only from the eye he put his finger in before tears ever began flowing:This is a character issue. Whether you disagree or agree with his gun control agenda is not the issue here. The point is, if the elected leader of the greatest nation on earth is willing to stand in front of millions and place menthol in his eye in order to make himself cry fake tears, to persuade Americans we need gun control, why should Americans believe ANYTHING he has to say?",0 "Ecuador troops take over Quito airport (30 Sep, 1142)",0 " WATCH: Jon Stewart Comes Out Of Retirement To Warn America About TrumpComedian Jon Stewart has never been shy about his absolute disdain for Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. But since he left the Daily Show, he has been mostly silent on one of his most frequent targets as he achieved unprecedented political success.That just ended. Stewart appeared on a podcast with former Obama confidante David Axelrod, and as usual, was not shy at all about how much he can t stand Trump.Stewart criticized Trump during an appearance on Axe Files, a podcast hosted by David Axelrod, a former top advisor to President Obama. The former Daily Show host questioned Trump s ability to run for the White House as a man-baby. He is a man-baby. Stewart said, as flagged by Politico. He has the physical countenance of a man, and a baby s temperament and hands. Stewart went on to call him a narcissistic asshole. Trump has demonstrated over the years that he is extremely thin-skinned, and Stewart s repeated mockery on his Comedy Central show clearly got under the reality TV star s skin. In a 2013 tweet, Trump whined that he was much smarter than Stewart and described him as totally overrated. By now we that as Trump s extremely predictable attack pattern, from which he rarely deviates because he just isn t imaginative enough.I promise you that I'm much smarter than Jonathan Leibowitz I mean Jon Stewart @TheDailyShow. Who, by the way, is totally overrated. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2013But this old attack on Stewart also gave a hint of the path Trump was soon to follow. In the tweet, Trump refers to Stewart as Jonathan Leibowitz, which is his legal name. Trump was signaling something about Stewart s Jewish ethnicity, three years before his campaign became a favorite of racists, bigots and anti-Semites.A reporter for GQ was recently pushed into filing a police report about online abuse she has suffered at the hands of Trump s fans after writing a profile of his wife Melania. Among the most common attacks the writer was slammed for being Jewish.Featured image via YouTube",0 "WAS IRANIAN BUSINESSMAN FREED FROM JAIL After HUGE Payoff To Clintons?Just before an Iranian-American businessman was freed from jail in Iran in Oct. 2010, his son met with Bill Clinton and also made the first of what would become more than $1 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation.Nima Taghavi, who owns businesses in California, grew impatient in 2010 with negotiations to secure his father Reza s release from an Iranian prison, and so he turned to the former president for help.To arrange the meeting with Clinton, Taghavi first contacted Doug Band, who worked as Clinton s body man, has counseled the Clinton Foundation, and co-founded Teneo Holdings, a consulting group that Clinton advised.Taghavi met with the former president in hopes that he would serve as special envoy to Iran, sources told TheDC. And through his personal charity, the Nima Taghavi Foundation, the businessman gave a $5,000 donation to the Clinton Foundation in 2010. He would go on to give more than $1 million over the next several years.The timing of the meeting and the first round of donations raises two questions: whether Clinton promised to help Taghavi in exchange for contributions to his family s organization and whether he violated an agreement not to personally solicit funds for his charity.As part of the deal to bring Hillary Clinton on board as secretary of state, the Clintons signed a memorandum of understanding in Dec. 2008 agreeing to the stipulation that Bill Clinton not raise money.It is unclear if Hillary Clinton knew of her husband s meeting with Taghavi. In an email informing Clinton that an unnamed Iranian-American businessman had been released from an Iran jail Clinton asked her aide Huma Abedin who the prisoner was. Abedin informed her it was Reza Taghavi.In an email with the subject Why Taghavi was released, a State Department official wrote I understand [Clinton] is asking. The theory of a Clinton-related quid pro quo whether Hillary Clinton knew about it or not is not unfounded, as it fits a pattern of the former first couple providing favors and access to donors to their charity and to their various political campaigns.Read more: Daily Caller",0 " WATCH: White Confederate Flag-Waving Redneck Threatens To Lynch Black ManThe South lost the Civil War but some white guys still refuse to let go of the Confederate flag and think it s okay to threaten black people with lynching.That s what white asshole Rodney Blomberg and three of his buddies did last month when they approached a black man living in their neighborhood near Eugene, Oregon.They drove up in two vehicles with a Confederate flag attached to the truck and literally bullied a black man simply because they didn t want him living there.According to KEZI, the men hurled racial epithets at him and threatened to lynch him. We hang black people in these parts, Blomberg reportedly said.Law enforcement later arrested Blomberg and put his racist ass in jail. But he is out after paying his $2,000 bond. He is being charged with second-degree intimidation and faces another court appearance later this year.Here s the video via KEZI:This kind of racism no longer belongs in our society. And the Confederate flag should no longer be flown anywhere on American soil. It is a flag of racists as Blomberg perfectly demonstrates.People like Blomberg are a serious threat to public safety in this country, especially since conservatives across the country are inciting violence against Black Lives Matter in the wake of five Dallas police officers being shot and killed earlier this month, even though the killer was unaffiliated with the organization.The Confederate flag has been controversial for years but the controversy reached fever-pitch last year after Dylann Roof murdered nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina in a mass shooting that rocked the country and caused a national outcry because South Carolina continued to fly the Confederate flag outside the statehouse. It was soon taken down after decades because Roof was a big fan of the Confederate flag.And just like the Confederate flag should be taken down, racism needs to be taken down as well.Featured Image: Screenshot",0 "Second Qantas jet returns to Singapore after engine trouble. WTF, this is the same engine from the same company from the same airport. Something is going on.",1 "A young Chinese rebel feels the pull of family tiesCHENGDU, China (Reuters) - Her stepfather was dying from pulmonary heart disease in an intensive care unit on the other side of the country and Zheng Yue had to rush to the airport to catch a flight to see him. Zheng was nervous but outwardly calm as she strode through the airport terminal, pulling a carry-on bag and looking for her check-in counter. The trip was important for her. She said she never really knew her biological father, who died when she was two. Her mother s second husband was abusive, and she and her mother left him. This husband was better, and she developed genuine feelings for him as a father. Now, she said, she was feeling the pressures of what lay ahead for her and her family, a common worry among the generation that sprang from China s one-child policy. Being an only child means that down the line you ll have to support the whole family, she said. Zheng hadn t always shown such devotion to her family. By the time her mother married for the third time, Zheng was developing a rebellious streak that defined her for much of her youth. She started cutting classes in elementary school, staying home to watch TV. In middle and high school she climbed the school wall and went to Internet cafes to play video games. She found school boring, and her grades showed it. I didn t like going to school. When I went to class I d immediately be tired, exhausted, and I didn t like hearing them lecturing about stuff, she said. As an only child, her mother tried to keep her on a tight leash. She wasn t allowed to go out alone, or have boyfriends. In her sheltered world she developed a talent for painting and won school awards. When it came time to take the college entrance exam she tested in the fine arts category an easy path to university in China s rigid system. When she picked a school, Zheng used a map to decide, choosing one that was far from her hometown of Dezhou in Shandong province a branch of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Chengdu, 1,700 km (1,060 miles) away. I really wanted to break free of those fetters, she said. College was freedom. Classes in her major animation were bearable, but the others were a chore and she was soon skipping class again. When she was a fourth year student, she landed an internship as an assistant in an interior design firm and before long she was dating the man she worked for. Five years out of college she is still with the same man. After graduating in 2012, she spent the following year without working, living off her boyfriend. I wasted that year, she said. At that time when you re stepping into society your dynamism that year is at its greatest, you re daring enough to do anything. She eventually found work as an interior designer, often working until midnight. Marriage and children don t interest her given her traumatic childhood and family life. She lives with her boyfriend in the flat that he owns, and she hopes to be able to buy one of her own - a tough proposition in a country where property prices keep soaring. You discover that life s pressures get bigger and bigger, whether it s pressure from outside or the kind that comes from your parents, it s all big pressure, she said, with a stoic nod of the head. She said goodbye and passed through airport security. The next day she tapped out a WeChat message to her friends. My father died today at 11:37am ... more words would be meaningless. ",1 "Exclusive: Crowded Bangladesh revives plan to settle Rohingya on isolated islandDHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh, one of the world s poorest and most crowded nations, plans to go ahead with work to develop an isolated, flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal to temporarily house tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar, officials say. Dhaka says the Rohingya are not welcome, and has told border guards to push back those trying to enter the country illegally. But close to 125,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh in just 10 days, joining more than 400,000 others already living there in cramped makeshift camps. (For a graphic on Bangladesh's refugee relocation plan click tmsnrt.rs/2k7ZAZy) We are stopping them wherever we can, but there are areas where we can t stop them because of the nature of the border; forests, hills, said H.T. Imam, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina s political adviser. We have requested international agencies for help for shifting the Rohingya temporarily into a place where they can live - an island called Thengar Char. Developing Thengar Char should be given serious consideration, he said. Leonard Doyle, chief spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration, said the idea of moving refugees to the island has been talked about for years, but he hadn t heard anything new in the past few days. The island, which only emerged from the silt off Bangladesh s delta coast 11 years ago, is two hours by boat from the nearest settlement. It regularly floods during June-September monsoons and, when seas are calm, pirates roam the nearby waters to kidnap fishermen for ransom. Flat and featureless, Thengar Char has no roads or buildings. When Reuters visited in February, a few buffalo grazing along its shores were the only sign of life. (For a graphic on Thengar Char click tmsnrt.rs/2wE9Tcu) The plan to develop the island and use it to house refugees was criticized by humanitarian workers when it was proposed in 2015 and revived last year. Bangladesh, though, insists it alone has the right to decide where to shelter the growing numbers of refugees. The honorable prime minister wants to resettle them in Thengar Char, though some people say that island will not be a suitable place for them, said another Hasina aide, who declined to be named. But there are many such areas in Bangladesh, where Bangladeshis live. It s our country, and we decide. Officials say no one could have foreseen just how many refugees would arrive so swiftly after violence in northern Myanmar last year sent more than 75,000 Rohingya fleeing across the border. The latest unrest in Myanmar s northwestern Rakhine state began on Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base, prompting an army counter-offensive that has killed at least 400 people and forced entire villages to flee. Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against terrorists . The country s leader and Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, has come under international pressure for not speaking out against the persecution of roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in the Buddhist-majority country. Makeshift camps in Cox s Bazar, in southeast Bangladesh, have grown so rapidly they have run out of space - even for the tiny tarpaulin and bamboo shacks the Rohingya refugees typically throw together. With hundreds of new refugees streaming in every day, Kutupalong and Nayapara camps are at breaking point, Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in a statement. Imam, the adviser to Hasina, said a lack of space was the biggest concern right now, adding Bangladesh could not continue to house refugees in its schools and madrassas indefinitely. We are waiting for Thengar Char to be developed. Once that s done we will shift them, he told Reuters, reflecting a growing sense of hostility towards the Rohingya even in a Muslim-majority country. The islands gradually come up because of silting. That s continuing, and that s how Bangladesh has been created. If there are people there, why can t the Rohingya live there? he said. Some officials in Bangladesh s interior ministry are concerned that settling the refugees on the island would give them a sense of permanent residency, making it harder to send them back to Myanmar. Residents of Sandwip, the nearest island to Thengar Char, say the Rohingya are not welcome. Mizanur Rahman, the administrator of Might Bangha village, the closest settlement to Thengar Char, said local residents who have lost their land to erosion should be relocated first, ahead of the Rohingya. The UNHCR s local office did not respond to an email seeking comment about the relocation plan. Rohingya camped out in Cox s Bazar said they don t want to move to the island, fearing they could die there during the monsoon season and there won t be any work. The violence and refugee exodus have ratcheted up tensions between the two neighbors, and Bangladeshi officials said fighter jets were scrambled last week in response to several Myanmar defense helicopters violating its air space. ",1 "Clashes in Rome as police evict refugee squatters from squareROME (Reuters) - Police using water cannon and batons clashed on Thursday with refugees who had occupied a small Rome square in defiance of an order to leave a building where they had been squatting. The clashes were the latest example of tensions in Italy as the country deals with an influx of migrants. They quickly became fodder for political debate, particularly on the police handling of the incident. Refugees were screaming and trying to hit police, who were dressed in riot gear, with sticks. The square, just one block from Rome s main train station, was strewn with mattresses, overturned rubbish bins and broken plastic chairs. Some 100 refugees had occupied Piazza Independenza since Saturday, when most of about 800 squatters were evicted from an adjacent office building they had occupied for about five years. Hung on the building was a sheet with writing reading We are refugees, not terrorists in Italian. A small fire burned on the pavement and a sheet hanging from a first-floor window was set alight by squatters inside. Most of the squatters were Eritreans who had been granted asylum. Police said they had refused to accept lodging offered by the city. In a statement, the police said the refugees had gas canisters, some of which they had opened, and officers had been hit by rocks, bottles and pepper spray. Two people were arrested and Doctors Without Borders said in a statement that its medics had given first aid to 13 refugees, including one for a broken bone. Human Rights Watch and members of some leftist political parties criticized the police handling of the situation, saying the use of such force was disproportionate. The authorities need to urgently find appropriate, alternative housing, and investigate the use of force by the police during the eviction, said Judith Sunderland, associate director for Europe at Human Rights Watch. It s hard to see how the use of water cannon on people was necessary or proportionate, she said. Various Roman Catholic groups that help immigrants also criticized police conduct. But the Italian police union COISIP said officers were forced to use water cannon because of the risk of explosions caused by flammable liquids . Police said they were looking at possible irregularities after what appeared to be a policeman told a colleague to break the arm of any squatter who threw anything while being chased, according to a video that circulated widely on social media. Another video showed a woman fly to the ground after being hit in the face by water cannon, and later put in an ambulance. Squatters had put cooking gas tanks on the railing of a first-floor balcony, apparently ready to be opened to be used as makeshift flamethrowers, or dropped onto the square, Reuters photographers said on Wednesday. Matteo Salvini, head of the right-wing, anti-immigrant Northern League, Tweeted his unequivocal support of police, saying Go boys: Evictions, order, cleaning up and EXPULSIONS! Italians are with you. More than 600,000 boat migrants have arrived in Italy from North Africa since 2014. Some 200,000 asylum seekers now stay in state-run shelters. ",1 "Last Friday the Chinese government confiscated the computers of lawyers at the Open Constitution Initiative, best known for its pro bono work on behalf of the victims of last year's tainted milk scandal.",1 " Watch This Mattress Company’s Impossibly Vile 9/11 Sale Commercial (VIDEO)Miracle Mattress of San Antonio wants everyone to know that they ll never forget Sept. 11, 2001. To that end, they posted the most amazingly, disgustingly tone-deaf and just plain terrible commercial to commemorate the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. It was cheerful, it talked about the Twin Towers and used them to promote discounts on all their mattresses, and then And then they took it too far. Way too far. So impossibly far that we can t even see it from the boundaries of decency with the Hubble Space Telescope.Because using a national tragedy to promote a sale isn t classless enough.Watch it for yourself (TRIGGER WARNING):It was posted to a parody page aimed at shaming Miracle Mattress up one side and down the other for this, and remains viewable there. It has been removed from social media elsewhere.Miracle Mattress has been shredded to confetti for this, to the point where they ve posted a letter of apology on their main Facebook page, and changed their background image to show part of that letter. That s not enough for some of the people on their page, though. Many of the comments below are from members of the military, people who were in NYC on that horrific day, and even some of the responders.They re rightfully angry and their comments are heart-wrenching. For them, and for anybody with the tiniest micron of a heart, the apology rings hollow and false and just plain isn t enough. Miracle Mattress last post on Facebook is a screenshot of a second letter from the owner, Mike Bonnano. The company has closed the doors of their store indefinitely, will remain silent through the 9/11 anniversary, and then will issue a formal statement next week.That will be of major comfort to the people who are pissed off, offended, and hurt by that video, we re sure. This will definitely cost the company business. It might push them out of business, and for a company that s so clueless that the owner didn t know his own daughter made that video, perhaps that s for the best.Featured image via screen capture from embedded video",0 "UnitedHealth plans to exit Obamacare exchanges(Reuters) - U.S. health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc on Tuesday said it would largely exit the Obamacare individual insurance market in 2017, citing expectations for mounting losses from the program. UnitedHealth is the largest U.S. health insurer and one of the biggest sellers of plans on the exchanges, which were created as part of President Barack Obama’s national healthcare law. UnitedHealth sells these plans in 34 states this year, up from 25 states last year. “Next year, we will remain in only a handful of states,” UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said in prepared remarks as part of the company’s first-quarter earnings report. The company warned investors late last year that it was losing money on the new plans and might exit the market. On Tuesday, the company raised its 2016 expectation for losses on the exchanges by $125 million to $650 million. UnitedHealth’s Hemsley said that the shorter term, higher risk profile of the new members, as well as the smaller than expected enrollment, suggested UnitedHealth could not offer plans on a sustained basis. For the first quarter, United Health’s profit was better-than-expected and UnitedHealth shares rose 1.9 percent to $130.29 in early New York Stock Exchange trading. Other health insurers including Aetna Inc and Anthem Inc are also large players on the exchanges. In recent months they said they will continue to sell exchange plans. The company has 795,000 customers from the exchanges, more than half of them new to UnitedHealth, it said. It expects about 650,000 members by year end. The government said in February that more than 12 million people had signed up for Obamacare-related insurance through HealthCare.gov or a state-based exchange as of Jan. 31. Previous government expectations had been for more than 20 million people. UnitedHealth raised its expectations for 2016 profit, in part because of a more favorable tax rate that also helped it beat Wall Street expectations for the first quarter. Lower sales and administrative costs and a decline in amortization of intangible assets also helped its first quarter results. On an adjusted basis the health insurer earned $1.81 per share, compared with Wall Street analyst expectations for earnings of $1.72 per share, according to ThomsonReuters I/B/E/S. Net profit rose to $1.61 billion, or $1.67 per share, from $1.41 billion or $1.46 per share, a year earlier. The company now expects 2016 adjusted net earnings of $7.75-$7.95 per share, up 15 cents per share from its previous estimate. ",1 BARBRA STREISAND AND CHRIS MATTHEWS ON TRUMP ELECTION: “Little girls were heartbroken”…They were??? [Video]BARBRA MOCKS TRUMP AT A CLINTON FUNDRAISER:,0 "Ukraine to ramp up health spending after anti-corruption pushKIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine plans a 12 percent increase in health spending next year to exploit reforms passed last week to raise standards and crack down on corruption in hospitals and surgeries, government ministers told Reuters. Ukrainians die earlier than most Europeans and patients often bribe doctors for treatment or medicine. Kiev s Western backers see healthcare reforms as a test for Ukraine s push for closer ties to the European Union, away from Russia. New legislation will create a national insurance system that pays doctors by the number of patients they have. Hospitals will be paid for services through the new system, rather than receiving lump sums from regional administrations as is now. It also allows patients to choose their doctor for the first time, rather than being tied to the doctor where their residence is registered, a move the government says will encourage medics to improve and gives them less scope to demand backhanders. Health Minister Ulana Suprun said that patients mindsets will also need to change. People in Ukraine think that paying the doctor cash, under the table, is somehow a thank you for the services that are supposed to be provided to them at no cost, she said in an interview. There needs to be a big cultural change as well, so that we teach people that they re not supposed to do that. She cited a survey by the national anti-corruption bureau which found 65 percent of Ukrainians had come across corruption in the past year, of which 68 percent was in healthcare. And Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk told Reuters in an email Ukraine will hike health spending by 12 percent to 114 billion hryvnia ($4.28 billion) in 2018, and is ready for a further increase later because the reform is a government priority. Ukraine has emerged from a steep recession caused by the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of a Russian-backed separatist insurgency in 2014. But the economy is still propped up by a $17.5 billion aid program from the International Monetary Fund that is conditional on reforms and progress in tackling corruption. With no end in sight to the conflict in the Donbass, defense spending accounts for at least 5 percent of GDP. The ministry of finance is one of our biggest supporters, Suprun said of the planned rise in spending. They re big supporters of what we re doing because they re finally going to be able to follow the money all the way down to a patient. Whereas now we hand money out to hospitals and we don t really know what is done with it at that point. A U.S.-born doctor, Suprun moved to Ukraine in the early days of the Maidan demonstrations in November 2013, and wound up treating the gunshot wounds of protesters in the final days of pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovich s rule. The reforms went through 893 amendments while Suprun says she was targeted by a smear campaign, including by some who questioned whether she had faked her diploma. The new legislation is just the first step, she says, because reform never is easy. People don t want to change. They re used to the system that there is, and there s a lot of people making a lot of money off of this. Healthcare professionals told Reuters they welcomed the reforms. Oleksandr Ivanko, chief doctor at the Kiev Municipal Clinical Hospital, hoped doctors salaries would improve because you cannot motivate them and demand anything while paying a minimum or even humiliating salary. ",1 Soldiers Killed in Suicide Attack at U.S. Base in Kabul,1 "Russians hurried to change their savings and pensions into dollars and euros while also stocking up on furniture and jewellery as the rouble's collapse accelerated | ""None of us know what's happening. We're all worried that the currency will keep falling""",1 "Catalan pro-independence party PdeCat says will take part in December 21 electionMADRID (Reuters) - Catalan pro-independence party PdeCat (Catalan Democratic Party)said on Monday it will take part in a snap regional elections on Dec.21, a tacit admission that Catalonia s previous ruling party had been fired and parliament dissolved. Earlier, another Catalan pro-independence party, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), also said it would participate in the elections. Spain s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked the regional government, dissolved parliament and called a snap election on Friday after Catalonia leaders made a unilateral declaration of independence. ",1 "Israel\'s \'Prisoner X\': ""He is simply a person without a name and without an identity who has been placed in total and utter isolation from the outside world""",0 "Obama has 'better things to do' than comment on birther issueWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said he had better things to do than comment on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s announcement about the so-called birther question over Obama’s citizenship. “I’m shocked that a question like that would come up at a time when we’ve got so many other things to do - well, I’m not that shocked actually,” Obama told reporters. “I was pretty confident about where I was born. I think most people were as well,” Obama told reporters in the Oval Office, where he was meeting about a trade deal with Asia. Trump plans to address Obama’s citizenship on Friday, a day after he refused in a newspaper interview to say whether he believed Obama was born in the United States. “My hope would be that the presidential election reflects more serious issues than that,” said Obama, who several years ago released a longer version of his birth certificate to answer those who suggested he was not U.S. born. ",1 Israel a No-Show at Its UN Rights Review,1 Canadian Weather Forecasters Forbidden From Discussing Climate Change,1 " It Finally Happened: KKK Grand Imperial Wizard Endorses Donald TrumpAll the months of speculation that the modern day KKK does indeed endorse Donald Trump can be confirmed as the terrorist organization s Rebel Brigade Knights Grand Imperial Wizard endorses the GOP frontrunner on live national television.When asked by reporter Chris Thomas who would be the best one for the job of President of the United States, the Wizard answered: I think Donald Trump would be best for the job. The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes in, we believe in. We want our country to be safe. Under the guise of now being a political group, the word safe has now become synonymous with xenophobia, Islamophobia, racism and bigotry all tenets, still, of the KKK, no matter how they want to word it.And they re pretty much endorsing Donald Trump.To make it even better, the Klan has (apparently) had success in recruiting since President Obama has been in office and it has nothing to do with being black, so says the Grand Wizard. It s merely a difference in politics. Totally.And if that wasn t strange (and stupid) enough, the Grand Wizard also admitted should Trump lose the nomination, they would back Kasich, not Cruz, for President. Why? Because Ted Cruz wasn t born on American soil. In their eyes, he s a foreigner who isn t fit to be president, even though they share a lot of the same views.Again, this is purely political and absolutely nothing to do with being a racist, xenophobic bigot.So now that there seems to be plurality of KKK members rushing to embrace Trump, is to fair to say he s the candidate for racist America?Let s see how long it takes him to disavow this endorsement. It took Clinton one day to disavow the phony Koch endorsement. If it s any indication, his rejection of David Duke took two weeks and much consideration.I wonder how much consideration this will take.Featured image via John Sommers II/Getty Images",0 "Brazil's PSD party floats Meirelles' 2018 presidential bidBRASILIA (Reuters) - Congressmen from Brazil s Social Democratic Party (PSD) on Wednesday invited Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles to run for president in 2018, growing the list of potential contenders from within President Michel Temer s fragmented coalition. Meirelles, after meeting with PSD lawmakers at his house in Brasilia, wrote on Twitter that he felt honored but was not a candidate. The PSD leader in the lower house of Congress, Marcos Montes, nevertheless said Meirelles received the invitation with enthusiasm but would not respond immediately. Reuters reported late in August, citing a source close to Meirelles, that he wanted to run for president on the PSD ticket, but knew he would have a strong chance only if the economy improved substantially. Meirelles, in his Twitter post, said that he was focusing his energies on helping Brazil obtain sustainable growth after emerging from its worst recorded recession. Under Brazilian rules, ministers who wish to run in the October 2018 election will need to leave their posts by April, although a formal register would only happen in August. Other potential contenders being floated by ruling parties include Sao Paulo state governor Geraldo Alckmin and Sao Paulo city mayor Jo o Doria Jr., both from the PSDB party. A civil engineer by training, Meirelles is the former chairman of now defunct BankBoston Corp and former president of Brazil s central bank. ",1 "Medvedev denounces Stalin for mass crimes against the Russian people - President Medvedev has issued a stinging repudiation of the Soviet Union, condemning it as a totalitarian state that had deprived Russians of their basic rights.",0 The Mo Ibrahim Prize--an annual prize given for good governance in Africa--could not find anyone to award this year.,0 "More than 1,000 march in Jerusalem's 10th Gay Pride Parade",1 "TSA: US Residents from 9 States Will Need Passports for Domestic FlightsThis latest move by America s notorious Transportation Security Authority (TSA) seems to be step one in a move towards a national ID Card, complete with biometrics and embedded RFID technology.By forcing residents of nine states to get passports in order to board domestic flights, the TSA is de facto pushing those states towards the implementation of a new state-of-the-art ID card system.This will help to give real teeth to the The Real ID Act It s just the next phase in the further militarization of US society.Forbes reports You may have thought you don t need a passport because you don t travel outside the United States. But for residents of nine states, that will change at the beginning of 2018 for any commercial flight, whether international or domestic.Nine states will no longer allow travelers to board an airplane with just their state issued driver s licenses as of January 22, 2018. To get past TSA security checkpoints, another form of identification will be required: passport, permanent resident card/green card or a military ID.The Real ID Act of 2005 states that state-issued IDs from these nine states do not meet the minimum security standards of the federal government:With just a few months until the Real ID Act goes into full effect, it is time to start planning now and look into getting your passport. Here is the airport signage, placed around the security checkpoints in airports to remind U.S. travelers of what;s to come (with my emphasis): Starting January 22, 2018, you will need a driver s license or ID from a state compliant with the REAL ID ACT, a state that has an extension for compliance, or an alternate ID to fly. For REAL ID information, and a list of acceptable IDs, visit tsa.gov. Some states have started working on offering federally approved issued IDs that would not require a passport for domestic air travel. Check with your local government office to see if there is a different type of ID you can apply for, and the TSA website to clarify this situation. Because on January 22, 2018, the enforcement for those nine states will go into effect, and by 2020, even more people will end up needing a passport, as confirmed by the official website of the Transportation Security Administration.To repeat, if you re going to take a flight and you have a state-issued ID from one of those nine states listed above, unless your state has made federally approved changes before January, you should use a passport to go anywhere across the country, as all domestic travel is included in these new standards. (States other than those nine will not be affected.)Continue this story at ForbesREAD MORE TSA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire TSA FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 "Clinton calls for lower price on allergy drug EpiPenWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on pharmaceutical company Mylan NV to voluntarily drop the price of its severe allergy treatment drug EpiPen, which has increased in price by more than 400 percent in the past decade. “That’s outrageous - and it’s just the latest troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers,” Clinton said in a statement. “It’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them.” Clinton frequently said during the primary that she would fight pharmaceutical companies - part of an attempt to counter criticism that she was too closely tied to the insurance industry. She has released a proposal that she says will lower drug costs for consumers. Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin did not respond to inquiries about Clinton’s criticism of the company. Mylan acquired the product in 2007, and the price increased from $100 in 2008 to its current cost of $600. Shares of Mylan closed down more than 5 percent at $43.15 on the Nasdaq. “The price of EpiPen is outrageous,” said Robert Weissman, president of consumer watchdog group Public Citizen. “Mylan is endangering lives and ripping off the country.” Weissman said EpiPen’s U.S. price should be rolled back sharply, noting the product is available for as little as $112 in Canada. Many other drugmakers also routinely raise prices of their prescription drugs by 10 percent or more each year, and U.S. legislation is needed to prevent such “price spikes,” he added. The White House took a more cautious tone in criticizing rising drug costs, refusing to comment on the decisions of an individual company. “I will observe, however, that pharmaceutical companies that often try to portray themselves as the inventors of life-saving medication often do real damage to their reputation by being greedy and jacking up prices in a way that victimizes,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing. Clinton joins a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are calling for investigations into the price increase of EpiPens, which are preloaded injections of epinephrine (adrenaline) that people use if they are having a dangerous allergic reaction that untreated could result in death. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote Mylan earlier in the week to ask for an explanation of the price change. Senator Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the committee’s antitrust subcommittee, called for an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. On Wednesday, Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill requested that Mylan provide a briefing for the Senate to explain the price change. Grassley and Klobuchar, along with Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy and Richard Blumenthal and Republican Senator Ron Johnson, on Wednesday said they had written to the Food and Drug Administration to ask about its approval process for alternatives to the EpiPen. “Given the importance of this topic, it is imperative to understand the FDA’s role with respect to EpiPens and its approval of generic equivalents that could help to increase competition and lower prices if introduced,” the senators said in a statement. “We have reached out to every member of Congress who has sent us a letter, and we look forward to meeting with them and responding to their questions as soon as possible,” Devlin said. In January, Clinton admonished Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, which raised the price of a heart drug. In the wake of a Clinton campaign blog post targeting Valeant, the company’s stock fell. In March, she released a campaign ad vowing to target the company specifically. Clinton also criticized Turing Pharmaceuticals in the fall of 2015 when public ire rose after it decided to raise the price of an antiviral medication commonly used by AIDS patients and pregnant women from $13.50 a tablet to $750 each. After a single post by Clinton on the social media website Twitter critical of Turing, the company’s stock price tumbled. At that time, Clinton released a comprehensive drug price plan that she says would reduce costs. Her proposal includes capping monthly out-of-pocket costs, expanding generic drug access and allowing Americans to buy pharmaceuticals abroad. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said little about lowering drug prices. He has proposed increasing the amount of negotiations permitted by Medicare in order to lower prices for those using the program. ",1 Slovenia raises taxes on executive bonuses to 90% for companies receiving bailout money,0 "Risky Repair of Fukushima Could Spill 15,000 Times the Radiation of Hiroshima, Create 85 Chernobyls",0 "WHY WOULD OBAMA’S SEND THEIR DAUGHTER TO NYC TO INTERN With A Self Described “Sexual Predator” Of Her Little Sister?Malia s internship with pedophile Lena Dunham comes on the heels of her taxpayer funded European tour to London, Venice and Milan with her sister Sasha, Mooch and of course, Mooch s mom (as no taxpayer funded vacation would be complete without).Dream job?Malia Obama has landed a summer internship on the set of HBO s raunchy show Girls during which she ll be working with actress and proud feminist Lena Dunham, according to a report in US Weekly.Specifically, a source close to the television show s production team told the magazine of Malia, She s a fan, and she mentioned that to Lena [Dunham] when she came to the White House. I m not sure how long she ll be interning for. It s a bit of a trial thing for her. They ve known each other and discussed for a while. Lena and her get along great. The gig would make sense, as Malia was was photographed last week in Brooklyn drinking a soda on the set of Girls, though at the time it was uncertain whether she was working on the set or perhaps playing a guest role in an episode. Via: Red Alert PoliticsTruth Revolt: In her newly published collection of personal essays, Not That Kind of Girl, Lena Dunham describes experimenting sexually with her younger sister Grace, whom she says she attempted to persuade to kiss her using anything a sexual predator might do. In one particularly unsettling passage, Dunham experimented with her six-year younger sister s vagina. This was within the spectrum of things I did, she writes. anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl I was trying. In the collection of nonfiction personal accounts, Dunham describes using her little sister at times essentially as a sexual outlet, bribing her to kiss her for prolonged periods and even masturbating while she is in the bed beside her. But perhaps the most disturbing is an account she proudly gives of an episode that occurred when she was seven and her sister was one.Here s the full passage (p. 158-9): Do we all have uteruses? I asked my mother when I was seven. Yes, she told me. We re born with them, and with all our eggs, but they start out very small. And they aren t ready to make babies until we re older. I look at my sister, now a slim, tough one-year-old, and at her tiny belly. I imagined her eggs inside her, like the sack of spider eggs in Charlotte s Web, and her uterus, the size of a thimble. Does her vagina look like mine? I guess so, my mother said. Just smaller. One day, as I sat in our driveway in Long Island playing with blocks and buckets, my curiosity got the best of me. Grace was sitting up, babbling and smiling, and I leaned down between her legs and carefully spread open her vagina. She didn t resist and when I saw what was inside I shrieked.My mother came running. Mama, Mama! Grace has something in there! My mother didn t bother asking why I had opened Grace s vagina. This was within the spectrum of things I did. She just got on her knees and looked for herself. It quickly became apparent that Grace had stuffed six or seven pebbles in there. My mother removed them patiently while Grace cackled, thrilled that her prank had been a success.Dunham describes the book as a work of nonfiction in which some names and identifying details have been changed. She also states that she considers herself an unreliable narrator, which gives her some wiggle room on the truth of her accounts. As National Review s Kevin D. Williamson notes, this passage is especially suspicious. The one-year old Grace s prank is supposedly done with the expectation of her older sister poking around in her genitals. There is no non-horrific interpretation of this episode. UpdateAfter Lena Dunham went on a self-described rage spiral in response to this article, which she called f*cking upsetting and disgusting, her lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to TruthRevolt threatening to sue us for millions of dollars if we did not pull the piece and post a retraction stating that this story was false. TruthRevolt refused.Monday, TruthRevolt editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro posted a response to the cease and desist letter, which includes more of the passages from her book upon which our assessment was based and argues that quoting a woman s book does not constitute a false story :Lena Dunham may not like our interpretation of her book, but unfortunately for her and her attorneys, she wrote that book and the First Amendment covers a good deal of material she may not like.",0 " Anti-Trump Protesters Pepper Sprayed AGAIN (VIDEO)While I don t believe Donald Trump can possibly win a general election against a coma patient, much less Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, I am growing concerned with how eager the police seem to be to attack his detractors. From arresting peaceful protesters after THEY were physically assaulted to pepper spraying protesters for little to no reason, the police appear to be casting their votes early:In a video uploaded to YouTube, police can be seen attempting to shove protesters behind barricades as a a chant of F*ck Trump can be heard.Officers can also be seen moving through the crowd taking pictures as the protesters are pushed from multiple directions.According @Lukewearechange, who uploaded the video, police did resort to pepper spray and arrests were being made.Here s the video the police shoving the protesters back:Considering the police have been almost completely ignoring the escalating violence of Trump s Brownshirts, it s worrying how quick they are to arrest and abuse anti-Trump protesters. At what point will they do their jobs and protect ALL citizens, not just the conservative ones?The biggest question is going to be this: When Republicans figure out how to deny Trump the nomination and his cult members riot, will the police treat THEM like they treat liberals or will Right Wing Privilege kick in? I ve been trying to think of a SINGLE time that the police have pepper sprayed conservative protesters. I personally watched a group push past barricades and march right up to the steps of the Capitol and the police did exactly nothing. Sure, they kept them from going any further but I also saw how the police treated the Occupy Wall Street protesters and they would have been hosed down with pepper spray before they got within 200 feet on the building.It makes you wonder just how much support from the police a President Trump would have if he declared martial law and suspended the Bill of rights.Featured image via screen capture ",0 "There are now more than 100 billionaires living in Britain, the highest number per capita of any other country in the world.",1 Brazilian police officer caught on camera 'shooting two fallen teenage suspects point-blank',1 "ALL HELL IS ABOUT TO BREAK LOOSE Between European Vigilante Group “Soldiers Of Odin” And ISIS Inspired “Soldiers Of Allah”European nations have naively opened their borders to millions of Muslim males who have no intention of assimilating. As they make their way across Europe, police forces find themselves ill-equipped to handle the extreme increase in sexual assault and violence, so citizens are now finding themselves in a position where they are being forced to take matters into their own hands.A group of young concerned Germans made a video warning that they would no longer sit back and watch their culture and history being destroyed. The video can be viewed by clicking HERE.On February 4, 2015, we reported about a fast growing group of vigilantes who call themselves the Soldiers of Odin. The self-styled Soldiers of Odin march in a mob, wearing bomber jackets with their logo on the back. They have vowed to take direct action to protect their wives, girlfriends and children after a migrant influx to the liberal Scandinavian country. Persons linked to Islamist groups in Oslo say that they have formed a group called Soldiers of Allah .Via a central source in the Islamist environment, the Norwegian newspaper VG has received a statement, and photographs of the planned uniform.The group has been named Jundullaah which translates to Soldiers of Allah . In response to the group of unbelievers in Soldiers of Odin, who are patrolling the streets, we Muslims have chosen to create a group to patrol the streets, initially in the capital Oslo, to forbid evil and call for the good, says the statement.The planned uniform , is decorated with the black flag of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) on the back, with a small logo on the chest.On Tuesday, Labour s Muslim deputy chairman, Hadia Tajik, said that the Soldiers of Odin defy Norway s rules on private security businesses and she tried to illustrate the problem as follows: It is as if the Islamists would be the uniformed ones, take to the streets and call themselves guards or vigilantes. It is very undesirable and unfortunate for our country, devastating, said Tajik.Now it s exactly what is about to happen.Great tip, Tajik.The information that Islamists in Oslo are in the process of establishing a group, is also confirmed by the temporary spokesman of the Prophet s ummah who calls himself Abu Arijon. He said that the plan is to start in Oslo, then Drammen and T nsberg.Many of the people in Soldiers of Allah come from the environment around the Islamist group the Prophet s Ummah, where spokesman Ubaydullah Hussain currently is in custody and charged with recruiting for IS. Soldiers of Allah inform in the statement themselves, that almost everyone in the group is on the Watch List of the Police Security Service (PST). Is PST aware of the group Soldiers of Allah planning to patrol in Oslo? We can not comment on individuals or individual groups, says senior adviser in PST, Siv Als n, to VG.So there it is. Regular street battles could soon be a reality in Norway. Soldiers of Odin against Soldiers of Allah, with the police in between. However, it will most likely not be started by the Soldiers of Odin, but the rabid Islamists in the soldiers of Allah. And then, even though the Soldiers of Odin claim to be a peaceful group, the Viking has clearly awaken illustrated by the logo on the back. And being attacked by Islamists, they will have no other choice than to go berserk again, after a thousand years in hibernation.All hell is breaking loose in countries all across Europe. Are Americans paying attention, or has Obama s manufactured race war distracted us from his plan to seed Muslims in our small towns and communities across America through the US State Dept. Refugee Resettlement Program? ",0 "My friend in Honduras just sent me an email with videos and pictures of the military firing on peaceful protesters. I uploaded his eyewitness account for everyone to see. Please don't let this disappear, because no one else is reporting it.",0 """Holy shit. We just saw a gigantic shark eat what looked like a person in front of our house, that shark was huge. Like dinosaur huge.""",1 Turkish PM storms off in Gaza row ,1 "Torture techniques used on suspected terrorists by the Bush administration may have failed to get to the truth, researchers say.",1 Walmart Sets Up Unions for its Employees (in China),1 "France stops large shipment of radioactive Belarus mushroomsPARIS (Reuters) - France has stopped a large shipment of Belarus mushrooms contaminated with low-level radioactivity probably from Chernobyl and not linked to a radioactive cloud that appeared in southern Russia last month, officials said on Thursday. Earlier, the head of French nuclear regulator ASN Pierre-Franck Chevet told the French senate that traces of cesium had been found on imported mushrooms from Russia and did not mention Belarus. A spokesman for French nuclear safety institute IRSN said that a few days ago customs officials found that a 3.5 tonne shipment of Belarus mushrooms coming through Frankfurt, Germany was contaminated with cesium 137, a radioactive nuclide that is a waste product of nuclear reactors. While the contaminated mushrooms did not represent a health threat to consumers, the shipment will be destroyed in a specialized incinerator in coming days, the IRSN said. There is no link with the ruthenium 106 pollution, the official said. Earlier this month the IRSN said that a cloud containing radioactive ruthenium 106 originating from southern Russia had blown over large parts of Europe in October but added that there was no danger to people. Russia later confirmed it had measured ruthenium pollution at nearly 1,000 times normal levels in the Ural mountains, but did not acknowledge any accident. As the mushrooms came from Belarus, it is very likely the contamination originated in Chernobyl, the official said. ASN did not reply to a number of Reuters calls later on Thursday. Chernobyl, Ukraine is just south of the Belarus border and was the site of a major nuclear disaster in 1986. Cesium 137, which has a 30-year half-life, is still widely found in the areas around Chernobyl. The official said it was highly unusual for such a large shipment of mushrooms to be stopped and that none of the produce had made it onto French retail markets. Mushrooms, more than any other vegetable, concentrate radioactivity because their thread-like root systems spread over a large area for several meters on the surface around the plant. The IRSN said eating tens of kilos of the Belarus mushrooms would expose a consumer to a radioactivity level similar to natural ambient radioactivity during a whole year. He added there had been no risk for the customs officials, even if they had touched the mushrooms with their bare hands. Earlier, the head of the French nuclear regulator ASN told the French senate that traces of cesium had been found on imported mushrooms and said there was no connection with the ruthenium pollution. French consumer protection agency DGCCRF said in a statement that the Belarus mushrooms had cesium 137 levels above legal limits but contained no ruthenium 106. The agency said that following the discovery of the ruthenium, it had started testing samples of food products imported from the regions affected by the radioactive cloud. So far, it has not found food items with ruthenium 106 levels above legal thresholds. ",1 [UK-Scotland] Donald Trump's anti-windfarm ads banned over 'misleading' images - Watchdog also says US billionaire's Scottish golf resort could not substantiate claim that tourism will be harmed by turbines,0 WikiLeaks: Britain secretly advised Libya how to secure release of Lockerbie bomber,1 "WHOA! RAND PAUL, NEWT GINGRICH RIP OBAMA’S National Security Advisor, Benghazi Video Liar, Susan Rice For ABRUPTLY Backing Out Of House Testimony [VIDEO]Susan Rice will not visit Capitol Hill today for a meeting with the House committee probing allegations she unmasked President Trump associates in Russian meddling probes.Hmmm If Democrats really wanted to get to the bottom of their Trump-Russia collusion witch-hunt, it would certainly make sense that Rice would be jumping at the opportunity to testify at the House hearings.Rice had been expected to face tough questions on her role in the matter while serving as then-President Barack Obama s national security adviser. Trump alleges Rice may have committed a crime by asking government analysts to disclose the names of his associates documented in intelligence reports.Fox News was initially told Rice would be giving closed-door testimony Tuesday before the Republican-led House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.But that session has apparently been postponed.The panel is leading one of several investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 White House race, which have engulfed the Trump administration and evolved to include questions about whether anybody on Trump s campaign team colluded with the Kremlin to defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan last week told Fox News that he wants Rice to answer the basic question: Did you unmask the names and if so why? He also argued that Americans indeed deserve to know the truth about the Trump associates but they also want answers from high-ranking Obama administration officials who may have misled Americans on critical matters including Rice, as U.S. ambassador to the U.N., saying the fatal 2012 Benghazi terror attacks were largely sparked by an anti-Muslim video. The American people want to get the truth on all of these issues, said Jordan. He also raised concerns about how Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch handled the Clinton email investigation and whether James Comey exposed classified information in an apparent effort to retaliate against Trump firing him as FBI director.Rice has denied that she did anything inappropriate, saying she was authorized as Obama s national security adviser to seek the identities of people whose names were redacted from intelligence reports.And she has suggested that her race and gender may be playing a role in the controversy, in a recent New York Magazine interview. Fox NewsIt would be more shocking to the American people if Rice didn t use her race and gender as an excuse for committing heinous crimes against American citizens. It s the only card left in the deck for a cheating, lying and deceitful administration with their backs firmly against the wall Fox News legal anchor Gregg Jarrett said Rice is lying. Jarrett goes on to explain exactly how Rice potentially committed 3 felonies:So THIS is why Susan Rice refuses to testify: she knows she committed three different felonies for Obama! #LockHerUp pic.twitter.com/fg37CijZPu Newt-Trump Fan Club (@NewtTrump) July 18, 2017Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) told Obama sycophant and Trump-hater Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC s The Morning Joe that he believes Susan Rice abused the system and she did it for political purposes. Rand told Brzezinski that Susan Rice needs to be brought in and questioned under oath. Of course, Mika defended Rice, and then quickly qualified her obviously biased defense of Obama s former NSA director by saying she wasn t defending her.RAND PAUL: Drag Susan Rice in make her testify under oath! ""Ask her whether Obama ordered this or knew about it."" https://t.co/RtjTt7jnbX Newt-Trump Fan Club (@NewtTrump) July 18, 2017Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich rips former NSA director Susan Rice over her spying on candidate Trump and the unmasking of his transition team. Gingrich likened Susan Rice and Barack Obama spying scandal on Trump to some third-world dictatorship and called it an extraordinarily dangerous situation. Gingrich went on to explain how much more serious the spying activities of Obama and Susan Rice were in comparison to Watergate: You have the power of the federal government looking into what the opposition is doing, in a way, in which I pointe out earlier. All of Watergate involved one physical break-in, one time. This apparently involves electronic break-ins over months. NEWT: Susan Rice spying on Trump ""was like some third-world dictatorship way bigger than Watergate.""Lock her up! pic.twitter.com/OY9hAXnm7P Newt-Trump Fan Club (@NewtTrump) July 18, 2017",0 "Glow-in-the-dark roads make debut in Netherlands -- They look beautiful, but they could also save a lot on streetlight power. The glow lasts up to eight hours once powered throughout the day.",1 "In India, the Challenge of Building 50,000 Colleges - To become an economic powerhouse, India needs to educate as many as 100 million young people over the next 10 years something never done before. ",1 "Undercutting the Nation State? Chicago Group Suggests ‘Global Cities’ Should Run World AffairsMark Anderson TRUTH HOUNDCHICAGO, Ill. The Disruptive Forces Changing Cities, program, conducted by the Chicago Council of Global Affairs Sept. 15, was a textbook case of an elite organization pursuing a tightly planned, dictatorial society while sounding like it s seeking a democratic, promising vision of fairness and prosperity for all.It s all being spearheaded in accordance with the growing global cities movement that gradually challenges the authority of the very nation-states that the world s primary cities inhabit.This approach, according to several CCGA-aligned think tanks, journalists and others supporting the Global Parliament of Mayors and similar groupings, amounts to a direct challenge to national authority, in order to usurp some of the key powers delegated to national governments by their charters and constitutions.Since this movement chisels away at the constitutional foundations of nations, it risks undermining them in a way that would redraw the lines of governance, in a manner that s highly unpredictable, and potentially radical and unlawful. The policy areas over which cities want to assume much more influence (and, ultimately, exert control) include battling climate change, regulating immigration in order to increase it while providing sanctuary cities, along with sparking job growth and several other things even including the seemingly improbable realm of foreign policy, where you d think mayors would not tread.The CCGA s latest program Sept. 15, held on-the-record at the organization s conference center in the Prudential Building on Randolph Street, was a continuation of many of the themes covered in early June 2016 and June 2017 at the CCGA s annual all-day Forum on Global Cities. The keynote speaker Sept. 15 was Amy Liu, who s Vice President and Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Washington D.C. s Brookings Institution.She s considered a national expert on cities and metropolitan areas adept at translating research and insights into action on the ground. As director of Brookings Metro, which Liu co-founded in 1996, she pioneered the program s signature approach to policy and practice, which uses rigorous research to inform strategies for economic growth and opportunity, a CCGA representative said while introducing Liu in Chicago.Prior to her Brookings work, Liu was Special Assistant to [U.S. Housing and Urban Development] Secretary Henry Cisneros and staffed the U.S. Senate Banking Committee s Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs. She holds a Northwestern University degree in social policy and urban studies.Her remarks were promoted via the CCGA website with statements like, Cities are increasingly driving the global economy but numerous disruptive forces . . . threaten to deepen inequality and economic exclusion, unless cities adapt and evolve. And while Liu spoke of the choices that municipal leaders will need to make, in order to give their workforces access to basic things like skills, (and to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, while deepening regional connections ) the key to understanding her message is discerning what she and the CCGA mean by global forces of disruption. To address such matters, Liu spoke solo and then collaborated with CCGA moderator Niamh King, who, prior to joining the CCGA, worked for the European Commission and the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, among several other posts.Liu began her talk by saying she wants cities to be vibrant places to work and live, but due to America s current national discourse under President Trump, we are turning our backs on climate change, on the poor and the working class while also betraying our values as a nation of immigrants. Moreover, people of all races and religions are being neglected under this national discourse. So rather than take us backwards, the nation needs our cities to move us forward, Liu carefully stated, presenting a thinly-veiled claim that the nation-state, especially a more nationalist one, represents a barrier to what internationalist-oriented cities can do.Thus, the world s cities, in essence, need to run their nations, she implied. Accordingly, she called for a future that s hyper-global, more digital, more urban, more multi-racial and multi-ethnic. But her concern is that these very same forces of progress can also be great sources of division. Technology, for example, creates opportunities for some but destroys it for others, favoring the highly-skilled while abandoning those who cannot keep pace.To combat such disparities, Liu stressed that local leaders need to build inclusive local and regional economies that radically adapt to disruption and future-proof our cities. Citing her Brookings work, she said cities therefore should pursue three goals: Growth, prosperity and inclusion. That, she added, means quality growth of good jobs to seek better prosperity, but to achieve this inclusion, the benefits, especially in terms of better incomes, must accrue to all members of the community, closing disparities by race and by place. She also said that 63 U.S. metro areas out of 100 experienced economic growth and job hikes between 2010 and 2015, according to Brookings research. But several cities only saw growth in lesser-quality jobs, while only eight made significant economic progress in inclusion for whites and people of color. Liu also stressed, The nation s economic growth is not felt by most people . . . as a whole the bottom 50% of income-earners, the middle class, the working class, the poor, have made no ground. So the bulk of the nation s income gains have accrued to the top earners. From this, she concluded that it s up to the cities to bridge these gaps and solve the problems.Liu then cited historic policies and attitudes that she feels have held us back in tackling such inequities. Accordingly, at this point, she delved into the disruptive forces facing cities and how city leaders can adapt to disruption. DOUBLE-SPEAK DETECTEDIronically, Liu spoke of these disruptive forces, which are mainly macroeconomic in nature, as if they re akin to the four horsemen of the apocalypse globalization, urbanization, technology and demographic change, which, she warned, are upending existing systems. She went on to say that while globalization has supposedly slowed down, free trade is going strong, accounting for 40% of world economic value. Trade, she deduced from this, has tremendous economic value because firms that export their wares hire more people and pay better wages than non-exporting firms, yet, while downplaying the immense damage free trade has wrought lest groupings like Brookings and the CCGA lose the narrative in their constant support for more free-trade treaties she admitted that U.S. voters in the last election made it clear that globalization has left many without jobs for extended time periods.Showing a color-coded map, she also said that federal adjustment assistance has been extended to more than two million Americans in the past two decades those whose jobs were terminated due to trade, with 70% of such workers living in large and small metropolitan areas. The trade pain was most felt in the industrial communities in the Midwest and the South, she also conceded.BENDING PEOPLE TO THE SYSTEM, NOT VICE VERSABut the crux of the matter shone through when she stated; I would say that the problem isn t so much globalization, but the failure of our public policies to help people and to help communities adjust to the new world order Continue this article at The Truth HoundREAD MORE NWO NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire NWO FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 Mozilla Calls On World To Protect Firefox Browser From the NSA,1 "Kerry: Chemical weapons were used in Syria, accuses Assad of destroying evidence",0 "EU calls for legal commission to vet new Polish judicial reform lawsBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission called on Monday for Poland to seek European legal advice on two draft judicial reform laws put forward by President Andrzej Duda, to check that they comply with European democratic standards. In July, Duda, an ally of Poland s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, unexpectedly vetoed its plan to overhaul the judiciary, after nationwide protests and warnings from Western allies that the changes would undermine the independence of the courts. Earlier on Monday he presented his own drafts of the two vetoed laws, proposing a greater role for himself over the nomination of judges. The European Commission said Poland should seek the opinion of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe on the drafts. The commission provides legal advice to its members to help them bring their laws and institutions into line with European standards. It would be extremely helpful if these two draft laws... would be given to the Venice Commission for advice, European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans told a news conference. We will make our comments on that also once we have analysed it, he said, referring to the ongoing unprecedented process of EU monitoring of Poland s adherence to the rule of law launched at the beginning of 2016. The Venice Commission ruled last year that laws passed by the PiS government on the country s Constitutional Tribunal were incompatible with European standards, prompting the European Commission to launch its rule-of-law monitoring procedure. Timmermans said the Commission s monitoring of Poland s democratic practices had received broad support from national governments, which stressed that the rule of law was fundamental for the functioning of the European Union as a whole. He said he would be happy to receive Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro and Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski in Brussels or himself go to Warsaw to continue the dialogue with Poland that other governments were so keen on. Speaking to reporters after delivering an update on the rule of law monitoring process in Poland to EU ministers, Timmermans said he had broad support to continue. What is most important to me is that everybody around the table said: Rule of law? It is not an option, it is an obligation... it is the fundament of European cooperation... it concerns us all, he said. I was encouraged by the broad, broad support I felt in the Council for trying to find a solution. But there is still a lot, a lot we need to do before we can say that the problem has been solved, Timmermans said. ",1 German minister advises colleagues to shun Facebook,1 WHO: Processed meats cause cancer.,0 Scott Walker had a 2.3 GPA when he was asked to leave Marquette University for cheating.,0 "Why the Greeks are protesting: Cuts in ""bonus pay"" bite into income that civil servants rely on",1 Bah's in Iran face execution,0 China Said to Halt Some Mineral Shipments to U.S. and Europe as It Flexes Its New Economic Power,1 Report: Syria troops fire on Arab League monitors - ,0 "OOPS! Did The Media Think Voters Would Forget About HILLARY’S “FRIEND and MENTOR” Late KKK Leader Robert Byrd? [VIDEO]The astounding hypocrisy of the leftist media has been left unchecked for decades. All of that is about to change. And no matter what side of the aisle you find yourself on, forcing the media to do their jobs and report the news is a benefit to every single American. It s not their job to be popular amongst their peers or to have opinions their readers agree with. Their job is to report the news. Perhaps this little video or nugget of truth slipped their minds?Despite mounting criticism for Donald Trump s failure to disavow former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke s support, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton once heaped praise for late Klan leader Sen. Robert Byrd.In a video uploaded to the State Department s official YouTube page on June 28, 2010, Clinton commemorated late Sen. Byrd by saying, Today our country has lost a true American original, my friend and mentor Robert C. Byrd. Via: Daily CallerAnd when the former KKK member, Senator Robert Byrd died, Barack Obama gave the eulogy:President Obama lauded the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd today for keeping faith with his family, his state of West Virginia and his beloved U.S. Constitution. He was a Senate icon, he was a party leader, he was an elder statesman, and he was my friend, Obama told thousands who gathered for Byrd s funeral on the steps of the golden-domed West Virginia statehouse. That s how I ll remember him. ",0 "PRISON PORK BAN: We Have Great News For Prisoners But Bad News For PigsJust start asking questions and the Obama administration reverses course very interesting. The validity of the claim that prisoners don t like pork was called into question by Sen. Chuck Grassley and then the quick reversal on the prison pork ban. The Obama administration wouldn t be lying? Haha! Hummm The Obama administration did a rapid U-turn on its decision to remove pork products from federal prisons after a few questions from Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.The federal Bureau of Prisons reversal of the Oct. 1 menu change comes just one week after its spokesman, Edmond Ross, said pork was the lowest-rated food among inmates. To corroborate the validity of the claim that prisoners indicated a lack of interest in pork products, I am requesting copies of the prisoner surveys and responses that were used to support the determination to no longer serve pork in federal prisons, the Republican senator wrote to the agency on Thursday, the Washington Post reported. Please provide any economic evaluations the Bureau of Prisons has relied on that detail the cost of pork as compared to beef, chicken, and non-meat products such as tofu and soy products. Pig products were back on the menu within hours of the letter s publication.Grassley also happens to be the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the federal prison system.Read more: WND",0 Germany is considering a legal ban on ultra-conservative Salafist Muslim groups.,1 British resident who claims he was tortured says senior figures within government must be held to account ,1 "China silences netizens critical of ""disgraceful"" blast coverage. Posts suggesting that authorities restricted international media reporting on the incident removed.",1 "SICK REASON Historic City With “Off the charts” Crime Rates Passes Disgusting Ordinance Putting Criminals Before CopsThe Providence (RI) City Council voted Thursday to give first passage to the Community Safety Act, a far-reaching ordinance designed to curb profiling by the city s police but the odd benefits it gives to criminals and specifically gang members has many in law enforcement shaking their head.The council voted 12-0 to approve the ordinance as hundreds of supporters cheered. Mayor Jorge Elorza has already said he intends to sign it into law.After reading the details of this ordinance, the only ones that will be cheering in a few months will be the criminals.While the politicians covered up the terrible provisions in this act by saying that it was simply designed to curb profiling, what was really inside it will create one of the most lawless cities this country knows.The violent crime rate in Providence is already 134% higher than the state average and the passing of this ordinance will be the best thing that Rhode Island criminals have seen in some time.Developed by activist groups, the Community Safety Act is weighed heavily towards giving benefits to the criminal element. If you don t believe us, just look at the official logo (above) of the Act. It shows the police at the bottom, which is exactly where the politicians have placed them by passing this ordinance.No one in law enforcement will argue that racial profiling should not be eliminated but this Act uses that premise to handcuff law enforcement from simply doing their job.The international and extremely violent gang MS-13 that initiated in El Salvador and contains a large number of illegal immigrants here in the United States, has been thriving in Providence, RI for several years. This new Safety Act will go a long way in helping this gang, that uses many of the same practices as ISIS to grow and prosper in Providence:Here are some of the items that the future victims of Providence Crime need to be aware of:And of course, the ordinance ends with an entire page on how police will be prosecuted and sued for any violation of anything in the ordinance of which must goes far and beyond any case law or practice that any agency in this country is currently doing. Actually, the piles of paperwork that the Act requires of a police officer after they stop someone is done in another city .Chicago. Hasn t that worked out well there?Now there will be some that are not educated in the dynamics of what this ordinance will cause that say we oppose this because we want police to racially profile others. That is ridiculous. It is against the law for race to be the sole indicator on profiling and no one in the profession agrees with racial profiling but passing this ordinance because a small section prohibits racial profiling is like eating a salad with a milk shake. Any of the benefits of the salad go away after you drink the 1000 calorie shake.Let us be clear. The City of Providence is in deep trouble. Their crime rate is already off the chart and this Act gives all of the rights to criminals and in an odd way, gang members?Via: LawOfficerJesse Waters takes a look at Providence, RI to help understand why the unemployment is so high. Perhaps instead of passing laws to protect criminals and illegal aliens, Providence should address the root cause of their problems, like fatherless children and an entire generation of drug dealers and slackers (***Warning***this video may make you miss Bill O Reilly and his honest assessment of our inner cities):",0 Pollution in northern China has led to drop of 5 years in lifespan.,1 "Turkey urges U.S. to review visa suspension as lira, stocks tumbleANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey urged the United States on Monday to review its suspension of visa services after the arrest of a U.S. consulate employee sharply escalated tension between the two NATO allies and drove Turkey s currency and stocks lower. Relations between Ankara and Washington have been plagued by disputes over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, Turkey s calls for the extradition of a U.S.-based cleric and the indictment of a Turkish former minister in a U.S. court. But last week s arrest of a Turkish employee of the U.S. consulate in Istanbul marked a fresh low. Turkey said the employee had links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for a failed military coup in July 2016. Gulen denies any connection with the coup. The U.S. embassy in Ankara condemned Ankara s charges as baseless and announced on Sunday night it was halting all non-immigrant visa services in Turkey while it reassessed Turkey s commitment to the security of its missions and staff. Within hours, Ankara announced it was taking the same measures against U.S. citizens seeking visas for Turkey. The U.S. ambassador said the duration of the visa services suspension would depend on talks between the two governments about the reasons for the detention of local staff in Turkey. In a written statement late on Monday, Ambassador John Bass said the length of the suspension would also depend on the Turkish government s commitment to protecting our facilities and personnel here in Turkey . He noted that the move was not a visa ban on Turkish citizens, that valid visas could still be used and visa applications could be made outside of Turkey. The U.S. Embassy had been unable to learn the reasons for the arrest of its Turkish staff member last week or what evidence exists against the employee, Bass said, adding that he had not been allowed sufficient access to the employee s lawyer. Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said that if Washington had serious security concerns about its missions in Turkey, steps would be taken to address them. But if it s an issue regarding the arrest of the consulate employee, then this is a decision the Turkish judiciary has made, Gul told A Haber television. Trying a Turkish citizen for a crime committed in Turkey is our right. The Turkish foreign ministry summoned a U.S. diplomat to urge the United States to lift the visa services suspension, saying it was causing unnecessary tensions , and President Tayyip Erdogan also criticized the U.S. move. For the (U.S.) embassy in Ankara to take such a decision and implement it, it is upsetting, Erdogan told a news conference during a visit to Ukraine. State-run Anadolu news agency said another U.S. consulate worker had been summoned to testify over his wife and daughter s suspected links to Gulen - which it said had emerged during the questioning of Metin Topuz, the employee arrested last week. The diplomatic spat spooked investors. The lira dropped 3.4 percent and stood at 3.7385 against the dollar after being quoted overnight as touching a level of 3.9223. The main BIST 100 stock index fell as much as 4.7 percent, closing the day down 2.73 percent at 101,298 points. Airline shares were particularly hard hit, with flag carrier Turkish Airlines falling 9 percent. The central bank said it was following developments closely. This looks like a really serious situation, said Blue Bay Asset Management strategist Timothy Ash. He added that the central bank would need to move quickly to calm market nerves and possibly hike interest rates - something Erdogan has resisted. Turkey s leading business association, TUSIAD, warned that the dispute would harm bilateral economic, social and cultural ties, and called for disagreements to be settled calmly. The row with the United States coincides with deep strains in Turkey s relations with Germany, another key ally, and with Turkish military activity at the Syrian and Iraqi borders, though their market impact has so far been limited. U.S.-Turkish tensions have risen in recent months over U.S. military support for Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria, considered by Ankara to be an extension of the banned PKK which has waged an insurgency for three decades in southeast Turkey. Turkey has also pressed, so far in vain, for the United States to extradite Gulen, viewed in Ankara as the mastermind behind the failed coup in which more than 240 people were killed. Friction with the United States has also arisen from the indictment last month by a U.S. court of Turkey s former economy minister Zafer Caglayan on charges of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran. Sinan Ulgen, an analyst and former Turkish diplomat, said those underlying disputes had created a crisis of confidence which made this latest fall-out particularly bitter. This harshness is a result of a build-up, he said. We should not consider this as solely a reaction to the detentions of consulate employees . ",1 Shell brutality not restricted to Nigerians - troublesome Irish fisherman's boat sunk by masked Shell security personnel,1 "FINALLY! THE 538 ELECTORAL COLLEGE MEMBERS Cast Ballots Today…What You Need To Know About The ProcessWHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:In all 50 state capitals and the District of Columbia, electors chosen by the state parties of the candidate who carried their state, Trump or Hillary Clinton will meet to cast their ballots. There s no national meeting of the Electoral College. Instead, electors gather in each state usually in the Capitol.Under federal law, though, electors must gather on December 19. And each elector must sign six copies certifying their votes for president and vice president.Two ballots go to the National Archives. One goes to the president of the Senate. Two go to their state s chief elections officer. And one goes to a local judge. After Monday s votes, there is still one last step: On January 6, Congress has to officially count the electoral votes. Vice President Joe Biden will preside over the count. Lawmakers can technically object in writing, with objections signed by at least one House and one Senate member to individual electoral votes or entire states results. If the House and Senate support that objection, the vote or votes in question are thrown out. But that has never happened. After the votes are counted, the results are final, and Trump is officially set for his inauguration at noon on January 20.Read more: CNN",0 "Indonesia has banned the film Balibo, which depicts the deaths of six foreign journalists in East Timor",1 "Myriad of ways the CIA tried (and failed) to assassinate Fidel CastroRTThe father of the Cuban Revolution remains unbeaten by his foes even in death. We look over the most dramatic assassination plots on El Comandante from character-assassinations by way of LSD, to Italian mobsters, tuberculosis wetsuit, and exploding cigar. If surviving assassination attempts were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal, Castro is famously quoted as saying. Cuba s ex-intelligence chief Fabian Escalante the person tasked with guarding Fidel s life puts the number of attempts at 638. The man also claimed to Reuters in a 2010 interview that the John F. Kennedy assassination could well have been an attempt to expedite the process of removing Castro from power: the American president, some said, was not doing enough. Of course, by the time of Kennedy s 1963 shooting death in Dallas, Texas, there had already been numerous attempts on Castro s life intended to bolster Kennedy s own reputation back home as a strong president, with his administration exerting great pressure on the CIA to take care of it. It is fitting then to start at the beginning.When a sizable cache of classified CIA documents, amicably called Family Jewels, was finally released in 2007, Cuban communists felt a sense of vindication, finally gaining the ability to publicly accuse the United States government of what they claimed was already common knowledge.In the summer of 1960, the CIA recruited former FBI agent Robert Maheu. He became the go-between from the agency to two prominent Italian gangsters on the FBI s Ten Most Wanted List Santo Trafficante of the Miami Syndicate, and Salvatore Giancana Al Capone s successor in Chicago. They were gotten hold of by way of Las Vegas mobster Johnny Roselli. A payment of $150,000 was on the table. According to the declassified documents, Giancana suggested using poisoned pills six of them. But despite gaining access to officials inside the Cuban government, the plan had been unsuccessful, and was later scrapped in the run-up to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. It is said the agency was able to retrieve all the poison pills.The closest the Americans got to killing Castro was with a poisoned chocolate milkshake, Escalante claimed to Reuters. According to the 2007 documents, another batch of poison was delivered through the Mafia in 1963 in a bottle of Bayer aspirin pills. An opposition group, it was believed, had a good chance. But the plot failed when a disguised waiter did not manage to lace Castro s milkshake in the cafeteria of the then-Hilton Hotel (now Havana Libre), as the pill got stuck in the freezer where it was hidden and broke apart when the assassin attempted to dislodge it from the wall.This was not just about spiking drinks or cigars. The CIA went all-out. After a failed attempt to embarrass El Comandante by having his beard fall out due to boots spiked with chemicals, the agency had opted for a box of cigars spiked with LSD. The plan was to have Castro burst into laughter during a televised interview, thus subjecting him to ridicule in the public eye. But it was not just cigars. The CIA planned to lace the entire studio. This plot was not implemented, but was high in the running for ways to spark a national uprising against Castro.The CIA had back-paddled on another of its ingenious plans to kill Castro, leading to the poisoned scuba gear idea. The agency knew the revolutionary was an avid diver. The plan had been to attract El Comandante with a sea shell practically impossible to miss, having been painted in colors bright enough to attract him. Castro would swim closer to inspect it, whereupon a lethal amount of explosives would detonate. But the idea was aborted due to impracticality, the declassified documents claimed. So the spies went the more practical way: lacing Castro s scuba gear with tuberculosis to trigger a deadly skin disease. The man who was supposed to give Castro the suit had opted to give him an ordinary one, it turned out.According to a Saturday Evening Post report on November 4, 1967, a CIA agent had approached a New York cop with the idea of handing Castro an exploding cigar during a UN meeting. That was reportedly after the plan to poison the cigar had been abandoned. This was despite the poison having already been injected into the cigar, with the CIA dismissing the person tasked with carrying the plan out in the final stages.However, the exploding-cigar plan also failed due to the double agent changing his mind at the last instant.ne of Castro s many lovers CIA informant Marita Lorenz, was also tasked with poisoning Castro in a daring operation involving a secret unit tasked with the assassination Operation 40. According to the FBI, Lorenz had become a contract agent for the CIA, and willingly accepted the task of assassinating him following a miscarriage or an abortion a story she told in 1959. Castro s reaction to her not having the child had reportedly enraged her so much, she had eagerly taken up the task. And so she met with CIA double agent Frank Sturgis in 1960, who had handed her a bottle of poison pills.Lorenz was to drop one into her lover s drink, containing enough poison to kill him within 30 seconds. But as with the countless other attempts, it did not succeed because Lorenz herself could not go through with it. The mission was wrought with pitfalls. According to Ann Louise Bardoch s Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana, Lorenz recalled that They said, we want you to take him out. But, I knew the minute I saw the outline of Havana I couldn t do it. Even then, she had made the mistake of stashing the pills in her pot of cold cream, in fear of being discovered by customs. The substance had stuck to the pills, and Lorenz couldn t unmix the two. As she attempted to flush the pills down the toilet, Castro who had got wind of the plot walked in with a cigar. He removed his handgun from the holster, and handed it to Lorenz with the words: Did you come to kill me? According to Lorenz, he handed her the gun and puffed on his cigar with his eyes closed. He made himself vulnerable because he knew I couldn t do it. He still loved me and I still loved him. She feared the CIA would kill her for being with Castro after the foiled assassination attempt. Upon her return to Miami, Lorenz never again met with Castro. Later, however, she had a daughter with another Latin American military leader, Venezuela s Marcos Perez Jimenez.According to Escalante, it was the Cuban revolutionary s vigilance and the efforts of his security apparatus that kept him alive all those years. Numerous books have been written on the matter.READ MORE CUBA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Cuba Files",0 "RNC's Priebus takes dim view of anti-Trump third party talkWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the Republican National Committee sought on Friday to tamp down talk among some Republicans about the possibility of running a third-party candidate who would give party supporters a choice beyond Donald Trump. In an interview, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said a third-party candidate would have no hope of actually winning the Nov. 8 presidential election but would instead ensure victory for the Democratic nominee. “They may as well jump off the top floor of a building because that’s what we’d be doing by having a third party,” Priebus said. Priebus has been a vocal advocate for party loyalists to get over their concerns about Trump and support him since he is on track to become the presidential nominee and stands as the only real option for Republicans to win the White House. He brought Trump together with House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan for a meeting in Washington on Thursday to try to ease Ryan’s concerns about backing the billionaire. Ryan stopped short of endorsing Trump but said the session was productive. Priebus said the two men have opened a dialogue. “My guess is they may even be talking today and through the weekend (on the phone),” he said. Priebus said a Democratic victory would allow Democrats to reshape the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. If Republican donors sit on the sidelines, Democrats could also take over control of the U.S. Senate, he said. “If you don’t participate in the presidential election you might as well kiss away the Senate as well,” Priebus said in a message directed at Republican donors unenthusiastic about Trump. “The Senate goes as the presidential race goes. They’re inextricably intertwined.” Some Republicans continue to hold out hope that a leading figure in the party could be persuaded to run for president as a third-party candidate to give party voters uncomfortable with Trump a candidate to rally around. Some speculation has centered around 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who has been a frequent critic of Trump. Just this week Romney said Trump should release his tax records, a public disclosure move that Romney made in 2012 but which Trump has been resisting. Some Republicans have been urging Romney to launch an independent bid for the presidency. He discussed the issue last week with William Kristol, editor of the conservative-leaning Weekly Standard magazine, a source close to Romney said. ",1 "REDUX 1963? The Deep State vs Donald TrumpPatrick Henningsen 21st Century WireWatching this week s Senate cabinet confirmation hearings was one of the most uncomfortable sights I have ever witnessed in politics. One self aggrandizing US Senator after another, each spouting out half-truths and speaking in innuendo and supposition as if it were historical fact. The level of ignorance about world events was breathtaking. Key foreign policy cabinet nominees were Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State, General James Mattis for Defense Secretary, and Mike Pompeo for CIA director. All three men were grilled by a pride of chickenhawks and self-styled foreign policy experts like Senator Roger Wick (R), Marco Rubio (R), Bob Menendez (D) and of course, by Washington s twin neoconservative ventriloquists, John McCain (R) and Lindsey Graham (R).Particularly disturbing was the chicken-hawkish bullying by Marco Rubio of Tillerson, where the Florida Senator demanded that a future Secretary of State adopt the bellicose language of the war-monger when describing the Russian President. YOU MUST COMPLY: Nominee Rex Tillerson is trolled by Senator Marco Rubio.Regarding events in Syria that Rubio believes are war crimes, but of which there is zero evidence, Rubio asked, Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal? Tillerson replied, I would not use that term. Rubio went on to list things he s seen on the internet and CNN about Putin s attacks on civilians and accused the Russian leader of killing political opposition leaders and journalists.Tillerson replied saying, I would want to have much more information before reaching a conclusion, and he called Rubio s accusations, very serious charges. That would be the mature answer. But Rubio wanted Tillerson to comply. I find it discouraging your inability to cite that, which I think is globally accepted, Rubio replied.It was a disgusting display of arrogance and propaganda laundering by Rubio, like the other trolling Senators demanding that Russia must be our enemy and we must retaliate to a election hack which never happened. In this new environment of irrationality and avarice, if you resist, and if you choose diplomacy and base your views on facts, then you are un-American. This seems to be the current culture in Washington and the mainstream media: compliance to group think and these Senate hearings showed just how far US officials are willing to go to enforce compliance on all major issues complying on Israel, on Putin, and on the supremacy of the intelligence community. One of the only voices brave enough to speak up about the sordid scene in the Senate was California Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R), who said during a recent radio interview that warmongers like Rubio are sabotaging potential future relations with Russia by calling Putin a war criminal. All of this follows the other regressive trend the crypto-fascist talking point that has been advanced in recent weeks by the likes of Wolf Blitzer and other mainstream news anchors, all of whom have insinuated that if Trump or anyone else does not swallow the entire DNI Intelligence Assessment on the Russian Hack then they are somehow disrespecting the institution of the CIA or any other so-called intelligence body, or even worse, that they are unpatriotic. Why won t the President-Elect accept the findings of the intelligence community?! crowed CNN s Blitzer and other practically brow-beating guests who appeared on the network. It s as if the only acceptable answer was total submission. For those who are old enough to remember, this is a repeat of the Iraq War deception in 2003. Low and behold, the same media operatives and political demons have been deployed to police a similar group-think regime in 2016. That should be a clue to anyone pay attention, that we are witnessing another scam.The following commentary may seem a bit far-fetched on the surface, but when you consider everything that has already gone down over the last 4 months in US politics, then the probability of another black swan event doesn t seem so far-flung. It s important to put this into historical context, and do a comparative analysis with John F Kennedy s Bay of Pigs defeat a seminal event in US geopolitics and a major set-back for the Deep State at the time, and one that was blamed on JFK s inability to facilitate a CIA win in Cuba. A number of prominent historians and researchers have credited that defeat, along with Kennedy s desire to break-up the CIA as a primary motive for JFK s assassination. When you consider this against the present day back-drop of President Obama s 5 year failure of a proxy war to overthrow the Syrian government a war which Hillary Clinton herself instituted, there are a number a striking parallels between then and now. More striking yet, is Donald Trump s public calls to reorganise the intelligence agencies a move which threatens the very fabric of the contemporary Deep State which runs Washington and the Atlanticist alliance.In so many ways, Trump might be viewed as a moral enemy of the Deep State that has been allowed to reign unhindered by any real oversight, and accountable only to itself.The danger seems palatable, so much so that some establishment journalists are breaking ranks by talking openly about the Deep State a topic previously reserved for the fringes of political and geopolitical commentary and certainly not acceptable for debate on a mainstream broadcast TV network. The Intercept s Glenn Greenwald has recently written a piece which outlines this very scenario where the Deep State has declared war on Donald Trump, and if Trump continues to push back against these institutions, the consequences could be dire. Greenwald focused on the recent fake Trump-Russia dossier which he stated was the work of the Intelligence Community. Looking at these last two weeks, it is clear that such a progression of events has been advanced already: The serious dangers posed by a Trump presidency are numerous and manifest. There is a wide array of legitimate and effective tactics for combating those threats: from bipartisan congressional coalitions and constitutional legal challenges to citizen uprisings and sustained and aggressive civil disobedience. All of those strategies have periodically proven themselves effective in times of political crisis or authoritarian overreach. But cheering for the CIA and its shadowy allies to unilaterally subvert the U.S. election and impose its own policy dictates on the elected president is both warped and self-destructive. Empowering the very entities that have produced the most shameful atrocities and systemic deceit over the last six decades is desperation of the worst kind. Demanding that evidence-free, anonymous assertions be instantly venerated as Truth despite emanating from the very precincts designed to propagandize and lie is an assault on journalism, democracy, and basic human rationality. And casually branding domestic adversaries who refuse to go along as traitors and disloyal foreign operatives is morally bankrupt and certain to backfire on those doing it. By demonizing Russia, and then tying Donald Trump to that country, the establishment has accomplished its mission in ruining the so-called peaceful transition of power. Interestingly, this bizarre phrase was really only introduced by US media operatives this past fall, and for a reason. Now we can see why.Consider what we are seeing to play-out right now a political free-for-all, where the level of hate and irrational vitriol which has been intentionally built-up over, and is unprecedented in modern history.Based on the events we have seen over the past two months the Democrat-organized street protests and call to abolish the Electoral College, Democrat intimidation of electors, the pseudo recount by the Democratic Party and their willing agent Jill Stein, the evidence-free DNI Report on the alleged Russian Hack, and the fake Trump-Russia Blackmail dossier, as well as radical left-wing plans to shut down next week s inauguration and block the transfer of power in Washington you can be absolutely certain that the losing party will not give up and have yet to unveil some more audacious plans designed to disrupt and possibly unseat the new 45th President of the United States, Donald J Trump. The campaign to delegitimize this incoming President has been carefully coordinated through multiple actors; the corporate media (led by CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Washington Post and The Guardian), the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic Party, Soros-funded NGOs like MoveOn.org, the McCain-Graham faction, and quietly helped along by the White House. Theoretically speaking, and taken into context with the previous paragraph the level of Anti-Trump public hate is so over-the-top and intense right now that (heaven forbid) should some untimely incident, either accidental or intentional, befall the new President then the American left and its cadre of stakeholders are certain to celebrate openly and gleefully. Such an incident would invariably be followed by the proverbial, Oh well, he had it coming. This is a high stakes game much bigger in fact than any one man, or political party. Everything is at stake: NATO, the military industrial complex, the CIA, and the existence and primacy of a globalist Deep State that has ruled the US and the world since WWII. In short, the World Order, as seen by those who control the transatlantic system of international geopolitics, trade and commerce.This should be viewed as a very sensitive matter. It goes without saying that such an incident and its predictable, engineered left-wing reaction would inevitably trigger the beginnings of bona fide civil war in the United States.Will Trump be able to hang a wonderful new sign in the window at Pennsylvania Ave which reads, Change of Management ? Not if Congress and the Deep State prefers the old management.The following analysis by Zero Hedge, featuring a segment with Tucker Carlson and Glenn Greenwald expands on this possibility, and provides a number evidence points which mark what could be seen as a progression of events leading to a dystopic conclusion . Zero Point NowJournalist Glenn Greenwald, who is not a fan of President-elect Trump, appeared on Tucker Carlson tonight to discuss the dangerous ongoing effort among powerful anti-Trump factions within the US Government s Deep State, who have collaborated with members of the Democratic Party and the traditionally liberal media to inflict maximum damage on the incoming President. Recall Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer s ominous six ways from Sunday comment from 10 days ago.Greenwald, an accomplished litigator, journalist, and author, does a masterful job illustrating the players, motives, and potential fallout from this dangerous effort within the US Government s intelligence apparatus. Greenwald goes deep, discussing how Trump s election ruined the plan for regime change in Syria, specifically mentioning, among other things, that the deep state was waiting for Obama to leave office before executing their plan: The number one foreign policy priority of the CIA over the last four to five years has been the proxy war they re waging in Syria to remove Bashar Al Assad and Hillary Clinton was quite critical of Obama for constraining them. She wanted to escalate that war to unleash the CIA, to impose a no-fly zone in Syria to confront Russia, whereas Trump took the exact opposite position. He said we have no business in Syria trying to change the government, we ought to let the Russia and Assad go free and killing ISIS and Al Qaeda and whoever else they want to kill. He [Trump] was a threat to the CIA s primary institutional priority of regime change in Syria. Beyond that, Clinton wanted a much more confrontational and belligerent posture towards Moscow, which the CIA has been acrimonious with for decades, whereas Trump wanted better relations. They viewed Trump as a threat to their institutional pre-eminence to their ability to get their agenda imposed on Washington. What you re seeing is actually quite dangerous. There really is at this point obvious open warfare between this un-elected, but very powerful faction that resides in Washington and sees Presidents come and go on the one hand, and the person that the American democracy elected to be elected on the other. There s clearly extreme conflict and subversion taking place. This really is a must-watch, and goes hand-in-hand with Tucker s interview with Dr. Stephen Cohen this week: .This is overt, and Schindler also just more or less outed Washington Post s David Ignatius as a CIA mouthpiece (along the same vein as Deep Throat, perhaps we can refer to Ignatius s source as Golden Shower?).READ MORE RUSSIAN HACK NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Russian Hack FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@ 21WIRE.TV",0 Fox News Ripping Content Straight from the Depths of Reddit,0 Police face racism scandal after black man records racial abuse (Crown Prosecution Service forced to review decision not to charge officers),1 "440,000 Thai voters prevented from voting",0 "Radiation spikes in Tokyo neighborhood. An extraordinarily high level of radiation was detected in one spot in a central Tokyo residential district Thursday, prompting the local government to cordon off the small area.",0 "Republican 'Dump Trump' effort struggles to gain tractionNATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (Reuters) - A plan to block Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump struggled to gain traction on Friday as rival candidates rejected it, while Democrats reveled in the chaos they hoped would boost their chances of keeping the White House. The country’s top elected Republican, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, said he was not interested in an effort to draft him into the White House race. And U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative presidential hopeful, ruled out a deal to pick a compromise Republican candidate at the party’s July convention, which senior party figures see as their best chance to stop the unpredictable billionaire. “The D.C. power brokers will drop someone in who is exactly to the liking of the establishment. If that will happen we will have a manifold revolt in this country,” Cruz said at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington. “You want to beat Donald Trump, you beat Donald Trump with the voters,” he said. Party leaders worry Trump would not be able to beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the election, but time is running out after he won most of the states that voted in this week’s Super Tuesday. Senior Republicans also fear Trump’s plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and ban Muslims from entering the United States will turn off voters in November and upset U.S. allies. Others note his past support for liberal policies and question whether he has any agenda other than advancing himself. “I don’t think he actually carries the conservative mantle. He’s a little too crass for me,” said Michele Minter, a San Diego executive assistant who was attending CPAC. Trump, a former reality TV star, often plays by his own set of rules. He canceled plans to speak at CPAC, normally an essential stop for ambitious Republicans, and will instead attend a rally in Kansas. The real estate magnate, who is drawing support from many blue-collar Republicans concerned about illegal immigration and stagnant wages, has won most Republican nominating contests and leads in many polls for the primary contests still to come. “I’m not a normal Republican,” he said to huge cheers at a rally in Warren, Michigan. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the only candidate to ever challenge Trump’s months-long lead in opinion polls, officially ended his White House bid. “There are a lot of people who love me, they just won’t vote for me,” Carson said in a speech at CPAC, held in National Harbor, Maryland. A new group called the Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, seeking to raise money to push Ryan as a Republican alternative. Ryan, a budget wonk who was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, is seen by many in the party as a unifier after he took the speaker’s job last year to unite establishment Republican lawmakers and conservative upstarts in the House. “He is flattered, but not interested,” Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in an email on Friday. As Trump cements his front-runner status, senior party figures hope to deny him enough delegates to clinch the nomination, which would give them the chance to choose a compromise candidate at their convention in Cleveland. The last time that happened at a Republican convention was in 1948 when Thomas Dewey was nominated. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said there was an 85 to 90 percent chance that the party will not face that scenario this year. Mitt Romney and John McCain, the party’s last two presidential nominees, called on Republicans to halt Trump’s rise by backing whichever candidate was strongest in their state, a form of tactical voting. Few elected officials are rallying behind the “Dump Trump” banner. The party’s 31 state governors, for example, are not lining up behind an alternative. Only five have endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio and one has backed Cruz, in a sharp contrast to previous years when governors overwhelmingly endorsed the party’s eventual nominee. Rubio has only one state so far and is gearing up for what could be a make-or-break contest in his home state on March 15. Cruz said Saturday he planned to open 10 campaign offices there, in what could be an effort to force the rival senator out of the race. Trump is expected to extend his lead on Saturday, when a total of 155 delegates are at stake in Kansas, Louisiana, Maine and Kentucky. Democrats were happy to let Republicans fight amongst themselves. “We can sit back and let them light their own dumpster fire and wait until they’re finished,” said Eddie Vale, spokesman for American Bridge, a Clinton-allied group which collects negative research on Republican candidates. “They’re giving us so much great video footage that we could run ads between now and November of nothing but Republicans attacking Trump,” Vale told Reuters. Nationally, Trump has the support of 41 percent of Republican voters, compared to 19 percent who back Cruz and 16 percent who back Rubio, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Emily Stephenson, Eric Beech, and Ginger Gibson; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Bill Trott and Alistair Bell) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 "Irelands Catholic leader defends role in cover-up of priests child abuse, says he wont quit",0 The arrival of an Ebola-infected air passenger in Nigeria has airlines and airports scrambling to respond around the world,1 "A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS: A Lone Socialist Takes This Ironic Message To TrumpWe re gonna go out on a limb and guess that this young man s presence will only harden the resolve of most Trump supporters to support his campaign Lone Bernie fan before Trump appearance at OK State Fair. Tyler Woodfin, 21, OU student. pic.twitter.com/6YTAo4wYLr Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) September 25, 2015",0 "House speaker urges Trump not to scrap 'Dreamers' immigration policyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan urged President Donald Trump on Friday not to rescind an Obama-era program that protects immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children, as more Republicans lined up against the move. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump will announce on Tuesday whether he will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which protects nearly 800,000 young men and women from deportation. It also makes those covered, so-called Dreamers, eligible for work permits. “We love the ‘Dreamers,’” the Republican president, already facing calls from leading business figures and Democrats to preserve the program, told reporters in the Oval Office, without tipping his hand on the decision. Ryan and Senator Orrin Hatch on Friday joined a small but growing number of lawmakers from the party that controls Congress and the White House to speak out against killing DACA, created in 2012 by Democratic former President Barack Obama and long the target of conservative immigration hard-liners. “I actually don’t think he should do that, and I believe that this is something Congress has to fix,” Ryan said in an interview with WCLO radio in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin. Ryan said he believes Obama exceeded his authority in creating DACA by executive order, bypassing Congress, but there now are “people who are in limbo.” “These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don’t know another home. And so I really do believe that there needs to be a legislative solution. That’s one that we’re working on. And I think we want to give people peace of mind,” Ryan added. Nancy Pelosi, the top House Democrat, said she was “heartened” by Ryan’s comments and asked him to meet with Democratic lawmakers next week to discuss a “comprehensive legislative solution.” Hatch said in a statement rescinding the program would further complicate a U.S. immigration system sorely in need of legislative reform. “Like the president, I’ve long advocated for tougher enforcement of our existing immigration laws. But we also need a workable, permanent solution for individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here. And that solution must come from Congress,” the longest-serving Republican senator added. Tennessee’s Republican attorney general, Herbert Slatery, said his office will not participate in a lawsuit challenging DACA that is expected to be filed by a group of Republican state attorneys general next week, and urged Congress to pursue a legislative fix. “Many of the DACA recipients, some of whose records I reviewed, have outstanding accomplishments and laudable ambitions, which if achieved, will be of great benefit and service to our country,” Slatery wrote in a letter to Tennessee’s two Republican U.S. senators. About 200 Dreamers and their supporters turned out on Friday for a rally in downtown Los Angeles to urge national leaders not to end the program. Among them was Docnary Reyes, 21, who came to the United States from Guatemala with her parents in 1997 when she was a toddler. Before obtaining DACA in 2014, Reyes had to work under-the-table cleaning apartments, she said. Her work authorization allowed her to obtain a paid internship last year working on a project involving cyanobacteria. The Los Angeles resident will continue her education at the University of California, Davis, to study environmental restoration. “I feel like I really care about our environment and not enough people do,” Reyes said. Trump made a crackdown on illegal immigrants a centerpiece of his 2016 election campaign and has stepped up deportations since taking office in January. But business leaders say immigrants make important economic contributions and that ending the program would hit economic growth and tax revenue. Leading business figures including Facebook Inc (FB.O) CEO Mark Zuckerberg have rallied in defense of the program and the Dreamers. Congress under presidents of both parties has been unable to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Spokeswoman Sanders said Trump, who previously has called DACA illegal, is not taking the decision lightly. “The president’s priorities on immigration are to create a system that encourages legal immigration and benefits our economy and American workers,” Sanders told a news briefing. Most of the Dreamer immigrants came from Mexico and other Latin American countries. More than 200,000 live in California, while 100,000 are in Texas. New York, Illinois and Florida also have large numbers. What to do about Dreamers has been actively debated within the White House and Trump administration. One senior administration official described the debate as a “tug of war” between factions in favor and against the move. DACA supporters argue that the people it protects grew up and were educated in the United States and were integrated into American society, with little connection to the countries in which they are citizens. Opponents of the program argue that illegal immigrants take jobs from U.S. citizens. There are deep divisions in the United States over the fate of roughly 11 million illegal immigrants, most of them Hispanics. Trump as a candidate promised to deport all of them. Undoing DACA could have political consequences for Trump and his fellow Republicans, further alienating Hispanics, a growing voting bloc in the United States. Trump’s pardon for an Arizona sheriff who critics accused of targeting Hispanics, his planned wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and his comments about Mexico sending “rapists” and drug dealers into the United States already had antagonized many Hispanic Americans. ",1 "Illinois governor vetoes Chicago pension fix, angers city's mayorCHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on Friday vetoed a legislative fix favored by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for two of the city’s struggling pension funds and castigated it as a “kick-the-can approach.” The financial footing and credit ratings for the nation’s third-largest city have slipped precipitously as its unfunded pension liabilities grew to $33.8 billion for Chicago’s four retirement systems in the most recent accounting. The plan that passed the Illinois Senate unanimously in January and cleared the House overwhelmingly last December would have granted the state’s blessing to alter the city’s pension repayment schedule for its municipal and laborers’ retirement systems. The systems are projected to run out of money in the coming decade and were depending on legislative sign-off of the city’s enactment of a water and sewer usage tax and telephone surcharge designed to help get them 90 percent funded in 40 years. City officials have acknowledged that more money will be needed starting in 2023 when payments will reach actuarially required levels. But Rauner rejected the package, saying it created a payment schedule that eventually would necessitate a tax increase for Chicago. He said it needed to be part of a broader, statewide pension funding strategy to address Illinois’ $129.8 billion unfunded pension liability. “This is another kick-the-can approach to pension funding that landed Chicago in fiscal crisis in the first place,” Rauner said in a prepared statement. “This bill will create an unsustainable funding schedule that will lead to tax increases without solving the real problem.” A spokesman for the Democratic mayor slammed the Republican governor’s action as an “irresponsible and irrational decision.” “Instead of helping secure the future of our taxpayers and middle-class retirees, the governor chose to hold them hostage – just as he has done to social service providers, schoolchildren and universities across the state,” Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins said in a statement, referring to Rauner’s inability to broker a state budget deal for 21 months. Rauner’s action left Democrats with no ability to block his veto because the pension bailout passed in the previous session of the state General Assembly, which ended in mid-January, and the governor’s only options were to approve or reject the measure. But the city is pinning its hopes on an identical piece of legislation that passed the newly seated state Senate in late January and is awaiting action in the House, Collins said. ",1 "BURIED BY MEDIA: Aide To Leftist US Congressman Sander Levin (D-MI) Arrested For Brutally Beating Male Lover With Shovel… “I want to kill you. Die dirty faggy”Just when you thought Muslims had cornered the market on abusing gays! Since you won t see this story in the mainstream media. Please feel free to share it Baltimore City Police arrested an aide to Rep. Sander M. Levin, D-Mich., at around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 8 for criminal domestic violence charges.Tim Foster, a native of Henderson, Ky., brutally beat his male lover with a small black and red shovel, according to a police report obtained by CQ Roll Call, leaving the victim hospitalized with abrasions and bruises on his upper back, neck and torso.The dispute started around 12:30 a.m. inside a Northwest Baltimore home, when Foster, 32, got into a verbal argument with the 39-year-old black male identified as his boyfriend.Foster put his boyfriend in a choke hold and stated, I want to kill you. Die dirty faggy, the man later told police. Foster released him, then allegedly grabbed a stainless kitchen knife. As the boyfriend fled toward the stairs, Foster chased him and warned, When you reach the fifth step, I am going to stab you. Foster lunged at his boyfriend with the knife. But Foster s wife got in the way and the knife then fell to the floor, the report states.The boyfriend told police he attempted to escape the property, but was again assaulted by Foster. This time, Foster struck him in his upper back with a small black and red shovel. Foster continued to assault the man until he got into his vehicle, the report states.Police responded to Union Memorial Hospital, where they spoke to the victim.Foster was placed under arrest early Thursday morning, and locked up in the Baltimore County Detention Center. The shovel was submitted as evidence.Court records show Foster was committed overnight, then released. He faces second degree assault and dangerous weapons charges.Levin has employed Foster for seven years. Foster started his current post, as online communication manager, in May 2013. In the wake of the incident, he was placed on unpaid leave.Via: Roll Call",0 "4 THINGS THE MEDIA WON’T TELL YOU About “Oppressed” Anti-American NFL QB Colin KaepernickSan Fransisco 49er s quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during the national anthem during a recent NFL football game. He claimed he would no longer stand for a flag that represents a country who oppresses blacks. Does he even know what oppression is?1). Kaepernick coincidentally converted to Islam only two months ago.2). He is engaged to Nessa Diab, a Black Lives Matter activist who promotes what she calls authentic Islam. The Kaepernick s will also have a traditional Muslim wedding.3). Kaepernick was abandoned by his black family as a child and was adopted by a white family. Did he suffer like he claims or was he taken care of when no one else wanted him? You only hear him talking tough now because something else is driving his anti-American anger.4).To date, Kaepernick has donated $0 (ZERO) to Black Lives Matter or any other group affiliated with helping minorities. His net worth is estimated to be over $100 million, yet he has donated zero dollars to the issues he claims to be so passionate about. When the National Anthem is played, I salute because I am a black man born and raised in the inner city afforded the opportunity for greatness in my own right. May you seek God s forgiveness and find humility, because we, the people are not going to forget what you did and said. Conservative Daily PostFormer US Rep., Allen West had these tough words for anti-American pro-BLM Colin Kaepernick: BLM activists are thugs that vandalize cities and collect welfare checks while our veterans are sleeping under a bridge overpass because they fought for Kaepernick to have the freedom to utter ignorant remarks like he did. ",0 "HIGH-LEVEL WHISTLEBLOWER Exposes Astonishing Evidence Of Exaggerated Global Warming Data Used To DUPE World Leaders Into Investing BillionsThis isn t the first time scientists have been caught manipulating evidence in their quest to convince the world global, warming, cooling, climate change is real, and it certainly won t be the last.Thank goodness for whistleblowers The UK Daily Mail on Sunday today revealed astonishing evidence that the organization that is the world s leading source of climate data rushed to publish a landmark paper that exaggerated global warming and was timed to influence the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.A high-level whistleblower has told this newspaper that America s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) breached its own rules on scientific integrity when it published the sensational but flawed report, aimed at making the maximum possible impact on world leaders including Barack Obama and David Cameron at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015.The report claimed that the pause or slowdown in global warming in the period since 1998 revealed by UN scientists in 2013 never existed, and that world temperatures had been rising faster than scientists expected. Launched by NOAA with a public relations fanfare, it was splashed across the world s media, and cited repeatedly by politicians and policy makers.But the whistleblower, Dr John Bates, a top NOAA scientist with an impeccable reputation, has shown The Mail on Sunday irrefutable evidence that the paper was based on misleading, unverified data.It was never subjected to NOAA s rigorous internal evaluation process which Dr Bates devised.His vehement objections to the publication of the faulty data were overridden by his NOAA superiors in what he describes as a blatant attempt to intensify the impact of what became known as the Pausebuster paper.His disclosures are likely to stiffen President Trump s determination to enact his pledges to reverse his predecessor s green policies, and to withdraw from the Paris deal so triggering an intense political row. Daily Mail ",0 Report: NSA among worst offenders of mass surveillance,1 "‘COVER THE REAL NEWS!’ Heated Debate on CNN’s Obsession With Trump Tweets [Video]Alisyn Camerota sparred with Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA) over President Donald Trump s weekend tweet of a video in which he beats Vince McMahon with a CNN graphic superimposed on the WWE commissioner s face.Notice how Camerota just keeps on going even though Taylor shuts her down with so much truth! He s awesome! Camerota is a political hack who has one agenda she only wants to make President Trump look bad. In interview after interview, she blatantly attacks Trump and his administration. Who knows why Trump supporters attempt an interview with Camerota!OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON CAMEROTA:TRUMP PRESS SECRETARY Calls Out CNN S CAMEROTA For Unbelievable Questions : I know it s frustrating for you that we re doing it in a logical way [Video]Wow! This interview is hysterical! Sean Spicer runs circles around political hack Camerota It gets good around the 3:30 mark I know it s frustrating for you that we re doing it in a logical way, Sean Spicer to Allison Camerota https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6mzC5kPR3sCamerota just can t break Spicer He s too good at debate. ",0 Brazil's tourism minister resigns weeks before Olympics,0 Mcafee goes off the grid Jason Bourne style,0 " ‘He’s Not Doing What I Thought’: Voters Pissed Off Over Wasting Their Vote On Trump (VIDEO)During a sit down with Trump voters, CNN got their take on the alleged president s first 100 days. With polls showing Trump as the most unpopular president in history, some of the former reality show star s most ardent supporters have stood by him but others are fed up. One Trump supporter has had it with Trump s broken promises, such as the vow to work on the opioid epidemic spreading across America. Another Trump voter, Scott McCommons, said that he was disappointed with Trump s first 100 days, calling it was a disaster. He s got enough time to get on Twitter, and rant and rave, and on top of that lie on Twitter, he said. I voted for the man to make America great again, and I m willing to give him a chance, but he s not doing what I thought, that he made promises at rallies that I went to. I expected him to work a little harder [on health care], he continued. Be a little more reasonable instead of threatening people. That s unpresidential. I voted to send him to Washington strictly because I thought he would make change, nobody would push him around. He s used his power against people, I think that s wrong. gt s been a disaster, I think, in the first 100 days. If I were to vote tomorrow, I would not vote for him, he added.Watch courtesy of CNN:As the CNN host pointed out, Trump campaigned as the ultimate deal maker. One strong supporter of Trump s blamed House Speaker Paul Ryan for that. McCommons said Trump isn t willing to sit down at the table and negotiate. If only Trump supporters were warned that the alleged billionaire was a con man. Oh wait, they were. And now, here we are having to deal with a hot mess as Donald Trump once again targets millions of Americans health care while still insisting that Mexico will pay for his vanity-wall.Image via screen capture",0 Martin Winterkorn resigns as Volkswagen CEO,0 SEAN SPICER CALLS OUT Race Baiting Journalist: “Stop Shaking Your Head Again” [Video] ,0 "Russia to blame for 'hot war' in Ukraine: U.S. special envoyKIEV (Reuters) - Russian aggression is to blame for violence in eastern Ukraine, where people are dying in what should be seen as a “hot war” rather than a “frozen conflict”, the U.S. special envoy to the Ukraine peace talks said on a visit to Ukraine on Sunday. Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, was appointed to his current role on July 7 to help resolve the conflict between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists, which has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014. Washington cites the conflict as a key obstacle to better relations with Russia. On a visit to the Ukrainian-held town of Kramatorsk, 690 km (430 miles) southeast of Kiev, Volker said he would prepare a set of recommendations on how Washington can better engage with the peace process. “This is not a frozen conflict, this is a hot war, and it’s an immediate crisis that we all need to address as quickly as possible,” he said. Relations between Ukraine and Russia went into freefall after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the subsequent outbreak of a pro-Russian insurgency in the eastern Donbass region. Ukraine accuses Russian of sending in its own soldiers and military equipment, which Moscow denies. Volker replied in the affirmative when asked whether he saw the conflict as being as the result of Russian aggression rather than internal Ukrainian factors. “We’ve seen what’s happened, we understand the way this conflict has begun, we understand the way it is being managed today, and that’s why it’s important that the United States become more engaged.” Fighting in the Donbass region has killed 12 people in a particularly bloody week, prompting Germany and France to urge immediate progress in implementing ceasefire agreements signed in Belarus in 2015 that are regularly flouted. Leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia will speak by phone on Monday to discuss the conflict. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in early July that Russia must make the first move to bring peace to Ukraine, which President Petro Poroshenko called a powerful signal of Washington’s backing. A career diplomat, Volker is a former aide to Republican Senator John McCain, a Russia hawk who wants the United States to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, a move the previous administration under Barack Obama shied away from. ",1 Violent crime rises by 27% after killings hit a five-year high in the UK,1 "ITER nuclear fusion project faces delay over Trump budget cutsPARIS (Reuters) - ITER, an international project to build a prototype nuclear fusion reactor in southern France, said it is facing delays if the Trump administration does not reconsider budget cuts. Seven partners - Europe, the United States, China, India, Japan, Russia and South Korea - launched the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) 10 years ago but the project has experienced years of delays and budget overruns. ITER hopes to generate power from a process similar to the nuclear fusion that powers the sun, unlike existing nuclear reactors that produce energy by splitting atoms. ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot, in Washington for talks with the U.S. administration, said the U.S. 2017 contribution had been cut from a planned $105 million to $50 million and its 2018 contribution from a planned $120 million to $63 million. The United States has already spent about $1 billion on the prototype reactor and was scheduled to contribute up to another $1.5 billion through 2025, when ITER is scheduled to run a first operational test. If we do not respect deadlines in the beginning, we cannot respect them in the end, Bigot told Reuters by telephone. Bigot said that following a letter from French President Emmanuel Macron to President Donald Trump in August, Trump had asked his administration to reconsider the issue. We hope for a decision this weekend or this week, he said. If the U.S. does not provide the necessary funds in 2018, then there will be an impact on the entire project, he added. Earlier this year, ITER s total budget was revised upwards from 18 to 22 billion euros ($21-26 billion), with a U.S. share of nine percent. The Trump administration is conducting a review of civilian nuclear policy, including research and development, which will inform U.S. policy toward ITER in the future, said Shaylyn Hynes, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Energy. U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has told Macron that we understand the history and the scale of the project, she said. Bigot said that after Trump cut the U.S. energy department s budget, the department reduced funding for the U.S. companies making ITER components. ITER member countries finance the manufacturing of ITER components via their own national companies. The parts are then shipped to France and assembled on ITER s Cadarache, southern France site. ITER s main U.S. supplier is California-based General Atomics, which is building its central solenoid, an 18-metre tall pillar-like magnet that will be one of the first components to be installed by 2020. The project is now half way towards the first test of its super-heated plasma by 2025 and first full-power fusion by 2035. ITER says nuclear fusion will not produce nuclear waste like traditional nuclear power plants and will be much safer to operate. But the challenges of replicating the sun s fusion on earth are enormous and critics say that it remains unclear whether the technology will work and can eventually be commercially viable. ",1 A woman who suffered severe facial burns during the 7/7 terror attacks in London five years ago is showing off her new face to the world,1 Nigerian cook survives two days under sea in shipwreck air bubble,0 "WHY TRUMP SUPPORTERS ARE LAUGHING After WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Announces What He Has On TrumpFans of #CrookedHillary are not going to like this WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said that the information they have on Donald Trump is not more controversial material than what comes out of Donald Trump s mouth every second day. We do have some information about the Republican campaign, Assange said. I mean, it s from a point of view of an investigative journalist organization like WikiLeaks, the problem with the Trump campaign is it s actually hard for us to publish much more controversial material than what comes out of Donald Trump s mouth every second day, I mean, that s a very strange reality for most of the media to be in. Assange has also claimed he has further information relating to Hillary Clinton that he plans to release closer to the November election.Assange alluded to what information the October surprise as it is now being called may contain saying, I don t want to give the game away, but it s a variety of documents from different types of institutions that are associated with the election campaign, some quite unexpected angles, some quite interesting, some even entertaining. Assange isn t focusing entirely on Clinton however, urging anyone with information on Trump to come forward, If anyone has any information that is from inside the Trump campaign, which is authentic, it s not like some claimed witness statement but actually internal documentation, we d be very happy to receive and publish it, he said on NPR s Morning Edition in August. Breitbart News",0 UAE confirms oil tanker attack,0 " White Supremacist Stabbed Interracial Couple, Wanted To Go To Trump RallyAn interracial couple in Olympia, Washington, was stabbed by a man sporting white supremacist tattoos and markings. The attacker appeared to have racist feelings and spoke out against Black Lives Matter, according to an account of his questioning by police.The accused, 32-year-old Daniel Rowe, had tattoos on his body reading skinhead, white power, and in the shape of the Confederate flag. The man in the couple he went after sustained non-life threatening injuries while the woman was grazed by his knife in the attack.Upon his arrest, Rowe allegedly told police that he had gone downtown after hearing about anti-police graffiti that had been put up Sunday night, according to court documents. He reportedly told police that if he were let go, he would head to a Donald Trump rally and stomp out more of the Black Lives Matter group. This has all the hallmarks of a hate crime, said Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Wheeler. This black-and-white couple was simply expressing their love for one another, he added.Black Lives Matter has been demonized both by conservative politicians and right-wing media like Fox News Channel, where host Bill O Reilly has compared the movement to the Ku Klux Klan.This is not the first apparent hate crime to be connected to Trump s campaign. In addition to various non-criminal incidents around the country, a Latino man in Massachusetts was beaten up by Trump fans as they cited the candidate and discussed deporting him.Trump himself has directed his rally attendees to be violent towards protesters, including those there on behalf of Black Lives Matter. Trump publicly offered to pay the legal bills for one man who punched a protester, and cheered on the idea of punching people who disrupt his events.By comparison, Hillary Clinton has said black lives matter, and has featured mothers who have lost a child as a result of police brutality as part of her campaign as the Mothers of the Movement. They spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this summer.Featured image via screen capture",0 "U.S. backs re-election of Honduran president despite vote controversyWASHINGTON/TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The United States on Friday backed the re-election of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez despite widespread misgivings about the vote count, prompting the opposition candidate to describe his bid for the presidency as a lost cause. The Honduran electoral tribunal declared Hernandez winner of the Nov. 26 election last weekend amid strident opposition protests over the vote count in the impoverished Central American country, which is a major hub for drug trafficking. The vote tally had initially clearly favored opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla, a center-leftist, but it swung in favor of the incumbent after a 36-hour delay. After the United States weighed in, Nasralla was pessimistic about his chances of winning support in Honduras, claiming in an interview with Reuters that the nation s supreme court and electoral tribunal are in Hernandez s camp. But he maintained that he had a path to victory at the international level, noting the Organization of American States (OAS) had called for new elections to resolve the dispute. Nationally, we think it s a lost cause, he told Reuters. But internationally, we are confident that the OAS, which understands the great fraud in Honduras, will take action so that they repeat the elections. Earlier in the day, Nasralla appeared all but ready to bow out of the race, saying in an interview with TV network France TV that his political career was over. The situation is practically decided, he told the network. I no longer have anything to do in politics, but the people, which are 80 percent in my favor, will continue the fight. The United States followed Mexico and other Latin American countries in supporting Hernandez, who has been a reliable U.S. ally. The U.S. State Department congratulated Hernandez and said Honduras should pursue a long-term effort to heal the political divide in the country and enact much-needed electoral reforms, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. The Honduras election tribunal s declaration in Hernandez s favor last week sparked violent protests in Honduras, and the OAS s call for new elections has been rejected by the Honduran government. Nasralla had been backed by former President Manuel Zelaya, a leftist who was ousted in a 2009 coup after he proposed a referendum on his re-election, which was barred by the constitution at the time. But Zelaya said Friday that Nasralla was no longer a member of his alliance. Nasralla said that he had no need for party membership anymore. I am the president elect of all Hondurans, he said. It no longer makes sense to belong to the Alliance. The streets of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa and other major cities were largely calm on Friday with a few protests cleared by the armed forces. By mid-week some 27 people had died in clashes, according to local human rights group COFADEH. The State Department called for all sides to refrain from violence, for those who wish to challenge the result to use legal means, and for the government to ensure that security services respect the rights of peaceful protesters. It also called for the electoral tribunal to transparently and fully review any challenges filed by political parties. Hernandez has led a military crackdown against gangs in the Central American country, and Honduras notoriously high murder rate has slid since he took power in 2014. Nasralla, a television host, traveled to Washington this week to urge the United States not to recognize the vote, but a senior State Department official said on Wednesday the government had not seen any evidence that would alter the vote s outcome. Nasralla said the U.S. decision reflected Washington s strategic concerns over a leftist government in Honduras. They re afraid of losing Honduras, he told local television. ",1 "China-made truck used in North Korea parade to show submarine-launched missileSEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea used Chinese-made trucks to display missiles at a massive military parade last week, according to photographs released by state media, underlining the difficulty in enforcing U.N. sanctions against the isolated state. At Saturday’s parade to mark the 105th birth anniversary of founder president Kim Il Sung, North Korea displayed six Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) for the first time, towed behind trucks painted in North Korean navy camouflage. In the photographs, the logo of Chinese firm Sinotruk can be seen on the vehicles. Last year, Reuters reported that North Korea was using Sinotruk HOWO trucks to display a new mobile artillery system. A Sinotruk sales official said on Tuesday he was not aware the company’s trucks had been used in this year’s parade. “From my understanding, we haven’t had any business with the North Korean market since last year; North Korea has never been a major focus of ours,” said the official, who gave only his last name, Gu. “It may have been from before then and they refitted it themselves.” China and North Korea maintain “normal contacts, including normal business contacts”, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, when asked about the trucks. “At the same time, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China strictly adheres to its international responsibilities, including those from Security Council resolutions,” Lu told a daily news briefing. Since 2006, it has been against United Nations sanctions to ship military hardware into North Korea but control of equipment and vehicles that have “dual-use” military and civilian applications has been far less stringent. It is also much harder to track. North Korean state media has in the past released images of Sinotruk chassis and cabins in propaganda related to construction or mining. A U.N. report which noted the use of the trucks in the display of mobile artillery last year did not name Sinotruk, but said that the Chinese seller had included a “clear clause” in its deal with the North Korean buyer that the trucks were to be for civilian use only. North Korea also appeared to reveal two new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) during Saturday’s parade. One was mounted on a large off-road truck which was identified in an earlier U.N. report as being of Chinese origin. In a 2010 statement sent to China, North Korea’s forestry ministry said the trucks were bought to transport timber, according to the U.N. report. The second of the two ICBMs was mounted on a North Korean-branded “Taekpaeksan” military truck which used tyres made by China-based Triangle Group, according to photos of the parade seen by Reuters. Triangle Group, a major tyre manufacturer headquartered in Weihai, a port city in eastern Shandong province, said it was not aware its tyres had been used in the military parade. “It’s possible they were resold from somewhere else,” an official from Triangle’s export department said. ",1 "Britain's ""Madame Brexit"" tells Poland: Your constitution is your own matterWARSAW (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May gave Poland a rare dose of big power support on Thursday by saying that its constitution was its own affair, a sharply different tone to that of the European Union which has scolded Warsaw over judicial reforms. The EU executive launched an unprecedented action against Poland on Wednesday, calling on other EU member states to prepare to sanction Warsaw if it fails to reverse judicial reforms that Brussels says pose a threat to democracy. When asked about the Commission s move to deploy the nuclear option under Article 7 of the 2009 Lisbon treaty, May said: These constitutional issues are normally, and should be primarily a matter for the individual country concerned. Speaking alongside Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw, May said: Across Europe we have collective belief in the rule of law. I welcome the fact that Prime Minister Morawiecki has indicated that he will be speaking with the European Commission and I hope that that will lead to a satisfactory resolution. While the EU executive has censured Polish ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski s push to have control of judicial appointments, May is seeking to court Poland as an ally in Brexit negotiations and key military partner against Russia. Poland has said reforms are necessary while like-minded allies in Hungary have indicated they will veto the ultimate sanction of suspending Poland s voting rights in the bloc. At one point, a translator s slip made Morawiecki appear to cast May as Madame Brexit , though in fact he said in Polish: as Madame PM said, Brexit is Brexit . May said Britain and Poland had signed a defense and security cooperation treaty which deepens cooperation on training, information sharing and capability development. On the eve of a visit by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to Moscow, May said Vladimir Putin s Kremlin was trying to weaponise information and undermine a rules-based international system. We are both deeply concerned by Russia s attempts to weaponise information, she told reporters. The Kremlin is seeking to undermine the international rules-based system and it will not succeed. Morawiecki said he hoped France and Germany were aiming to work out the best solution with Britain as it leaves the EU I have deep hopes and conviction that our French and German partners aim to work out the best solution in this new, not easy situation that we are in with respect to Brexit, Morawiecki said. ",1 Over 70% of Everest glacier may be lost by 2100,1 "Gunmen have kidnapped a 28-year-old woman who was the last police officer in the town of Guadalupe, Mexico. About 10 unidentified gunmen set fire to the home of Erika Gandara and torched both cars parked outside for good measure before abducting her...",1 "Trump says North Korea's Kim insulted him by calling him 'old'HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said in a tweet on Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had insulted him by calling him old and said he would never call Kim short and fat. Trump made the comment after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam. In a series of tweets he also said Chinese President Xi Jinping was upping sanctions on North Korea in response to its nuclear and missile programs and that Xi wanted Pyongyang to denuclearize. During Trump s visit to Beijing last week Xi reiterated that China would strive for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula but offered no hint it would change tack on North Korea, with which it fought side by side in the 1950-53 Korean war against U.S.-led forces. One of Trump s tweets read: Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me old, when I would NEVER call him short and fat? Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen! Speaking later in Vietnam s capital, Hanoi, Trump said it would be very, very nice if he and Kim became friends. That might be a strange thing to happen but it s a possibility, he said. Trump has traded insults and threats with Kim in the past amid escalating tension over Pyongyang s nuclear and missile programs as North Korea races toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States -something Trump has vowed to prevent. North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb test on Sept. 3, prompting another round of U.N. sanctions. In September Kim described Trump as a mentally deranged U.S. dotard whom he would tame with fire. His comments came after Trump threatened in his maiden United Nations address to totally destroy the country of 26 million people if the United States were threatened. After North Korea s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho addressed the U.N. General Assembly in September Trump tweeted: Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won t be around much longer! North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions. It has vowed to never give up its weapons programs, saying they are necessary to counter hostility from the United States and its allies. The United States has said that all options, including military, are on the table, although its preference is for a diplomatic solution. ",1 "Anti-Gun Hypocrites Bash David Beckham’s Son for Posing with a Gun in Photo ShootDavid Beckham s son posed with a gun in a modeling photo shoot. No big deal, right? Well, not so much to the big hypocrites on the left. He s being hammered on social media for holding a prop gun we kid you not! Does anyone out there recall the gazillion times guns have been used in photo shoots as props see below)? Lordy, these anti-gun whack jobs are losing it over THIS?!The 18-year-old son of Victoria and David Beckham was slammed on social media for posing in pictures with a gun for a shoot with Damon Baker.BROOKLYN BECKHAM HOLDING A GUN IN A PHOTO SHOOTIT S A PROP!Pop Culture reported:One Instagram user wrote, Look up Gun Violence Survivors Foundation. You should go and talk to a few of them. Maybe posing with a gun would not seem so cool. While another said, Not sure what you were thinking Brooklyn, but I suggest you make better decisions in the future. Do not promote guns as art. Despite many negative comments, the photo shoot mesmerized some of his fans. If only there were that many of @brooklynbeckham in real life, you would make every young girl so happy #clonemachine. Although the Parsons School of Design student did delete one image that featured the weapon, he still kept the collage of smaller images that show him holding and pointing a gun.THE PHOTOGRAPHER HAD TO COME OUT AND EXPLAIN HIMSELF OY VEY!Just one of so many pictures of artists holding guns as props:JayZ can do it but Brooklyn Beckham can t? ",0 "EU's Tusk says 'good deal' or 'no deal' on Brexit up to LondonBRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that it was up to Britain to determine if there was to be a good deal or no deal in Brexit talks. We have managed to build and maintain unity among the 27, but ahead of us is still the toughest stress test. If we fail it, the negotiations will end in our defeat. We must keep our unity regardless of the direction of the talks. The EU will be able to rise to every scenario as long as we are not divided, Tusk, who chairs summits of EU leaders, told the European Parliament. It is in fact up to London how this will end, with a good deal, no deal or no Brexit but in each of these scenarios we will protect our common interests only by being together, he said. ",1 "BREAKING: Hillary Clinton’s Deleted E-mails Found By FBI On Her ServerOops! Hillary Clinton thought her server was wiped clean but it appears as though KARMA has arrived on the scene. The FBI has Clinton s e-mails! Maybe she ll finally be held accountable for Benghazi. This is going to get very interesting.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has successfully recovered personal and work emails from Hillary Clinton s private email server, according to a new report.Sources told Bloomberg News that some of Clinton s emails have been extracted from the server, thus disproving the claim that Clinton managed to wipe her server clean after she deleted all of her emails earlier this year.Therefore, some of the emails that Clinton deleted the ones that she determined were NOT relevant to federal investigations are now in the hands of the FBI.The federal investigation, therefore, is now out of Clinton s control.Outside computer specialists have said the FBI has the technical capability to recover deleted e-mails. The exact number of personal e-mails recovered by the FBI could not be learned. Once the e-mails have been extracted, a group of agents has been separating personal correspondence and passing along work-related messages to agents leading the investigation, the person said. Since the existence of the e-mail system became public in March, Clinton has seen her standing in polls slide, particularly in regards to questions about her trustworthiness. She also has been heavily criticized by congressional Republicans who have raised questions over whether the private server jeopardized the security of sensitive data. Internal government watchdogs have determined that classified information ended up on the system. Their findings sparked the FBI inquiry.Read more: Bloomberg News ",0 Baghdad: A suicide bomber killed at least 28 people - detonating a belt of explosives as police distributed aid to a crowd of homeless families.,1 "North Korea 'plotted to kill high profile defector' . Two North Koreans, said to have been posing as defectors themselves, have been arrested on suspicion of being on a mission to kill Hwang Jang-yop.",1 "Mexico is in Freefall - With cartels taking over cities and killing all anti-drug officials, the country is crying out for help but is unlikely to get it from the US",0 "AMBASSADOR CHRIS STEVENS’ Fiancé Speaks Out About Hillary Leaving Him To Die: “If he was a friend, you don’t let a friend down” [VIDEO]It s amazing that Hillary will likely never be held accountable for the deaths of four brave Americans in Benghazi. So many family members and loved ones will have to live the rest of their lives knowing they will never see these men again, while the person responsible is the front-runner in the Democrat party for President of the United States. You just can t make this stuff up Former Fianc of Ambassador Chris Stevens and actress and model Lydie Denier joined Steve Malzberg on Newsmax TV to discuss her memory of the late Libyan Ambassador.Ambassador Chris Stevens was murdered on September 11, 2012 in an Islamist terrorist attack.Lydie weigh in on Benghazi, and her piece: A Voice for Ambassador Chris Stevens. She told Steve Hillary should have done a better job.Lydie Denier: As far as Hillary Clinton, it would take more than six minutes to say how I feel. But, obviously you know how I feel. I think she should have done a better job for security. And, not ignoring his requests for security. If he was a friend, as she said, then you don t let a friend down. NewsMaxVia: Gateway Pundit ",0 "WOW! STARBUCKS CEO JUST ACCUSED Whites Of Committing Senseless Violence Against “people who are not white”…And He’s Getting DESTROYED On Social MediaThousands of Starbucks customers cut up their gold cards and boycotted their favorite coffee spot after Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz stuck his foot in his mouth, when he defended immigration of unvetted Muslims from terror hotbed nations to the US. Schultz was hammered on social media after offering to hire Syrian immigrants before Americans to prove his point about how inclusive he is.Well, it appears as though the arrogant leftist CEO of Starbucks has done it again. Howard Schultz tweeted from the Starbucks account: I know we re better than this. The bigotry, hatred, and senseless violence against people who are not white cannot stand. Howard Schultz ""I know we're better than this. The bigotry, hatred, and senseless violence against people who are not white cannot stand. Howard Schultz pic.twitter.com/JWpOmIV0H0 Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) August 16, 2017Who is we re Howard? Who exactly are you calling racists or bigots? Who has actually been committing the violence at pro-Trump and pro-freedom of speech rallies across America?Maybe it s these guys?Maybe he was referring to this white guy punching this black guy because he s supporting our president or because he s holding an American flag:Oops! Never mind that s a black guy punching a white guy.So tell us again Howard, what was it again you wanted your customers to know about violence against people who are not white?Here are just a few responses Schultz s ignorant and offensive tweet provoked:Howard Shultz violence against ANYONE can not stand! Anything less inclusive is bigotry. Anna-May Smith (@AnnaMaySmith1) August 17, 2017""against people who are not white cannot stand. Implies only whites are to blame. It is about a specific group, no backpeddaling. Michael (@wouldabeen) August 17, 2017Violence against whites is okay. No one cares about whites, they are just trash. White lives DON'T matter. So says Howard Schultz. Captain Skywarn (@n0jaa) August 17, 2017",0 "Canada warned that prisoners turned over to Afghanistan were sexually abused, beaten, stabbed, shocked, and burned.",1 "Russia, Iran sanctions bill hits roadblock in U.S. HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia and Iran that passed the U.S. Senate nearly unanimously last week has run into a procedural problem that could prevent a quick vote in the House of Representatives, lawmakers said on Tuesday. The Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act, which also includes new sanctions against Russia, passed the Senate 98-2 last week, an overwhelming vote that looked like it might complicate President Donald Trump’s desire for warmer relations with Moscow. But the measure must still pass the House before it can be sent to Trump to sign into law, or veto, and the House parliamentarian found that the legislation violated a constitutional requirement that any bill that raises revenue for the government must originate in the House, something known as a “blue slip” violation. “The final bill, and final language, violated the origination clause in the Constitution,” Representative Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters. Democrats suggested that Republicans were stalling the bill out of loyalty to Trump, whose administration has criticized the sanctions package as potentially too restrictive. In the past, Democrats said, House leaders had overcome such objections without discussion by quickly voting on identical versions of Senate legislation. “This is nothing but a delay tactic and the public shouldn’t be fooled by complex-sounding parliamentary procedure,” said Representative Eliot Engel, ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Republicans insisted it was a procedural, not a policy, matter, noting that the Russia amendment to the Iran bill was 100 pages long and passed in the Senate only last week. “I strongly support sanctions against Iran and Russia to hold them accountable,” Brady said. Brady said House leaders were working with the Senate and House Foreign Affairs Committee to determine how to proceed, but the Senate could address the issue by quickly updating the bill and sending it back to the House. Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a majority of 52 seats in the 100-member Senate, and a more commanding 238- to 193-seat margin in the House. Brady could not predict when the House might vote, including whether it would be before Congress’ summer recess starts at the end of July. Cory Fritz, a spokesman for Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, said the committee is reviewing the bill. ",1 "Five months after the devastating fire that killed more than 1,100 clothes factory staff in Bangladesh, an investigation by Panorama (BBC) has found evidence of employers abusing workers rights.",0 "Kerry tells State Department to cooperate with U.S. President-elect TrumpSYDNEY (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he had told State Department officials to fully cooperate with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. After Trump’s stunning upset of the heavily favored Hillary Clinton, Democratic President Barack Obama and leading figures in the Republican Party who had struggled to make peace with Trump all vowed to move past the ugliness of an angry campaign to seek common ground. Kerry said State Department staff must not lose sight of the important issues facing the United States. “One of the beautiful things of democracy - and we particularly pride ourselves in the United States - is that we have this amazing peaceful transfer of power,” Kerry told reporters in Christchurch, New Zealand. “And we will do everything in our power, as I have instructed our team, to work with the incoming administration as fully and openly as possible, to be as helpful as possible, so that the transfer of power will be as smooth as it possibly can without missing a beat on the important issues before us.” Kerry is in New Zealand en route to Antarctica. Last month 24 countries, which included the United States, and the European Union agreed to create the world’s largest marine park in the Antarctic Ocean. ",1 Police Chief in Mexcio beheaded,1 Germany Mulls Military Support for NATO's Eastern European States,1 "DIRTY COP WHO LEAKED Charges Against Former Trump Campaign Manager To CNN From SEALED Grand Jury Information Is RevealedOn June 15, 2016, President Trump warned Americans that we were witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history-led by some very bad and conflicted people! You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017Boy, was Trump ever correct!GP Robert Mueller continued with his now widely reported corrupt and criminal activities last night by leaking information sealed by the courts to CNN. This is just another corrupt and criminal act in Mueller s corrupt and criminal career.Last night we found out from information leaked to CNN that the Mueller investigation has filed charges in the ongoing superfluous investigation into President Trump and the far out possibility that he colluded with Russia in the 2016 election. CNN reported that:A federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter. The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge.In typical bad cop form, former FBI Head and current Special Counsel Mueller proved again that he is as dirty as it gets.Trump came out today after the crooked deep-state with these series of tweets:Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?), . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017 the Uranium to Russia deal, the 33,000 plus deleted Emails, the Comey fix and so much more. Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia, . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017 ""collusion,"" which doesn't exist. The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R's Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017 are now fighting back like never before. There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017Finally, President Trump insinuates that this phony Russian collusion talk is coming out as a distraction, when the Republicans are making their big push for historic Tax Cuts and Reform. Is this coincidental? NOT! All of this ""Russia"" talk right when the Republicans are making their big push for historic Tax Cuts & Reform. Is this coincidental? NOT! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017Mueller s career is littered with numerous investigations of major scandals and likely crimes that he did not meaningfully investigate as FBI Director resulting in no arrests and no consequences. All of these resulted in the Clintons and/or Obama Administration getting away with criminal activities:IRS Targeting (2010-2013): the IRS intentionally selected and then delayed or denied tax-exempt 501(c)(3) applications from conservative groups to prevent them from participating in the 2012 election, followed by IRS agent Lois Lerner invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. (No charges have been filed of any wrong doing by any government officials in this case.)Fast and Furious (2010): this ATF program, which seems to have served no rational purpose, allowed over 2,000 guns to be purchased illegally inside the United States and then walked into Mexico for use by criminals, one of which was later used in the 2010 murder of Border Agent Brian Terry by the member of a Mexican cartelAssociated Press Spying (2012): the Department of Justice illegally seized the communications of AP reporters made during April and May 2012, allowing the DOJ to unmask journalists confidential sourcesClinton Foundation Pay-for-Play (2009-2013): during the period in which Hillary Clinton held the office of Secretary of State, the Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton received millions of dollars in paid speaking fees and a million dollar gift from countries involved in matters with the State Department, many of which had ties to terrorism and human rights abuses; some of these funds were apparently diverted from charitable causes to personal expenses, such as Chelsea Clinton s 2010 wedding.Russian Uranium Deal (2009-2013): Hillary Clinton s State Department approved a deal allowing a Russian company to control 20% of the uranium mining production capacity inside the United States, which was followed by millions of dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation from people associated with the transaction. This past week information was reported that prior to the Obama administration approving the very controversial deal in 2010 giving Russia 20% of America s Uranium through the approved sale of Uranium One, the FBI had evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were involved in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering in order to benefit Vladimir Putin, says a report by The Hill. Mueller was the head of the FBI at this time! He was even hand picked by Hillary Clinton to hand over uranium to Russia on an airport tarmac at this time.Clinton Private Email Server (2009-2013): during her entire tenure as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton dodged Freedom of Information Act requirements by using a private email server to conduct official government business, as well as sent and received classified information that was Top Secret over an unsecured system an extremely reckless (and obviously illegal) act. Mueller s acceptance of the lead role in the investigation into Russia is another obvious example of his corrupt and criminal tendencies. Based on numerous accounts he has obvious conflicts of interest and even liberal publications like the USA Today have called for Mueller to step down as special prosecutor because of his conflicts of interest with the investigation he is carrying on. Now we know he took over the investigation in spite of his criminal activities in covering up the FBI investigation into Uranium One. A person of integrity would easily have seen his conflicts of interest and would recuse himself.Independent UK Donald Trump s former campaign Paul Manafort has said he has not been informed of any possible criminal charges against him, after it was reported the first indictments had been filed by the team investigating Russia s alleged meddling in the 2016 election.Reports said a grand jury working with Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, had approved the first charges to result from the ongoing probe that is looking at possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The reports, which have not specified what the charges are or who they were filed against, said a suspect could be taken into custody as soon as Monday.CNN, which broke the news, said the charges were filed on Friday and placed under a seal by a federal judge. Yet, that has not stopped a flurry of speculation as to who may be the focus of Mr Mueller s charges and the nature of them. ",0 "China has expanded export quotas for rare earth metals, further tightening its grip on the minerals used in a number of high-tech electronics.",0 " BREAKING: Clinton Bests Sanders In Nevada Caucus In Dead Heat RaceThe Hill is reporting that in a very tight Nevada Caucus race, Hillary Clinton has pulled out ahead of Bernie Sanders for the win. In the end, the tie in the 10th precinct was settled with a nod to Las Vegas by drawing cards. Clinton had an ace, while Sanders had a 10. Wall Street Journal reporter Reid J. Epstein tweeted the tie-breaking result, complete with a photo of the 10th precinct s chair, Peggy Rhoads, showing the card result.Pahrump precinct chair Peggy Rhoads with the cards drawn in tied Precinct 10. Hillary's ace beat Bernie's six. pic.twitter.com/7RZMF9IOVH Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) February 20, 2016There are sure to be people who don t like this win, just as there were regarding the situation in Iowa, but the winning card draw gave Clinton an extra delegate, thus handing her the win over Sanders.The race has been a dead heat right up until the end, and was too close to call for the entire Nevada Caucus process. Either way, fair is fair, and Hillary Clinton wins Nevada.Featured image via AI archives",0 "Insider Firm ‘FlashPoint’ tied to Orlando Shooting, Now Investigating DDoS Hack on AmericaShawn Helton 21st Century WireIn the wake of the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that targeted many online companies and news agencies last week such as Amazon, Netflix, CNN and The New York Times, we learned that the threat intelligence firm Flashpoint assumed the lead public relations role in the media after the event just as they did following the highly suspicious Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando this past the summer. Flashpoint is said to be investigating the nature of the alleged hacker DDoS attacks against the networks of the internet traffic management company Dyn and many others just days ago.Later in this report, we ll focus our attention on the uncanny ties between the firm Flashpoint, the Orlando Shooting and the massive internet related outage this past week.But first things first, let s review elements of the recent DDoS attack in America CYBER GAMES The DDoS attack story falls in line with a designer western political agenda. (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)On October 21st, the technology blog Engadget discussed the cyber attacks that led to an internet outage across America and other parts of the world: Today s nation-wide internet outage was enabled thanks to a Mirai botnet that hacked into connected home devices, according to security intelligence company Flashpoint. The distributed denial of service attack targeted Dyn, a large domain name server, and took down Twitter, Spotify, Reddit, The New York Times, Pinterest, PayPal and other major websites. Flashpoint has observed Mirai attack commands issued against Dyn infrastructure, Flashpoint writes. Analysts are still investigating the potential impact of this activity and it is not yet clear if other botnets are involved. The Engadget article mentioned above, further explained that security experts had been prepping the public for an eventual Mirai malware attack since its code open-source was leaked: The author of the Mirai malware made its code open-source, and security experts have been warning of a possible large-scale attack since this information came to light. In another media supplied back story the coming launch of Mirai was discussed through the security based website managed by Brian Krebs, on KrebsOnSecurity who ironically, have twice been the victim of cyber attacks over the years: The source code that powers the Internet of Things (IoT) botnet responsible for launching the historically large distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against KrebsOnSecurity last month has been publicly released. Interestingly, according to Bradley Barth, a senior reporter for the IT security online magazine SC, the Mirai (supposedly leaked on September 30th) contains a very unique subset of characteristics that will not attack certain IP addresses such as the Department of Defense (DoD), the US Postal Service and consumer giant General Electric (GE) due to its coding: An Imperva analysis of the source code revealed several unique traits, including a hardcoded blacklist of IPs that the adversary did not want to attack, perhaps in order to keep a low profile. Some of these IPs belonged to the Department of Defense, the U.S. Postal Service and General Electric (GE). Though SC claims that the makers of Mirai may have been trying to keep a low profile, the recent DDoS attack attributed to the malware was as high-profile as you can get so this begs the question, what was the real reason the malware creators put an IP blockade on the DoD, the Postal Service and GE?Is it possible the malware originated from whitehat hackers associated with the US government, or from a major US defense contractor like GE?Politico disclosed that the hacktivist avatar known as the New World Hackers and Anonymous (now a ubiquitous brand which could be anyone or anything) were responsible for the DDoS attack on Twitter and others, adding that U.S. officials preached caution, arguing there is still scant evidence to determine who is behind the attack, warning that both groups have falsely taken credit for high-profile attacks in the past. Flashpoint then declared that the group were imposters, as the article then referenced Obama s recent far-fetched claims that Russia is somehow meddling with US elections through proxy hackers once again, without offering any definitive proof.Mainstream media pundits, including those at CNN, were also quick to dismiss the New World Hackers as an illegitimate group who had falsely taken credit for hacks in the past. Less than 24 hours after the nationwide DDoS cyberattack, former Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush, Fran Townsend, (left photo) reignited the ever popular blame Russia meme (as we predicted) in a CBS article: CBS News homeland security consultant Fran Townsend pointed to Russia as a possible instigator. Is this sort of a brushback pitch from the Russians sending us a message that we should be pretty careful about engaging in this sort of cyberactivity with them because they are very capable, she said. Townsend, also made the rounds on media after the bizarre anomaly ridden Nice Attack, pushing the mainstream narrative.In our first report regarding the alleged hack on America, we discussed the DDoS event and how it would be politicized by the media and US officials to blame Russia, feeding into the false claims that the Kremlin is somehow tampering with the 2016 US elections. We also talked about how the incident might be used to push a newer and more restrictive Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate doppelg nger, the PROTECT IP Act aka PIPA dual provisions aimed at restricting the use of copyrighted material on the internet, which could have vast implications on free speech. It is also important to reiterate that one of the main issues concerning the US government as the cyberspshere grows is ISP governance which is code for making ISP comply to any unlawful requests by Federal authorities including cutting internet access to individuals or organizations deemed to be undesirable by the state.Last week s choreographed cyber attack on popular websites and companies that allegedly spread through the Mirai botnet malware via the Internet of Things (IoT), has opened up another aspect of the story. This part of the narrative, appears to prey on the fears of the general public as IoT devices have become increasingly connected, setting the stage for new security protocols and new cyber security products to be conveniently rolled out at any future date following a cyber crisis.It should be mentioned that the security firm Flashpoint was front and center (along with the internet performance company DYN) weighing in on the situation prior to any US intelligence agency making an official statement.Flashpoint operates as an intelligence watchdog, as well as an intelligence asset, in addition to playing a PR role for some recent large-scale incidents but who are they really? PUZZLE PIECE The security firm Flashpoint delves into the deep dark web for its clients. Screen Shot Image Source: (flashpoint-intel.com)Meet FlashpointAccording to Flashpoint s own website, they are a private cybersecurity firm that is composed of a diverse crew of white-hat hackers, engineers, analysts, salespeople, marketers, and operations specialists [who] are fearlessly problem-solving as we change the way organizations evaluate risk. The clandestine firm adds that their premium Business Risk Intelligence solutions afford superlative access and visibility into opaque areas of the Internet, empowering our clients to defend themselves against various cyber and physical threats. While looking into Flashpoint s investor section, we learn that the American venture capital firm Greycroft Partners is listed among those contributing to the security firm. It turns out that Greycroft is also a large campaign contributor to the Clinton campaign, as discussed by Huffinton Post: At least eight hedge funders are listed as Clinton fundraisers, collecting more than $100,000 each for the campaign. These include Blair Effron of Centerview Partners, Marc Lasry of Avenue Capital Group, Orin Kramer of Boston Provident, Charles Myers of Evercore, Deven Parekh of Insight Venture Partners, Alan Patricof of Greycroft Partners, and Lisa Perry, who is married to Perry Capital CEO Richard Perry. FLARE UP Here s Flashpoint s mission statement. (Screen Shot Image Source: (flashpoint-intel.com)While Greycroft s contributions to the Clinton campaign are somewhat of a sidebar to the recent internet outage attack, it does represent another uncanny business and political connection that links a secretive firm (Flashpoint) that appears to be taking a large role in steering the public s perception over certain incidents occurring in America. You have to wonder if this is really just a coincidence?By this, we can see just how tight the elite inner circle is, with a small collective of corporate and media gatekeeper and their political operatives all carefully stage-managing the narrative around almost every high-profile controversial event in America, and also in Europe too.From America s largest mass shooting to America s largest Internet outage?On June 24th, less than two weeks after the Orlando shooting at Pulse Nightclub, Flashpoint was said to have acted as a translator for al Qaeda s terror publication Inspire, which according to the security-based firm, appeared to be claiming some responsibility for the shooting even though the purported shooter Omar Mateen was allegedly linked to ISIS.The NBC report stated the following on June 24th: Flashpoint co-founder Evan Kohlmann, an NBC terrorism analyst pointed out that even though Mateen cited ISIS as the inspiration for the attack, al Qaeda seemed to be claiming some responsibility because it has called for lone wolf attacks against the West. Kohlmann said the statement which lauded Mateen as a heroic lone jihad holy warrior appears to be an official Inspire release. But he said it was far less professional than others, including one after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings that went to great lengths to praise the Tsarnaev brothers, who said they learned to make their explosive devices from another Inspire publication. The purported terror publication Inspire has come under fire in recent years as some critics charge that the magazine may actually be a CIA creation, something which is echoed through its ties to the dubious AQAP terror operation.During our summertime investigation into the suspicious events at the Orlando Pulse nightclub, we found evidence that Omar Mateen s worldwide security firm G4S was a client of the crisis staging company called Crisis Cast. The following is a passage from that report: Truth is often stranger than fiction when looking at the bizarre phenomena surrounding many mass casualty incidents and the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting was no exception.It was recently revealed that the world s largest security firm G4S, who had employed the man named in the Orlando pulse nightclub shooting, Omar Mateen is a client of the mass casualty staging company called CrisisCast. STAGING REALITY CrisisCast specializes in replicating mass casualty events. (Screen Shot Image Source crisiscast)Casting Crisis & Training for Disaster The heavily-stylized company CrisisCast, appears to be a revamped version of the Visionbox Crisis Actors project (a crisis actor production emerging after Sandy Hook), with a professional team of actors, elaborate film crews, expert producers and theatrical effects makeup squads mimicking real-life injuries (additional prosthetics) all focused to deliver a simulated crisis-likereality to the public, later to be managed accordingly through their public relations division via various forms of social media. RELATED: (VIDEO) Active Shooter and Terror Drills: The Truth WILL Shock YouInterestingly, another client listed on the Crisis Cast website appeared to be another company named Flashpoint, apparently unrelated to the internet based security firm MILITARIZED Another company also called Flashpoint, was tacitly connected to the Orlando shooting via Crisis Cast. (Screen Shot Image Source crisiscast)There is nothing concrete linking the two Flashpoint companies but the very fact that both are tied to the Orlando shooting, albeit in an opaque way, suggests there could be some deeper connection.Is Flashpoint Reality Based Training, the militarized counterpart to the cybersecurity firm Flashpoint?Here s Flashpoint Reality Based Training describing the reality they construct for their clients, which appears to fall in line with the internet based Flashpoint: Environments will need to become more realistic the sights, sounds and smells will increase in fidelity. We believe the requirement for combined live and virtual events will increase and that these will be networked geographically by governments, military and NGOs. We also anticipate an increase in the requirement for us to track trainees and deliver accurate after-action reviews as part of our Reality Based Training. What s next in a world with designed outcomes, false narratives, uncanny connections and staged crises?All we have to do is follow the money.READ MORE ORLANDO SHOOTING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Orlando FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 " WATCH: Robert De Niro Makes Sure To Perfectly Roast Trump During GLAAD Media Awards SpeechEvery year GLAAD holds their media awards ceremony to recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives. This year, GLAAD honored Robert De Niro with the Excellence in Media Award.It was during his speech, however, that De Niro took a moment to take a sarcastic jab at those who think middle-aged white men have it bad, and of course, make fun of Donald Trump while he was at it. He said: You think you ve got it bad, LBGT community? I don t think you know what it s like to be really discriminated against I recently turned on the television news and saw this odd guy with little hands, and he was raving. Turns out, the ones being discriminated against are straight, middle-aged white men It makes sense. I ve been losing parts right and left to what used to be called diversity actors. One that really hurts, seeing the role of Dr. Dre in Straight Outta Compton going to Corey Hawkins. And I can t remember the last time I got a Teen Choice Award. It s not easy being a straight, white man. Of course, he s joking. Being a straight, white man is pretty much winning the lottery when it comes to genetics. Straight, white men start from a point of being respected where most others seem to need to prove themselves. And, of course, he s clearly referencing Donald Trump with his odd guy with little hands who was raving and claiming he s being discriminated against. It s funny because it s true, and it s also funny because he just got his ass handed to him by Robert De Niro.Watch the whole speech here:VIDEO: Robert De Niro accepts the Excellence In Media Award at the #glaadawards https://t.co/FMBl01Q1VY GLAAD (@glaad) May 15, 2016Featured image via video screen capture",0 "JILL STEIN (HILLARY’S) Recount Collapses: Misses Deadline In Pennsylvania…Sues WI For Refusing Hand Recount [VIDEO]Jill Stein got less than 1% of the vote nationwide in our presidential election, but after raising more than $7 million to do a recount (at an estimated cost of around $2 million), Jill Stein finds out she missed the deadline to file for a recount in PA. Where will all of the money go that she raised to either throw the election for Crooked Hillary, or to make Trump s presidency appear to be illegitimate? Jill Stein had everything she needed to launch a presidential recount. She had the cash, the grassroots fervor and the spotlight of an adoring media. But there s one thing she needed to overturn Trump s victory: a calendar. Washington ExaminerThe Wisconsin Elections Commission agreed Monday to begin a recount of the presidential election on Thursday but was sued by Green Party candidate Jill Stein after the agency declined to require county officials to recount the votes by hand.It will be a race to finish the recount in time to meet a daunting federal deadline, and the lawsuit could delay the process. Under state law, the recount must begin this week as long as Stein or another candidate pays the $3.5 million estimated cost of the recount by Tuesday, election officials said.Also Monday, Stein filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania to force a recount there and her supporters began filing recount requests at the precinct level in the Keystone State. Stein who received just a tiny piece of the national vote also plans to ask for a recount in Michigan on Wednesday.Unless Stein wins her lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court, officials in each of Wisconsin s 72 counties would decide on their own whether to do their recounts of the 2.98 million statewide votes by machine or by hand, with dozens of counties expected to hand count the paper ballots. JS ",0 "Pakistan's aggressive polio vaccination program has cut cases of polio to 1/3 of the 198 reported last year. However, 75 percent of Pakistan's polio cases can be traced back to certain areas controlled by the Taliban. ",0 "I'm no populist, says new leader of Italy's 5-StarRIMINI, Italy (Reuters) - The new leader of Italy s anti-establishment 5-Star movement says it is not a populist party and will make cutting waste and reducing debt its priority. 5-Star, which leads most opinion polls ahead of national elections due early next year, has been trying to shed its maverick, populist image and reassure foreign capitals that it can be trusted with power. Luigi Di Maio, the 31-year-old lawmaker picked on Saturday to lead the movement, told Reuters on Sunday that 5-Star stood for post ideological common sense, and was opposed to right-wing and left-wing extremism. I reject populism as a label for 5-Star, he said in an interview on the sidelines of the party s annual gathering in Rimini, on the Adriatic coast. 5-Star, founded by comedian Beppe Grillo nine years ago as a protest movement, bases its appeal mainly on opposition to corruption and vested interests. Boyish-looking and usually immaculately turned out in suit and tie, Di Maio presents a more moderate image than Grillo, who is famous for raucous tirades against the ruling elite. He had been groomed for the leadership by Grillo, who is 69 and now plans to withdraw gradually from his figurehead role. Di Maio said many of the party s proposals, such as a public bank to fund investments, had been adopted with success by mainstream parties in Northern Europe which he wanted to emulate. He said that, if 5-Star won next year s election, due by May, he would try to negotiate changes to European Union fiscal rules to allow Italy to invest more to boost its stagnant economy. However, he said he would also cut waste, arguing that this was the best way to bring down Italy s huge public debt, forecast to be just under 132 percent of GDP this year, the highest in the euro zone after Greece s. We have brought down debt in every town and city where 5-Star governs. We will do that at the national level too, he said. 5-Star has rowed back from a pledge to hold a referendum on Italy s membership of the euro and now says this would only be a last resort if the EU rejects any reforms to current budget rules. Di Maio, who comes from Italy s poor south and entered parliament at 26 five years ago, after mostly doing odd jobs and internet marketing, dismissed the suggestion that he was too inexperienced to be prime minister. I came from a part of Italy with 60 percent youth unemployment, and people who sneer at my background are sneering at thousands of young Italians who are trying to create a future for themselves, he said. The ability to build a competent team was the most important quality for a prime minister, Di Maio said, vowing to present a full cabinet line-up before the election. Asked to name three priorities that would mark his leadership of the party, Di Maio listed universal income support for the poor, cutting wasteful public spending and increasing forms of direct democracy. ",1 "Trump says he doesn't want House Speaker Ryan's support: Fox NewsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump said on Tuesday he does not want House Speaker Paul Ryan’s support after Ryan broke with the Republican presidential nominee over a leaked recording of Trump making lewd comments about women. “I don’t want his support, I don’t care about his support,” Trump said, according to excerpts of an interview with Fox News. Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, told party lawmakers on Monday he would not campaign for Trump and would instead concentrate on retaining Republican control of Congress in the Nov. 8 elections. ",1 Frances President Hollande calls for Eurozone Government,1 """The people who stayed here did not immigrate here. This is our country. This state came here and was enforced on the ruins of my nation."" -Azmi Bishara, an Arab Israeli and former member of the Knesset",1 "Ex-Romania PM shoots self after court's sentence: Romania's prime minister says one of his predecessors has shot himself and was in the hospital, just hours after a court upheld the ex-premier's two-year prison sentence on corruption charges.",0 "Puerto Rico senate approves bill to restructure utility PREPA(Reuters) - The Puerto Rico senate has approved the PREPA Revitalization Act, intended to restructure the country’s debt-laden power utility, a spokesman for PREPA said. The bill now moves to the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, which would need to approve it before it could become law. “This legislation provides PREPA with critical tools to make PREPA the modern utility that Puerto Rico needs and deserves,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. PREPA, with more than $8 billion in debt, reached a restructuring deal in December with about 70 percent of its creditors. That deal hit a roadbump in January when Puerto Rico’s lawmakers failed to meet a Jan. 22 deadline to pass necessary legislation. However, the agency and bondholders agreed to extend a crucial deadline to Feb. 16. ",1 "Pope Francis meets Atheist Uruguayan president Jose Mujica: I think that if they let him, hes going to make a revolution inside the Church, towards simplicity. Hes just like talking to a good neighbour youve known for years",1 "Trump yet to decide on new travel restrictions: officialsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The acting secretary of Homeland Security has notified President Donald Trump of countries that do not meet new U.S. vetting standards and has recommended “tailored” and “tough” restrictions on their citizens’ entry into the United States, U.S. officials said on Friday. Trump has not yet approved the restrictions, the officials said. It is unclear if he will do so before a temporary travel ban on citizens of six majority-Muslim countries expires on Sunday. The officials declined to say how many or which countries were included in DHS acting Secretary Elaine Duke’s report to Trump. ",1 "White House says fully committed to draft Senate healthcare billWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it was “fully committed” to pushing a Republican draft healthcare bill through the Senate, although it was looking at every option for repealing and replacing Obamacare. “We’re still fully committed to pushing through with the Senate at this point but we’re looking at every possible option of repealing and replacing Obamacare,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. The answer came in response to a question about a tweet earlier in the day in which President Donald Trump had urged lawmakers to first repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it later if they could not muster enough votes for the current proposal. ",1 Supreme Court of Canada declares Canadian legislation requiring mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes is unconstitutional.,1 "'Offensive (and not funny)' After years of insults, BBC finally censures Jeremy Clarkson",0 "Saudi foreign ministry condemns passage of U.S. Sept. 11 lawRIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned the passage of a U.S. law that would allow families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to sue the kingdom for damages, calling it a matter of “great concern” in a statement on Thursday. The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to approve legislation that will allow the families of those killed in the 2001 attacks on the United States to seek damages from the Saudi government. “The erosion of sovereign immunity will have a negative impact on all nations, including the United States,” said the Saudi statement, which was carried on state news agency SPA after a day of stony silence from Riyadh. The foreign ministry expressed hope that the U.S. Congress would correct the legislation “to avoid the serious unintended consequences that may ensue,” without elaborating on what the consequences might be. Riyadh has always dismissed suspicions that it backed the attackers, who killed nearly 3,000 people under the banner of Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. Fifteen out of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. The Saudi government financed an extensive lobbying campaign against the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act”, or JASTA, in the run-up to the vote, and warned it would undermine the principle of sovereign immunity. But Saudi officials who had lobbied against the bill stopped short of threatening any specific retaliation if the law was passed. The Saudi riyal fell against the U.S. dollar in the forward foreign exchange market on Thursday after the law was passed. Analysts said a successful lawsuit against the Saudi government would be unlikely at best, but speculated that the uncertainty surrounding the legal implications could negatively affect bilateral trade and investment with a major ally. Saudi Arabia’s Gulf state neighbor, United Arab Emirates, warned of the long-term grave repercussions of Congress overriding Obama’s veto. In a tweet late on Thursday, Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, called the U.S. Congress move “a dangerous precedent in international law that undermines the principle of sovereign immunity and the future of sovereign investments in the United States”. In a later tweet Gargash said his country’s reactions on both the legal and investment fronts should not be hasty and that “easing the damage requires joint action”. ",1 "Sanders supporters' courtship of Clinton superdelegates may be backfiring(Reuters) - Backers of Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders have launched a campaign to win over some of his rival Hillary Clinton’s most prized supporters - the superdelegates that can make the difference in a tight race for the party’s nomination. But some emails, phone messages, and petitions sent by the Sanders boosters have backfired, upsetting superdelegates with their aggressive tone and leading many to dig in their heels for Clinton, according to interviews conducted by Reuters. The drive to flip Clinton’s super delegates has not been sanctioned by Sanders’ campaign, his spokesman Michael Briggs said. “Bernie’s campaign is focused on reaching out to all voters and earning delegates at primaries and caucuses,” he said in a statement, stressing that the Sanders campaign was not coordinating with supporters to contact superdelegates. However, the unofficial push could complicate the U.S. Senator from Vermont’s efforts to woo the critical bloc in the coming months. The effort has at times taken an angry tone, some of the messages reviewed by Reuters showed, reflecting the anti-establishment tinge of the 2016 presidential race where many voters are unhappy with Washington insiders. Some 85 percent of the 4,763 delegate votes to the Democratic National Convention that will decide who will face a Republican rival in the November election are determined by the results of states’ nominating contests. But the remaining 15 percent are held by superdelegates, who get to vote however they like - meaning they could hold the key to a tight contest. Superdelegates are made up of party leaders and elected Senators, members of Congress, and governors. The Democratic party adopted the system in the early 1980s as a way of giving party leaders more control over the nominating process, though they have yet to play a decisive role in a nomination. “The idea there is that you’ve got people who have a long view ... who have, arguably, the best interests of the party at heart,” said Terri Fine, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. At least one superdelegate who has backed Sanders, however, finds the system that can overturn the will of regular voters flawed. “I’m a superdelegate to fight to end superdelegates,” said Larry Cohen, a former president of the Communications Workers of America union who volunteers full-time for the Sanders campaign. Among super delegates that have tipped their hand so far, Clinton holds 453 to 20 for Sanders, according to the New York Times delegate tracker. Among regular delegates, won through nominating contests, Clinton leads by 91 to 65 after the South Carolina primary. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/1QHZCSj ) The Republican party does reserve slots for members of its national leadership, but they do not have such influence as Democratic superdelegates. Interviews with 10 of the 505 super delegates supporting Clinton Reuters has reached show that nine of them have been approached by people purporting to back Sanders, and nearly all were displeased by the tone of the outreach.  Isabel Framer of Ohio, a superdelegate for Clinton, for example, got a voice mail last week urging her to vote for Sanders “in accordance with the will of the people.” On the voice mail, heard by Reuters, the anonymous male caller says: “I think it’s crap that you get to vote whichever way you want... I’ll be watching your vote.” “I’m not easily frightened,” Framer told Reuters. “I’m not going to change a vote over threats.” Akilah Ensley, a North Carolina superdelegate, said she started hearing more often from Sanders supporters after her name appeared on a Wikipedia list noting her support for Clinton. “Some of them were nice, and some were rather abrasive,” she said, adding “attacking my decisions is probably not the best way” to change her mind. Luis Heredia, an Arizona superdelegate for Clinton, said he has received over 30 phone calls, emails and instant messages from Sanders supporters. “The majority of them are more angry, and the tone is more demanding,” Heredia said. Lacy Johnson, an Indiana superdelegate backing Clinton, meanwhile, said he had received a mix of messages, including one that he said threatened: “we will make you pay.” Andres Ramirez, a political consultant in Las Vegas, Nevada, and a superdelegate supporting Clinton, said in the past campaigns would typically try to soft-sell their candidates rather than use pressure tactics. “The way this has gone down, in my experience, has never happened before,” said. While it is unclear who is directing some of the calls and emails to Clinton’s superdelegates, Seattle resident Justin Renquist has pushed for some of the outreach, although he stressed that such contacts needed to be civil. Renquist calls himself part of the “Superdelegate Task Force Army” that rallies Sanders supporters to reach superdelegates via Facebook, Twitter and other means. “There are 3,000 in my group who have been slamming these guys as politely and nicely as we can...basically saying, look this system is undemocratic,” Renquist said. On Friday, the group issued a statement saying it did not support, condone or engage in any communication with superdelegages that was “vulgar, threatening, harassing or intimidating.” Other Sanders fans, meanwhile, have gathered more than 300,000 signatures under at least two petitions on MoveOn.org, asking superdelegates to vote in line with the results of the primaries and caucuses. A third petition, on the Democracy for America site, also asks superdelegates to follow state nominating contests. It was started by Robert Reich, who was a secretary of labor under Bill Clinton and who has endorsed Sanders. The Sanders campaign plans its own effort to win over superdelegates, possibly in April. “That’s when we’ll make a much stronger approach to superdelegates,” said Tad Devine, a senior adviser to the Sanders campaign. Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, started officially courting superdelegates months ago. “We are proud to have the support of these Democratic party leaders, who have been in the trenches,” said Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign. (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Tomasz Janowski) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 "'Fist bumps' at hedge funds over Trump's tax planBOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. hedge fund managers began warming to President Donald Trump soon after his surprise election ignited a powerful stock market rally. Now, his dramatic tax cut plans give them even more reasons to cheer. Trump, looking to make good on pledges for sweeping tax reform, on Wednesday unveiled plans for a cut in the tax rate to 15 percent for so-called pass-through businesses. While the proposal is being billed as a boon for small businesses from pizzerias to investment management firms, one clear winner looks to be the hedge fund set, where owners can earn hundreds of millions in income a year, tax experts, managers, and their lawyers said on Wednesday. “For hedge funds, this is an unmitigated benefit as their tax liabilities could drop significantly,” said Robert Willens, an independent tax consultant. “Obviously, they are quite enthusiastic and there may be a few fist bumps along the way.” A manager whose hedge fund earns $50 million a year, for example, would be paying some $19.8 million in taxes, or 39.6 percent, under the current rules. That could drop to as little as $7.5 million if the rate were cut to 15 percent. To be sure, Trump’s plan has a long, hard road to becoming reality, but that didn’t stop fund managers from blitzing their tax lawyers with calls about how to play it. Most attorneys advised patience, saying they would need to wait at least until early June, when a bill with more specific language might be hammered out. “If the goal is to get people talking, then it is working,” said Jeffrey Parker, a partner at law firm EisnerAmper. “A proposal is just a proposal. The final version often differs significantly from the final draft.” Aside from the pass-through proposal, an open question is what kind of treatment will be given to so-called carried interest. That allows managers to pay a tax rate as low as 20 percent, a loophole that Trump has railed against in the past. Similarly, there is no clarity on whether businesses would be required to pay “reasonable compensation” to their managers, income that could be taxed at a higher rate, experts said. Including that could help Trump appeal to his base and mollify critics who say the plan is a giveaway for millionaires. “Who needs to worry about carried-interest going away if you have a 15 percent pass-through tax rate,” said hedge fund manager Jim Chanos, who runs Kynikos Associates. “This should really be called the ‘Put Rich Guys Back on Top Tax Act of 2017.’” Tax reform has been a signature goal for Trump since the campaign and his closest aides, including former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) president Gary Cohn who now directs the National Economic Council, are pushing to get it done this year. But in the wake of other stalled initiatives, plenty on Wall Street expect the plan to hit some roadblocks. “So the first draft - prepared quickly just like his failed travel ban and healthcare proposal before the 100 days runs out - will be push-backed and maybe dramatically changed by the Democrats and members of his own party,” said Douglas Kass, who runs hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management. ",1 " Remember That Time Hypocrite Trump Tweeted Obama Should Comply With Record ReleasesWith Donald Trump handing out nicknames left and right, one nickname that has come to mind for him would be Hypocrite Trump. First of all, he doesn t apparently realize that the internet can document the things you say for years after you say them. Secondly, he also doesn t seem to realize that those things that he said can and will come back to haunt him.For instance, back in 2012, Trump, on top of previously requesting President Obama s birth certificate, also demanded that he release his college transcripts.Trump tweeted out on October 30, 2012, only days before the 2012 presidential election: Why does Obama believe he shouldn t comply with record releases that his predecessors did of their own volition? Hiding something? Why does Obama believe he shouldn't comply with record releases that his predecessors did of their own volition? Hiding something? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2012And of course President Obama wasn t hiding anything, and Trump was just trying to stir up trouble to make people believe the president was up to no good.Now, flash forward to today and Trump refuses to release his tax returns. Documents that every presidential candidate releases to show the nation financial transparency. Of course, Trump has lame excuse after lame excuse as to why he can t release them. All of which have been debunked.So, please, by all means, let s remind Trump of his blaring hypocrisy. Clearly, according to himself, he s hiding something.Featured Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images Twitter",0 Hacked neo-Nazi websites reveal Canadian connections,0 "Russia, Saudi Arabia sign atomic energy cooperation roadmapMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and Saudi Arabia have signed a roadmap for cooperation in the atomic energy sector, Russian state nuclear company Rosatom said on Thursday. The roadmap comprises a number of steps needed to implement a cooperation program that was signed by the two nations during Saudi King Salman s visit to Russia in October. Saudi Arabia, which wants to reduce oil consumption at home, is considering building 17.6 gigawatts of nuclear-powered electricity generating capacity by 2032 and has sent a request for information to international suppliers to build two reactors in the kingdom. Last month Rosatom said it hoped to win the Saudi tender. ",1 " Teens Post Video On What They Would Do To Black People As President (VIDEO)In a video uploaded to Facebook earlier this week, a group of students from Grosse Pointe, Michigan can be heard talking about what they would do to Black people if they were president.As reported by New York Daily News the students recorded the video over Memorial Day weekend.In the video a male student can be heard talking about his hatred for Black people, calling them f g stupid and worthless. The student goes on to say, they need to leave our country, send em back to Africa, or the slaves, one of the two options. Another student asks, So what are you going to do in 2040, referring to the year he ll become president of the United States.The first student replies, Oh, segregate. They get Maine, North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming Another student asks, How are they going to be treated? Awful, he responds, saying, they re going to be owned by white people, and white people are going to be the dominants of the country. Another student says We re gonna burn them on stakes. No, no, no, no, the first student replies. We re gonna put like a pole with those little burning things at the end and stab em so you can know who the owner is and you can sell those bitches. You can trade em for like cock points and shit, bro. And you can get alcohol for that shit. After another student asks if there s anything else they re going to do, the first student adds, We re not gonna put em in coffins, we re gonna put em in a river and let em swim to the Atlantic Ocean. WXYZ in Detroit reports that the students attend Grosse Pointe s South High School. School officials sent a notice out to parents regarding the video. The notice mentions possible suspensions. It appears that the video has since been removed from social media. New York Daily News published a partial transcript here.In March South High School officials suspended a different group of students over racist posts on social media.It s not hard to trace the inspiration for the hateful ideas expressed by these students.When Donald Trump is the republican party s current frontrunner in the presidential primary, it shouldn t come as a surprise to anyone to hear young people talking about the vile things they would do if they became president.Grosse Pointe, a suburb of Detroit, has never been lacking in racist role models for students to emulate, either. In 2013, more than a dozen videos were released showing Grosse Pointe police officers telling Black men to sing, dance and walk like a chimp, for the camera.These students have been influenced by republican politicians like L Brooks Patterson.In 2014, Patterson proposed building a fence around the city of Detroit to keep Black people in, saying: I made a prediction a long time ago and it s come to pass. I said what we re gonna do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it and then throw in the blankets and the corn. When students look around and see politicians, police officers and even presidential candidates spewing this kind of vile hate speech, we should not be surprised when they do the same. These are the people impressionable young people are supposed to be able to look up to and emulate.We should gravely consider what the US will become tomorrow if we fail to hold the people in power accountable for their hateful words and actions today.Here s more on the story from Fox 2 in Detroit.Image credit: Video screen capture Fox 2",0 "Peru's Kuczynski acknowledges having advised Odebrecht projectLIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski acknowledged that he worked as a financial adviser for an irrigation project owned by the Brazilian builder Odebrecht [ODBES.UL] on Saturday, contradicting his previous denials of having any links to the company. Odebrecht is at the center of Latin America s biggest graft scandal and has admitted to paying about $30 million in bribes to secure contracts in Peru over a decade. Kuczynski worked in the Cabinet of former President Alejandro Toledo, who prosecutors say took a $20 million bribe from Odebrecht during his 2001-2006 term. However, Kuczynski has not been named as a suspect in the far-reaching graft probe by the attorney general s office. In a televised interview with local broadcaster RPP, Kuczynski denied being a partner in an investment fund that allegedly had links to Odebrecht. However, he said he had worked as a financial adviser for several companies that needed to raise funds for big projects, including an Odebrecht firm. They use bankers, said Kuczynski, a 79-year-old former Wall Street banker elected president in 2016. I ve been a banker, in New York, for a very prestigious bank. I ve been one of the founders of what s called project financing. So sometimes, I was hired. For H2Olmos, an irrigation project. Odebrecht owns H2Olmos SA, which was formed in 2009 to build and operate one of its landmark projects in Peru - carving a 20-kilometer (12-mile) tunnel through the Andes to transport water to irrigate agricultural fields in the desert. Kuczynski s comments could provide more ammunition for the opposition-controlled Congress as it targets him in its probe into Odebrecht s links to politicians. Kuczynski had previously denied reports in local media that Odebrecht hired him as an adviser a decade ago to mend ties with him after he opposed highway contracts awarded to the company in Toledo s government. Kuczynski did not provide additional details about his work for H2Olmos, and his office did not respond to requests for comment. However, he stressed in the interview that the advising work was done when he was a private citizen and denied favoring any company while in public office. Odebrecht reached a deal to sell H2Olmos to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP and Suez SA a year ago. However, the sale has not closed. While the attorney general s office reopened a preliminary probe related to Odebrecht and Kuczynski a year ago, it has not accused Kuczynski of wrongdoing. ",1 "North Korea preparing long-range missile test: RIA cites Russian lawmakerMOSCOW (Reuters) - North Korea is preparing to test a long-range missile which it believes can reach the west coast of the United States, a Russian lawmaker just returned from a visit to Pyongyang was quoted as saying on Friday. Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian lower house of parliament s international affairs committee, and two other Russian lawmakers visited Pyongyang on Oct. 2-6, Russia s RIA news agency reported. They are preparing for new tests of a long-range missile. They even gave us mathematical calculations that they believe prove that their missile can hit the west coast of the United States, RIA quoted Morozov as saying. As far as we understand, they intend to launch one more long-range missile in the near future. And in general, their mood is rather belligerent. Tensions have risen in recent weeks over North Korea s nuclear weapons and missile programs as Pyongyang has test-fired several missiles and conducted what it said was a test explosion of a hydrogen bomb as it advances toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. Morozov s comments drove up the price of U.S. Treasury bonds, as investors, worried about the prospect of new North Korean missile tests, moved into assets the market views as a safe haven in times of uncertainty. Reuters was not able to independently verify Morozov s account, and he did not specify which North Korean officials had given him the information about the planned test. In Washington, a U.S. official said that there had been indications that North Korea could be preparing for a missile test on or around Oct. 10, the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Korean Workers Party and a day after the Columbus Day holiday in the United States. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not disclose the type of missile that could be tested and cautioned that North Korea in the past has not staged launches despite indications that it would. A senior CIA analyst, speaking at a conference in Washington this week, said the North Korean government likely would stage some kind of provocation on Oct. 10 but did not elaborate on what form it might take. There is a clarity of purpose in what (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un is doing. I don t think he s done, said Yong Suk Lee, the deputy assistant director of the CIA s Korea Mission Center, which was set up this year. In fact, I told my own staff (that) October 10th is the Korean Workers Party founding day. That s Tuesday in North Korea, but Monday the Columbus Day holiday - in the United States. So stand by your phones. Morozov s delegation had high-level meetings in Pyongyang, RIA news agency said, citing the Russian embassy in the North Korean capital. Tensions over North Korea s nuclear program have been running high in recent weeks since Pyongyang staged a series of missile tests, and conducted a text explosion on Sept. 3 of what it said was a hydrogen bomb. There has also been an exchange of tough rhetoric between Pyongyang and Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to totally destroy North Korea if it threatens the United States. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un responded by calling Trump deranged and saying he would pay dearly for his threat. China, North Korea s main ally, has backed sanctions against Pyongyang and on Saturday in response to the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said it backed a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons. China has always supported a complete and total ban on nuclear weapons, but also believes that the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament cannot be achieved overnight and must advance gradually within the existing disarmament mechanism. China is willing to work with all parties to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world, said China s foreign ministry. Morozov is a member of the LDPR, a right-wing populist party. It casts itself as an opposition party, but hews close to the Kremlin line on matters of international affairs. Describing meetings with North Korean officials, Morozov said they displayed serious determination and bellicose rhetoric, RIA reported. The situation, of course, demands the swiftest intervention of all interested states, particularly those represented in the region, in order to prevent wide-scale military action, the agency quoted him as saying. Russia has closer relations with Pyongyang than many other world powers, linked in part to Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and the current leader s grand-father, having lived for a time in the Soviet Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin has joined other world powers in condemning North Korea s weapons program, but has taken a softer line than Western governments. Putin has said that Pyongyang will not be cowed into giving up its weapons program. He has accused Washington of trying to effect regime change in North Korea, and predicted that would unleash chaos. U.S. Treasury prices surged on the report of a possible new missile test, pulling yields lower, as investors cut risk out of their portfolios and sought the safety of Treasuries. Treasury prices move inversely to their yields. Benchmark 10 year U.S. Treasury yields fell from the session high 2.40 percent mark US10YT=TWEB to 2.35 percent around midday (1600 GMT) in New York. It has just been risk-off buying into the long (Columbus Day) weekend ... You look at the charts, it has really been a one-way trade of lower yields, said Justin Lederer, Treasury analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York. ",1 "In a remarkable statement, the copyright monopoly fundamentalist Marielle Gallo of the Gallo Report infamy says that the citizens of Europe who have been campaigning against ACTA are terrorists",1 Up to 74 school girls hit by gas attack in Afghanistan,1 "MALE PAKISTANI IMMIGRANT Dresses As Woman In Burqa…Lures 11 Yr Old Boy From Mosque…Rapes, Strangles Him To DeathA man disguised himself in a burka in order to lure an 11-year-old boy whom he then raped and strangled to death, according to police in Abu Dhabi.The accused was aware that the boy would not accompany him if he knew he was a man, the Gulf News reported.The suspect, a Pakistani immigrant to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, is said to be known to the family of the victim, whose father is Pakistani and mother is Russian.He is accused of raping the boy and strangling him to death with a rope after picking him up from Ramadan prayers at a mosque.Azan Majid Janjua was reported missing last week after failing to come home from the mosque.He was later found by air-conditioning technicians on the roof of the building where he lived.He was reportedly found partially unclothed with his Quran lying beside him.The suspect was arrested within 48 hours of the discovery of the body, police said, after forensic evidence linked him to the crime.They declined to give any further details about the suspect or the evidence incriminating him.The murdered boy s father, Dr Majid Janjua, 38, told the local news site that his son was not in the habit of going off with strangers. He never went outside without our permission, said Dr Janjua. It is fate; Allah s decision. We have to accept it. The boy s mother is understood not to live in the Gulf state but was visiting at the time of the incident, which took place in the first week of the Islamic holy month Ramadan.For entire story: Daily Mail ",0 "OOPS! UKRAINE Caught Colluding With Democrats To Help Hillary Win Election…President Poroshenko Scrambling To Repair Damage With TrumpDonald Trump wasn t the only presidential candidate whose campaign was boosted by officials of a former Soviet bloc country.Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.The Ukrainian efforts had an impact in the race, helping to force Manafort s resignation and advancing the narrative that Trump s campaign was deeply connected to Ukraine s foe to the east, Russia. But they were far less concerted or centrally directed than Russia s alleged hacking and dissemination of Democratic emails.The Ukrainian antipathy for Trump s team and alignment with Clinton s can be traced back to late 2013. That s when the country s president, Viktor Yanukovych, whom Manafort had been advising, abruptly backed out of a European Union pact linked to anti-corruption reforms. Instead, Yanukovych entered into a multibillion-dollar bailout agreement with Russia, sparking protests across Ukraine and prompting Yanukovych to flee the country to Russia under Putin s protection.In the ensuing crisis, Russian troops moved into the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, and Manafort dropped off the radar.Manafort s work for Yanukovych caught the attention of a veteran Democratic operative named Alexandra Chalupa, who had worked in the White House Office of Public Liaison during the Clinton administration. Chalupa went on to work as a staffer, then as a consultant, for Democratic National Committee. The DNC paid her $412,000 from 2004 to June 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records, though she also was paid by other clients during that time, including Democratic campaigns and the DNC s arm for engaging expatriate Democrats around the world.A daughter of Ukrainian immigrants who maintains strong ties to the Ukrainian-American diaspora and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, Chalupa, a lawyer by training, in 2014 was doing pro bono work for another client interested in the Ukrainian crisis and began researching Manafort s role in Yanukovych s rise, as well as his ties to the pro-Russian oligarchs who funded Yanukovych s political party.In an interview this month, Chalupa told Politico she had developed a network of sources in Kiev and Washington, including investigative journalists, government officials and private intelligence operatives. While her consulting work at the DNC this past election cycle centered on mobilizing ethnic communities including Ukrainian-Americans she said that, when Trump s unlikely presidential campaign began surging in late 2015, she began focusing more on the research, and expanded it to include Trump s ties to Russia, as well.She occasionally shared her findings with officials from the DNC and Clinton s campaign, Chalupa said. In January 2016 months before Manafort had taken any role in Trump s campaign Chalupa told a senior DNC official that, when it came to Trump s campaign, I felt there was a Russia connection, Chalupa recalled. And that, if there was, that we can expect Paul Manafort to be involved in this election, said Chalupa, who at the time also was warning leaders in the Ukrainian-American community that Manafort was Putin s political brain for manipulating U.S. foreign policy and elections. POLITICONow Ukraine President Poroshenko is scrambling to repair the damage:Russia s meddling has sparked outrage from the American body politic. The U.S. intelligence community undertook the rare move of publicizing its findings on the matter, and President Barack Obama took several steps to officially retaliate, while members of Congress continue pushing for more investigations into the hacking and a harder line against Russia, which was already viewed in Washington as America s leading foreign adversary.Ukraine, on the other hand, has traditionally enjoyed strong relations with U.S. administrations. Its officials worry that could change under Trump, whose team has privately expressed sentiments ranging from ambivalence to deep skepticism about Poroshenko s regime, while sounding unusually friendly notes about Putin s regime.Poroshenko is scrambling to alter that dynamic, recently signing a $50,000-a-month contract with a well-connected GOP-linked Washington lobbying firm to set up meetings with U.S. government officials to strengthen U.S.-Ukrainian relations. Revelations about Ukraine s anti-Trump efforts could further set back those efforts. Things seem to be going from bad to worse for Ukraine, said David A. Merkel, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who helped oversee U.S. relations with Russia and Ukraine while working in George W. Bush s State Department and National Security Council.Merkel, who has served as an election observer in Ukrainian presidential elections dating back to 1993, noted there s some irony in Ukraine and Russia taking opposite sides in the 2016 presidential race, given that past Ukrainian elections were widely viewed in Washington s foreign policy community as proxy wars between the U.S. and Russia. Now, it seems that a U.S. election may have been seen as a surrogate battle by those in Kiev and Moscow, Merkel said. Politico",0 Private talks between Tony Blair and George Bush on Iraq war to be published.,1 "WATCH: TRUMP’S BI-RACIAL, FORMER GIRLFRIEND Of Two Years…”I Would Never Date A Racist”Kara Young, the biracial model who dated Donald Trump has broken her silence amid the deadly attack in Charlottesville. Trump s former girlfriend says she never heard him say anything racist not once.She told the paper that she s never heard him make any sort of racist comments, but was left horrified by what he said about the deadly attack in Charlottesville. GPSo just to clarify The comments President Trump made after the Charlottesville violence, where he blamed the actions of the KKK, as well as the violent Antifa agitators and Black Lives Matter protesters, (who in many cases should have been charged with domestic terrorism if we had a law-abiding attorney general when Barack Obama was president) actually horrifies a woman who dated Trump for 2 years, and insisted that he was NOT a racist ? What exactly, about his statement horrified Young? Inside Edition During the campaign, the mom-of-two told the TV show Chasing News that the real estate tycoon is not a racist. I would never go out with anybody that was a racist of course not that s crazy, she said at the time. Everyone asks me. The two met at a party in the Hamptons in 1997. At the time, she was a model, gracing the pages of the Victoria s Secret catalog and countless magazines including Playboy in Germany.During the campaign, the mom-of-two told the TV show Chasing News that the real estate tycoon is not a racist. I would never go out with anybody that was a racist of course not that s crazy, she said at the time. Everyone asks me. The two met at a party in the Hamptons in 1997. At the time, she was a model, gracing the pages of the Victoria s Secret catalog and countless magazines including Playboy in Germany.Young and Trump dated for about two years.",0 "UK's largest online pharmacy fined 130,000 for selling patients' personal data to scammers",0 "VP MIKE PENCE Stops For BBQ Before Super Bowl…Crowd Gives Him A HUGE Cheer At Game [Video]VP MIKE PENCE AT PAPPAS BBQ IN HOUSTON: pic.twitter.com/OCc9WNoDKX Edith Gonzalez (@edithge_01) February 5, 2017 WATCH THE CROWD TOWARDS THE END OF THE CHEERING FOR PRESIDENT BUSH AND BARBARA BUSH YOU LL HEAR A LOUD CHEER FOR VP PENCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Fybt42ggI",0 "The battle for minds: Britain expands project on mental health in terrorismLONDON (Reuters) - A project looking at links between mental health and terrorism in three English cities has been expanded nationwide after it found a significant number of people referred to counter-radicalization programs suffer some form of mental illness. Studies have suggested the prevalence of mental health issues among militants working together on major strikes is very low but a string of killings by so-called lone wolves has fueled concerns mental illness could be a factor behind some attacks. Authorities say some of those involved in four attacks in Britain this year blamed on Islamist militants appeared to people who had self-radicalized via the internet and whose mental state had been questioned. To look more closely at the issue, British police launched pilot programs in April last year in England s three biggest urban areas - London, Birmingham and Manchester - to embed mental health experts with counter-terrorism officers. The aim was to give psychiatrists the chance to identify people referred to Britain s counter-radicalization program Prevent who had mental health issues, and treat them. Anecdotally, I am surprised that there appears to be a much higher prevalence of people with mental health problems than you would expect, said Professor Jennifer Shaw, the mental health lead for Greater Manchester Police, referring to the people her team had dealt with since the pilot was launched. The hubs are considered so successful by the government they have been expanded nationwide, Shaw, professor of forensic psychiatry at the University of Manchester, told Reuters. But such is the secrecy around the work of Prevent and Channel - a de-radicalization program within the overall project - there are few details about its successes or failings and Shaw s work has not previously been discussed in the media. Some psychiatrists argue that no scientific link between mental health issues and terrorist attacks has yet been established and they worry the programs risk stigmatizing people suffering from mental illnesses. Another psychiatrist gathering data under the pilot programs told Reuters that Britain s Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism had told them not to disclose any details of their findings ahead of a final report. Those findings are expected to be among a raft of data about people referred to Prevent due to be released this week. Britain s interior ministry did not respond to requests for comment. Dr Adrian James, registrar at Britain s Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP), said the link between mental health problems and terrorist acts had not been established. He said a lack of evidence, partly because militant attacks were so rare, was at the heart of the problem, adding that an unnecessary level of secrecy about Prevent also meant many psychiatrists viewed the program with suspicion. If it is true that there is a link, we need to know and then need to look at the causes of that and what we can do about them, James told Reuters. We just want the facts. Past studies have disagreed about the significance of mental health issues among lone wolf attackers, with some academics concluding that such illnesses are blamed to try to explain often complex reasons for attacks. British police decided to launch the pilot programs because they believed that roughly half the 7,500 people referred to Prevent each year had a broad range of mental health and psychological difficulties. Those working on the pilot projects hope the information being gathered will now help experts assess any possible links between mental health issues and attacks. Shaw said determining who might be a potential attacker from mental health problems alone was not really feasible and fraught with problems, but she said it might be possible to ascertain the characteristics of people most likely to be at risk and ensure they got appropriate help. That doesn t mean you can t manage the risks. Trying to nip it in the bud, that s all you can do. But that s good if you can achieve that, it s going a long way, said Shaw. Police officers say they have struggled in the past to reach medical practitioners when they had concerns about some people and Shaw said the pilot was designed to address those worries. According to one of Shaw s case studies, a man went to a hospital saying he monitored Islamic State websites, had been walking around the city center working out how many people he could kill in a gun attack, and wanted to behead his mother. Shaw s team discovered the man had no contact with mental health services and no diagnosis of any illness. An urgent assessment concluded his anger stemmed from experiences in his childhood and safeguarding measures were put in place. British police have no doubts about the importance of the work, especially given the global shift from carefully planned spectacular attacks by militant networks to unsophisticated, strikes by individuals using cars and knives as weapons. Mark Rowley, Britain s most senior counter-terrorism officer, told the British Medical Journal in April that a disproportionate number of suspects in 13 attacks foiled by British police since 2013 had mental health issues. If part of the terrorist methodology is to prey on the vulnerable ... then it stands to reason that there will be people with certain mental health conditions who will be ... susceptible to that, he said. Radicalizing and inciting someone who is vulnerable to go and carry out some ghastly attack seems to be part of their tactics, and that has brought in a whole load of vulnerability issues, including mental health, that we now have to wrestle with, said Rowley. A study by University College London s (UCL) Department of Security and Crime Science looked at 55 attacks involving 76 individuals between May 2014 and September 2016 where reports had shown the perpetrators may have been influenced by IS. The study found 34 percent of those involved in attacks inspired by Islamic State - rather than actually directed by the militant group - had mental health issues. Health experts estimate about one in four people will suffer some form of mental health issue and those with mental illnesses are generally less likely to commit violent crimes than the overall population. Shaw said those with mental health issues and developmental disorders referred to her team at Prevent were more likely to be suffering from psychosis and autism, adding that people with serious mental illnesses often had tiny social networks. They can therefore, when unwell, be influenced by messages that go out that say come and belong to our group. It can be quite compelling. The same for people with autism. The internet kind of way of getting the message out makes those people, particularly vulnerable. So I think that s a big issue. Psychiatrists worry that all people with mental health issues could be stigmatized and considered potential militants, possibly deterring them from seeking help. Prevent, one of the four strands of Britain s counter-terrorism strategy known as Contest launched in 2003, has also been dogged by claims it is used to spy on Muslim communities. A government edict in 2015 instructing public bodies such as schools, health workers and universities to raise any concerns they have about individuals with the authorities has exacerbated those concerns. Shaw acknowledged more work was needed on the outcomes of their mental health interventions under the Prevent pilot programs to determine what made a difference. Asked if people her team had treated might have committed violent acts if their conditions had not been addressed, she said: That is the obvious question. You can t say that in any kind of scientific way. We re attempting to try and get at that. Is it completely to do with their mental illness, half to do with it, or not at all? said Shaw. We have had cases where people have had ideologies, they have also had a mental health problem, and they are not linked at all. The last thing we need is all these bombers are nutters . We don t want that going on. ",1 "Georgia Judge Suspended for Comparing Attack on US Monuments to ISIS Actions21st Century Wire says In the wake of the Charlottesville m l e, reactionary social justice flash mobs and assorted vigilantes have begun a campaign of attacking and destroying statues and monuments all over the country. The irrational rationale of these activists is that these historic monuments represent oppression and slavery, and therefore they must marked for ceremonial destruction. Watch this scene in Durham, North Carolina this week where, bizarrely, the hysterical mob of liberal progressive protesters lines up to take turns kicking the inanimate bronze statue on the ground, after it was pulled down in an impromptu ceremony. This is an emotive crowd, clearly carried away by the political hysteria: Question: Should a small violent, reactionary mob be allowed bypass any sensible public discussion or forum thereby litigating and dictating history for the rest of the community and country?So this is really happening. George Orwell was a prophet. #Durham #Confederate #Monuments #WrongThink pic.twitter.com/7seUcanqyD Mark (@markantro) August 17, 2017In many ways, are rapidly heading towards a 1984-style thought police environment now. Viewed from a police state perspective, this contrived disorder is designed to further breakdown social cohesion in American in effect, finishing the job which Barack Obama started in 2008. This is an invitation for the federal state to then move in with more emergency powers to restore order . For the populace at large, less rights of expression will be the outcome. While the New Left in American appoints itself as policeman of history, its ranks seem to be more ignorant than ever of it. They fail to note Mao s purge, and other such examples in history. After Charlottesville the Culture Wars have begun.What happened to this judge in Georgia may be a taste of things to come. The culture war has arrived RT International news reports The nut cases tearing down monuments are equivalent to ISIS destroying history, Judge Jim Hinkle wrote on Facebook Tuesday, the same day protesters in Durham, North Carolina toppled a statue honoring Confederate soldiers.Judge Jim Hinkle suspended: The nut cases tearing down monuments are equivalent to ISIS destroying history."" https://t.co/xVPslLurWJ pic.twitter.com/BIQcy5bnZ8 Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) August 16, 2017On Saturday, Hinkle had written that protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia were snowflakes with no concept of history, as they came to counter a rally of white nationalists who gathered to oppose the planned relocation of a statue to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. In Charlottesville everyone is upset over Robert E. Lee statue, Hinkle s post said. It looks like all of the snowflakes have no concept of history. It is what it is. Get over it and move on. Leave history alone those who ignore history are deemed (sic) to repeat the mistake of the past. That post was written approximately an hour before a car crashed into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, killing a woman and injuring 19 other people. Police have charged the driver, who reportedly took part in the white nationalist rally, with second-degree murder. I have suspended Judge Hinkle effective immediately while I consider the appropriate final action, Gwinnett County Chief Magistrate Judge Kristina Hammer Blum told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) Tuesday.Hinkle told the AJC he didn t see anything controversial about the posts. But you know, with the way things are going in the world today, I guess everything s controversial, he told the outlet Full text of Chief Judge s statement about suspending Judge James Hinkle: pic.twitter.com/WcSe2wQhFg Tony Thomas (@TonyThomasWSB) August 15, 2017Continue this report at RTREAD MORE CULTURAL MARXISM NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Cultural Marxism FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 Lehman Brothers suing J.P. Morgan Chase & Co,1 High-profile Spanish judge has gone on trial accused of violating a 1977 amnesty law by investigating civil war and Franco-era crimes,0 "Two Quakes Rock Indian Ocean, Japan Less Than 15 Minutes Apart....Triggering a Tsunami Warning.",0 "U.S. approves possible $15 billion sale of THAAD missiles to Saudi ArabiaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale of a THAAD anti-missile defense system to Saudi Arabia at an estimated cost of $15 billion, the Pentagon said on Friday, citing Iran among regional threats. The approval opens the way for Saudi Arabia to purchase 44 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launchers and 360 missiles, as well as fire control stations and radars. This sale furthers U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, and supports the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of Iranian and other regional threats, the Pentagon s Defense Security Cooperation agency said in a statement. Saudi Arabia and the United States are highly critical of what they consider Iran s aggressive behavior in the Middle East. Iran also has one of the biggest ballistic missile programs in the Middle East, viewing it as an essential precautionary defense against the United States and other adversaries, primarily Gulf Arab states and Israel. THAAD missile systems are deployed to defend against ballistic missile attacks. Saudi-owned al Arabiya television reported on Thursday that the kingdom had agreed to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, an announcement that came as Saudi King Salman made during his visit to Russia, the first by a Saudi monarch. U.S. military sales to Saudi Arabia have come under increased scrutiny over the Saudi-led coalition s war in Yemen. Riyadh and its allies have been bombing the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen since the Houthis seized much of the country s north in 2015. Riyadh says the coalition is fighting terrorists and supporting Yemen s legitimate government but the office of the U.N. human rights chief has said Saudi-led air strikes cause the majority of civilian casualties. Lockheed Martin Co (LMT.N) is the prime contractor for the THAAD system, with Raytheon Co (RTN.N) playing an important role in the system s deployment. The United States deployed THAAD to South Korea this year to guard against North Korea s shorter-range missiles. That has drawn fierce criticism from China, which says the system s powerful radar can probe deep into its territory. ",1 "Russian military denies report IS captured Russian soldiers in Syria: IfaxMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s Defence Ministry on Tuesday denied a report that two Russian soldiers had been captured in Syria, Russia s Interfax news agency reported. Islamic State released a video earlier on Tuesday that it said showed two Russian soldiers that is says it captured in fighting in the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor. In the video, released on the group s AMAQ s news agency, two men appeared wearing gray tunics, one wearing handcuffs and the other with what appeared to be bruises on his face. One of them spoke in Russian, with Arabic subtitles in the video. There have been no incidents involving the capture or losses among military servicemen of Russia s armed forces in the province of Deir al-Zor or in other areas in Syria, Interfax cited a defense ministry official as saying. ",1 " Ben Carson Has A Very Public Meltdown After Getting Trashed In Iowa (VIDEO)It hasn t been a very good time for Ben Carson s campaign to become America s first Black Republican President. But his very public meltdown after getting trashed in Iowa might suggest that he has no place anywhere near the red button anyway.Carson crashed badly in Iowa, picking up just 9% of the vote, leaving him in fourth place behind Ted Cruz (28%), Donald Trump (24%) and Marco Rubio (23%). His explanation? According to Carson, it s all a big conspiracy to keep him out of the race for President. He told supporters in a speech which felt rather more like a public nervous breakdown: I was reasonably happy today until I discovered the dirty tricks that were going on. And people spreading rumors that I had dropped out and that people should caucus for somebody else, he continued. I mean, do you think that that is something that s acceptable? Apparently, Carson is arguing that people didn t vote for him because Ted Cruz told them not to.The candidate insisted his campaign was not over, and yet boarded an early flight home to Florida for rest meanwhile, the other candidates headed straight to New Hampshire or South Carolina to battle the next stage of the Primaries.So while his opponents were off developing their strategy for the next battleground states, Carson decided to write an email to his supporters, and continue his meltdown in public. For months, my campaign has survived the lies and dirty tricks from opponents who profess to to detest the games of the political class, but in reality are masters at it, he wrote. Even tonight, my opponents resorted to political tricks by tweeting, texting and telling precinct captains to announce that I had suspended my campaign in some cases asking caucus goers to change their votes. What is considerably more certain than this conspiracy theory, is that Mr. Carson will be making that exiting from the race announcement soon. Hopefully with a little more grace than he could muster in Iowa. Featured Image via screen capture",0 " GOP Senator Desperately Tries To Distance His Re-Election From TrumpAs Donald Trump continues down his path of self destruction (which is bringing the Republican Party down with him), members of the GOP controlled Senate are running scared and they should be. Trump is literally ruining the Republican s hope of keeping their majority.One Senator in particular is making it his mission to distance his re-election bid from the monstrosity that is Donald J. Trump.Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey, who resides in a swing state very weary of Trump s antics, told reporters that voters should separate his run from Trump when they go to the ballot box in November and that they can see for themselves that the two are not similar.Pennsylvania voters are really quite sophisticated and they know for sure that Donald Trump is really in a category unto himself. So they will make their decision about the presidential race, and then they will make a completely separate decision about the person they want representing them in the Senate.Toomey has not endorsed Trump as of yet, but did say he is waiting and watching before he makes a decision.According to RealClearPolitics, Toomey and Katie McGinty, his formidable Democratic challenger, are tied. The McGinty campaign didn t waste time in quickly tying the two together, saying, Pennsylvanians understand that it s a Trump-Toomey ticket, and added:If he opposes Clinton, as he says he does, he s by definition supporting not only Trump, but the policies and values Trump would bring to the White House.So now instead of refusing to endorse, Republican candidates are literally telling voters not to think about Trump when voting for them. Republicans are now asking voters to pretend Donald Trump isn t on the ballot. They re asking the electorate, in a presidential campaign election, to disregard their down-ballot obligations are create two brands of conservatism to suit the GOP s needs.Let that all sink in. That s how desperate they have become.If Toomey were serious about keeping his seat and holding on to any shred of dignity he might have once had, he would quickly and unequivocally denounce Trump and the vile things that have come out of his mouth. As Clinton leads the state by 8 points (and growing), Toomey needs all the respect he can get.The implosion is going strong, and they are tearing each other apart.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 "Venezuelan President decrees emergency, seizes factories",1 The two men at the center of Scotland's largest known child abuse network have been jailed for life.,0 High hopes: Why science is seeking a pardon for psychedelics ,0 "House chairmen seek new federal probe of Clinton testimonyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican chairmen of two U.S. House of Representatives committees asked the Justice Department on Monday to launch an investigation into whether Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton committed perjury during testimony to Congress about her use of a private email server. “The evidence collected by the FBI during its investigation of Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email system appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony” to Congress, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said in a letter to U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips requesting the probe. After a year-long investigation of Clinton’s emails, the FBI recommended that no criminal charges be brought against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for the Nov. 8 election. That recommendation was accepted by Attorney General Loretta Lynch. The FBI found, however, that she was “extremely careless” while secretary of state in her handling of email documents that contained classified information. Representative Elijah Cummings, the senior Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform panel, accused Republicans of a political vendetta following years of Republican-led investigations of Clinton in the House. “Republicans are now squandering even more taxpayer dollars in a desperate attempt to keep this issue alive and bring down Secretary Clinton’s poll numbers ahead of the election,” Cummings said. Clinton has said that she did not believe she was handling classified information on the private email system. Chaffetz has also asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to give him access to its investigative files on Clinton. ",1 "Britain faces looming threat of terror from 'neo-Nazis' out to kill black people, Jews and gays\n",1 "White House finalizing $29 billion request for disaster aid: APWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is finalizing a $29 billion disaster aid request after hurricanes hit Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, citing a senior administration official and congressional aides. The request, which could come as early as Wednesday, combines $16 billion for the government-backed flood insurance program and almost $13 billion in new relief for hurricane victims, AP said. ",1 Memberhistory for the Swedish Pirate Party,1 Bernard Madoff has been given a prison sentence of 150 years for masterminding a massive fraud that robbed investors of $65bn (40bn).,1 Polygamy in the UK : Woman didn't know new husband was already married.,1 "Taxpayer Funded Left-Wing Church Organization Will BREAK LAW To Hide ILLEGAL ALIENS (2016 Democrat Voters) From AuthoritiesThis isn t just any church organization, this is a church organization that takes in $45 MILLION in taxpayer funds every year! Why do we give them so much money? Because they re bringing MOSTLY MUSLIM refugees into our country where they ll get housing, food, clothing, education and spending money with MORE of OUR tax dollars. They ll also be fast-tracked to citizenship. What s the end goal? The fundamental transformation of America Ohio peace and justice groups getting ready to break the law and hide aliens from Obama illegal alien raids, click here.The recent Obama Administration order to round up illegal aliens (a tiny number!) and deport them is simply a ploy to fire up the No Borders movement, the Democrat base, in this all important election year.Church World Service will be hiding illegal aliens!Here is a story about the hard Left Church World Service, a federal refugee resettlement contractor, which uses $45 million of your dollars every year to change America by changing the people, is setting up hiding places throughout America where illegal aliens can be placed out of the reach of federal ICE agents.There should be a law, if you break federal immigration law, you lose your federal funding (come on wimps in Congress!).They want to resurrect the glory days (as they saw them) where churches broke the law and helped Central Americans get into America and then hid them until they could be spread out to towns across the US. It was called The Sanctuary Movement.***It is so apparent that this deportation order is part of a Democrat strategy, most likely cooked up in the White House, because (have you noticed!) no one blasts Obama personally (as they would if this were George Bush or Donald Trump).Religious groups and activists vowed Wednesday to offer refuge to illegal immigrants who are the targets of ongoing federal raids meant to combat a new wave of border-crossing from Central America.The announcement recalled the sanctuary movement of the 1980s that provided safe haven to several thousand people fleeing civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala, with churches in Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities sometimes filled with people seeking asylum in the United States.At the start of the year, the Obama administration launched a large-scale effort targeting those who have already been ordered to leave the country. About 120 adults and children have been apprehended in raids in several states.Central American illegal aliens are NOT refugees. They do not fit the long-understood definition that a refugee or asylum seeker must prove they would be persecuted if they returned to their home country.Escaping poverty or run-of-the-mill crime is not persecution, but these NO Borders activists have been for years attempting to blur the definition. And, that is mostly because when someone is defined as a refugee all welfare goodies flow their way and they can then bring in the family they left behind. (Of course the WaPo isn t going to explain any of that to its readers!).The effort, which is expected to include several hundred more apprehensions, has drawn sharp criticism from those who advocate for undocumented immigrants. They argue that Central Americans who are entering the country illegally should be offered the same protections extended to Syrian refugees.Via: Refugee Resettlement WatchHere is the list of churches affiliated with the radical Church World Services group:Member CommunionsAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Alliance of Baptists American Baptist Churches USA Armenian Church of America (including Diocese of California) Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Church of the Brethren Community of Christ The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America Ecumenical Catholic Communion The Episcopal Church Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Friends United Meeting Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Hungarian Reformed Church in America International Council of Community Churches Korean Presbyterian Church in America Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Mar Thoma Church Moravian Church in America National Baptist Convention of America National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America Orthodox Church in America Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Polish National Catholic Church of America Presbyterian Church (USA) Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. Reformed Church in America Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada The Swedenborgian Church Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America United Church of Christ The United Methodist Church",0 US Government Protection of Al-Qaeda Terrorists and the US-Saudi Black Hole,0 Leaked WikiLeaks Cables Pushing Pakistan to Brink,0 "For eight months, starting last November, he was the prime minister of his native country, Somalia, one of the most chaotic nations on earth. And then, as suddenly as he had left, he was back in his cubicle at the Transportation Department in Buffalo, NY",1 Police in the UK have banned ITN from a press conference because they highlighted bungled investigation into Joanna Yeates murder,1 "HOLLYWOOD WITCHCRAFT: The Dark Side Revealed in The Witch (2016)Jay Dyer 21st Century WireJamie Hanshaw, author of Operation Culture Creation 1 and 2, and Hollywood Mind Control, joins me to break down the esoteric symbols and occult aspects of 5 films: The recent hit The Witch, horror classic Suspiria, Henson s The Witches, The Devil Rides Out and Disney s Hocus Pocus.From British Intelligence to Disney darkness, what is the secret message behind these films?To hear the second half of this podcast go to Jays Analysis.com for information about becoming a subscriber.Jay Dyer is the author of the forthcoming title, Esoteric Hollywood: Sex, Cults and Symbols in Film from Trine Day. Focusing on film, philosophy, geopolitics and all things esoteric, JaysAnalysis and his podcast, Esoteric Hollywood, investigates the deeper meanings between the headlines, exploring the hidden aspects of our sinister synthetic mass media matrix.READ MORE HOLLYWOOD NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Hollywood Files",0 Man banned from all churches in England and Wales,0 The Bordello State ,1 HILLARY STUMBLES AND STUTTERS When Asked About Black Friends: “I have a crew”…”They’ve tried to expand my musical tastes” [Video]Clinton Stumbles Way Through Answering Most Meaningful Conversation She Had With an African American ,0 "If humans continue destroying plants at the current pace, the lack of irreplaceable biomass may soon endanger present human civilization and make it unsustainable - according to a paper published recently by University of Georgia researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.",0 "Leading Republicans, Democrats reject Trump's Obama wiretap assertionWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee issued a bipartisan statement on Thursday rejecting President Donald Trump’s assertion that the Obama administration tapped his phones during the 2016 presidential campaign. The top Republican in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, added his voice to a growing chorus of lawmakers saying there was no sign of a wiretap. In a testy briefing with reporters, White House spokesman Sean Spicer forcefully defended the president, citing news reports of intelligence collection on possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia in the presidential campaign. “There is no question that there were surveillance techniques used throughout this,” Spicer said. The Republican president, without providing evidence, has accused his predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, of wiretapping him near the end of the campaign. An Obama spokesman said that was “simply false.” “Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016,” Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senator Mark Warner, the committee’s Democratic vice chairman, said in a statement. Ryan also said there was no evidence of surveillance. “The point is, the intelligence committees in their continuing, widening, ongoing investigation of all things Russia, got to the bottom - at least so far - with respect to our intelligence community that - that no such wiretap existed,” the House speaker told reporters. Pressed at the White House briefing on whether Trump would back down from his wiretap accusations, Spicer said: “He stands by it.” Spicer also chastised the media for focusing so much attention on comments disparaging Trump’s claim about surveillance. He said reporters had not focused enough on comments from officials denying evidence of any collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. The Russian government has rejected an accusation by U.S. intelligence agencies that it worked to influence the election in Trump’s favor by hacking computer systems, among other methods. Trump has been dogged by allegations that his associates had ties to Russian officials. Trump fired his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, last month after he failed to disclose contacts with Russia’s ambassador before Trump took office on Jan. 20. An official familiar with the investigations by Congress and intelligence and law enforcement agencies said investigators had looked as aggressively and thoroughly as they could for evidence of any spying on Trump or his associates but had found none. On March 4, six weeks after he took over from Obama, Trump made the wiretap accusations in a Twitter post. “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!,” Trump wrote. At least four congressional committees included the startling accusation in their investigations of possible Russian meddling in the election campaign and Russian ties to Trump and his associates. On Wednesday, House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a Republican, and top Democrat Adam Schiff told reporters they had seen no evidence that Trump Tower was tapped and said they would ask Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey about the issue during a public hearing on Monday. On March 9, Comey briefed Nunes, Schiff, Ryan, Burr, Warner and three other top congressional officials on the same intelligence. Trump appeared to back away from his accusation of wiretapping in a Fox News interview on Wednesday night. “But wiretap covers a lot of different things. I think you’re going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks,” Trump said. ",1 Catholic clergy 'abused children for decades in County Donegal'. Report is expected to claim police were complicit in cover-up of sexual abuse by priests and lay members of the church.,1 "WATCH: REMEMBER WHEN HILLARY SAID She Wasn’t Dropping Out Of 2008 Primary Race…Hinted Obama Might Be Assassinated Before Election [VIDEO]That Hillary, she sure is a forked-tongued silver-tongued devil. Funny how the media conveniently forgot about the time Hillary hinted she was going to stay in the race despite the effect it may have on Obama s chance of defeating McCain because after all, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June right before the election.Because suggesting an opponent in your party may be assassinated before the general is apparently okay if you re a Democrat. This week s controversy over comments by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and the assassination of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by second amendment people echoes a flap during the 2008 primary when she mentioned the possibility of someone killing Barack Obama.For those who don t remember the events of eight years ago, the Illinois senator had all but locked down his historic nomination, but former first lady was holding on until June, refusing to concede. RTWatch here:",0 " Crazed Cop Caught On Camera Breaking Man’s Leg Over A Single Walmart Tomato (VIDEO)A police officer in Atlanta has been caught on camera breaking the leg of a man during an altercation over a single tomato at a Walmart store.According to reports and the video evidence, Tyrone Carnegay is approached by Officer Trevor King as he goes to leave the store, after a manager accused him of stealing a single tomato. Before any apparent reaction from Carnegay, Officer King begins beating him repeatedly with his baton. Carnage hits the deck without retaliating.The beating was so severe that Officer King broke two bones in Carnegay s leg and ruptured an artery. He needed to be hospitalized and have a titanium rod implanted in his leg. He also remained handcuffed throughout his time at hospital, despite being the victim and not the perpetrator of an attack.He was later charged with simple battery against police and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers and jailed for three days.It wasn t until the video of the attack was produced, along with the receipt for Carnegay s purchase of the tomato (which was in his pocket the entire time), that Carnegay was released and the charges dropped.Had Officer King simply asked him to produce the receipt before attacking Carnegay, the matter would have been cleared up in a moments. He is now taking up legal proceedings against local law enforcement for the injuries he sustained in the brutal attack. He told WSB-TV: As he s grabbing me, he s beating me at the same time, [saying] Get on the ground, Beating me at the same time. Carnegay s attorney, Craig Jones added: The officer went into Robocop mode and beat the crap out of him, Officer King needed only to ask a simple question of Tyrone Carnegay, to establish whether or not he had purchased the tomato. Instead, he opted to launch a frenzied attack with zero provocation. If anyone should be languishing behind bars right now, it is him.Featured image via screengrab",0 "Sri Lanka's navy says it has fought a sea battle with Tamil rebels, a day after what the military described as the heaviest day of fighting in weeks.",1 "Ryan, Trump team discuss border tax at Capitol Hill meetingWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and top members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team on Monday discussed a controversial plan to tax imports during an evening meeting on Capitol Hill, a Trump adviser said. Trump’s incoming chief strategist Stephen Bannon said the meeting examined two provisions of Ryan’s “Better Way” tax reform blueprint, including a border-adjustability measure intended to boost U.S. manufacturing by taxing imports while exempting U.S. business export revenues from corporate taxation. The discussion also focused on a House “territorial” tax proposal that would end U.S. taxation on the foreign profits of U.S.-based multinationals, Bannon told reporters as more than a half-dozen Trump transition team members left the 2-1/2 hour meeting. Bannon said the discussion involved “working through” border adjustability and added that the territorial measure was “also what this meeting’s about. Start working through it, make sure everybody understands it and is on the same page.” Some tax experts believe Trump has signalled his support for the border adjustability provision in recent tweets warning that companies including automakers could face a border tax if they expand manufacturing abroad and ship products back to the U.S. market. Trump and Ryan agree that tax reform should reduce tax rates for individuals and businesses, do away with longstanding tax loopholes and broaden the tax base in order to drive U.S. economic growth. Advocates say the House Republican border-adjustability measure could help Trump meet his pledge of boosting manufacturing jobs in the United States. It would also pay for lower tax rates by raising more than $1 trillion in revenues over 10 years, analysts say. But some industries including retailers, automakers and oil refiners claim it would raise consumer prices by making exports more expensive. Other critics say it could be vulnerable to a challenge before the World Trade Organization. House Republicans say their territorial provision would bring the United States into line with other countries that do not tax their business’s foreign profits. Up to now, Trump has favored maintaining the current U.S. tax system, which taxes U.S. earnings abroad but allows companies to defer taxes until profits are returned. U.S. corporations have sought to avoid the tax by stashing about $2.6 trillion in earnings overseas. Also attending Monday’s meeting with Ryan and his staff were Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary-nominee Steven Mnuchin, incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn. ",1 Untouchable girl raped. Woman police officer intimidates victim into not revealing rapist names,0 Barrier Reef rodent is first mammal declared extinct due to climate change,0 "This is the Zlin-143, the plane commonly used by the Tamil Tigers\' ""Air Wing"" which today dropped aerial bombs on a Columbo power station and escaped a Sri Lankan air force dragnet.",1 "1,000 runners get norovirus after French mud run",1 Suicide Tourism: Terminally ill Britons now make up a nearly one quarter of users of suicide clinics in Switzerland. Only Germany has a higher numbers of suicide tourists visiting institutions to end their own lives,1 Kate Middleton's Receptionist Found Dead In London Days After Being Duped By Prank Callers,1 Nokia Maps show Kashmir as part of Pakistan; Hindu nationalist mobs riot and burn down Nokia shops,1 " Trump’s Lawyer Says Trump Has No Russian Income ‘With A Few Exceptions’, Internet Drags Him (TWEETS)Despite promising to release his tax returns all throughout his presidential campaign, Donald Trump still refuses to make good on his promise to concerned Americans. Instead, he s gotten his lawyers to make a statement about the last ten years of his tax returns, and it went pretty much exactly how we thought it would it was a disaster.Raising more questions than they actually answered, Trump s lawyers told reporters that Trump s tax returns don t reflect any income of any type from Russian sources, however there are a few exceptions. According to the Associated Press, Trump s lawyers sent a letter stating that the dishonest, shady POTUS didn t owe any money to Russian lenders and had no equity investment by Russians in entities controlled by Trump. Of course, these lawyers didn t provide any copies of the tax returns to verify this, so it s very possible that this information is false. However, the letter did state that Trump received income from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant held in Moscow and a property sold to a Russian billionaire in 2008 for $95 million. Anyone with a decent brain can see how shady and weird this whole situation is, and it wasn t long before Twitter latched on to the statement with a few exceptions and made the hashtag #WithFewExceptions go viral. People didn t hesitate to drag Trump and his lawyers for their disgraceful scheme to clear his name, even though they ve clearly stated that he s guilty as hell.Here are some of the best reactions: We could not have said it better. The lengths that Trump and his team have gone to continue hiding what is in his tax returns should be cause for alarm. Not to mention, Trump s erratic behavior whenever Russia is mentioned. Something shady is definitely going on, and no one should believe anything that comes out of the mouth of Trump, his administration, or anyone he hires.Featured image via Mario Tama / Getty Images",0 "Explainer - Damian Green, UK PM's May deputy, resigns over pornography scandalLONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May forced her most senior minister, Damian Green, to resign on Wednesday after an internal investigation found he had made misleading comments about pornography on computers in his parliamentary office. Below are details about Green, the investigation into his behavior and May s decision to demand his resignation. An ally and a friend from their days at the University of Oxford, Green was appointed first secretary of state, May s de-facto deputy, in the wake of her snap June election which stripped her party of its parliamentary majority. In the tumultuous weeks after the June vote, Green helped to stabilize May s premiership and appease some of those within the Conservative Party who wanted her to quit. His departure is a blow for the government as May navigates the final year of tortuous Brexit negotiations before Britain s exit from the European Union in March 2019. He is also the third minister to quit in recent weeks following the departure of the defense minister and the aid minister. The departure of Green, who like May voted in the 2016 referendum to stay in the EU, also removes one of her most senior advocates of a softer Brexit. The resignation comes a day after May started the delicate process of agreeing a common negotiating position among her cabinet for the long-term relationship Britain wants to have with the EU after Brexit. On Nov. 1 Kate Maltby, an academic, critic and family friend wrote an article in the Times newspaper alleging that Green had made an inappropriate sexual advance toward her in 2015. He offered me career advice and in the same breath made it clear he was sexually interested, said Maltby, who is three decades younger than Green. He steered the conversation to the habitual nature of sexual affairs in parliament... He mentioned that his own wife was very understanding. I felt a fleeting hand against my knee. Green denied the allegations as absolutely and completely untrue . May asked the Cabinet Office, responsible for the administrative functions of the government, to investigate. Five days later the Sunday Times reported that the police had found pornography on a computer in Green s office during a 2008 investigation into government leaks. Green said in a statement that the story was completely untrue . More importantly, the police have never suggested to me that improper material was found on my parliamentary computer, he added. In a second statement on Nov. 11 he again said no allegations about the presence of improper material on his parliamentary computers had ever been put to him. On Wednesday, May s office published a summary of its investigation into Green. It found that Green s conduct as a minister was generally professional and proper and that it was not possible to reach a definitive conclusion on the appropriateness of his behavior with Maltby. It said however that the investigation found Maltby s account of the events to be plausible. On the issue of pornography, it found the two statements made by Green on 4 and 11 November to be inaccurate and misleading. The Metropolitan Police Service had previously informed him of the existence of this material, it said. These statements therefore fall short of the honesty requirement of the Seven Principles of Public Life and constitute breaches of the Ministerial Code. Mr Green accepts this. On Wednesday, May asked for his resignation. While I can understand the considerable distress caused to you by some of the allegations which have been made in recent weeks, I know that you share my commitment to maintaining the high standards which the public demands of Ministers of the Crown, May wrote to Green in a letter. It is therefore with deep regret, and enduring gratitude for the contribution you have made over many years, that I asked you to resign from the government and have accepted your resignation. Green apologized for breaking the ministerial code. He said that he did not download or view pornography on his parliamentary computers but accepted that he should have been more clear in his November statements about what the police had told him. He said he did not recognize the description Maltby gave of their 2015 meeting but said he had clearly made her feel uncomfortable and apologized. He added that he deeply regretted the distress caused to Maltby after she wrote the article. I regret that I ve been asked to resign from the government following breaches of the ministerial code, for which I apologise, he said. ",1 "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approval rating hits 38%, down from 82% last month.",1 "Clinton and Associates’ Education Ponzi Scheme Dady Chery News Junkie Post Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. F. Scott FitzgeraldEducation is the latest public commons that is being turned into a commodity by a group of the world s arrivistes, including Douglas Becker, Donald Trump, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Money brings, in those who obsessively accumulate it, a transformation of thought and deed that is most discernible in the nouveaux riches.To give meaning to their purchasing power, they commodify all they can. As part of this process, and almost as a celestial joke, they also become persuaded that anything can be bought. Gradually, they come to believe that money will guarantee access to anything, the acquiescence or corruption of anyone, the evasion of any law or ailment, and the repair of any deficiency including, in many cases, a spotty education.Consider 49-year old Douglas Becker, the founder, Chairman, and CEO of a network of 88 for-profit institutions in 28 countries that offer undergraduate, master s and doctoral degrees and enroll more than a million students. Becker s for-profit institutions, which are mainly in South America and Europe, although also in the United States and quickly branching out through Asia and the Middle East, cynically exploit the deeply held belief by many people that an education is a passport out of poverty, to in-debt, ambitious working-class people.Laureate has especially targeted as a market Latin America, where in many countries only about 20 percent of college-age people manage to gain admission to the public universities. Such institutions are free, but they require passing grades on difficult entrance exams and are the most prestigious schools in these countries.Becker did not reach his status by attending college. Possibly he regards as a fool anyone who does, although he claims that his mission is to make a college education more accessible. According to Bloomberg Markets, Becker worked at a Computer Land store while he was in high school, and he got his first taste of money by selling to Blue Cross Blue Shield the idea of a swipe card with patient information. He then built on this wealth by buying a stake in a chain of tutoring services called Sylvan Learning Systems, taking Sylvan public in 1993, and targeting universities on the verge of bankruptcy for purchase by Sylvan.The first such acquisition was Universidad Europea de Madrid (UEM) in 1999. UEM now boasts of 15,600 students and claims that 90 percent attain employment within 12 months of completing their studies, but it mentions nothing whatever about its faculty, which is known to have dropped by more than 40 percent within its first five years under Laureate.As UEM has cut its teaching staff, it has increased its cachet by inviting famous people to its campus to accept honorary degrees and large speaking fees. Like the Wizard of Oz, Becker confers degrees on anyone he wishes, including honorary doctorates from UEM on South Africa s Nelson Mandela and Turkey s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Istanbul Bilgi University, where the faculty was cut and prevented from unionizing even as the enrollment grew by more than 40 percent and the tuition climbed to $14,000 per year, was among about 20 institutions that Sylvan controlled by 2007. That year, Becker renamed his operation Laureate Education and took it private in a $3.4 billion deal that might have been conceived to prevent the scrutiny of shareholders.The main backers included Henry Kravis, of the New York based equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR); Steven Cohen of Point 72 Asset Management (formerly SAC Capital Management); and Citigroup Private Equity. Within three years of Kravis investment of $487 million, his portion of the business grew to $711 million.Financial analyst and whistleblower Charles Ortel points out that the buyout involved unnecessary risks, and one of the main players, Steven Cohen, had to make a $1.2 billion settlement with the US Justice Department in 2014 for allegations of insider trading regarding another business deal. Ortel explains: When the management of a publicly traded company wants to take the company private, there is an inherent conflict of interest because the management knows more than the public as it raises the money to buy up the public shares. In this case, the process of negotiating among multiple parties with aligned and with competing financial interests took about 15 months from start to finish: a quite long time. The buyout transaction was completed on August 17, 2007, just as strains on the global economy and financial system began to accentuate. Given the financial performance of Laureate since August 2007 and the risks that are materializing now, the price paid to other public shareholders of Laureate by Douglas Becker and members of the buying group may seem attractive, in hindsight. Regulators might choose to re-examine more carefully the process by which Mr. Becker secured financing to buy out public shareholders, concentrating on the variances, if any, between representations made to investors and lenders to the buying group, with disclosures made to the selling shareholder. Details of another profitable move by Becker became known just before Hillary Clinton s announcement of her latest presidential bid, when she and Bill Clinton made public their federal income tax information. In their tax returns, $16.5 million of payments from Laureate to Bill Clinton were disclosed that purportedly were made for his role as the Honorary Chancellor of Laureate International University. Recall that Hillary Clinton had become the US Secretary of State in 2009 and that Bill Clinton was, at all times in position to exercise significant influence over the affairs of the Clinton Foundation and all its affiliates, including Clinton Global Initiative, Inc. (New CGI), which had been involved with Laureate in a venture known as Clinton Global Initiative-University or CGI-U Charles Ortel said.Indeed, during the same period, the State Department initially granted $55 million to International Youth Foundation, a charity in which Becker has been actively involved for years and that is based in Maryland. The US government later organized for Laureate to receive $100 million from the World Bank s International Finance Corporation (IFC); in this transaction, a fund managed by the IFC provided $50 million and the sovereign wealth fund of Korea provided $50 million.Ortel has verified the Clintons taxes and says they are a huge mess. He notes that: Bill and Hillary Clinton each earned substantial sums for speeches rendered in numerous states other than New York and Washington, DC, and many countries other than the US, yet they have not supplied information concerning such state and foreign tax filings. Furthermore the Clintons did not disclose their transactions with Laureate as Related-Party Transactions in their IRS Form 990s for the Clinton Foundation and New CGI, not only in their original filings for 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013, but also in their corrected filings. It is not even clear how CGI-U is controlled, whether it is registered in all legal jurisdictions where it operates, or what its financial results may have been. In an interview with Richard Johnson of the New York Post, Trump advisor Roger Stone wondered if the Clintons got rich from State Department funds. Further, he accused the Clintons of helping Laureate to eliminate its competition. Stone argued that the payments to Bill Clinton have protected Laureate from government attacks on their accreditation and fitness for student loans even as much smaller operations like Corinthian and Trump University have been severely hit.Corinthian went bankrupt in 2015 after a federal district court in Illinois found it to be liable for $530 million in predatory loans for promising its students jobs that did not materialize and getting them heavily indebted. Trump University was recently hit by fraud lawsuits from New York and California for calling itself a university, although it had been doing so since its inception in 2005. By contrast, no lawsuit so far has stuck to Laureate.Possibly the main mistake of Trump U. and Corinthian has been to grow on US citizens, unlike Laureate, which has taken care to parasitize foreign nationals first, particularly working-class people from emerging powers.Bill Clinton s greatest help to Laureate has likely come as introductions to foreign politicians, most of them probably corrupt, who could influence their governments student loan programs. The highest number of campuses in any single country so far is in Brazil, where Laureate owns 12 institutions. There Dilma Rousseff s seven-fold increase of government-backed student loans has been a great boon. The Centro Universario IBMR of Rio de Janeiro is a typical campus. Enrollment there has more than tripled because of a Ponzi scheme in which, to pay their loans, students become employed as telemarketers who recruit new students and are paid by the head.The school remains open although Rio s legislature has criticized it for firing faculty while it achieved its extraordinary expansion. In Chile, where President Sebastian Pinera raised taxes around 2012 to fund student loans, Laureate owns five institutions. At Santiago s Universidad de Las Am ricas (UDLA), accreditation was withdrawn in 2013 because graduation rates had dived, and 10,000 new students had been added as the number of teachers had dropped. UDLA accepts students with scores as low as 20 percent on its entrance exam and has been described as the place where you go when no one else will accept you. The list of campuses goes on. You may inspect them here.Laureate decided to go public again in fall 2015. It filed to convert to a Delaware-based public benefit corporation for an initial public offering (IPO) in which it disclosed $4.7 billion in debt, probably hoping that the IPO would erase some of this crushing debt burden. With friends like the Clintons, how can it lose? If Laureate continues to grow, it will expand to the US market, and there will be no way to stop it when it does.Imagine, if you will, a Laureate bid for Brandeis University (which was in the red after Bernie Madoff squandered its endowment) or Wayne State University (where a city such as Detroit has gone bankrupt); imagine further the devaluation of every degree that these universities have granted. Now think of your school, suddenly insolvent, or your children s schools becoming parodies of educational institutions.Clinton has packed Laureate s board with people from his 1993-2001 administration, including his former Secretary of Education, Richard W. Riley; his former Secretary of Housing and development, Henry Cisneros; and his former head of the US Information Agency, Joseph Duffey.Quite apart from the fact that the Clintons and their associates appear to have set up a for-profit education scam to dwarf all others, they also seem to have established an entity that can grow their wealth, finance their political campaigns on the sly, grease the wheels wherever needed, and indefinitely keep them in power regardless of voter choice.All of it has been done so far on the backs of the world s aspiring poor, with the collusion of their governments and pretext of improving their lot. This is the way of the Clintons and their rich friends.*** Dady Chery is the author of We Have Dared to Be Free. Photographs one by Joe Brusky; two by Joi Ito; three and four from the archives of Universidad Europea de Madrid; six from Quinn Dombrowski; seven from the archives of the World Bank; and nine from Mike Licht.READ MORE ON THE PONZI SCHEME: 21st Century Wire Ponzi FilesSupport our work and Become a Member @ 21WIRE.TV",0 "Was A Washington Post Reporter Caught Snapping Photos Of Tillerson’s Notes During Confirmation Hearings Break? [VIDEO] UPDATE: WaPo Reporter Finally Says It’s Not HerDoris Truong is a reporter for the hard left-leaning Washington [Com]Post where they only have the highest regard for journalistic integrity right? Well maybe not so much.During a break in the confirmation hearings for Rex Tillerson, Trump s choice for Secretary of State, a reporter (who many on Twitter are claiming is Doris Truong, the homepage editor for the Washington Post) was caught on camera snapping photos of the notes left on the table where Tillerson sat.UPDATE: Doris Truong has published a piece on the Washington Post where she claims the woman in the video is NOT her. From her piece: I work as a homepage editor at The Washington Post. Because Wednesday was my day off, I hadn t been online much. But before I went to bed, I noticed a message request on Facebook. Someone I didn t know asked: Any comment on you taking photos of Rex Tillerson s notes? When I checked Twitter, I had to scroll for several minutes to figure out what was going on. It seemed to start with this post: Who is this woman and why is she secretly snapping photos of Rex Tillerson s notes? We d love to know who this woman is. If you have any idea who this woman is, or who the man is that can be seen talking to her in the video, we d love to hear from you. Please send us an email: onehundredpercentfedup@gmail.comFrom the Gateway Pundit:The Washington Post says the reporter is not Doris Truong, their homepage editor.It is not clear at this point who the reporter was but she was friendly with the men in the video.Please email us if you recognize the woman.Truong, who is being hammered on Twitter over claims that she took pictures of Tillerson s notes has not disputed the claims on her Twitter account, even though she is getting hammered by Twitter users over this video. We also scanned the Washington Post s website to see if there was any mention of the video and the potentially false claim that the woman caught on camera does not work for them. We couldn t find anything on their website about the incident or a story refuting their reporter s involvement.https://twitter.com/Truth_Bombers/status/819404616366522368Some were saying the woman in the video was actually Lisa Song, a reporter for Inside Climate News. Lisa Song has flatly denied this allegation on her Twitter account (which is more than Truong has done to date).Hey twitter trolls, not all Asians look alike. I was nowhere near DC yesterday. Was in Boston/Cambridge, not even covering Tillerson. https://t.co/IG3lWkReut Lisa Song (@lisalsong) January 12, 2017We asked Washington Post reporter Doris Truong if she is the woman in the video on Twitter:@DorisTruong Are you the woman in this video snapping photos of Tillerson's notes during confirmation hearings break https://t.co/CvmRsJo09i 100% FED UP! (@100PercFEDUP) January 12, 2017We ll wait for her reply, and hope to have an update soon ",0 "BLACK LIVES MATTER ORGANIZERS Hacked Messages Show Plans For “Shutting Down GOP Convention”… “Disrupting Trump” And “Martial Law”This is just a preview of what these terrorists professional agitators, who ve actually met with our Community Organizer in Chief in OUR White House have planned for this summer. This is NOT your grandparents Democrat Party U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch is coordinating with Democratic activists to so disrupt the upcoming Republican and Democratic National Conventions that martial law will be declared.That s the stunning discovery revealed in a series of direct messages between three activists.On Friday, June 10, 2016, someone hacked into the Twitter account of #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) leader and former Baltimore mayoral candidate DeRay McKesson. McKesson later confirmed the hack to The Baltimore Sun.On June 11, 2016, a Twitterer who calls himself The Saint (@TheSaintNegro) tweeted a direct-message conversation on June 10 between KcKesson and another BLM leader Johnetta Elzie (Netta), in which the two discussed talking with Attorney General Loretta Lynch about plans to bring on martial law by causing chaos at the upcoming Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, PA, so as to keep Obama in office.Here s the conversation over the course of several days between black activists DeRay McKesson (DM) and Johnetta Elzie (JE), and between McKesson and a white ally named Sam (S):JE: Have you spoken with Mrs. Lynch [Attorney General Loretta Lynch] recently about the plan for the summer and fall leading up to the elections. DM: We spoke two weeks and they want us to start really pushing how racist Trump is now instead of waiting so the others can start getting the protesters ready to shut both conventions down. DM: If we can get both conventions shut down for messing over Bernie and for having racist Trump, then get martial law declared so Obama can stay in office we will win. Call you soon when I get to my dads so I can use his landline and we can talk more on this. DM: We have to make sure that we use our voices to keep people disrupting Trump all summer and through the fall so martial law can be declared . S: I wanted to touch base with you about the summer of chaos. So far we have over 2,000 people bused in from different cities and another 6,000 to 8,000 expected to drive into Cleveland for the Convention. S: They will not be ready for the crowds we are bringing and they will blame Trump for it, especially if we shut it down. The GOP will have to replace him at that point or we will continue the disruptions nationwide. DM: I will pass the info along. Good work, Sam. You never let us down. It s so important we stop Trump. He can not be president. He will destroy everything we worked so hard for and we can t trust . DM: today and he [Sam?] confirmed that there will be around 10,000 protesters disrupting the [Republican] convention. Plans are being made for other cities as well for upcoming Trump events. Ads have already been placed looking for people to help. I know you don t care for them [white people] but this is the time we need our white allies doing a lot of the work for us. They are the ones who listen the best. JE: That will put fear into the GOP and the country when they can t have their convention for all their racist supporting Trump. We ve worked too hard and closely with the Obama administration to have that racist ass take it all away and Hillary . You know I can t stand those white allies, but yo right this is the best to use them. They hang on every word you say and will do whatever is asked. I just hate all that kiss ass they try to do. Like that changes who they are. DM: We have a lot of white allies volunteering for Trump s campaign to pass along information to us before it s made public so we know when rallies are coming up before they are announced. That way we can plan major disruptions in those cities in advance. We just have to keep our names out of this and let these [white] people do the work for us by pushing how Trump s racist ways will destroy . JE: That s all those white people are good for in my eyes. I couldn t imagine even pretending to like that racist ass Trump even to get info on his events. I ll be glad when we shut his ass down. DM: With the support we have from Mrs. Lynch and the help we ve got from Sam and others it won t be hard to cause enough . Here are screenshots of The Saint s series of tweets: The authorities seem to be taking the plan to disrupt the Republican Convention seriously.As reported by Alice Speri for The Intercept, June 23, 2016, local police and federal agents from the FBI, DHS, and Secret Service are knocking on the doors of activists and community organizers in Cleveland asking about their plans for the Republican National Convention in July.On June 29, 2016, Deray McKesson sort of confirmed the plan when he went public with warnings about possible protests at the DNC and RNC, as reported by USA Today.In fact, a recent survey showed that as many as 67% of Democrats want Obama for a third term.Via: DC Clothesline",0 "Pence says South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement to be reviewed, reformedSEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told business leaders in Seoul on Tuesday that the Trump administration will review and reform the five-year-old free trade agreement between the two countries. Pence said the U.S. trade deficit has more than doubled in the five years since the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement began and there are too many barriers for U.S. businesses in the country. Pence’s meeting in Seoul with business leaders comes before he heads to Tokyo later on Tuesday, where he will meet Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso and kick off talks that Washington hopes will open doors for U.S.-made products. U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to narrow big trade deficits with nations like China and Japan, saying he would boost U.S. manufacturing jobs. “That’s the hard truth,” Pence told an American Chamber of Commerce meeting in Seoul. “We have to be honest about where our trade relationship is falling short”, said Pence, adding the Trump administration would work with businesses on reforms. Trump campaigned on an “America First” pledge, promising to overhaul trade agreements that he said hurt U.S. jobs. Before the free trade agreement between the two countries took effect in 2012, South Korea’s trade surplus against the United States stood at $11.6 billion at end-2011. In 2016, the surplus measured at $23.2 billion, according to official data. James Kim, CEO of GM Korea, said there are opportunities to improve the free trade deal between Washington and Seoul. “We need to minimize as many unique Korea standards which would make it easier to buy American products made in America,” Kim said at the meeting with Pence. ",1 $2.5 billion in lost income for Egyptian tourism since 2011. Tourism ministry prepares new campaign to promote Egypt by live-streaming images of the country around the world.,1 "Germany introduces ""easy"" parking spots for women",0 Uganda's rebels in murderous spree - Lord's Resistance Army blamed for killing 321 in northeastern Congo,0 "The bodies of more than 230 people believed to have been killed by Islamic State (IS) have been found in a mass grave in eastern Syria, activists say.",1 "Actors and a production company are under investigation after creating ""It's just a prank"" videos where actors pretended to be suicide bombers.",1 " Ana Navarro Points Out Hispanic Outreach Differences Between Candidates, And It’s HILARIOUS (TWEET)Well, it s official: both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have chosen their vice presidential picks, and it s time to move forward towards November. Trump picked a guy who might even fall asleep to his own voice and is a known woman-hating homophobe, better known as Mike Pence, and Hillary picked a liberal guy with a tremendous progressive record who is fluent in Spanish Tim Kaine.Noticing the glaring contrast between the Clinton and Trump campaigns was none other than political analyst Ana Navarro. She pointed out the obvious differences in reaching out the Latino community from either campaign.Navarro said on Twitter: Hispanic Outreach: Hillary Clinton has Spanish-speaking do-gooder who was a missionary in Honduras; Trump has Joe Arpaio and a taco bowl. Hispanic Outreach: @HillaryClinton has Spanish-speaking do-gooder who was a missionary in Honduras; Trump has Joe Arpaio and a taco bowl. Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) July 23, 2016Ha! Funny, and yet, kind of sad.Joe Arpaio, who of course is notoriously known for being the racist Sheriff from Arizona, and the infamous taco bowl is in reference to Trump s attempt to reach out to the Hispanic community on Cinco de Mayo.Whoever is going to win this election is going to need the Hispanic vote, and as far as it looks right now, Hillary Clinton is going to wipe the floor with Trump. After all, Trump refers to Mexicans as rapists and murderers, and that didn t really go over too well. Guess we ll just have to wait and see.Featured image via video screen capture",0 "HILLARY ON DISABLED CHILDREN During Easter Egg Hunt: “When are they going to get those f*****g ree-tards out of here?”Dolly Kyle has written a scathing tell all book exposing the sickening hidden truth about Bill and Hillary Clinton. Hillary s war on just about anyone who is beneath her, or who would dare to get in the way of her ascent to the White House. When will the media do their job and report the truth about this horrible opportunist?Dolly Kyle who was just 11 when she first crossed paths with Bill, dated him through high school and began sleeping with him once they graduated published the claims about the Clinton couple s racial epithets and politics in her new book, Hillary: The Other Woman, published by WND Books.She writes of one occasion, when developmentally challenged children were having difficulty picking up the eggs at a traditional Easter egg hunt on the grounds of the governor s mansion during Bill s tenure in the Arkansas state house.Reluctant hostess Hillary had enough. The frustrated Me-First Lady demanded, When are they going to get those f*****g ree-tards out of here? Dolly writes.When Hillary arrived in Arkansas, Dolly writes, she looked down her nose at what she viewed as ignorant hillbillies .She was raised in a middle-class suburb in Illinois and considered herself above the southerners unless she was campaigning in New York state where she declared herself to be a lifelong Yankees fan.Hillary didn t belong in Arkansas but here she was .In the governor s mansion for eight years, Bill and Hillary were both getting tired of the routine and frustrations of the small Southern state and Bill opted out of running for reelection in 1990.He was marking his time until he could make a move for the White House. Via: Daily Mail",0 Israeli troops kill Palestinian near settlement in West Bank,1 " Pope Francis Just Called Out Donald Trump During His Christmas SpeechPope Francis used his annual Christmas Day message to rebuke Donald Trump without even mentioning his name. The Pope delivered his message just days after members of the United Nations condemned Trump s move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Pontiff prayed on Monday for the peaceful coexistence of two states within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders. We see Jesus in the children of the Middle East who continue to suffer because of growing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, Francis said. On this festive day, let us ask the Lord for peace for Jerusalem and for all the Holy Land. Let us pray that the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached. The Pope went on to plead for acceptance of refugees who have been forced from their homes, and that is an issue Trump continues to fight against. Francis used Jesus for which there was no place in the inn as an analogy. Today, as the winds of war are blowing in our world and an outdated model of development continues to produce human, societal and environmental decline, Christmas invites us to focus on the sign of the Child and to recognize him in the faces of little children, especially those for whom, like Jesus, there is no place in the inn, he said. Jesus knows well the pain of not being welcomed and how hard it is not to have a place to lay one s head, he added. May our hearts not be closed as they were in the homes of Bethlehem. The Pope said that Mary and Joseph were immigrants who struggled to find a safe place to stay in Bethlehem. They had to leave their people, their home, and their land, Francis said. This was no comfortable or easy journey for a young couple about to have a child. At heart, they were full of hope and expectation because of the child about to be born; yet their steps were weighed down by the uncertainties and dangers that attend those who have to leave their home behind. So many other footsteps are hidden in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary, Francis said Sunday. We see the tracks of entire families forced to set out in our own day. We see the tracks of millions of persons who do not choose to go away, but driven from their land, leave behind their dear ones. Amen to that.Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images.",0 "Ex-U.S. Attorney Bharara takes aim at Trump with criticism and jokes(Reuters) - Former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara took several shots at the administration of President Donald Trump on Thursday, calling for “facts not falsehoods” as the basis for political discourse and a more welcoming stance towards immigrants in his first public speaking event since being fired one month ago. Bharara sprinkled the hour-long speech with humor, including a joke about the size of the crowd clearly aimed at Trump. But Bharara also made a series of thinly veiled criticisms of the new administration, referring multiple times to Trump’s campaign pledge to “drain the swamp” in Washington. “You don’t drain a swamp with a slogan. You don’t drain it by replacing one set of partisans with another. You don’t replace muck with muck,” Bharara, 48, said at the Cooper Union in New York. “To drain a swamp you need an army corps of engineers, experts schooled in service and serious purpose. Not do-nothing, say-anything, neophyte opportunists who know a lot about how to bully and bluster but not so much about truth, justice and fairness.” Bharara was fired by Trump on March 11 after refusing to step down. While he was among 46 U.S. attorneys told to submit their resignations, his dismissal was a surprise because Trump had asked him in November to stay in the job. Bharara has said it was not made clear to him at first whether or not he was being dismissed. He joked about that initial confusion with a reference to Trump’s TV reality show in which he regularly fired people on the spot. “I don’t really understand why this was such a big deal, especially to this White House. I had thought that was what Donald Trump was good at,” Bharara said. As the chief federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, Bharara oversaw several notable corruption and white-collar criminal cases, as well as cases involving national security. He said he was equally proud of the less high-profile work his office did to combat gangs and consumer fraud. Bharara said he expected his successor to carry on with the office’s reputation for independence. He did not comment on who his possible successor. As for his own future, Bharara ruled out running for public office. “I don’t have any plans to enter politics just like I have no plans to join the circus. And I mean no offence to the circus.” ",1 "Putin plan to rejuvenate Russian politics makes slow progressMOSCOW (Reuters) - Poised to run for a fourth term, President Vladimir Putin has started clearing out the old Russian political elite and says he s bringing in young people with fire in their eyes. But a Reuters analysis shows that he has made limited progress so far. In the run up to March elections that are expected to hand him a mandate to stay in power until he is 70, Putin says he is promoting a new generation of officials to drive Russia s economic and political future. One fifth of the country s 85 regional governors have been replaced this year and almost half of the lower house of parliament changed in elections last year after Putin brought in a new chief of staff. The Reuters analysis of political appointments shows, however, that in the cabinet, the upper house of parliament, the Security Council and the presidential administration, the pace of change has slowed and the average age is almost three years higher than when he began his third term in 2012. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the findings. He said it would take too long to check the data. With no change expected at the very top, critics say the lack of fresh blood translates into a dearth of fresh ideas to stimulate politics and the economy. There are similarities with the era of (Soviet leader Leonid) Brezhnev in that we ve fallen into a malign stability from which there s no way out, Dmitry Oreshkin, an independent political analyst, told Reuters. Opposition protesters are fond of photoshopping Putin s face onto Brezhnev s torso on placards, implying that Putin and the system he has built is as stagnant as Brezhnev s Soviet Union, a charge the Kremlin rejects. For Putin there are no risks because the system works and obeys him, said Oreshkin. The risks are for the country and the economy. The model of stability is underpinned by a system of loyalty and corruption. Outside Moscow, which is rich, there is stagnation. Weighed down by Western sanctions for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine s Crimea and backing for a pro-Russian uprising in east Ukraine, the Russian economy, though recovering, remains fragile and vulnerable to oil fluctuations and new sanctions. Russia's aging political elite: tmsnrt.rs/2zRTpRY Reuters compared the profiles of 784 current regional governors, members of the upper and lower houses of parliament, the government, the Security Council, and the presidential administration to 768 who were in power in May 2012. It found little sign of renewal in the cabinet, the upper house of parliament, the Security Council and the presidential administration. Of the 784 positions, 314 had changed hands in the last two years, fewer than in May 2012 when that figure was 368. Often when officials left their posts, they showed up in other jobs. There were fewer changes in the cabinet, the upper house of parliament, the Security Council and the presidential administration. The average age of all the officials rose from 52.6 in 2012 to 55.5 now. In the Security Council, which Putin chairs, the average age stands at 60.4. It has seen only two changes in its 12-strong permanent makeup in the last two years. In the presidential administration, which Putin uses to devise and implement his ideas, the average age is 57 compared to 53.2 in 2012, and in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, the average age has risen to almost 53 from 51 five years ago. This month Putin told 10 governors, that as a rule they were being replaced with young people. You have probably noticed the fire in their eyes, he said. Putin has said his aim is to create a new governors corps of young promising modern people who will think about the future of the region and all of Russia. Critics say the Kremlin s emphasis on youth is window-dressing designed to create the illusion of political change in a system bereft of real competition. Up to two thirds of Russians want some kind of societal or political change that would raise living standards, some opinion polls show, and turnout in last year s parliamentary election fell to a post-Soviet low. In the Kremlin, the thinking goes that a fresh face in the governor s seat may reduce the population s unhappiness and increase turnout in the election, Natalya Zubarevich, an academic, wrote in a paper for the Carnegie Moscow Center. Putin has received a succession of newly-minted regional governors in his Kremlin office live on state TV and hosted two groups of glum-looking ex-governors. Rotation is a natural and self-evident process, he told one group of five ex-governors in February. Putin s aides are also touting a program for new leaders. Applicants must be under 50 years of age and parts of the 9-month training program for top regional officials emphasize fitness and courage. Videos leaked to the RBC online news portal have shown participants leaping from a cliff into a river seven meters below and undergoing weapons and parachute training. Some Kremlin watchers say the newcomers are all Putin loyalists whom he can easily influence if he exits office in 2024 and assumes a father-of-the-nation role. He s training up 30- and 40-year olds for whom he ll become a political father, Sergei Dorenko, the prominent head of a Moscow radio station, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily. He ll smooth their passage and give them the earth. ",1 " University Retracts Study Claiming Chocolate Milk Cures Concussions, Returns 229K To SponsorsIf you happened to see the University of Maryland s press releases touting the benefits of Fifth Quarter chocolate milk for athletes suffering from concussions, you might have wondered if it was an April fools joke.According to those press releases, University researchers discovered that chocolate milk helps improve the cognitive and motor functions of high school football players, even after suffering concussions. Not just any chocolate milk will do, though. The University s press releases claimed that a specific brand, Fifth Quarters, stands head and shoulders above other brands of chocolate milk when it comes to boosting the brain power of athletes and concussion sufferers.A press release posted in July of last year read more like a late-night infomercial hosted by Dr. Oz, rather than a University press release.Titled Super Natural Cows Make the Best Sports Recovery Drinks, it touted, not just best the benefits of Fifth Quarters chocolate milk, but the benefits of capitalism too, proclaiming:The magic formula for the ultimate sports recovery drink starts with cows, runs through the University of Maryland and ends with capitalism.According to the press release, which has since been removed from the University s website, but is still accessible through Google cache:Richard Doak and Kurt Williams stood behind a fence at a high school football game in the mountains of western Maryland and wondered why kids were getting injured more often. If it wasn t their training, they thought, then it had to be their nutrition.Next they did what any good parents would do they conducted research, created a solution and started a company so athletes everywhere could benefit from their discovery.If you think this sounds more like a cheesy advertisement than a summary of academic research, you wouldn t be alone.It gets worse.According to the press release, Doak and Williams were surprised by what they discovered: The freshest milk legally possible, from the best cows, provided more of what athletes bodies need than any artificial commercial drink: protein 20 grams, as much as most whey drinks, along with a special kind of protein that remains available for hours after drinking it; electrolytes far more than products on the shelf; and calcium and vitamin D for strong bones. They added natural cane sugar and cocoa to make it tasty for kids and to restore glycogen to muscles.But of course they needed proof of this.That s why they gave the University of Maryland $228,910 to conduct research through UMD s Industrial Partnership s Program.To understand what that program is, and what it means to the future of independent and ethical research, look no further than the school s own description of it, which cites academic-industrial, public-private partnerships. In other words, this is a program that conducts privately-funded research on behalf of businesses and corporations.In this case, the ethical problems were entirely obvious.Without releasing any details on the study, the press release proclaimed that:Jae Kun Shim, a professor of kinesiology in the School of Public Health, conducted a year-long study to test how well Fifth Quarter Fresh aides the post-exercise recovery of muscular endurance compared to other popular sports drinks. It outperformed competing products by 13-17 percent. It included the following remarks from Professor Shim: I knew they had a high-quality milk with less damaged protein [than whey protein drinks] and more electrolytes, but I didn t expect it would make much difference for strength endurance recovery. There are many studies out there that show the cardiovascular recovery benefits from milk-based products, but this data is unique because we are showing that the muscular endurance recovery from this chocolate milk is significant. Our data suggests that athletes may be ready faster and better for the next game or practice if they drink Fifth Quarter Fresh chocolate milk. And that s not all folk. According to Industry spokespersons, who had a heavy hand in both the research and the press release:One secret to making higher quality milk, Doak and Williams discovered, is in the cows Jerseys and Guernseys whose milk innately has higher amounts of protein, electrolytes, calcium and carbohydrates than the milk we typically buy in stores. Store milk is produced primarily by Holsteins, which comprise 90 percent of the herds in the U.S. simply because they produce more milk per cow.It went on to claim: Jerseys naturally produce the highest quality milk for human consumption, said Erick Metzger, general manager of National All-Jersey Inc., an industry group. Compared to average milk, a glass of Jersey milk has greater nutritional value. Nutrient-dense Jersey milk tastes better because there are more non-fat solids, protein and calcium in Jersey milk when compared with other breeds. The University was forced to retract the study, refunding the $228,910 it received from Fifth Quarters and other milk producers, to conduct what Professor Shim described as a $100,000 research project.On Friday, the University announced the results of the school s internal investigation into the project.As CBS News reports here, the University s investigation found a concerning lack of understanding of the basic principles of conflict of interest in research at all levels of the process. You don t say?The University of Maryland s chocolate-milk-cures-concussions research is likely to go down in history as some of the worst corporate-funded pseudo-science of our time.The lack of ethics applied by researchers in this specific study are glaringly apparent, even to the most casual observer.The real concern is that this type of corporate-funded research is taking place more and more often in the United States. Fossil fuel companies pay big money to any researcher willing to deny climate change or demonstrate how safe fracking is.The pharmaceutical industry funds the research that determines whether or not the products it markets to consumers are safe, while Biotech corporations fund research into the safety of GMO. The list of industries buying science goes on and on.While we often hear that all this corporate money flowing into America s colleges and universities doesn t influence research, the Fifth Quarters study shows otherwise. Featured image via wikipedia cc 2.0",0 " Donald Trump Let Fly With The F-Word During A New Hampshire Stump Speech (VIDEO)It was only a matter of time before this happened. The very first instance of an American presidential candidate in the modern age dropping the f-bomb during a stump speech occurred this week. And, naturally, it was Donald Trump who broke through the taboo then backed over it just to make sure it s dead.Indeed, Trump let fly with the f-word on Friday during one of his stream-of-consciousness rants that pass for stump speeches. And, frankly, I don t know whether to scowl or cheer. In spite of Trump s general awfulness, I m leaning cheer. We re gonna bring businesses back. We re gonna have businesses that used to be in New Hampshire, that are now in Mexico, come back to New Hampshire, and you can tell them to go f*ck themselves! Because they let you down, and they left![youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr-_Nwi2FyY&w=560&h=315]Yes, let s tell corporations that send jobs to places like Mexico and China to go f*ck themselves. You know, corporations like Trump s.There s something particularly exciting when f*ck becomes demystified. It should be. It s just a word. We can t say it on non-pay cable or on the radio or on websites because advertisers don t like it but we can show unspeakable scenes of violence and other horrors all the time. There s something perverse and unjust about that. So, in that regard, Trump can feel free to let the expletives fly. But if he s elected, I wonder if his FCC appointees will be equally lenient. On the other hand, Trump s use of f*ck is another step away from presidential decorum on the Republican side, and one step closer to amateur-hour composed of reality show hacks running for the highest office in the land. I m honestly torn.For the record, Trump has said f*ck in public before, but not during a presidential stump speech.Featured image via video screen grab.",0 "In 2011, there are 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide",1 "Tribal War - Armed with bows and arrows, Massai warriors clash with members of the Kalenjin tribe in the Kapune hill on March 1, 2008",0 "OBAMA’S ORGANIZED RACE WAR EXPOSED AS PROTESTORS REVEAL PROOF OF PAYMENT My success in the financial markets has given me a greater degree of independence than most other people, Soros once wrote. This allows me to take a stand on controversial issues: In fact, it obliges me to do so because others cannot. -George SorosMORE and OBS, two groups funded by George Soros, advertised money available for people willing to travel to protest (@organizemo is the twitter account of MORE): Listen to radical socialist George Soros talk about his innocuous and oh so transparent little organization here:George Soros gives billions to left-wing causes: Soros started the Open Society Institute in 1993 as a way to spread his wealth to progressive causes. Using Open Society as a conduit, Soros has given more than $7 billion to a who s who of left-wing groups. This partial list of recipients of Soros money says it all:ACORN, Apollo Alliance, National Council of La Raza, Tides Foundation, Huffington Post, Southern Poverty Law Center, Soujourners, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, and the National Organization for Women.George Soros wants to curtail American sovereignty: Soros would like nothing better than for America to become subservient to international bodies. He wants more power for groups such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, even while saying the U.S. role in the IMF should be downsized. In 1998, he wrote: Insofar as there are collective interests that transcend state boundaries, the sovereignty of states must be subordinated to international law and international institutions. After protesters protested not getting their checks from MORE on May 14th, MORE allegedly distributed the following list as to who was paid to protest in Ferguson and elsewhere, to show where the money had been going.Obviously, as we ve mentioned before, this is far from a grass roots spontaneous protest.You can see money paid out to Lisa Fithian, $1,127.75 for visit expenses .For those who do not know, Lisa Fithian is an infamous leftist organizer. She organized at Occupy, but has been used as a training organizer for many years before that. She spent time in Ferguson in 2014 training people to simulate chaos. Is it possible that George Soros has a love affair with Lisa Fithian because of their common hatred for Israel?Also of note, you can see that some people are being paid to travel to other places to protest, you can see the travel to Selma, and to D.C., as well as money paid out for vans , including to a union for providing the vans. Elizabeth Vega got $2000 for activist trip to Baltimore .There is money paid for protester supplies and protester catering, as well as for video recording of the protests. Some things were not so defined such as $2000 to Taylor Payne for support .$52,815 is paid to MORE. Money clearly was to go through them to the protesters, according to the protesters during their #Cuthtechecks protest.There are big payouts to Jeff Ordower. Jeff Ordower is a bit like a male Lisa Fithian, he was an organizer for the SEIU and ACORN. He founded MORE and his stated goal is welcoming co-conspirators in attempts to scale up numbers of radical organizers who can financially support themselves in the work . He is the white man protesters are complaining to in this clip, when they protested not getting paid. He would appear to be disburser of the checks.WCC hot seat pic.twitter.com/Uo65IC2Uuz Search4Swag (@search4swag) May 14, 2015Brittany Ferrell and Ashley Yates receive thousands on behalf of MAU, Millenial Activists United, one of the protester groups. Ferrell, tries to justify her position in this Facebook post where she blames Ordower for screwing everything up. Via: Weasel Zippers",0 "Atlantic City, N.J., emergency manager suggests privatizing fire department(Reuters) - Atlantic City, the distressed New Jersey gambling hub, should consider privatizing its fire-fighting services and convention center and find ways to make more money off its drinking water utility, the city’s emergency manager said in an updated fiscal rescue plan. The report comes one year after Governor Chris Christie appointed Kevin Lavin as emergency manager. Lavin’s report, which also calls for additional layoffs, follows an initial assessment last March. New Jersey taxpayers have so far spent $2.62 million on Lavin and his team of accountants, restructuring lawyers and a mediator, according to invoices obtained and reviewed by Reuters through public records requests. “I’m glad the emergency manager has, after spending millions of dollars in no-bid contracts and wasting months of time, concluded what we all know: that Atlantic City government is broken and needs to be fixed immediately,” Senate President Steve Sweeney said in a statement. Sweeney is now pushing for a full state takeover of Atlantic City operations that would strip elected officials of nearly all power. Lavin said in a statement that over the past year his office and city stakeholders have “kept the city from falling into financial ruin” by tackling a $100 million budget deficit. “Unfortunately, our momentum has been stalled by parochial politics that continue to inhibit progress, all to the detriment of the taxpayers of Atlantic City,” he said. “Many of the most critical and financially important issues need to be addressed urgently.” He said the city should consider privatizing the entertainment and sports arena Boardwalk Hall and should regionalize municipal services, including police. The city is facing tough odds. Its school district is projecting a budget deficit of up to $55 million in fiscal 2017. Atlantic City also has at least $190 million of casino tax appeals and other unbonded debt. In part because of that, the city’s “ability to raise public funds in order to repay the unbonded debt is highly unlikely,” the report said The report found that the city does not qualify for “adequate” financing under the state’s Qualified Bond Act, which it used in the past to issue bonds because its credit rating is at junk status. Mayor Don Guardian said in a statement he would review the report. “I fully recognize that much work still needs to be done to fix the problems that have accumulated over the past 30 years,” he said. ",1 President Barack Obama:''Palestinians deserve an end to occupation'',0 "Turkish police briefly detain academic in Kurdish militant probe: agencyISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish academic Fikret Baskaya was briefly detained on Monday as part of an operation targeting members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, state-run Anadolu news agency said. Twelve other suspects were detained along with Baskaya, it said. Further information about the other suspects status was not immediately available. Baris Yarkadas, a lawmaker from the main opposition CHP, wrote on Twitter that Baskaya, 77, had been detained at his home in the capital Ankara at 6.30 am (0330 GMT) and that police had seized some of his personal possessions. Baskaya, who is an author and university lecturer, was later released after giving a statement to police, another CHP lawmaker, Murat Emir, said in a tweet. He added that Baskaya was detained over an article he wrote on Nov. 7, called Real Terror is State Terror, in which Baskaya said Turkey s Kurds suffered oppression at the hands of authorities. The investigation is ongoing despite Baskaya s release, Emir said. Anadolu said arrest warrants had been issued for a total of 17 people on allegations of aiding the PKK and spreading the group s propaganda on social media. Operations to detain the other suspects were ongoing. The PKK launched a separatist insurgency in southeast Turkey in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union. ",1 "The most expensive American public diplomacy effort in decades, a U.S. funded Arab network that has cost us $500M+ since 2004, now has a viewership of 0.5 percent, below the poll's margin of error. Yet Its budget keeps increasing.",1 "New Jersey judge orders naming of Bridgegate scandal co-conspirators(Reuters) - A federal judge in New Jersey on Tuesday ordered the release of a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the criminal case against two former allies of Republican Governor Chris Christie in a 2013 scandal involving lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark ruled in favor of several media organizations that sought the list, saying the public interest in seeing names linked to “Bridgegate” outweighed the privacy interests of those named. U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman had opposed the release, citing the potential harm to reputations and privacy, and saying the co-conspirator designation “will become relevant, if at all” only at trial. A spokesman for Fishman declined to comment. Last May, Fishman’s office unveiled criminal charges against Bridget Kelly, a former Christie deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The defendants were accused of wire fraud and civil rights deprivation for arranging the September 2013 shutdown of bridge access lanes in Fort Lee, New Jersey, allegedly to punish the Democratic mayor there for not endorsing Christie’s successful reelection bid. The closures snarled traffic for several days, causing big delays for drivers and hurting local businesses. Kelly and Baroni have pleaded not guilty. David Wildstein, another former Port Authority official, pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges. Christie has not been charged, and has denied involvement in wrongdoing. In her decision, Wigenton said the scandal has received such extensive media coverage that “very little” remained private. She also called it likely that anyone on the list would be a public employee, or an elected or appointed official. “Although privacy for third-parties is indeed important, this court is satisfied that the privacy interests of uncharged third parties are insufficiently compelling to outweigh the public’s right of access,” she wrote. Bruce Rosen, a lawyer for the media companies, on Tuesday asked the judge for the “immediate” release of the list. Christie made an unsuccessful run for the White House this year. He was chosen on Monday to lead the White House transition team for Donald Trump, the only candidate left in the race to be the Republican candidate in the Nov. 8 presidential election. ",1 "Germany hopes for improvement in Turkey ties after new prisoner releaseBERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Turkey s decision to release a sixth German citizen from jail on Thursday gave hope that relations between the two NATO allies could improve after plumbing new lows following a failed coup in 2016. The decision to allow pilgrim David Britsch to return to Germany follows the release earlier this week of German journalist Mesale Tolu after nearly eight months in prison. Decisions such as these give hope that we can rebuild trust step by step and relax the bilateral relationship, Gabriel said in a statement released late on Thursday. Gabriel said he had agreed with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu to continue talks given the difficult issues that still had to be resolved. Germany is home to some 3 million people of Turkish heritage. Following recent rulings in Turkey, six persons have now been released from prisons or allowed to leave, Gabriel said. And in the case of the imprisoned journalist Deniz Yucel, the Turkish judiciary has at least made the conditions for detention easier. The next urgent step here is the presentation of an indictment. The releases come two weeks after German federal prosecutors dropped an investigation against a dozen Muslim clerics who were suspected of spying in Germany on behalf of the Turkish government. Tolu was charged with being a member of a terrorist organization and publishing terrorist propaganda following the July 2016 coup. She was released on the condition that she does not leave the country. German politicians have been outspoken critics of Turkey s security crackdown since the coup. Tens of thousands of Turks have been jailed, including around a dozen who hold German citizenship. Ankara has criticized Berlin for not handing over asylum seekers it accuses of involvement in the failed coup. It says U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen was the mastermind of the coup, but Gulen denies involvement. ",1 "We'll dismantle wildcat West Bank settlements - but only if 'legal' ones can stay, claim Israelis",1 North Korea bans ships off east coast amid fears of missile launch ,1 " 5 Reasons The Republicans Just Nominated The Worst Possible Candidate: TrumpDonald Trump has cleared the Republican presidential field of all the credible (and not so credible) challengers, and is now the presumptive nominee for the same party that produced Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan. It is amazing.But in picking Trump as their nominee, the Republican Party has chosen a candidate with a binder full of negatives, so many negatives in fact that it is highly unlikely he can overcome enough of them to win the presidency.Here are 5 of the reasons.70 percent of women in a recent Gallup poll have a negative view of Donald Trump. That s because Trump has a long record including in this campaign of attacking women. He s called them pigs, talked about their bathroom habits, complained about their periods, and on and on.Women are the majority of American voters, and Republicans have lost that demographic for years. Even when they have won the presidency, they ve lost with women.And while it isn t all she is, Hillary Clinton will obviously be the first major party nominee to be a woman. So far, Trump has not reacted well to this, accusing her of playing the woman card, with her candidacy, a sexist comment that echoed with millions of working women voters. The Clinton campaign was able to raise over $2 million just by highlighting Trump s comment and giving donors a woman card to mark the moment.Mitt Romney was pilloried over his comment that he had binders full of women, and he never was half as sexist as Trump has been on an average day.Donald Trump is most unpopular candidate for a major political party basically since polling was invented. Trump has an average of 60.6 percent disapproval!That is unheard of going into the party conventions, where candidates are usually a blank canvas before attack ads start to fly in the fall. But Trump is one of the most well-known people in America, and what America has seen it doesn t like.President Obama nearly coasted to national electoral victories in back to back elections with a diverse, young, electorate. And while Hillary Clinton has had trouble connecting with younger voters in the Democratic primary, Donald Trump is the best positioned candidate to motivate the Obama coalition against him.He polls poorly with women, minorities, and in a recent poll younger voters indicated that despite their reservations about Clinton, they have near to no interest in Trump.At this point in the 2012 election, President Obama was 3.4 percent ahead of Mitt Romney in head-to-head national matchups. By comparison, Clinton leads Trump by an average of 6.2 percent, and that includes a poll from conservative pollster Rasmussen who got the 2012 election completely wrong.Most other recent polls show Clinton with leads of +11%, +7% and +11%.The New York Times Nate Cohn explains why this is unlikely to change much:There have been 10-point shifts over the general election season before, even if it s uncommon. But there isn t much of a precedent for huge swings in races with candidates as well known as Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton. A majority of Americans may not like her, but they say they re scared of him. To have a chance, he ll need to change that.Unlike President George W. Bush in 2008, President Obama is unlikely to be a drag on the ticket. In addition to the unusual image of a sitting president campaigning for his party s nominee (Reagan was too ill to do it in 1988, the Gore campaign pushed Clinton away in 2000, and McCain did his best to hide from Bush in 2008), President Obama s approval ratings have inched back up over the last year, often above or near 50 percent.Additionally, the unemployment rate is at 5 percent, after hitting almost 10 percent in the Bush economy, and gas prices have come way down. Polls now show Americans feel good about the economy, after Obama s policies have gotten the country out of the Great Recession (without Republican help).That s good for the party in power, which means it s good for Hillary Clinton, and bad for Donald Trump.Featured image via Flickr",0 "Trump tightens grip on U.S. Republican nominationNEW YORK (Reuters) - Front-runner Donald Trump showed signs of tightening his grip on the Republican U.S. presidential nomination on Wednesday when chief rival Ted Cruz acknowledged his own only hope of wresting control is a contested convention. Trump delivered a crushing defeat of Cruz in Tuesday’s New York Republican nominating contest while Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton broke rival Bernie Sanders’ string of state victories with a definitive win of her own. Rebounding from a defeat in Wisconsin two weeks ago, Trump set himself up for another big night on April 26, when the Northeast U.S. states of Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Maryland hold primaries. “Ted Cruz is mathematically out of winning the race,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “Now all he can do is be a spoiler, never a nice thing to do. I will beat Hillary!” Trump, 69, predicted some “amazing weeks” ahead for his campaign. Cruz, at a news conference on the sidelines of a Republican National Committee meeting in Hollywood, Florida, said neither he nor Trump will amass the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination without a contested convention in Cleveland starting on July 18. “What is clear today is that we are headed toward a contested convention. Nobody is able to reach 1,237. I’m not going to reach 1,237, and Donald Trump is not going to reach 1,237,” said Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas. New York boosted Trump’s delegate tally to 845, while Cruz has 559 and Kasich 147, according to the Associated Press. Next Tuesday’s contests offer 172 delegates for Republicans. CLINTON LEADS TRUMP -POLL If Trump, a New York billionaire, and Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, go on to secure their respective parties’ nominations, a Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll shows Clinton with a sizeable lead if the Nov. 8 election were held today. In the latest poll of likely general election voters, 45 percent said they would support Clinton while 35 percent would support Trump if the two were running against each other. The April 15-19 poll surveyed 1,334 people and had a credibility interval of 3.1 percentage points. A former reality TV star, Trump has adopted a more measured tone in recent days and appears to be trying to heal wounds inflicted by a campaign that has alarmed many in the Republican establishment. He sent campaign advisers to the party meeting in Florida that began on Wednesday. “There’s only two issues left for Republicans: Will Trump get 50 percent of the delegates prior to Cleveland, and if not, how close will he be? New York gives him a nice boost, but it will take weeks before we know the answer,” said Ari Fleischer, who was White House spokesman under President George W. Bush. Cruz, 45, came in third in New York. Ohio Governor John Kasich, 63, a long-shot candidate, sought to use his second-place showing in New York as proof he is emerging as Trump’s central challenger. Trump won at least 89 delegates in New York, while Kasich got at least three, according to the AP. Cruz did not win any, prompting Trump adviser Sarah Huckabee Sanders to urge him on CNN on Wednesday to “get out of the way” once the math of delegate counts makes it impossible for him to prevail. The win by Clinton, 68, makes it nearly impossible for Sanders, 74, to overtake her commanding lead in delegates needed to secure the nomination. Clinton clinched at least 175 out of 291 New York delegates, while Sanders won at least 106, according to the AP. A U.S. senator from Vermont, Sanders has vowed to fight until the Democrats’ nominating convention in Philadelphia starting on July 25. Democratic strategist Jim Manley said Clinton has the delicate task of trying to attract Sanders supporters drawn to his leftist campaign promises, while switching focus to the task of beating the eventual Republican nominee. “She runs a risk. If she goes too far to the left she’s going to upset independents and others that she’s going to need in the general,” Manley said. ",1 " WATCH: This Amazingly Aware Company Has Created A Brilliant Way To Document Trump’s Dangerous TweetsDonald Trump s Twitter habit is dangerous. When one has the bully pulpit of the White House to speak from, words definitely matter. That s why it s so concerning when Trump threatens nuclear war in 140 characters or less it s because he could actually carry it out in a matter of minutes, and the whole world knows this and is terrified he d do it just for kicks. The same is true albeit to a lesser degree when Trump cozies up to dictators like Kim Jung-un and Vladimir Putin, while insulting our allies, like his insulting phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Of course, these are just a few examples, as Trump spends more time tweeting than he does doing anything else.Since Trump s tweets become more alarming by the day and are far too numerous to constantly keep up with, an awesome company has found a way to help do it and it s super rad. The good folks at Parse/Error have created the Political Lamp, which is an entertaining piece of decor that lights up in a lightening storm with every Trump tweet. They say they like to be politically aware, and decided that Trump s Twitter feed is important to document because of what the orange fascist represents: He perfectly embodies a dangerous era. A world where the words of one man can endanger the fate of millions by spreading the ghost of nuclear war on the planet. Parse/Error is correct. These are dangerous times. The GOP-controlled Congress might be worrying over tax cuts because they are craven cowards who are terrified of Trump lighting them up on Twitter, but they d better serve the nation and the world as well as their own places in history by doing all they can to rid the world of the threat of Trump before he kills us all.In the meantime, though, this lamp is amazing, and everyone should have one! Watch the video below:Featured image via Zach Gibson Pool/Getty Images",0 Russian Election: Workers 'Paid To Vote Putin',0 "U.S. cuts aid to Uganda, cancels military exercise over anti-gay law",1 "China blocks searches of the word ""truth""",1 "Trump says unlikely to have good relationship with UK's CameronLONDON (Reuters) - Donald Trump said he was unlikely to have a good relationship with David Cameron because the British prime minister cast the U.S. presidential candidate as “divisive, stupid and wrong” for proposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Cameron criticised Trump in the British parliament over his call for the ban on Muslims and suggested that the New York billionaire, who is now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, would unite Britain against him if he visited. “It looks like we’re not going to have a very good relationship, who knows?” Trump told Britain’s ITV television station in an interview aired on Monday when asked how ties would fare if he won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8. “Well number one, I’m not stupid, okay. I can tell you that right now. Just the opposite. Number Two, in terms of divisive: I don’t think I’m a divisive person. I’m a unifier, unlike our president right now,” Trump said, referring to Barack Obama. Cameron’s spokesman said the prime minister stood by his original comments. The United States is Britain’s closest ally. U.S. companies are the biggest foreign direct investors in Britain and the so- called ‘special relationship’ with Washington has been the cornerstone of British diplomacy since World War Two. Trump’s often controversial comments on everything from Muslims and women to the future of NATO and relations with Russia have drawn criticism from Berlin, Paris and other European capitals. But neither Germany’s Angela Merkel nor France’s Francois Hollande have gone as far as Cameron in chiding Trump who, if he wins in November, would be in charge of the world’s most powerful nation and largest economy from January 20 next year. Cameron will work with whoever is elected U.S. president and is committed to maintaining the special relationship, the prime minister’s spokesman said. “The PM has made his views on Donald Trump’s comments very clear. He disagrees with them,” the spokesman said. “He continues to believe that preventing Muslims from entering the U.S. is divisive, stupid and wrong. He stands by his comments.” The spokesman refused to answer questions on who Cameron would like to see win in November but said there was no telephone call or meeting planned with Trump, adding: “If one is proposed we will consider it.” On a more conciliatory note, Cameron has said Trump deserves respect for making it through the gruelling Republican primary process. The Times newspaper also reported last month Cameron had ordered diplomats to attempt to repair relations with Trump. “I hope to have a good relationship with him but it sounds like he’s not willing to address the problem either,” Trump told ITV. Trump also criticised London’s newly elected Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan for making “very rude statements”. Trump had initially welcomed Khan’s election and said he would make an exception in the event of a ban on Muslims for him entering the United States, drawing a sharp reply from Khan. “Donald Trump’s ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe - it risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of the extremists,” Khan said. Responding to this criticism in the ITV interview, Trump said: “He doesn’t know me, never met me, doesn’t know what I am all about. I think they are very rude statements. Frankly, tell him I will remember those statements. They are very nasty statements. It is ignorant for him to say that.” ",1 "UN human rights chief Navi Pillay: strikes by Israel's military on UN buildings in Gaza ""do not appear to be accidental""",0 Berlusconi agrees to resign!,1 "New Australian Prime Minister unveils new Cabinet: No ministers for Science, Early Childhood, Energy, Disability, Climate, Mental Health, Youth, Status of Women and Aged Care. Border Protection added to Immigration",1 "Hyatt heir Pritzker opens Democratic bid to unseat Illinois governorCHICAGO (Reuters) - Billionaire investor J.B. Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotels Corp fortune, formally entered a growing Democratic field for Illinois governor on Thursday, labeling Republican Bruce Rauner a “failure” as the state’s chief executive. Pritzker’s bid pits him against Chicago businessman Chris Kennedy, son of the late U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy, and three other Democratic candidates in the party’s March 20, 2018 primary. “Governor Bruce Rauner is a failure. He promised a turnaround and all we got was a runaround,” Pritzker told supporters at a Chicago Park District gymnasium on the city’s crime-prone southside. Illinois, the country’s fifth-largest state, is immersed in one of the most politically turbulent eras in its 199-year history. Rauner has feuded with Democrats, who control the state legislature, over his insistence that a state budget be tied to a list of his policy demands that would weaken unions, impose legislative term limits, freeze property taxes and impose new rules on injured workers seeking compensation from their employers. With House Speaker Michael Madigan and fellow Democrats blocking that agenda, Illinois has been without a complete budget during Rauner’s first two years in office. The fiscal futility has left Illinois - the only state ever to go 22 months without a budget - with nearly $13 billion of unpaid bills as of Wednesday. “We’ve got to start by taxing the millionaires and billionaires first. We’re not going to middle-class families until we get people to pay their fair share,” Pritzker told reporters after his announcement. Pritzker, the 52-year-old brother of former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, is positioned as the wealthiest candidate in the race so far, with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $3.4 billion. Rauner, a former private equity investor, does not appear on the Forbes list, but enters a re-election bid with plentiful resources of his own. Last November, the governor released his 2015 tax returns that showed he and his wife had more than $188 million in taxable income. A month later, he steered $50 million in personal funds into his campaign account, state records show. The state Republican Party attacked Pritzker on Thursday by linking him to the long-serving Democratic House speaker and insisting Pritzker favored a reinstatement of the state’s 5 percent individual income tax. In January 2015, the state income tax dropped to 3.75 percent after a temporary 2011 tax increase lapsed. ",1 " White Supremacist PAC Launches Radio Ad Touting Trump As Champion Of ChristiansRemember the pro-Trump white supremacist PAC that was placing robocalls on The Donald s behalf during the primaries? Yeah, well, they re back. And this time, they have unleashed a xenophobic radio ad touting Donald Trump as the champion of Christians.William Daniel Johnson, a Los Angeles attorney, was happy to foot the bill for the new ad via the super-PAC American National. The white nationalist PAC is not actually affiliated with the Trump campaign, but man, they just love the GOP nominee and his bigoted messages. Our country is at a crossroads and time is running out, the ad begins. It then throws in some good old-fashioned anti-brown people fearmongering and asks, Do you want a strong leader who will secure our borders and stop the flow of illegal aliens and radical Islamic terrorists? And follows up with a reminder that a vote for Trump is clearly a vote for Jesus, asking, Do you want a president who will safeguard the interests of Christians? So just who is William Johnson? Well, for starters, he a well-known white supremacist who says he wants to create a white ethno-state because that s the only way western civilization and the white race will survive. Johnson is also serving as the president of the American Freedom Party (AFP). According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the AFP was initially established by racist Southern California skinheads, and aims to deport immigrants and return the United States to white rule. There was an uproar when it was discovered that the Trump campaign had chosen Johnson to serve as a delegate. Following the backlash, the campaign claimed it was all a mistake due to a database error and Johnson stepped down. The AFP said it was no big deal because plenty of other of white supremacists were serving as Trump delegates.The robocalls Johnson sponsored during the primaries featured such phrases as, We don t need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people. In another call, an older woman identified herself as a proud member of the AFP and said, I am voting for Donald Trump because he will not only be presidential, he will put America first. Furthermore, he will respect all women and will help preserve Western civilization. Trump was pressured into giving one of his half-ass condemnations of the robocalls, but he followed it up by excusing the calls as simply the result of people being angry. So no harm, no foul.Johnson also set up a 24/7 hotline offering legal advice and emotional support to Trump fans who felt they had been bullied by one of Hillary s evil liberal minions.The radio ad is scheduled to air in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, and Tennessee.Featured image via Christopher Gregory/Getty Images",0 """It's no longer unthinkable to prepare for a major war in Europe, officials and analysts say.""",1 Portal song with typography,0 " Trump’s Spokeswoman Just Said Half Of Bernie’s Supporters Will Vote For Trump (VIDEO)Infamous Donald Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson has once again proven just how pitiful and ridiculous The Donald and his entire team is. In speaking about President Barack Obama s recent endorsement of Hillary Clinton, Pierson revealed that she actually thinks that supporters of Bernie Sanders are going to switch sides and vote GOP. Actually, she said with full confidence that she thinks HALF of Sanders fans are going to switch over to team Trump.It doesn t get any more idiotic than this, and it s almost hard to believe. When Jake Tapper asked Pierson how many Sanders supporters will jump ship to avoid voting for Clinton, Pierson said: I think the polls are showing, one in four, maybe, I think it s going to be half at some point. There is a transition happening, not just in this country but globally, the consciousness is definitely changing, and younger voters want to see the status quo busted up. That is absolute madness, and Pierson has mocked the intelligence of Bernie s followers by saying they would vote for a racist, misogynistic Republican. First of all, Trump has insulted their chosen candidate several times, referring to him as Crazy Bernie. He s also encouraged violence against Sanders supporters that dare to attend his rallies. Another thing Trump is in denial about is the fact that Sanders will probably be giving Clinton his endorsement soon, and urge his supporters to throw their support behind the former Secretary of State as well.Now, Sanders fans might not be happy that Clinton is leading the Democratic party, but most of them know that Trump needs to be stopped by any means possible. According to a recent poll, the real numbers reveal that less than a quarter of Sanders voters might switch over to Trump. The polls also revealed that 71 percent of Sanders backers would choose Clinton over Trump but when has the Trump campaign ever really been concerned with facts?You can watch Pierson spew this pro-Trump nonsense in the video below:Featured image is a screenshot",0 "A new report says investing in girls is one of the best ways to end poverty, because women who are educated are likely to reinvest up to 90 per cent of their income in their family.",1 "52,000 Amerasians, the illegitimate children of Filipino women and US soldiers, fight for recognition in the Philippines. ",1 "Croatia opposition seeks government no-confidence vote on Agrokor handlingZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia s opposition parties on Thursday demanded a no-confidence vote in the government over its handling of a crisis at the country s largest company, Agrokor, but analysts said the ruling coalition would likely survive. The government intervened in April because Agrokor [AGROK.UL], the largest employer in the Balkans, faced a debt and liquidity crisis. Given its importance, the crisis could have destabilized the economy. The opposition led by Social Democrats says a liquidity loan agreed this summer with creditors including foreign investment funds to finance Agrokor s operations through a 15-month period of restructuring lacked transparency and favored some creditors. The SDP has a responsibility to expose corrupt activities, the SDP leader Davor Bernardic told reporters. The government and Agrokor s crisis manager Ante Ramljak rejected the opposition charge and said it achieved the best possible loan terms in the circumstances. A debate and vote must take place by early December and the conservative-led coalition has a small but firm parliamentary majority. I don t think this is a particularly wise move for the top opposition party (Social Democrats) as they are likely to achieve little. I see it rather as an effort to divert attention from political weaknesses within their own ranks, said political analyst Davor Gjenero. ",1 400 insurgents attack police in northeast Afghanistan,1 Good news: Warming waters extend swim season. Bad news: Theyre full of monster jellyfish,1 "reuters: ""Saudi Arabia ready to raise oil output further to meet demand""",1 "Germany condemns latest North Korea missile test in strongest termsBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany said on Friday it condemned North Korea s latest missile test in the strongest terms. North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean earlier on Friday, South Korean and Japanese officials said, deepening tension after Pyongyang s recent test of its most powerful nuclear bomb. The government condemns the latest missile test from North Korea in the strongest terms, a government spokesman told a regular government news conference. ",1 Man Who Bit Into Needle Found in Sandwiches on Delta Flight Put on Anti-HIV Medication - ABC News,1 "On shrinking U.S. corporate tax base, presidential candidates differ sharplyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The corporate income tax is a major revenue source for the U.S. government, but it has been shrinking for decades and the three main presidential candidates could not differ more dramatically on what to do about it. Republican Donald Trump and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have starkly contrasting plans, some more detailed than others, for taxing corporations. The tax paid by companies on their profits accounted for 30 percent of the U.S. federal tax base in the 1950s; last year, it was only 11 percent, Internal Revenue Service data show. The decline, experts say, has many causes: loopholes that cut corporations’ taxes; a lower corporate tax rate; rising overseas profits that are lightly taxed; and a shift away from incorporation toward partnerships and other business structures that pay no corporate tax. Despite the dwindling corporate tax base, Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive nominee for the Nov. 8 election, wants to ease the burden on companies by slashing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent. In this regard, he shares the same view as most Republicans. Trump, a real estate developer, has described his proposals as revenue neutral, saying reduced tax rates would be paid for by eliminating some tax breaks and repatriating corporate cash held overseas. However, the Tax Policy Center, a centrist tax research group in Washington, said that under Trump’s plan, corporate income tax revenues would fall $1.9 trillion from 2016 to 2026. A cut on that scale would hugely expand the federal budget deficit, unless severe budget cuts or alternative tax hikes were also made, the center said. Steven Rosenthal, a Tax Policy Center senior fellow, said Trump’s plan is a standard business-focused approach, but “the drafting is incomplete, so we can’t tell exactly what he’s thinking.” A Trump campaign spokeswoman pointed to the proposals on the campaign website but declined to comment further. Republicans generally support corporate income tax cuts because, they say that would help corporations compete globally. In addition, some question the validity of the tax, which they say is passed on to consumers and investors. “Taxing businesses is the Democrats’ version of manna from heaven: someone else supposedly is paying for the government. But all citizens are hurt through lower growth, higher prices, lower wages,” said Grover Norquist, a Republican tax activist. “Taxes should be transparent. It should be clear who is paying them. The corporate income tax is designed to hide the tax burden,” said Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a small-government group that opposes tax increases. Democrats tend to view the corporate income tax as a fair levy on businesses that benefit from the security, services and infrastructure provided by government. Corporations have been taxed by Washington since 1909. Clinton, a former secretary of state and the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, has not promised a corporate tax cut. Like Trump, she has called for closing loopholes that corporations use to avoid taxes. But unlike Trump, her plan would raise corporate tax revenues by $136 billion over 10 years, the Tax Policy Center said. Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson said the candidate’s proposals “go further to prevent the erosion of the corporate tax base by ensuring corporations pay their fair share.” But the Clinton campaign has yet to release its full plan. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont challenging Clinton for the Democratic nomination, would make more drastic changes and boost the corporate tax take by $1 trillion in the same decade, mostly by raising taxes on overseas profits, according to the Tax Policy Center. “Virtually all of the revenue raised by Senator Sanders’ corporate tax plan would come from large, multinational corporations that have shifted their profits offshore to avoid taxes,” said Sanders policy adviser Warren Gunnels. The question of whether businesses pay their fair share of taxes strikes a chord with Americans on the campaign trail. An April Gallup poll found 67 percent of U.S. adults said corporations do not pay enough tax. Since the mid-1950s, income tax receipts from individuals have held steady at 40-50 percent of federal revenues, while payroll taxes, deducted from the paychecks of wage-earners, have soared to 34 percent last year from 5-10 percent in the 1950s. Meanwhile, Congress has steadily reduced the corporate tax rate, now 35 percent. That is down from 46 percent in 1986, and 52 percent in 1956. Over that period, corporations have also carved out various loopholes that let them avoid paying the full rate. The corporate tax applies only to incorporated businesses, while other business structures have been gaining in popularity. In 2003, the share of U.S. business income generated by incorporated companies fell below the share made by partnerships and other kinds of companies that pay no corporate tax. Whatever candidates may say on the campaign trail, no changes can occur without agreement by Congress. And despite years of talk about the importance of tax reform, neither President Barack Obama nor lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been able to agree on a reform agenda that many say is needed to boost the economy and bring sanity to a tax code of Byzantine complexity. ",1 Spain today: more cuts and police crushing people,0 "TRUMP ADVISOR Has Warning For Syria That Has Saved Lives [Video]Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka warned Syrian President Bashar Assad after evidence arose earlier this week that the Assad regime could be planning another chemical weapons attack on its people. Gorka says, if you do this again, there will be significant damage done to your forces and to your interests. We are there to destroy Isis. CHEMICAL WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT? SYRIA S ASSAD COULD BE PLANNING ANOTHER ATTACK: Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the United States had recently seen activity at Shayrat airfield, the same base targeted by a U.S. cruise missile strike on April 6. This involved specific aircraft in a specific hangar, both of which we know to be associated with chemical weapons use, Davis said.Davis said the activity occurred during the past day or two. He did not say how the United States collected its intelligence.The White House said on Monday it appeared the Syrian government was preparing for another chemical weapons attack and warned Assad that he and his military would pay a heavy price if it went ahead.REMEMBER WHEN WE HAD A COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF WHO DECIDED HE WOULDN T HONOR HIS THREAT TO SYRIA:THE RED LINE READ MORE: REUTERS",0 "Fancy a 'political revolution'? Try 'Bernie's Yearning' ice cream(Reuters) - Bernie Sanders got his sweetest endorsement yet on Monday when one of the founders of Ben & Jerry’s unveiled an ice cream flavor for the Democratic presidential hopeful, inviting Sanders’ backers to enjoy a spoonful of “Political Revolution.” The flavor named “Bernie’s Yearning” is mint ice cream topped with a solid chocolate disk, to reflect Sanders’ campaign theme of economic inequality, according to Ben Cohen, co-founder of Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s. “The chocolate disc represents the huge majority of economic gains that have gone to the top 1 percent since the end of the recession. Beneath it, the rest of us,” according to the label, which suggests eaters smash up the chocolate and mix it with the ice cream. “Nothing is so unstoppable as a flavor whose time has finally come. #FeelTheBern #BerniesYearning,” Cohen said on both Twitter (@YoBenCohen) and his Facebook page. Cohen launched the flavor on his own using “Ben’s Best” branding and said it is not an endorsement by Ben & Jerry’s, now a unit of Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer products maker. Sanders represents Vermont in the U.S. Senate. Cohen has made just 40 pints of the new ice cream and is giving 25 of them to the Sanders campaign, he said on social media. The rest will be awarded in a drawing among those who register at www.berniesyearning.com by Feb. 3. Sanders is polling strongly in Iowa and New Hampshire against rival Hillary Clinton in the bid for the 2016 Democratic nomination. The first voting will take place in one week at the Iowa caucuses. By late Monday afternoon, #BerniesYearning was a top-trending hashtag on Twitter. Earl Fando (@earlfando) tweeted: “Ben & Jerry’s have released an ice cream flavor named Bernie’s Yearning. Needless to say, people are reading the ingredients very carefully.” Christine Odunlami (@christineodun) tweeted: “Not only can you #FeelTheBern, you can now #TasteTheBern.” Others took advantage of the opportunity to take a jab at the Sanders campaign. Wired-Up Patriot (@ADHDPatriot) posted: “#BerniesYearning ice cream: 1. Must wait in long lines to get 2. Very limited amount 3. Extremely expensive or for short, like #BernieCare.” (Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrew Hay) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.",1 "Why Africa's lions are rapidly disappearing: Africa's lion population has dwindled to 32,000, a nearly 70 percent decline in the past 50 years, according to a new survey ",1 "Tillerson to back North Korea diplomacy, reject Syria's Assad: U.S. officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in remarks later on Tuesday, plans to say that he is optimistic about North Korea denuclearization talks and that there is no role for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria s future, a U.S. official said. The secretary is very optimistic that we can achieve denuclearization through negotiation. We are in the middle of that path and that continues, the official told reporters ahead of two planned speeches by Tillerson. ",1 Putin upsets Erdoan by making him wait for meeting: Report,0 """Unbearable"" stench after 5,000 bats suddenly drop dead",1 "Trump, anti-Trump forces start Florida ad battle(Reuters) - Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is buying commercial time on a TV station in West Palm Beach, Florida, taking on opponents in a paid media battle that the Republican front-runner has largely avoided so far. The March 15 nominating contest in Florida, a winner-take-all vote, is seen as one of the last chances to slow Trump’s momentum after a string of victories on Super Tuesday. One SuperPAC allied with rival presidential candidate Marco Rubio has already shelled out millions in the state. The race has become a fight between Trump and anti-Trump interests, which should drive new demand for ads, said Mark Egan, chief client officer of Maxus Americas, a media agency owned by GroupM. “The big war really starts now,” he said.The billionaire candidate to date has relied heavily on free air time and Twitter, largely ignoring television. On Thursday he began purchasing commercial slots for the first time on West Palm Beach station WPTV, said Lloyd Bucher, vice president and general manager of the station, an NBC affiliate. He declined to discuss the amount. SuperPACs that oppose Trump are gearing up in the state. Conservative Solutions, a SuperPAC allied with Rubio, has aired or distributed $4.8 million worth of ads and direct mail in Florida that explicitly opposes Trump, according to Federal Election Commission data from Friday through Tuesday. That is the most spent by a candidate-allied SuperPAC against Trump in a single state so far. TV stations in states with upcoming primaries are fielding more inquiries from outside groups opposing Trump, said Steve Lanzano, president and CEO of TVB, a trade body for television broadcasters. “You are seeing a lot more SuperPACs coming out of the woodwork,” he said. Election years typically provide windfalls for local TV stations as candidates blanket airwaves. Ad spending in the weeks leading up to the South Carolina primary was four times the level of 2012, Lanzano said. Some media investors and analysts are concerned Trump may continue to rely mostly on free media exposure, which would hurt the revenues expected for local stations. Lanzano believes the Trump campaign will start buying more time to fight back against the attacks coming his way. “I think he is going to spend a lot of money on advertising ultimately,” Lanzano said. “He is going to get bombarded.” (Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles, Jessica Toonkel in Hollywood, Florida, and Grant Smith in Washington; Editing by G Crosse, Peter Henderson and Andrew Hay) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 "Oslo Massacre: ""Despite...Breiviks known ultra-right associations, the media is at great pains to obscure the political issues raised by his atrocity and portray him as nothing more than a lone psychopath.""",0 "Ohio's 'dirty little secret': blue-collar Democrats for TrumpCANTON, Ohio (Reuters) - If Donald Trump wins the Republican Party nomination, his path to the White House will run through this working-class city with a knack for picking presidents. No Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio. And nowhere better reflects the challenges and opportunities Trump faces in his 2016 presidential quest than Canton, a once-booming industrial city that, like Ohio and the rest of America’s rust belt, is going through profound economic and demographic change. Canton, a gritty northeastern Ohio city where the once-dominant steel industry has been in decline for 20 years, is the heart of Stark County, a political bellwether that, save twice, has picked every winning presidential candidate since 1964. The real-estate mogul’s primary wins in Michigan and in Mississippi on Tuesday, in the face of blistering attacks from the party’s establishment, expanded his lead in the White House nominating race and demonstrated his broad appeal across many demographic groups in the Republican Party. But here, in predominately white Canton, the birthplace of professional American football, he will need to show cross-over appeal in the general election and win over not just Republicans but working-class Democrats and some independents, to beat a Democrat, illustrating the challenge he will face in Ohio and potentially other Midwestern “rust belt” states. A more immediate test looms next week in the state’s Republican primary, where polls show Trump narrowly leads Ohio Governor John Kasich, who casts himself as a pragmatic, statesman-like alternative to Trump. If Trump wins Ohio and Florida — states rich in the delegates who select their party’s nominee at July’s Republican National Convention -  he would almost certainly lock up his party’s nomination. Sitting in a steel workers’ meeting at their Canton union hall, Curtis Green, the chapter’s vice president, described Trump’s support among a growing number of members as their “dirty little secret.” “I view him as a radical and a racist and I don’t want to be affiliated with that,” Green said. “But if you say what you mean, a lot of guys see that in Trump and they respect that. He doesn’t dance around the issues, he takes them head on. There are a fair amount of our members who do support Donald Trump.” If Trump just wins the states that Republican nominee Mitt Romney won in 2012, he would have only 206 electoral college votes, short of the 270 needed to win the White House. The fight over electoral college votes has turned recent elections into pitched battles over a dozen or so states. Ohio is often at the center. The state, which has not voted for the loser in a presidential election since 1960, is seen as a microcosm of American swing voters — from culturally conservative “Reagan Democrats” who defected from their party to support Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1980s to suburban soccer moms and upwardly mobile Hispanics. To offset the growing proportion of blacks and Hispanics in the voting age population, Trump must turn white voters out in greater numbers than Romney in cities such as Canton. His performance in primary states where Democrats and independent can vote, as well as Republicans, suggests Trump could attract large numbers of these voters in a general election. Reuters interviews here with more than two dozen voters show why. In this city of 72,500 people, Trump’s denunciation of free trade, political correctness and illegal immigrants is resonating among some traditionally Democratic blue-collar steel workers. “The labor unions, who usually support the Democrats, a lot of our members, and a lot of their families, are supporting Trump,” said Keith Strobelt, a political director for the United Steelworkers local union in Canton. Strobelt does not support Trump. Canton’s local United Steelworkers union has 1,800 members - down from 6,700 at its peak 30 years ago. Its leadership has not officially endorsed a candidate, thought it has praised Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders. Some rank-and-file members, however, say they better identify with Trump’s broadsides against illegal immigration and tirades against trade with China and Mexico. “It could be that several hundred of our members will back Trump,” Strobelt said. “A lot find him refreshing. He says a lot of things they say around their dinner tables.” But in a general election, Trump faces formidable odds in Canton, as he does across Ohio and the Midwest. Canton and the region is changing in ways that favor Democrats, reflecting the Republican Party’s broader problems with a U.S. electorate that is becoming less white and less culturally conservative. In 2000, Canton was nearly 75 percent white, with an African American population of 20 percent, and an Hispanic population of just over 1 percent. Its biggest employer was the Timken Company, a giant ball bearing and high custom steel manufacturer that was the dominant economic force in Canton for much of the 20th century. By 2010, according to Census data, Canton was 69 percent white. Its black population had increased by 3 percent, its Hispanic residents to nearly 3 percent. Tuesday’s primary in neighboring Michigan showed how volatile this election has become, with Trump’s potent appeal among disaffected whites stretching beyond the South. In the Democratic race, Sanders won most of the state’s white working-class countryside and small towns in an upset over front-runner Hillary Clinton. In Canton, like elsewhere in the “rust belt” heartlands stretching from the Midwest to the Great Lakes region and parts of the Northeast, manufacturing has been hollowed out since the 1970s, due in part to foreign competition. In 1990, Ohio had over 1 million manufacturing jobs; today, just 680,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ohio has shed nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs since the 2007-2009 Great Recession. A different type of worker, more white collar and upscale, has moved into the Canton area. The top two employers are now the Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center, highly competitive health care providers. “While Trump might pick up blue collar Democrats, and older folks who are disillusioned with the political process, the flip side is he could lose more upper-status voters in Ohio,” said John Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron, close to Canton. “Republican Party leaders in Ohio are wringing their hands. There is a perception that Trump helps among blue collar voters - but could alienate white collar voters.”  Jane Timken, the vice-chair of the Stark County Republican Party and the wife of TimkenSteel’s chief executive, said the local party was encountering people who had never voted Republican before but were supporting Trump. But, she said, there was concern Trump might turn off other voters, especially independents who account for one fifth of Ohio’s voters. There is no polling to predict which way Canton and Stark County will vote in November’s general election. But after a long era of mixed local government, the city council, after elections last year, is now made up of entirely Democratic Party members, although the current mayor, a former Democrat, won office as an independent. In Canton, there are nearly 6,000 voters registered as Democrats, compared to just over 1,100 Republicans according to the Stark County Board of Elections. In 2006, there were 12,000 registered Democrats and 4,400 Republicans. Democratic strategists say that despite the demographic changes, Trump could still prevail. Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist, cites Trump’s dominant performance in the Republican primary in Massachusetts on March 1. Although not a rust belt state, Trump won big in heavily blue collar, union cities. “Trump put together a coalition in Massachusetts that elects Democratic governors. He won among Catholics, a week after picking a fight with the Pope. I absolutely think he can put the rust belt into play,” she said. ",1 "Street protests demanding urgent action on climate change have attracted hundreds of thousands of marchers in more than 2,000 locations worldwide.",0 Nearly 60% of South Koreans view Japan as military threat: joint survey,1 "U.S. government committed to helping Flint, Michigan, fix water problem: White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is committed to helping Flint, Michigan, succeed in fixing the problems with its lead-contaminated water system, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday. “There are significant public health consequences” to the contaminated-water crisis in Flint, Earnest told a White House news briefing. A federal official from the Department of Health and Human Services is in Flint, coordinating the assistance being provided by the federal government, he added. ",1 The Japanese government is offering to pay the air fair for hundreds of thousands of blue-collar Latin American immigrants and their families if they'll sign an agreement promising never to work in Japan again.,1 Egyptian Military grants itself sweeping powers; effectively military coup.,1 " Anti-LGBT ‘Street Preachers’ Are Invading Target Stores Nationwide Threatening ‘God’s Judgement’ (VIDEOS)Target stores are living up to their name by being the literal target of anti-LGBT, transphobic bigots and professionally-offended Christians, who are now showing up at their locations across the country. Their intent, it seems, is to frighten patrons into being afraid to use the bathroom. Walking up and down the aisles, and wearing shirts depicting stick figures having sex, they shout and scream about how God is the new judge of retail merchandise as they try to convince people the women s restrooms are loaded with perverts.Below are some videos taken in target stores, showing the preachers rebuking people for going to the bathroom. Target this is your wake up call. The Bible says that from the beginning God made them male and female. He didn t make them transvestites. He made them male and female Target, this is your warning. You will be judged according to God s standards. Not man s, but God s You need to repent You will be judged. And if there are Christians in here, supporting this abomination, shame on you! But you justify this place. You have to stand by the bathrooms because perverts can go in there. Because transvestites allowed. Apparently, God can create a universe in 6 days but can t deal with the idea of someone peeing in a bathroom in a department store.One of these God Warriors, Michael Merichko, was charged with disorderly conduct following a disturbance inside a Target store in Illinois. His obnoxiousness, coupled with the fact he was an unhinged white guy, convinced an entire shopping mall to go on lockdown because they thought he was an active shooter.via towleroadLuckily he was not, but frankly it isn t a stretch to think that some unhinged individual will eventually walk into a Target store and start shooting because God told them it was a good idea.Below is another religious idiot in St. Louis who is too obsessed with the idea of people peeing for his own good.Part 1: Part 2: The Republican party can be thanked for this. If it wasn t for people like Ted Cruz using religion as a justification for hatred, Target would never have had to make a bathroom policy. Transgender people have been using public restrooms forever without God destroying the planet as a result. It took Republicans to make it a sudden problem for him.Featured image via video screen capture",0 "Pakistani police exhume couple's bodies suspecting honor killingKARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani police on Monday exhumed the bodies of a young couple believed to have murdered by their families in a so-called honor killing, an investigator said. Zeeshan Siddiqui said Abdul Hadi, 25, already married with three children, and his 21-year-old cousin Hussaini Bibi ran away together a month ago and had yet to marry. The couple had settled in a rented house in the southern city of Karachi. Their landlord informed the police after the couple went missing. The house had bloodstains and signs of murder. Questioning of their relatives led police to a graveyard where the bodies were exhumed, said the officer, who suspected the two families colluded in the killing. Honour killings are mostly carried out by relatives over the perceived damage to their honor when a girl decides to marry someone of her choosing or refuses to marry someone her family would pick. The couple were from the Kohistan tribal district of northwest Pakistan. In 2012, four women and a girl were ordered to be killed by a tribal council in Kohistan after a cell phone video of them dancing and singing apparently in a wedding became public. ",1 WTF?!! Foreign drivers to pay on-the-spot fines of up to 900 if they flout UK traffic laws from 1st April,0 " Reporter Destroys Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor On Climate Change, This Is Brilliant (VIDEO)The Trump administration has been getting absolutely pummeled for its refusal to acknowledge climate change, even as it becomes more obvious in our surroundings.On Monday, CNN s Jim Acosta tore Trump s Homeland Security advisor, Tom Bossert, apart in front of everyone for the administration s ignorance. Acknowledging the fact that several massive hurricanes have been ravaging the United States, Acosta cornered Bossert, asking him if Trump and his administration saw a connection between climate change and homeland security and that the frequency and intensity of powerful storms like Harvey and Irma can pose a problem for future administrations and if the storms were giving the administration some pause when it comes to the issue of climate change and homeland security. Bossert was almost beside himself as he said: Causality s something outside of my ability to analyze right now. We continue to take seriously the climate change, not the cause of it, but the things that we observe. Then, Acosta nailed him and the entire Trump administration for their stupidity and ignorance: When you see three category 4 hurricanes all on the same map at the same time, does the thought occur to you, Jeez, you know, maybe there is something to this climate change thing and its connection to powerful hurricanes? Or do you just separate the two and say, Boy, these are a lot of hurricanes coming our way? Bossert, nearly crumbling in front of the entire room of reporters, responded: There is a cyclical nature to the hurricane seasons and I thank the scientists for their forecast on this particular one. They were dead on that this would be a stronger and more powerful hurricane season with slightly more than average large storms making landfall So we ll have to do a larger trend analysis at a later date. Trump s administration is being challenged by the obvious evidence for climate change, and now they re being called out for it. No one can ignore what is currently happening in our environment, and the enormous impact it will have if Trump s administration doesn t wake up. You can watch Acosta destroy Bossert below:Featured image via video screen capture ",0 Hazel Blears resigns from cabinet,0 At least 45 people were injured and nine dead in a blast this morning outside one of the entry gates to the Delhi High Court complex crowded with visitors seeking entry into the premises. Internal security secretary said it was a medium to high intensity blast. Delhi has been put on high alert.,1 "U.S. Vice President Pence 'unwelcome in Palestine': Fatah officialGAZA (Reuters) - A senior Palestinian official in President Mahmoud Abbas s ruling Fatah party said on Thursday that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, due to visit the region later this month, is unwelcome in Palestine . In the name of Fatah I say that we will not welcome Trump s deputy in the Palestinian Territories. He asked to meet (Abbas) on the 19th of this month in Bethlehem, such a meeting will not take place, Jibril Rajoub said. Aides for Abbas were not immediately available for comment. ",1 Why the Fate of Humanity Rests on a Chinese Middle-Schooler's Test Scores,1 "WATCH: LA’s WNBA Team Thought It Would Be A Good Idea To Stay In Locker Room For National Anthem…The Crowd BLASTED Them With BOOS When They ReturnedDuring game 1 of the WNBA Finals, the LA Sparks WNBA Nneka Ogwumike claimed to be inspired by the cowardly act of Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, when he chose to hide from the cameras rather than take a stand one way or the other on the national anthem, and stayed in the tunnel during the playing of the national anthem:The LA Sparks will take the lead of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin today, Nneka Ogwumike said, and stay in the locker room during the anthem. Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 24, 2017Meanwhile, the Minnesota Lynx team showed their disrespect for the national anthem by linking arms in protest while it was being played.The LA Sparks team stayed in the locker room.The scene at Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. The Lynx link arms during the anthem, the Sparks stay in the locker room. pic.twitter.com/jckFULAvux Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 24, 2017In game 2 of the WNBA Finals, the LA Sparks decided to leave the floor and head to the locker room for the national anthem. They were booed as they left the floor.Sparks booed as they leave the floor for the playing of the national anthem here in Minneapolis. Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 27, 2017The LA Sparks were booed again as they returned from the locker room:Sparks booed as they retake the floor after the singing of the national anthem in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/upZTj4bDMb Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 27, 2017",0 "Clinton's lead over Trump narrows to less than three points: Reuters/Ipsos pollNEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s lead over Republican rival Donald Trump narrowed to less than 3 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday, down from nearly eight points on Monday. About 42 percent of likely voters favored Clinton, to Trump’s 39 percent, according to the July 31-Aug. 4 online poll of 1,154 likely voters. The poll had a credibility interval of plus or minus 3 percentage points, meaning that the results suggest the race is roughly even. Among registered voters over the same period, Clinton held a lead of five percentage points, down from eight percentage points on Monday, according to the poll. The reasons behind the shift were unclear. Clinton had pulled well ahead of Trump on the heels of the Democratic National Convention last week, where she became the first woman to accept the U.S. presidential nomination from a major political party. Since then, Trump has engaged in a days-long feud with the family of an American soldier killed in Iraq and squabbled with the Republican leadership over his comments and leadership turmoil within his campaign. Trump, in recent days, however, has sought to refocus. On Friday he announced his economic policy advisory team, said he would deliver an economic policy speech early next week, and was expected to endorse U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top U.S. elected Republican, who is seeking his 10th term in Congress. An average of polls aggregated by Real Clear Politics showed Clinton ahead of Trump by 6.8 percentage points on Friday, up from 3.9 on Aug. 1. ",1 "WIKILEAKS EMAIL SHOWS CLINTON FOUNDATION FUNDS Used For Lavish Wedding Of “Spoiled Brat” Chelsea ClintonAn email released by WikiLeaks on Sunday appears to show a former top aide to Bill Clinton arguing that an investigation into Clinton Foundation spending would show that Chelsea Clinton used foundation resources for her own wedding.The email, stolen from Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta and published by WikiLeaks, shows a back-and-forth between Podesta and Doug Band, a former aide to Bill Clinton.Band said he heard that Chelsea Clinton was conducting an internal investigation of money within the foundation from cgi [Clinton Global Initiative] to the foundation. He said he was hearing more chatter about how Chelsea was talking about internal issues like that, and said it was not smart. In a later follow-up to Podesta, Band wrote, The investigation into her getting paid for campaigning, using foundation resources for her wedding and life for a decade, taxes on money from her parents I hope that you will speak to her and end this, Band added. Once we go down this road Other emails showed Band feuding with Chelsea Clinton. For instance, Clinton had warned that Band was using Bill Clinton s name without his consent to win clients to his firm, and Band replied by saying Chelsea was a spoiled brat kid. Via: WE",0 "Immigration win for Republicans could help Clinton in the endWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans cheered after the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday thwarted President Barack Obama’s plan to offer millions of undocumented immigrants relief from deportation, but any sense of triumph might last only until the November presidential election. If recent history is a guide, the stalled cause of immigration reform could energize Hispanic voters in support of likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, hurting Republican Donald Trump’s chances of reaching the White House. Four years ago, Obama, seeking reelection to a second term, made Republican opposition to reform a central theme of his campaign. He ended up swamping his opponent, Mitt Romney, by almost a 3 to 1 margin among Latino voters, who now make up around 12 percent of the U.S. electorate. Republican hopes for securing a larger share of that vote this election already seemed grim given Trump’s vow to deport the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally and to build a wall along the southern U.S. border. Democrats were quick to assail the ruling and voice concern about the fate of the 4 million or so immigrants who were to be shielded from deportation by Obama’s executive action. But it was also clear that they believe the high court has handed them a potent weapon to spur Latinos — the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate — to vote in greater numbers. The Latino voting bloc is expected to swell to 27.3 million in 2016, up 4 million from 4 years ago. The prospect of Clinton filling the current vacancy on the top court with a liberal-leading justice who could, potentially, protect immigration-reform programs, may galvanize those voters as well. Republicans in Congress have refused to accept Obama’s pick for the top court to fill the vacancy left by the death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia in February. The justices’ ruling on Thursday sent the question of the legality of Obama’s program back to a Texas federal court for trial, leaving open the possibility that the matter could return to the high court on appeal at a later date. The court’s decision “just adds fuel to the fire that’s already raging,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist. “Each of these events raises the intensity and the Latino turnout even more.” In the wake of the ruling, immigration activists vowed payback in November’s election and staged protests on Thursday. A recent survey by Latino Decisions, a polling firm, showed that about half of the U.S. Hispanic electorate showed greater enthusiasm to vote in 2016 as compared to 2012, with support for Obama’s pro-immigrant executive orders running high. “We should expect similar dynamics this fall, perhaps even more so given the election is likely to determine the ideological direction of the Supreme Court,” said David Damore, an analyst for the firm. Given Trump’s unpopularity with Latino voters, the question for many Democrats both in and outside the Clinton campaign has been less about attracting the bloc’s support and more about making sure it votes in large enough numbers to help offset Trump’s expected advantage among white voters. The court’s decision may also help make traditionally Republican states with increasing Hispanic populations such as Arizona more competitive this election, strategists in both parties said. Reed Galen, a Republican strategist in California, said the ruling could boost Democratic hopes in Latino-heavy battleground states such as Nevada, Colorado, and Florida. “The issue isn’t getting [Latino voters] fired up,” Galen said. “It’s getting them to show up.” Galen believes there is little his party can do now to mitigate the damage he believes Trump has done to its appeal among Hispanics. A Republican National Committee “autopsy” report after Romney’s defeat said it was essential for the party to broaden its appeal to Hispanic voters by embracing immigration reform. “Trump has pushed the envelope on immigration so far for Republicans, I don’t know this [decision] is going to be any more damaging,” he said. “The barn’s already been blown up.” But Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a conservative advocacy group, disagreed. He said Republicans in Congress could still enact reform this year, which would ward off Trump’s deportation threat while building stronger ties with Latino voters. “This is the quintessential green light for Republicans to put their money where their mouth is,” Rodriguez said. Many Republicans were careful on Thursday to applaud the court’s ruling on the grounds that it curtailed what they viewed as an abuse of executive authority by Obama, without delving into the underlying immigration issues. “The Constitution is clear: The president is not permitted to write laws — only Congress is,” said Paul Ryan, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ryan supports comprehensive immigration reform. Trump, however, went further, praising the ruling and saying the election now held the key to blocking further illegal immigration. “The election, and the Supreme Court appointments that come with it will decide whether or not we have a border and, hence, a country,” he said in a statement. He has vowed to reverse Obama’s executive actions on immigration as president. ",1 U.S. Missile Strikes beyond Pakistan's Tribal Belt,0 "U.S. airlines scramble to evacuate residents ahead of Hurricane Irma(Reuters) - Airlines were racing against the clock to clear as many customers as possible from the likely Florida path of Hurricane Irma, as social and political pressure mounted for carriers to play a bigger role in aiding evacuations. As the powerful storm threatened to rip through the Florida coast by Sunday, airlines ramped up the number of flights available out of south Florida airports, where operations were likely to temporarily cease through the weekend and beyond. But flights out of the area remained extremely limited. At Miami International Airport, many outbound flights were canceled, leaving residents scrambling to rebook to anywhere outside the path of the storm. American Airlines, which has one of the larger operations in south Florida, said on Thursday it had added 16 flights out of Miami, amid more than 2,400 forced cancellations through Monday. Delta Air Lines Inc said it had upsized aircraft and added flights to increase the number of available outgoing seats by 2,000. United Airlines added six flights out of Miami to its hubs, including Newark, New Jersey, and Chicago O Hare. All three carriers said they planned to mostly wind down south Florida operations by Friday evening. In areas already pummeled by the powerful storm, flight operations had been rolled back and halted altogether. A Delta-operated flight from New York to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and back, made headlines for narrowly avoiding the storm in a mission to evacuate another plane-full of passengers from the area ahead of Irma s landfall. Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com saw the plane land for one last departure in the U.S. territory located squarely in the path of Irma s landfall, fill with passengers, and make its successful flight back to New York on Wednesday. Other airlines had already ceased operations in the region. PRICE-GOUGING As residents sought to secure last-minute flights out of the dangerous Category 5 storm s path, airlines faced accusations of trying to capitalize on the panic and chaos by price gouging. Under pressure from some members of Congress following social media reports, airlines have taken the unusual step of publicly announcing price caps on tickets out of areas in Irma s course. Early on, carrier JetBlue capped flights out of the area at $99, and other carriers followed suit, capping fares at between $99 and $399 a ticket. But while airlines offered some cheap flights out of south Florida after complaints, passengers said that did little good if all the flights were fully booked or canceled. Medical student Eric Slabaugh said he was dismayed by ticket prices over $2,000 when he started looking for flights earlier this week. He got a ticket to Detroit for $700, he said, because nobody wants to go there. Publix can t charge $50 for a case of water without getting accused of price gouging, but airlines can charge 50 times the price of a normal ticket. I don t think that s fair, Slabaugh said. Airlines customer service practices have come under fire in recent months, and just last year, U.S. carriers were cleared in a federal investigation regarding exorbitant fare mark-ups in the wake of a deadly Amtrak derailment that drove up demand for air travel on some routes. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who had been pressuring airlines to aid in evacuating Florida residents, spoke with airline executives on Thursday and urged them to add more flight outs of Florida. His office said Nelson is pleased airlines were doing everything they could to help get impacted Floridians to safety. The Federal Aviation Administration is holding twice daily phone calls with airlines to talk about airport conditions, but does not plan to close the Miami airport on Friday, officials said. Airlines are still planning for airport closures, however, and said they expect their operations to be impacted in the region at least through the weekend. Also affected by the storm, Carnival Cruise Lines, which has major operations out of Florida ports, said on Thursday it had canceled four of its Caribbean cruises, though it still planned to operate several more under modified itineraries. ",1 "Republican Romney calls Trump 'a fraud,' creates pathway to contested conventionDETROIT (Reuters) - Former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney attacked 2016 Republican front-runner Donald Trump as “a fraud” on Thursday and urged primary voters to keep the outspoken New York billionaire from getting the nomination, paving the way for possible horse trading at a party convention in July. In an unusually harsh speech, party elder Romney warned that former reality TV star Trump would likely lose to possible Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election if he becomes the Republican nominee. Trump’s rise has split the Republican Party between mainstream figures like Romney, and Trump supporters who complain the party does not reflect their concerns about illegal immigration, the slow economic recovery and what they see as America’s diminishing role in the world. That split widened when Romney, the party nominee in 2012, urged Republican primary voters to vote tactically in different states to back Trump’s opponents and block his path to the nomination. “Here’s what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,” said Romney, 68, who did not endorse any candidate. “I would vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state,” he said. Rubio is a U.S. senator from Florida and Kasich is the Ohio governor. By calling for targeted voting, Romney was setting up the possibility of a contested convention when Republicans gather in Cleveland in mid-July to select their nominee for the November election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. That could create a pathway to deny Trump the 1,237 delegates needed for nomination. The last Republican convention to go beyond one ballot was in 1948 when Thomas Dewey was nominated. “I think the governor is just being realistic about where things stand and advocating a potential strategy that could stop the Trump nomination,” said former Romney spokesman Ryan Williams. Republican strategist Scott Reed said he doubted the last-ditch tactical voting suggestion would work. “No one will be playing the targeted voting game. There’s too much anger and distrust,” Reed said. Trump, 69, has made his party’s establishment uneasy with his abrasive tone and policy positions, including plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. More than 90 Republican national security leaders have signed a scathing open letter opposing Trump and his stance on many foreign policy issues. Romney’s speech in Utah was the spearhead of a mainstream Republican attempt to rein in Trump after he won most states in this week’s Republican Super Tuesday nominating contests and took a step toward earning the nomination. The address came hours before Trump and his rivals shared a stage in Detroit at 9 p.m. EST for a debate hosted by Fox News. Trump leads many polls for primaries in the remaining states, including in major ones like Florida on March 15, dampening prospects of derailing him. The party establishment’s strategy risks backfiring by further energizing Trump’s supporters, many of them white, blue-collar voters. “If only Romney talked like this four years ago about Obama ... or Trump,” conservative political commentator Michelle Malkin said on Twitter. “Too freaking late and too freaking lame.” Trump dismissed the former Massachusetts governor who lost to Obama four years ago. “Mitt is a failed candidate. He failed. He failed horribly. He failed badly,” Trump told a rally in Maine. Romney decided on his own to give the speech, which he wrote himself. Romney said Trump’s economic policy would sink America “into prolonged recession,” mocked Trump’s ego, and called him a “con man.” “A business genius he is not,” Romney said. David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Obama, called the Romney speech a “break glass” moment he had not seen since 1964, when Republicans abandoned their candidate Barry Goldwater. Axelrod noted thousands of Republicans had already voted for Trump in primary elections. “I wonder about tactic of calling them fools,” Axelrod wrote on Twitter. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Eric Beech, Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 "Senate Republican leader says on path toward deal on government fundingWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday lawmakers and the Trump administration were “on a path” toward reaching a deal on a bill that would keep the government funded beyond Dec. 8. “That job will have to be done by December the eighth, and I think we’re on a path to do that,” McConnell told reporters, without providing any details. ",1 "TRUCK DRIVER Attaches Hysterical Deterrents To His Truck Designed To Keep Illegal Muslim Refugees From Hitching Rides [VIDEO]Truck drivers are 100% Fed Up with illegal Muslim refugees attempting to get across France border to UK by breaking into their trucks as they approach the border. Click HERE to watch violent attacks on drivers and their trucks by refugees who are desperate to get into semi-radicalized UK. A video has emerged on social media of a truck that is destined for Britain on which the driver has attached raw pork to keep Muslim migrants for climbing aboard.The video shows a German truck waiting at Calais with at least four parts of the pig attached to its rear bumper.https://youtu.be/MENmWXQ_0U0The driver is believed to have impaled them on the body of the 18-wheeler in an attempt to keep desperate migrants from approaching his vehicle.Pig flesh, particularly the eating of such, is strongly forbidden in Islam.The meat chunks are seen secured to the foot of the truck s opening hatch, through the likes of which hundreds of determined Syrians displaced by war have snuck inside to secure an illegal passage into the UK.Drivers caught by border patrol with stowaways hidden in their cargo can face hefty fines and even imprisonment.Via:Breaking 911 ",0 "Hubble Space Telescope spots clouds on alien worlds. Astronomers have spotted clouds in the atmospheres of two planets outside our solar system, with a pair of research papers suggesting that these sorts of cloudy alien worlds might be far more common than previously thought.",1 Waterboarding used on marijuana suspects in London,1 "Syria peace talks not yet scheduled: Russian foreign ministerDANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - A Russian-sponsored Syrian peace initiative has not been scheduled yet, Russia s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Reuters on Saturday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Vietnam. The Syrian Congress on National Dialogue had been expected to be held in southern Russia on Nov. 18 but was postponed. ",1 " BRUTAL New Poll Shows Stunning Drop In Trump’s Numbers In Six Key Areas; Trump HUMILIATEDTrump is not keeping his promises. As far as his supporters were concerned, he started off okay, but over the last few weeks he s done a stunning array of flip-flops, and people apparently are not happy about it. In February, Gallup conducted a poll of people who believed Trump would keep his promises, and at that time, a majority of American (62 percent) believed he would. Now that has flip-flopped, and today, only 45 percent believe he ll keep his promises.So what all has he flipped on?And there s probably a lot more. In short, he s proven that he s not the open, honest, and trustworthy man he claimed to be on the campaign trail, and people are finally starting to wake up to that. Too little, too late, though, since he s already in office.But wait! There s more. Only 52 percent of Americans believe Trump is a strong and decisive leader, down from 59 percent in February. 46 percent believe he can bring about the changes we need here, down from 53 percent. 36 percent see him as honest and trustworthy, down from 42 percent. 42 percent believe he cares about their needs, down from 46 percent, and 41 percent believe he can effectively manage the government, down from 44 percent.In other words, fewer people trust Trump to pretty much do anything now than they did a mere two months ago. As Trump approaches his first 100-day mark, that s a humiliating picture.Featured image by Ron Sachs-Pool via Getty Images",0 Turkish protesters trying to raise funds for a full page ad at Washington Post or New York Times,1 " WATCH: Republican Kentucky Governor Calls For Bloody Rebellion If Hillary Clinton Is ElectedWhile Donald Trump is urging gun owners to assassinate Hillary Clinton before the election, Kentucky GOP Governor Matt Bevin is suggesting a bloody rebellion if she is elected.In a move that should make Kentucky voters hang their heads in shame, Bevin appeared before a crowd at the Values Voter Summit on Saturday and instantly made conservative Christians even more paranoid and bloodthirsty than they already were by claiming that Hillary Clinton is a tyrant who will destroy America if she is allowed to be in charge for very long. We don t have multiple options, he said. We re going one way or we re going the other way, politically, spiritually, morally, economically, from a liberty standpoint. We re going one way or we re going the other way. Bevin painted liberals as un-American for preventing conservative Christians from declaring America a Christian nation and instituting the Bible as the law of the land in place of the Constitution. They try to silence us. They try to get us to shut our mouths. They try to embarrass us. Don t be embarrassed. We were not redeemed to have a spirit of timidity. Be bold. There s enough Neville Chamberlains in the world. Be a Winston Churchill There are quite enough sheep already. Be a shepherd. After declaring that America is worth fighting for, ideologically, Bevin suggested spilling blood if that s what it takes to keep Hillary Clinton and the Democrats out of power. Somebody asked me yesterday, I did an interview and they said, Do you think it s possible, if Hillary Clinton were to win the election, do you think it s possible that we ll be able to survive? That we would ever be able to recover as a nation? And while there are people who have stood on this stage and said we would not, I would beg to differ. But I will tell you this: I do think it would be possible, but at what price? At what price? The roots of the tree of liberty are watered by what? The blood, of who? The tyrants to be sure, but who else? The patriots. Whose blood will be shed? It may be that of those in this room. It might be that of our children and grandchildren. I have nine children. It breaks my heart to think that it might be their blood that is needed to redeem something, to reclaim something, that we through our apathy and our indifference have given away. Here s the video via YouTube:Earlier this year at one of his rallies, Donald Trump suggested that Second Amendment people could do something to prevent Hillary Clinton from picking Supreme Court nominees. If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people maybe there is, I don t know. And now a very extreme conservative Republican governor is taking that idea and running with it, proving that Hillary was right to call Trump supporters deplorable.Featured Image: Screenshot ",0 "HE MADE A LIVING Convincing Swede’s That Muslims Were Falsely Portrayed…His New Job Proves Everything He Said Was A LieIn a nation so rich with Muslim rapists diversity, this moderate Muslim will likely be able to move right back into his previous job of admonishing Islamaphobes if things don t pan out for him in the raping and beheading business Michael Nikolai Skr mo aka Abo Ibrahim Al Swedi probably didn t need a job. He was trained as a chef before he converted to Islam.The 29-year-old Swede, who today calls himself Abdul Samad al Swedi , grew up in Gothenburg. He converted to Islam during a field trip to Egypt about ten years ago and has since been engaged in a series of tax-funded Muslim organizations.In 2009 he was invited to SVT, where he told Swedish viewers how Muslim phobia (Islamophobia) and hatred was spread around Europe.Previously, the Swede have been heavily involved to counter what he described as a misleading picture of Muslims as violent fanatics. In an episode of SVT debate, which can be seen on Youtube, he attacked the malicious picture of Muslims spread in Europe. This fear is based on ignorance of Islam, Michael Skr mo said.Obviously. If only people truly knew what Islam was.As a lecturer Abdul Samad has mainly been active in the radical Bellevue Mosque in Gothenburg. There he held a series of sermons on the association Multicultural Youth Center (MKUC), notorious for four youth leaders of the Association, including president of the association , once armed with knives attempted to attack Lars Vilks in an art event at Red Rock in Gothenburg. It is worth noting that sermons should have been co-arranged with the wide Muslim educational association Ibn Rushd. Abdul Samad has also been linked to the Swedish Federation of Muslims , also a compound of radical preachers, located at the Bellevue Mosque.Michael Skr mo, 29, took the whole family his little four children and wife to the IS-controlled area inside Syria. Now Skr mo filmed a propaganda video outside the Syrian city Kobane where he preaches jihad and calls Swedish jihadists to leave Sweden and join the holy war . My brothers, hijra (migration) and jihad are so simple. It only costs a few thousand lapp [Swedish kronor], he says in Swedish. Do you not wish in in your heart to fight and show God what you have to offer him? The door to jihad is standing there waiting for you. It s the fastest way to Jannah [Paradise]. According to Sweden s Expressen newspaper, he converted to Islam in 2005, after which he travelled widely in the Islamic world, learning Arabic and studying the religion.At the end of the video, Skr mo becomes more emotional. I want you to be here with me. I want us to hang out in Jannah. My wonderful brothers, take this decision, trust in Allah, sacrificing your money and your life for Allah, and you will receive the highest from Allah Via: Frontpage Magazine ",0 "Superb Aljazeera documentary on the issues involved in any possible Israeli-Iran War, the politics, the weapons, the likely routes of attack and the likelihood of wider escalation. Well worth your time. [VID]",0 Reward for not shooting rockets: Settlement expansions in westbank seeing biggest boost since 2003. ,0 "MY POPE JUST INVITED A RADICAL, Pro-Abortion Socialist Named Bernie To The Vatican…Should Conservative Catholics Be Outraged?Funny I seem to remember being taught as a young Catholic girl that charity begins at home .Pope Francis invited Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Vatican April 15 just ahead of the April 19 make or break New York primary.Sanders has been invited by the pontiff to a conference hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The conference will be dealing with social, economic, and environmental issues. Sanders announced the Vatican visit on MSNBC s Morning Joe. Sanders made clear he has some differences with the pope but liked that he is injecting a moral consequence into the economy. Sanders, who is Jewish, is married to Catholic Jane O Meara Sanders. When announcing the news, Sanders said he, was very moved by the invitation, which just was made public today. The senator went on to jokingly say that, you know, people say Bernie Sanders is radical read what the pope is writing. Via: Daily Caller Meanwhile back in Pope Frances home country of Argentina, economic crises besiege them with the regularity of earthquakes over a tectonic plate. These crises can be devastating, wiping out family savings, employment and life plans. It seems we re always recovering from or preparing for some sort of economic shock. Sometimes, our survival strategies can even contribute to the subsequent crisis.Last month Argentine voters very narrowly opted for a political sea change, voting out the Peronist faction led by Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (she and her deceased husband governed the country for the last 12 years) and electing the conservative mayor of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri, to replace her.The business-friendly president-elect ran in opposition to a government that has been highly divisive, defined by extensive social spending and statist economic policies that antagonized large business interests and foreign investors. Kirchner leaves office with a high approval rating of about 50 percent, thanks to popular policies such as a per-child conditional cash transfer policy for poor families and a focus on human rights, such as gay marriage. But the economy is stagnant, annual inflation is around 25 percent, and the fiscal deficit could amount to an alarming 6 percent of the country s GDP this year.President-elect Macri has promised to shock the highly regulated economy into market-based reality. One element of his approach will be the elimination of strict currency controls put in place to prevent capital flight. The cost could be a devaluation of up to 60 percent. Economists, like gym gurus, always seem to argue that a bright future can only be attained with short-term pain.The government s official exchange rate allows you to buy a dollar for about 9.6 pesos. But since 2011, access to dollars has been highly limited in an attempt to keep people and companies from taking money out of the country.U.S. dollars, with the enduring value they represent, are the holy financial grail. From small wads stuffed under a mattress to a security box filled with piles of cash, dollars are the gold standard for Argentines. Dollars are perceived as the objective measure of value to the point where property, perceived to have enduring value of its own, is priced in dollars.Via: Huffington Post",0 "House Democrats rally to protect Special Counsel MuellerWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives rallied behind Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Thursday, after recent attempts by Republicans and conservative news outlets to discredit him and his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. In a letter sent to Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, 171 of the 193 Democrats in the House said they support Mueller’s probe, and urged Rosenstein to let it continue “unfettered by political influence or threats to his authority.” “We will not stand by and allow Fox News and right-wing Republicans to defy the rule of law and create their own rules to interfere with the legitimate investigation under the Constitution of the United States,” California Democrat Maxine Waters said during a press conference Thursday. “There is an organized effort by Republicans ... to spin a false narrative and conjure up outrageous scenarios to accuse Special Counsel Mueller of being biased,” she added. Rosenstein appointed Mueller as Special Counsel in May, after President Donald Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey for what Trump later said was “this Russia thing.” Critics promptly accused the president of trying to obstruct the probe. Mueller is investigating whether Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russia to interfere with the election. Russia has denied meddling and Trump has said there was no collusion. Republican criticism of Mueller, himself a member of their party, has intensified in recent months since he charged four of Trump’s close associates, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Republicans and talk show hosts on Fox News have accused Mueller’s team and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of bias, citing issues including anti-Trump text messages exchanged between two FBI staffers who previously worked on Mueller’s team. House Republicans have launched their own investigation into the FBI’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s emails, and questioned whether she received favorable treatment after no charges were brought. Recently, rumors have flown around Washington that Trump may be seeking to have Mueller fired. Trump’s lawyers have said that is not true. Rosenstein, also a Republican, oversees Mueller’s team. He can only fire Mueller for good cause, and he told Congress last week he sees no legitimate basis for doing so. “This investigation must continue unimpeded,” House Judiciary Committee Ranking Democrat Jerrold Nadler said Thursday. Nadler said Republicans were trying to “provide cover for the President as the walls close in on him.” ",1 "DETROIT POLICE FORCED To Call Out BOMB SQUAD To Protect Trump From Hillary Supporters Offended By Speech About Bringing Jobs Back To Blacks, FaithManufactured protests Hillary, George Soros, Barack and radical union style Yawn Does Trump talking about bringing jobs back to Detroit really scare these protesters so bad that they feel compelled to pick up manufactured signs and pre-printed t-shirts to protest him? The department s bomb squad truck was parked nearby and Secret Service officers shooed people off the sidewalks in front of the church and told them they d have to go elsewhere. -Detroit FPWatch Trump s full speech at Detroit s Great Faith Ministries church here:https://youtu.be/BecyLcXD2LgLiberals specialize in manufactured outrage. Here s a perfect example:NEW Protests getting heated outside Detroit church where Trump is visiting this morning ( : @vaughnFNC) pic.twitter.com/ECsG13uAy9 Chris Snyder (@ChrisSnyderFox) September 3, 2016Pay close attention to the mass manufactured signs. The people in the video wearing #NO Trump Detroit t-shirts were likely issued these shirts when they agreed to be paid protesters.It s not uncommon for Democrats to bus people in from other states to protest when they can t find enough interest in their own backyards. The printed t-shirts are usually a good way to track the paid protesters to make sure they re doing what is expected of them:They're chanting, ""No Trump.""BUT what they mean is: ""This $15/hr protest gig is the ONLY JOB available in Detroit.""pic.twitter.com/c36ONcCCre Boston Bobblehead (@DBloom451) September 3, 2016Here s Hillary s Michigan Communications Director is attempting to make voters believe no one showed up for Trump in Detroit. But Trump isn t even present in the church yet. This is how the liberal Hillary machine rolls, with lies and false propaganda:Lots of empty rows for #TrumpinDetroit inside Great Faith Ministries (photo via @ChadLivengood) pic.twitter.com/0b6ZEMGIRy Mitchell Rivard (@mitchellrivard) September 3, 2016Here s an actual picture of the crowd who came to see Trump speak at the Great Faith Ministries church in Detroit:",0 Survey finds that 42% of Britons would emigrate if they could,1 "Israels Gatekeepers break their silence ",1 Nicaragua: Ortega wins third term despite constitutional ban.,1 "'Grave question' on House intelligence chairman's objectivity, panel Democrat saysWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A House intelligence committee Democrat said on Thursday there was a “grave question” about the objectivity of the panel’s Republican chairman after remarks he made about the incidental surveillance of members of President Donald Trump’s transition team. “He knows, full well, that there is grave question about his objectivity and I think over the next few days we are going to assess whether or not we feel confident that he can continue in that role,” Representative Jackie Speier told reporters, speaking of remarks committee Chairman Devin Nunes had made on Wednesday. ",1 "U.S. lawmakers seek to shut banks that harm consumersWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Democrats introduced legislation on Wednesday to direct banking regulators to review operations at the country’s largest banks and consider shutting them down if they exhibit repeated wrongdoing to consumers. The bill, likely to meet stiff opposition from the Republican majority in Congress, represents the most direct threat yet from policymakers eager to see the nation’s biggest banks, including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, broken up. “It is clear steeper penalties need to be used when a megabank demonstrates a pattern of consumer abuse,” said Representative Maxine Waters, a lead sponsor of the bill and the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. Deficiencies in processing customer complaints, servicing residential mortgages, as well as engaging in deceptive business practices or opening unauthorized accounts could all be deemed harmful to consumers under the bill, opening banks up to significant regulatory action. Eight Democrats, led by Waters, introduced the legislation on Wednesday. If signed into law, the bill would require federal banking regulators to review every U.S. bank identified as a “global systemically important bank” within 90 days. Specifically, regulators would need to determine if the banks have exhibited “repeated law violations that harmed consumers,” as defined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, another federal regulator. The bill puts pressure directly on banking regulators, who Democrats argue are not utilizing all their tools to curb what they see as bad behavior in the banking sector. Democrats in Congress are frequently critical of the banking sector, but this new legislation represents the most direct attempt by lawmakers to significantly curb big banks. If any banks are found to be repeat offenders, regulators would have 120 days to begin winding the institution down and barring its executives from the financial industry, using their existing powers. And large bank executives would be required to attest annually they have reviewed all lines of bank business and are compliant with consumer protection laws. Executives would also face heightened civil and criminal liability under the bill. Lawmakers backing the bill identified several banks they believe should face such a comprehensive review and possible dissolution, including Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup. One week earlier, Waters released a report claiming Wells Fargo has shown a “pattern of abusive business practices,” making clear, and reiterated her belief the bank should be broken up. Spokespeople for those banks either declined to comment on Waters’s bill or did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The new bill is also the latest step Democrats have taken to increase pressure on banking regulators, who they believe are not taking a sufficiently harsh stance with the industry. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has repeatedly pressed the Federal Reserve to remove members of Wells’s board of directors who were in that role when bank employees created potentially millions of fake customer accounts. Warren has not signed on to the new legislation. ",1 "Rebels in Libya's west gain ground: Aided by NATO airstrikes, they move within 50 miles of the capital. But they sense a bloodbath coming, with civilians caught in the crossfire.",1 "UK PM May will chair meeting of emergency committee after west London incidentLONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of Britain s emergency response committee later on Friday after an incident at a west London tube station, her office said in a statement. My thoughts are with those injured at Parsons Green and the emergency services who, once again, are responding swiftly and bravely to a suspected terrorist incident, May said in the statement. The meeting of COBR, the emergency response committee, will take place at 1200 GMT. ",1 "Trump says Senate should have passed healthcare billBRENTWOOD, N.Y. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump expressed dismay on Friday that the Senate tried to repeal his predecessor’s healthcare program overnight but failed to do so, saying lawmakers had been working on it for seven years but “we’re going to get it done.” “They should have approved healthcare last night, but you can’t have everything,” Trump told law enforcement officers in Brentwood, New York, on Long Island. “Boy, oh boy, they’ve been working on that one for seven years, can you believe that? The swamp. But we’ll get it done. We’re going to get it done.” ",1 "Targeting U.S. automaker signals possible China retaliation over Trump talkWASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s plan to punish a U.S. automaker accused of price-fixing is a sign of how Beijing could retaliate if President-elect Donald Trump upends decades of relations between the two nations. Trump’s assertion that the United States need not be bound by the policy that Taiwan is part of “one China” would erode a bedrock of U.S.-China ties that has underpinned the vast increase in trade and cooperation between what are now the world’s two largest economies. Few expect the disagreement will lead to outright military confrontation, nor even the kind of economic war that many feared could be launched by Trump’s threat during the U.S. presidential campaign to slap tariffs of up to 45 percent on Chinese imports. However, a rising China has plenty of other ways to push back hard if Trump presses on the Taiwan question, which most analysts see as the most sensitive part of the U.S.-China relationship. In what might be a shot across the bow of the Trump administration, due to take office on Jan. 20, the official China Daily newspaper quoted a state planning official saying China will soon penalize an unnamed U.S. automaker for monopolistic behavior. While the official said no one should read “anything improper” into this, shares of General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co skidded. Auto industry sources have told Reuters this specific investigation was already underway before Trump’s recent comments. However, the manner in which it was announced, by saying only that it was a U.S. automaker before a formal announcement of fines, has raised questions around whether officials might be seizing on the case to send a shot across the bow of the incoming Trump administration. Jason Miller, a spokesman for Trump, said on Wednesday Trump’s team was aware of the report but it would be premature to comment. In Washington, a Democratic congressional aide said China’s threat to fine the automaker was a “good sharp reminder” to Trump that “they have cards to play too and that if he is thinking that he can enter into negotiations - be it on Taiwan, trade, North Korea, whatever - as if the United States is the sole global superpower ... then he is going to need to think again.” China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, did not responded to Reuters requests for comment on the China Daily story. China’s Foreign Ministry said it did not know any details about the case. “China welcomes foreign companies, including American ones, to invest in and operate in China. At the same time they must respect China’s laws and rules. This point is very clear,” ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said when asked if this was China sending a message to Trump. Pressure on other U.S. companies, such as Boeing Co (BA.N) and General Electric Co (GE.N), with large interests in China could be one of the most tangible tools of retaliation, together with new limits on access to the country’s huge markets. U.S. business interests in China are estimated at more than $500 billion. Wider economic steps - such as China, America’s biggest creditor, selling a significant part of its $1.16 trillion of U.S. Treasuries, or weakening its currency - seem unlikely, the first because it would slash the value of China’s U.S. bond portfolio and the second because it could accelerate capital flight, experts said. Beijing could speed up a military build-up that had begun to slow along with Chinese economic growth, carry out naval exercises close to Taiwan - which it regards as a renegade province - and withhold diplomatic cooperation on issues such as Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs. “Taiwan policy is what China considers a core interest ... and it’s prepared to go to great lengths to defend it,” said Eric Altbach, senior vice president at the Albright Stonebridge Group consultancy in Washington and a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs. The consensus within the Obama administration is that Trump, who irked China by taking a phone call from Taiwan’s president, was not fully aware of the potential backlash from Beijing over his questioning of the “one China” policy, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The hope is that by the time Trump takes over from President Barack Obama, he will recognize that China has advanced so far economically, diplomatically and militarily that it is unwise to pick fights with Beijing over such a bedrock principle, he added. A former senior U.S. official took a more pessimistic view. “Trump has basically guaranteed that the first year in the China relationship will be a combative, competitive one, and the question is how bad it will get,” he said. “The Chinese now are basically putting together their list on how to retaliate.” There are at least three ways in which the matter could play out, U.S. China experts said. Trump could backtrack over time, much as former U.S. President George W. Bush did. A second track would be if Trump goes on questioning the “one China” policy without taking concrete action. The third, considered unlikely by U.S. officials past and present, would be a drift toward military confrontation. Asked if Trump’s “one China” stance could lead to this, a source with ties to the Chinese leadership told Reuters: “We will see what Trump says and does after he becomes president.” A second source with leadership ties said they expected tensions with the United States over Taiwan. But the source said Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has sounded a more nationalistic line than his recent predecessors, could also use the issue to further cement his grip on power. “If (Taiwan) is emboldened by the U.S. support and does something drastic, it could be an opportunity for us. There will be just cause to dispatch troops,” the second source said. While the possibility of Taiwan declaring independence and hence triggering a Chinese invasion seems low, the mere softening in the U.S. commitment to the policy would likely play out in China’s defense posture. “It will alter Chinese defense priorities. I think that’s inevitable now,” said Dennis Wilder, a former CIA China analyst. He said Xi may increase Chinese military spending for 2017 and place new emphasis, over time, on gaining the amphibious capabilities necessary to actually invade Taiwan. “Xi Jinping has to respond to this internally, domestically, and while he doesn’t want an open fight with Trump, he will have to show ... resolve,” he said, citing higher military spending, more defense exercises and tougher rhetoric on Taiwan. “We can anticipate that unless this issue is taken off the table.” ",1 "Norway, Denmark, Netherlands halt millions of dollars in aid to Uganda",1 "POLICE STATE END-RUN: DHS Wants Control of U.S. Elections21st Century Wire says Here s a classic case of Problem, Reaction, Solution How far will the federal government go to dismantle the US Constitution? Back in 2000, the establishment rigged the US Presidential Election and made Florida and its notorious pregnant chads the centerpiece of that artificial controversy. Predictably, the public reaction is outrage. Suddenly, there are calls nationwide for electronic voting as the solution to the old inefficient paper ballot system.Now that electronic voting is all-pervasive in the US, the next problem becomes cyber security which the government is referring to as the next burning national security issue.Enter the relatively new and prohibitively expensive Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which ironically (or not) was created by one George W. Bush a president who was installed into power not by the popular vote, but by a dubious Supreme Court decision in that very same 2000 US Presidential Election. Now DHS head and Obama appointee Jeh Johnson, is nudging towards the idea of the domestic military force taking over the election process. Johnson claims that US elections are part of the country s vital infrastructure and therefore it must be under the control of an already bloated federal agency.What is wrong with a decentralized, traditional paper ballot system? If you are in the business of fixing elections, the answer is simple: paper is too difficult, sloppy and complicated... to hack.It s no coincidence at all that this latest power-grab by the federal government comes immediately after a mainstream conspiracy theory that Russia was somehow behind this week s election database hack in Arizona (once again, Putin did it). No proof has been offered by either politicians or media anchors presently parroting this latest sensational plot.Looking back, we can see now that years of excessive lobbying by Washington insider firms eager tosecure lucrative contracts by implementing a myriad of fatally flawed electronic voting systems was not a mere accident of nature. It was designed for this very police state end-run we see now.The only problem is that this would be unconstitutional, but does this government really care about constitutional law?Not when you are erecting a police state Barbara Hollingsworth CNS NewsHomeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson s suggestion that state and local voting systems be designated as pieces of critical infrastructure so that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can protect them from hackers is unconstitutional and would create a dangerous precedent, legal experts said. The Department of Homeland Security does not have the legal authority to interfere with states election systems without their permission, University of California/Berkeley School of LawProfessor John Yoo told CNSNews.com. While the federal government has the general power to protect the nation s cyber infrastructure, it cannot intrude into areas of state sovereignty without clear constitutional mandate. Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution recognizes the authority of the states to regulate the times, places, manner of elections, subject to congressional regulation. As far as I am aware, Congress has not clearly decided to regulate the information systems of state electoral systems or delegated this authority to DHS, Yoo noted Continue this story at CNS NewsREAD MORE POLICE STATE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Police State Files",0 Fifa corruption: Sepp Blatter's right-hand man Jerome Valcke 'sent' $10m payment to Jack Warner in letter from the South African FA,0 "Group sues Trump for repealing U.S. wildlife rule in rare legal challengeWASHINGTON (Reuters) - An environmental group sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday over the repeal of a U.S. rule intended to protect wildlife, in the first court challenge to a law being used by Republicans to ease federal regulation. In February, the Republican-controlled Congress used the Congressional Review Act, or CRA, to dismantle a rule that the administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama finalized in August to limit hunting on federal lands in Alaska. The rule had exempted wolves and bears from Alaska’s plans to control predators, which included killing wolves and their pups in their dens and shooting bears from planes. The CRA only requires simple majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate and the president’s signature to wipe newly minted regulations off the books. In the federal court lawsuit, which likely has little chance of success, the Center for Biological Diversity said the CRA violated the U.S. Constitution because it barred regulators in the future from enacting “substantially similar” rules to the ones repealed. “The Congressional Review Act throws the balance of power out of whack and opens the door for politicians in Congress to meddle in decisions that ought to be made by experts at federal agencies,” said Collette Adkins, a biologist and attorney at the center. “By law the Fish and Wildlife Service must protect biological diversity on Alaskan wildlife refuges. But the act makes it more difficult for agency officials to carry out their legal duty,” she said in a statement. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The CRA, drafted in 1996, has a structure and language that abide by what the U.S. Supreme Court said in the case INS v. Chadha, likely making it constitutional, said Karl Manheim, professor of law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Since Feb. 1, Trump has signed 13 congressional resolutions repealing rules on the environment, education, gun control, corruption and family planning. Most advocacy groups that had tried to block the resolutions said this week they were not intending to file similar suits. “Unfortunately I don’t think there’s an avenue for courts to overturn a CRA resolution,” said Alison Zieve who works in litigation for the liberal Public Citizen group. ",1 Six reasons events in Mali matter,1 "U.S. hopes to pressure Myanmar to permit Rohingya repatriationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States hopes its determination that ethnic cleansing occurred against the Rohingya will raise pressure on Myanmar s military and civilian leadership to respond to the crisis and allow displaced people to return home, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. The determination does indicate we feel it was ... organized planned and systematic, a senior U.S. official told reporters on a conference call. It does not point the finger at any specific group, but there is a limited number of groups that can be involved in that planning and organization. ",1 Lesbian couple in Australia banned from high school formal,0 Afghan teenager whose nose & ears were cut off as punishment for attempting to flee an abusive marriage has revealed her new nose after reconstructive surgery. Aesha Mohammadzai appeared on the cover of Time magazine and became an international symbol of female oppression following her mutilation.,1 "Former Zimbabwe finance minister Chombo to be held in custody until trialHARARE (Reuters) - Ousted Zimbabwe finance minister Ignatius Chombo, charged with three counts of corruption for offences that allegedly took place two decades ago, was denied bail on Monday and will be detained in custody until his case is heard on Dec. 8. Zimbabwe s new president Emmerson Mnangagwa named Patrick Chinamasa as acting finance minister to replace him. Chombo, who faces charges including trying to defraud the central bank, was detained after the military seized power in Operation Restore Legacy , which it said was meant to remove criminals around former president Robert Mugabe. His lawyer, Lovemore Madhuku, told reporters that he would appeal the magistrate s ruling in the High Court on Tuesday. Their decision was always made up that bail would not be granted here ... We are hopeful that the High Court will show independence, Madhuku said. Earlier, he told a packed courtroom that Chombo, who sat impassively throughout the hearing, would deny the charges at his trial and had documentary evidence showing the allegations had no basis. The magistrate who detained Chombo said the former minister could abscond, influence state witnesses or be the target of a mob attack over the allegations that he abused his position when he was minister of local government over a decade ago. Chombo, who was appointed finance minister in October, was among members of the G40 political faction allied to Mugabe and his wife, Grace, who were also expelled from the ruling ZANU-PF party. Two ousted ZANU-PF Youth League leaders, Kudzanai Chipanga and Innocent Hamandishe, who were both allied to G-40, were also ordered to be detained until Dec. 8. Some Mnangagwa supporters have called for unspecified action against G40 but the president has urged citizens not to undertake any form of vengeful retribution . Chombo told the court on Saturday how he was abducted from his home on Nov. 15 by armed men in soldiers uniform and kept blindfolded for nine days. He was promoted to the finance portfolio from the interior ministry by Mugabe in an October reshuffle, replacing Chinamasa, who the chief secretary to the president and cabinet said will return to the role until a new cabinet has been appointed. Zimbabwe is struggling with a severe shortage of the U.S. dollars it uses instead of its own currency. In his main act as finance minister, Chombo told parliament on Nov. 9 that Zimbabwe s budget deficit would soar to $1.82 billion or 11.2 percent of gross domestic product this year from an initial target of $400 million. Mnangagwa, who served Mugabe loyally for decades, was sworn in as president last Friday after the 93-year-old former leader quit under pressure from the military. He is expected to form a new cabinet this week. Zimbabweans are watching to see Mnangagwa he breaks with the past and names a broad-based government or selects other figures from the Mugabe era s old guard. ",1 "Mattis looking at ways to bring Russia into compliance with arms control treatyBRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday he had discussed Russia s violation of an arms control treaty with his NATO counterparts and they were looking at how to bring Moscow into compliance with it. We have a firm belief now over several years that the Russians have violated the INF and our effort is to bring Russia back into compliance, Mattis said, speaking with reporters during a meeting of NATO defense ministers. U.S. officials have said Russia has deployed a cruise missile despite complaints by Washington that it violates the arms control treaty banning ground-based, U.S. and Russian intermediate-range missiles. Russia however, has said in the past that it appears that Washington, now in the midst of a $1 trillion, 30-year modernization of its ageing ballistic missile submarines, bombers and land-based missiles, that was in breach of the same treaty. Many of the nations already have their own evidence of what Russia has been up to and we have been in active discussions amongst ourselves on the issue, Mattis said. He added that the United States and NATO would be engaging with Russia to try and resolve the issue. ",1 Global homicide: murder rates around the world,0 "Balinese offer prayers as rumbling volcano threatens tourism lifebloodJAKARTA/CANDI DASA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Bali s rumbling Mount Agung is starting to impact the economy of the holiday island and, if the eruptions and volcanic ash clouds persist, could spark a bigger wave of cancellations by visitors to Indonesia s main tourism destination as peak season beckons. The relatively small island has an outsized importance for Indonesian tourism. In January-September, Bali received 4.5 million foreign tourist arrivals, nearly half of the 10.5 million arrivals in Indonesia. Foreign tourist arrivals to the majority-Hindu island rose 26 percent in the nine-month period on an annual basis, though dropped on a monthly basis in September, when Indonesian authorities first raised the warning alert on Agung. Bali is about tourism, nothing else. If it (the eruption) is prolonged for around 1-3 months, it will impact our tourism significantly, said I Ketut Ardana, chairman of the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA). We can feel a small impact now, the price of staple goods is increasing, he said. Indonesia closed Bali s airport on Tuesday for a second day, stranding thousands of visitors due to the ash cloud. On Monday alone, it disrupted 445 flights that would have carried 59,000 passengers. Chinese tourists have overtaken Australians to become the top visitors to Bali, representing around a quarter of arrivals in January-September. Australian and Japanese tourists are the second- and third-largest groups. Foreign tourists spent about $1,100 on average during Indonesia holidays in 2016, according to tourism ministry data. President Joko Widodo has been trying to promote creation of 10 new Balis in other parts of the scenic Indonesian archipelago. But for many so far, holidaying in Indonesia means going to Bali. As Agung spewed tall columns of ash, life continued largely as normal on Tuesday for villagers near the volcano who set up traditional markets and offered Hindu prayers. Matthew Smyth from Ireland, a restaurant owner in Amed, around 15 km (9 miles) from the volcano, said many businesses using rented land would be threatened if the eruption dragged on. Half of the businesses here are built on credit... if the situation continues many people will lose their land, said Smyth, who is also setting up a yoga retreat and freediving center. The problems facing Bali tourism come as Indonesian policymakers have been trying to fire up an economy stuck at around 5 percent growth, held back by largely flat consumption. Bali has been growing more quickly. The tourism sector was the biggest contributor to its 6.24 percent regional GDP growth last year. But Agung has already put a dent in Bali s growth this year. If it (the eruption) is prolonged to a month, especially in Bali, it could have an impact on tourism revenue. I think this is a short-term shock, but it needs to be watched, said Myrdal Gunarto, an economist at Maybank Indonesia in Jakarta. Wayan Wirjana, 31, the manager of a restaurant in Candi Dasa, a popular beach town in Bali, said he was only getting five visitors a day, down from 15-20 in the summer, and expects the usually busy Christmas and New Year period to be slow. If things continue in the long term, like through the Christmas period, we ll have to lay off staff even if temporarily. We all have families so there is a very real impact on us, he said. ",1 We must find who did this and punish them!!!,0 "Factbox: Trump on Twitter (July 12) - Hillary Clinton, Trump Jr., Bastille DayThe following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad! [0619 EDT] - Remember, when you hear the words “sources say” from the Fake Media, often times those sources are made up and do not exist. [0632 EDT] - ISIS is on the run & will soon be wiped out of Syria & Iraq, illegal border crossings are way down (75%) & MS 13 gangs are being removed. [0805 EDT] - @WashTimes states “Democrats have willfully used Moscow disinformation to influence the presidential election against Donald Trump.” [0812 EDT] - Why aren’t the same standards placed on the Democrats. Look what Hillary Clinton may have gotten away with. Disgraceful! [0927 EDT] - The W.H. is functioning perfectly, focused on HealthCare, Tax Cuts/Reform & many other things. I have very little time for watching T.V. [0939 EDT] - ""After 14 years, U.S. beef hits Chinese market. Trade deal an exciting opportunity for agriculture."" bit.ly/2uiXGI2 [1620 EDT] - Getting rdy to leave for France @ the invitation of President Macron to celebrate & honor Bastille Day and 100yrs since U.S. entry into WWI. [1835 EDT] - Stock market hits another high with spirit and enthusiasm so positive. Jobs outlook looking very good! #MAGA [1906 EDT] - JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! #MAGA bit.ly/2ugaYbl [1912 EDT] - Big WIN today for building the wall. It will secure the border & save lives. Now the full House & Senate must act 45.wh.gov/5L8g1q [1924 EDT] - The 3 bills passed today by the House are important steps forward to end the horrific crime of human trafficking: 45.wh.gov/GKbrVi [1733 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) ",1 "Argentine journalist flees in wake of prosecutor's death -- ""I am leaving because my life is in danger,"" Pachter said",1 Greece has threatened high school teachers with arrest if they go ahead with a nationwide strike,0 "White House says more work needed on Republicans' Puerto Rico plan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is concerned that proposed legislation in Congress to address Puerto Rico’s debt crisis will not give the U.S. commonwealth sufficient authority, and that more work needs to be done on the bill, a spokesman said on Wednesday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a daily briefing that U.S. House Republicans’ proposal “was important progress, and we hope that we can keep that momentum going.” ",1 Retirement homes planned for Swiss junkies,1 "Another jumbo poisoner gets 15 yrs. A Hwange court on Wednesday sentenced a poacher to more than 14 years in prison for poisoning and killing elephants with cyanide, the fourth such conviction in the country [Zimbabwe] in a month.",1 " Soldier’s Widow Finally Speaks: ‘It Made Me Cry Even More’ — Trump Calls Her A Liar IMMEDIATELYMonday morning, things got much worse for Donald Trump and his version of what happened during the phone call he made to Myeshia Johnson, the pregnant widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in the Nigerian ambush orchestrated by ISIS.Appearing on ABC s Good Morning America, the grieving widow confirmed the account of the Florida Representative, Frederica Wilson, who was accompanying her on her way to meet her husband s remains when Trump s call came in. Not only did she repeat exactly what Wilson had recalled, but she said it made her very upset and hurt, and made her cry even worse on what must have been the worst day of her young life.She said that she has nothing to say to President Trump.Johnson was sucked into a bitter, public dispute over the call when Wilson recounted what Trump had said as she listened on speakerphone. The timeline of events just spirals from there, with Trump, his spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and his Chief of Staff retired 4-Star General John F. Kelly all taking swipes at Representative Wilson in lieu of overtly calling Myeshia Johnson herself a liar.All of that changed Monday morning.After Mrs. Johnson s appearance on GMA, Trump went back to Twitter one more time. It is now impossible to view what he s saying as anything other than calling her a liar directly.I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2017The spoke his name part of the tweet refers to something very specific that Johnson said in the GMA interview that the President could not remember Sgt. Johnson s name:""[Pres. Trump] couldn't remember my husband's name. That's what hurt me the most."" Myeshia Johnson, widow of Sgt. La David Johnson pic.twitter.com/px5io2RbJB Good Morning America (@GMA) October 23, 2017It seems bizarre at this point that Donald Trump would continue to defend himself over his statements, but it s important to remember that the details of this terrorist ambush are still very, very unclear. If the whole affair turns out to be something akin to Benghazi the attack that killed four Americans in 2012 then public perception will play a big role in who the American public blames for every aspect what happened, including how he handled the deaths.Trump seems pretty eager to shift that blame off himself and onto literally anyone else.Even the widow of a dead soldier.Watch Myeshia Johnson s interview here:Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images",0 "Expect more ‘terror busts’ as FBI steps up its use of “ISIS stings”21st Century Wire says If there is no real terrorist threat, then the thing to do is to create one. Such is the received wisdom of today s Federal Bureau of Investigation.According to its latest public relations release by the FBI s counter terrorism department, the agency plans to significantly increased its use of stings in order to catch would-be terrorists. In other words, it s planning to ramp-up its policy of using entrapment in order to organize, recruit, train and even supply materials to budding neophyte terrorists in the US.This should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following these incidents. In spite the grand announcement, in reality all the FBI has been doing for the last 25 years are just that: stings, stings and more stings FBI Direct: James Comey has spend a lot of time in front of Congress this year. The logic is astounding, if not insane, but for some reason, this type of antiquated thinking still dominated US federal law enforcement institutions: We re not going to wait for the person to mobilize on his own time line, said Michael B. Steinbach, who leads the F.B.I. s national security branch. He added that the F.B.I. could not afford to just sit and wait knowing the individual is actively plotting. Since before 9/11, FBI agents have relied on the practice of using informants to pose as jihadi radicals or small arms dealers, in order to excite and recruit fringe members of society into constructive pursuits such as bomb-making, and will often bring them to the scene of a mock terrorists crime before agents leap out from behind the shadows to make a high-profile arrest of the unwitting dupe/suspect.In 2016, most of the recruitment required to assemble these theatrical, state-managed scenarios is done online via friends on social media, as FBI cyber agents look for individuals who appear to be supporting ISIS or Al-Qaeda. If successful, online grooming transitions to real world meeting, and with any luck blossoms into a contrived terror plot courtesy of the FBI confidential informant. 1993 WTC BOMBER: Ramzi Yousef.Perhaps the best-ever example of a FBI sting resulting in a real terrorist attack is an event which the mindless US mainstream media still wrongly attribute to real terrorists the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing.In this all-FBI-hatched plot, the agency used at least one known informant, a man named Emad Salem, a former Egyptian army officer. Salem later demonstrated on secret recording he made how the FBI originally asked him to supply the conspirators with harmless powder instead of actual explosive to construct their bomb, but for reasons still (officially) unknown, the FBI chose to allow a real bomb to be deployed at the WTC on the day of the supposed sting .Author Tom Secker at Global Research explains it in the simplest terms: this relatively ragtag group who were inspired by CIA asset the Blind Sheikh and trained by triple agent Ali Mohamed managed to pull off the bombing. The result was a bomb detonating underneath the WTC and putting thousands of innocent Americans at risk.Still, ever single major US television and newspaper outlet still moronically refers to the 1993 WTC event as a terrorist attack on American soil. Team America: Fabricated TerrorAccording to the FBI s own records, nearly 70% of (reported) ISIS-linked terrorist prosecutions (not convictions) are being cooked-up via the use of informants and stings/entrapment: Undercover operations, once seen as a last resort, are now used in about two of every three prosecutions involving people suspected of supporting the Islamic State, a sharp rise in the span of just two years, according to a New York Times analysis. Charges have been brought against nearly 90 Americans believed to be linked to the group. Back in May, the FBI arrested a man, James Medina, for allegedly for planning an attack on a Miami-area Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center synagogue with an explosive device. As it turns out, the synagogue was never actually in any real danger as the bomb was a fake sold to him by an FBI undercover agent, before the man was stopped before the man was stopped by FBI agents posing as fellow terrorists who set up a sting operation. FBI chat-up lines: Are you a Muslim? Which Mosque do you go to? Do you know al-Qaeda? In 2015, one classic exhibit was the frame-up of 20 year old Christopher Lee Cornell, snared in one of the most bogus fake terror plot ever, and yet the US mainstream media couldn t stop gushing over the event as if it were an ISIS-inspired attack , only no attack actually took place.According to David Steele, a 20-year Marine Corps intelligence officer and former-CIA case officer, most US terror plots are cooked by by US authorities: Most terrorists are false flag terrorists, or are created by our own security services. In the United States, every single terrorist incident we have had has been a false flag, or has been an informant pushed on by the FBI. In fact, we now have citizens taking out restraining orders against FBI informants that are trying to incite terrorism. We ve become a lunatic asylum. Some other similar would-be high-profile terror icons and patsies include: Paris Shooter Amedi Coulibaby (see his incredible informant case here), Ottawa Shooter Zehaf-Bibeau (see his patsy story here), Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev (see his informant story here), The Underwear Bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (see his patsy story here), Buford Rogers (read his informant story here), Jerad Miller (read his informant story here), Naji Mansour (read his entrapment story here), Quazi Mohammad Nafis (read his patsy story here), Mohamed Osman Mohamud (read his entrapment story here), and even the infamous OKC Bomber Timothy McVeigh (read his sheep-dipped, patsy story here).In reality, it is the covert culture of Washington DC which does more to promote genuine terrorism, at home and internationally much more than any other single nation state outside of Saudi Arabia and Israel. Until the major of people realize thisREAD MORE ZANY FBI PLOTS AT: 21st Century Wire Daily Shooter FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK & BECOME A 21WIRE.TV MEMBER HERE",0 Egypt confiscates assets of more than 500 leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in crackdown,1 "EMBARRASSING! NYC MAYOR DE BLASIO Can’t Tell The Difference Between Trump And Obama’s Immigration Policy [Video]CNN s Jake Tapper raised the point that Obama and former President Jimmy Carter had both taken similar moves during their presidencies as Trump did with his executive order restricting immigration from certain countries with terrorism problems. Now there have been times in the nation s history when detainees I m sorry, not detainees when refugees or immigrants from a specific country were put on hold, were suspended, Tapper said. Barack Obama did it with Iraqis for six months, Tapper continued. Jimmy Carter did it with Iranians during that hostage crisis. How is this different? Read more: WFB",0 "UN suspends Libya from Human Rights Council - Libya has become the first country to be suspended from the UN Human Rights Council, after the rest of the world condemned the Gaddafi regime's ""gross and systematic violations"" of the rights of its people.",1 "Safe nuclear does exist, and China is leading the way with thorium - Telegraph",1 " The Oregonian Calls Out Racist Commenters, Racist Commenters Explode (IMAGES)Racism is pretty prevalent on the interwebs. Generally, if an article even mentions something to do with Black culture, the racists are out in force. This happened so frequently on articles regarding hip-hop and the like on the Oregonian, which is, by the way, the west coast s largest paper, that one of their writers decided to address the problem of racism in their comments sections.The piece, entitled Dear Readers: Stop Being Racist About Hip Hop, rips the racists in the comments sections to shreds. The writer of the article, David Greenwald, first talks about how he is no longer shocked at the racism he encounters, even on the supposedly liberal west coast, then goes on to treat his readers to a sampling of the racism in his comments sections, and even in his email inbox:I got an email over the weekend about our recent Kanye West stories. No subject. It didn t need one. This is news? the reader wrote. About some n rapping? Every time the Oregonian covers hip-hop music, a rich and beautiful American art form invented to share the pain and joys and narratives of inner-city black lives over 30 years ago, readers comment with hatred. Here, from Monday night alone, enjoy a few choice notes about Kendrick Lamar, the most important musician currently working in American music and new winner of five glimmering Grammy awards: Best rap album? That, my friends, is a world class oxymoron, Yardbird tells us. Not since Kanye West, has an individual with so little talent, been so worshiped and idolized by so many. Even a superstar like Adelle has been sucked into this clown s, Music,' DonRon adds. Adele is spelled with one L : she is also a blues singer who owes everything to the African-American creativity that birthed hip-hop.And that s just for starters. Greenwald then goes on to try to educate the ignoramuses that make up so much of his readership on the beauty and riches that hip-hop culture has given America. However, at the end of the day, he says he understands that he cannot school people determined to be so ignorant. He ends the piece by saying: If you dismiss hip-hop culture, if you paint it all with the same ignorant brush, if you say hip-hop masterpiece is an oxymoron, if Beyonc and Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West are just too black: you are a racist and you are wrong, and this will be the last time I write for you. And good for him. Unsurprisingly, the very racists who need to take what Mr. Greenwald is saying into account completely missed the point of the article, and responded with gasp! more racism. First, there were the ones whose response was to disparage the writer and the work of the hip hop artists, all the while using racist language:Then, of course, there was that one person who just had to pop out and declare themselves an expert on all things black because he once knew a black person:And of course, those are just what is there as of this writing, with the article being quite new. I am sure the ugly and ignorance will continue. Unfortunately, though, at the end of the day, the very people who needed to hear David Greenwald s message have turned a deaf ear, and will remain as ignorant as they were prior to reading his brilliant piece.Featured image from video screen capture from The Oregonian",0 "U.S. gets warm words from China's Xi ahead of Trump visitBEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping offered warm words for U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday, calling him a friend and saying he expected Trump’s visit to China in November would be “wonderful”. China’s relationship with the United States has been strained by the Trump administration’s criticism of Chinese trade practices and by demands that Beijing do more to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons and missiles programs. Xi and Trump met for the first time in person at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April. Trump has since played up his personal relationship with Xi, even when criticizing China over North Korea and trade. Meeting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Xi said he had enjoyed his meetings with Trump and that the two had made considerable efforts to push the development of China-US relations. “The two of us have also maintained a good working relationship and personal friendship,” Xi said, in comments in front of reporters. “I believe that President Trump’s upcoming visit to China means an important opportunity for the further development of China-U.S. relations,” Xi added. “And I believe his visit will be a special, wonderful and successful one.” In comments later reported by China’s Foreign Ministry, Xi added that cooperation was the only correct choice for both countries, whose common interests far outweighed their differences. Both countries must “on the basis of respecting each other’s core interests and important concerns appropriately handle, via dialogue and consultations, differences and sensitive issues”, the statement cited Xi as saying. Trump will travel to Asia in November for the first time since becoming president, stopping in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines on a trip expected to be dominated by the North Korea nuclear threat. Tillerson told Xi that Trump and his wife Melania were looking forward to going to Beijing. “This is a relationship that continues to grow and mature on the strength of the relationship between yourself and President Trump. And we look forward to advancing that relationship at the upcoming summit,” he said. There was no mention of North Korea in comments made in front of journalists at any of Tillerson’s meetings, which also included top diplomat State Councillor Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. China’s Foreign Ministry, in separate statements on Tillerson’s meetings with Yang and Wang, simply said they exchanged views on the situation on the Korean peninsula, without elaborating. ",1 The Most Dangerous Woman in the World - Aafia Siddiqui,0 "World's Deadliest Volcano Rumbles - it blew up two centuries ago with 10 times the force of Krakatoa and caused a ""year without a summer"" ",1 "AUSTRALIA will enter a historic partnership with NATO at the groups summit in Wales this week, giving the Australian Defence Force greater access to the planning and decision-making of the worlds most powerful military alliance",0 "EPIC BACKFIRE: The Left Makes Video Warning Followers About Possible Cruz Victory…Ends Up Looking Like Cruz PromoDoes anyone remember a time in recent history that candidates in the Republican party caused so many hissy fits by the Left?// Is Ted Cruz Scarier than Donald Trump?Trump may get the headlines, but Ted Cruz has got the game.Posted by AJ+ on Friday, 18 December 2015h/t Gerald Ewing",0 "EPIC! TUCKER TAKES ON THE TERROR APPEASERS ON THE LEFT: If You ‘Really Care’ About America, You Won’t Let It Become Europe [Video]Tucker Carlson nails it tonight on how we re now being conditioned to accept terrorism So true! We should NEVER accept this but it s like the more it happens the more people are just not alarmed. The commentary below is so great because Tucker talks facts on how the change in Europe s demographics has changed what s happening and what people think. He goes on to question why our terror sympathizers appease the terrorists and bend over backwards for them. This has to be one of the best commentaries ever for Tucker! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQD45EmFvCoTucker is so right on this stand up to terrorism!",0 MH370 detected above Malacca Straits at 2.40am,0 Israel's new 'loyalty oath' will require non-Jewish citizens (and only non-Jewish citizens) to swear allegiance to the Jewish and democratic state of Israel. Jews will not be required to take the oath because many ultra-Orthodox Jews are known to be disloyal to the Israeli state. ,1 "Laura Dekker, a 13 year old girl who ran away from her Dutch home because Dutch courts would not let her sail around the world has been found in the Caribbean",1 "UK: Muslim father threatens to honour kill his daughter, walks free",0 "HRW urge the Canadian gov't to ""be prepared"" to bring criminal charges against former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney when he visits Vancouver on his book tour next week",1 "Amnesty International Calls For Arms Embargo Against Israel, Cites U.S.-Made White Phosphorus",1 High-Profile Tibetan Monk Dies In Prison In China,1 "Woman arrested trying to scale gates of UK's Buckingham PalaceLONDON (Reuters) - British police said they had arrested a woman who was trying to scale the front gates of Queen Elizabeth s Buckingham Palace home in central London on Saturday, saying the incident was not terrorism-related. The woman, believed to be in her 30s was quickly detained by officers before she gained access to the palace grounds, police said. She was arrested on suspicion of trespass and is being questioned at a central London police station. The incident is not being treated as terrorist-related, police said. British police are on high alert after five attacks blamed on terrorism this year. In August a man wielding a sword outside the palace was charged under terrorism laws. Three police officers suffered minor injuries detaining him. There have been a number of other incidents in recent years in which people have tried to get into the palace grounds. Last October, a 21-year-old man was arrested after scaling a gate of the palace. He was later detained under a hospital order. In May 2016, a man with a conviction for murder climbed over the wall and walked for about 10 minutes around the grounds of the palace before being arrested. He was jailed for four months. Four years ago, a man armed with a knife tried to enter through a gate and was later jailed for 16 months. A month earlier, two men were arrested following a break-in at the palace. One of the biggest security breaches at Buckingham Palace happened in 1982 when an intruder, Michael Fagan, climbed a wall and wandered into a room where the queen was in bed. ",1 Three powerful earthquakes have struck Indonesia within half an hour of each other.,1 "Everyone knows Japan fought against the ban that would have helped save the bluefin tuna from imminent collapse, but few realize that Canada was also strongly against the ban. And Canada also opposed a proposal to ban the devastating practice of bottom trawling. WTF is wrong with Canada anyway?!",0 "Trump Cabinet's First World problem: omitting a few million here and thereNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s Cabinet is worth a combined $14 billion, and they are catching flak in recent weeks for confessing an inability to keep track of their vast sums of wealth. But private bankers who work with the ultra rich say that if they had a dollar for every time a client forgot about a million, they would be, well, almost as rich as their clients. “We see it all the time,” with new clients, said Chris Walters of GenSpring Family Offices, SunTrust Bank Inc’s (STI.N) branch for clients with more than $50 million in assets. “It’s not that they are surprised they own the asset. They just omitted it in the inventory.” Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) partner who is Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Treasury Department, was grilled by members of the Senate last week for inadvertently failing to disclose more than $100 million in real estate. On Tuesday, the nominee for head of the budget office, Mick Mulvaney, said he did not realize he needed to pay $15,000 in federal taxes for a nanny until scrutinizing his finances more closely for confirmation proceedings. Trump himself said in an interview with Reuters last March that he does not pay much attention to his own investments in hedge funds and mutual funds. “I have no idea how they are doing. I don’t really care,” Trump said. “I’m in a lot of things. I may be in a few funds. I have no idea if they are up or down. I just know that they have been very good over a period of time.” Trump’s lawyer Sheri Dillon has since said that he has liquidated all of his investments. Senate leadership has delayed confirmation hearings for three other wealthy Trump nominees to allow more time for nominees to file disclosures and to accommodate schedules. In response to questions about how people with millions or billions of dollars who hire experts to carefully tally their vast wealth could lose track of such big chunks of money, private bankers and family office managers said their clients simply live much more complicated financial lives than ordinary people. About one-in-five people with more than $25 million in assets hire advisers to take care of tasks like paying daily bills, managing staff at multiple homes and keeping track of assets around the globe, according to a report by research firm Spectrem. Advisers say their clients need this type of assistance because they work, socialize and travel too frequently to take care of mundane tasks themselves. Eileen Foley, head of Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s (BK.N) family office business, said that some clients want daily reports detailing every dollar that goes in and out of each account. They also ask for daily reports on investments, tangible assets, properties and liabilities. When a client is nominated for a position on the board of a public company or in government, this type of daily monitoring can help she said: “It’s not a fire drill.” But even with that type of due diligence, clients often forget to mention assets held by multiple people, like limited partnerships. Those structures are harder for advisers to discover in financial statements, because they are often structured to keep ownership opaque. Mnuchin, for instance, failed to disclose around $900,000 worth of artwork held by his children, according to media reports. Mnuchin did not respond to requests for comment. He also did not initially disclose homes in New York, Los Angeles and Mexico. The complexity of a rich person’s financial life usually builds over time as they acquire houses and collections and other belongings, advisers said. In many cases, if a client has not been forced to detail all their assets or confirm that every domestic employee has insurance coverage, then they probably have not done it, said Bill Woodson, head of North American family offices at Citigroup Inc’s (C.N) private bank. “It’s understandable why” they forget, he said. “It doesn’t excuse it.” (This story corrects spelling of flak in first paragraph). ",1 "'Distracted' David Cameron helped turn Libya into a 'mess', Barack Obama says",1 Security forces in Bahrain are targeting medics for arrest and torturing them to get false and forced confessions ,1 "Is Oil Worth More Than Blood In Nigeria? The suit seeks to hold Shell accountable for summary executions, crimes against humanity, TORTURE, inhuman treatment and the arbitrary arrest and detention of Nigerians.",1 "After suffering a financial meltdown, 60-70% of Iceland's fishing stock is infected by a parasite, making it nearly impossible to sell. Fishing accounts for half of Iceland's exports.",0 "Nice Guy Nato Using Afghans As Human Shields - After being questioned and having biometric data taken, Dawood claimed he was taken home to fill sandbags as they turned his home into a firing point. ""They made us walk in front,"" he said, ""so if there was a mine we'd hit it.""",1 "Fifteen dead in food aid stampede in Morocco: ministryRABAT (Reuters) - Fifteen people were killed and five more injured when a stampede broke out in a southwestern Moroccan town on Sunday as food aid was being distributed in a market, the Interior Ministry said. A hospital source put the death toll at 18, adding that most victims were women who had been scrambling for food handed out by a rich man in the small coastal town of Sidi Boulaalam. A local journalist said the donor had organised similar handouts before, but this year some 1,000 people arrived, storming an iron barrier under which several women were crushed. King Mohammed ordered that the victims families be given any assistance they needed and the wounded treated at his cost, the ministry said in a statement, adding that a criminal investigation had been opened. Last month, the king dismissed the ministers of education, planning and housing and health after an economic agency found imbalances in implementing a development plan to fight poverty in the northern Rif region. The Rif saw numerous protests after a fishmonger was accidentally crushed to death in a garbage truck in October 2016 after a confrontation with police, and he became a symbol of the effects of corruption and official abuse. In July, the king pardoned dozens of people arrested in the protests and accused local officials of stoking public anger by being too slow to implement development projects. ",1 " Fox Hosts Cruelly Mock, Misgender Trans High School Athlete (VIDEO)Jut when you didn t think the hosts on the Fox News channel couldn t get any more despicable, they do. On Tuesday s edition of Fox and Friends, the hosts of that silly show decided to take aim at a high school athlete who just happens to be transgender. They misgendered her and called her a boy, and also said that she was gender bending, and confused. The athlete is a track star at her high school, and instead of praising this brave young woman as they should have the hosts said that she was confusing kids who are already pretty confused in this culture. They went on to wonder: Are girls who identify as boys, are they going to be the running backs for the football is that going to work out well? How s that going to work out? Here is the transcript of the conversation, via Media Matters:STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Laura, we talk about popular culture and society. How about this story this morning. There s a high school track athlete who was born male, identifies now as female LAURA INGRAHAM: No.DOOCY: Competed with the girls track team. And finished I think third at the state competition. I think we could have seen this coming. What do you make of this?INGRAHAM: Well, it s another first, right? We re all into firsts so that s a first. Then it will be the first field hockey player and pole vault star. Let me just say this, and Brian will love this story. I was in field hockey in Glastonbury, Connecticut. And at the end of the season one season we had the boys soccer team play us. We were ranked number one in the state so the boys decided they were going to pick up sticks, the soccer team and play against us. Well, sadly for us the boys, who have never played field hockey, creamed us, okay? They killed us. We were number one in the state. They were faster. They were stronger. And they I mean, it made me really mad, but they had better hand/eye coordination and never picked up a stick before. So is this fair to the other girls competing? I mean, I don t think it s really fair.BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Of course it s not.INGRAHAM: And I think it s just more gender bending. This is gender bending this is the next frontier until there s another frontier that the you know, those who want to mix up the traditional social mores want to take us to. So it doesn t surprise me. It s not fair. Until parents make their views known, this is just going to keep getting worse.KILMEADE: Hey, Laura, in an environment where people are taking performance enhancing drugs to do better in sports you know we re going to be in the situation where, well, we d like to win our first state championship so let s let a few men excuse me, some boys play with the girls team and then take the controversy and also take the trophy.INGRAHAM: Hey Brian, do you think it will go the other way though? Are girls who identify as boys, are they going to be the running backs for the football is that going to work out well? How s that going to work out? Let s go the other direction and see how successful that works out. I mean it s just, I have no I really have KILMEADE: I just shrug my I don t know what to say.INGRAHAM: Well, it s only the current conversation, but remember we ll be on to the next issue and then the next and the next. This is a current litmus test. You re not a human being with real feelings and empathy unless you re cheering this on and bowing down to this new movement. Look, that s the way they want to frame it. It s up to the regular Americans to say, look, I m a good person. But I don t think this is fair and I think most people don t develop their understanding of their own, you know, sexuality until frankly later in life. You know, I think it s I think it s confusing kids who are already pretty confused in this culture.KILMEADE: I m confused, and I m a grown-up. Laura Ingraham, I pretty much have reached my maximum in maturity. Laura. Thanks so much.This is really just too much, even for the imbeciles at Fox and Friends. They can have their opinions, sure, no matter how absolutely ignorant they may be. But attacking a private citizen, a high school student no less, on national television over her gender identity is truly beyond the pale. These people need an education, not a platform to spread ignorance.Watch the video below, again via Media Matters:Featured image via video screen capture",0 "Vietnam seizes over 1,000 dead endangered sea turtles - Record haul were bound for illegal export to China.",1 "Russia has ~65,000 troops bordering the rest of Ukraine; 40,000 on the Russian Border, 25,000 in Crimea. This is in addition to ""pro-Russian"" armed protesters already in Ukraine; Russia said attempts to expel those pro-Russian forces are ""criminal"" and warned it would ""protect Russian-speakers"".",1 Bitcoin Heist: Millions Vanish from Online Black Market,0 "Hillary tells AIPAC, the occupation is hurting the US around the world",1 Syrian army helicopter drops two barrel bombs in 'massacre' of refugees,1 "Chronology: Europe's long road in search of a common defenseBRUSSELS (Reuters) - France, Germany and 21 other EU governments signed a defense pact on Monday they hope marks a new era of greater European military integration after Britain s decision to quit the bloc. Below is a list of dates in European defense cooperation: 1949 - The United States, Canada and European countries set up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a U.S.-led military alliance. 1950 - The European Defence Community is proposed as a European alternative to NATO to incorporate West Germany and create a European army, a joint budget and shared arms. 1954 - The French parliament rejects the European Army plan. Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Britain form the Western European Union, a common defense group with a shared air force and joint command. 1993 - The EU s Maastricht Treaty redefines European integration and introduces a Common Foreign and Security Policy as one of its goals, allowing European governments to take joint action in foreign policy. 1998 - Britain and France agree to common defense in the Saint-Malo Declaration, and London pledges to play a central role in the security and defense policy of the European Union. 2003 - The European Union launches its first independent military mission outside of Europe, Operation Artemis, with United Nations backing, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 2004 - The European Defence Agency is formed to help EU governments develop their military capabilities. 2007 - Rapid-reaction forces of about 1,500 soldiers, called EU Battlegroups, are formed under control of the Council of the European Union. However, they are never used. 2009 - The EU s Lisbon Treaty strengthens the Common Foreign and Security Policy, creating an EU foreign policy chief. 2011 - France and Britain lead a campaign to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi but cannot impose no-fly zone without U.S. aircraft, munitions. 2017 - More than 20 EU governments sign a defense pact to integrate military planning, weapons development and operations that will rely on a 5 billion-euro ($5.83 billion) defense fund. ",1 "Malaysia's Mahathir calls Trump a 'villain' for Jerusalem planKUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Muslim-majority Malaysia s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday called U.S. President Donald Trump an international bully and a villain for his move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Trump last week reversed decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and said the United States would move its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in the coming years. The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest barriers to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent state of theirs to be in the city s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move never recognized internationally. The anger from Trump s decision will lead to what is called terrorism , the 93-year-old Mahathir told a protest rally in front of the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Today we have an international bully. Trump, go find someone your own size. This (Jerusalem plan) will only stir the anger of the Muslims, said Mahathir, the chairman of Malaysia s opposition coalition. We must use all our power to oppose this villain who is the president of the United States, he said, urging all Muslim countries to cut ties with Israel. Muhyiddin Yassin, another opposition leader, called on the Malaysian government to not proceed with planned investments in the United States. Last week, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak urged Muslims worldwide to oppose any recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Social media users in Muslim-majority Malaysia vowed to boycott U.S. companies, such as McDonald s Corp, following Trump s decision. The chain s Malaysian franchise said it did not support or engage in any political or religious conflicts. Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Ahamd Hamidi on Friday said Najib and the leader of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) would lead a protest rally next Friday in Malaysia s administrative capital of Putrajaya, media said. ",1 "South Korea stresses safety of Pyeongchang Olympics to diplomats, companiesSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea s foreign ministry stressed the Pyeongchang Olympics will be safe from North Korean provocations in a briefing to diplomats and executives at foreign companies in the country on Friday, as concerns persist over tensions with the North. Officials and executives from around 120 embassies and companies in South Korea were hosted by the ministry to explain the government s efforts for a safe Olympic Games scheduled for Feb. 9-25 next year, officials told Reuters. We will consider it our top priority to ensure the safety and security of each and every national team, the Olympic family, and all the spectators visiting Pyeongchang during the Games, said Park Enna, a foreign ministry official, in opening remarks at the meeting. (We) will thoroughly prepare the Pyeongchang Olympics so that it may be regarded as the safest Olympics in history. Briefing topics included current events regarding North Korea and the Korean peninsula as well as preparations in general for the Pyeongchang Olympics, she added. Officials from the United States, Japan, Russia and China, as well as members of chambers of commerce for Japan, China and Europe were to attend, according to the ministry. An official at the Japanese chamber of commerce in South Korea told Reuters ahead of the meeting they were not specifically aware which companies were planning to attend as the ministry appears to have contacted businesses separately. Park said the UN Olympic Truce Resolution, which has been adopted every two years since 1993 to cease all conflicts during the period of the Truce, will be adopted at the UN General Assembly on Nov. 13 for the Pyeongchang Games. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen in recent months as North Korea s leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged threats and insults over the North s nuclear and missile development program. Concerns over safety grew in tandem as the Games will take place just 80 km (50 miles) from the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, the world s most-heavily armed border. France s Sports Minister Laura Flessel said last month that if the crisis in the region deepened and athletes security could not be guaranteed then they would not travel to the Games. Members of France s Winter Olympics team, however, have remained optimistic the country will not boycott. Park said governments reportedly hesitant on participating in the Games have stated their position to partake in and support the coming Olympics. Rattled by rising tensions with North Korea, South Korea has been taking extra measures to try to ensure the safety of the 2018 Winter Games, including setting up a crack cyber defense team and doubling the number of troops, according to officials and documents reviewed by Reuters. North and South Korea remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict with a truce and not a peace treaty. ",1 "Norwegian extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who has confessed to twin attacks in July that killed 77 people, says there are ""up to 80 cells"" in Europe engaged in anti-Islam crusades like his",1 "Russian warning to withdraw all the cash from the ""western banks"", because ""The European Union and United States were preparing for the largest theft of private wealth in modern history.""",0 " Conservative Calls President Obama A ‘Muslim’ Over UN Resolution And Gets Epically BURNEDWhen former Tea Party congressman Joe Walsh decided to lash out at President Obama over a U.N. resolution condemning illegal Israeli settlements, it didn t go well.Earlier this week, the United Nations passed a formal resolution condemning Israel s continued refusal to stop building settlements on Palestinian land. Predictably, conservatives lost their sh*t and have been attacking Obama and the United Nations ever since.Joe Walsh, after having been praised for ripping Donald Trump a new one for refusing to acknowledge that Russia meddled with the election, decided that he missed being despised. So he accused President Obama of being a Muslim because he thinks only a Muslim would refuse to block a resolution condemning Israel.For the past week, everybody has been asking again why Obama hates Israel. The answer is simple really: I think Obama is Muslim. /1 Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) December 29, 2016I ve been saying that for awhile now. It makes the GOP uneasy when I say he s a Muslim. It makes my radio stations uneasy when I say it. /2 Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) December 29, 2016I say it because I believe it. Look, I know there are many other radio talk show hosts, many other members of Congress /3 Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) December 29, 2016 many other Fox News personalities who privately believe Obama is Muslim but are afraid to say it publicly in fear of losing ratings. /4 Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) December 29, 2016For better or worse, I m not afraid to say it publicly. I think Obama is Muslim. I think in his head and in his heart he has always been. /5 Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) December 29, 2016And I think it explains Obama s hatred toward Israel and explains his weakening of America these past 8 years.It s not complicated. /x Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) December 29, 2016And Twitter users promptly BURIED Walsh for his idiocy and bigotry.@WalshFreedom More like you re mad because his kids love him and yours are like Man I wish dad would pay his child support so I could stop wearing rags Nate (@inthesedeserts) December 30, 2016@WalshFreedom hack pic.twitter.com/VfzSFZlDyR Moonglum (@Moonglum) December 29, 2016@Moonglum @WalshFreedom Wow look at all those Presidents who must have been Muslim, by Joe s reasoning Social Justice Rogue (@SJRogue) December 29, 2016@WalshFreedom Reagan said Further settlement activity is in no way necessary for the security of Israel. I guess he was Muslim too. Stephen Xian (@stephenxian) December 29, 2016@WalshFreedom I suppose you think Hitler was a Muslim? Was Henry Ford Muslim? Exactly how deep does your idiocy go, Walsh? Bill Beck (@Writer614) December 30, 2016For better or worse, I m not afraid 2 say it publicly. I think Joe Walsh is a deadbeat dad. I think in his head & heart he has always been. https://t.co/rC5lyTfzHV RichardinBoston (@RichardInBoston) December 30, 2016@WalshFreedom A Msulim gave Israel the largest military aid package in U.S. history? Do you idiots even hear yourselves think? Jerry Johnson (@Sr_Penalosa) December 29, 2016@Sr_Penalosa @6r8i @RAZORX50 @WalshFreedom he would have to be the worst practicing Muslim celebrating Christmas and drinking beer. John Dude (@airwayupthere) December 29, 2016Conservatives like Walsh continue to disrespect President Obama in every way but expect Americans to bow down and kiss Trump s ass, which makes them hypocrites.Featured image via Flickr",0 "Democrats, advocacy groups launch blitz of ads attacking tax planWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The tax overhaul pushed by President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans is prompting a slew of attack ads by Democrats and progressive groups that say the legislation would lavish benefits on corporations and the rich, while harming the middle class. One ad launched on Tuesday warns that the Republican tax plan would leave Maine residents “lost in the wilderness” as it pans through a dark, deserted forest. The television spot, paid for by the group Not One Penny, urges the state’s Republican senator, Susan Collins, who is undecided on the plan and whose vote could help decide its fate in the Senate, “not to lose her way.” Another Not One Penny ad in Nevada, where Republican Senator Dean Heller faces a tough re-election race next year, says that the Senate plan is “a tax break for billionaires and wealthy corporations, paid for by higher taxes on every day Nevadans.” Republicans are looking to pass tax legislation within the next few weeks. Groups spending millions on the ads are aiming to sway public opinion in the final stretch of debate over the legislation, which would cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, and reduce individual income tax rates. Liberals see criticism of the tax plan as a potent issue for the 2018 U.S. congressional elections, when all 435 House seats are up for re-election, along with 33 in the Senate. The House of Representatives passed its tax bill last week. The Senate plans to vote once lawmakers return to Washington after this week’s U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Republicans are under pressure to deliver a tax bill to score their first major legislative achievement since taking control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in January. Many Democratic ads focus on Republicans thought to be vulnerable in the 2018 elections. Others target Republicans such as Collins in the Senate, where Republicans have a slim 52-48 majority and can afford to lose just two Republican votes and still pass a tax bill, with Democrats united in opposition. Republicans say their tax plans would provide across-the-board cuts for both businesses and middle-class workers, along with tax code simplifications that would make it easier for individual taxpayers to file. Republican tax writers contend their plan would mean a “typical family of four would see their tax bill drop by nearly 60 percent.” But Democrats say Republicans have used as a model a family with a specific set of tax circumstances, and that other families at similar income levels could end up paying more. Both the House and Senate plans cut individual tax rates but eliminate popular deductions. In the Senate plan, the tax rate cut for individuals is temporary, while the corporate rate cut is permanent. The Senate plan would repeal a key provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires individuals to pay a penalty if they do not have health insurance. The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that the Senate bill would, beginning in 2021, lead to higher tax bills on average for households earning $10,000 to $30,000 annually. By 2027, most taxpayers earning $75,000 or less annually would be paying more taxes, the JCT said. Democratic advocacy group Priorities USA on Tuesday increased to $2 million a tax-related digital ad campaign targeting voters in 20 House districts where Republicans voted for the House bill. It also plans ads in states represented by Senate Republicans Collins (Maine), Heller (Nevada), John McCain (Arizona), Bob Corker (Tennessee) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is running digital ads in more than 40 Republican-held House districts. The group Save My Care is running digital ads in the districts of 14 House Republicans who voted for the bill, and in Alaska, Arizona and Maine. Republican and conservative groups are running ads of their own. The National Republican Congressional Committee started running spots in multiple districts last week promoting the tax bill. America First Policies, a nonprofit run by former Trump campaign advisers, is spending $135,000 this week for spots on conservative radio programs. ",1 America woman and partner attending family wedding in Pakistan murdered in suspected honour killing ,0 Four month old baby pulled alive from Nepal rubble 22 hours after parents lost him during earthquake,0 Obama Reverses U.S. Position on LGBT Issues at the UN,0 Big Content wants to bring SOPA-style policies to Canada,1 "New mutiny in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez: A threat sends 2,000 officers into hiding as cartels fight to control Juarez.",1 ISIS Executed 600 Inmates From a Prison Outside Mosul,1 "Clinton condemns 'apparent terrorist attacks' in New Jersey, New York, MinnesotaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Sunday condemned what she called the “apparent terrorist attacks” in Minnesota, New Jersey and New York. The three attacks on Saturday involved a stabbing in a Minnesota mall that wounded nine people, a bombing in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood that injured 29 and a pipe bomb explosion in New Jersey. ",1 "Wal-Mart reopens most Gulf region stores after Harvey(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Monday it has reopened most stores in the Gulf region that were shut due to Hurricane Harvey. The company said five stores along the coast where the hurricane made landfall remain shut. Texas has been trying to recover from a storm that dumped some 50 inches (125 cm) of rain on the low-lying Gulf coastal region after coming ashore on Aug. 25, killing about 50 people. ",1 "U.S. Republicans wrestle with effort to gut ObamacareWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in Congress struggled on Thursday with their efforts to dismantle Obamacare, with conservatives urging haste while some lawmakers said the task had become more of a repair job than the repeal of the U.S. healthcare law promised by President Donald Trump’s administration. Two influential conservatives in the House of Representatives, worried that the process was getting bogged down, said the repeal measure that the Republican-majority Congress passed last year should be taken up quickly. But in the Senate, Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and chairman of the health committee counseled patience. He said changes to the law would be made in “chunks” and would be better labeled a “repair.” “It’s more accurate to talk about repairing it ... we’re repairing the damage Obamacare has done,” Alexander said outside the Senate. “We’re not repealing all of Obamacare, it’s not technically possible to do that (now) in the procedures that we have in the Senate, and secondly, there are some parts of it we want to keep,” he said. But Vice President Mike Pence, asked in a Fox News interview about talk of repairing Obamacare, pushed back, saying: “We are absolutely committed to follow through on President Trump’s directive to repeal and replace Obamacare and to have the Congress do it at the same time.” Trump and congressional Republicans campaigned on a promise to dismantle the 2010 Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic legislation that Republicans consider federal government overreach. While Republicans voted last month to start the process of scrapping the law, they missed a target date of Jan. 27 to begin drafting legislation to do so. At a congressional retreat last week, Republican leaders told lawmakers they hoped Congress would finish the repeal by March or April. Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, and Representative Jim Jordan, the caucus’ former chairman, urged the party leadership on Thursday to quickly enact a repeal measure. “That’s what the American people expect us to do – and they expect us to do it quickly,” they said. Obama, a Democrat, vetoed the repeal passed by the Republican-controlled Congress last year. Three of the biggest national insurers have also stepped up pressure on the lawmakers to act. Aetna Inc (AET.N), Anthem Inc (ANTM.N) and Cigna Corp (CI.N) this week urged changes in Obamacare individual plan regulations in the next few weeks, in time for them to decide if they will sell the products in 2018. They want stricter oversight of eligibility and enrollment periods, as well as other changes. Without them, these insurers say they may pull out of the Obamacare exchanges next year, which would lead to less competition and higher premium rates. Rates for 2017 rose an average of 25 percent. Edmund Haislmaier, a Heritage Foundation senior research fellow who advised the Trump transition team to help craft the regulation change but has not seen the final version, said he expected it to address concerns of insurers. He said insurers were consulted. “The incoming administration and the insurers have by in large the same agenda on a lot of this stuff,” said Haislmaier. He said that pleasing the insurers could help Congress move more quickly on a plan to repeal and replace the law. “The (administration) can reassure Republicans that we’re taking steps so the market doesn’t blow up when you move ahead with legislation, and I think that would actually maybe move the process along on the Hill,” he said. Democrats were enjoying the Republican turmoil. They have long accused Republicans of rushing to gut the law without having a replacement plan ready. The law has enabled up to 20 million previously uninsured Americans to obtain health coverage. “They (Republicans) haven’t come up with the so-called repairs,” the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, said in a hallway. “What a departure (for the Republicans), from ‘let’s repeal it and walk away from it and America will be a better place.’” ",1 Spanish government to tax consumers who store their own renewable energy,1 British paedophiles can opt for chemical castration.,1 Shocker: BMW AG PURCHASES HARLEY-DAVIDSON,1 "Saudi sovereign fund to develop holy sites in Mecca, MedinaRIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is forming two real estate development firms to boost the capacity of Mecca and Medina to receive pilgrims, in projects expected to create billions of dollars of business, it said on Monday. The plans are part of an array of commitments which the PIF, the country s main sovereign wealth fund, is taking on under economic reforms designed to reduce Saudi Arabia s dependence on oil exports. The government is mobilising the fund, believed to have about $180 billion of assets, to lead urban development and industrial projects around the country, even as the PIF manages stakes in top Saudi companies and makes foreign investments such as last year s purchase of a $3.5 billion stake in Uber. The scope of the PIF s activities has caused concern among some private Saudi businessmen. The reforms aim to stimulate the private sector but with so many huge projects going to the PIF, some businessmen fear they could be crowded out by the deep-pocketed fund. The PIF said the first phase of its development of an area near the Grand Mosque in Mecca would cover 854,000 square metres (9.1 million square feet) and deliver 115 buildings. It is to include 70,000 new hotel rooms and 9,000 housing units. Construction will start this year with the first phase expected to open in 2024. By 2030, the area will contribute $2.1 billion annually to gross domestic product, the fund said. It also plans to develop 1.3 million square metres near the Prophet s Mosque in Medina, adding 500 housing units and 80,000 hotel rooms. Expanding Islamic tourism is a top goal of Saudi reforms, which seek to develop non-oil income to offset a plunge in oil export receipts due to low crude prices. The PIF did not reveal how much money it would invest, how it would award contracts, or the extent to which private investors would be brought in. Riyadh has said it wants to involve private capital in major projects to reduce pressure on state finances, but in many cases a legal framework for such ventures has not yet been created. Most Saudi real estate developers are small, so state bodies often have to be used to jump-start large projects, especially when the government wants to move quickly. Among other PIF projects, the fund said last week that it would lead the $4.8 billion redevelopment of Jeddah s waterfront corniche. [nL8N1M83KV] In August, the government said it would develop resorts on about 50 Red Sea islands in a PIF-backed project. The fund will be the main investor in a 334 square kilometre (129 square mile) entertainment city near Riyadh featuring cultural and recreational facilities. ",1 "New Survey Shows No.1 Fear of US Citizens is Government NOT TerrorismAmericans have lost the plot when it comes to evaluating the true nature of the terrorist threat (Image Source: Wikicommons)By Matt AgoristAn extensive survey of hundreds of adults across the United States has just revealed that the thing most Americans fear more than anything else is their own government. In fact, according to the survey, no other fear even comes close to the percentage of Americans who worry about their corrupt government officials.The survey was conducted by Chapman University and it serves to back up the point that while Americans claim to live in the Land of the Free, deep down, they realize they are living in a corrupt oligarchy. The Chapman University Survey of American Fears Wave 4 (2017) provides an in-depth examination into the fears of average Americans. In May of 2017, a random sample of 1,207 adults from across the United States were asked their level of fear about eighty different fears across a huge variety of topics ranging from crime, the government, the environment, disasters, personal anxieties, technology and many others. As Statista s Niall McCarthy notes, like last year, corruption of government officials came top in 2017, with 74.5 percent of U.S. adults saying it makes them afraid or very afraid. Despite the constant fear mongering from the mainstream media and government on bogeymen terrorists plotting to steal our freedom, the public, according to this survey, is not buying it.In fact, the threat of terrorism isn t even in the top 20 fears. Terrorism comes in at twenty-two below credit card fraud and identity theft.While this survey is certainly promising, in the idea that people are waking up to government corruption, it is also a telling sign of America s ability to hold two entirely contradictory ideas as self-evident.This ability, or perhaps better defined as disability, to hold two opposing ideas, such as the spreading of freedom through war, as being logically sound, is called cognitive dissonance. When one is in a state of dissonance, they may sometimes feel disequilibrium : frustration, hunger, dread, guilt, anger, embarrassment, anxiety, etc.In order for cognitive dissonance to work, society must remain just ignorant enough to support and to believe the lies fed to them from the establishment as reality; even though this reality is a complete contradiction.Once we step back and observe society with this in mind, the reason for this contradictory mental state becomes quite obvious. It is much easier to remain delusional and in a state of suspended disbelief than it is to deal with the opposing ideas held inside one s head. How can one chant USA is number #1! while at the same time fearing the rulers of that USA?( ) If this survey shows us anything, it is that Americans would do well to entertain the uncomfortable idea that this country they hold so high up on a pedestal has actually long been on a path to become the dystopian nightmare written about in books like 1984.Americans would do well to remember the words by John Basil Barnhill in 1914 when he said, Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty. This article first appeared the Free Thought Project.READ MORE WAR ON TERROR NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire War on Terror FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Another Palestinian protester dies from ""rubber bullet"". Witnesses said Israeli troops fired tear gas, rubber bullets and possibly live rounds at rock-throwing demonstrators in the village.",1 "BBC in ""its last stages"": budget cuts will make it increasingly difficult to maintain standards",1 "KREEPY KAINE Says Voting For Hillary Will Help To Put American Women More On Par With Women In Iraq, Afghanistan And RwandaHow very progressive While Hillary insults women who are victims of sexual abuse, her creepy VP uses women who are forced to live like they re still in the dark ages, as progressive role models for American women Vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Tuesday that the United States has made it difficult for women to be elected to higher office, and argued that America ranks behind Iraq, Afghanistan and Rwanda in this area. It took 144 years before women even got the right to vote in this country, Kaine said at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C. What were we thinking when we said equality mattered, but no. One hundred and forty four years. It took us that long to say in 1920, to say women get a right to vote. And now we re 96 years later and we have just nominated a woman. We know we haven t had a woman president. But in Congress right now, we re doing the best job we have ever done in women in the federal legislature: 19 percent. That s the best job we ve ever done, he said.The Virginia senator claimed smaller, less wealthy countries actually put the United States to shame when it comes to electing women to higher office. Hold on for this, folks. Nineteen percent ranks the United States 75th in the world, below the global average, he said. Iraq is 26 percent. Afghanistan is 28 percent. Number one [is] Rwanda. Sixty-four percent. So for reasons, some of which I understand, some of which I don t, we have made it hard. We have made it hard for women to be elected to the highest positions in our federal legislature and as president, he added.However, with the nomination of Hillary Clinton, that s all about to change, he said. We are about to change that. And that s why I m so excited! he said.Kaine s statistics are based on numbers compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which bases its data on information provided by National Parliaments. Washington Examinerh/t Weasel Zippers",0 "Ex-Senator Coats is top candidate for director of national intelligence: NBC News(Reuters) - Former Republican Senator Dan Coats of Indiana is the leading candidate to serve as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, NBC News reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the discussions. Coats met with Trump on Nov. 30 at Trump Tower in New York City. ",1 "China is surprise good guy at Durban climate conference: World's biggest carbon emitter says it might sign an agreement to change its ways. ",1 "Lebanon detains Uber driver suspected of murdering British embassy worker: security officialBEIRUT (Reuters) - A Lebanese taxi driver with a previous arrest for drug use has confessed to killing a British woman who worked at the British Embassy in Beirut, a senior Lebanese security official said on Monday. A second security source said preliminary investigations into the murder of Rebecca Dykes showed the motive was purely criminal, not political. The suspect, who worked for the Uber [UBER.UL] taxi service, had immediately confessed to the crime, which took place early on Saturday, the source said. The senior security official said the suspect was 41 years old and had been arrested on drug-related charges in the period 2015-17, which the official said might not show up on his judicial record. The second security source said the suspect had a criminal record but gave no details. Lebanon s state news agency NNA identified the suspect by the first name Tariq and the initial H, and said he had picked Dykes up in his taxi in Beirut s Gemmayzeh district on Friday evening before assaulting and killing her. Uber declined to confirm the suspect s name or how long he had been driving for the service. The incident was the latest to highlight the issue of safety at Uber in various countries around the world. We are horrified by this senseless act of violence. Our hearts are with the victim and her family, said Uber spokesman Harry Porter. We are working with authorities to assist their investigation in any way we can. Porter said the company uses commercially licensed taxi drivers in Lebanon, and the government carries out background checks and grants licenses. Only drivers that have clean background checks and clean judicial records are licensed, he said. The suspect s background check did not show any convictions, or he would not have been licensed, Porter said. Police traced the suspect s car through highway surveillance cameras, they said. Police only said they had arrested a suspect and that it was not a political crime. Dykes, who was strangled, was found by a main highway outside Beirut, a security source said on Sunday. She worked at the British Embassy for the Department for International Development. The whole embassy is deeply shocked, saddened by this news, Britain s ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter, said on Sunday. We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca, Dykes family said in a statement. We are doing all we can to understand what happened. In September, San Francisco-based Uber was stripped of its operating license in London over concerns about its approach to reporting serious criminal offences and background checks on drivers. In India, the company was sued twice by a woman who was raped in 2014 by an Uber driver, first for failing to maintain basic safety procedures and again alleging executives improperly obtained her medical records. The Uber driver was convicted of the rape and sentenced in 2015 to life in prison. Uber settled the first lawsuit and has agreed to settle the second. In Brazil, a company policy of accepting cash payments for rides made drivers the target of robbery and murder. Following a Reuters investigation, Uber in February rolled out new safety requirements, including requiring new cash users to register with a social security number. And in Houston, Texas, a 2016 city investigation found that Uber s background checks were so insufficient the company cleared drivers with criminal histories including murder, assault and 17 other crimes. Uber is facing a host of problems, including allegations of sexual harassment, data privacy violations and a lawsuit and criminal investigation over alleged trade-secrets theft. New Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick in August, has been critical of past practices and vowed a new era of compliance. The company is in the midst of a stock sale in which Softbank Group will take a stake in the company ahead of an anticipated 2019 initial public offering. ",1 "France's Macron unveils plan to curb violence against womenPARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday unveiled measures aimed at educating the public and schoolchildren about sexism and violence against women and improving police support for victims. During his campaign Macron, who won the presidential election in May, promised to rethink sexual politics and gender equality, which he made a national cause for his five-year mandate. The Harvey Weinstein scandal in the United States has accelerated a rethink of attitudes toward sexual harassment in France, a country that cherishes its self-image as the land of seduction and romance. Let s seal a pact of equality between men and women, Macron said in a speech marking the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women. About violence and sexual abuse, he said: It is essential that shame changes camp. During his speech, Macron observed a minute s silence for the 123 women killed by their partner or ex-partner in 2016. Measures announced include educating secondary school children about pornography and simplifying the system for rape and assault victims to go to the police. Proposals that could be included in a 2018 draft law include criminalizing street harassment and extending the statute of limitation for the rape of minors to 30 years from 20 years. Macron also said he was personally in favor of setting the age of sexual consent at 15. Currently France has no minimum age for sexual consent. Planned changes to the police system include allowing victims of rape and sexual assault to make their initial complaints online, before going to a police station to bring criminal charges. Other measures include on demand bus stops, where women can stop a bus anywhere at night so they can get home safely. French feminist group Osez le F minisme said the measures were going in the right direction but must be accompanied by adequate funding. Without funding, any communication, training, awareness or help plan for the victims will be useless, the statement said. France has often debated sexual harassment over the past decade following scandals involving French politicians. Six years ago a sex scandal forced former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund, provoking a round of soul-searching in France about sexual abuse that goes undetected in the upper echelons of power. ",1 "EPA confirms it will reopen review of 2025 fuel rulesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed on Wednesday it would reopen a review of whether the Obama administration’s 2022-2025 vehicle emission rules are feasible, a win for automakers which have urged the Trump administration to reverse a January decision to uphold the standards. The EPA said it would make a determination by April 2018 after the Obama administration sought in January to lock in the rules. Environmentalists say the rules save fuel and reduce greenhouse gases. “These standards are costly for automakers and the American people,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in a statement. ",1 "Bulgaria's Organized Crime Unit Raids Large Torrent Sites, Arrests 17-Yr-Old Admin",1 "The Considerate Taliban - 12 news reports of separate air strike incidents since the start of the year in which the number of Taliban or insurgent casualties was reported to be 30, in most cases citing US military officials.... Not 29, not 31.... Thirty.",1 Sony hackers leaked more than 50 scripts from Sony movies,1 UFO Sightings Across Middle East Were Probably A Missile ,1 "Guy buys golden egg for $13,000. Turns out to be a Faberge egg worth $33.3 million.",1 " Texas Conservatives Scream Louder For Secession After Britain Exits EU (TWEETS)Texas conservatives are cheering after Britain voted to leave the European Union because they believe it means they can secede from the United States.Upon learning of the results, conservatives took to social media to urge Texas to declare independence.Texas should leave the failed American Union & rejoin the world as an independent, self-governing nation. #Texit https://t.co/0esvrO46Ei Trey Mays (@TreyMays) June 24, 2016 Now, Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma secede and form a new country called the United States of Awesome! #Texit. Collin O Scopy (@Crapplefratz) June 24, 2016In the event that @HillaryClinton becomes POTUS .. @GovAbbott can we begin plans for #Texit ? Thanks for your SUPERB leadership! #tcot #2A Stan Weber (@spweber54) June 24, 2016 Please please please now can we have a vote for Texas to leave the US? #Texit (((Jeff Tiedrich))) (@jefftiedrich) June 24, 2016Join over 260,000 fellow Texans who have pledge to vote FOR Texas Independence!https://t.co/u0U3aSHvOX#Texit pic.twitter.com/mCl5841lf8 TNM (@TexasNatMov) June 15, 2016 Forget #Brexit I want to know when we re going to start a #Texit pic.twitter.com/rAbkR0gWxy Modern Rebel (@MAmericanRebel) June 11, 2016No one is happier about the the British exit from the EU than Texas Nationalist Movement president Daniel Miller.In an interview with The Guardian, Miller claimed that Britain leaving the EU is the exact same as Texas wanting to leave the United States. You could take Britain out and replace it with Texas . You could take EU out and replace it with US . You could take Brussels out and replace it with Washington DC . You could give you guys a nice Texas drawl and no one would know any different. So much of it is exactly the same. The vast majority of the laws, rules and regulations that affect the people of Texas are created by the political class or un-elected bureaucrats in Washington, he continued.It s not likely that Texas will be able to secede, however. Shortly after the Civil War, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White:When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. All the obligations of perpetual union, and all the guaranties of republican government in the Union, attached at once to the State. The act which consummated her admission into the Union was something more than a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was final. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the States.In short, the only way Texas can secede is if a majority of the states agree to let Texas do so.And perhaps it s time to let them.The Republican Party would suffer a serious blow if Texas exited the Union. Texas has 38 electoral votes and sends 36 representatives to Congress, 25 of whom are Republicans. The two Senators Texas sends to Congress are also Republicans. So not only would Democrats win the presidency handily, they could take back the House and the Senate.Furthermore, the United States government could stop sending federal dollars to Texas.You can also bet that conservatives would flock to Texas in search of a conservative paradise.And when the new country of Texas becomes a failed state, we can just build a wall around it and let them deal with their own mess instead of coming to their rescue again as America did in 1845 when Texas begged for entrance into the United States because it was in severe debt.It s time to cut the cord, America. Texas has been dragging this country down for too long. We survived as a nation for nearly 100 years without Texas. We didn t need Texas then. We definitely do not need Texas now. The Republican Party needs Texas, but we don t. So let s kill two birds with one stone and let Texas go. Because once Texas goes, so goes the Republican Party. Texas entered this country in what they call a marriage of convenience. This would just be a divorce of convenience, except that America would finally progress into the future we deserve while Texas continues to go backwards.Featured image via Wikimedia ",0 British PM tells Pakistan elite: 'Many of your richest people are getting away without paying much tax at all and that's not fair',0 " WATCH: Hell Freezes As Fox News Host Calls Republican Party A ‘Disgrace’ For Being Incapable Of GoverningThings just went from bad to worse for the Republican Party.Being in charge just isn t what Republicans imagined it would be like.After all, they have majority control of the House and Senate and have the perfect puppet in the White House to rubber stamp their destructive agenda.But millions of angry Americans across the country, including Democrats, Republicans, and independents, have made Republicans in Congress incredibly nervous about the GOP healthcare bill. Nervous enough to actually oppose it.The Trumpcare bill would strip healthcare away from 20 million Americans and cause premiums to skyrocket, both of which Donald Trump promised would not happen. In short, he lied, and many Republicans don t want to commit political suicide with him.The Republican failure to pass their terrible bill is good for the American people, but it s politically harmful to the GOP because their failure to pass their own bill despite having majority control makes them look incompetent of governing.Keep in mind that Republicans have insisted for years that they are more capable of governing the United States than Democrats. But when Americans actually put them in charge of the entire government it turns out Republicans were all talk and no walk.Rather than govern, Republicans have let Trump systematically destroy this country and now they have failed miserably in their first effort to pass a major policy on their agenda.And even Fox News is disgusted by how Republicans have performed.During his show on Fox Business on Friday, stalwart Republican cheerleader Stuart Varney literally called the entire Republican Party a disgrace and conceded that they can t govern, much to the surprise of Juan Williams. I personally believe at this moment in time, the Republican Party is a disgrace, Varney declared. I m serious. I am serious. We elected the Republicans to run the House, the Senate and the White House and the very, very first thing that comes up on the legislative agenda they vote no, they re split. They can t do it. They can t govern. I am really fit to be tied. Varney invited Williams to take shots at him and the GOP but he declined to do so, opting instead to point out that the Republicans who oppose this bill are doing so because it s a bad bill.Here s the video via YouTube:Indeed, the bill is not better than the Affordable Care Act. In fact, it kills all of the good things the Affordable Care Act provides and takes America back to a time when the uninsured rate was shockingly high and people had to choose between paying for healthcare or paying their bills to avoid homelessness and starvation.But Republicans only have themselves to blame what the position they are in right now. Rather than supporting a law that includes many Republican ideas such as an individual mandate, they chose to viciously oppose the law instead and demonize it for political gain. Furthermore, they had seven years to come up with a better healthcare plan and couldn t even do that. More Americans now understand that the Affordable Care Act was not the evil Republicans portrayed it to be and they now want to save it. Americans are learning about all the good things Republicans would be destroying by repealing it.And now even Fox News is having a hard time defending Republicans on this issue. And losing the support of their propaganda machine should signal to Republicans that they have royally f*cked up.Featured image via screenshot",0 "Bloomberg looks West after bankrolling Philadelphia soda tax winNEW YORK (Reuters) - After successfully funding a campaign to pass a soda tax in Philadelphia, billionaire Michael Bloomberg is preparing to fund similar efforts in several other cities, giving new momentum to measures seeking to limit soft drink consumption. The former New York City mayor contributed the bulk of the money for the pro-soda tax side in Philadelphia, providing around $1.6 million. Now the prominent public health crusader will support measures in San Francisco and Oakland, California this year, Howard Wolfson, a senior adviser to Bloomberg, said in a conference call on Friday. Bloomberg may also support soda tax drives in Seattle and Multnomah County in Oregon, which includes Portland, in 2017, Wolfson said. The billionaire’s planned backing raises the stakes for the powerful beverage industry, which has lobbied hard to defeat many of the 43 municipal and state-level attempts to implement a soda tax that have failed since 2008. Before this week, Berkeley, California was the only U.S. city with a soda tax. But the success in Philadelphia, the country’s fifth-largest city with a diverse population of 1.6 million, could mark a turning point as Americans become more aware of health campaigners’ message that sugary soft drinks contribute to obesity and diabetes. “If Berkeley was a tremor, Philadelphia is an earthquake, and we expect there will be more earthquakes going forward,” Wolfson said. As New York’s mayor, Bloomberg led efforts to pass a state-level soda tax, prevent residents from buying sodas with food stamps, and limit the size of sugary beverages. His efforts prompted public outcry against what were dubbed “nanny state” initiatives, and all three measures were ultimately defeated. Philadelphia’s Mayor Jim Kenney took a different approach, emphasizing the revenue benefits of the tax over the health angle. The city council approved the measure in a 13-4 vote on Thursday after activists raised a total of around $2 million, according to Kevin Feeley, who led the pro-tax campaign. Feeley and Wolfson both said the soda industry outspent the pro-tax campaign. A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association (ABA), which represents Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo and funded a local group opposing the tax, said the group did not yet have a final tally for how much it spent. The spokeswoman added that the group would “oppose all discriminatory tax proposals.” The group has said the tax’s passage in Philadelphia was the result of unique local political conditions and unlikely to have a ripple effect in other cities. The ABA said on Thursday it would sue Philadelphia to stop the tax, and Wolfson did not rule out the possibility that Bloomberg would contribute to aid the city’s defense. Wolfson declined to specify an amount that Bloomberg was willing to spend on the San Francisco and Oakland efforts, but noted that he was “not in a position to match soda dollar for dollar.” Bloomberg’s contributions are meant to help “level the playing field,” he said. (Story corrects first name of Howard Wolfson in paragraph two previously said Michael.) ",1 "REMEMBERING FDR’S Famous Pearl Harbor Speech: How “A Date That Will Live In Infamy” Almost Wasn’t [AUDIO]Did FDR actually deliver his fireside chats while sitting near a fire? Seventy-four years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed December 7, 1941, as a date which will live in infamy after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.But that most powerful line in his speech asking Congress to declare war and bring the U.S. into World War II almost wasn t. Roosevelt s original draft called it a date which will live in world history, rhetoric that had far less oomph. That memorable revision along with others a fact you can see for yourself thanks to thousands of pages of the longest-serving president s speeches made available Monday digitally for the first time.President Franklin D. Roosevelt made an important revision to his first draft of the address he would make to Congress on Dec. 8, 1941, after the Pearl Harbor attacks. FDR Presidential LibraryThe massive archive at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, thanks in part to support from AT&T, includes over 46,000 pages of drafts, reading copies, transcripts and their audio files from Roosevelt s 12 years in office all online and free to the public.It s the largest archive of any president, according to FDR Library Director Paul Sparrow, and provides new insight into Roosevelt s presidency.Roosevelt was a historian and a collector, Sparrow said. He kept every draft, every script. The Pearl Harbor speech made December 8 stands out as one of the most pivotal moments of Roosevelt s presidency. On his blog, Sparrow wrote that it represents the tipping point, the actual moment when the United States was transformed from an isolationist nation to a global superpower and leader of the free world. Its message of resolve and determination in the face of a devastating attack is as relevant today as it was then. And it was written almost entirely by Roosevelt himself, not by speechwriters or his advisers. Roosevelt dictated the speech to his secretary just three hours after learning of the attacks.Roosevelt made edits to that draft most importantly changing world history to infamy in the first line. His close adviser, Harry Hopkins, would make the only other addition: With confidence in our armed forces with the unbounding determination of our people we will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God. The State Department was also pressuring Roosevelt to deliver a much longer, historical speech that detailed the U.S.-Japan tensions. They even presented the president with a 17-page suggested draft. Roosevelt politely listened to their suggestions, but had already decided he would stick with his three-page, seven-minute speech.The forceful brevity of that speech at such a crucial moment in U.S. history is one reason it is among the best-remembered in history. Roosevelt knew that lengthy speech wasn t what the American people wanted to hear right now, Sparrow said.Roosevelt, who was of course the longest-serving president in history, gave the most speeches and press conferences of any chief executive too. And as radio in the 1930s and 1940s became a way to reach the masses, he embraced it like any other with his regular Fireside Chats. Roosevelt s First Fireside Chat After Pearl Harbor 26:16 Though he didn t actually deliver them beside a fire, his rhetorical gift was on full display in the regular addresses, using common words and a conversational tone to reach the American public. In his own mind, he imagined sitting at a kitchen table and talking to his neighbors, Sparrow said. They have much more of an explanatory tone. Many are very instructional. Via: NPR",0 "HYSTERICAL! LIBERAL TABLOID Slammed After Staged Photo Of Chelsea Clinton Posted With Glowing Caption TMZ published a staged promotional photo of Chelsea Clinton and her husband taking a stroll with this gag-worthy caption:Chelsea Clinton Gets Lost in Bae s EyesCHELSEA CLINTON STARING AT BAE LIKEChelsea Clinton s smile says it all get yourself someone who looks at you the way her hubby does.The former First Daughter couldn t hide her Colgate smile while getting lost in her husband Marc Mezvinsky s eyes as they took a stroll to the Lincoln Center Thursday in NYC. #AdorbsIt s soooo obvious that the Clintons keep pushing this couple out there to promote Chelsea for some sort of political office. It s truly laughable because every time she s on social media she gets hammered! She just doesn t have the it factor and the comments below should be proof of that HARSH! Chelsea hasn t had much luck on Twitter either. Every tweet is met with a blow back from someone who actually has a memory of all of the Clinton Crime Families misdeeds: Conservative talk radio host Dana Loesch reminded Chelsea Clinton on Thursday that her mother, Hillary Clinton, misled the public on what initiated the 2012 Benghazi terror attack after the former first daughter knocked President Trump for discussing what dessert he ate during his meeting last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Chelsea Clinton tweeted Wednesday afternoon that she found it disturbing Trump remembered what dessert he ate with Xi at his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, but not what country he ordered missile strikes against last Thursday night.Disturbing that Trump remembers what he ate (chocolate cake) but not where he sent missiles (Syria, not Iraq as he says until corrected) https://t.co/FItavMaNCA Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) April 12, 2017During an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that aired Wednesday morning, Trump said, We had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you have ever seen, while discussing when he told Xi that he ordered U.S. military strikes on a Syrian government airfield.Just seeing this WATCH: Trump told Pres. Xi about missile strikes over the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake. pic.twitter.com/3gSBnIPerc Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 12, 2017Trump had mistakenly said the strikes targeted Iraq, before Bartiromo clarified that he meant Syria, which led Clinton to attack the president via Twitter.Loesch responded to Clinton on Twitter by saying she found it disturbing the former first daughter s mother misled the American people on what caused the Benghazi attack, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including then-U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.Disturbing that your mom told you in email Benghazi was a terror attack while lying to America, victims families blaming it on a video. https://t.co/Mnwffvl0G8 Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) April 13, 2017Loesch was referencing when the failed 2016 Democratic presidential candidate emailed her daughter on the night of the Benghazi attack and said it was perpetrated by an al Qaeda-like group in what appeared to be a planned assault.A few hours later, Hillary Clinton released a statement suggesting the terrorist attack was caused by a spontaneous mob responding to an anti-Muslim YouTube video.Clinton as secretary of state and other top Obama administration officials claimed the attack was a direct response to a video, but it has since been revealed that the assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya was a planned and coordinated attack by extremists unrelated to any video.The State Department reaffirmed in June that an anti-Islamic video did not motivate the attacks, while a report produced last year by the House Select Committee on Benghazi showed the Obama administration believed the assault was a planned terrorist attack before senior officials said publicly the video was responsible.Via: WFB",0 "China broke ground on its fourth space center Monday, highlighting the country's soaring space ambitions six years after it sent its first man into orbit.",1 Costa Rica tries to go smoke-free: Congress approved sweeping smoking bans. Philip Morris and British American Tobacco are not happy,0 "NORDSTROM STOCK TAKES NOSEDIVE After Trump Tweets About Their Decision To Discontinue Ivanka’s BrandUPDATE: Nordstrom stock closed up slightly today, after taking a hit yesterday following President Trump s tweet.President Trump tweeted about Nordstrom dumping his daughter s brand today and the company is seeing an immediate, negative market reaction. Nordstrom and its outlet store, Nordstrom Rack, announced last week that they were dumping Ivanka s line of shoes and accessories because of poor sales and likely pressure from liberal boycotters who made Nordstrom a top target in their anti-Trump actions.Here is his tweet: My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2017And here are a few tweets from women who are saying they re finished with Nordstrom: https://twitter.com/immigrant4trump/status/829529883671945216Conservatives protest w/ their wallets, Democrats protest by rioting, looting & wearing vagina outfits Deplorable Mary E (@CarverCallie) February 9, 2017If Nordstrom's want to get involved in politics, then I will do my part as well. Nordstrom card in pieces now. DrainTheSwamp (@zfamilymn) February 8, 2017And then there was this public service tweeter who actually offered Twitter users a phone number to call to cancel customer credit cards:# to call to Cancel Nordstrom credit card: 800.964.1800 Tweetheart (@tweetheart2017) February 9, 2017While Trump s missive caused, as usual, a wave of outraged responses on Twitter, it also hit Nordstrom in the pocketbook. As soon as Trump Tweeted, shares of Nordstrom stock took a dive.This might be the last thing Nordstrom needs: its stock had remained steady most of 2016, but took a 14% hit in December on news that department stores had a rough holiday season.But the Seattle-based luxury retailer isn t alone in suffering the Trump effect. A number of companies, including Boeing, Carrier and even Amazon have suffered the same result after Donald Trump took to social media to complain about their business models or product prices. Heat Street ",0 "YIKES! Former Dem Pollster Makes Bold Prediction: “The Dam Is About To Break” [VIDEO]Jimmy Carter s Democrat pollster Pat Caddell is predicting a Trump Tsunami, reminiscent of the Carter-Reagan election. Carter was ahead in all of the polls leading up to the election and Reagan shocked the world when he crushed him in a landslide Watch:",0 "News Corp is ""Toxic Shadow State"" -- British MPs",1 Saudi Arabia forms coalition of 34 Islamic countries to fight terrorism,1 "Saudi Arabia to extract uranium for 'self-sufficient' nuclear programABU DHABI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to extract uranium domestically as part of its nuclear power program and sees this as a step towards self-sufficiency in producing atomic fuel, a senior official said on Monday. Extracting its own uranium also makes sense from an economic point of view, said Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, head of the Saudi government agency tasked with the nuclear plans, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE). In a speech at an international nuclear power conference in Abu Dhabi, he did not specify whether Saudi Arabia seeks to also enrich and reprocess uranium steps in the fuel cycle which are especially sensitive as they can open up the possibility of military uses of the material. The world s top oil exporter says it wants to tap atomic power for peaceful purposes only in order to diversify its energy supply and will award a construction contract for its first two nuclear reactors by the end of 2018. Regarding the production of uranium in the kingdom, this is a program which is our first step towards self-sufficiency in producing nuclear fuel, Yamani told a conference organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We utilize the uranium ore that has been proven to be economically efficient. Atomic reactors need uranium enriched to around 5 percent purity but the same technology in this process can also be used to enrich the heavy metal to higher, weapons-grade levels. This issue has been at the heart of Western and regional concerns about the nuclear work of Iran, Saudi Arabia s foe, and led to the 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to freeze the program for 15 years for sanctions relief. On Monday, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Iran was complying with the nuclear deal signed with world powers and which U.S. President Donald Trump has called into question. Under the agreement, Iran can enrich uranium to 3.67 percent purity, around the normal level needed for commercial power-generation. Saudi Arabia would be the second country in the Gulf Arab region to tap nuclear after the United Arab Emirates, which is set to start up its first, South Korean-built reactor in 2018. The UAE has committed not to enrich uranium itself and not to reprocess spent fuel. Industry sources have told Reuters Saudi Arabia is reaching out to potential vendors from South Korea, China, France, Russia, Japan and the United States for its first two reactors. The plans have received extra momentum as part of Saudi Arabia s Vision 2030, an ambitious economic reform program launched last year by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Yamani said Saudi Arabia will soon pass laws for its nuclear program and will have set up all of the regulations for its nuclear regulator by the third quarter of 2018. The IAEA also has been requested to conduct an integrated review of our nuclear infrastructure during the second quarter of 2018, he said, which will allow the agency to assess efforts to prepare Saudi infrastructure to introduce nuclear power for peaceful purposes. Saudi Arabia is considering building some 17.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2032, the equivalent of about 17 reactors, making it one of the strongest prospects for an industry struggling after the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan. Preliminary studies have estimated Saudi Arabia has around 60,000 tonnes of uranium ore, Maher al Odan, the chief atomic energy officer of KACARE said at an electricity forum in Riyadh on Oct 11. ",1 "U.S. Defense Dept needs to better manage its finances: GAOWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department needs to better manage its finances if it hopes to rebuild and modernize the U.S. Armed Forces, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released on Tuesday. The Pentagon needs to give its decision makers and weapons buyers more accurate budget and cost information so they can make better decisions as they modernize weapons systems, the report said. U.S. President Donald Trump’s $4.1 trillion fiscal 2018 budget proposal included $603 billion in defense spending for the Department of Defense as well as nuclear weapons programs at the Department of Energy and other national defense priorities. The GAO report comes as U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis presented lawmakers in the House and Senate with a $33 billion wish list of unfunded military needs. The report said despite increased defense funding under Trump, efforts “underway to rebuild readiness for portions of their military forces” are at risk without more comprehensive planning efforts at the Pentagon. The federal agency, which oversees government resources, also said the Defense Department could police global hot spots with less expensive and more numerous regular troops instead of U.S. special forces. “DOD has not taken steps to examine whether additional opportunities exist to reduce the high demand on these (special) forces by sharing some of their responsibilities with conventional forces,” the report said. U.S. President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal gave the military a modest boost to their budget, 3 percent more than what former President Barack Obama had sought in his long-term budget plan. The $574.5 billion for the Department of Defense would go to warfighting readiness and critical program requirements. GAO said it has made approximately 3,100 recommendations to DOD since 2006. Of these about 1,037 have not been acted on, including 78 priority recommendations. The report released on Tuesday made no new recommendations. ",1 "India successfully launches first indigenously built all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite, RISAT-1, with applications ranging from agriculture to natural disaster management",1 " WATCH: Chuck Todd BLASTS Trump’s Goldman Sachs Cabinet Picks As Hypocritical Bullsh*tKellyanne Conway was absolutely grilled by Chuck Todd on Friday because Donald Trump has been picking Goldman Sachs executives for his cabinet.Donald Trump spent a good part of his campaign trashing Hillary Clinton for having mere connections to Goldman Sachs. Now he has picked three Goldman Sachs alums, including Steve Bannon as his chief policy strategist, Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary, and Gary Cohn as the head of the National Economic Council.Chuck Todd began by playing video of Trump demonizing Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton for taking donations from Goldman Sachs. They have total control over him just like they have total control over Hillary Clinton, Trump said, claiming that he doesn t need money from Goldman Sachs and that doesn t want it, therefore, Goldman Sachs has no control over him. He railed against Goldman Sachs, Todd told Conway. Three Goldman Sachs alums. Fairly prominent positions. How is that not hypocritical? Of course, Conway tried to spin in defense of Trump. He railed against their political influence, Conway said, which doesn t really make sense since Trump literally just gave three Goldman Sachs executives tremendous political influence.Nevertheless, Conway claimed that they don t have influence over him politically and they will not have influence over him politically in the White House. However, Trump has said that Goldman Sachs owns Ted Cruz because he took loans from them. But that logic backfired because it turns out Trump has also taken loans from Goldman Sachs, which according to Trump means they own him. And now three of them are in Trump s cabinet.Todd once again cornered Conway and demanded answers.First, he wanted to know how she would react if Hillary Clinton had won and appointed three Goldman Sachs alums. She claimed that she wouldn t have whined about but we all know Trump and all of his supporters would be throwing a collective temper tantrum.The Todd wondered, Was the trashing of Goldman just simply campaign rhetoric and sort of B.S.? The answer is yes but Conway again went with the whole he was just talking about political influence line, and Todd refused to let Conway get away with that bullshit. Those are political appointments! Todd exclaimed.But the facts don t matter to team Trump, and Conway simply kept talking and talking and talking to run out the clock and force Todd to move one to the next topic.Here s the video via YouTube.Once again, Donald Trump gets caught being a complete hypocrite and his team spews bullshit to defend him. These people have no shame and their supporters should be pissed.Featured Image: Screenshot",0 International Donations Not Always Welcome in Gaza,0 "Australia's High Court to rule in new citizenship test caseSYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia faces a series of by-elections that could topple the government, which trails in opinion polls and has lost its slender majority, in a bizarre citizenship crisis that has engulfed both sides of parliament. Senator Katy Gallagher and lower-house member David Feeney, both from the opposition Labor party, were referred to the High Court on Wednesday to determine whether they hold British, as well as Australian, citizenship. Neither is a member of the government, but the outcome of Gallagher s case in particular, which rests on whether she made reasonable steps to renounce her British citizenship, will set a precedent that could later unseat government members. Dual citizens are ineligible for elected office under Australia s 116-year-old constitution. In a nation in which half the population were either born overseas or have parents who were, the rule has disqualified nine lawmakers, and left Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull s Liberal-National coalition clinging to a minority government. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce briefly lost his seat when it was found he also held New Zealand citizenship. But he won it back in a by-election last weekend. A by-election in former tennis star John Alexander s theoretically safe Sydney seat on Dec. 19 will determine whether the government regains its one-seat majority. However, a victory may not be lasting, since the citizenship status of another four lower-house government lawmakers was called into question after a deadline for politicians to disclose the birthplace of their parents and grandparents passed on Tuesday. There are many inadequate disclosures that ask more questions than provide answers, Labor leader Bill Shorten told reporters in Canberra. The government, behind in opinion polls and keen to avoid any more by-elections, voted down a Labor proposal to refer those lawmakers cases to the High Court and said it would not revisit the matter until after the Gallagher case was heard. Gallagher filed paperwork, and paid processing fees, to renounce her British citizenship more than two months before being elected in July 2016. But she did not get confirmation from the British Home Office that her renunciation had been processed until after she was voted in, her disclosure documents show. Several other lawmakers are in a similar bind. It will be a test case, constitutional law expert George Williams, dean of law at the University of New South Wales, told Reuters by telephone. But it leaves open the possibility that now this will go on for quite some time. There s large question marks over quite a number of people. Turnbull s government would have to rely on the support of a handful of independent MPs to retain power if Alexander loses his Dec. 19 by-election, or if the High Court ousts another coalition lawmaker from the lower house. It s uncertain territory, we still don t know for sure who is eligible and who s not, University of Queensland politics lecturer Chris Salisbury told Reuters. (Refiles to add dropped word loses in paragraph 17) ",1 "Emerging from hell, the dust-caked and bloodied survivors of Mount Merapi's worst eruption yet (w/pics)",0 " Michael Moore Gives 6 Reasons John Lewis Is Right: No, Trump ‘Is NOT A Legitimate President’Georgia Congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis said on Friday that Donald Trump is not a legitimate president. Naturally, Trump attacked him on Twitter for stating what millions of Americans already think. But film legend Michael Moore agrees with Lewis wholeheartedly.On Saturday, Moore took to Facebook to give six reasons that Lewis is right and Trump is illegitimate. He began by pointing out that Trump didn t even come close to winning the popular vote.1. Nothing, including an arcane, racist section of the constitution, can change the fact that 3 million more Americans voted for Hillary than for Trump. It s either a democracy or it isn t. If he had won by 3 million, I would sadly admit that Trump is the President the American people wanted. But that s not what happened.Next, Moore said what many people (including my mother who worked in mental health care for several decades) have been saying for months: Trump is f*cking nuts. Not like, ha ha, he s crazy. But as in this is no laughing matter, the man is seriously suffering from a mental illness. 2. He is not well and needs help. He has a number of serious mental disorders that make him unfit to hold office and they are on display every day in one cringe-worthy tweet after another. He is a full-blown malignant narcissist. He displays sociopathic tendencies. He will say one thing and 30 seconds later say the opposite. He is disconnected from the truth. And he has a stunning lack of human empathy. These behaviors make him a truly dangerous occupant of the Oval Office.The third item on Moore s list is obvious to anyone who has been paying attention even a little bit, Russia. It is undeniable at this point that the Russians interfered in the U.S. presidential election and clearly helped land Trump s orange derriere in the White House.3. The Russians interfered with the election in order to get him elected. Even Trump now admits as much. That alone makes the election tainted and should be voided. We spend trillions on ridiculous weapons and ineffective police state-style homeland security measures to defend us against those who would destroy our way of life but we are to remain silent when a foreign government is caught trying to get THEIR candidate elected as OUR president? AND they succeed! This is a joke of monstrous proportions and the fact that conservatives, Republicans and patriotic good ol boys are actively defending this foreign aggression into our country confirms to me what I ve feared all along: that they really hate our form of democracy, our Bill of Rights, our belief that All men (sic) are created equal, our one person-one vote system, that whoever scores the most points wins and that people of all religions are welcome here. They don t believe that, and I d respect them so much more if they would just simply admit it.Moore then slammed FBI Director James Comey for his decision to announce that the investigation into Hillary Clinton s emails was being reopened just days before the presidential election. This all turned out to be bullsh*t by the way but still ended up being the straw that broke the camel s back and swung support away from Clinton in the final stretch.4. The FBI clearly chose sides, and FBI Director Comey s interference in the 10 days before the election most-definitely helped tipped the balance to the FBI s preferred candidate, Donald J. Trump. That our own federal police would so brazenly attempt to throw the election to the person with the least votes is mind-boggling, frightening and must be stopped. Attorney General Lynch must immediately, today, appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate what to me appears to be a criminal offense. If this is true, I want to see FBI Director Comey in handcuffs and behind bars. Short of murder and a few other heinous acts, is there a worse crime in our democracy than the highest ranking cop in the land attempting to throw the election?Moore continued by noting that Trump has appointed billionaires to serve in his cabinet who will be all too happy to sell the U.S. to the highest bidder. In particular, he took issue with the nomination of Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson to serve as secretary of state.5. Trump has nominated in Rex Tillerson the most powerful corporate CEO in the world as our Secretary of State. Why would the quarter-billionaire head of the world s richest corporation want a government job? So that he, a personal friend of Putin s, can get the US sanctions lifted off Russia so that his company, ExxonMobil, can get back to their exclusive oil deal with Russia which will eventually net ExxonMobil three TRILLION dollars. This is nothing less than a bold, audacious robbery in broad daylight and it says a lot about you and me that they think they can get away with it.Finally, Moore said that Trump s legal woes alone should have ruled him out as a presidential possibility. From rape to fraud, Trump has faced a long list of felonies over the years. Not to mention whatever it is in his taxes that he his so desperate to keep secret and his myriad conflicts of interest. How he has made it this far is mind boggling.6. Trump has potentially committed a number of felonies and a felon simply can t sit in the Oval Office (I can t believe I even have to state that). From his admitted sexual assaults to whatever he s hiding in the tax returns, to possibly evading taxes, to his committing fraud with Trump U, to his long list of conflicts of interest the chance of us having to suffer through his impeachment trial in the Senate is just too much to bear.Moore concluded by once again stating that Lewis was spot on and urging the public to contact their congressmen to ask them to follow Lewis lead and refuse to attend the inauguration of an illegitimate president.Featured image via Jemal Countess/Getty Images",0 Fresh footage of huge tsunami waves smashing town in Japan,0 Russian man dies of Viagra overdose after two women challenge him to 24 hour sex orgy.,0 "Hurricane Maria now Category 4, Puerto Rico landfall within hours: NHC(Reuters) - Hurricane Maria has weakened to a Category 4 hurricane but remains extremely dangerous and is expected to retain this intensity until it makes landfall in Puerto Rico in a couple of hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday. Maria is about 50 miles (75 km) southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph (250 km/h), the Miami-based weather forecaster said. ",1 International medical experts call for global drug decriminalisation,1 "U.S. lawmakers want to restrict internet surveillance on Americans(Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation on Wednesday that would overhaul aspects of the National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program in an effort to install additional privacy protections. The bill, which will be formally introduced as soon as Thursday, is likely to revive debate in Washington over the balance between security and privacy, amid concerns among some lawmakers in both parties that the U.S. government may be too eager to spy on its own citizens. The legislation, written by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, is seen by civil liberties groups as the best chance in Congress to reform the law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, before its expiration on Dec. 31. Senior U.S. intelligence officials consider Section 702 to be among the most vital tools they have to thwart threats to national security and American allies. It allows U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on and store vast amounts of digital communications from foreign suspects living outside the United States. But the program, classified details of which were exposed in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, also incidentally scoops up communications of Americans, including if they communicate with a foreign target living overseas. Those communications can then be subject to searches without a warrant by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A discussion draft of the legislation, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, partially restricts the FBI’s ability to access American data collected under Section 702 by requiring the agency to obtain a warrant when seeking evidence of a crime. That limit would not apply, however, to requests of data that involve counterterrorism or counter-espionage. The narrower restriction on what some have called a “backdoor search loophole” has disappointed some civil liberties groups. Several organizations sent a letter this week saying they would not support legislation that did not require a warrant for all queries of American data collected under Section 702. The legislation would also renew the program for six years and codify the National Security Agency’s decision earlier this year to halt the collection of communications that merely mentioned a foreign intelligence target. But that codification would end in six years as well, meaning NSA could potentially resume the activity in 2023. The spy agency has said it lost some operational capability by ending so-called “about” collection due to privacy compliance issues and has lobbied against a law that would make its termination permanent. Republican senators introduced a bill earlier this year to renew Section 702 without changes and make it permanent, a position backed by the White House and intelligence agencies. But that effort is expected to face major resistance in the House, where an influential conservative bloc of Republicans earlier this year said it opposed renewal unless major changes were made, reflecting disagreement within the majority party. Separately, Senators John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein are working on Section 702 legislation that may also be introduced this week and include fewer reforms. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden and Republican Senator Rand Paul are also planning to introduce a bill that would require a warrant for any query of Section 702 involving data belonging to an American. ",1 "BILL CLINTON STEPS IN IT: Accuses FBI Of Serving Up A “Load Of Bull”Oh boy! This is getting good! Bill Clinton is now accusing the FBI of serving up a load of bull in the comments about the investigation into Hillary s e-mails. How idiotic is it to publicly slam the FBI? I guess Slick Willy isn t so slick anymore. all we have to say about this is KEEP ON TALKIN SLICK WILLY!Bill Clinton is accusing the FBI director of serving up the biggest load of bull I ve ever heard marking the first significant public comments from the husband of the Democratic nominee on the scandal that s plagued his wife s campaign for over a year. First of all, the FBI director said, when he testified before Congress, he had to amend his previous day s statement that she had never received any emails marked classified, Clinton told journalists at an Asian American Journalists Association meeting in Las Vegas on Friday, making a strong defense for Hillary Clinton.He added, They saw two little notes with a C on it this is the biggest load of bull I ve ever heard that were about telephone calls that she needed to make. The State Department typically puts a little C on it to discourage people from discussing it in public in the event the secretary of state, whoever it is, doesn t make a telephone call. Does that sound threatening to the national security to you? VIA: NYP",0 "MANCHESTER: MUSLIM WOMAN Wearing HAND GRENADE, Machine Gun, Knife Images On Burqa Says She’s Worried About Facing “Islamaphobia” After Terror Attack [VIDEO]A Muslim woman was criticised after she wore a burka emblazoned with weapons in a TV interview about the Manchester terror attackThe woman, named only as Sid , was part of a group of Muslims interviewed by Channel 4 News journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy in the Rusholme area of Manchester, which is home to the largest Libyan community in Europe.The group vehemently condemned the Manchester Arena attack by 22-year-old suicide bomber Salman Abedi, who is of Libyan descent.But some viewers criticised Sid over her decision to wear a burka printed with a pistol, grenade, knife and machine gun spelling the word love .One wrote: Channel 4 news contributor in full hijab, top to toe with comedy glasses, images of knife & hand grenade emblazoned across the front! Ffs.The interview with the Muslim woman named Sid begins at the 6:12 mark of the video. Sid tells the interviewer, I know I m a good Muslim I don t need to prove anything .Watch:Another Twitter user said: Channel 4 actually broadcast this. Nothing says love like a hand grenade & flick-knife. For entire story: Daily Mail",0 "China cracks down on human trafficking, freeing 24,000 abducted women and children in 2011",1 "Catalan pro-independence parties working on independence declaration: El MundoMADRID (Reuters) - Secessionist parties in the Catalan parliament are discussing an independence declaration that will be submitted to the regional assembly next Tuesday, a pro-independence Catalan legislator was quoted as saying by El Mundo newspaper on Friday. We are in talks about a text, with paper and pencil, on the declaration that we want the regional parliament to accept on Tuesday, Carles Riera, a lawmaker from the CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy), was quoted as saying. Nobody has put forward any scenario of delay, ambiguity or confusion. We are not working on that scenario, he said. ",1 The Indian state of Kerala is famous as the land of coconuts. But climbing trees has been the only way to pick them. Until now...,0 "ONE LAST TIME ON OUR DIME: Mooch and Barack Arrive In Martha’s Vineyard For Three Week VacayThe hard working First Family, in need of another taxpayer funded boondoggle, are off to mingle with the elites while snarling traffic for any family unfortunate enough to have saved money for a week on the Vineyard. Sounds just about right This makes you wonder what Trump will do for a vacation when he s president will he just go home or to one of his fabulous resorts? It s funny how people forget that Trump needs none of the trappings of the presidency because he lives like this all the time. The truth is, he s a hard worker who just wants to roll his sleeves up and work to make America better than ever. Pretty awesome if you really think about it CHILMARK, Mass. President Obama arrived in Martha s Vineyard on Saturday for his last summer vacation as president, bringing his wife, both daughters and even the family dogs along.Valerie Jarrett was with the Obamas too Is anyone surprised?For the third straight year, the First Family will be staying at a family home owned by Joanne Hubschman off North Road in Chilmark.The family has vacationed on the Vineyard every year during the Obama presidency, except 2012, when the President was in the middle of a re-election campaign.According to the White House, there are no public events scheduled during the visit.He headed into this two-week break in an unusually festive mood, having just celebrated his 55th birthday ON OUR DIME TOO. On the island, Mr. Obama is expected to play a lot of golf and read a pile of books, if his past vacations here are any guide. He may attend a party or two given by friends who also vacation here, but for the most part the Obamas tend to keep to themselves. Mr. Obama is an avid sports fan, and with the Olympics playing on TV, he may have even more reason to remain in his rented home.Read more: Fortune",0 "A 7.4 magnitude earthquake hits South West Pakistan. In 2005, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake took 70,000 lives...",0 Islamists push for sharia law in northern Mali,0 "Trudeau sees no flood of Americans to Canada if Trump winsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday joked that he is not expecting an influx of unhappy Americans across the border if firebrand Republican Donald Trump becomes president. As Trump’s popularity builds in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Internet search providers have noted a spike in queries from Americans about moving to Canada. Trudeau told students on the third day of an official visit to the United States, however, that the idea of emigration by voters who feared ending up on the losing side was common during U.S. election campaigns. “If over the past decades that had been the case, we’d have more people in Canada than in the United States ... It becomes an easy thing to cry out,” he said during a discussion at Washington’s American University. Canada’s population is just over a tenth the size of that of the United States. Trudeau said Canadians and Americans continually crossed the border to live in the other country. “That’s just the nature of our friendship and relationship and to link it too much to politics is humorous ... There will always be flows back and forth and one must never fret or be disappointed with that,” he said. Migration data from after Republican George W. Bush’s 2000 election and 2004 re-election - other times when some liberal Americans pledged to move to Canada in protest – suggests few followed up on their promise. Trudeau, whose Liberals took power in Canada last November, had previously largely avoided questions about the consequences of a Trump victory, saying he will work with whomever wins. Earlier this week he said he would neither fight Trump nor support him but understood his appeal for people fed up with politics. Trudeau made his comments a day after talks at the White House that set the seal on better ties with the United States. Trudeau and President Barack Obama agreed joint steps to combat climate change and make it easier for people and goods to flow back and forth across their countries’ long border. Trump has in the past mused about tearing up the North American Free Trade Agreement, which could cripple the Canadian economy. Keeping good relations with the United States is critical for Canada, which sends 75 percent of its exports to its southern neighbor. ",1 "Slovakia's far-right party, ruling leftists lose regional electionsBRATISLAVA (Reuters) - The far-right People s Party-Our Slovakia lost Saturday s regional elections, turning the Central European country against the trend of far-right gains in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic in recent months. Right-wing and anti-immigrant parties have been on the rise across Europe after years of slow economic growth and the arrival of more than a million migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa. Slovakia s economy has boomed and the country has seen little immigration, but rising public anger over graft scandals linked to conventional parties has generated support for fringe parties and protest groups. Regional election four years ago saw a surprising first-time victory of People s Party chairman Marian Kotleba as governor in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, and his party won 8 percent of the vote and its first-ever seats in national parliament last year. Support for the party, which has launched a petition to hold a referendum to exit the EU and NATO, has since risen to about 10 percent, making it the third strongest group after leftist Smer and euroskeptic liberals, according to opinion polls. On Saturday, Kotleba lost the reelection bid to an entrepreneur Jan Lunter, a non-partisan endorsed by all parties except the far-right, near-complete results from the Statistics Office showed on Sunday. Kotleba s right hand, the party s deputy chairman Milan Uhrik also lost the governor s race in the southwestern Nitra region. Kotleba and two other lawmakers are facing extremism charges and prosecutors took steps in May to ban the entire party, saying it posed a threat to Slovakia s democratic system. The party, whose members have organized torch-lit marches wearing black uniforms modeled on a World War Two Nazi puppet state, denies any links to fascism. Last year they started patrolling trains, some carrying legally-held weapons, in regions with a strong Roma population. In another upset, Prime Minister Robert Fico s leftist Smer party only won two reelection bids, losing four regions to center-right opposition candidates, a sign of its weakening grip on power in the euro zone country. General elections last year saw Smer s support shrink to 28.3 percent from 44.4 percent in 2012, but it is still the strongest party with double the support of the euroskeptic liberal Freedom and Solidarity party, whose candidate was elected governor of the capital Bratislava region. ",1 Russia bans European vegetable imports,0 "U.S. defense chief urges Pakistan to redouble efforts against militantsISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders on Monday and urged them to “redouble” their efforts to rein in militants accused of using the country as a base to carry out attacks in neighboring Afghanistan. Mattis, on a one-day visit to Pakistan, said the South Asian nation had made progress in the fight against militancy inside its borders but needed to make more. More than 100 days since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a South Asia strategy that calls for a firmer line toward Islamabad, U.S. officials and analysts say there has been only limited success and it is not clear how progress will be made. U.S. officials have long been frustrated by what they see as Pakistan’s reluctance to act against groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network that they believe exploit safe haven on Pakistani soil to launch attacks in Afghanistan. “The Secretary reiterated that Pakistan must redouble its efforts to confront militants and terrorists operating within the country,” the Pentagon said in a statement. Mattis, who visited Pakistan for the first time as defense secretary, said before the trip that the goal for his meetings with Pakistani officials would be to find “common ground”. In his discussion with Mattis, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the two allies shared objectives. “We’re committed (to) the war against terror,” he said. “Nobody wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan.” Mattis also met with high-ranking officials from Pakistan’s powerful military, including army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Lieutenant-General Naveed Mukhtar, the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency that U.S. officials say has links with Haqqani and Taliban militants. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mattis’ conversations had been “straightforward” and specific. The official said one of the topics of conversation was getting Pakistan to help bring the Taliban to the negotiating table In August, Trump outlined a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, chastising Pakistan over its alleged support for Afghan militants. But beyond that, the Trump administration has done little to articulate its strategy, experts say. U.S. officials say they have not seen a change in Pakistan’s support for militants, despite visits by senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “We have been very direct and very clear with the Pakistanis ... we have not seen those changes implemented yet,” General John Nicholson, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, said last week. Pakistani officials have pushed back on the U.S. accusations and say they have done a great deal to help the United States in tracking down militants. U.S. official expressed hope relations could improve after a U.S.-Canadian couple kidnapped in Afghanistan were freed in Pakistan in October with their three children. While the Trump administration has used tougher words with Pakistan, it is has yet to change Islamabad’s calculus. Some experts say the United States loses clout in Pakistan when it is seen as bullying. While Mattis traveled to the region earlier this year, he did not stop in Pakistan, but visited its arch rival, India, a relationship that has grown under the Trump administration. “There is not an effective stick anymore because Pakistan doesn’t really care about U.S aid, it has been dwindling anyway and it is getting the money it needs elsewhere ... treat it with respect and actually reward it when it does do something good,” said Madiha Afzal, with the Brookings Institution. Mattis’ brief visit to Islamabad comes a week after a hardline Pakistani Islamist group called off nationwide protests after the government met its demand that a minister accused of blasphemy resign. Separately, a Pakistani Islamist accused of masterminding a bloody 2008 assault in the Indian city of Mumbai was freed from house arrest. The White House said the release could have repercussions for U.S.-Pakistan relations. “I think for Pakistan, the timing is very bad. There is talk about progress being made against extremists and here you have a situation where religious hardliners have basically been handed everything they wanted on a silver platter,” said Michael Kugelman, with the Woodrow Wilson think tank in Washington. ",1 "OOPS! DOCUMENTS SHOW Roy Moore Represented Accuser’s Mother In “NASTY” Custody Case, Where She Won Custody Of 12-Yr Old Grandson…Accuser Also Plead “Guilty” To FELONY FRAUD Charges Against Family MemberCourt documents related to Tina Johnson, an Alabama woman who claims that Republican senatorial candidate Roy Moore groped her in his office decades ago, may raise questions about Johnson s motives in making the accusation.The documents, reviewed by Breitbart News, show that Moore represented Johnson s mother in a nasty custody case for Johnson s then 12-year-old son, Daniel Sitz. In the case, Johnson was repeatedly painted by Moore s client as an unfit, absent, and unstable mother and was accused of taking her son from his elementary school against his will. Johnson s mother was ultimately awarded custody in the case.One affidavit signed by Johnson s mother while she was represented by Moore accused Johnson of having a violent nature and noted that she has been treated by a psychiatrist when she was approximately 15 years of age. Johnson was a teenage mother.Separate criminal documents show that, as late as 2010, Johnson was arrested and pled guilty to felony fraud charges related to checks belonging to a family member. She also entered a court drug program.Speaking to AL.com, Johnson first went public with the claim that Moore groped her when she was on legal business with her mother in 1991. The website noted that Johnson reached out to AL.com to discuss her alleged experience with Moore.The website related that Johnson was at the office to sign over custody of her 12-year-old son to her mother, with whom he d been living. Johnson claimed that, after the two met with Moore, her mother walked out of the office door first and that, as Johnson was walking out, Moore grabbed her buttocks from behind. He didn t pinch it; he grabbed it, she claims.Watch, as Tina Johnson tells CNN s Erin Burnett the details of her alleged sexual assault by Judge Roy Moore. It s curious that a woman with Johnson s background vs. the squeaky clean background of Judge Roy Moore would attempt to prove that her faith was stronger, or more somehow more relevant than Roy Moore s faith. A document, signed by Moore, stated that Cofield and not Johnson was the most fit and proper person to have custody of Daniel Sitz.Johnson s son had resided with his grandmother, Cofield, since he was nine months old. Cofield says that, during those years, she provided Daniel with food, clothing, and shelter without any assistance from Johnson. A judge officially granted Cofield full custody on September 23, 1991.Last week, Breitbart News interviewed Delbra Adams, Moore s former longtime secretary and judicial assistant. Adams said that, in her 13 years of working for Moore, she never saw or experienced any inappropriate conduct toward women.Adams worked for Moore in 1991 at the time of Johnson s accusations. Adams s desk was right outside his office door at the time. Adams name was signed as a notary on one of the custody documents filed in Johnson s case on behalf of Johnson s mother, Cofield. Breitbart News",0 "Mr. Stiller works as a Grillwalker, a one-man mobile sausage-cooking machine.",0 "AND SO IT BEGINS…INSPIRED BY GAY MARRIAGE RULING…Polygamists Apply For Marriage LicenseWell, that didn t take long. Look for the first beastiality marriage license request in 5 4 3 2 1 Nathan Collier said he was inspired by the recent Supreme Court decision that made marriage equal. He said he was particularly struck by the words of dissenting Chief Justice John Roberts who claimed giving gay couples the right to marry, might inspire polygamy.And so this week, Mr Collier and his two wives, Victoria and Christine, entered a courthouse in Billings, Montana, and sought an application to legalise the trio s polygamous union, Right now we re waiting for an answer, Mr Collier told The Independent. I have two wives because I love two women and I want my second wife to have the same legal rights and protection as my first. He added: Most people are not us. I am not trying to define what marriage means for anybody else I am trying to define what marriage means for us. The practice of bigamy holding multiple marriage licences is outlawed in all 50 of the US states, Montana among them. But Mr Collier said he planned to sue if his application was denied.Mr Collier said he was former Mormon who had been excommunicated for polygamy and now owned a refrigeration business in Billings.He married his first wife, Victoria, 40, in 2000. The 46-year-old, who appeared in the reality TV show Sister Wives, held a religious ceremony to marry second wife, Christine, in 2007 but did not sign a marriage license to avoid bigamy charges.His first wife, Victoria, said that she and her husband s second wife got along like sisters .Via: Independent UK",0 "Trump's 1995 tax records suggest no federal taxes for years: New York TimesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns and the large tax deduction may have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years, the New York Times reported on Saturday. The Trump campaign, in a statement responding to the Times report, said that the tax document was obtained illegally and that the New York Times is operating as an extension of the presidential campaign of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The Times said it had obtained Trump’s 1995 tax records and that they showed he received the large tax benefits from financial deals that went bad in the early 1990s. The newspaper said that tax experts it hired to analyze Trump’s records said tax rules which are especially advantageous to wealthy filers would have let Trump use his $916 million loss to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income over an 18-year period. The Times said that although Trump’s taxable income in subsequent years is as yet unknown, a $916 million loss in 1995 would have been large enough to wipe out more than $50 million a year in taxable income over 18 years. Trump has declined to release his tax records, unlike previous presidential nominees in modern history, saying his taxes are under a federal audit. Experts say he could still release them publicly if he wished. “Mr. Trump is a highly-skilled businessman who has a fiduciary responsibility to his business, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required,” the Trump campaign statement said. “That being said, Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions,” it said. ",1 David Cameron in furious phone call with Vladimir Putin over 'indefensible' Russian delays,0 "China manufacturing eases for 3rd month, prices up",0 Hamas to publicly execute criminals in Gaza,0 " Met police kettled pupils aged 11 during fee protests, court told | UK news | The Guardian ",0 "StanChart closed accounts linked to South Africa's Gupta family in 2014LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Chartered closed some bank accounts linked to the Gupta family in South Africa in 2014, a spokeswoman for the bank said on Thursday. We are not able to comment on the details of client transactions, but can confirm that after an internal investigation, accounts were closed by us by early in 2014, the spokeswoman said by email. The Gupta family, a trio of Indian-born businessmen, are under scrutiny for their close ties to South African President Jacob Zuma. Britain s Financial Conduct Authority separately said it is in contact with StanChart and HSBC following reports in British newspapers that Britain s finance minister has asked regulators to investigate the lenders possible ties to the Gupta family and Zuma. The FCA is already in contact with both banks named and will consider carefully further responses received, the regulator said. The FBI in the U.S. is also investigating the matter. HSBC declined to comment. ",1 "Waiting for May, Brussels eyes December Brexit dealBRUSSELS (Reuters) - When Theresa May visits Brussels on Friday, EU negotiators will be listening intently for signs the British prime minister is preparing to risk a domestic backlash and raise her offer to secure a Brexit deal in December. European Union officials and diplomats from the other 27 member states involved in the process hope that within a week to 10 days of meeting European Council President Donald Tusk, during a summit with ex-Soviet neighbors, May will deliver movement on three key conditions so that her EU peers can launch a new phase of Brexit negotiations when they meet on Dec. 14-15. I don t know what room for maneuver May has, but what we can see is a willingness to act, one senior EU official told Reuters. Another spoke of efforts to arrange the choreography of a deal over the next three weeks, including an EU-UK joint report pinning down interim accords to unlock talks on trade. I feel the tectonic plates moving now, a diplomat handling Brexit for an EU government said. Time is running out and a failure in the December Council would serve nobody s purpose. There has been only a day of top-level talks between the two lead negotiators since a mid-October summit that dismissed May s call for immediate talks on a future trade agreement. But talks are continuing apace behind the scenes, ahead of a deadline of early December to strike a deal which can then be formalized by the 27 government leaders at the summit. Everyone is talking to everyone already, at all levels, the European Commission s chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters on Thursday when he confirmed that May would meet Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels on Monday, Dec. 4. That is two days before envoys from the 27 meet on Dec. 6 to discuss a first draft of the Dec. 14-15 summit conclusions, including, crucially, whether the leaders should accept Britain has made sufficient progress to merit opening trade talks. Hopes in Brussels have been raised by reports in British media that May has secured backing from pro-Brexit hardliners in her cabinet to increase the amount of a financial settlement of what Britain owes to the Union when it leaves in March 2019. If there is a political willingness in Britain, we should be ready, a senior EU official said, while warning that nothing was being taken for granted. May s room for maneuver to cut a deal that would please business while irritating Britons who want a sharper break with Brussels is limited. And Germany and France, the Union s lead powers, have taken a tough line so far. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel distracted at home by a search for a new coalition, May can expect little focus from her to help smooth a deal, several diplomats said. Some in Britain have suggested May could take advantage of Merkel s weakness at home to drive a harder bargain. But EU diplomats argue that Merkel s troubles make it harder for her, and so for the 27, to water down their existing demands. So any brinkmanship around the summit could mean no deal in December. That would create some kind of crisis in negotiations, the second EU official said, noting that time was already short to complete a treaty by late next year to ensure an orderly Brexit. But maybe that is necessary. The sides already believe they are quite close on agreeing the scope of rights for expatriate citizens in Britain and on the continent, though the EU will be particularly looking to pin Britain down to accepting its demands that any agreement be subject to enforcement through the Union s legal system. The third key criterion for moving to Phase Two, an outline agreement on how to avoid the new EU-UK land border disrupting the peace in Northern Ireland, remains a potential stumbling block. Differences of opinion between London and Dublin have been marked this month, worrying EU officials. However, it is the financial settlement that has been the most concerning for the past few months. Officials believe that could be resolved by a combination of May stating clearly that Britain will pay a share after leaving of two major EU budget lines, staff pensions and agreed but undisbursed spending. British press reports, seen in Brussels as planted leaks from May, suggesting she might offer to pay something like 40 billion pounds ($53 billion) have encouraged EU negotiators. While that is well short of the 60 billion euros ($71 billion) the European Commission has mentioned, that was always seen by EU officials as a maximum demand. And they are willing, they say, to help May massage the public messaging of the amount in order to limit the political flak she takes at home. On presentational issues, Barnier is ready to help, not to call things by their real name, an EU official said. ",1 "Chemical weapons watchdog to get new leader as it investigates SyriaAMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Spanish diplomat has been proposed to head the world s chemical weapons watchdog at a critical time for the organization s disarmament work in Syria, diplomats said on Wednesday. A vote on the appointment of Fernando Arias, 65, is expected to be taken by the 41-member executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on Thursday. The change of leadership comes as the OPCW and U.N. weapons inspectors investigate ongoing use of banned nerve agents, including sarin and mustard gas, in the Syrian civil war. Syrian officials remain unable to explain how banned chemicals have been found in the country, meaning the new leader could face a showdown among members over whether Syria should be reported to the United Nations for non-compliance. We believe that we have a strong successor in Ambassador Fernando Arias of Spain, and hope that the executive council will agree his nomination by consensus, said Ambassador Peter Wilson, head of the British delegation at the OPCW. Arias will have to overcome fundamental differences between major powers Russia and the United States, which jointly drafted a deal to rid Syria of its chemical weapons in 2013 after a sarin attack killed hundreds of civilians near Damascus, but have since ended cooperation at the OPCW. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons during the more than six-year civil war. But despite a massive international mission to destroy its toxic arsenal, OPCW inspectors have found use of chemical weapons is systematic and ongoing. Diplomats say Arias, Spain s ambassador to the OPCW and the Netherlands, where the organization is based, is known as a strong negotiator and mediator, making him a good match for the job. Under Arias direction, the OPCW adopted a contentious decision in 2016 condemning the use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces and Islamic State militants. A rare vote at the consensus-based OPCW signaled the break in cooperation between the United States and Russia, which back different sides in the war. The United States had sought to impose sanctions on those responsible through the OPCW s executive council, but dropped the proposal in the face of fierce Russian opposition. An alternative text drafted by Spain was supported by a majority, including Germany, France, the United States and Britain, but opposed by Russia, China, Iran and Sudan. Arias nomination must be formally be approved by all the OPCW s member countries, represented through the Conference of States Parties, which is expected by December. He will succeed Ahmet Uzumcu of Turkey, who has headed the since July 2010. Arias, who previously served as Spain s ambassador to the United Nations, will be appointed for a four-year term through July 2022 and can seek reappointment. He was picked over candidates from Denmark, Hungary, Lithuania, South Korea, Burkina Faso and Iraq, diplomatic sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the process was confidential. Born in Madrid, Arias also held positions in Mauritania, Bulgaria, Montenegro and was as deputy ambassador in China. ",1 "Kenya's nurses call off their strike as lecturers take actionNAIROBI (Reuters) - Nurses in Kenya have ended a five-month-old strike over delays to agreed wage rises, a union official said on Thursday, just as university lecturers began a similar action over their pay and benefits. The nurses strike had brought health services to a halt in many parts of the country, with patients being sent away from some government-run hospitals. Their pay deal was meant to have been approved in June by the union, the national government and county governments, but the state commission that advises on public sector pay rejected it shortly afterwards. We have asked all nurses to resume duty latest by Friday, union head Seth Panyako told Reuters, adding that an agreement had been reached with the government. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta won a second term in a re-run election on Oct. 26 after his initial victory in August was nullified by the electoral commission because of procedural irregularities. Panyako said a collective bargaining agreement would be signed in 30 days time. Kenyan public servants often strike over pay inequalities. The country s members of parliament are among the world s most well-paid, taking home around 1.2 million shillings ($11,577.42) per month, including allowances, says Justine Musila of the parliamentary watchdog website Mzalendo. In contrast, basic salaries for lecturers at public universities range from 69,000 shillings to 200,000 shillings each month, before allowances. A newly-qualified doctor typically earns about 156,000 shillings a month. On Thursday, lecturers also launched a strike to protest against what they described as the government s continued failure to implement a deal signed in March to boost salaries and housing allowances. That pact, which provided for a pay hike of 17.5 percent and an increase of 3.9 percent in housing allowances, ended a previous 54-day strike over pay that also affected the more than half a million students in Kenya s 31 public universities. All academic staff at the 31 public universities are on strike from November 1, Constantine Wasonga, secretary general of the University Academic Staff Union, said in a statement seen by Reuters on Thursday. The strike remains in force until the collective bargaining agreement is implemented in total. ",1 "Russia rejects lawsuit to learn fate of Swedish war hero Wallenberg: agenciesMOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Monday rejected a request to release classified documents about Swedish World War Two hero Raoul Wallenberg, whose fate remains a mystery seven decades after his reported death, Russian news agencies reported. Wallenberg, a former Swedish diplomat, helped save thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War Two before being captured by Soviet forces in 1945. A Russian report claimed he died in 1947 in the Lubyanka prison in central Moscow run by the Soviet security service, but no definitive proof of his fate has been put forward. Relatives of Wallenberg filed a lawsuit against Russia s Federal Security Service (FSB), seeking access to uncensored documents which they said could provide clues to Wallenberg s fate. But a Moscow court rejected that lawsuit out of hand on Monday, saying the documents could not be released because they contained personal information about other individuals, Russian news agencies reported. Wallenberg s relatives were cited as saying they would appeal. ",1 "Fights erupt at pro-Trump rally on California beachHUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (Reuters) - Supporters of President Donald Trump holding a rally on a popular southern California beach clashed with counter-protesters on Saturday and four people were arrested, law enforcement said. Multiple fights broke out and at least one Trump supporter was doused with pepper spray when pro-Trump demonstrators marching along Bolsa Chica State Beach encountered a small group opposed to the Republican president who had gathered to denounce the rally. Four counter-protesters were arrested, three for illegal use of pepper spray and one for assault and battery, Kevin Pearsall, a spokesman for the California State Parks Police said on Saturday evening. The fights appeared to start in the early afternoon when around a dozen anti-Trump protesters dressed in all black refused to move from a bike path to allow a larger group of pro-Trump supporters taking part in the Make America Great Again rally to pass. The confrontation escalated into a fight with more skirmishes quickly breaking out. At least one person was pepper-sprayed by an anti-Trump protester, Pearsall said. Park police estimated that 2,000 Trump supporters flocked to the stretch of coastline located south of the ocean-side community of Huntington Beach. Around 20 counter-protesters attended, Pearsall said. Known as Surf City, U.S.A., Huntington Beach is located some 40 miles (64 km) south of Los Angeles. Video footage from social media uploaded to the Los Angeles Times’ website showed a chaotic scene with men fighting in the sand and a group of around 20 Trump supporters, some carrying Trump flags, chasing a man in a black mask away from the beach and on to a freeway. The man was stopped by members of the California Highway Patrol, the newspaper said. The masked man had used pepper spray on a female rally organizer and was set upon by a group of Trump supporters, the newspaper reported. Demonstrations denouncing the Trump administration have drawn hundreds of thousands since he took office in January. Smaller rallies have been staged across the country in support of Trump. On Saturday, Trump praised his supporters. “Thanks you for all of the Trump Rallies today. Amazing support. We will all MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” He said in a message on Twitter. ",1 "This depression is similar to the Great Panic of 1873; The US and Europe are heading towards deflation, tens of millions will never work again. ""It is the victory of an orthodoxy [..] whose main tenet is that imposing suffering on other people is how you show leadership in tough times.""",0 "A young woman died on Monday, the first fatality among nearly 500 casualties from a weekend blaze at a Taiwan water park, officials said, as investigators focused on the coloured powder that rained fire as it was sprayed over revellers from a stage.",0 Berlusconi's Government Risks Collapse --- Italy could be left without a government just as it tries to convince its European partners that it will get its ailing economy back on track,0 A Russian judge who decided to spend his vacation as a war correspondent in Syria was shot in the face,1 "Poland should be merged with Germany, says former Polish president who led the country to freedom from Communism.",0 BREAKING: DEMOCRAT Makes Shocking Statement Regarding DNC Pick Keith Ellison [Video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IioEIUmawRo,0 Wikileaks volunteer detained by U.S. agents,0 "MUST READ! BOMBSHELLS Expose Hillary’s Lawlessness: “It smacks of acting above the law” SHARE!If average voters turned on the TV for five minutes this week, chances are they know that Donald Trump made lewd remarks a decade ago and now stands accused of groping women.But even if average voters had the TV on 24/7, they still probably haven t heard the news about Hillary Clinton: That the nation now has proof of pretty much everything she has been accused of.It comes from hacked emails dumped by WikiLeaks, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, and accounts from FBI insiders. The media has almost uniformly ignored the flurry of bombshells, preferring to devote its front pages to the Trump story. So let s review what amounts to a devastating case against a Clinton presidency.Start with a June 2015 email to Clinton staffers from Erika Rottenberg, the former general counsel of LinkedIn. Ms. Rottenberg wrote that none of the attorneys in her circle of friends can understand how it was viewed as ok/secure/appropriate to use a private server for secure documents AND why further Hillary took it upon herself to review them and delete documents. She added: It smacks of acting above the law and it smacks of the type of thing I ve either gotten discovery sanctions for, fired people for, etc. A few months later, in a September 2015 email, a Clinton confidante fretted that Mrs. Clinton was too bullheaded to acknowledge she d done wrong. Everyone wants her to apologize, wrote Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress. And she should. Apologies are like her Achilles heel. Clinton staffers debated how to evade a congressional subpoena of Mrs. Clinton s emails three weeks before a technician deleted them. The campaign later employed a focus group to see if it could fool Americans into thinking the email scandal was part of the Benghazi investigation (they are separate) and lay it all off as a Republican plot.Read more: WSJ",0 Tottenham's young people are rioting as they see no future,1 "French army charter plane crashes in Ivory Coast, four Moldovans killedABIDJAN (Reuters) - Four Moldovan citizens were killed and two others were injured on Saturday when a cargo plane chartered by the French military crashed into the sea near the airport in Ivory Coast s main city, Abidjan, Ivorian and French officials said. Four French citizens were also injured in the crash, which occurred as the Antonov 26 plane, en route from Burkina Faso s capital Ouagadougou, neared the airport, said Sinaly Silue, director general of Ivory Coast s civil aviation authority. A witness had earlier told Reuters that the plane crashed shortly after takeoff. There were 10 people aboard including six crew members, three French soldiers and a French civilian who was working for the (aviation) company, Silue said at a news conference. He said the plane was registered in Moldova, but did not name the company. The control tower in Abidjan lost contact with the plane at 8:24 a.m. (0824 GMT) during a heavy thunderstorm, Silue added. Abidjan s airport is located in a heavily populated area but it did not appear that anyone on the ground was hurt. The French military operates a logistics base next to the airport in support of its Barkhane operation, combatting Islamist militants in West Africa s Sahel region. This was a plane chartered by the French army in the framework of the Barkhane force in order to carry out logistical missions, French army spokesman Colonel Patrick Steiger said. Silue said he did not yet have information about what caused the crash, though he noted that the weather was very bad along the approach to the airport. An investigation had been launched and Ivorian authorities were in contact with their French and Moldovan counterparts, he said. The four injured French citizens were being treated at the French military base adjacent to the airport. France s ambassador to Ivory Coast, along with French gendarmes and soldiers, had quickly arrived at the crash site, where hundreds of local residents gathered to look at the wreckage. Some of them assisted firefighters and rescue divers who had to contend with rough seas as they freed the bodies of the dead from the plane, which had broken into several large pieces. ",1 "Erdogan says Turkey will send 10,000 tonnes aid to Myanmar's RohingyaANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will provide 10,000 tonnes of aid to help Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence in Myanmar, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday. I spoke with (Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi) yesterday. They opened the doors after our call, Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AK Party in Ankara. He said Turkish aid agency TIKA was already delivering 1,000 tonnes of aid to camps for the displaced. The second stage is 10,000 tonnes. Aid will be distributed, Erdogan said. Around 150,000 Rohingyas have fled northwest Myanmar to Bangladesh since violence broke out on August 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people. ",1 "NOTHING BIG MAC: Donald Trump Jr Caught in Latest Russiamania RagbagPatrick Henningsen 21st Century WireDespite repeated failures in litigating the Russian Collusion case, America s mainstream media and liberal establishment are still trying to manifest new episodes, hoping that one will turn up Trump.What was billed by the US mainstream media this week as a smoking gun, still hasn t produced anything remotely compelling, not by normal journalistic standards anyway.At first it looked salacious and on first read had all the makings of a Russo-American sequel to Get Shorty Last summer, well before Russiamania descended upon the US media and body politic, a former Trump Organization and entertainment agent associate, Rob Goldstone, emailed Donald Trump Jr about an interesting meeting in Trump Tower. Goldstone laid the bait, according to an email chain released by Donald Trump Jr this week, indicating that the purpose of the meeting was as follows: to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father. This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government s support for Mr Trump. No doubt intriguing, to which Trump the younger replied: If it s what you say I love it especially later in the summer. At last, no more vegan news. Russiagate has finally served up some red meat, and so it began.In a personal statement released on Monday by Donald Trump Jr, he maintained his innocence regarding the matter: The information they suggested they had about Hillary Clinton I thought was Political Opposition Research. Obviously I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent went nowhere but had to listen. https://t.co/ccUjL1KDEa Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 10, 2017By that time the media had already made the jump to hyperspace. The headlines all hummed in unison, gleefully touting along the lines of, At last, they all thought, after 10 months and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, and public money wasted, and thousands of hours of hollow media coverage we ve finally got it! If the media is to believed, you d think that every Trump-Russia story is a precursor for his impeachment.If there s one thing we ve learned from the media by now, it s that even if it s an obvious cul-de-sac, they can still sustain a Trump-Russian story for most of the working week. Just this morning, an enthusiastic Washington Post, still going strong, pushed out the headline which read: Category 5 hurricane : White House under siege by Trump Jr. s Russia revelations. Not surprisingly, CNN was just as determined, like a dog searching for its chew toy under the couch. CNN breaking news voiceover presenter announced loudly, Another potential bombshell report from the New York Times the key word here being potential, but that s already a stretch. There are plenty in the media who would like there to be something there, but to paraphrase one of the great political eels of all time, Donna Brazile There is no there, there. While pushing the story on Tuesday, CNN s lead paragraph was keen to stress that President Donald Trump s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, met a Russian government attorney even though everyone already knew by that time that the attorney in question, Natalia Veselnitskaya, had already stated she had never acted on behalf of the Russian government.Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya (Source: The Australian) According to Donald Trump Jr s own personal statement and email chain released on Twitter, Russian lawyer Veselnitskaya produced no useful dirt on Hillary Clinton at the supposedly magnanimous meeting in Trump Tower and claims the meeting was really about the Magnitsky Act, signed by President Barack Obama in 2012 which contained targeted sanctions against Russian individuals and which also put the brakes on US-Russia adoptions. At the time we were told that Russian President Vladimir Putin viewed the Act as an affront to Russian national interests and retaliated by halting American adoptions of Russian children.The Magnitsky Affair became the cause de jour for the West as well as the opening salvo in the New Cold War, but according to veteran investigative reporter Robert Parry the real details of this scandal have been purposefully blocked from Western eyes and ears. Instead, a mythology has been perpetuated which persists to this day thanks to the efforts of one of the scandal s protagonists, hedge-fund operator William Browder.Beyond the palace intrigue and the Magnitsky angle, no mainstream journalists seem brave enough to ask the simple question: is there a story here? In the end, no information was passed to Trump, and no crime appears to have been committed. It s not just a nothing burger, it s a nothing Big Mac.Staying to the task at hand, the New York Times kept establishment s Russiamania on track. Right on queue, the New York Times responded to Trump Jr s email release by trying elevate the alleged incident to the level of Russian collusion with its headline, When the Kremlin Says Adoptions, It Means Sanctions . CNN also used the opportunity to recycle and repeat what should be by now a discredited piece of fiction by crowing, The US intelligence community concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed an influence campaign to hurt Clinton and help Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign Apparently, unhinged editors at CNN are still asleep to the fact that the New York Times had already jettisoned the 17 agencies fable when they retracted their yarn ten days previous:After seeming to ditch that big white lie which served as the mainstream s keystone anti-Russia trope since the last October, the New York Times has since tried to rehabilitate the narrative in Matthew Rosenburg s frail opus entitled, Trump Misleads on Russian Meddling: Why 17 Intelligence Agencies Don t Need to Agree. In other words, Yes, we misled the public on the 17 agencies tale, but he s still guilty. Assange InterventionThe most amazing turn in this story however, does not have to do with the contents of the emails, but rather who took them public first.We re told that someone had possession of the incriminating email chain, and had supplied this to the New York Times.On July 10th, while the story was still percolating, the New York Times boasted: The Times now has the email to Donald Trump Jr. offering Russian aid to incriminate Hillary. It seems that while the NYT was gloating over the potential of the story, editor Dean Baquet forgot the golden rule in investigative journalism: publish first, then celebrate. Champagne corks were already popping down on Eight Avenue in advance of the email release, and why not? They really believed they finally had a genuine Russiagate story this time.Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017Once Trump Jr tweeted out the email chain, the story suddenly shifted away from how damning the revelations are for the White House to how badly the New York Times fumbled this story. If Trump Jr hadn t released the emails, it s a near certainty that the NYT would have cropped and dripped out what it felt were the most juicy bits, and wrapped those in a prefabricated Russiagate narrative, to be disseminated to the Washington Post, CNN, NBC et all. .What incensed the media more than anything was that he had beaten the media to the story by releasing his own emails on Twitter. That canny move by Donald Jr was in part due to the timely intervention and advice by none other than Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who tweeted out after the fact:Contacted Trump Jr this morning on why he should publish his emails (i.e with us). Two hours later, does it himself: https://t.co/FzCttGSyr6 Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) July 11, 2017Later, Assange explained his actions on Twitter: I argued that his enemies have it so why not the public? His enemies will just milk isolated phrases for weeks or months with their own context, spin and according to their own strategic timetable. Better to be transparent and have the full context but would have been safer for us to publish it anonymously sourced. By publishing it himself it is easier to submit as evidence. Nonetheless, Donald Jr humiliated the New York Times. By telegraphing their story, they gave him an easy opening, in effect beating the New York Times and sucking any available oxygen out of the story.Slightly further up the leftwing of America s east coast intelligensia food chain, The Atlantic Magazine attempted to re-heat this fabulous nothing burger. With no real story to follow-up on, as a consolation prize, writer Mark Galeotti instead focused on the bizarre as its cast of characters surrounding this story as he tried to surmise how indicative of an unelected network of wealthy oligarchs, captains of industry and powerful corporations who really run things in Mother Russia. In essence, The Atlantic s Galeotti is complaining that there might actually be a Russian deep state permeating the halls of power in Moscow. He states: These hybrid relationships extend to virtually every arena of state business. The state media is an engine of propaganda. Private banks and businesspeople are, for the most part, exactly who and what they appear to be, but they are used to funnel money to sympathetic foreign parties and politicians when the Kremlin pleases. So, Russia has a deep state too. Is the United States, the UK, or any other Western country any different?Interestingly, it was The Atlantic who ran a host of Trump-related deep state articles through the latter part of the US election cycle. So it s: deep state in the USA = an acceptable fact of life, but deep state in Russia = an evil Putinism.Music promoter Rob Goldstone (Source: Mediaite)Who is Rob Goldstone? If there was ever a dodgy actor in this story, it s this man. We re told that the instigator-cum-middleman of this affair is one Rob Goldstone, a former Trump business associate from the Miss Universe event, and former promoter of Russian-based pop singer and businessman Emin Agalarov. According to the email chain, it was Agalarov who is said to have prompted the meeting at Trump Tower between Trump Jr and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, along with President Trump s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort who was Trump s newly appointed campaign boss.Wayward music svengali Goldstone told the future US president s son, the crown prosecutor of Russia offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father. This has all the makings of a classic political set-up, with Goldstone positioned as the potential schlepper.Agalarov s family attorney Scott Balber told RT: Rob Goldstone was a publicist, a promoter for Emin s musical career. So, they certainly had a relationship in that regard, Balber said, adding that arranging a meeting about some top-secret information, allegedly coming from the Russian government, was obviously out of Goldstone s competence. Rob Goldstone is an entertainment industry publicist. So, I think it s fair to say that he was out of his alignment in making these communications. And what he said is not true. CNN s Kathy Griffin pictured here with Rob Goldstone, date and location of image unknown:Don't recall taking this photo with Russian intermediary Rob Goldstone, but I am in my Dynasty hat waiting for my interview with Mr. Mueller pic.twitter.com/VZ4iT1SuJX Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) July 10, 2017Goldstone appears to be a bit of an artful dodger who keeps some interesting company, including Kathy Griffin of CNN fame (see tweet above). Not surprisingly, Griffin can be seen on Twitter trying to milk the Trump Jr-Goldstone scandal for some extra publicity. It was Griffin, commonly referred to as a female comedian who had her CNN New Years Eve contract canceled following last month s mock ISIS-style beheading of President Trump.What REAL Collusion Looks likeThe word collusion is a new one for Americans. You almost never heard it before 2017. It came into our cultural lexicon after the previous two iterations of Russiagate were decommissioned due to repeated failures. The first iteration was Russian hacking of US elections which despite monumental efforts by the media and Democratic Party could not actually produce any evidence. Russian hacking was later downgraded to Russian meddling, which like the hacking meme, led absolutely nowhere. Then came collusion, which in the case of Trump, appears to be going nowhere. Since then, collusion has since been lowered to an effete, Russian influence. Back in January however, Politico revealed how the Clinton campaign had actually colluded with the Ukrainian government to spread anti-Trump stories and information during the 2016 election.Unlike the US liberal establishment s Russiagate Hoax, the Clinton-Ukraine story is real, and a definite breach of numerous codes, and possibly illegal. This incredible story was later summarized here by The Daily Caller:A veteran DNC operative who previously worked in the Clinton White House, Alexandra Chalupa, worked with Ukrainian government officials and journalists from both Ukraine and America to dig up Russia-related opposition research on Trump and Manafort. She also shared her anti-Trump research with both the DNC and the Clinton campaign, according to the Politico report. Chalupa met with Ukrainian Ambassador Valeriy Chaly and one of his aides, Oksara Shulyar, at the Ukrainian Embassy in March 2016 to talk about unearthing Paul Manafort s Russian connections, Chalupa admitted to Politico. Four days later, Trump officially hired Manafort. The day after Manafort s hiring was revealed, she briefed the DNC s communications staff on Manafort, Trump and their ties to Russia, according to an operative familiar with the situation, Politico reported.The Politico report also notes that the DNC encouraged Chalupa to try to arrange an interview with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to talk about Manafort s ties to the former pro-Russia president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, whom Manafort previously advised.To make matters worse, the Clinton campaign then actively coordinated a number of mainstream media journalists to spread the information:In one email released by WikiLeaks, Chalupa told Luis Miranda, then the DNC s communications director, that she was working with Yahoo News reporter Michael Isikoff and connected him to the Ukrainians. A lot more coming down the pipe. I spoke to a delegation of 68 investigative journalists from Ukraine last Wednesday at the Library of Congress the Open World Society s forum they put me on the program to speak specifically about Paul Manafort and I invited [Yahoo News reporter] Michael Isikoff whom I ve been working with for the past few weeks and connected him to the Ukrainians, Chalupa told Miranda. More offline tomorrow since there is a big Trump component you and Lauren need to be aware of that will hit in next few weeks and something I m working on you should be aware of. The Open World Leadership Center, which funded Chalupa s briefing of journalists about Manafort, is a taxpayer-funded congressional agency. Regarding the media colluding with Clinton, one of the most disturbing examples of this was when CNN s foreign affairs correspondent Elise Labott (image, left) was caught red-handed coordinating with former Hillary Clinton spokesman and State Department aid, Philippe Reines, on how to damage the public image of former GOP presidential candidate and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul during the 2013 Benghazi Hearings. A batch of emails which was released by Gawker showed how Labott took direction from Reines on how to craft tweets during the January 23, 2013 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing. At the time, Senator Paul was pressing Clinton on the details of Benghazi, and the joint-attack by Reines and CNN s Labott looked very much like retribution. Both Labott and Reines conferred, before Labott tweeted to her followers: Sen Paul most critical on committee of Clinton, but a little late to the #Benghazi game. Not sure he was at many of the 30 previous briefings. This was a clear effort behind the scenes to defame a sitting US Senator by a member of the press colluding with a Clinton operative. You d think that Elise Labott would have been sacked for this, but after all it s CNN which means she not only kept her job, but probably got a pay rise to boot.We also learned how Clinton campaign operatives had paid large sums of cash to a shady Washington DC firm called Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Donald Trump. The firm was originally hired by rival GOP primary candidates to research Trump, but after Trump knocked out all 16 of his rivals and secured the Republican Party nomination, Fusion GPS was then re-hired by Democratic Party donors. Fusion GPS used a portion of that money to contract a former British intelligence agent, Christopher Steele, in order to help produce what would later become known as the Trump Dossier which was then handed to one of the establishment s information laundromats, BuzzFeed (owned by NBCUniversal), which was then seized (surprise, surprise) by CNN. Both media outlets happily seized upon the bogus report, claiming to have damning new information on Donald Trump s ties with Russia. Steele s colorful report claimed that Russia s FSB intel agency had Kompromat on Trump gathered during a trip to Moscow in 2013. It was this incident which eventually prompted then President-elect Trump to christen CNN and its frivolous correspondent Jim Acosta as Fake News, widely regarded as a well-earned label and one which the network hasn t been able to shake off ever since.How this cartel of disinformation goes unregistered on the ethics meter by America s liberal establishment is shocking enough and speaks to both the built-in bias, and cognitive dissonance that plagues America s bustling partisan media and political establishments.Interestingly, UK website The Independent reported how Ms Veselnitskaya is believed to be linked to Fusion GPS. If there is any truth in that claim, then it could lend further credence to the idea that this entire scenario was an establishment stitch-up, possibly to snare the Trump camp in another Russian scandal. According to their report: A complaint filed last year claimed that GPS Fusion headed the pro-Russia campaign to kill the Magnitsky Act. Fusion GPS is the company behind the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier alleging a conspiracy between President Trump and Russia, Senator Chuck Grassley wrote in the letter. It is highly troubling that Fusion GPS appears to have been working with someone with ties to Russian intelligence let alone someone alleged to have conducted political disinformation campaigns as part of a pro-Russia lobbying effort while also simultaneously overseeing the creation of the Trump-Russia dossier. Did Fusion GPS arrange this meeting between Trump Jr and Veselnitskaya?The firm denies any involvement stating, Fusion GPS learned about this meeting from news reports and had no prior knowledge of it. Any claim that Fusion GPS arranged or facilitated this meeting in any way is false. But that rabbit hole leads somewhere, although it s not clear exactly where yet.We do know for sure: that the US mainstream media, especially the New York Times and CNN, cannot be trusted to cover this story fairly or accurately.Watch as 21WIRE s Patrick Henningsen discusses the media s dilemma with RT International on July 11th: *** Patrick Henningsen is an American-born writer and global affairs analyst and founder of independent news and analysis site 21st Century Wire and host of the SUNDAY WIRE weekly radio show broadcast globally over the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR).READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: ISIS Gets Stunning WAKE UP CALL From General “Mad Dog” Mattis On Day OnePresident Trump has mentioned in the past that he would like to see ISIS completely wiped out within 30 days of taking office. If Mattis first day on the job was any indication, the president may just get his wish.In Iraq, Mattis continued to crush ISIS forces. One of the strikes, taking place in the city of Rutbah, eliminated a tactical unit, two weapons caches, a mortar and a vehicle. Strikes in the city of Beiji also demolished a unit and a vehicle, while another strike in Kisik blew up a building and a tactical unit.To cap it all off, Mattis oversaw two strikes against Mosul, the ISIS region capital in Iraq, which annihilated two units, a tank, a factory that manufactures car bombs, and three fighting positions.CNN Analyst retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling defends Obama s strategy and calls Trump s plan to defeat ISIS, A sophomoric approach to national security policy. Suggests that he might want to take a look at other countries to see how they defeat terrorism:Here s a video of Trump s new Secretary of Defense General James Mad dog Mattis reporting for duty on his first day:#SecDef James Mattis arrives at the #Pentagon on his first full day of office in #WashingtonDC, January 21, 2017. pic.twitter.com/KtOuwbTlQJ U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) January 21, 2017",0 "Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas came out against Iran on Wednesday, calling his people ""hijacked, at the hands of the Iranians."" ",0 Khamenei: 'Opposition not stooges for Western powers',1 Russia to help U.S. in Afghanistan for a price,0 """There was no room on our deck so we just started pushing helicopters overboard. We figured humans were much more important than the hardware."" - Valor at the Vietnam War's End, a 3-part series from NPR. ",1 Corporate Beer Overlords Will Soon Own 1 Out of 3 Beers Made on Earth - Budweiser's owner eyes a major merger& better access to markets in Africa & South America.,1 H7N9 Bird Flu Kills First Doctor,0 "The only surviving suspect in the deadly attacks on Mumbai told investigators that he shot a small boy and, because he was crying, ""He shot him again, and killed him, to shut him up.""",1 "BREAKING: TRUMP Is About To Get A HUGE Unexpected Endorsement To all the #NeverTrumpers: The ugly ride that you ve been on in support of a candidate who lost the primary election fair and square, is about to come to an end. Multiple sources close to Ted Cruz say the Texas senator is expected indicate his support for Donald Trump as soon as Friday. It is unclear whether Cruz will say only that he is voting for the Republican nominee, as other lawmakers have done, or offer a more full-throated endorsement, but the idea of throwing any support to Trump is controversial within Cruzworld. PoliticoTed Cruz was my choice until he blamed Trump for the violence at the Chicago rally. I withdrew my support for Cruz that horrible night and since then, he has done nothing to restore my confidence. Maybe the support for his Senate seat is eroding, or maybe he s just come to the conclusion that Trump genuinely loves his country and needs everyone s support if he s going to defeat Hillary in November. Cruz had an opportunity to do the right thing at the RNC convention, but he chose to take a different path. But unlike sour grapes Governor John Kasich, who can t seem to find it in his great big, illegal-immigrant-loving-heart to endorse Donald J. Trump, it appears that Cruz is about to do the right thing and for that, we offer him moderate applause ",0 " Is Nothing Sacred? Ivanka Trump’s Passover Family Photo Has Been Exposed As A FakeThere are big scandals like Trump s ties to Russia, his repeated flaunting of conflict of interest violations, the nepotism and then there are small ones. It s the small ones that are most disturbing because of how completely avoidable they are. The Trump family just assumes you re too stupid to notice.Here s a particularly galling example:Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump released a family photo during Passover. That, in and of itself, wouldn t be newsworthy except for the fact that it was a much-needed break from the Trump administration s repugnant treatment of the Jewish community. Kushner s Jewish faith is extremely important to Trump because his staff is rife with anti-Semitic thinkers.Trump s advisor Steve Bannon is a life-long anti-Semite, whose own wife once said he refused to allow his daughters to attend a school with Jewish kids. Trump s Press Secretary Sean Spicer went on a nonsensical Holocaust denial rant and only apologized hours later when the nation of Israel openly said he needed to resign. Trump s inner circle includes a guy who pledged an oath of loyalty to a pro-fascist Nazi-allied group. In the middle of all of this, Trump no-showed on a Passover seder dinner the White House hosted.So a photograph of Trump s daughter and son-in-law, two key members of his team, celebrating a Jewish holiday might send a positive message to the country. However, like clockwork, even Kushner s Passover family photo quickly turned into something offensive.It turns out that the photo was not, in fact, taken during his Passover celebration. It is an old photo taken on what seems like the Sunday after the inauguration. CNN s Betsy Klein noticed that fact when she realized the entire Trump clan was wearing the same outfits they were photographed in during services at the National Cathedral.It appears the Passover Trump-Kushner family photo was taken the Sunday after inauguration following services at the National Cathedral: pic.twitter.com/p0htM7V8Pi Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) April 13, 2017Just so incredibly lazy. And unfortunately, that s the message they are sending.Featured image via Twitter",0 "No explosives found and no arrests made in Hannover, Germany",1 91% of Chinese citizens worth 100 million yuan ($14.6 million) or more are children of high-level Communist Party officials.,1 "Malaysian party tries to pass law reinstating amputation, stonings and public beatings/execution as criminal punishment - journalist makes satirical video about it - gets death, rape threats and is being investigated by police",1 The US missile defence system is the magic pudding that will never run out,0 "House adopts massive defense bill, sees changes under TrumpWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a defense policy bill on Friday without some controversial provisions that had worried Democrats, but Republican lawmakers said they expect to revisit the issues once Republican Donald Trump is in the White House. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by 375-34, sending it to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to vote next week on the $618.7 billion measure setting policy for the Pentagon. After months of negotiation, the House and Senate Armed Services committees unveiled a compromise version of the NDAA this week that did not include provisions such as the Russell Amendment, a “religious freedom” measure that Democrats said would have let federal contractors discriminate against workers on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, overturning an executive order by Democratic President Barack Obama. During debate before Friday’s vote, some Republicans said they wanted to revisit the issue. Republicans will control both houses of Congress and the White House after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20. “We look forward to working directly with the incoming administration to address the concerns, not just for the DoD. (Department of Defense), but for the government nationwide,” said Republican Representative Mac Thornberry, the House Armed Services Committee chairman. The NDAA also includes $3.2 billion more for the Pentagon than Obama requested in his budget bill. Some Democrats objected to the increase, part of a continuing debate between the two parties over whether defense spending should be matched by non-defense spending. Thornberry also said he hoped the Trump administration would send Congress a supplemental budget request to provide even more money for the Pentagon. ",1 "Einstein archive goes online - Hebrew University of Jerusalem to publish 80,000 of the world-famous physicists documents on new internet archive ",0 "The first (named) reporter to blow whistle on News of the World executives being aware of phone hacking has been found dead. His death is currently being treated as ""unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious""",1 " Rape Kit-Opposing Sheriff Gives Non-Apology For Calling Most Rapes ‘Consensual Sex’When people think of rape, they generally imagine some masked man grabbing a woman and dragging her into a dark alley or the woods and assaulting her. However, it generally doesn t happen that way. Most sexual assault occurs at the hands of someone the victim knows this is usually referred to as date rape, or acquaintance rape. That is what makes these cases so difficult to prosecute. That is also what makes things like the processing of rape kits and other physical evidence following an assault so vital. However, one Idaho sheriff has gotten the idea in his head that most rapes are consensual sex, and thanks to that, he doesn t think his state needs laws making sure rape kits get processed.However, following rightful public outrage, Bingham County Sheriff Craig Rowland is backpeddling. He took to the Sheriff Department s Facebook page to try to explain just why he made the outrageous and despicable assertion that most rapes are actually, to use his words, consensual sex. Here is this neanderthal s Facebook apology : I want to explain what I was trying to say in the interview. I misspoke when I said the majority of our rape cases are consensual sex. The meaning behind my statement that has been misunderstood is that when a case is called into the dispatch center each and every one is thoroughly investigated. A Deputy is sent to every one of these cases and that Deputy then in turn contacts the on-call detective to help with the investigation. In some of these cases through the investigation it may be determined that the sex was consensual, but not always. In these types of cases after the investigation is complete and it was determined that the sex was consensual. I don t believe that those kits should be sent to the lab. Then, as if that sorry excuse for an apology weren t enough, Rowland then went on to go down the old I m sorry if you were offended road, and then proceeded to paint HIMSELF as a victim here, talking about cyber-bullying : I know that it is hard for victims to come forward on sexual assault cases. I spoke to a rape victim today and told her that I knew it was hard for her to come forward. I want to apologize to anyone who I might have offended with my statement as my main responsibility is to the public s safety and well being and maintaining their trust., he wrote. I can also say with regret that I now know what it is like to be cyber bullied. Not only have I been threatened but so has my family. I hope that this will clear things up a bit. Sure, it clears things up, Sheriff Rowland, but not in the way you think. What you ve said here is no different from what you said before. You re victim-blaming. Nine times out of ten, if a woman says she was raped, she was. You say yourself that it s hard for victims to disclose. So, why the hell would anyone make something like that up? It s men like you, Sheriff Rowland, who keep rape culture alive and well.You have no business in law enforcement, and I sincerely feel for the rape victims for whom you are their only source of so-called help. Featured image via video screen capture",0 "Immigrants across the U.S. skip work, school in anti-Trump protestDETROIT/SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Businesses shut their doors, students skipped class and thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in cities across the United States on Thursday to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Activists called “A Day Without Immigrants” to highlight the importance of the foreign-born, who account for 13 percent of the U.S. population, or more than 40 million naturalized American citizens. Trump campaigned against the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, playing on fears of violent crime while promising to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and stop potential terrorists from entering the country. While the number of participants in Thursday’s protests could not be determined, many sympathetic business owners closed shop and working-class immigrants forwent pay for the day. “I told my English teacher that I wasn’t going to school, and she said she understood,” said Rosa Castro, a 13-year-old U.S. citizen in Detroit, who marched with her 26-year-old sister, one of several undocumented family members whose future she is concerned about. Since taking office last month, the Republican president has signed an executive order temporarily banning entry to the United States by travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all refugees. That order was put on hold by federal courts. Immigrant rights groups have also expressed alarm after federal raids last week rounded up more than 680 people suspected of being in the country illegally. In San Diego’s Logan Heights neighborhood, a 44-year-old undocumented business owner who identified herself only as Lucia for fear of deportation told Reuters she closed her nutrition shop for the day, costing her $200. “Our community is frightened and cannot speak out,” she said. “Things are very bad for us with the new president.” Advocates have called attention to cases such as one in El Paso, Texas, where federal agents arrested a transgender woman as she left a courthouse where she was seeking a protective order for domestic violence. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe wrote Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to express concern over immigration enforcement in his state, citing an NBC Washington report that agents arrested people outside a church that operates as a shelter from the cold. Sympathy marches and rallies were held in cities including Raleigh, North Carolina, and Austin, Texas. Thousands joined demonstrations in Chicago and Detroit. In the Los Angeles Fashion District - comprising some 4,000 apparel outlets, showrooms and manufacturers covering about 100 blocks of downtown - about half the shops in the area’s retail core were closed, along with about 40 percent of one of the large flower markets in the area, said district spokeswoman Ariana Gomez. A Southern California grocery chain, Northgate Gonzalez Markets, said it gave employees at 41 stores and the corporate headquarters permission to use paid personal time off to participate. In Washington, more than 50 restaurants were closed, including high-end eateries. “As far as I’m aware, all of our immigrant employees chose to take the day off,” said Ruth Gresser, 57, who owns four pizza restaurants in the District of Columbia area. “We have three relative novices and an old lady making pizza,” she said, referring to herself. At the Pentagon, about half a dozen food outlets were forced to close after staff members joined the protest, a Defense Department spokesman said. The National Restaurant Association criticized the walkouts, saying in a statement that the organizers “disrupt the workplaces of hard-working Americans who are trying to provide for their families.” In Austin, hundreds chanting “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here” marched from City Hall to the State Capitol, where lawmakers in the Republican-controlled body are considering a measure to punish sanctuary cities that shield immigrants from federal agents. ",1 Womens Rights Activist Executed by ISIS in Iraq,1 "Britain decriminalises online video game, music and movie piracy.",1 "Australia Suspends Live Cattle Exports to Indonesia After Cruelty Exposed on Film, Which Shows Them Being Beaten, Whipped & Kicked Prior to Slaughter - '...it was taking 4 throat cuts to kill an animal instead of 1.'",1 "We\'ve all seen and heard reports of complaints that Americans were ""not letting the aid in,"" and now I understand why.",1 Obama Considers Moving Troops to Mexico Border,1 " WATCH: Chuck Schumer CRUSHES Trump’s Tweeting In Fiery Speech That He Will HATETrump s team is working very hard to accommodate the Narcissist in Chief on everything, up to and including how he will, or won t, be more responsible with his tweeting. Sean Spicer, Trump s pick for White House press secretary, actually championed Trump s approach to disseminating information via Twitter by calling it a direct pipeline to the American people. Spicer also played up the results Trump gets when he tweets.Not everyone likes or appreciates this, and Trump has proven that his use of Twitter, now that he s actually been elected, is dangerous in several ways. Senator Chuck Schumer, the incoming Senate Minority Leader, absolutely destroyed Trump in a speech about it today: So, Mr. President, the issues facing this country are many These issues are too important for mere words. Our challenge is too entrenched for mere tweeting. Making America great again requires more than 140 characters per issue. With all due respect, America cannot afford a Twitter presidency. We have real challenges and we have real needs to get things done. And many Americans are afraid, Mr. President-elect, that instead of rolling up your sleeves and forging serious policies, for you, Twitter suffices. In other words, Schumer just said what we re all thinking: Trump needs to buckle down instead of playing around on social media while avoiding real work. The presidency is a serious job and requires a serious head.To deal with the issues that Schumer lists in his speech creating jobs, raising incomes, making college and healthcare affordable, rebuilding our infrastructure, making trade laws work for American workers, keeping Americans safe from violence and terrorism, and taking care of our vets Trump actually has to work. He can t fuck around while everyone else tries to do his job for him. That s something he doesn t seem to get.Trump won t like any of this especially since he recently said he likes Schumer more than many Congressional Republicans. Trump no doubt expects return favors for daring to say that.Trump uses Twitter to brag about things he s done, and also about things he hasn t done. He also uses it to blast individual companies for not doing exactly what he wants, when he wants, and sends their stocks tumbling. One of these days, those tumbles won t be temporary and he ll actually bankrupt someone with a single tweet.And that s assuming he doesn t get us into a nuclear war via his damned Twitter account. Schumer is right. We can t afford a Twitter presidency. We can t afford a president who does nothing and claims credit for every good thing that happens via Twitter. If Trump doesn t step up to the plate, someone else will have to.Watch this segment of Schumer s speech in full below:.@SenSchumer: America cannot afford a Twitter presidency. Watch his complete remarks here: https://t.co/jaQiaVstYx pic.twitter.com/sVovDH72Lf CSPAN (@cspan) January 3, 2017Featured image by Win McNamee via Getty Images",0 "Syrian rebels down army helicopter in southwest: ObservatoryBEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian insurgents brought down an army helicopter in southwest Syria on Friday, near the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, a war monitoring group said. The Syrian military could not immediately be reached for comment. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the aircraft went down in government territory southwest of Damascus after a missile hit it. Rebels are fighting Syrian government forces in the vicinity. Two Syrian army officers from the helicopter s crew died, the Britain-based monitor said. ",1 MUST WATCH AND SHARE VIDEO: BRIT HUME GIVES THE BEST EVER 1.5 MINUTES ON THE PLANNED PARENTHOOD SCANDALBrit Hume says video exposing Planned Parenthood s trafficking of fetal body parts removes the veil of antiseptic tidiness behind which the abortion industry has for so long operated. ,0 Top-secret U.S. intelligence files show new levels of distrust of Pakistan,1 "WATCH: VINTAGE JOHNNY CASH VIDEO Delivers A POWERFUL Message That Should Be Played In Every NFL Locker Room Out of all of the places we ve ever been overseas, and of all the places we ve been overseas it don t matter where ya know. When we come back to this country, we love it a whole lot more than when we left and went somewhere else. I thank God for all of the freedoms we ve got in this country. I cherish them and treasure them. Um even the rights to burn the flag, ya know. I m proud of those rights. The crowd can be heard moaning and is clearly not happy with Cash saying he cherished the right to burn the American flag. Lemme tell you something. Shhh! We ve also got the right to bear arms, and if you burn my flag, I ll shoot you! Cash then clarified his statement, But I ll shoot you with a lot of love, like a good American! After such a trip overseas in 1975, I wrote this Watch, as Johnny Cash performs Ragged Old Flag, a beautiful song he wrote that gives the history of why Americans honor our flag:Before becoming a musician, Cash worked in the Air Force. While most people waited to be drafted for the required two years, Cash wanted more and stayed for four. He was shipped to Germany during the Korean War. His role was to intercept and decipher Russian morse code.The man in black, discovered that Soviet Union Premier, Joseph Stalin, died before US president Dwight Eisenhower even knew. He was working as a radio operator for the military at the time of Stalin s death and was the first person to receive the message.",0 Jamaica Observer: Food security threat - We have no food reserves.,0 Israel releases 198 Palestinian prisoners,0 ISIS publicly burns alive 19 Kurdish women for rejecting sex slavery,1 "Lebanese patriarch, in Saudi, says supports reasons Hariri quitRIYADH (Reuters) - Lebanon s Christian Maronite Patriarch, visiting Saudi Arabia in an historic visit to the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, expressed support on Tuesday for the reasons behind Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri s resignation. Hariri, a Saudi ally, resigned abruptly on Nov. 4 in a move Lebanese political leaders ascribed to pressure from Riyadh. Hariri said his resignation had been prompted by an assassination plot and accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the region. He denies there are any constraints on his movement. Patriarch Bechara al-Rai met Hariri as well as King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of a trip that was planned well before the Lebanese political crisis brought on by Hariri s resignation. Hariri is returning as fast as possible and I support the reasons for his resignation, Rai was quoted as saying by Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television. Hariri said he was fine and would return to Lebanon in the next two days. On Twitter, he urged Lebanese to remain calm and said his family would stay in Saudi Arabia, calling it their country . The events have thrust Lebanon back to the forefront of the conflict between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran. Rai s trip has come under heightened scrutiny in light of Hariri s resignation, but an official visit to Saudi Arabia by such a senior non-Muslim cleric is significant as a rare act of religious openness by the conservative Muslim country. The kingdom hosts the holiest sites in Islam and bans the practice of other religions, forcing Christians to risk arrest by praying in private homes. Prince Mohammed says he wants Saudi Arabia to open up more to the world. In addition to imposing radical economic reforms, the 32-year-old heir-apparent has pledged to relax strict social norms and revive a middle-of-the-road, moderate Islam open to the world and all religions, traditions and people . Rai heads the Maronite church, which has a presence in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus and follows an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic Church. Flanked by Catholic clerics wearing vestments and gold crosses, Rai discussed religious tolerance and combating extremism with the king and his son, the Saudi state news agency said. Prince Mohammed has taken a harder line on Iran since taking on wide-ranging authorities two years ago including as defense minister, with the kingdom waging a two-year-old war in Yemen against Houthi fighters aligned with Iran. He has also pushed for more social freedoms in a country where authority has rested for decades on an enduring accommodation between the royal family and clerics who control the hardline Wahhabi strain of Islam that originated in Saudi Arabia. The powers of the Saudi religious police have been curbed, enforcement of gender segregation has been relaxed and women have been granted some more freedoms, including the right to drive cars starting next year. Rai is the second Christian patriarch to visit the country, after another such trip in 1975. He said the original invitation had been extended in 2013 by the late King Abdullah. ",1 "Biden says would have liked to be the U.S. president who ended cancerAUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Former Democratic U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday in one of his first major speeches since leaving office this year that he would have liked to have been the U.S. president who ended cancer as we know it. Biden, whose son Beau died from brain cancer in 2015, delivered an emotional speech at the South by Southwest technology summit in Austin, Texas, about continuing the work he led under former Democratic President Barack Obama in the so-called “Cancer Moonshot,” an initiative aimed at speeding up research into new cancer therapies. He spoke of the need for prevention, research collaboration and big data to battle cancer. Biden did not mention U.S. Republican President Donald Trump by name but said in the speech before several thousand people he was willing to work with the current administration on the fight against cancer, which kills an estimated 600,000 Americans a year. “The only bipartisan thing left in America is the fight against cancer,” he said. Biden said that just before he made his formal announcement in 2015 not to run, Obama asked him if he had any regrets. Biden said he told Obama: “I would have loved to have been the president who presided over the end of cancer as we know it.” He said in the months that followed his son’s death, he did not have the stomach to run for president. “No one should ever run for president of the United States unless they are prepared to give every, every ounce of their energy,” he said. He praised Republicans for working with Democrats on the fight against cancer while he was in office. He had one slight dig at the Trump administration by suggesting some “in the new outfit” do not abide by research on global warming. “I shouldn’t have said that but it frustrates me,” he said. ",1 "Russia says U.S. decision on Jerusalem may worsen Israeli-Palestinian conflictMOSCOW (Reuters) - The decision by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel risks aggravating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Russia s foreign ministry said on Thursday, while calling on all sides involved to show restraint. Russia calls on all the parties concerned to refrain from actions that risk dangerous and uncontrollable consequences , the ministry said in a statement. ",1 "House Republicans launch probes of Clinton emails decision, uranium dealWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers on Tuesday launched investigations to examine several of President Donald Trump’s longstanding political grievances, including the FBI probe of Hillary Clinton’s emails and her alleged role in a sale of U.S. uranium to a Russian firm. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy announced a probe to address “outstanding questions” about why former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey publicly disclosed the bureau’s investigation of Clinton but never disclosed one into Trump’s associates in the 2016 presidential campaign. “These investigations were initiated on a partisan basis, and will shed no light on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, but then again they are not intended to do so,” Representative Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday in a statement. Instead, said Schiff, “they are designed to distract attention and pursue the President’s preferred goal – attacking Clinton and Obama.” Republicans in Congress also are investigating whether officials in former President Barack Obama’s administration spied on Trump’s campaign and whether Russians helped pay for a dossier on Trump commissioned by Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm. So far, there is no evidence to support either allegation. Clinton was Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and faced questions about her handling of classified material after it became public that she used a private email server in her home for some of her correspondence. Since winning the presidential vote last year, Trump has been beset by questions about Russian efforts to manipulate the U.S. election and whether any of his campaign advisers, some of whom had contacts with Russian officials, were involved. The Republican leaders of the House intelligence and oversight committees on Tuesday announced another new probe, this one into an Obama-era deal in which a Russian company bought a Canadian firm that owned some 20 percent of U.S. uranium supplies. The Republican lawmakers said they want to know if the transaction was fully investigated by the FBI and other agencies before a panel that oversees foreign investment in U.S. strategic assets approved it. Representative Peter King said he sent a letter to then-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner raising “very, very real concerns about why we would allow a Russian-owned company to get access to 20 percent of America’s uranium supply.” Some Republicans have said Hillary Clinton’s State Department approved the deal after her husband’s charitable foundation received a $145 million donation. But the State Department has only one seat on the panel that approved the transaction, and the New York Times has reported that Clinton did not participate in the decision. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said late on Tuesday on Twitter that the Justice Department should appoint a special counsel to investigate the uranium deal. All the new investigations address longstanding Trump grievances. The president complained late last week that the news media have ignored the uranium deal while focusing on whether any of his campaign aides colluded with Russia. “That’s your real Russia story,” he said. “Not a story where they talk about collusion and there was none. It was a hoax.” Trump also charged in a Twitter note last week that former FBI Director James Comey had exonerated Clinton long before the bureau’s investigation of her had been completed. “Obviously a fix? Where is Justice Dept?” he wrote. After first clearing Clinton in the email probe, Comey announced 11 days before the election that the FBI had begun investigating a newly discovered batch of Clinton emails. Clinton has said Comey’s letter to Congress on the issue tilted the race to Trump. ",1 The UK is to expel all Iranian diplomats following the storming of its embassy in Tehran,1 "The three Baltic states, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, will ask NATO leadership to deploy a permanent brigade in an effort to deter Russia",1 "Nokia to axe another 3,500 jobs",1 "TV Reporter FIRED After Being Caught On Video Calling A Cop A “F***ing Piece Of S**t” In Disgusting, Vulgar Tirade [VIDEO]A television reporter has been fired after she was caught on video unleashing a vicious, expletive-laden tirade against a Philadelphia police officer.Colleen Campbell, 28, was filmed calling a cop a f***ing piece of s**t and trying to spit on another man after she was kicked out of Philadelphia s Helium Comedy Club on Sunday night.Campbell, who had bragged in the video that she worked at a f***ing news station , was fired from her job at PHL17 soon after the footage emerged.Watch the disgusting exchange here:The 28-year-old worked mostly in news production, but occasionally went on air as a reporter.She was asked to leave the club after multiple warnings for disrupting a show featuring comedian Craig Robinson with her loud whispering. She allegedly then got into a fight with bar staff on the way out.The video of her outside the club, which has since gone viral, was shared on Facebook by New York City comic Wil Sylvince. You guys are f***ing dictators You re f***ing c**k suckers, Campbell was filmed telling the police officer outside. I did not do s**t, I stood there and laughed like the rest of the audience like I should. I did not disrupt anybody. The officer, who remained incredibly calm, told Campbell and another man she was with to walk away. Or what? Or what, mother f***er? Lick my a**hole, Campbell told him. How about that? F***ing piece of s**t. That s why nobody likes f***ing police in this f***ing town. The cop proceeded to place Campbell in handcuffs after she appeared to spit in the face of a man standing outside the club. She bizarrely took off her shoe and told the man to smell it. What s that called? What s that called? Assault? Show me videotape, Campbell said after she was handcuffed. You can t. That s why everybody hates you guys! You can t prove it! You f***ing piece of s***s. For entire story: Daily Mail ",0 " Mississippi Republicans Get Their Asses Handed To Them By Christian Cake Baker Over Anti-LGBT Law (AUDIO)When Mississippi Republicans passed a discriminatory anti-LGBT law, the last thing they expected was backlash from Christians.But that s exactly what is happening.House Bill 1523 or the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act, as Republicans have named it, allows open discrimination by people who claim to have sincerely held religious beliefs against the LGBT community.According to ABC News, the new law does allows the following: Decline to solemnize any marriage or provide wedding-related services based on their religious beliefs or moral convictions. Those services run a full gamut, from wedding planning, photography, disc-jockey services and floral arrangements to cakes, venues and limos. Decide whether or not to hire, terminate or discipline an individual whose conduct or religious beliefs are inconsistent with their beliefs or moral convictions. Decide to whom they will sell or rent housing they control based on their religious beliefs or moral convictions. Adoptive or foster parents can raise a child they ve been granted custody of by the state with the same beliefs and convictions of those protected by the law. Medical and therapy professionals can decline treatments, counseling, or surgeries related to sex reassignment or gender identity transitioning and psychological, counseling, or fertility services to people whose lifestyles violate their religious beliefs. People can create sex-specific standards or policies concerning employee or student dress or grooming, or concerning access to restrooms, spas, baths, showers, dressing rooms, locker rooms or other intimate facilities or settings. State employees and those acting on behalf of the state may recuse themselves from authorizing or licensing legal marriages, although they may not stand in the way of others doing so.In short, religious bigots can hide behind their bibles and exercise their hatred by denying services to LGBT people or anyone else whom they disagree with, even couples who have pre-marital sex and interracial couples.The law has been roundly condemned across the state and the nation ever since Governor Phil Bryant signed it, with area businesses and national corporations voicing overwhelming opposition.And at least one Christian business owner is adding to the backlash.Mitchell Moore is a Republican who owns Campbell s Bakery located in the state capital of Jackson, Mississippi, and during an interview with NPR, Moore ripped GOP lawmakers a new one for passing a stupid law that has nothing to do with Christian values. I am here to bake cakes and to sell those cakes, Moore declared. I m not here to decide arbitrarily who deserves my cake and who doesn t. That s not what I do. That s not my job. Moore then went on to lambaste Republicans for focusing on a non-existent problem while ignoring the real problems Mississippi faces. So leaving aside the stupidity of passing it because it decriminalizes discrimination which, that really is kind of the biggest issue but I can actually say I think the law of unintended consequences is going to come back to bite the people who signed this bill. If it is my sincerely held religious belief that I shouldn t serve them, then I can do that. And I can hide behind that language. But that language is so vague it opens a Pandora s box. And you can t shut it again. There is no sincerely held religious belief to think that I am better than other people to think that my sin is different than other people. And so I am a deeply Christian man, and those go counter to my belief system.The assumption that they think that they re looking out for us that s not what they are doing. We rank number one our state government is the most dependent on federal money. We are the third most obese state. We rank at the bottom in unemployment, in education. We ve got crumbling infrastructure. None of them are being tackled. Instead, we are passing, hey-let s-discriminate bills. Here s the audio via NPR.Republicans in Mississippi are seriously in trouble if even Christians are pissed off at them for passing this law, which by the way, could not only cost the state millions of dollars in business, it could cost them them millions in federal tax dollars not to mention the millions of dollars the state will have to use when the lawsuits begin to be filed. So just like in North Carolina, Republicans in Mississippi have chosen to make their state an even crappier place to live by shoving Christian Sharia law down everyone s throats.Featured Image: Wikimedia",0 "CNN’s Don Lemon Tries to Downplay Horrific ‘Anti-Trump’ Torture of Mentally Disabled ManIn case you missed it, CNN anchor Don Lemon went on a drunk, alcohol-fuelled tear this past New Years Eve, drinking tequila shots during CNN s nationally televised show. It was a shocking scene, even by CNN standards. After making a show of himself, the 50 year-old Lemon then got a free pass from CNN executives, and the next day he was back to work on set as if nothing had happened. Things only got worse from there On Wednesday, shocking reports surfaced of what appears to be both a politically and racially motivated attack, where four black youths from Chicago kidnapped and tortured a mentally disabled white man (pictured above), in an ordeal which lasted over 24 hours. The perpetrators live-streamed the abuse on Facebook s Live.Later that evening, host Don Lemon assembled a panel of CNN regulars, most of whom appeared to downplay the political and racial nature of the attack despite having the video evidence right there, clearly showing the captors ill intentions.The kidnappers could be heard shouting at their victim, F*** Trump! and F*** white people! as they proceeded to humiliate and torture the mentally disabled man, including taking a knife and scalping a lock of his hair and drawing blood in the process.Aside from the political and racist overtones, the fact that the victim was a helpless disabled man added another dimension to the cruelty. The fact that this was a vulnerable person who was probably duped into going along with them. It appears it is someone who is mentally disabled, I think makes it even more sickening, said CNN guest Matt Lewis. But at the end of the day, you just try to wrap your head around evil. That s what this is, it s evil. It s brutality. That s when CNN s Don Lemon stepped in, trying to steer the conversation towards being sympathetic towards the four black assailants, with Lemon stating, I don t think it s evil. I think these are young people and I think they have bad home training.Lemon s obvious cognitive dissonance is clearly on display here, as the troubled anchor claims he cannot image such criminal behavior, even as four people conspire and broadcast the torture right in front of Lemon s eyes. I say, who is raising these young people? I have no idea who s raising these young people. Because no one I know on Earth who is 17 years old or 70 years old would ever think of treating another person like that. Watch Lemon s shameful gatekeeping episode here: Lemon s racial and political bias was trumped only by CNN s flippant black activist and Democratic Party surrogate, Symone Sanders, who tried selling the idea that this incident wasn t a hate crime even though all aspects of an anti-white racist hate were on full display. The Democratic Party worker then infers that Donald Trump is to blame for creating the conditions for the attack, as she callously tries to downplay the event as merely stupid on the part of the black kidnappers.One could easily argue based on their commentaries, both Don Lemon and Symone Sanders have a clear bias because of the racial identities of the assailants, and are thus incapable of covering this story with any level of normal objectivity.SEE ALSO: Don Lemon Hits Back at Fake Information That He s Making Excuses for Torture Gang Democratic Party operative and Black Lives Matter supporter Symone Sanders (Image: CNN)In a separate segment, #BlackLives Matter supporter and CNN panelist Angela Rye, attempted to divert the conversation away from the racist aspects of the crime by attacking The Blaze radio host Glenn Beck who tweeted earlier and blamed the militant activist George Soros-funded militant group Black Lives Matter for the incident.You are right. Stand up with me and demand justice in Chicago for the beating of a disabled trump supporter by BLM https://t.co/aP79pKnHA1 Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) January 5, 2017It is not yet clear whether any of the four black assailants were members or supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement.Mainstream Media: Institutional Double Standards It goes without saying that had the racial identities been reversed in this case, then it would have sparked national outrage and certainly organized rioting in dozens of cities across America as well as any white-on-black crime being blamed on President-Elect Donald Trump.READ MORE CNN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire CNN FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@ 21WIRE.TV",0 At least 31 people were killed across Syria in a series of shootings on Sunday,1 "MOTHER OF BENGHAZI VICTIM Rips Into Clueless CNN Anchor [Video]CNN Anchor Carol Costello acts like she s never heard about the lying that came from Hillary Clinton when Clinton told Patricia Smith that she d get to the bottom of what happened to Mrs. Smith s son in Benghazi. Was Ms. Costello unaware or was she playing dumb? We ll probably never know but the press has been covering for the Obama administration on Benghazi since day one. The cover-up is real and it s happening from the press on up to the White House. The bottom line is that Mrs. Smith is correct and screaming it from the rooftops as any mom would for their child. It s so shameful and sad that once again politics comes before doing the right thing with Obama and Clinton. Both scumbags who left Americans to die in Benghazi CNN Newsroom host Carol Costello was taken aback when Patricia Smith revealed in conversation that she actually didn t know much about what happened to her son despite the fact that the Benghazi attack occurred three years ago. Smith responded in kind, claiming that although Clinton promised to get back to her following her son s funeral ceremony in Washington, D.C., no one had since contacted her on the matter. She has not called me. She has not contacted me. She has not given me any information, she said, except to tell me that I am not a member of the immediate family and I do not need to know. They told you that? an obviously surprised Costello asked.As alarming at Smith s claims were, however, she really let her feelings be known when Costello played a clip from Clinton s testimony in January 2013. At the time, Clinton said that it was their job to figure out what happened and do everything [they could] to prevent it from happening again. Smith s response? She s lying! She s absolutely lying! The frustrated, bereaved mother of Sean Smith went on to repeat her claim that despite being the mother of the fallen diplomat she wasn t told anything after the funeral ceremony because they didn t consider her a member of the immediate family. I saw on TV the bloody fingerprints on the walls over there. I asked specifically, Are those my son s fingerprints crawling down the walls? she cried. Somebody s got to tell me! Clinton previously spoke with Smith during a town hall event in June 2014. Despite the direct address, however, the grieving mother later expressed her frustration with Clinton and demanded the truth.Via: mediate",0 "Senator Lindsey Graham wants billions in emergency funds for Egypt, Jordan, LebanonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Lindsey Graham said on Thursday he would seek an emergency appropriation of “multiple billions” of dollars to help Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon as they try to cope with the fallout from the war with Islamic State. Graham, who recently returned from a trip to the region, said the three countries are facing severe stresses as a result of the political and refugee crisis caused by the Syrian civil war and the overrun of parts of Syria and Iraq by Islamic State. “One thing I’m going to talk... about is an emergency appropriation that would help Egypt, Jordan and probably Lebanon to deal with the stresses they’re facing,” said Graham, chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign aid. He said he also wanted money for Israel to help protect its borders, especially with Syria. Graham said he expected opposition from budget hawks, mostly his fellow Republicans. He said he expected Democratic support, although he acknowledged deep concern from some, including Senator Patrick Leahy, the party’s leader on his subcommittee, about Egypt’s human rights record. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted former President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against Mursi’s rule. Sisi then launched a crackdown on dissent, drawing allegations from rights groups of abuse, which his government denies. Sisi initially gained the support of millions of Egyptians, who saw him as a decisive figure who could deliver stability. But that support has thinned as the public has grown frustrated with unemployment and high prices. Graham said Egypt is too crucial an ally, to both the United States and Israel, not to bolster Sisi’s government militarily to fight terrorism, and economically, if he improves on human rights. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Graham said he would ask the Pentagon to approve Egypt’s requests for additional military equipment. “If al-Sisi did something that would be seen by me and others as a real serious move on the rights front, it makes it easier for a guy like me to help,” he said. Longer term, Graham said he wanted a “Marshall Plan” for the region, similar to what Washington provided to Europe after World War Two. “We need to think broadly as a nation about some kind of Marshall Plan for front-line states that would allow Egypt to have access to low-interest loans, preferential trade agreements and bolstering their civil society,” he said. ",1 "Syrians vote in Kurdish-led regions of northQAMISHLI, Syria (Reuters) - Syrians voted on Friday in an election organized by the Kurdish-led authorities of northern Syria, the start of a three-phase process to set up new governing institutions that aim to shore up regional autonomy. Today comes as a historical day for us. The people are choosing their way of life, politics, economy, said Renas Ahmed, 25, among several dozen people casting their vote for the local community representatives being elected. Voters were picking leaders for some 3,700 communes spread across three regions of the north where Kurdish groups have established autonomous rule since 2011, when the Syria s civil war erupted. Friday s election will be followed in November by elections to local councils and culminate in January with the election of an assembly that will act as a parliament for a federal system of government in northern Syria. The election points to the ambitions of Kurdish groups and their allies that control close to a quarter of Syria. Their stated aim is to secure autonomy as part of a decentralized Syria, and insist they do not want to follow the example of the Kurds of northern Iraq who are due to vote in an independence referendum on Monday. But their autonomy plans are opposed by the Syrian government in Damascus, by neighboring Turkey, and by the United States even though it is fighting alongside the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the war against Islamic State (IS). The government, which is winning back territory from rebel and jihadist groups with help from Russia and Iran, has pledged to recover all of Syria. The YPG and Damascus have mostly stayed out of each other s way in the war. But tensions between Damascus and its allies on the one hand, and the YPG and its allies on the other are surfacing as they race to capture Deir al-Zor province in eastern Syria from IS. This is the first time I vote, said Mohamad Murad Khalil, a man in his late 50s who was one of tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds denied citizenship by the Syrian state. I lived 60 years without nationality. We couldn t breathe, we were denied all civil rights. (But) it s not like before when they could oppress us, he said. We have strength, will, an army - everything, thanks to God, the YPG and the YPJ, he said referring to the all-female militia affiliated to the YPG, whose flag was flying at the polling station. The political structures expected to emerge from the process are inspired by the ideas of Abdullah Ocalan, head of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who is in jail in Turkey for leading a three-decade insurgency. Turkey views the political rise of Syria s Kurds as a threat to its national security. The dominant Syrian Kurdish political groups, centered around the PYD - the Democratic Union Party - say their system embraces all ethnic and religious groups in northern Syria. But the YPG has faced hostility from the Syrian Arab groups that have fought President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year-long war. They accuse it of working with Assad against them - something the YPG denies. The YPG is fighting Islamic State as part of a U.S.-backed militia alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, which includes fighters from Arab and other backgrounds. But the elections are not going ahead in all of the territory captured from IS by the SDF: the majority-Arab cities of Manbij and Tabqa near Raqqa are not part of the new political order, though they may have the option of joining it. Though the areas where the elections are taking place are predominantly Kurdish, Naser al-Jasim, 45, an Arab from Qamishli, said his village was taking part. He said he was casting a vote to improve local services and to show that unlike what narrow-minded people think, there is no difference between a Kurd and an Arab . ",1 "#CrookedHillary’s Karma! NEW POLL Shows Trump Takes Lead In BLUE STATES: Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire And MaineJust think how Trump s polling numbers would look if the media wasn t beating the anti-Trump drum 24/7 and if Hillary was forced to talk to reporters about the rash of new evidence uncovered by conservative media over the past two weeks Ipsos is a top-ranked polling firm and it is producing a series of state polls showing Donald Trump doing dramatically better than the polls by other trusted polling firms. Those Ipsos state polls show Trump clinching leads in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Maine.That s really big because President Barack Obama won all those states in 2012. Obama won Wisconsin by 6.7 points, Michigan by 9.5 points, Maine by 15.1 points, and New Hampshire by 5.8 points.The firm s accumulation of state polls, however, still leaves Clinton far ahead of Trump in total electoral votes.The likely difference between Ipsos which conducts polling for the Reuters news service and the many other polling firms is their turnout prediction for November. Winning the White House depends as much on who comes out to vote as which candidate Americans prefer. Each week, we poll more than 15,000 people, then factor in likely turnout among key demographics to see how voting would play out in the Electoral College, according to Ipsos. Currently, Reuters/Ipsos estimates overall turnout at around 60%, although that rate varies among different demographic groups. Minority turnout, for example, is expected to be about 43%, while about 59% of African-American women and 69% of White men are projected to cast ballots, according to a site run by Reuters and Ipsos. Breitbart ",0 "Brexit opinion poll reveals majority don't want second EU referendum: ""half (48%) of British adults say that they are happy with the result, with two in five (43%) saying they are unhappy with the outcome.""",0 "Fending off foes, Clinton blazes a trail with White House in sightWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton has one of the strongest resumes of anyone ever to run for U.S. president, with stints as first lady, senator and secretary of state, but she is also a polarizing figure and a Washington insider with decades of political baggage. Should Democrat Clinton, 69, defeat Republican Donald Trump, 70, in Tuesday’s election, she would become the first woman elected U.S. president, having already been the only first lady to win elected office and the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. party. Clinton fell short in her first presidential bid in 2008, losing her party’s nomination to Barack Obama. Her time on the American political scene has come during an era of intense partisanship and gaping divisions in U.S. society. Americans hold dramatically differing views of Clinton. Clinton’s admirers consider her a tough, capable and sometimes inspirational leader who has endured unrelenting efforts by political enemies to chop her down. Her detractors consider her an unscrupulous and power-hungry opportunist. Clinton entered the 2016 race as her party’s odds-on favorite, but was an establishment figure, the ultimate insider with decades of political baggage, at a time when voters seemed enamored with outsiders. She staved off an unexpectedly stiff challenge from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, to claim the Democratic nomination in July. For decades Clinton has battled conservatives and Republican adversaries and weathered controversies including her husband Bill Clinton’s infidelity, a failed Republican effort to remove him from office, investigations into past business dealings and her use of a private email server as secretary of state. She famously complained in 1998 during her husband’s presidency about a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” Many Democrats back her for championing women's rights at home and abroad, social justice and access to healthcare, but opinion polls show a majority of U.S. voters do not trust her. [polling.reuters.com/#!poll/TM752Y15_2] Against Trump, she portrayed her candidacy as a bulwark against a unique threat that she said the real estate developer posed to American democracy. As President Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, she grappled with civil wars in Syria and Libya, Iran’s nuclear program, China’s growing clout, Russian assertiveness, ending the Iraq war, winding down the Afghanistan war, and an unsuccessful bid to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Clinton was already running for president when, during a testy 11-hour congressional hearing in October 2015, she deflected Republican criticism of her handling of a 2012 attack by militants in Benghazi, Libya in which the U.S. ambassador died. That hearing and another in January 2013 while she was still secretary of state focused on allegations of State Department security lapses related to the attack. A mistrust of rivals and the media has long prompted Clinton to keep her guard up. “The truth is, through all these years of public service, the ‘service’ part has always come easier to me than the ‘public’ part,” Clinton said in accepting the 2016 Democratic nomination. “I get it that some people just don’t know what to make of me.” At the same convention, Obama cited her years of experience and said, “There has never been a man or woman, not me, not Bill - nobody more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States.” Republicans have accused Clinton of breaking the law while corresponding through a private email server as secretary of state. In July, FBI Director James Comey called Clinton “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information by email, but Obama’s Justice Department accepted his recommendation not to bring criminal charges. “If I had to do it over again, I would, obviously, do it differently,” Clinton said during a Sept. 26 debate with Trump, referring to her use of the private server as a “mistake” for which she took responsibility. The controversy flared again on Oct. 28 when Comey told U.S. lawmakers the FBI was investigating a new trove of emails as part of its probe, but said their significance was unclear. Trump seized on the probe into Clinton’s email, deriding her as “Crooked Hillary,” saying he would seek to put her behind bars if elected and encouraging his supporters to chant “lock her up.” Clinton portrayed Trump as a racist hate-monger, a sexist and a tax-dodger enamored with Russian President Vladimir Putin and unfit to serve as president and commander in chief. “Such a nasty woman,” Trump retorted during their Oct. 19 debate when she suggested he would try to get out of paying the higher taxes she advocates for the wealthy. Born in Chicago on Oct. 26, 1947, Hillary Rodham Clinton was the eldest of three children of a small-business owner father she called a “rock-ribbed, up-by-your-bootstraps, conservative Republican” and a mother who was a closet Democrat. She said she inherited her father’s distinctive laugh - she called it “a big rolling guffaw” - and Americans have heard it frequently. She attended public schools, then enrolled in 1965 at all-female Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she headed the Young Republicans Club. In a Wellesley commencement address, she seized the spotlight by starting her speech with extemporaneous remarks challenging comments made by the preceding speaker, a U.S. senator. Her political views changed during the 1960s civil rights struggles and Vietnam War escalation. She attended the 1968 Republican convention that nominated Richard Nixon, but soon became a Democrat. At Yale Law School, she met a similarly ambitious fellow student from Arkansas, Bill Clinton, and they became a couple. She moved to Washington to work for a congressional panel in the impeachment drive against Nixon, who resigned as president in 1974 during the Watergate scandal. She moved to Arkansas to be with Bill, married him in 1975, and was hired by a top law firm. He jumped into politics, eventually being elected governor, at age 32, in 1978. She gave birth to the couple’s only child, daughter Chelsea, in 1980. As Arkansas’ first lady, she was a high-powered lawyer in the capital Little Rock and a Wal-Mart corporate board member. Most Americans were introduced to her during her husband’s bid for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination. Bill Clinton said voters would get “two for the price of one” if they elected him. She unapologetically said she was not a woman who “stayed home and baked cookies.” After a woman named Gennifer Flowers accused Bill Clinton during the campaign of a sexual affair, Hillary Clinton appeared on TV with her husband and referred to singer Tammy Wynette’s song, “Stand by Your Man.” “You know, I’m not sitting here, some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette,” she said, adding that she loved and respected her husband. “And you know, if that’s not enough for people, then heck, don’t vote for him,” she added. Conservative critics painted her as a radical feminist and a threat to traditional family values. Bill Clinton defeated incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush in November 1992. As first lady from 1993 to 2001, she was unusually exertive, diving into policy matters unlike many of her predecessors. Critics assailed her failed effort to win congressional passage of healthcare reform, deriding it as “Hillarycare.” At a 1995 U.N. conference in China on women, she declared that “human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.” She and her husband faced a long investigation into past business dealings but ultimately no criminal charges were brought. A real estate venture known as Whitewater faced scrutiny, spawning an independent counsel investigation that later encompassed Bill Clinton’s sexual relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster, a figure in the Whitewater controversy and a close friend of the Clintons from Arkansas, was found dead of a gunshot in 1993. His death was ruled a suicide. In a 2003 memoir, Hillary Clinton blasted “conspiracy theorists and investigators trying to prove that Vince was murdered to cover up what he ‘knew about Whitewater.’” In 2000, the independent counsel investigation concluded there was insufficient evidence to show the Clintons had been involved in any criminal behavior related to Whitewater. In December 1998, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted to impeach a president for only the second time in U.S. history, charging Bill Clinton with “high crimes and misdemeanors” for allegedly lying under oath and obstructing justice to cover up his relationship with Lewinsky. The Republican-led Senate acquitted Clinton in February 1999. Hillary Clinton called the impeachment an abuse of power by Republicans with a “Soviet-style show trial” and condemned what she called “an attempted congressional coup d’etat.” She also said she “wanted to wring Bill’s neck” for the affair and upbraided him privately. Ultimately, she said, she decided she still loved him and remained after they went through counseling. “All I know is that no one understands me better and no one can make me laugh the way Bill does,” she wrote in her 2003 book “Living History.” Hillary Clinton soon launched her own bid for elected office. She bought a house in the town of Chappaqua to officially become a New York resident. She won election as a U.S. senator the same month her husband left office in January 2001. She served until 2009. She entered the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination as the front-runner, but then-senator Obama won the party’s nomination and beat Republican John McCain to become the first black president. In 2016, Obama campaigned vigorously for her against Trump. “What sets Hillary apart is that through it all, she just keeps on going, and she doesn’t stop caring, and she doesn’t stop trying. And she never stops fighting for us, even if we haven’t always appreciated it,” Obama told a September rally. ",1 "Trump taps Michigan Republican DeVos for education secretary: reportsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped wealthy Republican donor and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the U.S. Education Department, a post she has accepted, according to media reports on Wednesday. DeVos, former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, met with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Saturday and discussed “the Common Core mission, and setting higher national standards and promoting the growth of school choice across the nation,” according to a Trump transition team statement. ",1 "Former minister for Argentina's Fernandez arrestedBUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Julio De Vido, an ex-minister in former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez s government, was jailed after turning himself in to authorities on Wednesday, marking an anti-corruption milestone in a country known for impunity. Congress voted to strip former planning minister and current lawmaker De Vido of his parliamentary immunity earlier in the day, and he later appeared at a federal judge s chambers in Buenos Aires where he was taken into custody. He faces charges in two separate corruption cases. Argentina s Congress rarely removes lawmakers immunity and De Vido is the most powerful official from the 2007-2015 Fernandez era to be jailed. Local television showed police escorting De Vido from the chamber but covered his face with riot shields. He was then driven to Ezeiza jail outside the capital city, where he will be detained indefinitely. This is a scandal. In a state of law sentences are applied after a conviction, De Vido s lawyer Maximiliano Rusconi told local television. Corruption allegations dogged Fernandez s government and isolated her politically ahead of a Senate race on Oct. 22. De Vido is under investigation in a case involving the Patagonian coal mine Rio Turbio. Prosecutors accuse him of embezzling state funds allocated for the mine. He has denied any wrongdoing. A three-judge panel ordered De Vido s arrest last week, saying he should be jailed to prevent him fleeing or interfering with the case. Fernandez won a Senate seat for the province of Buenos Aires under Argentina s list system on Sunday, but finished second, lessening her chances of staging a comeback for the presidency in 2019. De Vido was in charge of running energy infrastructure projects under Fernandez, a left-leaning populist who was succeeded by business-friendly President Mauricio Macri in late 2015. Fernandez, the subject of corruption investigations herself, has acknowledged there was likely corruption during her government but denies personal involvement. ",1 "Rogue Trader Jerome Kerviel, sentenced to five years in jail for losing almost 5 billion euros of his employer's money - 'I Was Merely a Small Cog in the Machine'",0 Pakistan takes $5bn IMF bail-out after allies refuse funds,1 "DETROIT SCHOOLS CHIEF Wants To Shut Down Charter Schools Ranked “Best In The State” To Focus On Public Schools Ranked “Worst Urban School District In Country”Liberal logic 101 The new superintendent for Detroit s public schools said he will recommend the school district no longer authorize charter schools and focus instead on improving its conventional schools, according to the Detroit Free Press. We have to get it right with traditional public schools and our focus, our energy, our resources need to be on that, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told the Free Press.Hechinger Report Since 1994, there has been an extreme decline in Detroit Public Schools enrollment: 73 percent. This has had a huge impact on the financial stability of the district and the performance of its remaining schools. However, the expansion of charter schools is just one reason for the decline in enrollment. During that same time, the overall population in the city declined by 33 percent. In addition, the district lost a considerable number of students to inter-district choice programs with neighboring school districts, which enroll more students statewide than charter schools.ForTheRecord says: Two charter schools authorized by Detroit s public schools were rated as the best in the state, according to a report card published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The report card examined Michigan s middle and elementary schools and adjusted their rankings to reflect the impact of students economic background.Detroit s Martin Luther King Jr. Education Center Academy was the top rated elementary and middle school in the state. Ross/Hill Academy was the second-best.Ironically, Detroit s public schools have been rated as the worst large urban school district in the country. In 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015, the National Assessment of Education Progress did assessments and Detroit was rated as the worst in each time.Washington Examiner According to a highly regarded study, in just one year Michigan charter school students earn an additional two months of learning gains over their traditional public school counterparts. For Detroit, charter students get an additional three months of learning in math and reading when compared to their traditional school peers.Most Michigan charter schools are authorized by state universities, and most conventional public school districts do not authorize any charters. Detroit is an exception, having authorized 14 charters. Michigan Capitol Confidential",0 "China said on Friday it would not stand for violations of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation, as the United States considers sailing warships close to China's artificial islands in the South China Sea",1 "SHOCKING VIDEO Shows How Easily Islamic Terrorists Are Able To Enter The U.S.A. From CanadaConservative filmmaker Dennis Michael Lynch has made some shocking and eye-opening movies that address our nation s failure to properly secure our borders. Lynch s They Come To America III: The Cost Of Obama s Legacy is his most compelling and shocking movie to date. There are some terrifying moments when Lynch exposes Muslim training camps right here in America. In addition to training camps in the US, Dennis Michael Lynch takes us to our northern border to show just how easily Islamic terrorists can cross into the United States. Lynch s interview with an undercover US Border Agent exposes the cover-ups and lies our previous administration used in an attempt to make us trust that our government was sufficiently protecting our borders. As Lynch proves in this short clip, nothing could be further from the truth.WATCH this shocking trailer, as it shows how vulnerable our nation is to terrorists entering the US from Canada: ",0 All passengers on Quantas Flight QF28 have been quarantined after 26 passengers arrived in Sydney vomiting from Chile,1 "Mexico says rejects threats against investment after Trump remarkMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s government said on Friday it rejects any attempt to use threats to influence investment in the country, one day after Donald Trump said Japanese automaker Toyota would have to pay a hefty tax to produce cars in Mexico for U.S. consumers. “The Economy Ministry categorically rejects any attempt to influence investment decisions by companies based on fear or threats,” the ministry said in a brief statement. It made no mention of Toyota or U.S. President-elect Trump. “Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax,” Trump had said in a post on Twitter. ",1 IDF soldier feared kidnapped in Gaza; cease-fire deal collapses - Diplomacy and Defense,0 "Trump considering Representative Barletta for transportation secretary: Politico(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is considering Representative Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania for transportation secretary, Politico reported on Monday, a citing a source close to the transition team. ",1 "Israeli DF says if he were Iran he would ""probably"" want a nuke. ""I don't delude myself that they are doing it just because of Israel. They look around, they see the Indians are nuclear, the Chinese are nuclear, Pakistan is nuclear...""",0 "ILLEGAL ALIEN WHO MURDERED INNOCENT WOMAN WAS DEPORTED 3 TIMES: Obama’s Solution To Increasing Crime By Illegals…Cut Back On DeportationsBecause we don t have enough crime in our country already we need to import it from Mexico and South America.To hell with America it s all about the votes The man suspected of gunning down a young woman at random at a popular San Francisco tourist spot on Wednesday has been deported to Mexico several times, according to a report by the local ABC News affiliate. The woman, 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle ( Kate ), was struck in the chest with a bullet while visiting Pier 14 on the Embarcadero with her family. She was rushed to a nearby hospital but doctors were unable to save her, as she died in her parents arms a few hours later.The suspect, Francisco Sanchez, was identified as being in his mid-40s and on probation from Texas due to previous, undisclosed crimes. He was arrested after tips from passers-by. Officials said that the killing appeared to be random. Police believe they have recovered the murder weapon from the waters of the San Francisco Bay near the pier, where the suspect allegedly tossed it.On Thursday, two news crews filming live at Pier 14 were mugged at the scene, and one cameraman was pistol-whipped.The San Francisco Chronicle described Steinle s last moments in heartbreaking detail: She fought for her life, [Liz] Sullivan said, adding that her daughter s heart had stopped two times, and was restarted, in the ambulance. It was a battle, but she just didn t make it, she said. It was horrific, but we knew the minute they came to talk to us, it wasn t good. But it was so nice to go in and be with her. Sullivan said that in their final moments together, she softly touched her daughter s face a face she used to paint when the young woman was a little girl. We have deep faith, Jim Steinle said, adding, Our faith isn t to the point where we re ready to forgive. Via: Breitbart NewsOBAMA S SOLUTION TO ILLEGAL CRIME IN AMERICA:Washington Post The Obama administration has begun a profound shift in its enforcement of the nation s immigration laws, aiming to hasten the integration of long-term illegal immigrants into society rather than targeting them for deportation, according to documents and federal officials.In recent months, the Department of Homeland Security has taken steps to ensure that the majority of the United States 11.3 million undocumented immigrants can stay in this country, with agents narrowing enforcement efforts to three groups of illegal migrants: convicted criminals, terrorism threats or those who recently crossed the border.While public attention has been focused on the court fight over President Obama s highly publicized executive action on immigration, DHS has with little fanfare been training thousands of immigration agents nationwide to carry out new policies on everyday enforcement.",0 Five Iranian technicians kidnapped in Syria's Homs,1 Saudi Arabia sued over 9/11 attacks,0 Irish TD's to filter letters of complaint from public as Spam,1 Multiple sclerosis 'linked to food bug'. Lab tests in mice by the team from Weill Cornell Medical College revealed a toxin made by a rare strain of Clostridium perfringens caused MS-like damage in the brain.,0 " Elizabeth Warren Brilliantly Responds To A**hole Congressman Who Wants To ‘Neuter’ Her (VIDEO)Clearly forgetting that we re in the year 2016 and women are allowed to be strong, Republican Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri decided to recommend Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren be neutered. Luetkemeyer was speaking at the American Bankers Association conference and said that he considers Warren to be the the Darth Vader of the financial services world and the bankers need to find a way to neuter her.At ABA, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer calls LIz Warren the ""Darth Vader of the financial services world,"" says need to find way to ""neuter"" her Joseph Lawler (@josephlawler) March 16, 2016God forbid she want to make sure greed, corruption and fraud are kept out of the banking industry. Resorting to name-calling isn t only unprofessional, it s inappropriate and juvenile. So, who better to call this Congressman out than Warren herself.In a fundraising email, she wrote: I won t be neutered Why would he go out of his way to say something so sexist and offensive? Is he hostile to all women? Clueless? Afraid? And using this opportunity to remind people who they should be fighting with, she said: Let s send the big banks and their buddies in Congress a message: They can try to roll back financial reform and they can have a few laughs about the woman they want to neuter, but we re ready to fight back anytime anywhere. Warren even threw in a funny jab at the Darth Vader comment, saying: My first thought was: Really? I ve always seen myself more as a Princess Leia-type. Warren is strong and not about to quit her fight against corruption where it stands on Wall Street any time soon. This Congressman is clearly terrified of her, because he knows that with her as a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, he and his cronies are going to be held accountable for the shady business that transpires.Please never stop being you, Senator Warren, and thank you for fighting for Main Street as this Congressman clearly is fighting for Wall Street.Watch Warren discuss the comments while appearing on All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC.Featured image via video screen capture",0 "FBI to gain expanded hacking powers as Senate effort to block failsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A last-ditch effort in the Senate to block or delay rule changes that would expand the U.S. government’s hacking powers failed Wednesday, despite concerns the changes would jeopardize the privacy rights of innocent Americans and risk possible abuse by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden attempted three times to delay the changes, which will take effect on Thursday and allow U.S. judges will be able to issue search warrants that give the FBI the authority to remotely access computers in any jurisdiction, potentially even overseas. His efforts were blocked by Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican. The changes will allow judges to issue warrants in cases when a suspect uses anonymizing technology to conceal the location of his or her computer or for an investigation into a network of hacked or infected computers, such as a botnet. Magistrate judges can currently only order searches within the jurisdiction of their court, which is typically limited to a few counties. In a speech from the Senate floor, Wyden said that the changes to Rule 41 of the federal rules of criminal procedure amounted to “one of the biggest mistakes in surveillance policy in years.” The government will have “unprecedented authority to hack into Americans’ personal phones, computers and other devices,” Wyden said. He added that such authority, which was approved by the Supreme Court in a private vote earlier this year, but was not subject to congressional approval, was especially troubling in the hands of an administration of President-elect Trump, a Republican who has “openly said he wants the power to hack his political opponents the same way Russia does.” Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana also delivered speeches voicing opposition to the rule changes. The U.S. Justice Department has pushed for the changes to the federal rules of criminal procedure for years, arguing they are procedural in nature and the criminal code needed to be modernized for the digital age. In an effort to address concerns, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell wrote a blog post this week arguing that the benefits given to authorities from the rule changes outweighed any potential for “unintended harm.” “The possibility of such harm must be balanced against the very real and ongoing harms perpetrated by criminals - such as hackers, who continue to harm the security and invade the privacy of Americans through an ongoing botnet, or pedophiles who openly and brazenly discuss their plans to sexually assault children,” Caldwell wrote. A handful of judges in recent months had dismissed evidence brought as part of a sweeping FBI child pornography sting, saying the search warrants used to hack suspects’ computers exceeded their jurisdiction. The new rules are expected to make such searches generally valid. Blocking the changes would have required legislation to pass both houses of Congress, then be signed into law by the president. ",1 Legendary Vietnam Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap Dies,1 Tony Abbott's daughter did not have to pay for 60000 design degree,1 "IMF's Christine Lagarde, who chastised Greek tax evaders, pays no taxes herself; she makes $467,940 a year in salary and is given a $83,760 yearly allowance, both tax-free",0 "Trump taps ex-Bush official Bossert to counter domestic threatsPALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday selected former Bush administration official Thomas Bossert as a counterterrorism adviser who will focus heavily on cyber threats. As assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, Bossert will concentrate on domestic security issues and help craft the administration’s cyber security policies, the transition team said. “We must work toward cyber doctrine that reflects the wisdom of free markets, private competition and the important but limited role of government in establishing and enforcing the rule of law ... and the fundamental principles of liberty,” Bossert said in a statement. Cyber security has been a hot button issue in recent weeks as Trump, a Republican, has lashed out against assertions that Russia directed hacks of U.S. Democratic Party emails to influence the U.S. presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia was behind the hacks. In a departure from the current administration, Bossert will report directly to Trump and will have his own staff that is not under the National Security Council, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said. The structure is similar to the approach of Republican President George W. Bush, who set up a Homeland Security Council in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington. Bossert served as deputy homeland security adviser under Bush. Democratic President Barack Obama merged the Homeland Security Council staff with the National Security Council staff. Peter Feaver, a professor at Duke University who served on the National Security Council during the second Bush administration, said that making Bossert report to the president was not a large change. “You could not call this a radical departure. This is the kind of evolutionary change that always happens with administrations,” Feaver said. ",1 "House votes overwhelmingly to approve new Russia sanctionsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to slap new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, despite President Donald Trump’s objections to the legislation. As voting continued, House members backed the measure by a margin of 388-2, with strong support from Trump’s fellow Republicans as well as Democrats. It must pass the Senate before it can be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto. Senate leaders have not said when they might consider the House bill. The White House said the president had not yet decided whether he would sign the measure. ",1 Obamacare ... will kill jobs across America.,0 The 'First Global Snapshot' Of The Drug War Used Government Data To Prove That It's An Abysmal Failure,1 Children killed in Gaza playground shelling,0 Interpol issues arrest warrant for Sea Shepherd chief,1 "TWO NEW JERSEY MOMS Attacked By Community For Exposing Islamic Indoctrination In Middle School…Thomas More Law Center Steps Up To Defend Them [VIDEO]Two New Jersey mothers appeared on the Tucker Carlson show to explain why they re upset about Islamic propaganda being taught at their sons Chatam, NJ middle schools, while prohibiting any mention of Christianity. The Chatam community turned on the two moms immediately after they appeared on Carlson s show. Watch their appearance here:Astonishingly, seventh graders in this public school are taught: May God help us all find the true faith, Islam. Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented: The promotion of Islam is worse than what the mothers presented to Tucker Carlson. After viewing one of the videos which the seventh graders were directed to watch, I can t imagine any objective person saying this is not Islamic indoctrination. Clueless school administrators across our nation are allowing this type of indoctrination to take place and it s up to vigilant parents to stop it. Libby and Nancy should have been praised, not pilloried. Watch the video shown to the 7th grade students here:Libby Hilsenrath and Nancy Gayer, with sons in different classes in the seventh grade, detailed their concerns in person to the Chatham Board of Education at their February 6, 2017 public meeting. Superintendent Michael LaSusa indicated that any change to the curriculum was unlikely, and the next day also refused their request to meet privately with him to discuss their concerns.Students had been shown a subtle propaganda cartoon video, 5 Pillars, which opens with two boys, one of them a Muslim, kicking a soccer ball. The Muslim teaches the non-Muslim the 5 Pillars of Islam. Additionally, a subtitle of bright, multi-colored words of various shapes pronounces a form of the Islamic conversion creed: There is no god except Allah and Prophet Muhammad is His messenger. The cartoon ends with a sad non-Muslim boy, who suddenly smiles when the Muslim boy invites him to join him at the mosque for noon-day prayers. Something the teacher can t personally do, but does through the cartoon. Clever!See the 5-minute video here: Clearly, seventh graders had been presented with a sugarcoated, false depiction of Islam. They had not been informed of the kidnappings, beheadings, slave-trading, massacres, and persecution of non-Muslims, nor of the repression of women all done in the name of Islam and the Koran.Libby Hilsenrath and Nancy Gayer were subjected to personal attacks throughout their campaign to stop Islamic indoctrination at the Chatham Middle School. They were defamed as bigots and Islamophobes , hateful , ignorant , xenophobes , intolerant , racist , closed minded , sad and ignorant in social media, and the list goes on. The attacks significantly intensified after their appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show.Commenting on the community s reaction, Nancy Gayer stated: It s just not fair that within this unit of study the Chatham school district taught one religion to the exclusion of all others, and for the community to be so unkind and unwelcoming towards us, just for having raised legitimate questions as concerned parents. Libby Hilsenrath added, One of my fundamental obligations as a parent is to guide the religious and secular education of my children. That s why I will continue the fight against the Islamic indoctrination now taking place at Chatham, regardless of the personal attacks. Libby Hilsenrath and Nancy Gayer asked the board to review the curriculum and requested that either the Islam lessons be removed or that the school spend equal time on the study of Christianity and other religions.Nancy Gayer contrasted the World Cultures and Geography lessons on Islam to her son s previous experience in fourth grade when he was precluded from including a short quote from the Bible, he who lends to the poor, lends to the Lord. (Prov 19:17) The quote was a part of his video presentation related to gathering warm clothes for underprivileged children. Nancy said that her son s teacher informed him that the brief Biblical quote belongs in Sunday school, not in the classroom. Obviously, based upon the World Cultures and Geography lessons being taught to children within the same school district, this abridgment of religious speech does not apply to Islam.The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, today announced that it is representing two Chatham, New Jersey mothers who are being pilloried by their community.",0 "Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff takes hard line on corruption, fires chief of staff and ministers: 'People are making it clear in the streets and elsewhere that long-tolerated sins such as bribery, graft and other acts of corruption are no longer tolerable.'",0 "Neil Young blasts Harper government for allowing oil-sands development: money is number one, integrity isnt even on the map",0 "The World's Worst Human Rights Observer --- As Arab League monitors work to expose President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown, the head of the mission is a Sudanese general accused of creating the fearsome ""janjaweed,"" which was responsible for the worst atrocities during the Darfur genocide",0 "Canada will not sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that would allow Japanese vehicles into North America with fewer parts manufactured here, says Ed Fast, the federal minister of international trade.",0 I didn't even know this was feasible. Ghana seizes Argentinian war ship due to a court order from a hedge fund stating that Argentina still owes money from defaulted loans. ,1 27% of Spaniards are out of work. Yet in one town everyone has a job: Marinaleda is run along the lines of a communist Utopia and boasts collectivised lands,0 " When Asked If Trump Learned Anything In Detroit Ben Carson LITERALLY Runs Away (VIDEO)As you are probably aware, Donald Trump decided to pop into Detroit for an ill-advised attempt to form a false, vote-getting connection with the African-American community. Currently, the Donald is doing worse with minorities than even Mitt Romney did during his presidential run against Barack Obama, and his previous outreach efforts telling African-Americans they are poor, uneducated, and have nothing to offer the world as well as his tight connections with the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups are not doing him any favors.After Trump s embarrassing, scripted interview with a Detroit pastor was leaked, Trump knew he had to step it up. So he went out into the community to visit the neighborhood of his former rival-turned-paid-servant Ben Carson (yes, the one in which he tried to stab someone only to be thwarted by a belt buckle). CNN caught up with Carson after Trump left and asked him what was apparently a difficult question. We just saw Mr. Trump here and I asked him how did it go and he said Great. He said he learned a lot of things. What do you think he took away from today? CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond asked.That s right he asked Carson if Trump learned something from spending a few minutes around black people. This led Carson to have a Rubio moment, but with luggage rather than a water bottle. Carson s face twisted into a look of concern, then terror:Then he walked away, successfully avoiding the question.How did Donald Trump do during his visit? Not only was the church he visited virtually empty, but one woman who lives in Carson s childhood home told the Detroit Free Press that Trump s visit was clearly a photo-op. Her takeaway from his obvious and meaningless attempt to pander to the African-American community while offering nothing substantive is that people should vote Democratic. Watch Carson run away below:https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/772118873231482880/video/1Featured image via screengrab",0 Police in Northern Ireland intercept 4 mortar bombs minutes from being launched at a Londonderry Police station. 3 arrested and operation linked to dissident republicans.,1 "Chinese officials confirm that they want an ""independent and peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula"" and cannot afford to give the North Korean regime the impression it has a blank cheque to act any way it wants.",0 "Facebook’s New ‘Proactive’ AI to Scan Posts for Suicidal Thoughts21st Century Wire says Facebook is rolling out its latest artificial intelligence bot with the hope that the software will save lives, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The social media juggernaut will use a special algorithm to flag posts that fit a certain pattern, then route them to a human being that can escalate early intervention.The idea of proactive detection can be a slippery slope. What else are these Facebook bots flagging, and who else is mining that information?Read more at TechCrunch READ MORE AI NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire AI FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Rome's Trevi fountain runs red after man pours dye in waterROME (Reuters) - The waters of Rome s Trevi Fountain, one of Italy s top tourist attractions, turned red on Thursday after a man dumped dye into the main pool, a city official said. Police detained the man responsible, a statement from the mayor s office said, as city officials assessed if there had been any damage to the 18th century landmark. The fountain, where tossing a coin into the pool is supposed by superstition to guarantee one s return to the eternal city, is a big tourist attraction in Rome. Actress Anita Ekberg famously frolicked in the fountain s pool in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita . Acts like this demonstrate ignorance and a total lack of civic sense, Deputy Mayor Luca Bergamo said. Italian media said the culprit was the same person who dyed the fountain red in 2007 to protest the cost to the city of hosting an international film festival. Thursday s action took place on the opening day of Rome s 2017 film festival. ",1 Fears grow of repeat of 2008 financial crash as investors run for cover,0 Sherlock Actor Benedict Cumberbatch challenges the British Prime Minister on Goverment Surveillance and the Police State,1 "Nigerian air force deploys aircraft to restive southeastLAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria s air force on Tuesday said it was deploying aircraft to the southeast of the country where unrest related to a campaign for secession has escalated in an area formerly known as Biafra. The military presence in the southeast has increased in the last few weeks as part of an operation that the military said was part of efforts to crack down on crime, kidnapping and secessionist agitation. The air force deployment marks a further escalation of the operation, which began this month. The essence of the deployment is to provide the necessary air cover to the ground troops to enhance overall operational cohesion and efficiency, said Olatokunbo Adesanya, a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) spokesman. The request by the Nigerian Army for close air support made the involvement of the NAF inevitable, he added. The military deployment has led to tension between troops and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) secessionist group which last week accused soldiers of laying siege to their leader s home. The army denied the accusation. A curfew was subsequently imposed in Abia state, where the residence is located, and the army on Friday categorized IPOB as a terrorist organization . Secessionist sentiment has simmered in the southeast since the Biafra separatist rebellion plunged Africa s most populous country into a civil war from 1967 to 1970 that killed around one million people. ",1 "RACIST RANT From Supreme Court Justice Exposes Slanted Personal Opinion On Law EnforcementSupreme Court Justic Sotomayor went on a racist rant about how law enforcement has targeted minorities and put fear in black and brown people: It is no secret that people of color are disproportionate victims of this type of scrutiny. She s weighed in before in a racist manner: I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn t lived that life Supreme Court Justice SotomayorSotomayor once again brings her racist view to the court clouding her decisions on ALL Americans:Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday issued a vehement dissent in a Fourth Amendment case writing that the majority s opinion sanctions police stops that corrode all our civil liberties and threaten all our lives. The fiery objection came on case where a Utah man challenged his arrest based on a stop that was later found to be unlawful. The 5-3 majority opinion, Sotomayor wrote, will have dramatic ramifications for law-abiding citizens targeted by police, especially minorities. It is no secret that people of color are disproportionate victims of this type of scrutiny, she wrote. For generations, black and brown parents have given their children the talk instructing them never to run down the street; always keep your hands where they can be seen; do not even think of talking back to a stranger all out of fear of how an officer with a gun will react to them. By legitimizing the conduct that produces this double consciousness, this case tells everyone, white and black, guilty and innocent, that an officer can verify your legal status at any time, she added. It says that your body is subject to invasion while courts excuse the violation of your rights. It implies that you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged. With four major decisions due in the next week, including cases on affirmative action, abortion and immigration, Sotomayor s anger signals that what has been a quiet term since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia could get increasingly contentious. Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, she said, for jurists who are women and nonwhite, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Via: CNN",0 "Storms to challenge Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands' credit quality: Moody's(Reuters) - Moody s Investors Service said on Tuesday that Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will face new challenges to credit quality and finances after the U.S. territories were battered by hurricanes Irma and Maria. Both territories will be heavily reliant on relief from the U.S. federal government, as they were hit by storms at a time when they were already suffering financial distress, Moody s said. Puerto Rico is undergoing a debt restructuring under federal oversight and the U.S. Virgin Islands has extremely weak liquidity. Moody s Analytics preliminary estimate of Maria s total cost to Puerto Rico, including lost output, is $45 billion to $95 billion, representing about 65-135 percent of the territory s gross national product. ",1 " Democrats Just Did Something Amazing To Help End The World’s Biggest EvilOn Wednesday, President Obama signed a bill that will have a major impact on the worldwide slave labor. Most items that are produced from forced labor are banned from being imported into the United States. However, due to a small provision in the tariff Act of 1930 some goods produced from slavery have been allowed been exempted from the ban.Goods that are not produced in a high enough quantity in the US are exempt from the force labor ban. Things like chocolate, rubber, and even shrimp are some of the major imports that are produced from slave labor. According to Reuters, Gil Kerlikowske, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said: The mere deterrent effect of closing this loophole is a great step forward. We re going to make sure that is heavily noted throughout the world. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat (of course) from Ohio is the one who introduced the amendment to end the exemption. It s embarrassing that for 85 years, the United States let products made with forced labor into this country, and closing this loophole gives the U.S. an important tool to fight global slavery, Brown said.Slavery is banned all across the globe. That being said, the number of people living in slavery is at an all-time historical high. Right now there are an estimated 30 million people who are living as slaves. That s an alarming figure. The nation with the highest number of people held in slavery is Mauritania. Research has shown that as much as 10% of Mauritania s population is enslaved. They were also the last nation on Earth to officially outlaw slavery, holding out until 1981.The Global Slavery Index estimates that there 60k slaves in the United States. It should be mentioned that there are some criticisms of the GSI worth keeping in mind. Slavery Footprint is an excellent online tool that lets people get an idea of what items they have been purchasing come from slave labor. You can use it to get a better sense of what items you may have been using that may have come from slave labor. Thanks to this legislation, many of those items will no longer be allowed into the US if they come from slave labor.Featured image from The White House [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons",0 "Typhoon in Philippines kills 350, 400+ Missing",1 China suspends ban on video game consoles after more than a decade.,0 "UK ministers cancel 'Big Brother' database: Plans to store information about every phone call, email and internet visit have in effect been abandoned by the Government",1 Blast that killed Palestinian ambassador occurred after he opened office safe that had been sealed for 30 years,0 "A $50,000 FREE-FOR-ALL FOR MINORITIES In The Biggest Obama Scandal YetPIGFORD has to be the biggest scam and fraud EVER but I ll bet most Americans haven t even heard about it. IT S ALL ABOUT FREE MONEY! Yes, free money for everyone EXCEPT you have to be a minority to get the $50,000 and it s taxpayer dollars so it s NOT free at all. Our government has spent over $4 BILLION dollars on what was to be a small program to help minority farmers who felt they were discriminated against:Essentially, the process encouraged people to lie and spawned a cottage industry. Claimants had only to file applications for a $50,000 payment by stating that they had thought about applying for loans to become a farmer. Where s Congress on this big taxpayer giveaway? Oh, they re voting for billions more to go to this scam of major proportions The Obama administration has again been protected from a troubling scandal by the mainstream media (MSM) using the tactic of omission to simply ignore the scandal, its reality, and the negative blowback attendant to a disturbing story. As sunlight began to illuminate the scandal s inconvenient and troubling facts, charges of racism were used to temporarily silence those sounding the alarm. Seemingly, the alarm-ringers only crime was having the temerity to respond with a politically incorrect point of view to abuses.The underreported scandal referenced is generally identified as Pigford. Pigford s germination occurred in 1997 as a lawsuit (Pigford vs. Glickman) alleging that 91 African-American farmers were unfairly denied loans by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) due to racial discrimination which prevented the complainants from farming. In 1999, the black farmers won their case.Pigford has the distinction of being an out-of-control waste of taxpayer funds and/or a cynical attempt by the Obama administration to curry favor with certain minority groups to which neither President Obama nor Attorney General Eric Holder can plead ignorance of involvement. Both have had knowledge since the court ruled on the Pigford lawsuit; in 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama supported and voted for the funding of the initial settlement. Since then, Eric Holder (and Obama) have been involved in overseeing and managing the Pigford judgment fund. Yet can Pigford be fairly described as a scandal?Pigford began innocently enough: as a lawsuit to redress a perceived wrong against a group of 91. But then the number climbed to 400 .then 1,600 then The number of black farmers has metastasized nay, exploded and the aggrieved group now includes not only blacks, but Hispanics, Native Americans, and females. In fact over 90,000 people have filed claims seeking a payment under the terms of the original Pigford court ruling. That decision, now referred to as Pigford #1, was anticipated to cost approximately $120 million, including legal fees.Pigford #2 is the appellation used to identify an expanded payment regime that funds more payments to African-Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and females. This regimen grew out of the fact that thousands of claimants missed the original Pigford #1 filing deadline of October 12, 1999. Interestingly, Native American potential claimants were estimated at 5,300, while plaintiff lawyers pegged the exposure at an estimated 19,000 Native Americans. The judgment fund announced by Agricultural Secretary Thomas Vilsack and Eric Holder in 2010 was expanded from just over $120 million to $1.25 billion, given the expectation of many more filers.However, the explosion of claimants has caused payouts to reach $4.4 billion and has swelled legal fees to over $130 million. More importantly, the claim s process created a rush to get a share of the monies allocated to the judgment fund, even if no real claim existed. Essentially, the process encouraged people to lie and spawned a cottage industry. Claimants had only to file applications for a $50,000 payment by stating that they had thought about applying for loans to become a farmer. Proof of a claimant s intent to farm also included a statement from that petitioner saying he or she had attempted to farm by planting a batch of tomatoes in his or her backyard and having that statement verified by a family member. In essence, the need to be a farmer at the time of the alleged discriminatory actions by the USDA was not a requirement to share in the financial redress.Fraud was endemic to the claims process for example, every apartment in a New York City building received a settlement of at least $50,000. Further, some families received checks of $50,000 for each family member.Read more: American Thinker",0 "Vietnam court jails blogger for seven years for 'propaganda' over spill(Reuters) - A court in Vietnam jailed a blogger on Monday for seven years for conducting propaganda against the state , the latest action against a critic of the one-party state. Nguyen Van Hoa, 22, rose to prominence after a toxic waste spill from a steel mill built by Taiwan s Formosa Plastics Corp s Vietnam unit that polluted more than 200 km (125 miles) of coast, sparking rare protests in the Communist Party-ruled country. Despite sweeping economic reforms and growing openness to social change, including gay, lesbian and transgender rights, Vietnam retains tight media censorship and its government does not tolerate criticism. In recent months, authorities have stepped up measures to silence critics whose voices on various issues have been amplified by social media in a country that is among Facebook s top 10 by users. The people s court in Ha Tinh province said on its website Hoa had been found guilty of propaganda against the state. It said Hoa produced videos to call for protests after the spill. Neither Hoa nor or a legal or family representative were available for comment. Hoa was arrested and prosecuted in April for publishing anti-government content. The Formosa incident, one of Vietnam s worst environmental disasters, is a sensitive topic for the government as it balances political stability, environmental protection and foreign investment, one of the drivers of economic growth. The government has said it will prosecute identified Formosa protesters for causing public disorder . Another critic of the steel mill spill, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, known as Me Nam (Mother Mushroom), was given a 10-year jail term for publishing propaganda against the state. A prominent rights lawyer who has represented Quynh, said on Monday the Bar Federation in Phu Yen province had revoked his licence to practice. The government does not want me to work as a lawyer anymore because I have been defending poor people, people who were unjustly charged ... cases that are sensitive in Vietnam, the lawyer, Vo An Don, told Reuters. Don said he would not be able to defend Quynh at her appeal hearing. Reuters was unable to immediately reach the Bar Federation or government authorities for comment on the case. ",1 "WOW! HUNGARY and ISRAEL Just Labeled Hungarian Born-Jew George Soros An ENEMY OF THE STATE…Will The U.S. Follow?Hillary would never have labeled one of her largest donors, longtime friend, and the financier of violent anti-American protesters around the world an enemy of the state. But fortunately for America, Hillary s not our president. Fortunately for America, both the Senate and the House are controlled by Republicans who understand we have a lot to lose if they continue to sit back and let this radical billionaire throw hundreds of millions of dollars at these violent, anti-American groups. Soros goals are not consistent with those of our Founding Fathers. His agenda is counter to protecting our freedoms and defending our national security. It s time our legislators consider taking the same steps as Israel and Hungary to send George Soros a message that we consider him an enemy of the state, and that we re not going to just sit by and watch him force his radical agenda on America. Israel s foreign ministry has issued a statement denouncing U.S. billionaire George Soros, a move that appeared designed to align Israel more closely with Hungary ahead of a visit to Budapest next week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew who has spent a large part of his fortune funding pro-democracy and human rights groups, has repeatedly been targeted by Hungary s right-wing government, in particular over his support for more open immigration.In the latest case, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has backed a campaign in which Soros is singled out as an enemy of the state. Let s not allow Soros to have the last laugh say billboards next to a picture of the 86-year-old investor, a campaign that Jewish groups and others say foments anti-Semitism.Soros, who rarely addresses personal attacks against him, has not commented on the billboards. But Hungarian Jewish groups and Human Rights Watch, an organization partly funded by Soros, have condemned the campaign, saying it evokes memories of the Nazi posters during the Second World War . ReutersThere s one big problem with the statement by Soros Human Rights Watch group, Soros admitted he was no friend to the Jews during the Holocaust in a 1990 interview with Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes . The interview was suspiciously scrubbed from the internet for some time, but has just recently resurfaced. Knowing there were problems ahead for the Jews, Soros father, who was a successful lawyer, bribed a government official to take 14 year old George Soros in and say he was his Christian godson. While hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were being shipped off to the death camps, George Soros accompanied his appointed godfather around confiscating property from Jews. George admitted it wasn t difficult at all to take part in taking property from the Jews. Kroft asked Soros if it bothered him?Soros: It created no problem at all.Kroft: No feeling of guilt?Soros: No.Why should Israel tread lightly when it comes to this monster who had no feelings of guilt about taking property from fellow Jews during the Holocaust?Watch:Soros was born in Hungary, they are interestingly, the second nation to consider George Soros to be an enemy of the state. Fox News When Soros talks of chaos, it s a subject he knows well. The only question is his involvement.Most everywhere Soros, his foundations or his investment money has gone, trouble has followed.He s helped start revolutions, undermined national currencies and funded radicals around the world.Soros has been convicted of insider dealing in France and fined $3 million, fined another $2 million in his native Hungary.His foundations have been accused of shielding spies and breaking currency laws and his investing strategy has been targeted for harming several national currencies.That s not the story the broadcast networks have been telling about Soros for the past five years.There were 29 mentions of Soros during that time but only one gave any hint at trouble, and that was merely to mention he was still known as the man who broke the Bank of England. But ABC followed that description up with: That was all legal. Only a sex scandal with a 28-year-old Brazilian actress gave Soros any negative publicity at all.But there have been lots of negatives in Soros s past as he s spread his influence around the world. Soros wears criticism like a badge of honor. I have now come under attack in several countries: in Hungary from Hungarian nationalists; in Romania from the Vatra Romanesca; in Slovakia from the communist party newspaper Pravda; in the Soviet Union by the organ of the hard-liners Sovietskaia Russiya, he claims in Underwriting Democracy. Soros s Open Society Fund was created in 1979 as a charitable lead trust. Even its creator admitted his motives were basically selfish and he wanted a tax gimmick. He did it as a trust for his children While Soros has been known worldwide for his investment skills, he hasn t always managed to stay clear of the authorities.He was found guilty in France of an insider trading case about 20 years ago and has repeatedly failed at having that news pulled from his record.According to The New York Times, in September 2011, a French panel upheld his conviction because he had bought and sold shares of Soci t G n rale in 1988 with the knowledge that the bank might be a takeover target. He was fined $3 million.His fund ran into problems in Hungary, where Soros was born and lived till his late teen years. At issue was how he handled an investment into the the country s largest bank : OTP. His fund was fined $2 million by Hungarian regulators last week for having manipulated OTP s stock price, wrote The New York Times in 2009.",0 EU lawyers draw up list of IDF officers suspected of Gaza war crimes. Existing legislation enables arrest warrants to be issued against these officers if they enter certain EU countries. ,0 Russia launches cruise missiles at ISIS targets in Syria,1 " President Obama Just Revealed His New Career, And It Could Be AwesomeThere is a lot of speculation as to what President Obama might do after January, when he s no longer the Commander-in-Chief and lead punching bag for the racist right. Obama wants to be a businessman, maybe.The Obama family will be staying in Washington, D.C., at least for the foreseeable future, but that doesn t mean Obama s post-White House activities have to be limited to the nation s capital. Like all great American pioneers, Obama is looking west this time, toward Silicon Valley, not Wall Street. In an interview with Bloomberg, Obama said: Well, I ve said this before and, I think, surprised a lot of people, but if I think about what would stir my passions had I not gone into politics, it d probably be starting some kind of business. The skill set of starting my presidential campaigns and building the kinds of teams that we did and marketing ideas I think would be the same kinds of skills that I would enjoy exercising in the private sector. The President was careful not to repeat the Republican talking point, that business skill somehow translates to running a country: Now, I m always careful about drawing too many easy parallels there, because sometimes there are CEOs who come in and start explaining to me how I should be running the presidency. And I sometimes have to stop them and say, All right. One, I appreciate your advice. But imagine a situation in which half your board and management were actively trying to get rid of you and prevent you from accomplishing anything. And you had 2 million employees, and you couldn t fire a large portion of them. And your competitors weren t simply promoting their own products, but were continually saying how your products were the worst that were ever invented and will cause a civilizational crisis. If you pull that all together, then you ve got about half of what I m dealing with on a daily basis.' As for the type of business, Obama wants to help the world. He is interested in science and medicine. Like Bill Gates, Obama wants to use capitalism to try to save the world, one small project at a time. You can become Bill Gates. Or, in some cases, you can electrify a village. You can save water in a desert. That s the thing about the U.S. economy that continues to be unique. And it s tied to capitalism and markets, but it s also tied to a faith in science and reason and a mindset that says there s always something new to discover, and we don t know everything, and we re going to try new things, and we re pragmatic. And if we ever lose that, then we will have lost what has made us an incredible force for good in the world. If we sustain it, then we can maintain the kind of progress that has been made. I always tell interns and young people who I talk to that as tough as things seem right now, do not believe people when they tell you they wish they could go back to the good old days. Because the good old days aren t I m now old enough where I remember some of those good old days. While Obama s plans might not be locked in yet, we can be sure of one thing, he won t let his time go to waste painting pictures of feet or living on the golf course. Former Democratic presidents get s*it done, and Obama will be no exception. The right will hate whatever he does, though.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla at Getty Images. ",0 Video of Israeli commandos executing American,1 "Russian governor ban the use of the word crisis in public | It is possible that the crisis exists, but we forbid the use of this word",0 Apple unable to use 'iWatch' name due to Irish trademark.,1 "Germany says hopes to resume training of Kurdish fighters in Northern IraqBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany hopes to resume its mission training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq on Sunday, provided the conflict between the Kurds and the Iraqi government does not worsen, a German defense ministry spokesman said on Friday. Germany suspended its training assistance last week citing the increased tensions between Baghdad and the Kurds after the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq voted in a non-binding referendum for independence. Germany, along with other Western nations, joined Baghdad and Iraq s neighbors in opposing the referendum, partly due to concerns that it would distract from the fight against Islamic State militants, in which the Kurds have played a key role. If there is no serious changes on the ground, it s highly probable that the training will resume on Sunday, the German defense ministry spokesman said. The spokesman said Germany took the decision to resume the training after consultations with the Kurdish and Iraqi parties and with the United States. He was speaking on the day when Iraqi forces completed their push to take back control of the contested province of Kirkuk from the Kurds, who had moved into the area in 2014 to prevent Islamic State seizing the oilfields. Germany has provided 32,000 assault rifle and machine guns, as well as other weapons valued at around 90 million euros since 2014. About 150 German soldiers are providing training to the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters for their combat against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. ",1 News from Israel and Palestine for July 13th / 14th,1 "Trump considering Dr. Scott Gottlieb to head FDA(Reuters) - Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a partner at one of the world’s largest venture capital funds and a former deputy commissioner at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is being considered by President-elect Donald Trump to run the agency, according to sources close to the transition team. Gottlieb, 44, a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank based in Washington, is well known in health policy circles and is a frequent commentator on television and in print. Gottlieb is being considered alongside Jim O’Neill, a self-declared libertarian and colleague of Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Mithril Capital Management who was an early Trump supporter and is now advising his transition team. Bloomberg News first reported that Trump was looking at O’Neill. Trump, a Republican, takes office on Jan. 20. Michael Gaba, federal policy leader of law firm Holland & Knight’s national Healthcare & Life Sciences Team, said Gottlieb would be more palatable to more people than O’Neill, who believes drugs should be allowed on the market before their efficacy has been established, as long as they are safe. Even the drug industry would likely oppose that stance, Gaba said, since companies want to be able to make credible claims that their products are effective in treating the diseases they say do. “They want the FDA’s Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” Gaba said last week, adding, however, that drug makers would like to provide less data to get it. Gottlieb would be a more traditional choice than O’Neill and fits the profile of what Trump’s administration seems to be looking for, he said. “He leans right, he’s got experience in the agency, he’s got the M.D. credential, and he’s outspoken,” Gaba said. The FDA historically has named someone with medical credentials to head the agency. O’Neill has none, though he served as principal associate deputy secretary of health and human services under the George W. Bush administration. Gottlieb’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry run deep. He sits on the boards of multiple companies and advises others, including the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline Plc. He is also a managing director of investment banking at T.R. Winston & Co, a Los Angeles-based, privately held investment bank that focuses on healthcare, clean energy and consumer technology. According to its website, the firm provides services to a range of healthcare clients, “including companies engaged in the clinical development of new therapeutic compounds, drug discovery techniques, medical technologies, and devices.” Between 2003 and 2004 Gottlieb was a senior adviser to the FDA commissioner and then the agency’s director of medical policy development. In 2004 he also acted as senior adviser to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. From 2005-2007 he was the FDA’s deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs. Gottlieb has a medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wesleyan University. He advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a member of the Federal Health Information Technology Policy Committee. ",1 "Four other suspects in killing of North Korean Kim Jong Nam named in courtKUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Four suspects charged with two women accused of killing the estranged half-brother of North Korea s leader were identified for the first time in a Malaysian court on Thursday. Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong were charged in March along with four unnamed others for the murder of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur international airport on Feb 13. The four unnamed suspects were only identified as Mr. Chang, Mr. Y, James, and Hanamori also known as Grandpa or Uncle , investigating police officer Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz told the court, citing criminal investigation findings. Wan Azirul identified Mr. Y as a man seen in a video recording played in court. The man, wearing a black cap and carrying a black backpack, was seen in the video walking into the airport with a woman who resembled Huong. Huong and Siti Aisyah are accused of murdering Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with liquid VX, a chemical poison banned by the United Nations. Based on my investigation, Mr. Y was the person who applied a liquid on the second accused, Wan Azirul said, referring to Huong. Meanwhile, Mr. Chang was seen meeting with Siti Aisyah at a restaurant at the airport s third-level departure hall in a separate video screened in court, Wan Azirul said. Hanamori had given instructions to Mr. Y, while James had recruited Siti Aisyah, Wan Azirul said, without elaborating. He did not say whether the four suspects were North Koreans or whether they were the same four people who Malaysian police said left Kuala Lumpur for Pyongyang on the day of the killing. Malaysia has issued an Interpol red notice, the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant, on the four who left, identified as North Koreans Ri Ji Hyon, Hong Song Hac, O Jong Gil, and Ri Jae Nam. The trial will resume after a planned visit to the airport on Oct. 24. ",1 "WHY HILLARY LOVES The Idea Of Barack Obama As Supreme Court JusticeRemember when this would seem like a far-fetched idea? Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said she loves the idea of appointing Barack Obama to the Supreme Court if she s elected president.At a campaign event in Iowa Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton told the crowd the next president may have to appoint up to three Supreme Court justices. When one attendee mentioned Mr. Obama as a contender, she seemed excited by the recommendation. Wow, what a great idea. No one has ever suggested that to me, I love that, wow, Mrs. Clinton said. He may have a few other things to do, but I tell you, that s a great idea. I mean, he s brilliant, he can set forth an argument and he was a law professor, she added. So he s got all the credentials, but we would have to get a Democratic Senate to get him confirmed. Via: Washington Times",0 "Australian woman, residing in Japan was a victim of a violent rape by American servicemen. Japanese police made no attempt to preserve urine sample, sperm or DNA on her body. Why?... because in 1953, Japan agreed not to exercise primary right of jurisdiction over members of the U.S. armed forces",1 "Trump to visit Poland in July: White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will visit Poland ahead of next month’s G20 summit in Germany, the White House said in a statement on Friday. The visit will emphasize the “priority of strengthening NATO’s collective defense,” and Trump will also attend the Three Seas Initiative Summit to “demonstrate our strong ties to Central Europe,” the statement said. Leaders from several central, eastern and southern European countries are to meet in the city of Wroclaw in western Poland for the so-called Three Seas Initiative summit on July 6-7. ",1 ISIS fighters dress as women in desperate attempt to flee battlefield,1 "Monsanto, the creator of chemical weapon Agent Orange, returns to Vietnam - this time to sell GM crops and weed-killing chemicals in Vietnam; many outraged ",1 "Kerry warns of 'authoritarian populism,' takes jab at Trump tweetsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday warned of the dangers of authoritarian populism and offered a thinly veiled critique of Donald Trump’s prolific use of Twitter, saying it allowed the president-elect to avoid accountability. In his most pointed public comments about Trump since the Nov. 8 presidential election, Kerry also suggested that the president-elect’s Cabinet nominees were getting a free pass from Congress for failing to submit tax returns and other documentation before their Senate confirmation hearings. “Every country in the world better ... start worrying about authoritarian populism and the absence of substance in our dialogue,” Kerry told a Washington forum. “If policies are going to be made in 140 characters on Twitter, and every reasonable measurement of accountability is being bypassed, and people don’t care about it, we have a problem,” Kerry said. As an example of the absence of substance in the political debate, he said climate change was given short shrift during the campaign between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. He contrasted his own vetting for secretary of state and the paperwork he had to provide with exceptions he said are being made for Trump Cabinet nominees before their confirmation hearings. In December, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker said the panel had not asked Rex Tillerson, Trump’s choice for secretary of state, to provide his tax returns, which Corker said was in accordance with precedent. Tillerson, the former chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil Corp (XOM.N), has not submitted tax returns, but his financial disclosure and ethics agreement has been made public. Kerry, a former senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee who became President Barack Obama’s secretary of state in 2013, said it is “quite amazing when you think the hoops I had to jump through with respect to papers submitted, documentation submitted and tax returns. ... Suddenly that’s not as important.” Asked if he believed Trump’s nominees were getting “a free pass,” Kerry chuckled and dodged the question. Walter Shaub, director of the federal Office of Government Ethics, said in a letter to senators last week that he had “great concern” about the hearing schedule for Trump nominees who had not completed the ethics review process, and said it would be “cause for alarm if the Senate were to go forward with hearings on nominees whose reports OGE has not certified.” With 10 days to go before Trump takes office, Kerry said there had been few high-level contacts between current State Department officials and Trump’s transition team. Asked about the transition at a forum at the nonpartisan U.S. Institute of Peace, Kerry said, “It’s going pretty smoothly because there’s not an enormous amount of it.” “There are some people who have been in the building for a period of time, but you know quite candidly, I think there has not been a lot of high-level exchange at this point in time,” Kerry said. Kerry said he had not yet met with Tillerson, but expected to do so soon. Kerry and Tillerson spoke last month by telephone, according to the State Department. A spokeswoman for the Trump transition team said she had no comment on Kerry’s remarks. Tillerson’s Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, and will be closely watched in part due to concerns about his relationship with Russia as ExxonMobil’s top executive. Trump has called for better ties with Russia, while some fellow Republicans in Congress are pushing for a harsher response to what American intelligence agencies have concluded was Kremlin meddling in the presidential election. ",1 "Mississippi governor signs law allowing armed church security(Reuters) - Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a gun rights bill on Friday allowing churches to create security programs designating members to carry firearms to defend worshipers against violence. The legislation, called the “Mississippi Church Protection Act,” also makes it easier for residents in other settings to carry concealed weapons, drawing criticism from national gun control advocates. It was passed amid heightened concerns about church security after a gunman last June killed nine black worshippers during a Bible study session at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, an attack that authorities say was racially motivated. “Churches deserve protection from those who would harm worshippers,” said Bryant, a Republican, in a Twitter post explaining his decision to sign the measure into law. In most states, churches could address security concerns with similar programs without the need for a new law, according to Amy Hunter, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association gun rights lobbying group which supported the measure providing civil liability immunity. The legislation also allows Mississippi residents eligible to own a gun to carry a firearm in holsters without a permit, she said, expanding on a state law enacted last year allowing for similar access in purses, bags and briefcases. However, gun control proponents called the law dangerous. “Mississippi law enforcement, families and faith leaders all spoke out against this reckless bill that will allow dangerous people to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public without a permit,” said Shirley Hopkins Davis, a volunteer with the Mississippi chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, in a statement. Participants carrying firearms for church security programs must have safety training and meet permitting standards. (Story refiles to fix typo in eighth graph to “public”). ",1 "TOUGH MESSAGE From Serious Women Who Don’t Use Genitalia As Reason To Vote For Next President : “We Don’t Feel Safe” [VIDEO]The women in this video are serious minded voters. They are moms who fear for the safety of their children and grandchildren. They speak for so many of us who are sick and tired of living under a government who puts the safety and security of our nation after political correctness.We are living in perilous times, and it s comforting to know that there are so many female voters who believe our nation s security should take priority over the genitalia of our next President. There s more to choosing a leader of the greatest nation on earth than the abortion issue. It won t matter if you can take the life of an innocent child in your womb up to the moment of conception if you re living under an oppressive Sharia Law or under Communist rule.Here s a newsflash for our media and the Femi-Nazi s who would go into a polling place and vote for Hillary simply because she s a woman: Russia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and China don t care if our next President is pro-abortion or if she has a vagina ",0 Photographs apparently showing soldiers posing with body parts of a dead insurgent drew strong condemnation on Wednesday from American officials and the ambassador in Afghanis,0 " Elizabeth Warren BURIES Trump After He Throws Temper Tantrum Over Her AttacksDonald Trump and Elizabeth Warren are engaged in a Twitter feud for the ages and she s kicking his ass.On Saturday, the Massachusetts Senator ripped the Republican nominee to shreds for picking Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate on the 2016 ticket..@realDonaldTrump & @mike_pence are a perfect match: Two small, insecure, weak men who use hate & fear to divide our country & our people. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 16, 2016 Of COURSE @realDonaldTrump a guy who calls women fat pigs & bimbos picked a VP who is famous for trying to control women s bodies. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 16, 2016What s worse? @realDonaldTrump & @mike_pence s sexism isn t some radical fringe of the @GOP. They re in line with the party platform. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 16, 2016 And OF COURSE @realDonaldTrump a guy who [doesn t] feel good about marriage equality picked a VP famous for LGBT discrimination. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 16, 2016Terrifying to think of @mike_pence being a heartbeat from presidency but the direction @GOP wants to take our country is MORE terrifying. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 16, 2016In response, Donald Trump threw a temper tantrum which, of course, included another instance of referring to Warren as Pocahontas and goofy. Trump also called her lazy and a fraud, and suggested she didn t earn her Senate seat with hard work. Goofy Elizabeth Warren, who may be the least productive Senator in the U.S. Senate, must prove she is not a fraud. Without the con it s over Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2016I hope that Crooked Hillary picks Goofy Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, as her V.P. Then we can litigate her fraud! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2016 If Goofy Elizabeth Warren, a very weak Senator, didn t lie about her heritage (being Native American) she would be nothing today. Pick her H Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2016Well, Warren wasn t going to let Trump get away with any of that bullshit, and she launched a barrage of tweets leveling Trump into a pile of rubble.Nasty name-calling & lies about my family aren t going to shut me up, @realDonaldTrump. Is that really all you ve got? Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 Pres Reagan s Solicitor General was the Harvard prof who hired me, @realDonaldTrump. He says your right-wing conspiracy theories are a lie. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016It might blow your mind that a woman worked hard & earned a good job on her own, @realDonaldTrump, but it s not the 1800s. It happens. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 You want to talk about who s a fraud, @realDonaldTrump? How about this? https://t.co/5UB05u8L4x pic.twitter.com/sTQrNKOoA1 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/HPPihIjqpX pic.twitter.com/dbhtFbhYF0 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/Ji9khMUbw6 pic.twitter.com/buEtsLMjfn Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/14GnqNtCsb pic.twitter.com/uwEWno8iJ3 Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/3ernRrO7q3 pic.twitter.com/wld65MAdsj Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/JHTsnbtufR pic.twitter.com/8A3LLFWI8q Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 Or this, @realDonaldTrump? https://t.co/1DiL7W69BH pic.twitter.com/EzcR5NYnmM Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Seriously, I could do this all day, @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/Q6Tv3m1SdX pic.twitter.com/Me3CULGxTI Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016 You re nothing but a thin-skinned bully and a lousy, cheating businessman, @realDonaldTrump. The sham is over. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) July 17, 2016Donald Trump really should stop picking on Elizabeth Warren, because unlike the Republican leadership, she can t be bullied and has no problem burying him for his bullshit.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images",0 MH370: BBC have just broadcast this satellite image which Chinese officials believe could be wreckage from Flight MH370.,0 The End of the Chinese Dream --- China's 1% are even more obnoxious than America's,1 US approves sale of advanced AGM-158 cruise missiles to Poland: Poland will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defence.,0 ZIMBABWE: Farm animals bartered to stave off hunger,1 Egypt Now In FULL Internet Blackout,1 "Last Hitler Bodyguard Dies - He witnessed the Nazi leader's final hours in the bunker. He proudly reminisced about his wartime duties for the ""boss"" & called Hitler ""a very normal man... he was no brute, he was no monster"".",0 "South Korea, U.S., Japan issue joint warning to North Korea, ""If North Korea goes ahead with another nuclear test, we, along with the international community, will make it pay the price for that""",1 Tsunami alert after NZ earthquake,1 "BURN! ANTI-HILLARY AND STEPHANOPOULOS STREET ART POPS UP NEAR ABC HEADQUARTERSSTREET ART HAS APPEARED on the streets surrounding ABC News Good Morning America studios in New York City. The posters feature Hillary Clinton with a smiling George Stephanopoulos, the ABC News anchor under fire for failing to disclose $75,000 in donations to the Clinton Foundation, along with the words Pay Pal and Donate. They were posted near ABC News studios on Peter Jennings Way in Manhattan.",0 "A senior official connected with the seasonal dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan, is defending the tradition as painless to the small cetaceans and is inviting U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy to see for herself.",1 "Britain will leave EU single market, customs union as one nation-ministerMANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Britain will leave the European Union, its single market and customs union as one nation, its minister for Northern Ireland said on Sunday, dashing any hope the region could keep such close economic ties to avoid any return of a hard border. At a speech at the Conservative Party s annual conference in Manchester, northern England, James Brokenshire drew applause when he said: We will leave the European Union in 2019 as one United Kingdom. That includes leaving the single market and the customs union so that we can strike new trade deals with the rest of the world. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called last month for the EU and Britain to find unique solutions to their Brexit logjam, including a bespoke customs union. That would solve the problem of a hard border in Ireland once Britain has left the EU, something that is of great concern to Dublin. ",1 Europe is starting to shut down the free flow of refugees,0 """Globalisation is unravelling before our eyes.""",1 The leader of Poland's Catholic Church suggests that children are partly to blame for being sexually abused by priests.,0 The Afghan woman who refuses to be silenced,0 "U.S. Senators McCain, Graham to support Tillerson nominationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senior Republican lawmakers said on Sunday they would vote to approve President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, despite their concerns over the former ExxonMobil chief’s relationship with Russia’s president. “After careful consideration, and much discussion with Mr. Tillerson, we have decided to support his nomination to be secretary of state,” Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a statement. “Though we still have concerns about his past dealings with the Russian government and (Russian) President Vladimir Putin, we believe that Mr. Tillerson can be an effective advocate for U.S. interests,” said the two senators, veteran foreign policy experts. The Republican-controlled Senate has so far confirmed two of Trump’s nominees for cabinet posts but Tillerson, former chief executive officer at Exxon Mobil Corp, has faced criticism from several prominent Republicans because of his close relationships with Russian officials, including Putin. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was confident that all of Trump’s cabinet nominees will be confirmed. Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” McConnell also said the Senate would confirm a Supreme Court justice nominee eventually picked by Trump. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote on Tillerson’s nomination on Monday, with a full Senate vote coming shortly after. ",1 There Are More Slaves Today Than at Any Time in Human History,1 "BREAKING #CNNLeak…James O’Keefe’s New Undercover Recordings Expose #CNNFakeNews Operatives: “I mean, I’m a little biased”…” I agree. I think it’s dishonest” [Video]James O Keefe has been at the forefront of new media since he outed ACORN posing as a pimp Who can forget that! He s exposed the left time and time again His latest video exposed liberal organizers suggesting violent ways to disrupt the inauguration of President Trump.It seems O Keefe recognizes that we are at war with the press more than anyone on the left. The blatant lies and complete distortions of just about anything President Trump says are happening 24/7 on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and CBS. It s time to expose the REAL fake news Thank you James O Keefe!Here s O Keefe s first release where Joe Sterling, CNN s News Desk Editor for The Wire telling one of O Keefe s undercover reporters that climate change is settled science and, There is no debate. I mean, I m a little biased Joe Sterling, once News Desk Editor @CNN admits he has a clear bias in favor of @POTUS44. Doesn't #CNN claim to be ""most trusted?"" #CNNLeaks pic.twitter.com/VhxeJCK1lL James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) February 23, 2017The second release in a long list of undercover CNN tapes, PROVES Trump was correct when he talked about the polls being rigged. We all knew that President Trump was correct when he told Americans, Don t believe the polls that were incorrectly pointing to a huge Hillary win. We all know how that story ends. Trump beat Hillary in a landslide, and beat her in states that polls like CNN s, told us he had no chance of winning. Listen to CNN try to reason with O Keefe s undercover reporter about why they refuse to update their polls after new information emerges that could be a game changer in how the public perceives it:When questioned about their tactics and why they choose not to use new data to update one of their polls, CNN s Executive Editor Arthur Brice responded, I agree. I think its dishonest to use outdated information if new information shows something that is in variance with something you re reporting. It s just dishonest. In this bit we found @CNN's Executive Editor @ArthurBrice talks about using ""dishonest and outdated information"" in CNN's polls. #CNNLeaks pic.twitter.com/j2L2FrqYwY James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) February 23, 2017",0 Putin and Austria name 1915 killings genocide,1 "Dutch government seeks to overturn court ruling on SrebrenicaTHE HAGUE (Reuters) - The Dutch government has asked the country s supreme court to overturn a ruling that the Netherlands was partly responsible for the death of 300 Muslim men killed in the 1995 Srebrenica massacres. The victims were killed after being turned away from a Dutch-run United Nations base where thousands had sought refuge from attacking Bosnian Serb forces at the tail-end of the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Dutch peacekeepers, out-manned and out-gunned by the Bosnian Serbs, did little more than look on as the men were separated from women and deported to killing sites. Up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in total were killed at Srebrenica in the first genocide in Europe since World War Two. We do not share the judge s opinion that Dutch U.N. peacemakers acted unlawfully and we do not understand how the court reached that verdict, Klaas Meijer, Defence Ministry spokesman, told Reuters on Wednesday. He was referring to an appeals court verdict in June confirming a 2014 ruling that said the Dutch peacekeepers should have known that the Muslim men would be murdered if they were forced to leave the U.N. base. The supreme court can only overturn an appeal ruling if it finds that the lower court erred in law or procedure. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been convicted of genocide and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment. His chief military commander, General Ratko Mladic, is currently on trial at the U.N. Yugoslav tribunal in The Hague. A verdict in his case is expected in November. ",1 " A Dallas Cop Just Filed Suit Against Obama, Hillary, Black Lives Matter For Really Bizarre ConspiracyA Dallas police officer, seeing red after several shootings of police officers, has decided he s had enough and he and his lawyer, are going to punish everyone they absolutely can for allegedly conspiring to create a race war. Yes, this is the same race war that the entire right sees whenever people call attention to the racism that permeates our justice system.Police Sergeant Demetrick Pennie, a 17-year veteran of the Dallas police force, is suing leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement along with the Rev. Al Sharpton, billionaire George Soros, Louis Farrakhan, former Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and many more. The bizarre part is that he and his attorney, right-wing nut Larry Klayman, actually see an active conspiracy here: This is a civil action for the deprivation of Plaintiffs and other members of the class herein of their civil rights, conspiracy against the Plaintiffs and other members of the class herein civil rights and obstruction of justice to prevent the enforcement of civil rights. The complaint also says this: Klayman received a call from Defendant New Black Panther Party and Black Lives Matter acting in concert with the other Defendants, all of whom are working together to ignite and continue the race war they have fomented, threatening to kill him and his family. [emphasis mine]In discussing the July 7 murders of Dallas police officers, the lawsuit states that the shooting suspect claimed he was acting alone, and was not affiliated with Black Lives Matter or anything else. An investigation into his background allegedly revealed that he was a member of the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party.Apparently, that s enough to tie him and these groups directly to Hillary, Obama, Holder, and everyone else, although it s hard to see how Klayman and Pennie actually know there s a conspiracy here.It s like they just know the complaint repeatedly states something along these lines: Defendants, acting in concert, and each and every one of them are inciting the imminent serious bodily injury and killing of police officers and other law enforcement persons Acting in concert means there s a knowing cooperation between two or more people to accomplish something. There s no real, concrete evidence that anybody is actively working with anyone else to incite violence against police officers. Yet, they keep using that phrase. We do not think it means what they think it means. Either that, or a frightening amount of paranoia fueled this. Or both.It s probably both.The complaint also accuses everyone of spreading the fiction that police officers are intentionally and systematically targeting and hunting blacks and other minorities to kill them for no reason other than racism or sport. Exaggerate much, Klayman? Lords, gods and minor deities, it s amazing these conclusions are in an actual complaint filed in an actual court.Other known problems, such as arresting or shooting black people not guilty of any crimes, and that minorities are arrested and prosecuted disproportionately to the general population, are fiction on the planet from whence this complaint arose, too.Klayman, however, has been looking for a reason to file a suit like this for some time. Back in July, he threatened to sue Obama, Farrakhan, Sharpton and Black Lives Matter for putting his life in danger as a white person. At the time, he said things like this: It is no wonder some cops, fearing for their lives in this anti-white, anti-Semitic and anti-Christian environment, sometimes are prone to literally pull the trigger too quickly. He s not exactly the most credible person here. He has an axe to grind, and it doesn t make Pennie look good for retaining him for this suit (or did Klayman persuade Pennie to finally give him what he needs to make a suit stick? We may never know).The discovery phase of this lawsuit ought to be interesting.The entire 66-page complaint is below:[scribd id=324251965 key=key-2XEsBrU2vkK8S40trOMu mode=scroll]Featured image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images",0 Two more journalists shot and killed in Mexico,1 " Something Truly Extraordinary, And Refreshing, Happened During The CNN Democratic Debate (VIDEO)The CNN debate between Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders took place in Flint, Michigan on Sunday and it featured something truly extraordinary and refreshing.The candidates spent their time presenting two compelling and different visions for America, based on aspirations and hope and conducted a battle of ideas, not playground level personal insults. It was a perfect insight into what the Republican party is currently incapable of offering the American public.While the Republican debates have featured Donald Trump raving about the size of his own penis, the amount his opponent Marco Rubio sweats, and how Ted Cruz is a liar Bernie and Hillary kept it classy.In terms of the topics discussed, the Republican debates have so far centered around fighting against immigration, guns, equal marriage, women s reproductive rights, and each other (allowing candidates to respond to whatever personal attacks have been made that week).By contrast, the Democratic debate was wide-ranging, covering a number of social, economic and political issues.Just some of the issues covered:On all of these issues, the candidates had compelling, and different, visions for America.On Flint, both candidates came out strongly on the side of the people. Sanders saying: Over the last several weeks, I had the opportunity to meet with a number of residents of Flint, had a town meeting in Flint, and I have to tell you, what I heard and what I saw literally shattered me and it was beyond belief that children in Flint, Michigan in the United States of America in the years 2016 are being poisoned. That is clearly not what this country should be about. And Clinton adding: The governor should resign or be recalled and we should support the efforts of citizens attempting to achieve that. But that is not enough. We have to focus on what must be done to help the people of Flint. In short, they didn t fight over the matters for which there was no principle at stake. They did not call each other liars or argue their care for the people of Flint was disingenuous just to score a point.But when it came to the issues that divide Sanders from Clinton, they went at it with everything in their arsenal.For example, on money in politics. The Sanders and Clinton campaigns are markedly different. One candidate (Sanders) relying on mass micro-contributions and rejecting the influence of big money backers, and Clinton (as the establishment candidate) doing the opposite. So when the matter arose, Sanders made a simple but powerful point: One of us has a super PAC. One of us has raised $15 million from Wall Street for the super PAC. One of us has given speeches on Wall Street for hundred of thousands of dollars. Conversely, on the issue of gun control where Clinton is in favor if stricter gun controls while Sanders is more reluctant, it was Clinton who could landed a blow again, on the issue, not the personal attributes of the candidate.Whichever candidate more closely represents your vision for America, the debate gave you a chance to fully explore their ideas, their policies, and what they would mean for American schools, jobs, daily lives, the economy and the environment. It was a reminder that America can do grown up politics, at a time when the Republican Primary has disintegrated into a frat-house brawl.You can watch the debate in full below: Featured image via screenshot",0 "Pirate Bay Founders Case Rejected by Human Rights Court: The European Court of Human Rights has rejected an application to hear the cases of Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij, two of the co-founders of The Pirate Bay",1 "Highlights of Reuters interview with Trump(Reuters) - Here are some of the highlights of the Reuters interview with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday. ON HIS DECEMBER TWEET SAYING THE UNITED STATES SHOULD EXPAND ITS NUCLEAR CAPABILITY “We’ve fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity. And I am the first one that would like to see ... nobody have nukes, but we’re never going to fall behind any country even if it’s a friendly country, we’re never going to fall behind on nuclear power. And I did tweet that. It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we’re going to be at the top of the pack.” “It’s a one-sided deal like all other deals we make. It’s a one-sided deal. It gave them things that we should have never allowed. ... Just another bad deal that the country made, whether it’s START, whether it’s the Iran deal, which is one of the bad deals ever made. Our country only made bad deals, we don’t make good deals. So we’re going to start making good deals.” ON RUSSIA’S DEPLOYMENT OF A CRUISE MISSILE IN VIOLATION OF ARMS CONTROL TREATY “To me, it’s a big deal ... If I meet (Putin), if and when we meet, I would bring it up. It’s a big deal. Because it’s a violation of an agreement that we have.” “I know exactly what’s going on between China and North Korea and everybody else. But I don’t like talking about military strategy in newspapers ... I’m not liking it. This didn’t take place under the Trump administration, this took place under the Obama administration. Many things took place that should not have been allowed. One of them is the building of a massive, you know, massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea. And don’t forget I’ve only been here for four weeks. This is something that took place and has been started three years ago and you were in a much better negotiating position three years ago. I am not happy about it.” “I think they’re grand champions at manipulation of currency. So I haven’t held back. We’ll see what happens.” “Well, we appreciate that. You know, I have a very, very good, I’ve had very good phone calls with the president, President Xi, and I’ve had very, very good talks with him, and the call is a start. But we have a very big problem and a very dangerous problem for the world with North Korea. ... I think China has tremendous control over North Korea. Whether they say so or not is up to them, but they have tremendous control over North Korea. I think they could solve the problem very easily if they want to.” “It’s very dangerous and something should have been done about it years ago. It’s very dangerous and very unacceptable. ... And very unfair to Japan.” ON TALK OF ACCELERATING MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM FOR JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA “There’s talks of a lot more than that. We’ll see what happens. But it’s a very dangerous situation, and China can end it very quickly in my opinion. ... It’s one of many things that can be done. Missile defense is one of many things that can be done.” ON WHETHER MEETING WITH KOREAN LEADER KIM JONG UN IS A POSSIBILITY “I guess ... I would never say no. It may be very late. It’s very late in the picture right now. ... We’re very angry at what he’s done, and frankly this should have been taken care of during the Obama administration.” ON THE BORDER ADJUSTMENT TAX PROMOTED BY REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS “It could lead to a lot more jobs in the United States. ... I certainly support a form of tax on the border because everybody else does. We’re the only country, we’re one of the very few countries, possibly the only country, that has no border tax. And that’s not a tax to the consumer, because that’s going to be a tax to companies and it’s going to be a tax to other countries much more so than it is to the consumer. That’s a tax to other countries. And what will happen is, don’t forget there is no tax if we make our product in the United States. So I don’t consider it a tax. That’s a tax if companies are buying their product outside of the United States. But ... if they make their product in the United States, there is no tax. So what is going to happen is companies are going to come back here, they’re going to build their factories and they’re going to create a lot of jobs and there’s no tax.” “We’re going to have a corporate tax cut ... anywhere from 15 to 20 percent (as a target for the corporate tax rate). ... We’re going to have other things that are very good and we’re going to have a tremendous regulatory cut because the regulations are piled up on top of each other and you’ll have many regulations for the same thing within different industries and it’s out of control. The regulations in this country are out of control. And it makes it hard for businesses to even open in the United States. We’re going to get rid of a lot of the unnecessary regulations.” “We’re going to submit legislation. We’re going to be working with Congress to do legislation, yes. .... We’re mandated to do the healthcare first. We have to. And that’s for budgetary reasons. So the healthcare will come first. It’s moving along really well. I would say before the middle of March. ... We have a very, very good healthcare plan which will give great healthcare to great numbers of people. We have to also remember, Obamacare is a disaster. It doesn’t work. It just doesn’t work. So we have a plan that will be a far better plan which will cost people less money, which will cost our country less money also ‘cause Obamacare is very expensive for the country. And we will be submitting sometime during the month of March. ... It’d be repeal and replace. ... The tax reform comes immediately thereafter.” “The economy, we have close to 100 million people that are not working. We’re going to get the economy revving again through meetings like I had today with the biggest companies in the world and the biggest manufacturers in the world, through tax reform, and through regulatory reform, and it will take a little period of time, but yeah, we’re going to have, I mean, we had massive deficits under Obama, under President Obama, massive deficits, and until it gets kicked in, there’ll be some deficits but something which we can very easily handle.” “We have a $70 billion trade deficit with Mexico, which is unacceptable. Unacceptable. On top of the $70 billion, many of our jobs and companies have fled to Mexico, and that, and they sell their product back in the United States. It’s just not acceptable. So, hopefully, we’ll be able to work something out with Mexico, we’ll see. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t. ... We have the right to do a lot of things that I haven’t done yet. We have a lot of rights that people don’t know about and they never did know about until I came along.” ON THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION IN ISRAEL “I like the concept of the two-state solution. People have been talking about it for so many years now, it so far hasn’t worked. But I am satisfied with whatever makes both parties happy.” “I do, sure. I have very good relations with the EU. But I thought that the UK would pull out of Brexit and I was right. ... But the EU, I’m totally in favor of it. I think it’s wonderful, if they’re happy. If they’re happy – I’m in favor of it.” “Remember the first time I talked about NATO, I said they all owe money? The first time anyone ever asked me a question about NATO ... I said two things: It’s obsolete because it doesn’t cover terrorism. They have now opened up a division to cover terrorism, solely because of me. And experts on NATO that do nothing but study it said, ‘You know, Trump is right.’ And I knew nothing about NATO, I mean, I knew very little about NATO. ... But you watch what’s going to happen. They’re paying. They’re paying big league. ... They owe a lot of money. Many countries owe a lot money. Number one, 2 percent is a low number, and number two, only five countries are paid up.” ",1 "Bathroom lawsuit could send transgender rights to Supreme Court(Reuters) - A lawsuit brought by Texas and other states against the Obama administration’s policy on bathroom access may move the United States closer to a resolution on transgender rights by putting the issue on a trajectory for the Supreme Court. Conservative officials from 11 states sued the federal government on Wednesday to overturn a directive that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom matching their gender identity instead of being forced to use one corresponding to gender assigned at birth. The governor of a 12th state, Mississippi, said he planned to join the lawsuit. The country’s high court has never ruled on a main question of the lawsuit: Do federal legal protections against sex discrimination apply to transgender people? The plaintiffs picked a path that could get them two quick wins in lower courts. The lawsuit is expected to be heard first by an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush and if there is an appeal by a conservative federal appeals court covering Texas. If that appeals court ruled against the Obama administration, the Supreme Court may feel compelled to take up the matter because of a likely conflict with a ruling last month from a federal appeals court in Virginia. That ruling revived a transgender teen’s lawsuit against his school district. The Supreme Court is more likely to agree to hear a case when there is a split among different federal appeals courts, and such a conflict does not yet exist on transgender rights. The plaintiffs have accused the administration of President Barack Obama of overreaching its authority and said the U.S. Congress, or individual states, should set policy. At least two provisions of federal law ban discrimination on the basis of sex: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which covers employment, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. When lawmakers passed the education amendments, they did not consider that the law could one day be applied to gender identity, said Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group. “The (administration’s) lawless interpretation ignores the will of Congress in enacting Title IX,” Tedesco said. “It’s a clear case of federal overreach.” The Obama administration has argued that the education amendments encompass discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status. It said in a letter to school districts this month that their access to federal money depended on their compliance. The states that sued have two paths to victory, Tedesco said: a ruling that the Obama administration did not follow proper procedure for making new regulations, which would leave the larger issue unsettled, or that its interpretation of Title IX is inconsistent with the law. Without clear guidance from the courts, the question of transgender rights would remain open to interpretation by federal agencies, meaning a future president could take the opposite view of Obama. The Republican-controlled Congress has the power to end the dispute immediately, either in favor of transgender rights or against them, but it has shown few signs of acting, especially with a Democrat, Obama, in the White House. A series of decisions suggests courts are coming around to a more expansive definition of sex discrimination, said Jennifer Levi, director of the Transgender Rights Project at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders. Federal agencies clearly have the authority to interpret civil rights law when its application is unclear, she said. “To characterize (the administration’s position) as extraordinary or overreaching shows a complete misunderstanding of what these agencies do,” Levi said. The states countered in their lawsuit that the federal agencies went beyond mere interpretation of civil rights law and in effect created new regulations that should have gone through a notice-and-comment procedure. A court could also find that the states’ lawsuit was premature because the Obama administration has not yet moved to cut off funding to any state or school district, said Arthur Leonard, a professor at New York Law School and an expert on LGBT law. ",1 " Trump Tweets His Dumbest ‘Sweden’ Garbage Yet And Gets Torn APART By The Internet (TWEETS) I m sorry I lied. Those four magic words would have done a lot to prove to the American people that he is, indeed, capable of taking some small step toward redeeming himself after his administration s third fake terrorist attack. Unfortunately, this is Donald Trump we re talking about and he will not be deterred from believing whatever crazy bullshit he decides to believe at any given moment not by facts, not by reality, and certainly not by those goddamn Swedes.Trump recently baffled the world by referencing a terrorist attack in Sweden that didn t happen after misremembering a Fox News report. Trump didn t say what happened (though we imagine the perpetrators of the Bowling Green and Atlanta massacres are behind it), but if there was a three strikes and you re out rule when it comes to an administration completely making up f*cking massacres Trump d be out. Nevertheless, he just kept banging away at Sweden on Monday morning. Give the public a break The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully, he tweeted, adding (because he s twelve) NOT! Give the public a break The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2017So, what s happening in Sweden? The Independent reports that immigration has helped ful the largest economic boon Sweden has seen in five years:The Swedish government, whose policies saw the country take in more refugees per capita than any other in Europe last year, helped lower unemployment rates by increased spending on welfare for asylum seekers from war torn countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.The move helped the Nordic region s largest economy expand 4.5 percent on an annual basis in the fourth quarter of 2015, the most in almost five years and more than twice the growth of Germany, according to Bloomberg.Increased consumer spending and borrowing and high house prices also contributed to the boom which, although projected to fade, has consolidated Sweden as one of Europe s success stories.Also, a moose fell in love.Trump s decision to continue babbling about Sweden (and, of course, the L genpresse FAKE NEWS) led to widespread mockery:.@realDonaldTrump Sweden is even confused by your allegations. Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) February 20, 2017.@realDonaldTrump are you the president of Sweden now? Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) February 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump But you said there was an incident on Friday. There wasn't. That was weird. Evan Dashevsky (@haldash) February 20, 2017.@realDonaldTrump It's almost like the US has no President we are a rudderless ship heading for a major disaster. Good luck everyone! pic.twitter.com/KJ2fFWQPxd Khary Penebaker (@kharyp) February 20, 2017.@realDonaldTrump You are the one making up FAKE NEWS saying that Sweden is falling apart because of Immigration. The Swedes know better Donald Trump Exposed (@DTrumpExposed) February 20, 2017@realdonaldtrump Actually, they re just saying you lied about a terrorist incident there. Which you did, Donald. Dan Howdle (@DanHowdle) February 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump don't you dare talk about fake news when you claimed an actual event happened three nights ago Impeach Donald Trump (@Impeach_D_Trump) February 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump We cannot let the Viking hordes succeed! Erich McElroy (@erichmcelroy) February 20, 2017I dunno, @realdonaldtrump Sweden looks pretty gd to me (you do have Google Search on the your Android phone, right?) pic.twitter.com/H0ABlbhsFc boB Rudis (@hrbrmstr) February 20, 2017.@realDonaldTrump @jpublikYou've done it again.Apologies ( for lying ) usually include the words, ""sorry"", ""regret"" or ""apologise"" British Sceptic (@ElNuevoOtroMio2) February 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump dude, you're only making it worse. Kristina Poe (@Kpoepoe) February 20, 2017@realDonaldTrump How many more fake terrorist attacks are you going to make up before you open the camps? Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) February 20, 2017Trump s unabashed aversion to facts was troubling when he was leading a movement that thought Barack Obama was a Muslim Kenyan or suggesting that vaccines cause autism or even when he was leading lock her up chants as his rabid followers called for Hillary Clinton s death. But now he s President. He has the power to destroy every relationship the United States has built with his ridiculous statements, arrogance, and f*cking moronic tweets.featured image via Getty Images(Alex Wong)/screengrab",0 An attempt by Hamas police to detain a young woman walking with a man along the Gaza beach has raised alarms that the Islamic militant group is seeking to match its political control of the coastal territory with a strict enforcement of Islamic law.,1 Israel's Aerial Weapon against Hamas {VIDEO},1 UNREAL! BLACK TRUMP SUPPORTER Threatened And Abused For Being Pro-Trump [Video]This guy is awesome! He is so right and so on point about his assessment of Trump. ,0 " Images Of Trump Golfing In Florida Leak Despite Him Ordering Press Pool To Stay InsideTrump s war on leakers who make him look bad by exposing his lies is about to escalate. On Saturday, a CNN reporter managed to snap a few pictures of Trump playing golf for the 15th time as president, despite efforts by his staff to stop it. No doubt, the reporter will face recriminations from the Trump team for doing his job.This is the state our nation has been reduced to: A president so committed to vacations in the face of dismal approval ratings that he locks his press pool up to avoid getting caught doing what he knows looks really, really bad. When they report on it, they get attacked.President Trump playing a round of golf Saturday at his club in West Palm Beach pic.twitter.com/aJ4utIM8po Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) April 8, 2017The photo is blurry and obscured because Trump did not want to be photographed and took all steps to avoid it. According to the press pool, reporters trailing Trump were held in a library while Trump golfed outside. CNN reporter Ken Tuohey managed to get a few shots anyways.POTUS back at Trump International Golf Course .Pool report pic.twitter.com/RINNs2q8Yh Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) April 8, 2017They probably considered themselves lucky. On other occasions, Trump s staff has gone to absurd lengths to prevent them from getting any pictures of Trump while he s golfing. At one point, they began taping garbage bags over windows in the rooms reporters were held so they couldn t see outside. It s not entirely clear why reporters didn t just tear them down aside from undeserved politeness towards the president.Trump's press corps has been placed in a basement suite at Jupiter golf club. Black plastic over windows to give Trump privacy as he golfs. pic.twitter.com/8zbqi5HGSD Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) February 11, 2017Trump has also repeatedly lied about golfing. Several weeks in a row, Trump claimed he was in serious meetings only to later be photographed golfing. In a baffling move that makes one wonder if he wants to be caught, Trump apparently wears the exact same outfit every time he golfs. His red ball cap, white polo shirt and golf gloves serve as a blatant tell while he tries to lie.No details from @WhiteHouse on today's @POTUS ""meetings."" Attire and mode of transport suggest more leisurely pursuits at his golf course. pic.twitter.com/A8SsM415Js Steve Herman (@W7VOA) March 25, 2017The most disturbing part in all of this is just how stubborn Trump appears to be on this front. He just can t stop golfing. Each time he does, he opens himself up to relentless criticism. It s his 15th vacation in 11 weeks. He s spent $23 million in travel expenses. He s golfing while his own White House implodes. But rather than just, say, skip a weekend of golf, he keeps going back.That s a particularly disturbing pathology in a man who wants us to believe he s an effective president.Featured image via Twitter",0 "Israeli academics on the problems with Wikipedia. ""Furthermore, the Wikipedia entry on January\'s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza describes it as an ""intense bombardment"" by Israel on a civilian population."" Cause thats what it FUCKING WAS!",1 US intel confirms Iran not developing nukes,0 "Scores die in Baghdad bombings. ""I was soaked with blood from the body parts and wounded and dead people falling over and beside me.""",0 "U.S. Senate panel postpones hearing for Labor nominee Puzder yet againWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate panel tasked with vetting Andrew Puzder to head the Labor Department has postponed its tentative plans to hold his confirmation hearing yet again, a move that some political strategists say could signal trouble for the fast-food executive. An aide for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions said on Tuesday that the panel will not “officially” schedule a hearing “until the committee has received his paperwork from the Office of Government Ethics.” The committee had planned to hold Puzder’s hearing on Feb. 7. Prior to that, the committee eyed three other possible hearing dates. Puzder, who is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, is one of several of President Donald Trump’s nominees who has faced particularly strong opposition from Senate Democrats and progressive groups. His nomination sparked protests by some CKE fast-food workers and the union-backed “Fight for $15” movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. George Thompson, a spokesman for Puzder, said Democrats and special interest groups were “obstructing President Trump’s nominees” and that Puzder is “a proven job creator.” Puzder has criticized an overtime rule championed by the Obama administration and opposes raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Last week, workers at franchised locations of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, which are part of CKE’s restaurant portfolio, filed a range of complaints, alleging wage theft and harassment, among other things. Additionally, some of CKE’s racy advertisements featuring women in bikinis have caused Democrats to ask questions about how Puzder will address sexual harassment in the workplace. “I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis,” he was quoted as saying in a 2015 article in Entrepreneur magazine. He added that those ads “did take on my personality.” Experts say the repeated postponement of Puzder’s hearing and the delays over his ethics paperwork since he was first nominated on Dec. 8 are unusual and could be a sign of problems. “It is a likely sign that the vetting is turning up problems and they are trying to figure out how to deal with them,” said Matthew Miller, a partner at the crisis management firm Vianovo. The new delays come on the same day that the same committee voted along party lines to advance Betsy DeVos’ nomination as education secretary to the full Senate floor. On another Senate panel, meanwhile, Democrats boycotted confirmation votes for Treasury Secretary-nominee Steve Mnuchin and Health and Human Services Secretary-nominee Tom Price. ",1 Gorbachev Says Obama Should Start Afghan Withdrawal ,1 "Santorum to pull out of Republican White House race: CNNWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum plans to suspend his campaign for the White House later on Wednesday, CNN reported, citing unidentified sources. The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, who won the Iowa Republican caucus in 2012 but did not make headway this election year, plans to endorse another candidate in the 2016 White House race, according to CNN. (Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.",1 "Sunday marked the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, when Bosnian Serbs killed around 8,000 Muslim men and boys. German commentators point out that there are still plenty of unanswered questions, including whether blame for the genocide has been correctly attributed.",1 Melbourne bus racist abuse video puts Australian attitudes on trial,1 Egyptian Cabinet passes a law criminalizing protests 4 days after a protest invoked constitutional referendum passed.,1 "Connecticut Governor Malloy says he will not seek re-election in 2018(Reuters) - Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said on Thursday that he will not seek re-election in 2018, choosing to step down at the end of his second term in office. “I will focus all my attention and energy - I will use all of my political capital from now through the end of 2018 - to continue implementing my administration’s vision for a more sustainable and vibrant Connecticut economy,” Malloy, a Democrat who served two terms as governor, said at a news conference in Hartford, the state capital. A poll released on Tuesday by Morning Consult showed that Malloy was the second-least-popular governor in the United States, with 66 percent of respondents disapproving of the job he had done. That finding was based on a national poll of more than 85,000 registered voters and had a 3 percent margin of error. Malloy said he would spend the rest of his term focused on priorities including reforming the state’s budget practices to reduce its reliance on one-time maneuvers to meet expenses and reforming the state’s criminal justice system to make it easier for young offenders to have a second chance. ",1 "INTEL CHAIR Stands Up To Dems Calling For His Ouster: “Democrats want me to quit because I’m effective at getting to the bottom of things.” [Video].@Rep_DevinNunes: I m sure that @TheDemocrats do want me to quit because they know I m quite effective at getting to the bottom of things. pic.twitter.com/q8rfNfLHzc Fox News (@FoxNews) March 28, 2017",0 "Ohio's John Kasich, former Trump rival, visits White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ohio Governor John Kasich worked to repair his strained ties with Republican President Donald Trump on Friday with a visit to the White House, where he compared his situation to being on an airplane and rooting for the pilot to succeed. Kasich was the last rival to oppose Trump in the Republican presidential nomination fight and famously refused to attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, in his home state, last summer when Trump officially became the party’s nominee. At the White House, Trump brought Kasich into the Oval Office for a half-hour meeting. They discussed Kasich’s ideas for overhauling President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, a pressing priority for Trump and the U.S. Congress. Asked if he had buried the hatchet with Trump, Kasich told reporters after the meeting that he wanted Trump to succeed and would agree with him on some occasions and would speak out when he does not. “The man is the president of the United States. It’s sort of like being on an airplane. You want to root for the pilot. If you’re on the airplane with the pilot, you don’t want the pilot to screw up,” Kasich said. Kasich said he stressed with Trump the importance of his administration speaking with one voice, saying he had attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany recently and heard concerns about Trump’s policies despite reassurances given by Vice President Mike Pence. ",1 "Car bomb and Anti-Islamic attack on Mosque in Perth, Australia",1 "South Korea cuts off power, water into Kaesong zone in North Korea",0 26/11 Mumbai Attacks - Documentary footage with never before seen video. The world MUST see this.,1 "TEFLON DON: TRUMP SOARS AS BUSH CRASHESOne thing about Donald Trump that s so appealing to Americans is that he s not a professional politician and speaks with great honesty. The canned answers of his opponents leave the people feeling empty and uninspired. Jeb Bush is just one example of the snooze fest that happens when a professional politician speaks. However you feel about Teflon Don , he s one of a kind and passionate about America. I have to say I really look forward to his press conferences. New polls from NBC News and Marist out from New Hampshire and Iowa show that, once again, billionaire Donald Trump is winning a fight with yet another career politician: This time, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.Bush s position in the all-important first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa has deteriorated significantly as he s at a meager 6 percent in a poll with a margin of error of 5.5 percent meaning he s slipping further and further into the lower tiers of candidates there. Trump, meanwhile, is at 29 percent in Iowa while fellow political outsider and conservative Dr. Ben Carson is at 22 percent. The two of them Carson and Trump combined earn 51 percent of the GOP primary electorate in Iowa. Throw in Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who s also never held political office and is currently at 5 percent, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)96% another political outsider who s only held office for two years in the U.S. Senate and is at 4 percent and a strong majority of 60 percent of Iowa Republicans support a political outsider and not another Bush.The concurrently released poll from the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire shows a nearly identical trend there. New Hampshire, which unlike Iowa is a pretty much must-win-state for Bush to be able to get the nomination or at least to get it early enough that there isn t a convention feud later, clearly doesn t like him. Trump tops the field again with 28 percent. Carson is in third with 11 percent. Bush has slipped back to fourth place with just 8 percent a six-point slide from when Trump got in the race in July, when the same pollsters found him at 14 percent an embarrassingly low number for the guy who is supposed to the frontrunner at this point. What s more, in second place just ahead of Carson but still quite a ways behind Trump is Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 12 percent. That means Kasich another establishment-minded Republican candidate has moved Bush out of the way and essentially blown past him as the new establishment frontrunner.These new polling results come amid a renewed fight between Trump and Bush over the past couple weeks. Trump has always had his guns trained on not just Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, but Bush as the GOP establishment frontrunner, since the beginning of the race. He hit Bush in his announcement speech and has repeatedly aggressively criticized the former governor as weak, lacking leadership skills and part of the same old tired political class that s led America down a horrendous path it s currently on.Bush initially tried to challenge Trump at the beginning of the race as having been too tough on illegal immigrants along with a whole host of other politicians and cultural figures who pushed back on Trump s announcement speech but Trump not only survived through that firestorm he came out of it in a much stronger position. So, as other candidates attempted to attack Trump over the past couple months after that, Bush has remained relatively quiet about the front-running billionaire. Trump, meanwhile, has systematically destructed once-promising GOP candidates one at a time as they ve come knocking at his door. One by one, Trump has essentially ended chances at the GOP nomination for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)47% and deflated candidacies of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)93% and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)80%. Read more: Breitbart News",0 "Tempers fray as search for survivors winds down after Mexico quakeMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tempers frayed in Mexico City on Friday as the search for survivors amidst twisted rubble of collapsed buildings began to wind down three days after the country s most deadly earthquake in a generation. The 7.1 magnitude quake leveled 52 buildings in the sprawling Mexican capital at lunchtime on Tuesday, leaving thousands homeless and close to 300 people dead. Apartment blocks, offices, a school and a textile factory were among the structures that were destroyed. Across the city, thousands of rescue workers and special teams using sniffer dogs and heat sensors combed wreckage, while the massive outpouring of support from volunteers sparked global praise for Mexico s spirit. Efforts were not fast enough, though, for some family members waiting outside an office building that collapsed in the fashionable Roma neighborhood. As storm clouds gathered over the city, families worried that rain could slow the pace of rescue efforts. Protesters held signs addressed to President Enrique Pena Nieto and Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera. Mancera and EPN: We demand results read one sign. They are still alive. Don t kill them and We don t want machines read others, referring to rumors that the military would use bulldozers to hasten removal of rubble deemed unlikely to harbor survivors. Many sites had already been cleared of rubble by Friday afternoon and chances were dimming of finding anyone else alive. U.S. rescue workers went to work Friday in the collapsed office building, looking for six people who were still missing. Mexican soldiers and volunteers, supported by teams from as far afield as Israel and Japan, have so far rescued at least 60 people from the ruins in Mexico City and surrounding towns. For many the search was highly personal. Firefighter Teresa Ramirez Flores, 40, was helping search an office building in Mexico City s Roma neighborhood where her cousin Carolina Muniz, a 43-year-old accountant, was on the second floor when the building collapsed. We want to be superheroes so that our country doesn t suffer, she said at a site where volunteers brought a wheelbarrow filled with candy for the rescue teams. After three days though, rescuers were finding more dead bodies than survivors and frustration was increasingly evident. Luis Ruiz, a 39-year old carpenter, complained that the police would not let him enter the ruins where his sister and two of her children were buried in the rubble. I felt powerless to be unable to get my family, unable to do anything, he said. Across the city of 20 million people, many whose dwellings had become uninhabitable sought a place to call home, raising the specter of a housing shortage. Senior officials said there could be 20,000 badly damaged homes in the states of Morelos and Puebla. Julia Juarez, 56, sat in a park where the homeless set up tents. All the help we have received is from the civilian population. The government has not sent anything at all, she said. No food, no clothes, no water, not even an Alka-Seltzer. Other Mexican volunteers complained of being displaced by foreign rescue workers who flew in to help. Oscar Ruiz, a firefighter from the state of Guanajuato who had raced to the capital after the quake, said he was close to a survivor under the rubble and could hear a heartbeat with a listening device when his team was pulled to make way for Israeli and Japanese teams. Do you think I wanted that? Ruiz said. It was not clear what happened after he left the site. In the hard-hit Roma neighborhood, Jorge Hernandez and a team of volunteers from Mexico City packed up to move on to isolated villages in Morelos. He said they were doing so after military commands declined their assistance. Mexico City is over saturated with support and there are very remote communities in Morelos that have not received help. That s why we are going there. There, they need so much help, Hernandez said. Tuesday s massive quake struck on the anniversary of the deadly 1985 tremor that killed some 5,000 people in Mexico City. As the shock of this week began to subside, exhaustion crept in, along with growing discontent. On Thursday, Mexico s Navy apologized for communicating incorrect information in a story about a girl supposedly trapped under a collapsed school in Mexico City. A frantic effort had been made to reach the child, dubbed Frida Sofia by local media, but it turned out that the widely-publicized story had been false, leading to anger. Francisco Ortiz questioned whether attention directed at trying to rescue the phantom girl had diverted resources from other places where they were desperately needed, like the apartment building where his sister, Maria, was trapped beneath debris. Authorities had waited until Thursday to begin searching the building. The owner, Juan Salazar, said all the renters had been accounted for before realizing that Ortiz s sister Maria, a maid, had been washing clothes on the roof when the quake struck. Salazar said he called civil protection and also implored passing brigades of rescue workers to help, but it was two days before rescue efforts began. It was negligence. Nobody wanted to take responsibility, neither the army nor Civil Protection, said Ortiz. On Friday afternoon, after a full day s search, rescuers pulled Maria s body from the rubble. (For a graphic on 'Earthquake strikes Mexico' click here) ",1 "British envoy says mission in Afghanistan is doomed, according to leaked memo ",0 Massive 7.4 earthquake hits Papau New Guinea,0 "White House: Trump speaks with Egypt's Sisi by phone on MondayWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump was scheduled to speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday, the White House said. ",1 This Sun Times story was censored for political reasons. No shit. Go ahead. Try to find the original. ,1 "WHY Did Two Major Companies, Who Cash In On EASTER Candy Sales, Hiding “Easter” From Packaging?Americans watch in horror, as ISIS systematically destroys any signs of Christianity in the Middle East. Meanwhile in America, the Left is doing the very same thing but in a much more inconspicuous way. They ve made every effort to remove Christianity from the public s view. They ve removed Christianity from school organizations, public places, and now, in the marketing of products specifically related to religious holidays for the Christian consumer Cadbury was inundated with furious comments from customers on Twitter, questioning why the Easter treats simply said milk chocolate egg with no mention of the Christian festival. One said: Some of us want to know why Easter is hidden on the back now? Why change a good thing?? while another commented: Disgusting you ve dropped the word EASTER .Cadbury sent endless replies to irate shoppers denying claims that they have a policy to remove the Easter slogan on packaging.They wrote on their Twitter: Easter s on the back of our packaging with the other product details.Both Cadbury and Nestle denied that they were getting rid of the word Easter from their products. The word Easter is not included on the front of the packaging for their Mini Eggs Giant Egg or their Dairy Milk Buttons Egg, but Happy Easter is branded on a special edition of the Dairy Milk chocolate bar. It s not on the front as the seasonal design shows what it is. As a seasonal treat the eggs will always be linked with Easter. However customers remained unconvinced, accusing the company of hiding any mention of Easter on the back.Both Cadbury and Nestle denied that they were getting rid of the word Easter from their products. Via: Daily Mail ",0 "Serbian, U.S. army paratroopers jump together to boost tiesBELGRADE (Reuters) - Paratroopers from Serbia and the United States jumped side-by-side just north of Belgrade on Friday as part of a training tailored to bolster ties between the Balkan country and NATO. The exercise dubbed Winter 2017, may raise eyebrows in Moscow which wants to keep Serbia, a Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally under its umbrella, and is worried over possible NATO expansion in the Balkans. It is also a long way from 1999 when NATO bombed what was then Yugoslavia because of its policies toward Kosovo. Although the European Union is Serbia s single largest trade partner and investor, Russia controls its oil and gas supplies. Moscow has also sought to bolster military ties with Belgrade with the donation of six MiG-29 fighter jets. Serbia is one of the few Balkan countries not in the 28-member NATO which is hugely unpopular there due to its 1999 bombing campaign. Alliance troops are still deployed in Kosovo, Serbia s former southern province, whose 2008 independence has not been accepted by Belgrade, Russia, China and some EU members. But joint exercises take place anyway. After more than 100 paratroopers from Serbian elite brigades and the U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade landed on a grassy runway of a small airport near Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic dubbed the drill part of confidence-building activities. The other (goal) is the creation of cooperation, partnerships and friendships (in areas that) we were not always able to boast about in the past, Vucic told reporters. In 2006 Serbia, which maintains military neutrality, joined NATO s Partnership for Peace program and in 2015 it signed the Individual Partnership Action Plan - the highest level of cooperation for countries not aspiring to join. Although it strives for a balance between Moscow and the West, rejecting calls from U.S. officials to pick its side, Serbia in 2017 had 13 military drills with NATO or its members, seven with the U.S. and only two with Russia. ",1 Iran admits oil exports fall by 40 percent amid crippling Western sanctions,0 "U.S. judge bars Colorado from enforcing law banning voter 'selfies'DENVER (Reuters) - A federal judge in Colorado blocked enforcement of a 19th-century state law that bans voters from showing a completed ballot to others, the latest in a flurry of mixed legal rulings on whether to restrict election “selfies” on social media. U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello in Denver issued a preliminary injunction against an 1891 Colorado statute that makes it a misdemeanor offense to reveal the contents of one’s ballot. The ruling came in response to two separate lawsuits by voters challenging enforcement of the law on grounds that it violates their free-speech rights. “By issuing an injunction in this case, Coloradans get what they are entitled to - clarity on an issue that implicates fundamental constitutional rights,” Arguella wrote in her 26-page ruling. The controversy erupted last week after Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey reminded voters of the law, which he said would “include posting your completed ballot to social media.” However, prosecutors from several jurisdictions, including Denver, filed declaration with the court this week saying they would not enforce the misdemeanor law unless evidence showed that voter intimidation or coercion was involved. “Based on our review of applicable law and societal changes, including the ubiquity of social media ... the District Attorney’s Office would not charge anyone with an offense ... for taking a photograph or video of a completed Colorado mail-in ballot,” Denver prosecutor Joseph Morales wrote. Colorado is among 18 states that have laws restricting the taking of photographs in voting booths or of completed ballots. Courts in other states and federal jurisdictions have issued mixed rulings against enforcing such bans. Federal judges in New York and California refused this week to block enforcement of state laws barring voters from taking photographs of marked ballots, saying it was too close to next Tuesday’s presidential election to issue such injunctions. Colorado’s attorney general cited the California and New York decisions in defending Colorado’s law. Lawyers for the Colorado voters said the state’s mail-in voting system, which allows ballots to be filled out anywhere and then either mailed or dropped off, sets Colorado apart from California and New York, where voters must cast ballots at a polling place. Last month, a federal court sided with a voter who challenged a Michigan anti-selfie statute as a free-speech violation. ",1 Mass piracy lawsuits are back in Australia: A law firm is requesting major Australian ISPs hand over the details of users who have allegedly used peer to peer Internet file sharing platforms to pirate content owned by the firms clients,1 "Germany suspends training of Kurdish fighters in northern IraqBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will suspend its mission training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq because of the conflict between the Kurds and the Iraqi government, the German defense minister said on Wednesday. Germany has been a major partner for the Iraqi Kurds. It has provided 32,000 assault rifle and machine guns, as well as other weapons valued at around 90 million euros since September 2014. About 130 German soldiers are based in Erbil where they are providing training to the Kurdish fighters. The Kurdish Peshmerga are at the forefront of the campaign against Islamic State and had significantly expanded their influence to bring the oil region under their control. But responding to a Kurdish vote for independence in a non-binding referendum, Iraqi government forces backed by Iranian-trained paramilitary groups captured the Kurdish-held oil region of Kirkuk on Monday, transforming the country s balance of power. The German government, which agreed on Wednesday on three-month extension of seven other foreign assignments for its armed forces, suspended the training of the Kurdish fighters as it sought to always ensure the unity of Iraq . We had agreed last Friday with the foreign office to pause the training so no wrong signal would be sent, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen told reporters. The minister said the German mission of equipping and training the Kurds for their fight against Islamic State was necessary and the right thing to do. We haven t forgotten how it looked like in 2014 when IS tried to commit genocide against the Yazidis and was around 10 km from Baghdad, she said. The suspension of the training is temporary and resuming it will depend on daily examination of the situation in Iraq, said the government spokesman on Wednesday. Germany had warned Iraqi Kurds against holding what it called a one-sided referendum and had urged Iraqi and Kurdish officials to avoid any steps that could lead to a further escalation of the situation. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Tuesday called on all conflict parties in northern Iraq to immediately stop military actions and engage in direct talks. The conflict between the region of Kurdistan-Iraq and the Iraqi government is giving us the greatest cause for concern, he said in a statement. There is no reason why anyone should believe that there is a military solution to the tensions in Iraq that have flared up in recent days, Gabriel said. ",1 "Cuba calls Trump's U.N. address 'unacceptable and meddling'HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba on Tuesday slammed U.S. President Donald Trump s latest comments about the island as disrespectful, unacceptable and meddling, while reiterating it was not involved in the alleged incidents that had harmed U.S. diplomats in Havana. The sharply worded Foreign Ministry statement came after U.S. and Cuban delegations met in Washington to discuss bilateral relations, the first such high-level meeting between the Cold War foes since Trump took office in January. Their meeting took place on the same day Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York, calling Cuba corrupt and destabilizing. He also said he would not lift the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba until it made fundamental reforms. Cuba said it had voiced strong protest against his comments, as well against his new policy toward the Communist-run nation. The Republican president announced in June a partial rollback of the U.S.-Cuban detente forged by his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. In the wake of the disrespectful, unacceptable and meddling statements made by President Donald Trump in his address to the U.N. General Assembly at a time when the U.S.-Cuba Bilateral Commission was sitting in session, the Cuban delegation voiced a strong protest, the Foreign Ministry statement said. U.S.-Cuban relations have become especially strained since the State Department said last month its personnel in Havana had experienced physical symptoms from what it could only describe as incidents. The symptoms ranged from hearing loss to mild brain injury, a State Department official said last week, adding that the toll of victims had risen to 21 people linked to the U.S. Embassy. Several Canadians were also affected. Cuba has denied any involvement and the United States has not blamed it, although Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday it could close its embassy in response. Cuba has never perpetrated or will ever perpetrate actions of this nature, and has never permitted or will ever permit any third-party use of its territory for this purpose, Cuba s Foreign Ministry said. The Cuban authorities have shown keen interest in both clarifying this matter. ",1 "Trump tweets thanks to Steve Bannon for service and role in campaign against Clinton(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump praised his former chief strategist Steve Bannon on Saturday, thanking him on Twitter for his service and his role in the presidential election campaign against Hillary Clinton. “I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service. He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton - it was great! Thanks S,” Trump tweeted. Trump on Friday fired Bannon in the latest White House shake-up. ",1 "The Romanian parliament has exempted politicians and lawyers from corruption crimes, in a move contrary to agreements with the EU | The amendments, voted without parliamentary debate, now exclude the country's President, senators, members of the lower chamber, and lawyers, as ""public officials.""",0 China opens world's longest sea bridge - 26 miles long,1 Brazil Will Play Military War Game to Defend Recently Discovered Offshore Oil,0 "Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh is in a Saudi prison, allegedly for spreading atheism and having long hair",0 "After stinging Athens, Turkey's Erdogan woos crowds in northern GreeceKOMOTINI, Greece (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan gave out toy cars and dolls to children on the final leg of a visit to Greece on Friday, a trip meant to boost ties but which has exposed the deep rifts between the two neighbors. Erdogan visited the Muslim community in Komotini, a town in northern Greece which once belonged to the Ottoman Empire. A day earlier, he riled his Greek hosts by suggesting the 130,000 Muslims in the region were discriminated against by Athens. We have made very important decisions to meet the needs of our ethnically Greek citizens, and it is our right to expect similar behavior from Greece, he told cheering crowds outside a school in the region. Turkey has frequently found fault with the appointment by Athens of local Muslim clerics - known as Muftis - instead of recognizing those elected by the local population. Erdogan is the first Turkish president to visit Greece in 65 years, but he has put Athens on the defensive by remarking that a decades-old treaty needs revision. The treaty, among other things, defines the boundaries between the two countries. None of that controversy was apparent on Friday, as hundreds of well-wishers gathered outside a mosque in Komotini to welcome Erdogan. Aides carried bags stuffed with toys, which Erdogan gave out to children. Some supporters shouted Leader as he made his way through the crowds. Greek police snipers were stationed on nearby buildings and security was tight. Erdogan is very popular among the Muslim community in the area. He is an ordinary person close to the people, said Ahmet Hoca, 57, a farmer. Closer to Istanbul than to Athens, this community in northern Greece sometimes feels uneasy with the disputes between the two countries, which range from airspace in the Aegean Sea to minority rights. When someone asks you whom you love more, your mother or your father, what are you supposed to answer? You love them both, said resident Hussein Kara, 64. After World War One and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne pushed modern Turkey s borders eastwards. About 1.3 million ethnic Greeks, and 356,000 Turks, moved between Turkey and Greece in a population exchange. The deal excluded Muslim inhabitants of Western Thrace, which includes Komotini, and more than 200,000 Greeks then living in Istanbul. Fewer than 3,000 ethnic Greeks now live in Istanbul. ",1 "Approximately 23 buses have been set ablaze in Sao Paolo, Brazil following the World Cup defeat to Germany.",1 "Borussia Dortmund offers 220 Syrian refugees free tickets to watch their match, which means a football club has welcomed more Syrian refugees than the entirety of the Syrian refugees welcomed by the UK",0 "Kremlin pledges to stand up for Russian billionaire arrested in FranceMOSCOW/PARIS (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday it will spare no effort to defend the rights of Suleiman Kerimov, a Russian businessman and lawmaker who was arrested in the French Riviera resort of Nice in connection with a French tax evasion case. Shares in Polyus, Russia s biggest gold producer which is controlled by Kerimov s family, were down on the news of his detention. The 51-year-old billionaire would be presented to a judge with a view to formally placing him under judicial investigation, a French public prosecutor said in Nice on Wednesday. Under France s legal system, being formally placed under investigation often, but not always, leads to a person being sent to trial. We will do everything in our power to protect his lawful interests, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. Intensive work is now being undertaken by the foreign ministry. A representative for Kerimov in the upper house of parliament, where he sits as a lawmaker, declined to comment on the case on Wednesday when contacted by Reuters. Polyus declined to comment. Russia s state-run Rossiya 24 TV station, citing an unnamed source, reported that Kerimov had denied any guilt. In the lower house of parliament, lawmaker Rizvan Kurbanov asked the Russian foreign ministry to make representations on Kerimov s behalf with the French authorities. We have still not received from the French authorities any explanation of the reasons for the detention of our colleague, Kurbanov told parliament. All this testifies to an unprecedented demarche by the French, he said, adding that he hoped the Russian foreign ministry would issue a formal protest. Shares in Polyus were down by more than 3 percent in early trade in Moscow but since then recovered some ground to trade at minus 2.3 percent by 1342 GMT. Originally from the mainly Muslim Russian region of Dagestan, Kerimov built his multi-billion natural resources business through a combination of debt, an appetite for risk, and political connections. He owned top flight soccer club Anzhi Makhachkala until he sold it in 2016. Kerimov s fortune peaked at $17.5 billion in 2008 before slumping to just $3 billion in 2009, according to Forbes magazine, due to so-called margin-calls on his assets triggered by the 2008 global financial crisis. In March this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree giving Kerimov the state award For Services to the Fatherland, second class for his contribution to Russian parliamentary life. French police arrested Kerimov at Nice airport on Monday evening. A French judicial source said the investigation centered on the purchase of several luxury residences on the French Riviera via shell companies, something that would have enabled Kerimov to reduce taxes owed to the French state. ",1 "I've seen a lot of comments on reddit about Mexico lately. To have a better understanding of the complexity of the problem, listen to this episode of Fresh Air.",1 "North Korea replaces soldiers, South Korea awards medals after defector's border dashSEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has reportedly replaced guards and fortified a section of its border with South Korea where a North Korean soldier defected last week, while South Korean and U.S. soldiers have been decorated for their role in the defector s rescue. The North Korean defector was shot and wounded by his fellow soldiers as he dashed into the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area (JSA) last week. The South Korean and U.S. soldiers who led a rescue attempt to drag the gravely injured soldier to safety have been awarded medals, according to U.S. Forces Korea. A group of senior diplomats based in Seoul visited the JSA on Wednesday morning where they saw five North Korean workers digging a deep trench in the area where the soldier had dashed across the line after getting his jeep stuck in a small ditch, a member of the diplomatic delegation told Reuters on Friday. In a photograph of the visit posted to the Twitter account of acting U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Marc Knapper, North Korean workers could be seen using shovels to dig a deep trench on the North Korean side of the line as soldiers stood guard. The workers were being watched very closely by the KPA guards, not just the two in the photo, but others out of shot behind the building, said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation. According to an intelligence official cited by South Korea s Yonhap news agency, the North has replaced the 35-40 soldiers it had guarding the JSA at the time of the incident. We re closely monitoring the North Korean military s movement in the JSA, a South Korean defense ministry official told reporters, without confirming the reduction in border guards. There are limits as to what we can say about things we know. Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports, although photos taken by Knapper and other diplomats of soldiers guarding the area where workers were digging the trench showed them dressed in slightly different uniforms to the ones usually worn by North Korea s JSA guards. Two new trees had also been planted in the small space between the ditch and the line with the South, the diplomat told Reuters, in an apparent effort to make it more difficult for would-be defectors to drive across the ground. Meanwhile, in South Korea, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said it had awarded its own JSA soldiers - three South Korean and three U.S. soldiers - the Army Commendation medal in recognition for their efforts in rescuing the defector. The medals were personally handed out by USFK Commander Vincent Brooks in a ceremony on Thursday, according to USFK s Facebook page. The soldiers had been responsible for dragging the wounded North Korean soldier to safety in a daring rescue seen in security camera footage released by the United Nations Command earlier this week. Pyongyang has not commented on the defection of its soldier, who is now in stable condition despite sustaining multiple injuries sustained from gunshot wounds to his arm and torso. The young soldier, known only by his family name Oh, is a quiet, pleasant man who has nightmares about being returned to the North, his surgeon told Reuters on Thursday. (For a graphic, click reut.rs/2jfoZPI) ",1 "Polish president signs judicial overhaul bills into lawWARSAW (Reuters) - Polish President Andrzej Duda has signed into law two bills overhauling the judiciary, he said on Wednesday, in defiance of European Union criticism that the legislation undermines the rule of law in central Europe s largest economy. I have taken a decision to sign these bills, Duda said in a statement broadcast on public television. Earlier on Wednesday, the EU executive launched an unprecedented action against Poland over its reforms of the judicial system. ",1 Saudi Arabia Beheads Indonesian Domestic Help who Killed 'Abusive Employer',1 "Honduran leader Hernandez declares himself victor in presidential voteTEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, a U.S. ally from the center-right National Party, on Sunday cited exit polls to declare himself winner of the poor Central American nation s election, despite the opposition saying it too had won. ",1 Nigeria unrest: 'Attackers abduct 200 schoolgirls',1 "UK Chancellor's simple truth - ""There is no more money.""",0 "To gasps from the gallery, Blair said we should be \r\nproud of the war ",0 "HEY RACHEL MADDOW…While You’re On The Subject Of Taxes…What About Tax Evading Hosts At MSNBC?So Rachel, now that we re on the subject of taxes President Trump PAID, how about we remind Americans about the tax evaders/MSNBC hosts employed by your leftist network:MSNBC host and perpetual race agitator Al Sharpton certainly gets around quite a bit. Any time there s any sort of Black Lives Matter protest or urban unrest with a race relations twist, Sharpton seems to appear within hours as if by magic. So busy is the man s schedule that he apparently still can t find time to sit down with an accountant and clear up more than a half million dollars in unpaid taxes which the IRS has been pestering him about for some time now. In a follow-up to their previous reports on the subject, the Daily Caller finds that both Sharpton and his MSNBC colleague Joy-Ann Reid are still on the Tax Man s naughty list, despite assurances last year that they were working to settle up their accounts.Watch Jesse Waters confront Al Sharpton and ask him about his unpaid taxes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9YI5-c1udYMSNBC national correspondent Joy-Ann Reid has yet to pay off her still open nearly $5,000 tax warrant that attracted a good bit of attention last year. Ditto for the nearly $600,000 for two tax warrants that New York lists for MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton.In April 2016, New York filed a $4,948.15 tax warrant against Joy-Ann Reid, who serves as managing editor of theGrio.com and until earlier this year hosted MSNBC s The Reid Report, and her husband, Jason. Reid has called taxes on the wealthy a basic fairness argument, also arguing for smart spending and smart tax increases to create economic growth. Daily CallerMeanwhile, Sharpton, whose state and federal delinquencies are the stuff of legend, has, according to records accessed Monday evening at least two open New York tax warrants for nearly $600,00. One judgment, dated May 19, 2009, is for $103,156.06. The other, from December 16, 2008, is for $492,612.41.Sharpton insisted to the New York Post and New York Times in 2014 that he was paying down his debts. The Times article noted that his insistence conflicted with information provided by state officials. Hot AirMaybe the folks over at MSNBC shouldn t worry so much about the taxes Trump PAID and should focus instead on their host s UNPAID taxes! ",0 "No Vacancies: Airbnb shutters Beijing rentals ahead of Party CongressBEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. short-term rental service Airbnb Inc has removed listings in Beijing as the capital prepares to host a five-yearly Party Congress later this month, the most important event on China s political calendar during which security is at its highest. A Reuters search on Wednesday of Airbnb listings in the city s center yielded zero results for all of October. Listings were present as recently as Tuesday evening for periods including the congress dates of Oct. 18 to 31. Due to external circumstances, homes in certain areas in Beijing are unavailable through October 31, Airbnb said in an email to hosts reviewed by Reuters. The move, mirrored by local rental firms, comes a week before the congress where President Xi Jinping is widely expected to consolidate power in a leadership reshuffle. Such high-profile events are often accompanied by increased surveillance and online censorship. During the last Congress, in 2012, access to Alphabet Inc s Google search engine was cut off. Google services have since been blocked in China. For this year s event, authorities have stepped up ID checks at metro stations and elsewhere in an effort to detain unregistered workers and others illegally residing in Beijing. Four Airbnb hosts in the capital told Reuters they had received notices from the U.S. firm late on Tuesday, which said properties in certain areas of the city would be removed from its website until the end of the month due to external circumstances . Similar to action taken by other hospitality companies, Airbnb listings in certain areas in Beijing will be temporarily unavailable throughout October, the company said in a statement to Reuters. Short-term rentals were also unavailable during the same period via local services Xiaozhu.com and Tujia.com. Neither firm responded to requests for comment. Airbnb and other home-stay sites occupy a legal grey area in China, where tourists are required to register accommodation with local police using a passport or identification card. The requirement is harder to enforce with short-term rentals. The Ministry of Public Security and Beijing s city police did not respond to faxed requests for comment. (The congress blackout) is a pain, but it s not for such a long time, said a 28-year-old press relations worker surnamed Liu, who rents out two flats on both Xiaozhu and Airbnb. As long as (bookings) open again eventually, I don t mind. ",1 Very big quake (7.8) in Pakistan creates new island! Link to pic included,0 "2 Israeli Human Right Groups: Israel is forcibly transfering Palestinians from West Bank to Gaza, splitting families, in violation of international law.",1 "Special Counsel Mueller produces evidence that Manafort drafted op-edWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller unveiled a trove of documents on Friday showing what he said was “irrefutable evidence” that President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort violated a court gag order by ghost-writing an opinion piece designed to improve his public image. In a 41-page court filing, prosecutors provided emails, copies of documents tracking edits of the draft, and other materials they said proved that Manafort wrote a positive article about his political work in Ukraine. That opinion article, which was published on Thursday in an English-language Ukrainian newspaper, also closely tracked talking points that Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates created as far back as August 2016, when Manafort was forced to resign from the Trump campaign. ",1 "Anti-PowerPoint Party formed in Switzerland, wants a referendum on banning the use of presentation software",1 Japan Explores War Scenarios with China,1 """The US and EU are driving the TISA process. It was their lax rules that allowed the Global Financial Crisis to happen. Now they are using TISA to extend those rules even further, at the bidding of their finance industry""",1 " Trump Supporter Scott Baio Makes SHOCKINGLY Insensitive Comment About Former Co-Star’s DeathOn Saturday, the internet was shocked to learn of the apparent sudden death of former Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi star, Erin Moran, who was only 56. The internet being the internet, people waited with bated breath to hear what the co-star and ex-boyfriend formerly known as Chachi and currently known as a right-wing nut job had to say about Moran. Scott Baio s response was exactly as assholish as you d expect it to be if you ve followed what he calls a career in recent years.His comment started out respectfully enough.My sincere condolences. #ErinMoran #HappyDaysFamily pic.twitter.com/5b0AbioZEc Scott Baio (@ScottBaio) April 23, 2017Then things took a horrible turn when he was interviewed on The Bernie and Sid show on WABC. My thing is, I feel bad because her whole life, she was troubled, could never find what made her happy and content. For me, you do drugs or drink, you re gonna die, he continued. I m sorry if that s cold, but God gave you a brain, gave you the will to live and thrive and you gotta take care of yourself, Baio told the radio hosts. I m saddened by what happened. I don t know if it was drugs that killed her, I read one report said it might have been and I hope it I don t know what I hope. It s what it is. What can you do? She was just an insecure human being and fell into this world of drugs and alcohol. Again, I don t know if that s what killed her, I m sure it was a culmination of years and years of doing it that might have had something to do with it. She just never found her way, he said, revealing that he had tried to get her help many years ago. How do you help somebody that doesn t want to help themselves? he asked rhetorically. You try a couple of times and if they don t want the help, I gotta go, sorry. Baio was right about one thing. He didn t know how Moran died. She had stage four cancer.Now, Baio is on the defensive, blaming the backlash on the fact that he supported Donald Trump (his Twitter photo is with Trump).I said IF . @ChaseMit . My wife @MrsScottBaio spoke to Erin less than 1 month ago. You bash me ONLY because I support Pres @realDonaldTrump Scott Baio (@ScottBaio) April 24, 2017Then, like his orange idol, Baio blamed the media for at first reporting on Moran s drug use.The media did first speculate that it was drug use, but that wasn t what was offensive about Baio s interview. What was offensive was his harsh judgment of, regardless of how she died, a sick woman. Baio, like most Republicans these days, believes that he is holier than thou and like Trump, when called out on it, lashes out and blames the fake media. As for Moran, we can only hope she finds the peace she deserves and we wish her loved ones the best.Featured image via Getty/Alex Wong",0 Stunning photographs floods in China ,1 All amateur football matches in the Netherlands cancelled after referee got beaten to death. ,1 "ONE HILARIOUS TWEET Perfectly Sums Up How Irrelevant CNN Has BecomeNunes dropped a bombshell that Obama admin spied on Trump.London attack claimed lives of 5 people. Wounded 40.Meanwhile on CNN: https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/844693397168283648If you thought this was a joke, and that CNN couldn t possibly have aired something so ludicrous as a entire segment dedicated to the possibility that President Trump may be afraid of stairs, think again Conservative comedian Mark Dice puts CNN s embarrassing news story into perspective:",0 "Suicide attacks by two female bombers at a crowded market in northern Nigeria's Maiduguri city have killed 78 people, medical officials say.",1 "Bulgarian, Macedonian Orthodox Churches edge closer despite thorny historySOFIA (Reuters) - The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has taken a step towards possible eventual recognition of Macedonia s Orthodox Church, a rapprochement that echoes a warming of relations between the governments of the two Balkan neighbors. However, the move is unlikely to be welcomed by other Orthodox Churches such as those of Serbia and Greece, in a region where religious identity is often closely tied up with nationalist passions and politics. The Macedonian Orthodox Church was formed when the country was part of communist Yugoslavia but has never been recognized by other Orthodox churches due to a long-standing dispute over its independence from the Serbian Orthodox Church, with which it was previously formally united. This month, however, the Macedonian Church sent an official request to Bulgaria s 1,100-year-old Orthodox Church asking it to become its symbolic mother church. Bulgaria has close linguistic, cultural and historic ties with Macedonia. In a statement on Monday the Bulgarian Orthodox Church said that aware of its sacred duty... (it was) taking all necessary steps to establish the canonical status of the Macedonian Church . We must accept the outstretched hand of Macedonia, Bulgaria s Orthodox Patriarch Neofit said. This is the least (we can do) because they are our brothers. The move comes three months after the prime ministers of Bulgaria and Macedonia signed a friendship treaty in a move designed to end years of diplomatic wrangling and boost Macedonia s European integration. The Bulgarian Church s Holy Synod, its top executive body, will consult with other Eastern Orthodox churches, including those of Russia and Greece and Serbia, before announcing its final decision, it said. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian denomination worldwide with more than 250 million members, but unlike the Roman Catholic Church it has no supreme leader comparable to the Pope but instead is composed mainly of de facto national churches, each led by a patriarch. There was no immediate response on Monday from the Orthodox Church in Serbia, Greece or elsewhere to the Bulgarian move, but they are unlikely to be positive. Greece is locked in a long-running dispute with Macedonia over the country s name, which is also the name of a northern Greek province, and Athens has blocked the Skopje government s attempts to join the European Union and NATO. Russia s Orthodox Church, by far the biggest worldwide, is unlikely to do anything that might compromise Moscow s strong ties with Serbia. Moscow is also opposed to Macedonia s plans to join NATO and the EU. But Bulgaria s Orthodox Church could unilaterally recognize Macedonia s Church, a move sure to cheer Bulgarian nationalists. The Bulgarian Church must recognize the Macedonian (Church), Bulgarian Defence Minister Krasimir Karakachanov, co-leader of the United Patriots party, a junior partner in the centre-right coalition government in Sofia, said on Monday. The two brotherly churches speak without a translator and use the same church books, he added, alluding to the close linguistic links. Bulgarian nationalists regard the Macedonian language as a dialect of Bulgarian. ",1 "Security logs of Clinton email server show no evidence of foreign hacking: NYTWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Computer security records turned over to the FBI from an email server Hillary Clinton used while she was U.S. secretary of state show no evidence of foreign hacking, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing unnamed people close to a federal investigation into her emails. The security logs handed over by a former aide to Clinton, the Democratic front-runner in the Nov. 8 presidential election, back up her stance that her use of a personal email account did not risk exposing U.S. secrets to hackers or foreign governments, the Times said. (Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 North Korea is running out of threats,0 "Manal Al Sharif, the woman who got arrested in Saudi for driving a car, is kept in prison for another 10 days.",1 "Colombian police seize 7 tons of cocaine at banana farmBOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian police have seized seven tonnes of cocaine at a banana farm in northern Antioquia province, the defense minister and police said on Friday. The shipment, worth about $200 million, belonged to the Golfo Clan crime gang. Five people were arrested in the operation. The shipment was being guarded for a later transport to Central America, with the United States as a final destination, camouflaged in legal shipments of banana and fruits, the defense ministry said in a statement. The Golfo Clan said this month it would be willing to surrender to the government. The group, also known the Usuga Clan, is accused of operating profitable drug trafficking routes in partnership with Mexican cartels and taking part in illegal gold mining. President Juan Manuel Santos has said the government is looking into the request but will not negotiate with the group. ",1 Bombers turn up too late for rally: A murderous plot by radical Islamists to launch a gun and bomb attack on hundreds of people attending a right-wing rally in the UK failed after they turned up too late,1 "Senator Hatch to Healthcare Protesters: ‘If You Want a Hearing, You Better Shut Up’ [Video]The Senate Finance Committee hearing for the Republican Graham-Cassidy health care bill became a screaming protest today. People in wheelchairs screamed and chanted in opposition to the bill One woman was removed for her disruption:Wow. pic.twitter.com/VOlQHBksPy Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) September 25, 2017 In what was clearly a manufactured protest with mostly people in wheelchairs, the disruption was enough to make a key senator yell back. Sen. Orrin Hatch responded to protestors whose shouting prevented the hearing s start, saying, If you want a hearing, you better shut up. I d like to welcome everyone, and I do mean everyone, Finance Committee Chairman Hatch said, referencing the large crowd of protestors.A protestor started screaming something unintelligible. Well if we re gonna, Hatch began before the chants grew louder. If you want a hearing, you better shut up, Hatch said, pounding his gavel. Let the police take care of it, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) quietly told Hatch. Oh, I will. I will, Hatch said.After a brief period of more chanting by protestors, Hatch turned to Grassley and asked, What are they saying? Don t touch the Medicaid, save our Grassley said before trailing off, clearly unsure of what the last part of the chant was supposed to be.The chant in question was, Don t touch the Medicaid, save our liberty. The Senate has been expected to vote on the latest Obamacare repeal effort before the end of the month. Opposition has mounted against the bill, however, and with Republican Sen. John McCain already a definite no, and others doubtful, the bill s future is uncertain.Read more: WFB",0 China to continue birth control policy: vice premier,1 "Islamic State executed nearly 2,000 people in six months",0 Ahmadinejad: Neda's death is 'suspicious',1 " President Obama: Hillary Clinton Is Undoubtedly Qualified To Be PresidentHillary Clinton was one of the most hands-on First Ladies this country has ever seen. From healthcare to childcare, Clinton took the lead in sparking new and necessary debates on a multitude of issues. She then served, in her best capacity, as Senator of New York. For two terms, she carved out a bipartisan (yet liberal) ideology that more than a few times caused her to take heat both from the right and the left.As Secretary of State, President Obama s words sum it up best: One of the best decisions I ever made as president. Even after forty years of public service, fighting for the things that matter (albeit, with some mistakes made along the way), some on the left don t think she s qualified to be President of the United States.Following his own lead, the White House confirmed that President Obama disagrees with some of those on the left, namely Senator Bernie Sanders, and thinks that not only is Clinton unequivocally qualified to be the president, but as deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz puts it to reporters:The president has said that Secretary Clinton comes to this race with more experience than any other non-vice president in recent campaign history.President Obama also added, again, that he was proud of Clinton s service as Secretary of State.Clinton has made building on President Obama s legacy a staple in her campaign. The White House s praise of Clinton s qualifications is paramount as the heat turns up in New York between her and Senator Bernie Sanders, who faces an uphill battle to win the nomination.Currently, Nate Silver s FiveThirtyEight gives Clinton a 95 percent chance of winning New York. The White House s praise (and possibly veiled endorsement) could carry weight for Clinton amongst Democrats and left-leaning independents. Last month, President Obama told Democratic donors to unite behind Clinton, but denied that signaled an endorsement. Featured image by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images",0 """In a bid to end a decades-long split in the Catholic Church, the Vatican offered a conservative breakaway group [SSPX] a special status enjoyed only by the Opus Dei movement . . . The status . . . would allow the SSPX to operate directly under the pope's authority, without territorial boundaries.""",1 "Kenyan police fire tear gas at opposition leader's car: Reuters witnessNAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police fired tear gas at opposition leader Raila Odinga s car, a Reuters witness said. Earlier, police and supporters of Odinga had fought running battles on Friday along the main road to Nairobi s international airport before Odinga landed from an overseas trip. ",1 Moscow shrouded in noxious gas,1 Russian athletes to remain banned from international competition,0 "U.S. lawyer defending travel ban grilled in court over Trump's tweetsWASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal appeals court judges on Friday asked about President Donald Trump’s sharing of anti-Muslim videos on his Twitter account, as they grilled a U.S. government lawyer about the legality of the president’s latest travel ban. Judge Pamela Harris asked government lawyer Hashim Mooppan about Trump’s Nov. 29 online sharing of three anti-Muslim videos posted on Twitter by a far-right British party leader. Lawyers say that and earlier statements by Trump prove the policy is aimed at blocking the entry of Muslims, rather than the president’s stated goal of preserving national security. “Even with deference, construing them in the light most favorable to the president, it’s a little tricky to find the national security rationale in those” Twitter posts, Harris said at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing in Richmond, Virginia, monitored by Reuters over audio feed. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the ban to take effect while litigation over its ultimate validity unfolds. Certain categories of people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen are barred from entering the United States, as well as people from North Korea and some government officials from Venezuela. The Republican president has said the ban is needed to protect the United States from terrorism. However, Judge James A. Wynn Jr. said Trump “tweets the very thing” that his opponents claim is behind the ban. “What do we do with that?” On Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing over the ban, in a separate case brought by the state of Hawaii. A lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union argued against the ban on behalf of several refugee groups, civil rights groups and individual American Muslims who say they are harmed by the ban. Mooppan argued on behalf of the government that the latest travel ban should be considered on its own merits, and separately from statements Trump has made on social media or elsewhere that could be construed to be anti-Muslim. He noted that the latest iteration of the ban came after a review by government agencies. “I need you to explain to me how a review process by subordinate executive branch officials is an independent act that can cure the taint from presidential statements,” Harris, an Obama appointee, said to Mooppan. Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, also an Obama appointee, asked why nationality was more relevant than other factors such as gender in considering the potential for terrorist acts. “Could he ban the entry of all men until evidence showed further that men are not the ordinary and customary perpetrators of terrorist activity?” Keenan asked. “If 99 percent of terrorist acts are committed by men, aren’t we really protecting this country if we just keep out the men?” Mooppan pointed to previous bans on the entry of Iranians by Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Cubans by Republican President Ronald Reagan as examples of presidents who barred people based on nationality. ACLU attorney Cecillia Wang faced tough questioning from Judge Paul Niemeyer, who asked when it would be justified for courts to question the national security determinations of the president. “All foreign policy is a black box and it should be,” said Niemeyer, a George H.W. Bush appointee. Trump issued his first travel ban in January. The order, which targeted several Muslim-majority countries, caused chaos at airports and was blocked by courts. He revised it in March, and that ban expired in September after a long court fight. It was replaced with the current version. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to ultimately decide the issue in the coming months. ",1 Anonymous takes down Formula One website in suppport of Bahranini protests,1 "More arrests in apparent Saudi campaign against critics: activists(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has detained more clerics and intellectuals, activists said on social media on Tuesday, widening an apparent crackdown on potential opponents of the conservative kingdom s absolute rulers. The crackdown comes amid widespread speculation, denied by officials, that King Salman intends to abdicate in favor of his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who already dominates economic, diplomatic and domestic policy. It also comes amid a deepening rift between Saudi Arabia and its allies on one side and Qatar on the other. Exiled Saudi opposition activists have called for protests on Friday to galvanize resistance to the royal family. The al-Saud family has always regarded Islamist groups as the biggest internal threat to its rule over a country in which appeals to religious sentiment cannot be lightly dismissed and an al Qaeda campaign a decade ago killed hundreds. Prominent Islamist clerics Salman al-Awdah, Awad al-Qarni and Ali al-Omary were detained over the weekend, according to Saudi sources. On Tuesday, activists dedicated to monitoring and documenting what they describe as prisoners of conscience reported that at least eight other prominent figures, including clerics, academics, television anchors and a poet, had been confirmed detained since Monday. ALQST, a London-based Saudi rights group, also reported more arrests, including several of the same people, although it gave no specific figure. Al-Awdah, al-Qarni, Farhan al-Malki and Mostafa Hassan (are confirmed), said Yahya al-Assiri, the center s head, referring to four of those reported to have been arrested. The rest are also correct, but I don t have any specific information, he added. Saudi officials could not be reached for comment. State news agency SPA said earlier on Tuesday that authorities had uncovered intelligence activities for the benefit of foreign parties by a group of people it did not identify. A Saudi security source told Reuters the suspects were accused of espionage activities and having contacts with external entities including the Muslim Brotherhood , which Riyadh has classified as a terrorist organization. The government toughened its stance on dissent following the Arab Spring in 2011 after it averted unrest by offering billions of dollars in handouts and state spending. But the Brotherhood, which represents an ideological threat to Riyadh s dynastic system of rule, has gained power elsewhere in the region. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and transport links with Qatar in June over its alleged support for Islamists including the Brotherhood a charge that Doha denies. Awdah reportedly was detained after he posted a message on his Twitter account welcoming a possible end to the rift between Qatar and other Arab countries which began in Egypt. Activists also suggested that poet Ziad bin Neheet may have been detained for posting a video in which he chastised journalists who had exploited the row with Qatar to heap abuse on each other. What is happening between Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a normal thing in a political dispute, but the role which the media carried out was very, very negative, he said. Activists have published a list of eight other people they fear may be arrested next. ",1 "Senators want to change massive new Israel aid packageWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. lawmakers launched an effort on Tuesday to modify a $38 billion military aid agreement with Israel by providing more money and easing controls on how it is spent, setting up a showdown with President Barack Obama over the package days after it was signed. Senators Lindsey Graham, Kelly Ayotte, John McCain and Ted Cruz told a news conference they had filed a measure to give Israel an additional $1.5 billion in military aid, while renewing U.S. sanctions on Iran. Republican Senators Mark Kirk, Marco Rubio and Roy Blunt also co-sponsored the bill introduced on Tuesday. Ayotte, McCain, Kirk, Rubio and Blunt all face competitive races for re-election on Nov. 8. Arguing that U.S. law gives Congress control of spending, they objected to a provision preventing Israel from asking for additional funds from Congress after the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), begins at the end of fiscal 2018. “This is a very dramatic moment in the U.S.-Israel relationship between Congress and the state of Israel. Congress is not going to sit on the sidelines,” Graham said. The senators also object to Israel’s agreement to return any money if Congress tries to send it more than $3.8 billion per year before then. Graham said he would introduce legislation to overturn a provision in the agreement that phased out an arrangement that has allowed Israel to spend 26.3 percent of U.S. military aid on its own defense industry instead of on U.S. weapons. U.S. and Israeli officials signed the agreement on Wednesday. The 10-year package is the largest in U.S. history. It was reached after nearly 10 months of negotiations that underscored continuing friction between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. But Netanyahu decided it would be best to forge a new arrangement with Obama, who leaves office in January, rather than hoping for better terms from the next U.S. administration, according to officials on both sides. The senators insisted that Netanyahu was forced into signing because Israel’s arch-enemy Iran is growing stronger as it obtains billions of dollars unfrozen under an international nuclear agreement reached last year. “Now is not the time to say that we’re going to nickel and dime Israel,” Graham said. Congressional Republicans strongly oppose the nuclear pact. They angered the White House in 2015 by inviting Netanyahu to give an address to Congress opposing it. They have offered several pieces of legislation to overturn or undermine the nuclear deal, and sought to make it an issue in the 2016 U.S. elections. ",1 "Czech doctors resign en masse, saying that being paid lower wages than a mechanic or waiter isn't OK any more.",0 "WikiLeaks founder urges US to investigate alleged abuse by its troops, as US faces UN grilling over human rights record",1 'All Belgians to get iodine pills' in case of nuclear accident,0 "Anonymous is crowdsourcing #OpParis, publishes noob guide to hacking",1 "Puerto Rico opens arms to refugees from Irma's Caribbean chaosSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Saddled with economic problems and its own damage from Hurricane Irma, Puerto Rico is taking thousands of refugees from the U.S. Virgin Islands whose homes were destroyed by the storm, with a cruise ship carrying up to 2,000 more due to set sail for the U.S. territory on Wednesday. Visibly shaken residents from St. Martin and the Virgin Islands arrived on Tuesday on U.S. military aircraft, bringing tales of terrifying winds and a breakdown of law and order. The people of Puerto Rico - what big hearts you guys got because our (local) government did nothing - nothing, said William Vonfabrice, 61, from St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. People coming at us with machetes, offering bullets and saying There is more for you, breaking into houses, hurting people. Royal Caribbean s Majesty of the Seas cruise ship was expected to depart the badly damaged St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Wednesday evening bound for San Juan, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands commissioner of tourism Beverly Nicholson-Doty said. Irma skirted Puerto Rico last week, knocking out power to 70 percent of the island, damaging buildings and killing at least three people, but the destruction was not nearly as bad as elsewhere in the Caribbean. The storm s 185 mph (297 km/h) winds hammered a string of tiny Caribbean islands that are territories of Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States. Homes, hotels, hospitals, marinas and airports were badly damaged and the extent of the chaos seemed to catch the wealthy nations off guard. Britain s government said local authorities had imposed a curfew on the British Virgin islands, where locals complained of widespread looting and violent crime after Irma. U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visited the islands on Wednesday, calling them a scene of utter devastation on Twitter as his government announced 25 billion ($33 billion) in extra aid for its territories. The nations all have launched military relief operations but locals and tourists have criticized the response for being too slow and not reaching everybody evenly. Visiting the French Caribbean on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to quickly rebuild St. Martin, a French territory shared with the Netherlands. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson met with security officials in Anguilla. Dutch King Willem-Alexander said the destruction he saw in St. Martin was on a scale he had never seen before. Charles Morrison, 89, an evacuee from the Dutch part of the island, Sint Maarten, said one person was killed when the hotel he was staying in was flooded and partially destroyed. Morrison then took shelter in a friend s more secure place. The fact is, that s the end of Sint Maarten, he said as he was pushed through San Juan s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in a wheelchair. Puerto Rico has $70 billion in debt, a poverty rate above 46 percent, and near-insolvent pension and health systems, a fact not lost on the arrivals. God bless Puerto Rico and the hearts because you guys are struggling. And from the hardest struggle, that s where the real people come out, Vonfabrice said, thanking Puerto Rico for sending food, water and ships to the Virgin Islands. A Puerto Rico government spokeswoman said the financial situation and expected length of stay of the 2,000 refugees due to arrive in San Juan was still unclear, but that expenses would be covered by emergency federal funding. Puerto Rico has set up a large convention center to house refugees who cannot afford to go to a hotel. Other countries in the region also helped. St. Lucia has agreed to house prisoners from the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands, after the storm damaged the prisons in those British territories. The Cayman Islands has sent police to help reinforce security in the British Virgin Islands after more than 100 prisoners escaped when the storm breached the prison. Mexico s foreign minister Luis Videgaray instructed his diplomats in the Caribbean to offer unspecified help to Puerto Rico and Cuba even as it seeks to cope with the fallout from a massive earthquake. St. Thomas resident Laci Rivers, 33, was waiting on board the Royal Caribbean s Majesty of the Seas, eager to bring her two small children to safety after days of uncertainty. Everyone is stressed and hungry and confused, she said. Rivers said her car was broken into with a hammer, items were stolen from the flattened sushi restaurant where she worked, and she saw fights break out in St. Thomas among increasingly desperate people jostling for food and water. She was under no illusions about what would happen to her home in western St. Thomas. We ve already realized it s going to be looted while we re gone, she said. ($1 = 0.7571 pounds) ",1 "Indonesia holds cabinet meeting in Bali as volcano threatens tourismJAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo will on Friday hold his cabinet meeting on the holiday island of Bali in a bid to reassure visitors that there is nothing to worry about from the rumbling Mount Agung volcano. Authorities last month raised the alert status of Mount Agung in northeastern Bali to the highest level, imposing an exclusion zone of up to 10 km (6 miles) around its crater as it spewed clouds of ash, steam, and other volcanic material. Widodo will take the unusual step of gathering his cabinet in Bali as part of government efforts to assure visitors that the island is safe to come to and to stave off a major drop off in visitor numbers during the upcoming holiday season. For those who have plans to vacation in Bali, there s no need to doubt or be worried about the status of Mount Agung, Bali is very safe to visit, Energy Minister Ignasius Jonan said in a Twitter message after visiting an observatory overlooking the volcano, before the cabinet meeting. President Widodo is expected to make a statement after the cabinet meeting. The cabinet usually meets at the state palace in the capital Jakarta or on its outskirts in Bogor. The relatively small island of Bali, famous for its beaches and temples, has an outsized importance for Indonesian tourism. In January-September, Bali received 4.5 million foreign tourist arrivals, nearly half of the 10.5 million arrivals in Indonesia. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said this week that Indonesia was expecting an estimated 15 trillion rupiah ($1.11 billion) in lost income and around 1 million fewer tourists because of the volcano, according to daily newspaper Kompas. Many business operators and hotels have seen cancellations since authorities first raised the alert in September, and most expect the holiday season to be slower than in previous years. Thousands of tourists were left stranded late last month when a volcanic ash cloud forced the closure of Bali s airport for several days. Countries like Australia and Singapore have advised their citizens to be cautious when traveling to Bali. ",1 "So, in short, the BBC have decided to bend over and take it in the Ass from James Murdoch et al.",1 "New Jersey 'Bridgegate' judge delays closing argumentsNEWARK, N.J. (Reuters) - Closing arguments in New Jersey’s “Bridgegate” trial were unexpectedly postponed by a day on Thursday because of an unspecified “legal issue” that must be resolved, the trial judge said. U.S. prosecutors in Newark had been scheduled to begin summing up the evidence against two former allies of Governor Chris Christie who are accused of orchestrating lane closures at the busy George Washington Bridge to New York City in September 2013 in an act of political retribution. U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton told jurors to return on Friday morning for closing arguments, which are now expected to last into Monday. Prosecutors and defense lawyers, who also left for the day, declined to comment on the nature of the issue. Jurors have heard more than a month of testimony in the trial of Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, operator of the bridge. Prosecutors say the two conspired with another Port Authority executive, David Wildstein, to create massive gridlock in Fort Lee, New Jersey, to punish the town’s mayor for refusing to back Christie’s 2013 reelection campaign. The scandal damaged Christie’s political standing as he was beginning a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. The governor is a top adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Christie, who has not been charged with wrongdoing, has said he was unaware of the lane closings at the time. But testimony at the trial from several witnesses have contradicted Christie’s claim. Wildstein, who pleaded guilty and testified for the government, said he and Baroni discussed the plot with Christie as it was unfolding. Baroni and Kelly each took the stand and said they spoke with Christie about the lane closures, though they said they believed that the closures were part of a legitimate traffic study. Kelly, who cried several times during her testimony, portrayed Christie as a demanding and bullying boss who once flung a water bottle at her in anger. She was the author of an infamous email sent to Wildstein that said, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” a message prosecutors say set the scheme in motion. But Kelly told jurors that she was simply parroting the language Wildstein had used in describing the potential gridlock caused by what she believed was a Port Authority-approved traffic study. ",1 "An Iraqi policeman gave his own life Wednesday in an attempt to protect Shiite pilgrims, embracing a suicide bomber just moments before an attack to shield others from the blast.",1 "Hariri indicates possibility of revoking his resignationBEIRUT (Reuters) - Saad al-Hariri, who announced on Nov. 4 from Saudi Arabia that he was quitting as Lebanon s prime minister, suggested on Sunday he could rescind his resignation. Speaking from Riyadh in an interview with Future TV, a station affiliated with his political party, Hariri said he planned to return to Lebanon to confirm his resignation in accordance with the constitution. But he also said that if he rescinds his decision to quit, the Hezbollah movement must respect Lebanon s policy of staying out of regional conflicts. ",1 "Obama, at battery plant, jabs Republicans on economic 'snake oil'JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama used a trip to a lithium-ion battery factory on Friday to defend his economic record against arguments made by Republicans in the race to succeed him after the Nov. 8 presidential election. Obama said his policies, including the $760 billion economic stimulus he brought in when he first took office, helped the American economy bounce back from the 2007-2009 recession that he inherited much faster than European nations that adopted austerity measures. “If we don’t recognize the progress we’ve made and how that came about, then we may chase some snake oil and end up having policies that get us back in the swamp,” Obama told workers at the plant built by French company Saft with $95.5 million from the stimulus. “We knew that it’s going to take more than one year or even one president to get to where we need to go, but we can see real tangible evidence of what a new economy looks like. It looks like this facility right here.” The Saft plant, which opened in 2011, created almost 300 jobs in the region but has struggled with sluggish demand for lithium-ion batteries. The French company had to take a writedown and its chief executive has said it would probably take two to three years to become profitable. Obama acknowledged the pace of changes in the economy has been “scary sometimes.” Those economic fears have helped propel the campaign of Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman who is the front-runner in the race to be the Republican candidate for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Florida, home to Republican presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio, is critical to both the March 15 primary vote and the general election that follows. Obama brought Democratic U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy from Florida with him on the trip. Murphy is running for Rubio’s Senate seat. Stimulus investments to advanced battery makers were panned by Republican lawmakers after A123 Systems, a lithium-ion battery maker, went bankrupt in 2012 and was bought by Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang. Battery maker LG Chem came under fire after a 2013 Energy Department Inspector General report found that the company used some of its funding for a Michigan battery plant to pay employees to watch movies, volunteer at non-profits and play games because there was little work for them to do. But Obama said the stimulus helped America compete in the global race to boost solar and wind power. “Taxpayers are getting their money back, and some,” he said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Bill Trott) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 Maybe you don't see an irony in the individual getting screwed and screwed again by the same corporations and bailed-out banks who are so forthcoming with their advice for our politicians,1 A cloud of smog hovers over Mongolias capital,1 ISPs take GCHQ to court in UK over mass surveillance,1 German 'anti-Islamization' march in Dresden draws record numbers,0 " President Obama Is Putting An End To Inhumane Punishment In The Federal Prison SystemPresident Obama announced via an op-ed in the Washington Post that he will be enacting some major reforms in the federal prison system. He will be putting an end to solitary confinement for juveniles, and prohibiting the practice as a punishment for low-level infractions. The reforms were taken from a report by the Justice Department that listed recommendations for improving the system. It s estimated that approximately 10,000 individuals would be affected.Unfortunately, this only applies to the federal prison system and not to the majority of prison inmates that are incarcerated for state-level crimes. Even with that in mind, this is still a bold and very necessary step in reforming American prisons which can serve as a model for states to follow.President Obama made his case as follows:How can we subject prisoners to unnecessary solitary confinement, knowing its effects, and then expect them to return to our communities as whole people? It doesn t make us safer. It s an affront to our common humanity.The Justice Department has completed its review, and I am adopting its recommendations to reform the federal prison system. These include banning solitary confinement for juveniles and as a response to low-level infractions, expanding treatment for the mentally ill and increasing the amount of time inmates in solitary can spend outside of their cells. These steps will affect some 10,000 federal prisoners held in solitary confinement and hopefully serve as a model for state and local corrections systems. And I will direct all relevant federal agencies to review these principles and report back to me with a plan to address their use of solitary confinement.Source: WaPoWhile acknowledging that sometimes solitary confinement can be required for certain individuals, President Obama made it clear that it s a punishment which is overused and ends up causing more harm than good in many cases.There are as many as 100,000 people held in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons including juveniles and people with mental illnesses. As many as 25,000 inmates are serving months, even years of their sentences alone in a tiny cell, with almost no human contact.Research suggests that solitary confinement has the potential to lead to devastating, lasting psychological consequences. It has been linked to depression, alienation, withdrawal, a reduced ability to interact with others and the potential for violent behavior. Some studies indicate that it can worsen existing mental illnesses and even trigger new ones. Prisoners in solitary are more likely to commit suicide, especially juveniles and people with mental illnesses.Source: WaPoHopefully, this will be a first step in what turns out to be a long path of reforms to bring our prison system out of the realm of cruel and unusual punishment, as it was intended to be all along.featured image via The Georgia Straight",0 US army tanks arrive in Baltics amid mounting Russian invasion fears,0 Archaeologists Uncover Clues to Why Vikings Abandoned Greenland ,1 " WOW: Duck Dynasty Star Phil Robertson Offers Up The Worst Proof Ever That Jesus Was RealNo one can accuse Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson of being able to use the few brain his god saw fit to bless him with. Nobody can accuse him of not clinging so desperately to his faith that he literally can t see anything else, either. To that end, while speaking at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, he put forth what he no doubt believes is ironclad proof that the son of his god, Jesus Christ, actually existed.What s his proof? It s definitely not scientific proof. It s also not even biblical proof. No his proof is so uniquely out there that it defies description: [The] calendar documents it is 2016 years since Jesus showed up, right? So don t tell me he wasn t here!By the way, if your calendar is dated of all the human beings who have ever walked on the Earth, and your calendar is dedicated and predicated to just one of em, evidently something rather large went down. Wow, he s really got us there.This is a good time to start scratching your head while wondering just what manner of derpiness this is. Our calendar, dedicated to just Jesus, simply because it s the year 2016? Don t make us laugh too hard. It hurts, especially considering that the names of most of the months are based on things that are so un-Christian they re blasphemy:Robertson could stand to read this little history lesson if he s going to make wild claims about our calendar, although it s entirely possible that he d call it all Satan s lies, or something like that. It s really hard to cure someone like him of willful ignorance; he d just come up with more willful ignorance.Featured image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images",0 Japan and North Korea Set To Talk: Based on the principle of settling the unfortunate past and on restoring normal relations. ,0 UN report: Contraception access could save $57 billion worldwide,0 "Quebec's Bill 78 threatens freedom of expression: 'Its penalties are draconian, designed more to stifle free expression than protect public order. Legislatively, it's the equivalent of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut'",0 "STUNNING: OBAMA PREACHES Value Of Communism To Italian Audience [Video]STUNNING! Former US Pres. Obama was at the International Summit of Food Innovation in Milan. May 9. 2017 It s called SEEDS AND CHIPS but should be called THE BASICS OF COMMUNISM BY BARACK OBAMAYou might not want to listen to the entire video but it is truly stunning to listen to the elitist globalist vision for controlling the masses. This is where we re heading if the people don t recognize this and rise up to fight it. This is why the left hates Trump! the shadow government wants control and will do everything it can to continue ruling. Obama and his cronies are dangerous to us all. We hope you ll listen to the entire video or at least the point beginning with 44:36:Please go to the 44:36 point of the video: Obama speaks and then notice the clapping after his comments these elitist lefties are nutso!OBAMA PRAISING THE INHERENT VALUE OF COMMUNISM: This is a much bigger concern in the economy as a whole. And my guess is that ultimately what is going to happen is that everybody is going to have to work less and we re going to have to spread work more.But that is going to require a reorganization of the social compact. That requires we change our mindset about the link between work, income and value of people in the teaching profession, or in healthcare, or in certain things that cannot be done by AI or a robot.How do we prepare for that? And how do we start creating, or at least having a conversation within our society about making sure that work and opportunities are spread; and that everybody has the chance to live a good and fulfilling life?Rather than having a few people who are working 80 to 90 hours a week and making enormous incomes; and then a large portion of redundant workers that increasingly have difficult time supporting families. That s not a sustainable mechanism for democracy and a healthy society.The end of the stunning comments is 46:40 of video",0 "Ukrainian Anti-Muslim/White extremist murdered 82-year-old Muslim man, planted mosque bombs in Britain. ""He said he murdered (Saleem) because he wasn't white.""",0 " Rep. John Lewis Reminds Us All How Far We’ve Come With Chilling Bloody Sunday TweetsAnyone who knows anything about the Civil Rights Movement and its highlights knows about Bloody Sunday. It was the Sunday in the late winter/early spring of 1965 where many civil rights leaders and protesters lost their lives at the hands of law enforcement and others who wanted to keep racism alive on a legal level. Roughly 600 people assembled in Selma, Alabama after a march from Montgomery that Sunday March 7, 1965 and today is the 51st anniversary of that March.Another widely known fact is that esteemed and celebrated U.S. Congressman John Lewis was there. Not only was he there, but he was beaten within an inch of his life for protesting for the civil rights of black people. Luckily, he survived to tell the tale, and has decided to tweet the timeline of what happened to him and others in the time leading up to that fateful day. Here are the highlights:I was arrested for the first time 56 years ago today during a nonviolent sit-in to protest segregated lunch counters pic.twitter.com/Xp2C9K8oLa John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) February 28, 2016He reminded us what he and others went through so that EVERYONE has the right to vote:The Vote is precious, it is almost sacred. I gave a little blood to guarantee that every American has the right to vote. Do your part. John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 1, 2016Jim Lawson friend, mentor was expelled from Vanderbilt 56 years ago today for his role in organizing the Nashville sit-ins #goodtrouble John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 3, 2016Jim Lawson is one of the great unsung heroes of the Movement. He freed me. He liberated me. We all owe him a debt. pic.twitter.com/z2tXkjwiOm John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 3, 2016It's good to be back in Selma one more time. https://t.co/eGB4W8jtW3 John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 6, 201651 years ago today, we said a prayer before setting out from Brown Chapel to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. pic.twitter.com/bt2gJFDuPb John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 7, 2016At the apex of the bridge, high above the Alabama River, Hosea Williams asked if I could swim. I said no. #Selma51 pic.twitter.com/dlEXA8dJ6X John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 7, 2016Major John Cloud said, ""This is an unlawful march. It will not be allowed to continue."" #Selma51 pic.twitter.com/Gw5pHCHJDM John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 7, 2016The Major paused for a minute and then he said, ""Troopers advance!"" pic.twitter.com/rN8Br6bqse John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 7, 2016I was hit in the head by a State Trooper. I thought I saw death. I thought I was going to die. #Selma51 pic.twitter.com/N4CDxv2vJG John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 7, 2016I had a concussion there at the bridge, and I've never been able to recall how any of us made it back alive #Selma51 pic.twitter.com/TlJRfyrikO John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 7, 2016Finally, at the end of his harrowing tweeted story, Rep. Lewis reminded us just how much things HAVE changed, with a powerful photo of himself embracing President Obama, the first Black president:When people tell me nothing has changed, I say come and walk in my shoes and I will show you change. #Selma51 pic.twitter.com/y4WWtowIeZ John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 7, 2016And then, he made sure we realize just how very far we still have to go:We've come a great distance since Selma, but we still have miles to March if we are to build the beloved community. pic.twitter.com/Hb9c5M0pRV John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 6, 2016Thank you, Rep. Lewis, for sharing your story, and for all you sacrificed and did for all of us. Also, thank you for reminding us that it s nowhere near over just yet.Featured image via Rep. John Lewis Twitter",0 "N.C. city's vote to expand transgender rights draws state opposition(Reuters) - A top North Carolina lawmaker vowed on Tuesday to correct the “radical course” taken by leaders in Charlotte, the state’s largest city, after they voted to allow transgender people to use public bathrooms matching their gender identity. The Charlotte City Council expanded the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance late on Monday to add protections for marital and familial status, sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity. A provision that permits bathroom choice based on gender identity drew opposition ahead of the 7-4 vote from Christian evangelist Franklin Graham and North Carolina’s Republican governor, Pat McCrory, a former mayor of Charlotte. State House of Representatives Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican, said he would consider legislation to block the measure, which some critics fear would allow sexual predators to gain access to women’s bathrooms. “The Charlotte City Council has gone against all common sense and has created a major public safety issue by opening all bathrooms and changing rooms to the general public,” Moore said in a statement. “I join my conservative colleagues and Governor McCrory in exploring legislative intervention to correct this radical course,” he added. Civil rights groups rejected the public safety concerns as overblown. They praised the council for passing what they said was the first ordinance in the state to prohibit discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people in public accommodations, including restaurants, hotels and taxis. Charlotte was one of the largest U.S. cities without a law explicitly protecting the LGBT community from discrimination, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights group based in Washington. The revised law takes effect on April 1. “Charlotte has full authority to enact this ordinance, and we hope the General Assembly will respect this local government’s decision to protect its residents and visitors from discrimination,” said Sarah Preston, acting executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. Voters in Houston, the fourth most populous U.S. city, last fall rejected a similar measure that would have banned discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation and let transgender men and women use bathrooms that corresponded with their gender identity. ",1 The puzzling crash of Air Frances Flight 447 killed two of the worlds most prominent illegal arms trade and international drug trafficking foes.,0 Someone Threw a Shoe at Ahmadinejad on His Not-So-Good Trip to Cairo,1 Shark Cull Opposition Intensifies in Australia - Thousands take to beaches to protest against controversial catching and killing of sharks longer than 3 metres,0 "Ireland moots possible special post-Brexit arrangements for itself, Northern IrelandDUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland is not ruling out seeking special post-Brexit arrangements for itself and Northern Ireland as a fallback option in the negotiations on Britain s departure from the EU, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday. Ireland has proposed that Britain and the EU reach a bespoke customs union partnership to eliminate the risk of a hard border returning between it and Northern Ireland, which will be the UK s only land frontier with the EU after its departure. Varadkar said this remained EU-member Ireland s position in the negotiations being led by Brussels but that it of course has fallback positions if things don t work out. We re determined to secure a customs union partnership and a free trade agreement or area between Britain and Ireland when it comes to the post-Brexit scenario, Varadkar told parliament. We certainly don t rule out seeking special arrangements for Ireland and Northern Ireland but that s not our negotiating position or preference by any means. The Irish border is one of three formidable issues Brussels wants broadly solved in the first stage of negotiations with Britain before talks on a future trading relationship can start. It is particularly sensitive given the decades of violence in Northern Ireland, a British province, over whether it should be part of the United Kingdom or Ireland. Around 3,600 people were killed before a 1998 peace agreement. Fifty-six percent of Northern Irish voters voted Remain in the Brexit referendum last year, split roughly between pro-EU Irish nationalists and more eurosceptic pro-British unionists. But both sides fear a re-hardening of the border, with its likely hammer effect on the economy, could reignite violence. Britain has said there should be no immigration checks or border posts along the 500-km (300-mile) frontier post-Brexit. But Brussels and Dublin say London has failed to explain how it would square this objective with its stated intention to leave the EU s customs union. With close trading links to Britain, Ireland s economy is also widely considered the most exposed in the EU to any future trade barriers, and Varadkar said Dublin did not want to sacrifice or give up its free trade with Britain at this stage. An analysis by Ireland s finance ministry showed last month that 11 of the 15 EU goods most exposed to Britain are Irish exports, highlighting the extreme vulnerability to Brexit of some Irish firms. However a special arrangement that kept Northern Ireland in the customs union would raise the prospect of checks being required on goods moving between it and Britain, a proposal firmly opposed by pro-Brexit unionists in the province. The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up the Conservative government in the British parliament, reiterated on Tuesday that there could not be any barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. ",1 "Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman, a vocal supporter of Athens in their long-running bailout saga, said Sunday that he ""may have overestimated the competence of the Greek government""",1 "SUNDAY SCREENING: ‘The Clinton Chronicles’ (1994)21st Century Wire says Our weekly documentary film, curated by our editorial team at 21WIRE.This film documents a series of early scandals and state corruption surrounding Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. The film came under heavy criticism in the US media at the time, with Democratic Party officials and mainstream media labelling it as a partisan hit piece. While Clinton proponents and critics of this film maintain that it s part of a vast right-wing conspiracy, this film produced by Citizens for Honest Government does cover actual events which took place in and around Arkansas during the Clinton s reign as Governor there, and contains numerous facts and revelations regarding those events including a massive cocaine smuggling operation into Mena, Arkansas under the watch of the Clinton governorship. Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35mG57pUy80 . Run time: 1 hr 41 min Director: Patrick Matrisciana Producer: Patrick Matrisciana Released: 1994SEE MORE SUNDAY SCREENINGS HERE SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 Every email and website to be stored by UK government,1 "Italian politicians up in arms over Austria passport offerROME (Reuters) - Italian politicians denounced on Monday a proposal by Austria s new government to offer passports to German-speaking residents of the northern Italian province of Alto Adige. The idea was included in a 180-page coalition program signed on Saturday after weeks of negotiations by Austria s anti-immigration Freedom Party and the conservative People s Party. The accord risked tearing at fragile ethnic fault lines which run through the autonomous area of Alto Adige, also known as the South Tyrol. Get your hands off Italy, said Giorgia Meloni, the head of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, which is part of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi s center-right opposition bloc. Brothers of Italy will raise the barricades in Alto Adige, in parliament and in every institution, and will ask President (Sergio) Mattarella to stop this undignified insult, she said in a statement. Alto Adige was ceded to Italy by Austria after World War One. Despite moves by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini to settle thousands of ethnic Italians there in the 1920s, German speakers still outnumber Italians by around two to one. Italians and Germans have their own schools and largely frequent different bars and restaurants. But the region enjoys enormous autonomy and generous handouts from Rome, which have helped dampen secessionist sentiments in the province. The new Austrian government portrayed its plan to offer citizenship to Alto Adige residents whose first language is German as a pro-European gesture to promote an ever-closer union of citizens of member states . Benedetto Della Vedova, a junior foreign minister in Rome, dismissed this, saying the offer was couched in a velvet glove of Europeanism but bore the scent of the ethno-nationalist iron fist . Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano was more cautious, saying he would raise the matter at a later date. It will be a conversation that requires enormous delicacy, he was quoted as saying by ANSA agency during a visit to China. ",1 "UN NEWS AGENCY SCRUBS TWEET Calling On Americans Abroad To ‘Stop Trump’The United Nations News Centre the official U.N. news service tweeted, then quickly pulled, a post that called for 8 million Americans abroad to stop Trump. The tweet, published at 9:14 p.m. ET on Thursday, urged American expats to share a voter registration tool on the website of the activist organization Avaaz that states, U.S. Citizens abroad could defeat Trump if they voted. The Web page, titled The October surprise that will end Trump, allows users to sign up for help registering to vote in the Nov. 8 presidential election and encourages them enlist their friends as well. At a time when Trump is trying to divide us, we could help defeat him if we all share this page with EVERYONE. Let s reach every US voter abroad, it reads. The tweet was deleted within 20 minutes, without explanation. Ari Gaitanis, chief of the U.N. News Services Section, which oversees the twitter account, said it was a mistake. Read more: Politico",0 "#EarthDay FLASHBACK: Obama’s Gas-Guzzling Air Force One Trip To The EvergladesThis is insane! Obama uses a gas guzzling plane to fly to Florida to bash Republicans about global warming? The hypocrisy isn t lost on anyone here. Thanks to Judicial Watch for always being the one giving us the cold hard truth about the over-the-top spending with this administration. Note the total cost of since 2009 at the bottom of the article. President Obama s Earth Day Air Force One flights cost taxpayers with more than $800,000, according to newly released documents by Judicial Watch.The documents, obtained using the Freedom of Information Act, show Air Force One runs a cost of $206,377 per hour to operate. Obama s trips to and from Miami to deliver his speech in the Florida Everglades totaled 4.2 hours, costing taxpayers $866,615.40. Additionally, Air Force One used 9,180 gallons of jet fuel.During Obama s Earth Day speech, he assailed Republicans on global warming. The irony of using Air Force One for an unnecessary jaunt to discuss global warming aside, these documents show that taxpayers are being gouged for President Obama s abuse of the perks of office, said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton. Taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for his continual savaging of political opponents. Using FOIA s and subsequent lawsuits, Judicial Watch discovered the Obamas and Bidens have spent more than $40 million in taxpayer dollars on trips since 2009.Via: WFB",0 "Ukraine on verge of 'civil war', says ex-president",1 Syria says 'terrorists' will strike Europe with chemical weapons,1 England bans smoking in cars containing children.,1 Scientists have called for a radical rethink of our relationship with the planet to head off what they warn could be economic and environmental catastrophe.,1 "Turkey's Erdogan says major operation in Syria's IdlibANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that a major military operation was underway in the Syria s northwest province of Idlib, which Free Syrian Army rebel groups earlier said they were preparing to enter with Turkish backing. There is a serious operation in Syria s Idlib today, and this will continue, Erdogan told members of his AK Party in a speech. Much of Idlib is currently controlled by an jihadist-led alliance of fighters. We will never allow a terror corridor along our borders in Syria, Erdogan said. We will continue to take other initiatives after the Idlib operation. ",1 "In China, public anger is growing over secrecy on environment ",1 "Trump calls for U.S. infrastructure plan after train derailmentWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the derailment of a train, which sent train cars crashing onto a major highway and killed passengers, in Washington state showed the necessity of an infrastructure plan. “The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly,” Trump said. “Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!” ",1 "Syrian Kurds hold local elections, press on with autonomy plansQAMISHLI, Syria (Reuters) - Kurdish-led authorities held local elections on Friday in areas they control in northern Syria, pushing ahead with autonomy plans opposed by both the government of President Bashar al-Assad and by Turkey. Kurdish forces and their political allies now hold the largest part of Syria outside the grip of Assad s government. They have captured vast territory from Islamic State with the support of U.S. arms, jets and ground advisers, although Washington opposes their autonomy drive. Kurdish leaders say their goal is to establish self-rule within Syria, not secession. But their influence has infuriated Ankara, which considers the Kurdish YPG militia to be an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has run a decades-long insurgency in Turkey. Assad has vowed to recover every inch of the country, as his territorial grip expanded rapidly over the past two years with help from Russia and Iran. Damascus has more forcefully asserted its claim to territory held by Kurdish-led forces in recent months. The head of Syria s delegation to U.N.-backed peace talks in Geneva, Bashar al-Ja afari, rejected the election, repudiating any unilateral act that happens without coordination with Damascus. Since Syria s conflict began more than six years ago, the dominant Kurdish parties have been left out of international diplomacy in line with Turkish wishes. They were excluded again from U.N.-led peace talks which reconvened in Geneva this week. Hadiya Yousef, a senior Kurdish politician, said the Kurdish-led administration would not be bound by decisions taken in its absence. We are not present in these meetings, and therefore we are developing the solution on the ground, Yousef told Reuters. Peace talks would not arrive at solutions so long as they do not involve those running 30 percent of the country, she added. Voters are picking from close to 6,000 candidates for town and city councils on Friday, the second part of a three-stage process that will culminate in electing a parliament early next year. They chose representatives for smaller-scale district councils in September. Everyone should take part (in the election) because this is the fate of the entire region, said Sheikhmous Qamishlo, a 65-year-old Syrian Kurd at a polling station in Qamishli. This is a new experience, we wish it success, he said, and described casting his vote as a national duty . The election was being monitored by a small group of politicians from other countries in the Middle East, Yousef said, including a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party which runs the autonomous Kurdish region in neighboring Iraq. Yousef said the Iraqi Kurdish official s presence was a kind of recognition of the Syrian Kurdish political project. The Iraqi Kurdish authorities, whose own plans for independence were met with a swift backlash from states in the region in the past two months, have previously been hostile to the Syrian Kurdish parties. ",1 "CIA rendition: more than a quarter of countries 'offered covert support'. Report finds at least 54 countries co-operated with global kidnap, detention and torture operation mounted after 9/11 attacks ",1 "WikiLeaks disclosures upset Mugabe: Cables from Harare embassy show even Mugabe's allies want him to go. ",1 "Obama to meet Michigan mayor to discuss contaminated water: White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet with the mayor of Flint, Michigan, on Tuesday to discuss the city’s problems in dealing with lead-contaminated water, the White House said. Obama, who on Saturday ordered federal aid for state and local response efforts in Genesee County, which includes Flint, will meet with Mayor Karen Weaver, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “The situation is anything but being ignored by the White House,” Earnest told a news briefing at the White House. ",1 "U.S. House budget panel backs Republican healthcare planWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House Budget Committee approved Republicans’ healthcare bill in a 19-17 vote on Thursday that moves the legislation to a final committee before sending it for a full vote before the U.S. House of Representatives. The panel backed the plan pending non-binding changes to the legislation to unwind the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare. After the Budget Committee debates possible changes, it can recommend them to the House Rules Committee that is next to weigh in. ",1 "Exclusive: Italy plans big handover of sea rescues to Libya coastguardROME/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Italy wants Libya s coastguard to take responsibility within three years for intercepting migrants across about a tenth of the Mediterranean even as Libyan crews struggle to patrol their own coast and are accused of making deadly mistakes at sea. Six years after the revolution that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is split between rival governments in the east and west while ports and beaches are largely in the hands of armed groups. For a graphic on Italy's handover of sea rescues to Libya, click tmsnrt.rs/2o1wLC6 Migrant smuggling has flourished, with more than 600,000 making the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean in four years. Migrants transiting through Libya often endure appalling conditions, including rape, torture and forced labor. The Italian plan, outlined in a slide presentation seen by Reuters, shows that Italy and the European Union are focusing on rebuilding Libya s navy and coastguard so they can stop boats. But aid groups say the Libyans are poorly trained and accuse them of mishandling a rescue last month in which some 50 people are thought to have died. The Libyans return all migrants, including refugees, to Libya even though the situation on the ground there is far from resolved. Italy has been coordinating rescues off the Libyan coast since 2013. The 30 slides show spending of 44 million euros ($52 million) to expand Libya s capacity by 2020, equipping the coastguard and enabling it to establish its own rescue coordination center as well as a vast maritime search-and-rescue region. It also foresees a pilot project for monitoring Libya s southern border. The project draws on European Union and Italian funds, and needs EU approval. The plan was presented by the Italian coastguard at a conference hosted by the EU s anti-trafficking mission, Sophia, in Rome last month. Representatives from the EU, non-governmental groups and various Mediterranean navies and coastguards attended the closed-door presentation, said a source who was present. Libya s coastguard has already been pushing further into international waters, often firing warning shots or speeding close to charity boats. Over the summer, three charities abandoned rescue operations in part because of fears of the increasing Libyan sea presence. Arrivals to Italy have fallen by two-thirds since July from the same period last year after officials working for the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, Italy s partner, persuaded human smugglers in the city of Sabratha to stop boats leaving. The Libyan coastguard also increased the rate of its interceptions, turning back about 20,000 this year, though it still only stops a portion of the boats. The crisis remains a major issue in Italy. State shelters for asylum seekers are nearly full, and with elections looming politicians across the spectrum insist the flows from North Africa be stopped, which the new scheme is likely to address. Italy s coastguard did not reply to a request for comment. The prime minister s office referred questions to the interior ministry, which is spearheading the effort to fight people smuggling in Libya and also had no comment. Each nation has the right to declare its own search-and-rescue zone, and to carry out search-and-rescue operations, a Defence Ministry spokesman said, citing international law. Ayoub Qassem, a Libyan coastguard spokesman, said he did not have details of the plan, but both sides recognized the need to cooperate in tackling irregular migration. Recently the Italian side has been eager to cooperate with Libya because it s more effective than working without Libya that s natural, he said. Italy has supplied Libya with four refurbished vessels so far, and six more have been promised, while the EU has trained about 220 Libyan coastguards. But rights groups and aid workers say partnering with Libya s unprofessional coastguard risks exposing migrants to drowning during rescues or to further rights abuses if sent back to detention centers inside Libya. From the testimony we hear from the migrants, we know that people intercepted at sea have then re-entered the circle of violence and imprisonment and abuse that they were fleeing, said Nicola Stalla, search-and-rescue chief for SOS Mediterranee, one of the charities still operating off Libya. Activists also point to incidents such as one on Nov. 6, when crew members of the German humanitarian ship Sea Watch 3 witnessed a Libyan naval vessel draw alongside an inflatable migrant boat. When people fell into the water, Sea Watch used small rubber speedboats to pull people from the water while the Libyans looked on. Some migrants who climbed on board the Libyan vessel were whipped with ropes, and the Libyan boat sped off with a man still dangling in the water, according to videos shot by Sea Watch and crew member Gennaro Giudetti, who pulled the body of a lifeless 2 1/2-year-old Nigerian boy named Great from the water. They watched us and shot videos. They even threw potatoes at us. That s not how you save lives, said Giudetti. Libya s naval coastguard accused Sea Watch of obstructing the rescue and trying to lure away migrants who had already boarded their ship. Some migrants jumped into the water to try to reach Sea Watch rescuers. The Libyans said their smaller speedboats, which are mounted on larger patrol vessels and are the safest to use for rescues, were broken. We have only one or two of these boats and they do not work, so how we can put them into the water? Qassem, the coastguard spokesman, told Reuters. The expansion of Libyan patrols has led to confusion and competition over who should take the lead during rescues. Some charity ships say they have been directed to hold off rescues to allow the Libyans to arrive, putting migrants at risk. Libya s search-and-rescue region extends 90 miles from shore in some places, and 200 miles in others, Qassem said. This summer the Libyans notified the International Maritime Organization about plans to take over a large search and rescue region, but withdrew the notification this month, saying it would resubmit a new one soon, an IMO spokeswoman said. It would be the first time Libya has set up a search-and-rescue region, she said. The Italian plan proposes helping Libya formally declare such a zone. It would also provide for training, maintenance, new cars, ambulances and buses, communications equipment and clothing. Full operation capability is seen by the end of 2020. ",1 "WATCH DINESH D’SOUZA Totally Embarrass Liberal Caller On C-SPAN: “First of all…” [Video]If you want to try to dispute Dinesh D Souza s arguments, you should probably start by actually reading his book This is a classic because the woman is so clueless about Obama 2016 and projects what the left does onto the right.Available nationwide, Dinesh D Souza s new book The Big Lie exposes the Left s biggest lie yet: their orchestrated campaign to paint conservatives as Nazis to cover up their own fascism.To cover up their insidious fascist agenda, Democrats loudly accuse President Trump and other Republicans of being Nazis an obvious lie, considering the GOP has been fighting the Democrats over slavery, genocide, racism and fascism from the beginning.",0 "'For the Party and the motherland!': North Korea's Kim heralds missile test after setbacksSEOUL (Reuters) - When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an order for his scientists to test their latest missile, he was no doubt hoping for technical advances but perhaps also to reclaim the narrative after recent setbacks. Fire it bravely for the Party and the motherland! Kim wrote on his order, according to a photograph shown on North Korean state television on Wednesday, shortly the test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile called the Hwasong-15. The test, North Korea s first since mid-September, allowed Kim to declare with pride that his country had finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force , one of the strongest statements yet on the status of his nuclear arsenal. It came a week after U.S. President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a U.S. list of countries it says support terrorism, allowing it to impose more sanctions. The test also follows a dramatic defection to South Korea by a North Korean soldier on Nov. 13, who braved a hail of bullets by fellow soldiers as he crossed the heavily fortified border dividing the two Koreas. Neither the North Korean government nor its state media have made any mention of the defection, which dominated headlines in South Korea and in international media for days. Analysts say the test makes technical sense for scientists trying to refine their rockets as they strive to achieve Kim s goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile that can reach all of the U.S. mainland. But the launch likely also had other benefits. Kim may have wanted to regain control of the narrative and reinforce solidarity, after the defection and increasing diplomatic isolation, a South Korean official said. They couldn t sit pat after having been designated a sponsor state of terrorism, said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at South Korea s Kyungnam University. The North Korean leader is also no doubt keen to fulfil a vow made in a 2017 New Year s message to soon achieve an operable ICBM, Kim said. Kim Jong Un said at the beginning of this year they were near completing their nuclear capability. Won t he have to say in next year s New Year s address that they ve completed it? ",1 Japan makes cars. Saudi Arabia pumps oil. China supplies socks and flat-screen TVs. What's America's No.1 export? Debt,0 " Corrupt Republican Blames ‘Deep State’ For His Arrest After Stealing Charity MoneySomething strange happens when the President sees conspiracies everywhere: they tend to bleed into the rest of the government, at least the Republican government. Now, a crooked former GOP Congressman, who s best known for inviting Ted Nugent to President Obama s State of the Union speech, is blaming a Trump-touted conspiracy for the fact the he allegedly stole money for his campaign and personal use and got caught.Former Texas Rep. Steve Stockman blamed the deep state on his alleged campaign finance crimes, for which he was arrested. This is part of a deep state that s continuing to progress, he said after a hearing. Stockman cited a right-wing conspiracy theory that the IRS targeted conservative groups.Stockman is being charged with diverting money from a charitable organization called Life Without Limits to his political campaign and for personal use. Beginning shortly after the $350,000 charitable donation was deposited into his Life Without Limits account, rather than spending the money on the Freedom House, Stockman secretly diverted the funds to pay for a variety of personal expenses and to fund illegal contributions to Stockman s campaigns for public office, court documents filed with the criminal complaint stated.Source: RollcallSince Trump has taken office, we ve seen a lot about the supposed deep state. The deep state is, according to the Oxford Dictionary, A body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy. Before Trump s election, the term was generally only used by fringe conspiracy theorists and white supremacists who accuse Jewish people of running a shadow government. Now, though, the head of the deep state could be Jewish, but he could also be Barack Obama. Conspiracy theories are fluid like that.Of course, Stockman has a history with the IRS. During the non-scandal scandal that involved the IRS daring to verify the veracity of non-profit statuses (from both sides of the aisle), he called for the arrest of IRS head at the time, Lois Lerner. It s looking more and more like his only reason for wanting Lerner s arrest was to prevent his arrest.Stockman has been released on bond and his main defense is that he stole only $15,000, not $350,000.Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr",0 "HOW CAN ANYONE TRUST THEM? TWITTER Admits To Hiding ANTI-HILLARY and Negative DNC Tweets During ElectionThe move by a Twitter employee last week to ban President Trump from the social media platform for 11 minutes received a great deal of attention and offered people a glimpse into how easily someone at Twitter can stop the flow of information from a source he does not like.What did not get a great deal of attention, however, was the fact that Twitter s Acting General Counsel, Sean Edgett, admitted in a prepared statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the platform regularly blocked tweets offering information that could paint the Clinton Campaign and DNC in negative lights.Writing for NewsWars, Jerome Corsi notes:At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on Tuesday, Sean Edgett, Acting General Counsel for Twitter, admitted in his prepared testimony that Twitter employed in the 2016 election algorithms that censored out hashtags critical (of) Hillary Clinton, including the hashtag #PodestaEmails and the hashtag #DNCLeaks. Is anyone surprised?Twitter execs long ago began showing their biases against conservatives to such an extent that even USA Today brought it up, noting that Twitter s behind-the-scenes team was quick to ban right-wingers like Milo Yiannopoulos for digs he made at the brilliant and ever-so-entertaining actress Leslie Jones.Yet, conservatives say, nothing happened to rapper Talib Kweli and his followers when they attacked black Breitbart reporter Jerome Hudson with racial slurs. When Breitbart contributor Kassy Dillon complained about a Twitter user who sent her harassing tweets and messages, Twitter made the perpetrator delete one tweet that suggested someone shoot Dillon in the head. Now, the big story that many in the pop media evidently don t want you to see is that Twitter actually admits to having censored tweets that might have spread real information injurious to HRC and the DNC during the 2016 election. The Twits claim that they were simply stopping spambots from filling their precious space with tweets from unreal people (one might ask how authentic most politicians seem to be in the first place, but that s a different matter), but hidden in their statements are some tells that indicate otherwise.For example, Dr. Corsi observes that in sworn testimony to the Judiciary Committee, Edgett stated:For example, our automated spam detection systems helped mitigate the impact of automated Tweets promoting the #PodestaEmails hashtag, which originated with Wikileaks publication of thousands of emails from the Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta s Gmail account. The core of the hashtag was propagated by Wikileaks, whose account sent out a series of 118 original Tweets containing variants on the hashtag #PodestaEmails referencing the daily installments of the emails released on the Wikileaks website.So, automatically, what Mr. Edgett has admitted tells us that Twitter intentionally tried to stop the circulation of information offered by an authentic user, Wikileaks, offering authentic information that Wikileaks had published revealing real, confirmed e-mails sourced from John Podesta and the DNC. Those e-mails shed extremely important information about corruption within the DNC that worked against Bernie Sanders campaign, and in favor of Mrs. Clinton s campaign, and later revealed extremely important information about what Mrs. Clinton knew about the attempted overthrow of Syria and the underlying, unconstitutional reasons for the overthrow of Qaddafi in Libya.Edgett also testified that Twitter hid 25% of the #PodestaEmails tweets, andAs described in greater detail below, our systems detected and hid just under half (48%) of the Tweets relating to variants of another notable hashtag, #DNCLeak, which concerned the disclosure of leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee. Those would be the e-mails that revealed towering corruption at the DNC and in many offices of pop media things like new reporters working with the Clinton campaign to offer her easy questions, things like Donna Brazile, then an employee of CNN, feeding Hillary questions prior to a debate with the electrifying wildman, Bernie Sanders.These are issues that were real, and the more people knew about them, the more they disliked Mrs. Clinton and the more she and the DNC hackmeisters pushed the spurious Russia Hack narrative to deflect from their own malfeasance.For entire story- MRCTV ",0 UK: Firearms offences are 40 per cent down in less than a decade,1 "As Foreign Fighters Flood Syria, Fears of a New Extremist Haven",0 THE REAL DONALD TRUMP: Why America Is Rooting For This Outsider [VIDEO]This video takes you from the beginning of Trump s improbable rise in the ranks of professional politicians to the last man standing in the GOP. Here s why America is rooting for Trump:,0 Pentagon thwarts Obama's effort to close Guantanamo,1 Interesting Analysis of the US and UK 'special relationship',0 " AZ Republican Calls Cops On Constituents Delivering Cookies, Claims They Set Cars On FireIf anything more than a grunt passes between the lips of a Republican, one can typically be assured he or she is lying and that was the case when a group of constituents delivered cookies to Arizona Rep. David Schweikert.A group of citizens members of a group called AZ Indivisible showed up outside Schweikert s office earlier this year hoping to bribe him into hearing their concerns. Instead, the Congressman had his staff call the police.While we can t be sure if he told the cops the same story he is telling his supporters, a letter his office sent out says that the cookie-delivering citizens incite violence and light cars on fire as they clash with police because they will stop at no turn. The left is determined to disrupt and disorganize. They are organizing new groups every single day and investing big resources neighborhood-to-neighborhood across Maricopa County, the letter begins then it becomes (more) insane:Despite the Congressman s allegations, Scottsdale police officer Kevin Watts says that There have been no reports of violence, clashes with our officers or incidents of criminal damage associated with Representative Schweikert s office to date. In other words Schweikert, like seemingly all Republicans, is a liar. The people belonging to the groups referenced are mostly women, mostly have more than a few years on them The most dangerous physical weapons we have are knitting needles. But make no mistake We vote We are actively encouraging others to vote, and lots of us are educating ourselves on how politics works and running for office, a member of Indivisible told The Republic. Does this sound like people plotting violence? We are working within the system. Sadly, this sort of behavior is typical of Republicans: you ask them questions, you expect them to be held accountable, you try to get a little face time to discuss actual issues and they respond by lying about you.Featured image via screengrab",0 "Russia supports Iraq's territorial integrity: LavrovMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari that Moscow supported Iraq s territorial integrity and sovereignty, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Iraqi Kurds are expected to vote on Monday to back an independence drive that neighboring countries and Western powers fear could break up the country and stir broader regional ethnic and sectarian conflict. The Russian side confirmed its constant support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, the ministry said in a statement. ",1 Russian soldier dies in Syria after preventing car bomb attack on aid distribution point,1 Bell faces $750-million lawsuit over tracking of customers cellphone Internet usage,1 Holocaust historians criticise Austrias plan to jail Jewish author who inventoried property stolen from Jews in Vienna,1 "Israel watches its old alliances crumble ",1 " Top Trump Minion Calls For Imprisoning The Editor Of The New York TimesIn a direct assault on the free press, one of Donald Trump s top advisers literally called for putting the editor of the New York Times in jail for publishing Trump s tax returns.As you may recall, the New York Times came into possession of Trump s 1995 tax return that showed he wrote off a $900 million business loss that may have allowed him to not not any federal income taxes for two decades.Trump notoriously refused to release his tax returns throughout the entire campaign so it was only a matter of time before a media platform got hold of them and published them for everyone to see. After all, it s the duty of the free press to get information to the people, and most Americans wanted Trump to release his tax documents.Baquet and Washington Post legend Bob Woodward both said they would risk jail by publishing Trump s taxes if they ever got possession of them.Not publishing Trump s tax returns would have been a disservice to the American people and would have basically been a cover-up on Trump s behalf.But Corey Lewandowski says that not only should the New York Times have buried the story, executive editor Dean Baquet should be put behind bars for doing his job.During a Harvard University conference on Thursday, Lewandowski attacked the media, accused the New York Times of committing a felony and said Baquet should be jailed, thus signaling that Trump and his team intend to violate the First Amendment at will when he assumes power in January. We had one of the top people at the New York Times come to Harvard University and say, I m willing to go to jail to get a copy of Donald Trump s taxes so I can publish them, Lewandowski said. Dean Baquet came here and offered to go to jail. You re telling me, he s willing to commit a felony on a private citizen to post his taxes, and there isn t enough scrutiny on the Trump campaign and his business dealings and his taxes? It s egregious. He should be in jail. So one of Trump s top minions literally wants to jail journalists for doing their job, especially if they publish stories that Trump does not like. We re talking about publishing the facts here.When the New York Times criticized Hillary Clinton you didn t hear Trump call for jailing journalists then. And that because he s okay with using the media to attack his opponents. He only wants to silence journalists when they publish negative stories about him. That s what dictators do, and that is exactly what Trump wants to be.Featured Image: Drew Angerer/Getty Images",0 Prince Charles on brink of ending all fossil fuel investments,0 Syria: Israel's Scud accusation may be pretense for attack,1 "Without Iraq 'Arab Spring May Have Broken Out Earlier' - The US has officially declared the war in Iraq to be over. President Obama said that America was leaving behind a ""sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq."" German commentators ask if the conflict was worth the toll.",0 "Fatal floods hit China forcing over 500,000 to flee: Days of torrential rain have forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in central and southern China. ",1 15 tons of sulfuric acid intercepted en route to Gaza,1 "Bolivia Has Transformed Itself by Ignoring the Washington Consensus: By breaking with orthodox prescriptions for progress, Evo Morales has helped to forge a new Bolivia centered on 'living well'",0 Eight Million Tons of Plastic Dumped in Ocean Every Year,0 "China offers support to Spanish government amid Catalonia crisisBEIJING (Reuters) - China understands and supports the Spanish government s efforts to protect the country s unity and territorial integrity, China s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, amid moves by Catalonia to declare independence. The wealthy region s intention to break away has plunged Spain into its worst political crisis since an attempted military coup in 1981, with Madrid threatening to sack the Catalan government if it goes ahead. China was paying close attention, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing. China understands and supports the Spanish government s efforts to protect national unity ... and its territorial integrity, Hua said. China believes Spain has the ability to guarantee social order and people s interests in accordance with the law, she added. China says it adheres to a policy of non-interference in other countries internal affairs, but it generally takes a dim view of independence or secessionist movements around the world. At home, it contends with what it says are separatist movements in its western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, and also insists that the self-ruled island of Taiwan belongs to China. Though it generally remains officially agnostic on such issues abroad, Beijing has expressed more openness toward independence votes when both sides have agreed to them, such as Scotland s unsuccessful 2014 referendum to leave the United Kingdom, and South Sudan s 2011 vote in favor of independence from Sudan. ",1 "Republicans in House push for Congressional Budget Office cutsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are seeking to add an amendment this week to spending legislation that would slash the number of staff at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The budget research office, known as the CBO, has drawn recent Republican criticism, including from the White House, after it concluded that Republican proposals to replace Obamacare would lead to 23 million more Americans being uninsured if they became law. Representative Mark Meadows, head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said on Monday his colleague Morgan Griffith has offered an amendment to an appropriations bill the House is expected to take up this week that would cut the CBO’s staff of 235 by 89 employees, saving about $15 million. “They ought to be aggregators,” Meadows said of the CBO at a National Press Club lunch. “There’s plenty of think tanks that are out there. We ought to take a score from Heritage, from AEI (American Enterprise Institute), from Brookings, from the Urban Institute and bring them together for a composite score.” The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank based in Washington, as is the American Enterprise Institute. The Brookings Institution and Urban Institute are liberal-leaning think tanks based in Washington. The CBO is one of a handful of analysis units of Congress whose employees strive for political impartiality, providing dependable and neutral information that lawmakers can use when making often complex budget, tax and other decisions. Its staff includes economists, public policy analysts, lawyers and editors. In May, after Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney called the CBO’s healthcare analysis “absurd” and questioned its continued existence, Democrats defended the office, saying Republican attacks were irresponsible. “When Trump administration officials either disagree with or do not understand the impacts of their own policies, they prefer to attack the nonpartisan analysts who are doing their jobs with integrity and expertise,” Representative Steny Hoyer, a Democratic House leader, said at the time. The CBO was created in 1974 during a spending dispute between the Democratic-controlled Congress and Republican President Richard Nixon after he withheld funds for government programs that did not support his political positions. ",1 FBI joins effort in hostage standoff with pirates,1 "Biochip identifies cancerous cells, 'washes' blood clean of cancer in dialysis-style treatment",0 "Landless and illiterate, drowned by debt, Mr. Bhuria and his ailing children have staggered into the hospital ward after falling through Indias social safety net. His daughter, Nani, is 4 and weighs 20 pounds. His son, Jogdiya, is 2 and weighs only eight.",1 "Canadian Govt Spends $40 Million To Monitor Media - The Harper government spends more money keeping track of what the media is saying than it does soliciting the opinions of ordinary Canadians, a Citizen analysis of contracting records shows.",1 "New York City mayor presents $82 billion budget, warns of challengesNEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio presented an $82.1 billion preliminary budget for the city’s 2016-17 financial year on Thursday, noting the city’s strong economic position but striking a cautionary note over the economic outlook. New York City, which sits at the center of one of the biggest regional economies in the world, has seen strong growth since the recession that followed the 2007-09 financial crisis. That has allowed officials to build budget reserves, but doubts remain whether that growth will continue. “There are lots of real challenges that are coming through to make us uncertain about what our economic future is,” de Blasio said during a presentation at City Hall. “We as New York City have to protect ourselves.” The mayor highlighted concerns over China’s economy, question marks over global growth, the current plunge in the U.S. stock market and terrorism as threats to the city. The city added 213,000 jobs in 2014 and 2015, the strongest two-year gain in recent history. The number of jobs are at an all time high of 4.2 million. Yet de Blasio said the economy may be overdue for a recession and pointed to the devastating effects of the last recession. The budget has nearly $5 billion in budget reserves, including $3.4 billion for retiree health benefits and $1 billion in general reserves in case the city has to “go it alone” during a recession, de Blasio said. The total budget represents a small increase over the previous year’s $81.7 billion. De Blasio, a left-leaning Democrat who took office at the start of 2014, highlighted signature programs such as raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour for all city workers, an initiative that will cost the city $115 million when fully implemented. He also outlined plans to tackle the city’s homelessness problem through millions of dollars for shelter repair, prevention initiatives and programs to move people out of shelters to permanent housing. Dean Fuleihan, the city budget director, said the budget was balanced in the current and coming financial year. He said $1 billion in savings in the 2016-17 budget will come from reductions in debt service and savings in agency spending. The city’s public pension system will consume a larger chunk of revenues as increased mortality projections mean the city will have to pay an additional $600 million. That brings the city’s total annual pension bill to $9.4 billion. ",1 "Italy to use military to guard merchant ships against pirates ",0 The US has requested that Israel refrain from embarking on any large-scale operations during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration,1 3 IDF soldiers killed in booby-trapped UNRWA clinic that housed a tunnel opening,0 Israel on Wednesday freed a Jewish extremist detained 10 months ago following an arson attack in which a Palestinian toddler was burned to death.,1 " WATCH: Republican Senator Admits That Trumpcare Bill Won’t Lower Health Insurance PremiumsWhile the Affordable Care Act actually has slowed down the rising cost of premiums, the Republican healthcare bill that repeals it definitely won t.And Republican Senator Tom Cotton openly admitted it on Sunday during an interview on CNN.Ever since House Republicans unveiled their legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act it has been panned by Democrats and Republicans alike. Donald Trump thinks it s wonderful, but the American people are outraged because the bill would strip healthcare from tens of millions and would cause the cost of healthcare to skyrocket, especially among senior citizens and those with low incomes.The bottom line is that this is a terrible bill that will hurt millions of Americans who need affordable access to health insurance.Jake Tapper specifically asked Cotton whether he would keep the Medicaid expansion considering he represents Arkansas, one of the poorest states in the nation.Of course, Cotton seems to think that the only people who get Medicaid are people who are unemployed.Cotton said that he supports a Medicaid transformation bill in which able-bodied adults are not allowed to be covered by the program. He basically told them to get a job and pay for their own healthcare. The problem is that many of those able-bodied adults actually do have jobs. They just don t get paid enough to afford health insurance. And then Cotton admitted that the GOP bill will not bring the cost of premiums down, thus confirming a major problem with the bill The Medicaid expansion I think needs to be part of Medicaid transformation and that s what the House bill moved forward. It can be improved to some degree, but it s about a 70% or 80% solution, Jake. The bigger problem with this legislation is on the private insurance market. I simply think that it s not going to work to bring down premiums for working Arkansans or working Americans around the country. Here s the video via YouTube. Cotton s remarks on healthcare are at the 3 minute mark:The Affordable Care Act is not perfect but it s far superior to anything Republicans have offered. Trumpcare will hurt millions of Americans and do nothing to bring the cost of care down. And while the wealthy will get a tax cut from the GOP bill, low income Americans will only be saddled with a financial burden. They would once again live in fear that a major health crisis could leave them bankrupt and homeless. No one should have to live that way.Featured image via screenshot",0 "Years before Big Oil began sowing doubt about the science of climate change and fighting efforts to cut dangerous emissions, the fossil fuel industry sought to muddle the research around smog",0 "The big melt: Antarctica's retreating ice may re-shape Earth. Over at NASA, ice scientist Eric Rignot said the melting ""is going way faster than anyone had thought. It's kind of a red flag.""",0 Australian Government wants to store people's phone and Internet usage data for up to 2 years,0 Europe could suspend passport-free travel for two years under emergency measures as leaders warn the migrant crisis could destroy the European Union.,1 "Saudi conservatives ""would prefer to keep their girls illiterate than sending them to schools where they would have to sit with boys.""",0 OBAMA HOSTS MUSLIM EID CELEBRATION…Jabs Trump For “Singling Out” Muslims [Video]OBAMA LIES AND SPINS HIS WAY THROUGH A BS SPEECH SICKENING! ,0 "South Korea's Moon says he's against having nuclear arms despite North Korea threatSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday he was against bringing nuclear weapons into his country despite North Korea s nuclear threats. Introducing nuclear weapons in South Korea would make it impossible for the two Koreas to establish peace and could fuel an nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia, Moon said in an interview with CNN, according to the presidential Blue House. ",1 " Trump’s Ghostwriter Issues DIRE Warning About His Dangerous Current Mental State (VIDEO)Tony Schwartz is a man who knows Donald Trump well. He spent nearly two years glued to Trump s side as they wrote Trump s famous book, The Art of the Deal. During this time, Schwartz learned some very disturbing things about Trump s broken personality, and for this reason, felt deep remorse for helping to make Trump as famous as he is.During the 2016 presidential campaign, Schwartz tirelessly warned America that this man was dangerous, that he had no conscience, that he had no soul, that he would be gravely dangerous as president. Now that a Trump presidency has come to pass, and the Trump White House is mired in deep scandal, Schwartz is speaking out again, to warn the nation and world about Trump s dangerous mental state.Schwartz has written a piece in the Washington Post explaining Trump s recent behavior, who the man is, his current state of mind, and the impulsive and dangerous actions that are sure to come.On Wednesday evening, Schwartz appeared on CNN s Anderson Cooper 360. He told host Anderson Cooper of Trump s likely mental state regarding the series of blows and events relating to the incompetence of his administration, and especially the Trump/Russia collusion investigation: I think he s reacting from a survival place. He s in pure defensive mode. I think that he s being run by the part of his brain that s reactive and impulsive, not capable of reflection. The sense of siege that he feels because his sense of self-worth is so, so vulnerable that the series of things that have happened are overwhelming to him. In other words, right now, Trump is like a caged animal who is feeling attacked, and he is not thinking clearly at all. It s pure impulse and reaction. Trump is dangerously impulsive on a good day. There s no telling what he is capable of when he is feeling this attacked and aggrieved.These are dangerous times, America. The man who is supposedly leading us is desperate and unhinged. Hopefully, someone in a position to do something about him steps up, for the good of the nation and the world.Watch Tony Schwartz s remarks below:Co-author of The Art of Deal on Trump: I think he s in a pretty significant meltdown https://t.co/YZ32bCBsdM https://t.co/rpTGglpp5H Anderson Cooper 360 (@AC360) May 18, 2017Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images",0 "Swiss government urges voters to reject call for national ban on face veilsZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss government urged voters on Wednesday to reject a campaign for a nationwide ban on face veils, saying any decision on facial coverings was a matter for Switzerland s cantons individually. But, in a counter move to a referendum to be held by 2020, the government said it would propose to voters a ban on face veils being worn by individuals while doing business with federal authorities, including in immigration offices or employment agencies. Regulation of public spaces in Switzerland is traditionally a cantonal matter, the government said in a statement. So cantons should continue to decide for themselves whether to enact a ban on facial coverings. In particular, it said it was down to individual cantons to decide how they handled tourists from the Arab world who wore the veil. In September, activists submitted a petition for a nationwide ban after collecting more than the 100,000 signatures required to put the proposal to a binding referendum. Several cantons have already taken a stand on the issue. Zurich, Solothurn, Schwyz, Basel City and Glarus have rejected a ban on veils, while Italian-speaking Ticino has imposed a ban. At least two demonstrators who wore veils in Ticino in defiance of the ban were fined 250 Swiss francs ($260), according to media reports. The parliament in St. Gallen canton this year backed a ban on facial coverings which were deemed likely to endanger public security or upset the peace. With an eye to the referendum, the federal government said it would also present a proposal to stop individuals being forced to cover their face. We can not allow husbands and fathers to demand their wives and daughters wear a face veil, Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga told a news conference. ",1 Mystery Radiation Detected 'Across Europe',1 Russia Frees Scientist in Exchange for the Russian spy Anna Chapman,1 "Raw Video - At least 47 killed, 93 injured in Iraqi restaurant blast",0 "Twitter ‘Off-Boards’ (Bans) RT and Sputnik Ads Ahead of Capitol Hill Testimony Twitter s pitch deck for RT?21st Century Wire says In what appears to be a coordinated attack on RT and Sputnik, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (@jack) has declared all advertising purchased by the two media outlets unfit for the online news and social networking service.Off-boarding advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik.We re donating all projected earnings ($1.9mm) to support external research into the use of Twitter in elections, including use of malicious automation and misinformation. https://t.co/zIxfqqXCZr jack (@jack) October 26, 2017The move comes just days before Twitter and other Silicon Valley companies go to Washington to testify on Capitol Hill regarding alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. Election.In the company s official announcement, it states the decision is based on the U.S. intelligence community s conclusion that both RT and Sputnik attempted to interfere with the election on behalf of the Russian government. To be fair, there was no conclusion. The DNI report was only an assessment of high confidence by a group of hand-picked analysts from the CIA, FBI and NSA.What s both ironic and embarrassing about the Twitter bird s ad blockade of the Russian-owned media outlets is their recent ad pitch to RT, specifically, during the election cycle:Hope @jack won t forget to tell @congressdotgov how @Twitter pitched @RT_com to spend big $$s on US elex ad campaign. pic.twitter.com/7GqoEoSaY8 (@M_Simonyan) October 26, 2017That s a tweet on Thursday by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.It s quite clear that Twitter, along with other Silicon Valley properties like Google and Facebook, saw the 2016 U.S. Election as a lucrative ad sales pipeline and decided to cash-in like any other media outlet would do.Now, ahead of their upcoming testimony on election meddling , Twitter just put itself squarely in the crosshairs of the government to curry favor to, and to be push even further as Russiamania pushes forward.More from The Duran READ MORE RUSSIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire RUSSIA FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "WHO: As of 18:00 GMT, 29 April 2009, nine countries have officially reported 148 cases of swine influenza A/H1N1 infection",0 "Mexican drug cartels have taken cruelty up a notch, says one drug trafficker: kidnapping bus passengers for gladiatorlike fights to the death",1 "North Korea to release captured South Korea fishing boat Friday: KCNASEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said it will release a South Korean fishing vessel on Friday for humanitarian reasons after the boat was found illegally in waters under the North s control six days ago, North Korean state news agency KCNA said. The boat and its crew had been captured on Oct. 21 and they will be released at the designated waters of the military boundary line in the East Sea (38 39 20 latitude, 128 38 10 longitude) at 1800 on Oct. 27, the news agency report said. North Korea had reached its decision to release the South Korean boat after taking into account the fact that all the crewmen honestly admitted their offence, repeatedly apologizing and asking for leniency, the report said in English. An investigation by the North had proved the boat and crew had entered North Korean waters for fishing. North Korean fishing boats, because of age or low fuel, have been found drifting south of the maritime border between the two Koreas at times. Most North Korean crew are released to the North after interrogations by intelligence officials if they wish to return. It is more unusual for South Korean fishing vessels to be found under similar circumstances. The South Korean government could not be immediately reached for comment. ",1 North Korea Now Under Control of Kim Jong-Un's Uncle,0 "Caitlyn Jenner joins celebs mulling run for U.S. political officeLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Caitlyn Jenner has joined the list of celebrities who are considering running for political office in the United States following the election of former reality television star Donald Trump as president. Jenner, who as former Olympic champion Bruce Jenner in 2015 became the highest-profile American to transition to a woman, said she would decide in the next six months or so whether to run for the U.S. Senate in California. Jenner told John Catsimatidis on his “CATS Roundtable” New York radio show on Sunday, that she is working with activist groups to improve the Republican Party’s stance on lesbian, gay and transgender issues. “Over the next six months or so I gotta find out where I can do a better job. Can I do a better job from the outside working the perimeter of the political scene, being open to talking to anybody, or are you better off from the inside? “We are in the process of determining that. But yeah, I would look for a senatorial run,” she said. Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein is up for re-election in California in 2018. Jenner, 67, is a Republican but in February she criticized the Trump administration for reversing a federal directive that allowed transgender students to use public school bathrooms of their choice. “From one Republican to another, this is a disaster,” she said in a video message to Trump at the time. The success of Trump, a businessman who found fame through TV reality show “The Apprentice,” has encouraged others with no political experience to consider running for office. Last week country-rock singer Kid Rock, a supporter of Trump, hinted he intends to run for the Senate in 2018 but he has yet to make any official announcement. He has not mentioned where he would run. Actor and former wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has said he might run for the White House someday but has not mentioned a political affiliation. Previous celebrities who made the transition to politics include action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who served two terms as California governor, and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, who was elected Minnesota governor. ",1 "ANGRY DAD CONFRONTS SCHOOL BOARD After Finding Out Children Being Taught Islam In School [Video]We can t say enough great things about this dad! He confronted his child s school board to speak against the school teaching Islam. We ned more dads like this one to speak up against the very active push to teach Islam in schools.This is disturbing for all parents. CAIR has taken it upon themselves to claim that they need to fight Islamophobia . They see this as a problem but we see this as a shady way to have Islam taught in schools . We see what they re doing but the bleeding heart liberals in San Diego are just passively accepting this propaganda:Janet Levy of American Thinker: If allowed to stand, the SDUSD anti-bullying program geared specifically to the CAIR-identified needs of Muslim students could mark a dangerous departure from treasured constitutional principles and First Amendment protections. This case warrants serious attention, as it has grave implications for the direction of education and the supremacy of Islam in the nation. There s a huge problem on so many levels with this. The most obvious one is that a Christian would be hammered for even remotely trying to push Christianity on the kids. So why should we accept teaching Islam to our kids? The answer is WE SHOULDN T! Dad Christopher Wyrick,Finds Out School Is FORCING #Islam #ReligionBeliefs Down His Son s Throat!His #PATRIOTIC Reply Goes VIRAL!#BanSharia pic.twitter.com/8yKcFvOiRk TRUMP ANOMALY (@ANOMALY1) May 4, 2017WATCH FOR THIS IN YOUR SCHOOL!American Thinker reported: With a decade-long history of yielding to Islamic demands and recent, more alarming submissions, San Diego city schools appear to be ground zero for Islamic indoctrination within American public schools. The current capitulation includes an Islam-centric curriculum with input and resources from a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organization, which raises First Amendment issues as well as serious concerns of favoritism toward Muslims students over students of other faiths.This past week, SDUSD, in collaboration with the Council on American Islam Relations (CAIR), instituted an anti-bullying campaign aimed specifically at protecting Muslims students. In launching the initiative, SDUSD cited an unsubstantiated study by CAIR claiming that 55% of American Muslim students surveyed in California said they were bullied because of their religion. The new program will include adding lessons on Islam to the social studies curriculum that emphasize prominent Muslims in history, creating Muslim-only safe spaces, adding Muslim holidays to the school calendar, and providing support and resources for Muslim students during Ramadan.According to Stan Anjan, SDUSD s executive director of family and community engagement, the new program will focus on promoting a positive image of Islam. Special disciplinary measures will also be created for the so-called bullying of Muslims cited by CAIR. Instead of detention, the school plans a restorative justice program in which students dialogue with each other about perceived bullying words or actions. Educational materials on Islam and resource listings will be provided to parents and school personnel as well.CAIR, a radical fundamentalist front group for Hamas, according to terrorism expert Steve Emerson, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror-funding case brought by the Justice Department in 2007. CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce terrorist groups Hamas and Hezb allah, and several CAIR executives have been successfully prosecuted and incarcerated for terrorist activities. CAIR was designated as a terrorist group by the UAE in 2014.In 2015, Kevin Beiser and Michael McQuary, two members of the SDUSD Board of Education, issued a formal proclamation in support and recognition of CAIR San Diego, citing ten years of constructive civic engagement in San Diego and Imperial Counties. They praised the organization s work to promote not only religious and cultural tolerance and understanding but also justice and equality for all who live in the United States. CAIR director Hanif Mohebi was specifically complimented for his commitment to promoting equitable educational opportunity for all students and preparing them to succeed in a culturally diverse society. The trustees recognized a community partnership with CAIR in mediating school situations involving discrimination and other behavioral issue[s] and announced CAIR s upcoming tenth anniversary banquet, centered on the theme Strengthening Our Voices, Advancing Together. CAIR, billing itself as a benign Muslim civil rights organization, has long been at the forefront in pressuring schools and businesses to accommodate the special needs of Muslims. In 2009, CAIR complained of favoritism when Christian students in Roseville, a Detroit suburb, were given permission slips to attend off-site Bible study classes. Yet CAIR pushed in 2012 for Dearborn public schools to accommodate Muslim prayer on school grounds and early Friday dismissals for Jumu ah prayers. The organization has pressured schools to have a say on textbook selection and to feature its own lecturers for school assemblies. When a public school teacher in Concrete, Washington referenced the Taliban and Hamas while citing examples of the use of violence to bully people, CAIR cried racism and called for a federal investigation, saying the teacher had veered off topic to make anti-Muslim statements. The school district responded that the teacher s comments were taken out of context.Mohebi, the head of CAIR San Diego, has been pushing the anti-Islamophobia program. He recently tried to prevent the San Diego Police Department from attending a training session on Islamic terrorism featuring Ryan Mauro, national security analyst for the Clarion Project, a nonprofit dedicated to exposing the dangers of Islamic extremism. Mohebi said officers would be learning conspiracy theories from Mauro. Further, Mohebi importuned that no taxpayer dollars should pay for the training and that the SDPD should not confer continuing education credits for attendance. In a further attempt to control police training on Islam, Mohebi requested the ability to monitor police training to vouch for its accuracy and to provide clarifications throughout the session.CAIR s recent activity and its incursion into the San Diego schools curriculum has been criticized by Charles LiMandri, president and chief counsel of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF). LiMandri said the San Diego program represents a wholesale realignment of school curricula and the students learning environment to the recommendations of a religious organization whose stated mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam and empower American Muslims. The FCDF maintains that the First Amendment prohibits a government agency from attempting to effect a secular goal by the propagation of religious concepts. LiMandri points out the litigious pitfalls of a curriculum which could easily be construed as a governmental endorsement of a religion. He also cautions that CAIR s interpretation of the term bullying could extend to the stifling of criticism of Islam, further impinging on First Amendment protections.Citizens for Quality Education San Diego, a non-partisan group of citizens concerned about public education, voiced their opposition to the new Islamic-friendly curriculum and characterized it as an attempt to implement at local schools anti-American sharia law, incompatible with the U.S. Constitution. The group criticized the blatant singling out of the Muslim religion for special accommodations and demanded that the policy be rescinded. Despite widespread community outcry, the district seems to be moving ahead.Disturbing!",0 "Hillary Clinton Ponders Halloween Costume21st Century Wire says It s Halloween and Hillary Clinton is getting asked what she will wear for a Halloween costume. There s plenty of scary to go around, but the recently defeated Democratic presidential candidate offered one idea that would send shivers down the spines of many on All Hallows Eve: I think I will maybe come as the president! The spooky quip gained laughter and applause in Chicago Monday night at an event where attendees paid cash to find out What Happened to her candidacy in the 2016 election.We think this cartoon wins all the candy corns:Happy Halloween from 21WIRE READ MORE HALLOWEEN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Halloween FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 "Amid milk scare, China's elite get special food",0 U.S. Backs Off Civilian Nuclear Pact With Russia - NYTimes.com,0 "'I'm very scared': Russians brace for a ban on medical imports - The proposed ban has sparked dismay in Russia, where many hospitals are woefully underequipped",0 "Israel strikes Gaza militant posts after rockets fired at Israel: armyJERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military said on Thursday that an aircraft and a tank had targeted two posts belonging to militants in the Gaza Strip after three rockets were launched at Israel. Sirens sounded in Israel at various locations on a day of heightened tension following demonstrations in the coastal enclave and the occupied West Bank as Palestinians protested at U.S. President Donald Trump s announcement on Wednesday that he was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Two rockets launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip fell short inside the Palestinian enclave earlier in the evening and a third, fired later, landed in an open area in Israel causing no casualties or damage, an army spokeswoman said. Gaza residents said there were no casualties from the Israeli attack and that two unmanned lookout posts were hit. A Jihadist Salafi group in Gaza called the Al-Tawheed Brigades - which does not heed the call from the enclave s dominant force, Hamas, to desist from firing rockets - claimed responsibility for the launches. In response to ... projectiles fired at Israel throughout the day ... an IDF tank and an IAF aircraft targeted two military posts in the Gaza Strip. The IDF holds Hamas responsible for the hostile activity perpetrated against Israel from the Gaza Strip, an army statement said. During the Gaza war in 2014, Israel s Iron Dome rocket interceptor system largely protected the country s heartland from thousands of rocket barrages fired by militants. ",1 Pakistan parents killed daughter with acid for eyeing boy - World - CBC News,0 "Israeli minister reveals covert contacts with Saudi ArabiaJERUSALEM/RIYADH (Reuters) - An Israeli cabinet minister said on Sunday that Israel has had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia amid common concerns over Iran, a first disclosure by a senior official from either country of long-rumoured secret dealings. The Saudi government had no immediate response to Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz s remarks. A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also did not respond immediately to a request to comment. Both Saudi Arabia and Israel view Iran as a main threat to the Middle East and increased tension between Tehran and Riyadh has fuelled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to work together. Saudi Arabia maintains that any relations with Israel hinge on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war, territory Palestinians seek for a future state. U.S. President Donald Trump s peace envoys, seeking an Israeli-Palestinian agreement with regional support, have visited Saudi Arabia several times since he took office. In an interview on Army Radio, Steinitz, a member of Netanyahu s security cabinet, did not characterise the contacts or give details when asked why Israel was hiding its ties with Saudi Arabia. He replied: We have ties that are indeed partly covert with many Muslim and Arab countries, and usually (we are) the party that is not ashamed. It s the other side that is interested in keeping the ties quiet. With us, usually, there is no problem, but we respect the other side s wish, when ties are developing, whether it s with Saudi Arabia or with other Arab countries or other Muslim countries, and there is much more ... (but) we keep it secret. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir, asked about reports of cooperation with Israel, cited a Saudi peace initiative, first adopted in 2002 by the Arab League, as key to forging any relationship. We have always said that if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved on the basis of the Arab peace initiative that Israel would have enjoyed normal relations, economic, political, diplomatic relations with all of the Arab countries, and so until that happens, we don t have relations with Israel, he said. That plan makes those relations contingent on a full withdrawal by Israel from territory it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, including East Jerusalem. Netanyahu has expressed tentative support for parts of the initiative, but there are many caveats on the Israeli side. Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said Steinitz s remarks won t surprise anyone who s been paying attention to the budding courtship between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which is being especially pushed by the Israeli side . Last week, the Israeli military chief, Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot, told an Arabic language online newspaper that Israel was ready to share intelligence information with Saudi Arabia, saying their countries had a common interest in standing up to Iran. Saudi Arabia has ratcheted up pressure on Iran, accusing Tehran of trying to expand its influence in Arab countries, often through proxies including the Lebanese Shi ite Hezbollah group. Ibish said that given the mutual threat perceptions shared by Israel and Gulf Arab countries, it is unlikely that covert ties aren t developing. But he said Israeli officials have tended to exaggerate such interactions in a bid to drive down the price they may have to pay, especially on Palestinian issues, to expand strategic relations and ties with Arab countries . In public remarks in September, Netanyahu pointed to covert relationships with Arab states, saying, without mentioning any by name, that cooperation exists in various ways and different levels . Also in September, Israel Radio reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had secretly met officials in Israel that month, drawing an official denial from Riyadh. Last month, Saudi former intelligence chief Prince Turki bin Faisal shared a stage with ex-Israeli Mossad spy agency director Efraim Halevy at a debate on Iran in a New York synagogue. In 2016, former Saudi general Anwar Eshki visited Israel, where he met Israeli legislators, to promote - as he has at various academic forums - the Saudi peace initiative. (This version of the story corrects Saudi foreign minister s first name in paragraph 9 to Adel, not Abdel) ",1 Peacekeepers Kidnapped in Golan Heights,1 "China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela upping foreign aid to poor countries",0 "Leading AIDS researchers/activists, WHO spokesperson reportedly on board Malaysian flight",1 "Trump expects only 'tweaking' of trade relationship with CanadaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States would be “tweaking” its trade relationship with Canada, stopping short of calling for a major realignment in a development likely to please visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump has pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) linking the economies of the United States, Mexico and Canada to make the terms more favorable to Americans. At a joint news conference with Trudeau after White House talks, Trump said his biggest concern with NAFTA was the U.S. trade relationship with Mexico, which he has frequently accused of stealing American jobs. “We have a very outstanding trade relationship with Canada. We’ll be tweaking it,” Trump said. “It’s a much less severe situation than what’s taking place on the southern border. On the southern border, for many, many years the transaction was not fair to the United States,” he said. Trump said the United States and Canada were stronger when they joined forces in matters of international commerce, and both countries benefited from having more jobs and trade in North America. “We should coordinate closely - and we will coordinate closely - to protect jobs in our hemisphere and keep wealth on our continent, and to keep everyone safe,” Trump said. Trudeau carefully steered around questions about the Canadian trade relationship with the United States in what was his first meeting with the new president. He said he expected each country to always remain each other’s most essential partner. “There have been times where we have differed in our approaches and that’s always been done firmly and respectfully. The last thing Canadians expect is for me to come down and lecture another country on how they choose to govern themselves,” Trudeau said. Trump’s vow to renegotiate NAFTA has unnerved Canadian officials, even though he has singled out Mexico in his criticism of the free trade deal. Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States. Canadians have become more supportive of NAFTA since Trump’s election victory on Nov. 8, a poll from the Angus Reid Institute showed on Monday. Forty-four percent of the 1,508 surveyed said NAFTA had benefited Canada, up from 25 percent from a poll last June. Trudeau, when asked about Canadian firms’ concerns about possible changes to NAFTA, said: “It is a real concern for many Canadians because we know our economy is very dependent on our relationship with the United States. “Goods and services do cross the border each day...we have to allow this free flow of goods and services and we have to be aware of the integration of our economies.” Trudeau had a strong rapport with former Democratic President Barack Obama, prompting pundits to describe their relationship as a “bromance.” Soon after Trump put a hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily banned travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries in an executive order on Jan. 27, citing the need to head off attacks by Islamist militants, the Canadian prime minister took to Twitter to say refugees were welcome in Canada. Analysts said Trudeau, who has strong incentives to build a relationship with Trump given rising anti-trade sentiment, is bound to be happy with the first meeting. “I thought it was a huge, huge win. The worst case scenario is we wound up with an Australia moment, when a relationship that should be on solid ground takes a bad turn,” said Carlo Dade, director of the Center for Trade and Investment Policy at the Canada West Foundation. “Instead, we actually got an endorsement of North American jobs, of Canada-U.S. jobs, working together, no “America First” - just the opposite,” he added. Details about a tense telephone call late last month between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had created wariness. The Washington Post, citing unidentified senior U.S. officials, said Trump abruptly ended a phone call with Turnbull, even though Australia has long been a staunch U.S. ally. David Wilkins, former U.S. ambassador to Canada, said the priority of the meeting was to set a positive tone, and that was accomplished. “The president’s comment on the economy and creating jobs together was a very positive sign for Canadians, especially those that had been concerned about the trading relationship,” said Wilkins. “I think it was a win-win for both countries.” ",1 "Over 5000 killed in Syria: A new report more than doubles the death toll in Syria, rights groups launch charter for the recording of civilian casualties in conflict.",0 "Duterte invites U.N. rights body to open Philippine office as drug killings climbMANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday invited the United Nations human rights monitor to set up office in the country and join all anti-narcotic operations, amid growing public and global criticism of his bloody war on drugs. I will personally through an official channel invite the human rights commission to set up a satellite office here, Duterte told reporters after attending the wake of a slain policeman, referring to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). I will tell police station commanders, do not operate without a representative of the U.N. human rights commission and everybody must wear a camera so it will all be transparent. The comments were a marked change from Duterte s usual disdain for the United Nations, which he once threatened to withdraw from after U.N. human rights experts and rapporteurs expressed concern about the huge death toll in his signature war on drugs. Thousands of people, mostly poor urban Filipinos, have been killed since he took office in June 2016. The OHCHR had no immediate comment on Duterte s remarks. Duterte has also made a public debate with U.N. envoys a prerequisite for any visit or investigation related to the anti-drug campaign. His outreach to the United Nations comes as the Philippine National Police (PNP) comes under heavy criticism over the deaths in August of two teenagers. Police say they were killed in self defense, but activists and political opponents have said it was cold-blooded murder. Duterte and his allies were chided last week after lawmakers allied with Duterte supported giving the Philippines Commission on Human Rights an annual budget of just 1,000 pesos ($19.55), which critics at home and abroad said would be tantamount to destroying a constitutional body. The firebrand leader in a speech on Saturday taunted CHR head Chito Gascon by asking him if he was gay, or a pedophile, and if he was smitten with teenagers , referring to his comments about the latest incident. Duterte on Monday said he had no plan to abolish the CHR. He also said the proposed 678 million peso budget would be used to buy body cameras for the PNP during anti-drug operations, to show transparency. More than 3,800 people have been killed in police anti-drugs operations in the past 15 months and at least 2,100 other homicides were likely drug-related. Police reject allegations by human rights groups that they are executing suspected users and dealers. ",1 "Islamic State claims responsibility for suicide attacks in southern Iraq: AmaqBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State has claimed suicide attacks that killed at least 50 people and injured more than 80 in a southern Iraqi city on Thursday. A statement on the Amaq news agency, which supports the hardline Sunni Muslim group, said the attacks carried out by the its suicide fighters targeted a restaurant and a checkpoint, killing dozens of Shi ites . ",1 "Senate's McConnell condemns white supremacistsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday condemned white supremacists, in remarks responding to presidential candidate Donald Trump and his failure to disavow a white supremacist group in an interview. McConnell told reporters that there had been a lot of talk in the past 24 hours about “one of our presidential candidates and his seeming ambivalence” to the Ku Klux Klan white supremacist group and David Duke, a former Klan leader. “So let me make it perfectly clear. Senate Republicans condemn David Duke, the KKK, his racism,” McConnell told reporters, adding the Republicans condemned “everything they stand for.” (Reporting by Susan Cornwell) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 "Healthcare bill not likely to get quick vote in U.S. Senate: senatorWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Bob Corker said on Thursday there was no way the healthcare bill being considered by the House of Representatives would receive a quick up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate, predicting it would take “30 days or so.” “My guess is we’re going to spend at least a month looking at the issue, making sure that it passes the test of time,” Corker said in an interview on MSNBC. “I know it’s not going to be immediate,” he added. “I’m going to guess 30 days or so.” ",1 "WATCH MAXINE WATERS Go Ballistic When Confronted By A Constituent Who Says “I love my President” [Video]The latest video of Maxine Waters is downright hysterical! She s confronted by one of her constituents who says they re going to work every day to make sure that President Trump isn t impeached and that Waters is impeached. Mad Max didn t care for that comment and shot back: You can t impeach a woman of Congress Constituent: Well I just want to talk about your representation in Washington and our President as well.Waters: I can t stand him! He s the most horrible man I ve ever seen in my life! Constituent: I love my President. Waters: I m glad you do! Your President is a dishonorable, lying man. He mocked a journalist. I ve never seen a grown man do that! He talked about grabbing women by the private parts. He s lies everyday. He s in bed with Putin and the Russians about oil! And everybody around him are allies with the Kremlin and with the Oligarchs of Russia. They re gonna take us down! NEW: Constituent confronts Maxine Waters: I m going to work every day to make sure that [Trump] isn t impeached and that you re impeached. pic.twitter.com/Bcv55wmpJx Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) May 30, 2017 The video is hysterical because you know she never ever is confronted by someone. ",0 "A Turkish shopkeeper in Brighton, East Sussex, has been banned from selling alcohol until he learns to speak English well enough to ask customers their age. ",1 Really? Iran Security Forces arrest pigeons working for imperialists equipped with metal rings and invisible strings near Natanz nuclear facility,1 Syria conflict: West 'appalled' by Russia China UN veto,0 "Catholic priest Anthony McSweeney, 68, jailed for assaulting boy at children's home in west London between 1979-1981",1 "OUTRAGE! HOW REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT Is Using United States As Dumping Ground To Settle Diplomatic Disputes Admitting Somalis who d been settled for years in Pakistan like the Ohio State jihadi and his family is only one of them. Another refugee absurdity was revealed recently the Obama administration has agreed to admit illegal aliens intercepted at sea by Australia and held in camps outside that country, on two Pacific islands.The number of people said to be affected is reported to range from 1,600 to nearly 2,500; my colleague Nayla Rush has an overview here. These are people Australia has decided do not warrant refugee status (or what our law would consider asylum). Therefore they have no right to move to Australia. But for a variety of reasons, Australia cannot, or does not want to, send them back, and the refugees won t accept offers of resettlement in New Guinea or Cambodia because they re holding out for a First World country. What s more, their presence in those Australian-run camps on the islands of Nauru and Manus (the latter owned by Papua New Guinea) has become a political headache. Most are from Iran, with smaller numbers from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere.I can see why Australia would want this deal; it costs Oz taxpayers $2 billion to run the two island detention facilities and closing them down would rid the government of the headache. But if Australia doesn t consider them refugees, why should we take them?It appears we re doing this as a favor to Australia; some speculate it s a quid pro quo for Australia s taking some U.S.-bound illegals in camps in Costa Rica, though how that s comparable isn t clear, and Australia has denied any such bargain. The chairman of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Bob Goodlatte and Chuck Grassley, also want to know why we re doing this, and they wrote to the secretaries of State and Homeland Security asking for details on the secret agreement to bring the illegal aliens here. When Capitol Hill staffers asked the State Department how many such refugees would be resettled here under the secret deal, they were told the number was classified. Read more at: NRO",0 Leading Israelis push for two-state solution with new peace initiative,0 "Australian intelligence agencies to be given new powers. ""Australians would be wise to insist on very careful scrutiny of these proposals before endorsing them.""",1 New Saudi King Sacks Younger Brother In Major Royal Shake Up,0 " Desperate Republicans Meet With Romney To Discuss Independent RunOn Thursday, failed 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney met with William Kristol. Kristol, considered an influential voice on the right, is leading the effort to draft an independent candidate to challenge the party s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.According to The Washington Post, Kristol and Romney met privately at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Washington to discuss the possibility of Romney entering the race as a third-party candidate.Kristol confirmed the little meeting during a phone interview with The Washington Post on Friday, saying: He came pretty close to being elected president, so I thought he may consider doing it, especially since he has been very forthright in explaining why Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton should not be president of the United States. The Washington Post reports that Kristol has been desperately seeking a prominent political or military figure who could be drafted into the general-election contest, in hopes of stopping Donald Trump.Kristol previously attempted to draft retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis, who turned down the proposition.According to statements made by Romney later on Thursday, the former candidate said he is not interested in launching an independent run, however he appeared to wholeheartedly support the idea.The Washington Examiner reports that Romney said: I m certainly going to be hoping that we find someone who I have my confidence in who becomes nominee. I don t intend on supporting either of the major-party candidates at this point. He continued, saying: I am dismayed at where we are now, I wish we had better choices, and I keep hoping that somehow things will get better, and I just don t see an easy answer from where we are. No Republicans, there really is no easy answer from where you are. Where you are is totally screwed.There is no super-hero Republican political or military figure who is going to save the GOP from the monster it created. Even if there was, it certainly wouldn t be Mitt Romney, who was already trounced by Democrats in 2012.Lest we forget, the 2016 primary season began with 22 Republican candidates.The candidates included a long list of Republican all-stars : Rick Santorum, Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jim Gilmore, Rand Paul, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, Scott Walker, Jack Fellure, Andy Martin, Dennis Michael Lynch, Mark Everson, Jimmy McMillan and of course, Donald Trump. Needless to say, none of the other 21 primary candidates managed to stop Donald Trump.The fact that Republicans are now hoping against hope that somehow Mitt Romney can save the Republican party from certain death is almost comical.The Republican base clearly doesn t want another candidate. If they did, they could have picked any one of the 21 other morons who entered the 2016 primary race.Sadly, they want Donald Trump. Sadder still, they want Trump because his politics of hate aptly represent the dregs of society that the right-wing has been recruiting into the party for decades.Image credit: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images",0 Nuns say they will not pay Magdalene compensation,0 " Republicans Sabotage Obamacare So They Can Claim It Doesn’t WorkDid your Obamacare premiums go up this year? Blame Republicans.In their effort to destroy President Obama s signature legislative achievement, Republicans voted to repeal the law a bazillion times since taking over the House. They ve also filed lawsuit after lawsuit hoping that a federal court will see things their way and strike it down.However, both efforts have failed miserably as the Supreme Court has ruled against Republicans in two major cases. Plus President Obama would simply veto any repeal bill should it reach his desk.Republicans desperately want to use Obamacare as a campaign talking point this year. The only problem is that Obamacare is turning out to be a successful healthcare program that is becoming as ingrained in our society as Medicare and Medicaid as more and more Americans sign up and get health insurance.According to the Washington Post, more than 11.3 million Americans have signed up for Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act.Furthermore, CNBC reports that fewer than 1 in 10 Americans lacked health insurance in 2015, the first time ever in the nation s history that the uninsured rate has fallen so low, and a clear sign of Obamacare s impact. It s a stunning victory for a program that has only been in full effect since 2014. Much of that success is due to the Medicaid expansion part of the law, which means even less people would be uninsured if Republican-controlled states had not refused to expand Medicaid for their own citizens.Obamacare has also created jobs despite Republican doomsday predictions.All of these successes not only makes Obamacare more popular, they make it harder for Republicans to repeal it without suffering major consequences on Election Day.That s why Republicans have devised an underhanded new strategy in their continuing obsession to kill Obamacare.Talking Points Memo reports:In late 2014, Republicans inserted a provision in budget omnibus legislation that tinkered with what s known as the risk corridors program, which buoys insurers who spend more money than they planned for on covering populations that are sicker than anticipated.The provision resurfaced in the political discourse last fall when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) took it on a victory tour during his presidential campaign, bragging that he stopped a health insurance bailout. The legislation did not so much end the program as screw up the mechanism by which money can be carved out to fund it. The risk corridors can now only be funded by transferring profits from insurers whose populations cost them less than expected, and the government can no longer pull from savings elsewhere in the law to make up the difference.Washington and Lee University School of Law health law expert Timothy Jost explained to TPM that while the tweak isn t near enough to destroy the law, it has caused significant problems, and is a major factor contributing to premium increases this year. Basically, Republicans are deliberately making minor tweaks to Obamacare mechanisms so that certain parts of the program become weaker than they were originally. New reports then come out showing that premiums went up. Then Republicans use those new reports to brag about how Obamacare is broken even though they were the ones who broke it in the first place.So if you discover that your healthcare premiums have risen this year, you can blame Republicans for that and you can make sure they never screw with your healthcare again by punishing them at the voting booth this November.Featured image via Flickr",0 "CHER TELLS TWITTER Followers To Open Their Homes To “DREAMERS”…Conservative Twitter User Shares Her Address To Make It Easier For “Dreamers” To Find HerTwo days ago, Cher, a leftist agitator, and Trump-hater extraordinaire told followers of her Twitter account that they MUST take a DREAMER into their home and protect them . The has been entertainer took it one step further and told her followers that she was Ready 2 Do This and that Others in MY BUSINESS WILL DO THE SAME!! She ended her tweet with the word SANCTUARY , indicating that she and the people employed by her would be offering aid and comfort to illegal alien strangers.Those Who Can Must Take a DREAMER In2 Their Home & Protect Them I m Ready 2 Do This & Others in MY BUSINESS WILL DO THE SAME SANCTUARY Cher (@cher) September 5, 2017The one thing Cher neglected to do was to provide and address or a map to her residence. How in the world does she expect 800,000 ILLEGAL ALIENS to find their new home without an address?Well, thanks to the kindness and generosity of a conservative Twitter user and Trump supporter extraordinaire, illegal aliens who are looking for SANCTUARY can now find it in Cher s massive mansion on the ocean. What a lucky break!DREAMERS : 27423 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu Ca. Not a Joke, You Are Welcome Yours truly, Cher pic.twitter.com/pSeRD0aKgm brooks brown (@bbusa617) September 6, 2017And to think all they needed to do was illegally cross our borders, and without even lifting a finger, they ll be living in the lap of luxury in Cher s mansion on the coast of California in Malibu, where the 1% who advocate for the little guy live. According to this report from Zillow, Cher had her 13,000 sq. ft. home listed with Hilton & Hyland for a mere $45 million in 2010, at which time it did not sell. The home has 7 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. She clearly has enough room for hundreds of illegal aliens.From Zillow:Last August, we reported that Cher s Malibu home was up for sale for $45 million. The place didn t sell and according to the LA Times, Cher withdrew the listing in May, spending the past few months re-doing the interior.Well, it looks like Cher is satisfied with the re-do; her home at 25142 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA is back on the market this time for $41 million. So, in three months time, Cher s house comes with a new interior and a price whack of $4 million. Anyone in the market for a 13,000+ sq ft home with 7 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, a theater and a gym that sits on a 1.7 acre-Malibu bluff with a tennis court, an infinity pool and a guesthouse?It is being listed by Hilton & Hyland.In the meantime, Cher had better luck on the Big Island of Hawaii, selling her home in an auction on Jan. 18, 2010, for $8.72 million. ",0 Russian ultranationalist admits murdering a human rights lawyer and a journalist. He shot them both at point-blank range - in broad daylight.,1 "Colombia is preparing to attack Venezuela in an\noperation that will be made to look like its objective is a base of\nColombian guerrillas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said.",1 Penis transplant declared successful for the first time in history,0 Kenya May End Forced Anal Exams of Suspected Gays,1 "WOW! MALE College Professor Caught On Camera BULLYING Female Pro-Life Student: “College campuses are not free speech areas” [VIDEO]A Fresno State University professor was recently caught on camera scrubbing pro-life message off of the sidewalk and encouraging several of his students to do the same.Here is Gregory Thatcher s profile on the Fresno State College website. We thought we d post it before they take it down. His contact information is listed below, if you d like to have a respectful free speech discussion with him. The whole idea of free speech is that we have a free speech area on campus, kay? Professor Gregory Thatcher erroneously declares in a video recorded by the school s Students for Life chapter. Free speech is free speech in the free speech area. It s a pretty simple concept, okay? This does not constitute a free speech area, okay? He and his students go on to argue that it is within their own First Amendment rights to actively remove the pro-life messages from campus, and in one instance Thatcher claims that since the pro-life group has permission to put it down he has permission to get rid of it. This is our part of free speech. Do you disagree with our part of free speech? Thatcher asked while erasing one of the club s messages, after which he proclaimed that college campuses are not free speech areas. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has since filed a lawsuit against Thatcher on behalf of the Students for Life chapter at Fresno State, arguing that his efforts to intimidate and harass members of the Student for Life chapter violated their fundamental right to free speech.***WARNING***The video you are about to see will make your blood boil. It s pretty hard to watch a full grown man employed by Fresno College sending female students out to do his dirty work. It s even harder to watch the way he aggressively approaches this young female pro-life student, while arrogantly explaining to her that he has the right to deny her free-speech in America Fresno State Students for Life received full permission to chalk pro-life messages near the library. Rather than countering with his own message, Dr. Thatcher took the illegal approach of censoring speech and inciting students to help in this, Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, remarked in a press release, claiming that no student should have to endure this kind of intimidation and harassment for simply expressing their views. For entire story: Campus Reform ",0 "Two Republican senators blast Trump as party feud deepensWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tensions among Republicans about President Donald Trump boiled over on Tuesday as two senators accused Trump of debasing U.S. politics and the country’s standing abroad, a rebellion that could portend trouble for his legislative agenda. The extraordinary public criticism of the president from Jeff Flake and Bob Corker further strained what had already been a fraught relationship between Trump and fellow Republicans as they try to enact tax reform and other policy items. In an emotional speech on the Senate floor, Flake repeatedly targeted Trump’s style of governing, saying American politics had become “inured” to “reckless, outrageous and undignified” behavior from the White House. “The instinct to scapegoat and belittle threatens to turn us into a fearful, backward-looking people,” said the Arizona lawmaker, who announced he would not run for re-election next year. “I will not be complicit or silent,” Flake said. Trump, via Twitter, has been unrelenting in his criticism of Corker and Flake, accusing them of supporting Democratic priorities, and using sometimes slashing language, such as his dismissal of Corker as “liddle Bob Corker.” By announcing he will be leaving when his term ends in early 2019, Flake effectively freed himself up to speak his mind, without having one eye on voter reactions in his home state. A Morning Consult survey conducted Sept. 24 to Oct. 24 said Flake had an approval rating in Arizona of 30 percent. Corker, who has also said he is not running for re-election in Tennessee, accused Trump of telling falsehoods that could be easily proven wrong and willfully damaging the country’s standing in the world, eviscerating the president with comments that stirred deepening divisions in the Republican Party. “You would think he would aspire to be the president of the United States and act like a president of the United States, but that’s not going to be the case apparently,” Corker told reporters. “I’ve seen no evolution in an upward way. In fact, I would say, he’s almost devolved.” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders dismissed the comments from Flake and Corker and said Trump wanted senators who could make progress on his policy goals. “He wants people to be in the Senate that are committed to actually moving the ball down the field, and I don’t think these two individuals necessarily have been as focused on that,” she told reporters. Republican congressional leaders who have learned to tread carefully amid controversies surrounding Trump, largely stayed on the sidelines of the latest fight. “We’re going to concentrate on what our agenda is and not any of these other distractions that you all may be interested in,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan played down Corker’s criticism of Trump, urging reporters to “put this Twitter dispute aside.” Great American Pac, a pro-Trump political group, declared victory over Flake and sent out a fund-raising appeal. “Senator Flake wisely decided to give up on his own terms rather than fight a losing battle for re-election and have the voters retire him at the ballot box next year,” said the group’s top strategist, Ed Rollins. The president is seeking to build consensus around proposed tax cuts. Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but hold just a 52-48 majority in the Senate. Securing passage of his tax-cut plan is critically important to Trump, who has yet to get major legislation through Congress since taking office in January. Trump visited the Capitol on Tuesday for a policy lunch that was described by participants as productive. Over the summer, Trump pilloried Senate Republicans - as a group and some by name - after they failed to generate sufficient votes to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, one of his top presidential campaign promises. The dollar lost ground on news that Flake would not seek re-election because it added to investor worries about the fate of the tax plan, which has widely been seen as a potential boost to American companies. It recovered after a Bloomberg report that Trump asked senators at a closed-door lunch whom they would support to become the next Federal Reserve chairman. Bloomberg quoted one senator as saying that John Taylor, viewed in the markets as an inflation hawk, got the most votes. Trump has also provoked the ire of another respected senior Republican, Senator John McCain, whose war record he mocked during last year’s campaign. Last week, former Republican President George W. Bush, who has kept a low profile since leaving office in January 2009, took a thinly veiled swipe at Trump in a speech in which he decried “bullying and prejudice” and denounced anti-immigrant sentiment. ",1 "A modest bump for Clinton in online wagering hours after debateNEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s probability of winning the White House got a modest bump in online betting markets on Tuesday, a day after her debate with Republican Donald Trump. The price for a contract favoring Clinton on the popular PredictIt betting market was up 2 cents from Monday’s post-debate closing and implied a 68 percent probability that she would win the Nov. 8 election. Although during the debate Clinton was as high as 70 percent, her Monday night closing of 66 matched the highest closing number since her health took a stumble on Sept. 11. A pro-Trump contract on Tuesday indicated his probability for victory was 34 percent. Trading in both contracts remained brisk on the heels of the first of three debates. PredictIt contracts are priced from 0 to 100 cents, with the contract price equating to a probability a candidate will win the election. Initially, the price swings for both candidates were the largest since early August, though a substantial portion of Clinton’s gain and Trump’s fall had been retraced by early afternoon on Tuesday. The swing following the debate put the brakes on a big Trump price rally on PredictIt that coincided with a tightening in most public opinion polls. On PredictIt, the implied probability of him winning had risen to 38 percent heading into the debate from 28 percent at the end of August. Clinton’s prospects also showed comparable improvement on betting sites based in Ireland and the United Kingdom. UK-based Betfair called the debate for Clinton based on odds movements on its platform, where more than 3 million pounds were bet during the event. The implied probability of a Clinton win in November climbed to 69 percent on Betfair, the strongest it has been since her prospects took a hit over her pneumonia diagnosis this month. Trump’s probability fell to 30 percent from 37 percent. On Ireland’s PaddyPower, Clinton’s odds also had shortened, or improved, to 2-to-5 from 1-to-2 in the early moments of Monday’s debate. Trump’s odds, which initially lengthened following the debate, had shortened modestly to 2-to-1. ",1 "Pentagon's Mattis again seeks to reassure U.S. alliesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Jim Mattis travels to the Middle East and eastern Europe next week to play the increasingly familiar role of reassuring allies that the United States is committed to them despite mixed messages from President Donald Trump. Mattis will visit Jordan, Turkey, and Ukraine to address concerns about the fight against Islamic State and give a message that Washington will not tolerate Russia’s annexation of eastern Ukraine. The informal portfolio of soothing traditional U.S. friends upset by Trump’s often sharp comments and tweets on foreign policy is one that the retired Marine general is becoming used to. “There is no-one in the administration, maybe with the exception of Vice President Mike Pence, that has to shoulder the responsibility of Trump’s rhetoric more than Mattis,” said Joshua Walker, a former U.S. diplomat and current fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a think tank. Earlier this month, Trump said that a U.S. military option was being considered for Venezuela as the country is torn by political and economic upheaval. Within a few hours, the Pentagon publicly announced that it had not received any orders on Venezuela, lowering the temperature slightly. Mattis, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, sent a conciliatory message to North Korea last weekend in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal after Trump had threatened “fire and fury” if Pyongyang tried to attack the United States. The two officials wrote that the United States “has no interest in regime change or accelerated reunification of Korea,” addressing some of North Korea’s fears that Washington ultimately intends to replace its leadership. “It is certainly true that to some extent if you look at both Mattis and Tillerson, who travel a lot, they are both explainers and people who both manage to moderate and reassure,” said Anthony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. Mattis served as the head of U.S. military’s Central Command from 2010 to 2013, and foreign leaders, especially in the Middle East, trust him, said Cordesman. On a trip to Iraq earlier this year, Mattis grabbed headlines when he said the U.S. military was not there to “seize anybody’s oil.” That was an attempt to calm Iraqi worries after Trump had told CIA staff in January, when referring to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003: “We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you’ll have another chance.” Trump has also upset NATO allies by demanding they increase their defense spending and by seeking better relations with Russia. “I do think that Secretary Mattis finds himself spending time, putting President Trump’s statements into a broader context... in some cases that does mean defining them more narrowly, or more precisely as to what they mean,” Christine Wormuth, a former number three at the Pentagon, said. On the trip that starts this weekend, Mattis will make the first visit to Ukraine by a U.S. secretary of defense since 2007. He will try to reassure Kiev that the United States remains committed to restoring Ukraine’s sovereignty after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Questions were raised when Tillerson said in June that the Trump administration did not wish to be “handcuffed” by the 2015 Minsk accord to end fighting in Ukraine. That agreement, signed by Russia and Ukraine, calls for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and constitutional reform to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy. While it is not a close U.S. ally, Ukraine has counted on American support against Russia since a pro-Western government took power following street protests in 2014 that ousted a Kremlin-backed president. Trump’s comments during the election campaign last year, from praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin to appearing to recognize Crimea as part of Russia and contemplating an end to U.S. sanctions on Moscow, stoked fears in Kiev that Trump would mend ties with Russia at Ukraine’s expense. The Pentagon is awaiting White House approval for a proposal to send “defensive” weapons to Ukraine, including anti-tank missiles, a U.S. official said. Michael Carpenter, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the region, said the trip would be important because it would send a signal to Kiev that the United States remained committed and the approval of the lethal weapons would be a tangible sign of that. “Mattis believes that this is a security issue that goes beyond Europe, that this is about international norms, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Carpenter said. The Pentagon says Mattis will also emphasize the commitment of the United States to Turkey and help Ankara “address its legitimate security concerns- including the fight against the (Kurdistan Workers Party).” However, Mattis will have to address a number of differences, including the Pentagon’s decision to arm Kurdish YPG fighters to support an operation to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State. Ankara views the YPG, fighting within a larger U.S.-backed coalition, as the Syrian extension of the Kurdish PKK militant group, which it is fighting in southeastern Turkey. ",1 "Under Paris - Strap on a helmet, explore the tunnels beneath Paris. Where you may encounter bones, rats, geologists, mushrooms, bachelor parties, pockets of explosive gas, and a pond in the foundations of the Opera used for training firemen",0 The dirty little secret of modern economics is that the models created by central banks and governments to manage the economy say almost nothing about finance.,1 The Stig's identity revealed over legal battle,1 "Hannity Interview with Julian Assange: Wikileaks Source is NOT The Russian Government21st Century Wire says Fox News Sean Hannity has broken away from the majority of Western news reporters and has gone to Wikileaks Julian Assange to ask him directly, Was your source for the DNC leaks of Russian origin? Watch the interview below: How refreshing to see a mainstream media commentator actually look into the unfounded claims of Russian hacker involvement in the DNC leaks and the US Presidential election. Alex Christoforou The DuranHannity interviews Julian Assange, who once again confirms that Russia had no role to play in the Wikileaks email leak.Fox News Sean Hannity is perhaps the first main stream media commentator who has gone deeper on the Russian election hacker fake news story than other MSM journalist.Hannity interviewed Julian Assange, who once again confirmed that Russia and no state actor was the source of the Wikileaks Podesta emails or DNC leaks.Hannity is also the only MSM show to explore the Craig Murray report, that chronicles the genesis of the leaks stating that the former Ambassador had met with the source of the email leaks confirming and corroborating Assange s factual claim that no state actor, including Russia, was involved in any kind of hack or leak.Continue this article at The DuranREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files",0 "Justice Department changes social media policy after rogue tweet criticizing CNNWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is changing its social media policy following a tweet mistakenly sent from the department’s official account on Tuesday that called CNN “the biggest troll of them all,” a department official said. In a statement, the staff member in the public affairs office “erroneously used the official Department of Justice Twitter handle to post a tweet that was intended for a personal account.” The statement did not identify the staff member, but said the person’s access to the department’s social media accounts had been revoked. Going forward, the Justice Department’s public affairs office will implement “procedural changes” around the use of social media accounts and provide additional training to its employees, the statement said. The tweet was sent early on Tuesday in response to a CNN story about the campaign of Donald Trump denying his wife Melania’s speech at the Republican Nominating Convention was plagiarized from a 2008 speech by first lady Michelle Obama. “CNN is the biggest troll of them all lmao #petty,” said the tweet, which was later deleted. The Justice Department said, “the tweet does not represent the department’s views and was inappropriate for the Department of Justice’s official account.” “The Justice Department takes this matter very seriously and will continue to take the appropriate steps to prevent it from happening in the future,” said the statement. ",1 " Obama Puts Trump In His Place, DESTROYS Him With This One Statement During Farewell Address (VIDEO)President Barack Obama gave an amazing farewell address last night as he captivated Americans across the country and said goodbye to his time as President of the United States. At a time when many of us were feeling heartbroken and depressed that this great leader would now be followed by an underserving former reality television star, Obama made sure to leave us with a message of hope and reminded us of what we re fighting for. It was a beautiful speech, and it highlighted everything we are going to miss about him.One of the more notable parts of the speech was an epic burn Obama delivered, aimed right at President-elect Donald Trump. While Obama never once said Trump s name, it was blatantly obvious who he was talking about as he spoke about the need for diverse groups of workers to unite and stand together. Slamming Trump s divisive rhetoric and policies, Obama reached out to workers of all ages, races, genders, and professions when he said: But we re not where we need to be. All of us have more work to do. After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves. If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don t look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America s workforce. And our economy doesn t have to be a zero-sum game. Last year, incomes rose for all races, all age groups, for men and for women. Beautifully said. While Trump may have won the election by dividing Americans and speaking only to white workers in certain professions, Americans can stop him from dividing us further by standing together. Aside from preventing Trump from creating more division, united workers must also defy him by standing up to his greedy pro-corporation agenda which will only benefit the wealthiest.Obama knew that he had to inspire Americans enough to get them through the next four years under the worst administration they ve ever been faced with. He succeeded once again.You can watch Obama a full farewell address below, starting at around the 17 minute mark:Featured image via Darren Hauck / Getty Images",0 "Feel free to breastfeed here, pope tells mothers in Sistine Chapel",0 Pope Francis says wasting food is like stealing from the poor,1 "U.S. carries out first strikes against Islamic State in SomaliaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States carried out its first air strikes against Islamic State militants in Somalia and killed several terrorists, the U.S. military said on Friday. The Pentagon s Africa Command said the first strike was carried out at midnight local time (2100 GMT, Thursday) and another one at 11 a.m. on Nov. 3. Several terrorists were killed, the military said in a statement, adding that the strikes were conducted in coordination with Somalia s government. U.S. forces will continue to use all authorized and appropriate measures to protect Americans and to disable terrorist threats, the statement said. Islamic State has been gathering recruits in the region, although experts say the scale of its force is unclear and it remains a small player compared to the al Shabaab group. Last month, a group loyal to Islamic State seized a small port town in Somalia s semi-autonomous Puntland region, the first town it has taken since emerging a year ago. The group, which refers to itself simply as Islamic State, is a rival to the larger al Shabaab force, which is linked to Islamic State s rival al Qaeda and once controlled much of Somalia. The United States has occasionally carried out strikes against al Shabaab militants in Somalia, which retains a strong presence in parts of the south and center and carries out gun and bomb attacks. The al Shabaab group aims to drive out the peacekeepers, topple Somalia s Western-backed government and impose its strict version of Islam on the Horn of Africa state. More than 350 people were killed in twin bombings in the Somali capital Mogadishu last month, the deadliest attack in the country s history. Earlier this year, the White House granted the U.S. military broader authority to carry out strikes in Somalia against al Shabaab. ",1 "Lebanon's finances can cope with PM resignation: finance ministerBEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon and its financial institutions can cope with the impact of Prime Minister Saad Hariri s surprise resignation, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Monday. We are confident in the stability of the financial and monetary situation in the country. There are no very big challenges ahead of us, Khalil said in a televised statement after a meeting on the economy chaired by President Michel Aoun. The state is able to finance itself, he said. ",1 LAURA INGRAHAM RIPS INTO THE PRESS…Crowd Goes Wild: “Do your job!” [VIDEO]Laura Ingraham reminds the Never Trump people that they had better vote for Trump or it s another 4 years of decline: ,0 Trololo man in critical health condition,0 Russian lawmakers say Snowden deserves Nobel Peace Prize,1 "Trump draws even with Clinton in national White House poll WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump pulled even with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday, in a dramatic early sign that the Nov. 8 presidential election might be more hotly contested than first thought. While much can change in the six months until the election, the results of the online survey are a red flag for the Clinton campaign that the billionaire’s unorthodox bid for the White House cannot be brushed aside. Trump’s numbers surged after he effectively won the Republican nomination last week by knocking out his two remaining rivals, according to the poll. The national survey found 41 percent of likely voters supporting Clinton and 40 percent backing Trump, with 19 percent undecided. The survey of 1,289 people was conducted over five days and has a credibility interval of 3 percentage points. “Very happy to see these numbers,” Trump said in a written comment to Reuters. “Good direction.” A spokesman for Clinton’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the poll. A Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in the five days to May 4 had the former secretary of state at 48 percent and the New York magnate at 35 percent. Republican strategist Dave Carney said the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed the vulnerability of Clinton, who is still battling U.S. Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination. “She has been in the public eye for decades, served in high office, and now she’s in a dead heat with Trump, in a race that everyone thought she would win easily,” said Carney, who has been critical of Trump. “Everyone thought it would be a romp.” Trump has his own problems, though. He is struggling to bring some senior Republicans behind his campaign after primary election battles in which his fiery rhetoric rankled party elites. Several Republican leaders — including House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan — are withholding their support. “After a tough primary, that’s going to take some effort,” Ryan said about unifying the party. “We are committed to putting that effort in.” The former reality TV star will face pressure to tone down his rhetoric and clarify his policy positions when he visits Republican lawmakers, including Ryan, on Thursday. Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized Trump on Wednesday for not releasing his tax returns, saying the only explanation was that the documents contained a “bombshell.” Trump has said that he will make public his tax returns on the completion of an audit. Clinton and Trump both poll well with voters of their respective parties, but independent voters continue to express uncertainty about who they will support, with 38 percent in the Reuters/Ipsos poll saying they are unsure or would vote for someone else. With the party’s primary season winding down, the two likely nominees have turned their attention to attacking each other, both on policy and personality. Clinton took aim at Trump’s tax reform plan at a rally in New Jersey on Wednesday. With a typical American family earning $54,000 per year, Clinton said, “It would take that family 24 years of work to earn what Donald Trump’s tax plan will hand out to people like him in just one year. That is no way to create good job with rising incomes for the vast majority of Americans, is it?” Trump has taunted Clinton in recent days for failing to “close the deal” against Sanders. University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said Trump - who has promised to force Mexico to pay for a border wall to halt illegal immigration and called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country - could also face a wall of opposition among minority voters. “This is an election that will be determined as much by the demographic composition of the American electorate as anything else - and that didn’t change in a week,” he said. Clinton’s loss in the Democratic primary election in West Virginia on Tuesday also signaled possible trouble for her in industrial states in November, underscoring how she still needs to court working-class voters in the Rust Belt. Roughly six in 10 voters in West Virginia, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in country, said they were very worried about the direction of the U.S. economy in the next few years, according to a preliminary ABC News exit poll. The same proportion cited the economy and jobs as the most important issue in the election. ",1 DNA test proves 7 year old girl taken from by police from house in Dublin this week is related to Roma family - The couple have maintained all along that the 7-year-old blonde girl is their daughter,1 " Prominent Psychiatrist Gives One DAMNING Reason Why We Shouldn’t Call Trump ‘Mentally Ill’ (IMAGE)Given Donald Trump s disastrous presidential campaign and his even worse first month in the White House, several experts have raised suspicions that Trump is mentally ill and must be evaluated immediately. However, for prominent psychiatrist Allen Francis, M.D., there s one major reason we shouldn t be calling Trump mentally ill because he s something far, far worse.Dr. Frances, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavior sciences at Duke University Medical Center, has just written a damning letter to the editor of The New York Times stating that regarding Trump as mentally ill is a direct insult to those with mental illnesses. According to Dr. Frances, who was involved in writing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (D.S.M.-IV), Trump is bad, not mad and crazy only like a fox. Frances said that claiming Trump has a mental illness is: a stigmatizing insult to the mentally ill (who are mostly well behaved and well meaning) to be lumped with Mr. Trump (who is neither).Unlike those with actual mental illnesses, Dr. Frances argues that Trump causes distress rather than experiencing it and has been rewarded for his grandiosity, self-absorption and lack of empathy. Instead of busying ourselves trying to decide if Trump is mentally ill or not, Dr. Frances believes that: He can, and should, be appropriately denounced for his ignorance, incompetence, impulsivity and pursuit of dictatorial powers. Many mental health experts have spoken out about Trump before, but this is by far the most critical of them. No one can argue with Dr. Frances assessment; everything Dr. Frances has pointed out about Trump s behavior have been things that Trump has done very publicly. You can read his full letter in The New York Times below: And is just the icing on the cake. Dr. Frances also wrote a blog post in Psychology Today in which he urged people to focus on Trump s actions instead of his mental state. Dr. Frances wrote: The urge among amateur diagnosticians to mislabel Trump as mentally ill is perfectly understandable. They are terrified (as am I) by his dictatorial and impulsive behavior and feel compelled to resort to psychiatric name calling as a way of delegitimizing him. But this is inaccurate, unnecessary, unfair to the mentally ill, ineffective, and badly off target.We must challenge Trump on his outrageous behaviors and constant lies, not on his mental status. Speculations on Trump s psychological motivations, or whether he believes his own lies, are both distracting and irrelevant.At this crucial moment, with our fragile democracy at serious risk, I really couldn t care less why Trump does what he does. It is his dangerous actions that count, not the psychological reasons he does them. Dr. Frances also tweeted this on Tuesday: I m so tired of amateur analyses of Trump s psychology or diagnosis. Focus on real danger- his grab of dictator power. Dr. Frances is dead right. While we may never understand what goes on in Trump s mind, the real threat to America is his love of unchecked power and we shouldn t lose sight of that.Featured image via Mark Wilson / Getty Images",0 Yemen confirmed on Saturday that a ship intercepted last month off its coast was an Iranian vessel trying to smuggle explosives and surface-to-air missiles to the country,0 Scientists in Bolivia say that one of the country's most famous glaciers has almost disappeared as a result of climate change.,0 "As Trump seeks defense-spending boost, watchdogs cite faulty Pentagon accounting WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald J. Trump is planning to increase U.S. defense spending by $54 billion next year. But a series of recent reports by the Defense Department Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office say that Pentagon accounting systems will struggle to track how the money is spent. The reports found that the Pentagon remains unable to accurately track its $591 billion annual budget and experiences billions of dollars in accounting gaps and errors each year despite two decades of reform efforts. Taken together, the reports show that many of the endemic accounting problems exposed in a 2013 Reuters investigative series remain in place. “These deficiencies not only affect (the Department of Defense’s) ability to have auditable financial statements,” a Feb. 9 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found, “they also affect its ability to make sound decisions on missions and operations.” A spokesman for the White House’s Office of Management Budget (OMB) said he was confident that Defense Secretary James Mattis would properly spend the additional funds. “The need to replenish our military and bolster American security is unquestioned and an important priority of this president,” OMB Communications Director John Czwartacki said in a statement. “We believe Secretary Mattis will deploy all of his resources in the most effective and efficient way possible.” Critics of wasteful Pentagon spending say increasing the Defense Department budget is unwise when the department is unable to account for what it already has. “It’s ludicrous,” said Mandy Smithberger, director of the Straus Military Reform Project in Washington. “Reform isn’t going to happen as long as the spigot is turned on.” The Pentagon’s continued accounting problems are drawing particular scrutiny now because the Defense Department faces a congressionally mandated legal deadline of Sept. 30, 2017, to become ready for its first audit ever. Unlike every other U.S. government department, the Pentagon has never undergone an audit because its financial records are in such disarray. A spokesman for the Defense Department comptroller’s office said he is confident it will meet the deadline. “The Department is committed and on track to be ready to undergo a full financial statement audit in (fiscal year) 2018,” Lieutenant Colonel Eric D. Badger said in an email. At the same time Trump proposes to boost defense spending, he has called for deep cuts to other areas, a White House summary of his proposed 2018 budget shows. Whether Congress will accept or reject Trump’s proposals is unclear. Trump calls for cutting the State Department’s budget by $10.1 billion, or 28%. Among other things, U.S. payments to support the United Nations would be cut. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would take a particularly big hit. Trump would cut $2.6 billion, or 31%, of its budget. The White House document says the budget would eliminate more than 50 EPA programs, and cut EPA’s research and development budget by $233 million, or 52%. The budget for grants to states for lead clean-up would be cut by 30% to $9.8 million. The recent watchdog reports on the Defense Department found that it lacks a unified, functioning accounting system. As Reuters reported in its 2013 series, the Pentagon has hundreds of independent systems, built ad hoc and some dating from the 1970s, that are riddled with errors and incapable of sharing accurate data. Billions of dollars disappear from accounting records. The military has spent large sums building new systems meant to solve the problem, but so far they have not. A March 16 Defense Department Inspector General report said the Navy could not find any records to back up how it had spent $866 million in the first quarter of 2016 in U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. The report said that as a result, there was no way to know what the money actually was used for. A Navy spokeswoman, Lieutenant Kara YingLing, referred Reuters to the Navy’s official response to the report, which said the Navy agreed with the Inspector General’s conclusions but said its accounting problems will not be fixed until it begins using a new computer system in 2019. YingLing said the Navy is “on track” to help the Pentagon meet its Sept. 30 audit deadline. The Feb. 9 GAO report said the Pentagon’s continued bookkeeping errors affect the federal government as a whole. Defense spending makes up such a large part of the federal budget that the department’s unreliable data skews accounting for the entire U.S. government, the GAO said. The report noted that the Defense Department has been on the GAO’s list of “High Risk” entities that represent threats to the federal government’s financial well-being since 1995. The report said the Pentagon has remained on the list because of “long-standing deficiencies with its financial management systems.” The GAO report noted that the Pentagon had hired large independent accounting firms for each of the military services to try to help them meet the Sept. 30 audit deadline. But the report said the firms have found so many problems that the ability of the Pentagon to meet the deadline remains in doubt. A separate Defense Department Inspector General report issued on March 23, 2017, found that the Army continues to be unable to balance its checkbook. The report concluded that the problem for the Army grew worse in 2016. The report said that for October 2015, the Army had 177,921 discrepancies. The monthly numbers rose steadily to 790,551 for June 2016. The report did not give dollar amounts for those months. Army spokesman Wayne Hall said the number of discrepancies continued to increase in 2017 because planned fixes to computer systems have not yet been made. He said the Army is working on building more reliable systems. The report said that because rules require that the Army’s numbers exactly match in monthly reports to the Treasury, the Army and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service must find a way to make them match. Their solution was to enter made-up numbers to make it appear falsely that the Army’s numbers do match. The report said that for March 2016, there were $1.9 billion in such “forced balance entries.” Hall said the Army must make the numbers match under federal rules. In separate reports, the Inspector General found that other military services have also had problems balancing their financial numbers with the Treasury’s. Accountants interviewed by Reuters said that such large discrepancies would be considered accounting fraud in the corporate world. Badger, the spokesman for the Defense Department comptroller’s office, said any errors by the military services were unintentional. “We strongly oppose any accusation of intentionally misrepresenting our books,” Badger said in an email. “Many manual accounting adjustments are often caused by the ineffective design of legacy business or financial systems.” Trump has said the $54 billion in increased defense spending will send a “message to the world in these dangerous times of American strength, security and resolve.” Trump has also vowed to negotiate cheaper contracts with defense contractors, a problem also cited in recent watchdog reports. In a March 2016 report, the Inspector General found that the Air Force had spent “billions” on a contract to maintain one type of jet engine, without first getting any idea of a fair price. The open-ended contract, with a guaranteed profit margin regardless of cost, was awarded in 2011. The report said that before signing the contract the Air Force obtained no data on the actual cost of the repairs and how the costs compared to private-sector rates. The exact amount of the contract was redacted from the report. The Inspector General has not ruled on a March 2016 Freedom of Information Act request filed by Reuters that asked for the redacted information to be made public. ",1 "America’s Primal Scream: David Icke Explains Reason for Trump’s Election Result21st Century Wire says Author David Icke talks about the US election shocker and what it says about the relationship between society and big government.In the end, Trump s success was an expression of a complete rejection of the political establishment and the two party system. Like BREXIT, Trump s surprise electoral result represents a much bigger social and spiritual tremor happening beneath the establishment s feet one that the mainstream are prepared to admit. Watch: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Inflation grips China. The $600 billion stimulus launched in 2008 is all but spent. They've stopped paying migrant workers, with more cuts on the way.",0 "FAKE NEWS WEEK: Truth, War Propaganda, CIA and Media Manipulation In response to the establishment media s contrived fake news crisis designed to marginalise independent and alternative media sources of news and analysis, 21WIRE is running its own #FakeNewsWeek campaign, where each day our editorial team at 21st Century Wire will feature media critiques and analysis of mainstream corporate media coverage of current events exposing the government and the mainstream media as the real purveyors of fake news throughout modern history The Centre for Research on GlobalizationNever before has it been so important to have independent, honest voices and sources of information. We are as a society inundated and overwhelmed with a flood of information from a wide array of sources, but these sources of information, by and large, serve the powerful interests and individuals that own them. The main sources of information, for both public and official consumption, include the mainstream media, alternative media, academia and think tanks.The mainstream media is the most obvious in its inherent bias and manipulation. The mainstream media is owned directly by large multinational corporations, and through their boards of directors are connected with a plethora of other major global corporations and elite interests. An example of these connections can be seen through the board of Time Warner.Time Warner owns Time Magazine, HBO, Warner Bros., and CNN, among many others. The board of directors includes individuals past or presently affiliated with: the Council on Foreign Relations, the IMF, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Warburg Pincus, Phillip Morris, and AMR Corporation, among many others.Two of the most esteemed sources of news in the U.S. are the New York Times (referred to as the paper of record ) and the Washington Post. The New York Times has on its board people who are past or presently affiliated with: Schering-Plough International (pharmaceuticals), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chevron Corporation, Wesco Financial Corporation, Kohlberg & Company, The Charles Schwab Corporation, eBay Inc., Xerox, IBM, Ford Motor Company, Eli Lilly & Company, among others. Hardly a bastion of impartiality.And the same could be said for The Washington Post, which has on its board: Lee Bollinger, the President of Columbia University and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and individuals associated with (past or presently): the Coca-Cola Company, New York University, Conservation International, the Council on Foreign Relations, Xerox, Catalyst, Johnson & Johnson, Target Corporation, RAND Corporation, General Motors, and the Business Council, among others.It is also important to address how the mainstream media is intertwined, often covertly and secretly, with the government. Carl Bernstein, one of the two Washington Post reporters who covered the Watergate scandal, revealed that there were over 400 American journalists who had secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency. Interestingly, the use of journalists has been among the most productive means of intelligence-gathering employed by the CIA. Among organizations which cooperated with the CIA were the American Broadcasting Company, the National Broadcasting Company, the Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Newsweek magazine, the Mutual Broadcasting System, the Miami Herald and the old Saturday Evening Post and New York Herald-Tribune. By far the most valuable of these associations, according to CIA officials, have been with the New York Times, CBS and Time Inc. The CIA even ran a training program to teach its agents to be journalists, who were then placed in major news organizations with help from management. These types of relationships have continued in the decades since, although perhaps more covertly and quietly than before. For example, it was revealed in 2000 that during the NATO bombing of Kosovo, several officers from the US Army s 4th Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) Group at Ft. Bragg worked in the news division at CNN s Atlanta headquarters. This same Army Psyop outfit had planted stories in the U.S. media supporting the Reagan Administration s Central America policies, which was described by the Miami Herald as a vast psychological warfare operation of the kind the military conducts to influence a population in enemy territory. These Army PSYOP officers also worked at National Public Radio (NPR) at the same time. The US military has, in fact, had a strong relationship with CNN.In 2008, it was reported that the Pentagon ran a major propaganda campaign by using retired Generals and former Pentagon officials to present a good picture of the administration s war-time policies. The program started in the lead-up to the Iraq War in 2003 and continued into 2009. These officials, presented as military analysts , regurgitate government talking points and often sit on the boards of military contractors, thus having a vested interest in the subjects they are brought on to analyze. In 2013, Public Accountability reported:During the public debate around the question of whether to attack Syria, Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser to George W. Bush, made a series of high-profile media appearances. Hadley argued strenuously for military intervention in appearances on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and Bloomberg TV, and authored a Washington Post op-ed headlined To stop Iran, Obama must enforce red lines with Assad. In each case, Hadley s audience was not informed that he serves as a director of Raytheon, the weapons manufacturer that makes the Tomahawk cruise missiles that were widely cited as a weapon of choice in a potential strike against Syria. Hadley earns $128,500 in annual cash compensation from the company and chairs its public affairs committee. He also owns 11,477 shares of Raytheon stock, which traded at all-time highs during the Syria debate ($77.65 on August 23, making Hadley s share s worth $891,189). Despite this financial stake, Hadley was presented to his audience as an experienced, independent national security expert.The major philanthropic foundations in the United States have often used their enormous wealth to co-opt voices of dissent and movements of resistance into channels that are safe for the powers that be. As McGeorge Bundy, former President of the Ford Foundation once said, Everything the Foundation does is to make the world safe for Capitalism. Examples of this include philanthropies like the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation providing immense financial and organizational support to Non-Governmental Organizations. Furthermore, the alternative media are often funded by these same foundations, which has the effect of influencing the direction of coverage as well as the stifling of critical analysis Learn more about the Centre for Research on Globalization and the work of its founder and editor, Professor Michel Chossudovsky, as well how to donate to them at Global Research.ca. The original version of this article was published at Global Research in March 2011. READ MORE ABOUT MSM FAKE NEWS AT: FAKE NEWS WEEKSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 "DISNEY Introduces New Marvel Comic Books: Captain America (Captain Socialist) Beats Up Conservative Terrorists Defending U.S. Borders And More [VIDEO]Indoctrination by Disney pretty much covers every demographic: toddlers with sippy cups watching the Disney channel and Disney movies, teens reading Marvel comic books, young women watching an abortion being performed on ABC s Scandal while Silent Night plays in the background, and full grown men kicking back with a beer watching sports on ESPN.Watch this unbelievable summarization of Disney s new Marvel comic book:h/t Weasel Zippers",0 CIA lied over 'brutal' interrogations.,0 "Van Niekerk forced to work his way to tantalizing 400m finalLONDON (Reuters) - Wayde van Niekerk duly qualified for the World Championship 400 meters final on Sunday but the defending champion and world record holder looks to have a real battle on his hands after some searing semi-final performances. The South African was desperately trying to conserve energy as he bids for a 200/400m double but was forced to go deeper than he would have liked by Botswana’s Baboloki Thebe in the second of three semi-finals, eventually clocking 44.22 seconds. By that stage two 21-year-olds had fired out a warning with massive personal bests. Steven Gardiner improved his own Bahamas national record and went under 44 seconds for the first time, clocking a 43.89 which he might pay for in the final on Tuesday. Nathon Allen also set a Jamaican record, taking almost half a second off his best with 44.19. Botswana’s Isaac Makwala looked very comfortable in winning his heat in 44.22 seconds. Van Niekerk was originally drawn in the opening heat but organizers changed the lineup, which pleased the South African. “Whoever changed it, thank you, I wasn’t ready for 43 seconds,” he said. “It seems like every time we go on the track someone breaks 44 seconds. It is good competition but it just means I always have to be on my game. “I’m just trying to get through the rounds as conservatively as I can.” American’s big hope Fred Kerley scraped into the final as a fast loser but former Olympic and world champion LaShawn Merritt, another man to serve a doping ban though unlike compatriot Justin Gatlin loudly cheered by the London crowd, failed to make it. ",1 " Trump EXPLODES Over Protests For His Obamacare Repeal. Whoopi Goldberg’s Response Is AMAZING (VIDEO)Anyone who respects democracy and the way this country works knows that protests and rallies are just part of what Americans are allowed to do to get their point across. Donald Trump, of course, does not respect any type of protest or criticism if it goes against him, so he recently attacked Americans who are worried about their healthcare being taken away.Yesterday, Trump flipped out and attacked Americans who were protesting against his disastrous Affordable Care Act repeal on Twitter. Implying that the protesters were actually being paid off, and were part of a liberal scheme to take him down, Trump tweeted:It is completely disgusting that a president would insult and attack citizens like this, and the women of The View nailed him for it, unanimously agreeing that protesters have every right to be upset. Host Whoopi Goldberg called out Trump s lies perfectly when she reminded everyone that people actually rely on the Affordable Care Act for life-saving treatment and medication: People are not paid to do this. People are pissed off! She s absolutely right. People s lives will actually be threatened as the GOP works to get rid of the Affordable Care Act with no reasonable replacement. Co-host Sara Haines jumped in and added: I think there s a lot of pressure in D.C. right now considering [Donald] Trump is technically a Republican and he s overseeing this party. Right now people are feeling the pressure in D.C. to give in, pass people, do all of this stuff. These are the people that are going to vote them back in or not. I think it s a good a real reminder that at the end of the day, their power comes from those votes. While there was a bit of back and forth between co-hosts Sunny Hostin and conservative Jedediah Bila over whether or not Obamacare was cost-effective and useful to Americans (clearly, it is), co-host Joy Behar jumped in and reminded everyone that most of the people who backed Trump didn t even know that Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act were the same thing, and that those people only hated Obamacare because of their dislike for former President Barack Obama.Goldberg cut in again with some harsh criticism for Trump s plan to trash Obamacare completely: This has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act. A lot of what s happened with the insurance companies is that the insurance companies don t want to deal with this. So, we re going to punish you, so you re forced to move this. Now, here s my suggestion, because it works for a lot of people, there has to be a way, as with everything, that you use stuff that works and move what doesn t but to come in and sweep everything out seems very crazy to me. You can watch Goldberg take down Trump below:Featured image via Pool and / Getty Images",0 Wife punished cheating husband with her suicide and killing his 3 daughters,0 " Presidential Lawyer Comes Forward; Says Trump Jr. May Have Committed Treason (VIDEO)For as smug as he always appears to be, Donald Trump Jr. might want to wipe that entitled grin off his face. Especially when he finds out he may be going to prison.According to the New York Times: President Trump s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign, according to three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it. And now, coming forward is Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer who served under former President George W. Bush, and is telling us that what Trump Jr. has allegedly done borders on treason. Painter said: This was an effort to get opposition research on an opponent in an American political campaign from the Russians, who were known to be engaged in spying inside the United States We do not get our opposition research from spies, we do not collaborate with Russian spies, unless we want to be accused of treason. Adding: If this story is true, we d have one of them if not both of them in custody by now, and we d be asking them a lot of questions This is unacceptable. This borders on treason, if it is not itself treason. The punishment for treason is: Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. It is absolutely one of the worst crimes, if not the worst crime, one can commit against one s nation. If true, it also shows that Trump s presidential campaign absolutely did collude with Russia in the months leading up to the 2016 election.Here s Painter on MSNBC: Bush 43 WH ethics lawyer on NYT story/Donald Trump Jr. and Kushner meeting with Russian lawyer: This borders on treason via @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/Ceu5xLYgnB Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 9, 2017Featured Photo by Getty Images",0 "South Korea to 'wait and see' after Trump threat to scrap free trade dealSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea is adopting a “wait and see” stance, government officials said on Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters he would “renegotiate or terminate” a free trade pact between the two countries. The won KRW= turned lower against the dollar soon after Trump's comments, trading down 0.2 percent at 1,132.5 to the dollar. South Korea's benchmark share index .KS11 fell, wiping out earlier gains, to stand down 0.03 percent at 2,208.73 points by 0207 GMT (10:07 p.m. ET). “Talk and actual policy are different,” a high-ranking official at the finance ministry, who declined to be named, as he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters. “They have not requested anything from us so we’ll have to wait and see.” He reiterated comments by Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho the previous day that South Korea had not yet received any official requests on the renegotiation of the pact, which took effect in 2012. The deal was great for South Korea, but “terrible” for the United States, Trump told Reuters in the interview. A senior trade official also told Reuters the ministry would need to coordinate with Washington on the trade deal, but declined to elaborate further, as he needed time to look into the matter. South Korea’s automobile industry body expressed concern over the possible revision of the trade deal. Shares of Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) extended losses, and were down as much as 2.4 percent after Trump’s comments. ",1 Islamic State 'kills US hostage' Steven Sotloff,1 "Trump's choice for national security adviser had early exposure to IranWASHINGTON (Reuters) - As a teenager in the early 1970s retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Robert S. Harward played football and basketball, was popular with classmates and, like many American high school students, was known for partying. But Harward, to whom President Donald Trump has offered the post of U.S. national security adviser, to succeed Michael Flynn, spent his teenage years not in his native Rhode Island, but in pre-revolutionary Iran, where his father, a Navy captain, advised the Iranian military. During his teenage years, Harward lived in an Iranian neighborhood, attended school with Iranian-American students and played sports against Iranian teams. Those experiences gave him an unusual familiarity with Iran’s culture and people in the years before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the pro-American Shah. “During very formative years of his life, he was exposed to everything that was Iran,” said Joseph Condrill, who knew Harward, known by his classmates as Bobby, when they were students at the Tehran American School. “Iran was one of our homes, and we got to know the Iranian people very well, in a very intimate way.” The Trump administration has offered Harward the job of national security adviser, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if Harward had accepted, the sources said. A White House spokesperson had no immediate comment. Harward would carry his experience into the Trump White House, charged with coordinating national security policy and responding to threats including Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for militant groups in the Middle East. While Flynn put Iran “on notice,” and Trump has tweeted that Iran is “playing with fire,” Harward’s experience with Iran is more personal. The revolution that brought Iran’s theocratic government to power forced the closure of the Tehran American School and cut short the tours of American families living in Iran. Rather than being isolated on a military base, Harward and other Americans at that time lived among Iranians, rode local buses, and were exposed to Iran’s attractions through field trips, his classmates said. “It was not a completely isolated culture for us,” said John Martin, 61, of Reston, Virginia, who was in Harward’s high school class and attended the U.S. Naval Academy with him. Harward even picked up fluent Persian while he was in Iran, Martin said. “For those of us that had once lived in Iran, there’s an after-effect, the effect of the Islamic Revolution,” Condrill said. “There is definitely a sense of suspicion, if you will ... based upon that experience of the Iran that we once knew.” It is not clear, however, how Harward’s memories might influence U.S. policy, because the national security adviser’s job is to coordinate, not make, policy. In addition, administration officials said, Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller have closer ties to the president than Harward would have and would present a rival power center. In 2012, as deputy head of the U.S. Central Command, he told a conference that “Iran’s well-established past pattern of deceit and reckless behavior have progressively increased the potential for miscalculation that could spark a regional, if not a global conflict.” At the same event, he recalled with some wistfulness his own experience living in the region. “I think back to the days when I graduated from the Tehran American School in 1974, where as a Westerner I could freely travel through Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and other countries in the region and be greeted, and welcomed, because of the policies and strategy the West employed in the region,” he said. “Yet I look today, we are in a much different world.” Harward did not respond to a request for comment and officials at Lockheed Martin, where he is a top executive, declined to comment. After graduating from high school in 1974, Harward returned to the United States, joined the Navy, became an elite SEAL and rose through the ranks, eventually serving as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East. He served there under General Jim Mattis, now the U.S. defense secretary. Earlier in his career, Harward worked on counterterrorism as a military officer on the National Security Council, an assignment seen as a marker of a rising star. Several former U.S. officials who worked with Harward described him as experienced and smart, but not known for his personal experience with Iran. He is well-liked and respected and seen as unpretentious despite his distinguished military service, according to people who have worked with him. “He was a very good and effective bureaucratic player,” said Derek Chollet, an assistant secretary of defense under the Obama administration. “He understands the role the military plays within the broader tool set of American policy.” When Harward was a commanding officer in Afghanistan, he was known for making his rounds without full body armor to send a message that Afghanistan was safe, said a U.S. official who worked under Harward there. “He had no ego,” the official said, on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. ",1 "Saudi Crown Prince calls Iran leader 'new Hitler': NYTDUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s powerful Crown Prince called the Supreme Leader of Iran the new Hitler of the Middle East in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday, sharply escalating the war of words between the arch-rivals. The Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran back rival sides in wars and political crises throughout the region. Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Saudi defense minister in the U.S.-allied kingdom, suggested the Islamic Republic s alleged expansion under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei needed to be confronted. But we learned from Europe that appeasement doesn t work. We don t want the new Hitler in Iran to repeat what happened in Europe in the Middle East, the paper quoted him as saying. Iran reacted harshly by saying that Salman was discredited internationally by his immature behavior, state television reported. No one in the world and in the international arena gives credit to him because of his immature and weak-minded behavior and remarks, Iran s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying. Now that he has decided to follow the path of famous regional dictators ... he should think about their fate as well. Tensions soared this month when Lebanon s Saudi-allied Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned in a television broadcast from Riyadh, citing the influence of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and risks to his life. Hezbollah called the move an act of war engineered by Saudi authorities, an accusation they denied. Hariri has since suspended his resignation. Saudi Arabia has launched thousands of air strikes in a 2-1/2-year-old war in neighboring Yemen to defeat the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement that seized broad swaths of the country. Salman told the Times that the war was going in its favor and that its allies controlled 85 percent of Yemen s territory. The Houthis, however, still retain the main population centers despite the war effort by a Saudi-led military coalition which receives intelligence and refueling for its warplanes by the United States. Some 10,000 people have died in the conflict. The group launched a ballistic missile toward Riyadh s main airport on Nov. 4, which Saudi Arabis decried as an act of war by Tehran. Bin Salman said in May that the kingdom would make sure any future struggle between the two countries is waged in Iran . For his part, Khamenei has referred to the House of Saud as an accursed tree , and Iranian officials have accused the kingdom of spreading terrorism, an accusation it denies. ",1 "Senators on defensive over all-male healthcare panelWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barely two days into crafting a new bill to roll back Obamacare, U.S. Senate Republicans were already on the defensive on Tuesday over the absence of any women in their core working group. After a meeting of the Senate healthcare group, lawmakers were bombarded with questions as to why no women were named to the 13-man panel. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to explain. “The working group that counts is all 52 of us,” McConnell told reporters, referring to all 52 Republican senators in the 100-member chamber. “Nobody is being excluded based upon gender ... Everybody’s at the table. Everybody.” Democrats pounced. Republican men are negotiating “a secret healthcare plan, which I really hope is not happening in the men’s locker room,” said Senator Patty Murray, a member of the Democratic leadership from Washington state. If the criticism was any sign of what lies ahead as senators try to improve on a rollback bill passed on Thursday by House of Representatives Republicans, it could be a long road ahead. Dismantling the parts of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law that they dislike and preserving other parts of it is proving to be a difficult task for President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans. A House of Representatives’ plan for doing that, approved last week amid much drama, faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Some Republicans eye drafting a similar Senate bill by mid-summer, possibly with the involvement of Democrats. Others indicate the House bill requires major surgery and that the effort to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, could take months. Regardless of timing, two decisive factors will come into sharper focus soon. One is voter reaction to the House bill, now being voiced in town hall events being hosted nationwide by House members in their home districts. The other factor is an expected analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office of how many million Americans would lose their health insurance coverage under the House bill, if it became law, and how it would affect the U.S. budget deficit. Both the CBO analysis and the town hall events have the potential to do damage to the House legislation, which Trump hailed as a triumph just days ago. Senators are already talking about major changes in the House bill concerning Medicaid, the government healthcare program for the poor, and tax subsidies for healthcare coverage. Trying to get past the controversy over the absence of women on the healthcare panel, Senate Republicans said they expected to devote much time to healthcare in the near future. “I don’t think we’re going to be talking about much else other than healthcare at least three days a week with all members of our conference present,” said Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican. Cornyn said senators would start with the House bill. “If we have to make modifications in order to pass it, we’ll make those modifications and work out the differences with the House.” Medicaid was the topic at the Senate working group meeting Tuesday. The House bill would cut federal spending on Medicaid by $880 billion over 10 years. But some Republicans want any reductions to be more gradual, and Trump made a campaign pledge not to cut the program. “There ought to be a glide path where you do not have a cliff that the House provides in 2020,” when the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare is abruptly ended, said Senator Rob Portman of Ohio. But other Republicans said cutbacks were important to save taxpayer money. “The public wants every dime you can give them. Let’s face it, once you get them on the dole, they are going to take every dime they can. We’ve got to find some way of getting things under control, or this country and your future’s going to be gone,” said Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, a member of the healthcare working group. ",1 "Trump taps adviser Manafort to be campaign chairman: CNNWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president, has tapped senior adviser Paul Manafort to be campaign chairman and chief strategist, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent said in a tweet on Thursday. In his tweet, CNN’s Jake Tapper cited campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks. ",1 "Those killed included at least 12 journalists, making Monday the deadliest single day for journalists anywhere in the world.",1 \nPolice investigate claims Prince Andrew hit a police officer with his car while driving into Buckingham Palace,1 "Analysis: Norway massacre exposes incendiary immigration issue ",0 Ukraine banned the Communist Party,0 Greece: 1 in 6 disability claims fake,0 Open Letter from Anonymous to the UK Government,0 "On Sept. 15 2010, the United States tested a nuclear weapon - ""Japan responded with dismay to the first U.S. subcritical nuclear test carried out under the Obama administration."" ",0 "FBI INVESTIGATION Into HILLARY’S Email Server Entering “Very, very dangerous phase” [VIDEO]Perhaps the pundits should start changing course and measuring Trump s chances of defeating Bernie Sanders in the general The investigation into Hillary Clinton s private email server is entering a very, very dangerous phase for the Democratic presidential front-runner, Judge Andrew Napolitano said on Varney & Co today.As federal prosecutors prepare to interview several of Clinton s closest aides, it s a sign that they re finished gathering and corroborating evidence, Judge Napolitano explained.He said that most criminal defense attorneys will not let their clients be interviewed by the FBI and federal prosecutors, because the government is not obligated to reveal what evidence they have. Via: FOX News",0 Japan: Radioactive leak plugged!,1 HYSTERICAL! WATCH WOMAN CHECK TRUMP’S HAIR TO CONFIRM IT’S NOT A TOUPEEA Latino radio host gave Trump a nickname of The Man with the Toupee and Trump was not having any of it. He was holding a rally in South Carolina and invited a woman onstage to inspect his hair. Too funny! ,0 "RINO SENATOR FLAKE Trashes Trump and Republican Party On Way Out [Video]The swamp is draining One more RINO is not running for reelection. Senator Jeff Flake announced he will not run again today in a vindictive speech against President Trump and Republicans. Hey, the guy was even thinking of running as an Independent what does that tell you? He s NOT a conservative! He mentioned in his speech that he couldn t support Trump s policies on trade and immigration. Well, those two policies are what got Trump elected!FLAKE WAS 26 POINTS DOWN IN THE POLLS:The bombshell, which Flake, R-Ariz., detailed Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor, will further roil Republican hopes of keeping the party s 52-seat Senate majority in the midterm elections of Trump s first term, when the president s party historically loses seats in Congress.It also likely will upend the race for Flake s seat.Flake, one of the Senate s more prominent critics of President Donald Trump, has been struggling in the polls.A GRANDSTANDING AND VINDICTIVE SPEECH:He told The Arizona Republic ahead of his announcement that he has become convinced there may not be a place for a Republican like me in the current Republican climate or the current Republican Party. Flake said he has not soured on the Senate and loves the institution, but that as a traditional, libertarian-leaning conservative Republican he is out of step with today s Trump-dominated GOP. This spell will pass, but not by next year, Flake said.Among Republican primary voters, there s overwhelming support for Trump s positions and behavior, Flake said, and one of their top concerns is whether a candidate is with the president or against him. While Flake said he is with Trump on some issues, on other issues he is not. And Trump definitely views him as a foe, having denounced Flake publicly and called him toxic on Twitter. Here s the bottom line: The path that I would have to travel to get the Republican nomination is a path I m not willing to take, and that I can t in good conscience take, Flake told The Republic in a telephone interview. It would require me to believe in positions I don t hold on such issues as trade and immigration and it would require me to condone behavior that I cannot condone. LAURA INGRAHAM COULDN T HAVE SAID IT BETTER:Flake was for the disastrous Trans Pacific Partnership, NAFTA, open immig, blanket amnesty and had Hillary won, he'd be happy today. Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) October 24, 2017As of Sept. 30, Flake s campaign had $3.4 million on hand. He has continued to raise money as recently as Thursday, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headlined a fundraiser for him in Arizona.Flake said he has ruled out running as an independent rather than a Republican, saying he didn t think that was a viable strategy. He also said he has no intention of making a presidential run.SENATE RACE HEATS UP:Kelli Ward, the former state senator from Lake Havasu City who lost her primary challenge last year against Sen. John McCain, has emerged this year as the top GOP alternative to Flake, but other names have been mentioned as possibilities: Arizona State Treasurer Jeff DeWit, former Arizona Republican Party Chairman Robert Graham and Arizona Board of Regents member Jay Heiler. Lesser-known Republicans Craig Brittain and Nicholas Tutora also have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and are running.But Flake s exit is sure to prompt bigger Arizona Republican names to take a fresh look at the GOP Senate race.Steve Bannon, Trump s controversial former White House strategist, has embraced Ward as part of his national open revolt against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and the GOP establishment. But other Republicans have warned that Ward is a weak candidate whose nomination would jeopardize GOP chances of holding Arizona s Senate seat.The winner of the Aug. 28 Republican primary could face Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., considered the front-runner in her the Democratic Senate primary.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised Flake as one of the finest human beings I ve met in politicsFlake publicly announced his intentions in a Senate floor speech that began around noon Arizona time.In a copy of prepared remarks released to The Republic before his speech, Flake gave a blistering critique of the coarseness of our national dialogue that has defined the Trump era, saying it should never become accommodated as a the new normal. READ MORE: ARIZONA CENTRAL",0 "Abe hails 'fresh start' to Japan-China ties after Xi meetingDANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed a fresh start to the relationship between the countries after a meeting that saw them agree to work more closely on North Korea. The leaders met on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the Vietnamese resort city of Danang. Ties between China and Japan, the world s second- and third-largest economies, have been plagued by a long-running territorial dispute over a cluster of East China Sea islets. At the end of the meeting, President Xi said this is a meeting that marks a fresh start of relations between Japan and China. I totally feel the same way, Abe told reporters. Abe said he has proposed visiting China at an appropriate time, which would then be followed by a Xi visit to Japan. At the meeting, the two countries agreed to deepen their cooperation on North Korea and to hold a trilateral summit with South Korea at the earliest possible date. With the North Korea situation at an important phase, the role China ought to play is very big, Abe said. China and Japan have also agreed to accelerate talks for an early implementation of a communication mechanism between their military forces, Abe said. He also proposed that Japan and China cooperate in doing business in third countries. China s statement about the meeting, released by the official Xinhua news agency, cited Xi as telling Abe that stable relations were in both sides interests, and that they must make unremitting efforts to continue improving ties. The two countries must take constructive steps to appropriately manage and control disputes that exist between the two countries , Xi added. ",1 "CNN’s Don Lemon: Is He an Alcoholic or Just a Drunk?Day in and day out, CNN works hard to try and convince American audiences that it s a legitimate news outlet, and it hopes that the public will take seriously the troubled news network s various on-screen actors and quasi-journalists. On New Year s Eve, one of CNN s highly paid anchors, Don Lemon could be seen on national TV in New Orleans with co-presenter Brooke Baldwin, as Lemon proceeded to pound shots of tequila live on air, slurring his speech and shouting, while simultaneously getting his ear pierced during the program. Lemon then went on to sink into a melancholy diatribe about not being in a relationship (Lemon is gay) and personal struggles with his own narcissism.The episode prompted many critics to question his psychological state, and also to ask whether or not Lemon might have a serious drinking or substance problem.Things got so bad that network producers had to pull the audio feed while drunk Lemon began shouting 2016 was awful. On the New York City feed, onlookers from CNN were obscure female American comedian, Kathy Griffin, joined by news presenter and actor Anderson Cooper, both of whom were enjoying the spectacle not at all concerned with the potential damage to Lemon s reputation as a result of his alcoholic episode on air.Griffin could be seen shouting, Nipples! Nipples! Nipples! as Lemon began to unbutton his dress shirt.Watch Don Lemon drunk on air during CNN s New Years broadcast:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNWx-ZfrKOU . ",0 "Sudan official says if doctors refuse to amputate, judges can train to do it to carry out sentences",1 "Trump's 'big announcement' on tax to be broad principles: officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s promised “big announcement” next week on overhauling the U.S. tax code, a top campaign pledge, will consist of “broad principles and priorities,” an administration official said on Saturday. The president unexpectedly said on Friday at a Treasury Department event that there would be “a big announcement on Wednesday having to do with tax reform.” In a Twitter message on Saturday, he wrote: “Big TAX REFORM AND TAX REDUCTION will be announced next Wednesday.” Asked for details, the administration official, who asked not to be identified, said, “We will outline our broad principles and priorities” on Wednesday. Trump has struggled as president to advance his domestic policy agenda, including on taxes, even though his Republican Party controls both chambers of Congress. With his 100th day in office only a week away, he has yet to offer any formal legislation or win passage of a major bill he favors. Most recent presidents had legislative wins under their belts by this time in their administrations. Under U.S. law, only Congress can make significant tax law changes, though the president often drives the tax agenda by offering legislation. The administration official said, “We are moving forward on comprehensive tax reform that cuts tax rates for individuals, simplifies our overly complicated system and creates jobs by making American businesses competitive.” As a candidate, Trump raised high expectations in financial markets and the business community for changes in the complex, loophole-riddled tax system. In his “Contract with the American Voter,” he vowed to work with Congress on tax legislation “within the first 100 days of my administration.” The action plan promised large tax cuts for the middle class and businesses, a reduction of tax brackets to three from seven, simplified tax forms and an offshore profits repatriation tax holiday. Since then, no legislation or formal tax plan has been presented by Trump. He has at times expressed support for a plan drawn up by House of Representatives Republicans, but his views are unclear on a section that deals with taxing imports. In February, Trump promised a “phenomenal” tax plan within a few weeks, without offering details. No plan followed. Last month when an attempt supported by Trump to repeal the healthcare law known as Obamacare collapsed in Congress, Trump said he would refocus on taxes. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday he expected Congress to approve a tax plan this year. ",1 The Dark Side of Plan Colombia: How the U.S. is Subsidizing Death and Drug Trafficking on Stolen Lands,1 Hurrah and Boo!: UK told to prepare for oncoming heatwave [BBC],0 " Trump Just Committed Obstruction Of Justice By Whining About Comey ‘Leak’ On TwitterDonald Trump broke his Twitter silence over James Comey s Senate testimony on Friday morning by committing an act of obstruction. NOT SMART!During the former FBI Director s testimony on Thursday, Trump watched as Comey slammed him for being a liar who did fire him because he refused to drop the Russia investigation.Comey also admitted that he leaked his memos that covered conversations he had with Trump. He gave the memos to friends and instructed them to give them to the New York Times.And Trump decided to whine about it on Twitter while also declaring that he has been vindicated.Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication and WOW, Comey is a leaker! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2017Except that Trump has not been vindicated at all. He interfered in a federal investigation in order to save his own ass. That s not something innocent people do.But it turns out that Trump may have committed obstruction of justice by attacking Comey on Twitter. And alo because Trump s White House is demanding that the Justice Department investigate Comey for the leaks.According to whistleblower protection attorney Stephen Kohn, Initiating an investigation because you don t like somebody s testimony could be considered obstruction and in the whistleblower context, it s both evidence of retaliation and, under some laws, could be an adverse retaliatory act itself. Indeed, even attacking Comey on Twitter is considered obstruction because, This is a chilling effect on people not to talk about conversations they had with the president that are not classified as a matter of law, Kohn said. That is illegal that is unconstitutional. In short, Trump is intimidating people to remain silent about him and what he says and does, and that s against the law. Not everything the president says or does is classified information. Comey s memos certainly are not classified. Plus, Comey is now a private citizen so the Justice Department has no authority over him. In short, Trump shot himself in the foot when he fired Comey.If Trump forces the Justice Department to go after Comey, it would be a gross abuse of power designed for the sole purpose of retaliating against someone he considers an enemy. Doing such a thing would also scare other people in the government from speaking out. That s obstruction. And Trump should be impeached for it.Twitter even mocked Trump for being such a sore loser.Comey asked the AG that he never be left alone with you, because you would pressure him and then lie. That s obstruction of justice. Sad! Dave Hogg ? (@Stareagle) June 9, 2017Please stop lying. Comey is known for his honesty. You are known, world wide, for being a pathological liar. https://t.co/VQNevWYPmR Jack Schofield (@jackschofield) June 9, 2017It s not leaking if what he was sharing wasn t classified. Comey shared his recollection of conversations Trump had discussed on national TV pic.twitter.com/OqRRS5SEg7 Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) June 9, 2017Guess who else leaked secrets of private Prez meeting? pic.twitter.com/xwwnN4hrVS Melissa Jo Peltier (@MelissaJPeltier) June 9, 2017I believe you re confused, @realDonaldTrump. Maybe this helps. vin di ca tion: the action of clearing someone of blame or suspicion. VoteVets (@votevets) June 9, 2017awww @realDonaldTrump did u get ur phone back? is twitter time out over? a guy that pees on prostitutes should not use leaker as a taunt ROSIE (@Rosie) June 9, 2017Featured Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images",0 "Embroiled in controversies, Trump seeks boost on foreign tripWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Besieged by controversy at home, U.S. President Donald Trump is under pressure to stick to the script and avoid fresh flare-ups when he embarks this week on his first foreign trip, a nine-day trek to the Middle East and Europe. White House officials and Republicans close to the administration say Trump, who campaigned on an “America First” slogan, wants to demonstrate leadership abroad on his visit with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia, Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Israel and the West Bank, the pope at the Vatican, NATO leaders in Brussels and G7 counterparts in Sicily. Trump faces fierce criticism over his sharing of sensitive national security information with Russian officials and his firing last week of FBI Director James Comey. Allegations that he previously asked Comey to end an investigation into his former national security adviser drew a new round of attacks on Tuesday. A Republican strategist close to the White House said Trump needed a strong trip to help put the past tumultuous 10 days behind him. “If the White House is looking for this international trip to turn the page, then it really needs to come off well without any balls dropped or serious mistakes,” said the strategist, who requested anonymity. “This is their time to shine, to show Americans and the world that the White House isn’t becoming a circus of errors.” Airing his frustrations on Twitter, Trump has lashed out at leaks to the news media from officials inside his administration. Confidants say a staff shake-up is possible, although major changes are unlikely before Trump’s foreign trip. His political woes will add to Trump’s challenges as he tries to bolster ties abroad. “This trip combines so many different things and actors that the question is going to be what’s the message that he wants to communicate when he’s out there,” said Lanhee Chen, who advised Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012 and Marco Rubio’s in 2016. Some doubt whether Trump, a businessman-turned politician who never held elective office before becoming president in January, is ready for a smooth presidential debut abroad. One Republican official, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, said after meeting Trump recently he did not think the president had a firm enough grasp on the nuances of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I don’t think he understands it,” said the official, adding that Trump needed more detailed briefings before leaving on Friday. “I think it’s a very difficult challenge and I hope he’s going to talk to a lot of smart people.” White House advisers insisted Trump was up to speed on the Middle East, having already hosted Arab, Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the White House. “His way of doing diplomacy, which really contrasts with President Obama’s approach, is to ... prioritize the personal relationship,” said Michael Singh, a foreign policy adviser to former Republican President George W. Bush. To prepare for his trip, Trump has been meeting with briefers including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster, deputy national security adviser Dina Powell and senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Conversations with some officials who have briefed Trump and others who are aware of how he absorbs information portray a president with a short attention span. He likes single-page memos and visual aids like maps, charts, graphs and photos. National Security Council officials have strategically included Trump’s name in “as many paragraphs as we can because he keeps reading if he’s mentioned,” according to one source, who relayed conversations he had with NSC officials. Trump likes to look at a map of the country involved when he learns about a topic. “He likes to visualize things,” said a senior administration official. “The guy’s a builder. He has spent his whole life looking at architectural renderings and floor plans.” Although Trump has a string of golf resorts around the world that he has visited, the trip could take him out of his comfort zone. He generally prefers his own bed to hotel rooms. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he often flew home after a day of campaigning rather than staying in hotels overnight. Presidential rhetoric and gaffes abroad have caused problems for some of Trump’s predecessors. Bush drew fire after his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Slovenia in June 2001, when he said he had looked the former KGB chief in the eye and “I was able to get a sense of his soul.” The comment was seen as naive. Even body language is watched carefully. Democratic President Barack Obama was criticized for bowing to Japanese Emperor Akihito in a visit to Japan in November 2009. One Gulf Arab official said Trump’s decision to make Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, the first stop on his trip would send a message that America did not see Islam as an enemy.     The trip could be a chance for the president to counter critics who accuse him of being anti-Muslim because of the order he issued, now blocked by U.S. courts, temporarily banning entry into the United States by citizens of several Muslim-majority countries.     But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if Trump, who is prone to speaking off-the-cuff, ended up undercutting his own message, it could be damaging. “It can backfire, I mean it can seriously backfire,” the official said. Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to Bush, said that since the trip would be Trump’s first overseas, the stakes were higher. “The meaning and importance of his first trip abroad will be exaggerated, but it gives him a chance to get bipartisan accolades, or a chance to fail badly and have the failure exaggerated,” Fleischer said. ",1 " WATCH: Trump Supporter HAMMERS Trump For Committing Treason By Defending RussiaRussia committed espionage against our country and got caught by the CIA, but Donald Trump is desperately defending his buddy Putin to salvage his legitimacy.Seventeen intelligence agencies agree that Russia interfered with our election to help Trump win. Now Russia has the puppet in the White House they have always wanted.Americans are outraged and lawmakers from both political parties are demanding an investigation by Congress. Because if it s confirmed by Congress that Russia helped Trump win, the election results should be invalidated and we should hold a new election or install Hillary Clinton as the rightful winner for the sake of election integrity.But Trump and his team are denying that Russia interfered and are insisting that we should just ignore the facts and move on.And that isn t sitting well with former Tea Party congressman Joe Walsh.Earlier this week, Walsh took to Twitter to personally call for an investigation and blasted Trump for not having the balls to call for one himself.Every Republican swore to defend us against our enemies, including a foreign attack on our electionsAny Republican who won t should resign Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) December 11, 2016I ve said over and over that I d support Trump when he s right & call him out when he s wrong.Well he s wrong about Russia. Dead wrong. Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) December 12, 2016Well, Walsh appeared on CNN on Monday night and tore into Trump for defending Russia instead of believing our intelligence agencies. I m outraged at the lack of outrage, especially on my side, the Republican side, Walsh said. I get that the country is divided, but my god, a foreign government interfered with our election. That should piss everybody off. Indeed, anyone who cares about our country should be outraged.But Walsh continued blasting Trump and his Republican supporters, much to the surprise of host Brooke Baldwin. It s like because our guy won, Trump won, we re going to keep our mouths shut, Walsh said. I mean that s just so wrong. Walsh went on to say that it s a fact that Russia meddled in our political process and said Trump should be ashamed of himself because he s acting like a traitor by siding with Russia over our own intelligence community. For Donald Trump to come out and attack our men and women in the CIA, that s almost treasonous. Russia attacks us and Trump attacks the CIA. He ought to be the one calling for an investigation. Here s the video via YouTube.Donald Trump should not be allowed to take office until a full investigation has come to a conclusion. Our democratic process is too sacred to just ignore the fact that Russia helped Trump win and now they have a puppet they can bend to their will. It s bad for our country and it s bad for the American people.Featured image via screenshot",0 "THESE 11 GOP SENATORS Tweeted Support for McConnell…Primary Them!Arrogant and smug is what we d call McConnell when he spoke to a group telling them Trump has excessive expectations of government Unbelievable!After 7 years of promises, the Senate leader can t do a thing McConnell should take the blame for the do-nothing Senate!Speaking at a Rotary Club gathering in Kentucky on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vented about how President Donald Trump s lack of political experience has led to him setting excessive expectations for legislative priorities.McConnell, R-Ky., told the group in Florence that he found it extremely irritating that Congress has earned the reputation of not accomplishing anything. Part of the reason I think that the storyline is that we haven t done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point, said McConnell, a Republican and the state s senior senator.Trump, a political newcomer, as McConnell noted, has a habit of declaring progress on major priorities that do not necessarily reflect the reality of lawmaking.For example, as the House was in the midst of negotiations about its Obamacare replacement bill in February, Trump announced that Congress was in the final stages of its bill and said it would be ready for submitting in March. While the House bill was unveiled in March, that chamber didn t vote on it until May, and health care votes continued until the end of July.That sort of disconnect has led to Trump s expressing disappointment when bills chief among them health care reform fail to end up on his desk, even though, as with health care, the political reality indicated all along how difficult it was going to be to pass legislation. Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before. And I think he had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process, McConnell told the group. So part of the reason I think people feel we re underperforming is because too many artificial deadlines unrelated to the reality of the complexity of legislating may not have been fully understood. President Trump tweeted back to McConnell: GET BACK TO WORK! Here s the list of Republican Senators who went against President Trump: PRIMARY THEM! Cornyn Corker Tillis Isakson Collins Hatch Gardner Heller Flake Young CapitoThe more these Senators push against Trump, the more the American people will turn on the Republican turncoats!",0 "Obama briefed after Britain votes to leave EUSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama was briefed by his advisers late on Thursday on Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, a result that he had argued passionately against during an April visit to London. Obama, who was scheduled to deliver remarks to global entrepreneurs at a conference at Stanford University at 10:45 a.m. PDT (1:45 p.m. ET/1745 GMT), was dining out at an upscale restaurant with a small group of top venture capitalists and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as the results for the “leave” campaign began to roll in. The group at San Francisco’s Twenty-Five Lusk included John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, and LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman. Obama dined for more than two hours, departing shortly after British networks called the referendum for the “leave” campaign, and markets plunged. A White House official said Obama had been briefed on the returns and would “continue to be updated by his team as the situation warrants.” “We expect the president will have an opportunity to speak to Prime Minister Cameron over the course of the next day, and we will release further comment as soon as appropriate,” the official said in a brief statement to reporters. Obama traveled to London in April at the request of Cameron, whom he calls a friend, exhorting Britons to stay in the EU, an unusual intervention that was denounced as meddling by those in the “leave” campaign. Obama also warned that leaving the EU would put Britain at the “back of the queue” for a trade deal with the United States. Obama’s term in the White House ends on Jan. 20, 2017. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic candidate in the Nov. 8 election, had also said she hoped the UK would stay in the EU. The presumptive Republican nominee - real estate magnate Donald Trump - had taken the opposite stance, saying he thought the UK should leave. Trump, in Scotland on Friday to reopen a golf resort, told reporters that Britons “took back control of their country” by voting to leave the European Union. ",1 "Germany: A lot of Brexit work remains even if talks enter phase twoBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany regards Friday s joint report on progress made in the negotiations on Britain s departure from the European Union as a step forward but believes much work remains even if the initial stage of Brexit talks is concluded, a spokesman said. I think everyone understands that there is still much work for negotiators to do even if the European Council decides to move into phase two of Brexit negotiations, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference on Friday. He added that the second phase would be highly complex . The leaders of the other 27 EU countries are due to decide next Friday whether to accept the European Commission s recommendation that sufficient progress has been made on exit talks to begin discussions on Britain s future relationship with the bloc. ",1 Paraguayan Politician Threatens To Shoot Own Testicles If Son Marries Another Man,0 Palestinians Predict Historic UN Vote on Statehood,1 "EU wants Brexit money this month, Davis seeks 'political' fixBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union told Britain on Friday to spell out what it will pay Brussels for when it leaves the bloc in 2019 or face more delay in talks on future trade ties that are vital for British business. After negotiations in Brussels, the first in a month, Brexit Secretary David Davis said during a news conference with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier it was time for political discussions to break a deadlock that has left both sides frustrated about a lack of progress. Political talks has in the past been code for Prime Minister Theresa May addressing fellow EU leaders directly, over the heads of Barnier and the EU executive, in order to square a circle in which Brussels will not address the future without a firm line from London on settling what the EU sees as past debts and May will not settle without assurances about future trade. May is due at a Brussels summit on Dec. 14-15 but EU officials insist that any breakthrough must be agreed at lower level first and weeks in advance to let the other 27 members agree a joint position. Progress in December is important for May as businesses seek clarity by the new year, when many will take investment decisions dependent on conditions after Brexit. A British budget due on Nov. 22 will, however, complicate the task for May in persuading hardline Brexit supporters of any need to meet Brussels demand for tens of billions of euros to cover liabilities incurred in 44 years of EU membership. Barnier stressed that he was not looking for a number from London but for a clearer undertaking than May gave in September on how far Britain would honor its obligations . It is absolutely vital if we are to achieve sufficient progress in December, Barnier told reporters, adding not all details had to be settled but there needed to be sincere and real progress . The clarifications should come within the next two weeks, Barnier said: If that s not the case, then we will continue and that will pull back the opening of discussions on the future. He said progress had to be made on all three key issues of the divorce talks - the money, the rights of EU citizens in Britain and how to avoid a hard border with EU-member Ireland. Davis said both sides made substantial technical progress on all the issues that need to be addressed. This is now about moving into the political discussions that would enable both of us to move forward, he said. British discussions with other national governments do not appear to have breached the unity of the 27 for now. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, the bloc s most powerful leaders, have taken a particularly tough line on the money issue in Brussels. The EU executive has said Britain will owe it around 60 billion euros when it leaves. London has challenged the legal reasoning behind that but has not offered its own figure. One thing that was clarified on Friday was exactly when Britain would leave the Union. The EU had previously defined Brexit hour as midnight on March 29, 2019, exactly two years after May triggered the process. But it was unclear whether that meant midnight in Brussels or London. May and Barnier made statements on Friday stating that Brexit will happen in London at 11 p.m. (2300 GMT) on Friday, March 29. That will be midnight in the EU capital. Davis repeated the declaration made by May in September in Florence that EU countries will not need to pay more or receive less for the remainder of the current EU long-term budget ending in December 2020: The UK will honor the commitments we made during the period of our membership, he said. Barnier said both sides moved ahead on citizens rights and that Britain gave useful clarifications on a process through which EU citizens could obtain a settled status but the EU needed reassurances on how such a system would work. He said issues related to family reunification, the right to export social security benefits and the role of the European Court of Justice still need work. On the problems of avoiding a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland, Davis and Barnier said more work must be done. ",1 "Colombia protests Venezuelan military crossing borderBOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia sent a letter to the Venezuelan foreign ministry on Tuesday protesting the incursion of a military helicopter and troops from that nation over the border, the latest in a series of similar incidents that have drawn criticism from Colombia. The incident occurred on Nov. 15 and 16 near the town of Tibu in Norte de Santander province, Colombia s foreign ministry said in a statement. The events have already been protested by the foreign ministry and there has been a meeting arranged between the foreign ministers to analyze what happened and request that measures be taken to prevent a recurrence, it said. Forays by Venezuelan troops into Colombia have increased in recent years, heightening diplomatic tension between the government of Colombia s President Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Santos has accused Maduro of destroying democracy in Venezuela, while Maduro has said Colombia is part of an international conspiracy seeking to overthrow his government. Colombia and Venezuela share a border of 2,219 km (1,379 miles), over which contraband and illegal drugs frequently pass, according to security sources. ",1 "Chilean tourist severely beaten by Jewish extremists in Jerusalem, mistaken for Arab.",0 Poll: Pirates close in on Riksdag; Pirate Party gaining traction in Sweden,1 "Trump's FBI comments to Russians were aimed at cooperation: McMasterWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump raised the firing of his FBI director in a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister to explain why he had been unable to find areas of cooperation with Moscow, the White House national security adviser said on Sunday. “The gist of the conversation was that the president feels as if he is hamstrung in his ability to work with Russia to find areas of cooperation because this has been obviously so much in the news,” H.R. McMaster said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” Reports that Trump boasted to Russian officials of firing former FBI director James Comey to relieve “great pressure” from a law-enforcement probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election engulfed his administration in turmoil just as Trump left for his first foreign trip as president on Friday. “I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Trump said during a May 10 meeting with Russian officials, according to a report by The New York Times that cited a document summarizing the meeting and an unnamed U.S. official. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied that Comey had come up during the meeting, according to Interfax news agency. McMaster also said in Sunday’s interview that the central purpose of Trump’s conversation with Lavrov and Russia’s ambassador to Washington was to confront Russia on areas where the United States considers them disruptive, such as Syria. McMaster criticized sources who told reporters that Trump had disclosed highly classified information to the Russian officials in the meeting about a planned Islamic State operation. “In a concern about divulging intelligence they leaked actually not just the information from the meeting, but also indicated the sources and methods to a to a newspaper. I mean it doesn’t make sense,” McMaster said.” ",1 "OOPS! Secret Service Opens Investigation After Madonna Tells Thousands Of Angry Liberals She’d Like To “BLOW UP WHITE HOUSE”A spokesman for the Secret Service told The Gateway Pundit the agency is aware of the comment by aging pop star Madonna made at a large liberal women s protest against President Donald Trump held in Washington, D.C., Saturday, that she has thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. The spokesman said an investigation would be opened but that the decision to prosecute rests with the U.S. Attorney s office.Madonna told tens of thousands of angry liberals at the March for Women in DC: I m angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. But I know that this won t change anything.Here s the sickening moment the aging, irrelevant pop-star thought it was pretty cool to say she s, thought and awful lot about blowing up the White House. ",0 Pro-Israel Rally Attended by Big-Time NY Dems Descends into Calls for 'Wiping Out' Palestinians ,0 " Trump Just Got DESTROYED By One Of America’s Most Respected Journalists (VIDEO/IMAGE)One of America s most legendary journalists, Dan Rather, used his gift with words for a very special purpose on Wednesday: to blast Donald Trump and rally the press against the dangerous candidate.In a brilliant Facebook post, Rather urged his fellow journalists to keep holding Trump accountable and cornering the presumptive Republican nominee on the tough issues. Rather had felt an obligation to write the post after watching The Donald attack the press during a news conference on Tuesday. Rather said that when he watched Trump resort to bullying reporters to avoid questions about controversial issues like his suspicious donations to veterans organizations, he felt a shudder down my spine. The legendary newsroom wrote: This is a dirty, nasty election. And it is only going to get worse. The reporters in the trenches need no lecture from me. They are walking through daily minefields, bracing themselves against winds of discontent whose effects no one can predict. Rather is speaking from firsthand experience. In 1968, during the Democratic Convention, Rather worked through chaos and riots so that he could continue to question delegates and politicians. His tireless dedication resulted in this famous clip, which captures Rather getting punched in the stomach on national television:Noting that today s reporters are up against the same accusations of press bias and hostility that has followed American politics over the years, Rather noted that this particular election is different thanks to the brash business mogul. Rather singled out Trump for his air of violence and intimidation tactics that cause many press members to stay silent. To those who might be afraid of getting caught in Trump s line of fire, Rather reminds today s journalists that the pen is still mightier than the sword and that they should not back up, back down, back away or turn around . You can read Rather s amazing post below:Featured image via Win McNamee / Getty Images",0 "Egyptian Government Daily: Hamas, Syria, Iran - The New Axis of Evil",0 "Ex-ruler charged with genocide in Guatemala - He's accused of masterminding an attack that killed almost 1,800 Ixil tribe members, causing 29,000 to flee between 1982-83. The tribe were said to be helping leftist insurgents.",0 Japan Extends Citizenship To Out-Of-Wedlock Babies,0 "Zimbabwe's ruling party set to sack Mugabe, sources sayHARARE (Reuters) - The leaders of Zimbabwe s ruling ZANU-PF party will meet on Sunday to approve the dismissal of President Robert Mugabe, the only leader the southern African nation has known since independence 37 years ago, two party sources have said. An extraordinary meeting of the party s central committee is expected to convene around 10:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) to consider removing the 93-year-old, four days after a military seizure of power ostensibly aimed at criminals within his entourage. Separately, state television said Mugabe would meet military commanders on Sunday, quoting the Catholic priest who has been mediating in negotiations with the president. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Harare, singing, dancing and hugging soldiers in an outpouring of elation at Mugabe s overthrow. ZANU-PF s central committee is also expected to reinstate Emmerson Mnangagwa as party vice-president, resurrecting the political career of the former security chief, nicknamed The Crocodile, whose sacking this month triggered the military s intervention. Mugabe s wife, Grace, will be fired as head of the ZANU-PF Women s League, the sources told Reuters, completing the demise of a 52-year-old former government typist who just a week ago stood in pole position to succeed her husband after Mnangagwa s dismissal. The pair s stunning downfall is likely to send shockwaves across Africa, where a number of entrenched strongmen, from Uganda s Yoweri Museveni to Democratic Republic of Congo s Joseph Kabila, are facing mounting pressure to step aside. In scenes reminiscent of the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, men, women and children ran alongside the armored cars and troops who stepped in this week to oust the man who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980. Under house arrest in his lavish Blue Roof compound, Mugabe has refused to stand down even as he has watched his support from party, security services and people evaporate in less than three days. His nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, told Reuters the elderly leader and his wife were ready to die for what is correct rather than step down in order to legitimize what he described as a coup. But on Harare s streets, few seemed to care about the legal niceties as they heralded a second liberation for the former British colony and spoke of their dreams for political and economic change after two decades of deepening repression and hardship. These are tears of joy, said Frank Mutsindikwa, 34, holding aloft the Zimbabwean flag. I ve been waiting all my life for this day. Free at last. We are free at last. The crowds in Harare have so far given a quasi-democratic veneer to the army s intervention, backing its assertion that it is merely effecting a constitutional transfer of power, which would help it avoid the diplomatic backlash and opprobrium that normally follow a coup. The United States, a long-time Mugabe critic, said it was looking forward to a new era in Zimbabwe, while President Ian Khama of neighboring Botswana said Mugabe had no diplomatic support in the region and should resign at once. For a graphic on Zimbabwe struggles, click ",1 "Ugandan lesbian awaiting deportation from England, faces certain torture for her sexuality",1 "Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic refused to enter a plea Friday before the UN war crimes tribunal, which he dismissed as ""a court of NATO"".",0 "Significant gaps remain in bid to restore Northern Irish power-sharing: UK PM May's officeLONDON (Reuters) - Significant gaps still remain between parties attempting to restore Northern Ireland s power-sharing administration, British Prime Minister Theresa May s office said on Monday after she spoke with Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar. May and Varadkar agreed in a phonecall that it was in the interests of everyone that the executive was restored, but differences remained over issues such as the Irish language. Northern Ireland has been without a devolved administration since its collapse in January, raising the prospect of direct rule being re-imposed from London. ",1 Former MI5 chief delivers damning verdict on Iraq invasion,1 XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet',0 Bangladesh protests demanding execution of atheist bloggers turn deadly.,1 MUST SEE: House Oversight Committee Releases Most Damning Video Of Hillary’s Lies To DateCrooked lying Hillary ,0 South Korea's parliament votes to legalize chemical castration as punishment for convicted child sex offenders,0 "OBAMA AND VALERIE JARRETT Finalize Executive Action Gun Control ProposalIt s almost as though we don t even have a Constitution Never let a crisis go to waste President Barack Obama s advisers are finalizing a proposal that would expand background checks on gun sales without congressional approval.White House adviser Valerie Jarrett says the president has asked his team to complete a proposal and submit it for his review in short order. She says the recommendations will include measures to expand background checks.Jarrett spoke Wednesday night at a vigil for the victims of the Newtown shooting, according to a summary provided by the White House.After the mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, Obama said his team was looking for ways to tighten gun laws without a vote in Congress. White House officials have said they re exploring closing the so-called gun show loophole that anti-gun advocates claim allows people to buy weapons at gun shows and online without a background check.The move comes following the deadly terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 people dead. All of the guns used in the massacre were purchased legally. Opponents of new gun control regulations have argued that the proposals being pushed by Obama would not have prevented the tragedy or recent mass shootings. Via: The Blaze",0 "Arrested Myanmar reporters: Two book lovers dedicated to their craftYANGON/BANGKOK (Reuters) - In many ways Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar, symbolize their country s emergence after decades of isolation. Both from modest, provincial backgrounds, they worked hard to pursue careers that would have been impossible in the junta era into which they were born. Following are profiles of the two journalists, who were arrested on Dec. 12 and have been held since then without contact with their families or a lawyer, accused of breaching the country s Official Secrets Act: Wa Lone, 31, grew up in Kin Pyit, a village of some 100 households in the Shwe Bo district north of Mandalay, on Myanmar s dry central plain between the mighty Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers. One of five children, his parents were rice farmers and there was little money. His mother died from cancer when he was young. But he was a good student, according to friends and family, and took a keen interest in news from an early age. One of his brothers, Thura Aung, remembers Wa Lone, aged around 10, watching bulletins on a shared TV in their village. Sometimes he would play at being an anchor, said Thura Aung, 26. He always said he wanted to be a reporter in the future. After finishing school at 16 he enrolled as a student at a government technical university, but left after a couple of semesters because his family could not afford the tuition. Around 2004 he went to Mawlamyine, Myanmar s fourth biggest city, living in a Buddhist monastery where his uncle was a monk. In exchange for a place to stay, he would get up at 5 a.m. to clean and prepare food for the monks before going to work at a photo services business. Wa Lone showed a talent for design and photography, and soon set up a small photo services shop of his own, which he ran with Thura Aung. In December 2010, having saved a little money, the brothers moved back to Yangon, where Wa Lone could pursue his boyhood dream. Living in North Okklapa township, near the city s airport, they re-established their photo services business, while Wa Lone also enrolled in a media training school and later began taking English classes. Mindy Walker, an American teacher who met him in 2012, recalls a skinny kid from the village who had little interaction with foreigners . He was so nervous he fled her English class the first time he was called on to answer a question. We still joke about that moment and he tells every new student in our class that story so that they feel more confident, said Walker in an email. His heart is huge and he is always encouraging others to succeed. Within five or six months Wa Lone had landed his first job in journalism on the weekly People s Age in Yangon, where his editor was Pe Myint - now Myanmar s Minister of Information. In 2014, he joined the English-language daily, Myanmar Times, covering the historic 2015 general election that swept Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to power. As soon as I met Wa Lone, I knew we had to hire him, said the paper s former editor, Thomas Kean. He was thoughtful, articulate and clearly cared deeply about journalism. As well as providing a platform for him to excel as a journalist, the two years he spent at the Myanmar Times was a significant period in Wa Lone s life - it was there that he met his wife Pan Ei Mon who works in the paper s sales and marketing department. The couple married in April last year. Despite the long hours chasing stories and studying, Wa Lone has still found time to write a children s book, The Gardener, a story in Burmese and English with an environmental message that draws on his own rural roots. He co-founded the Third Story Project, a charitable foundation that produces and distributes stories that aim to promote tolerance between Myanmar s different ethnic groups, and is involved in projects working with orphans. Many of his weekends off have been spent visiting poor rural villages - much like the one where he grew up. He brings story books from Third Story and gives them to children, said Pan Ei Mon. He reads to them and does painting competitions and sings with the children. Wa Lone joined Reuters in July 2016 and quickly made his mark with in-depth stories on sensitive subjects including land grabs by the powerful military and the murder of prominent politician Ko Ni, as well as uncovering evidence of killings by soldiers in the northeast. His reporting on the crisis that erupted in northwestern Rakhine state in October 2016 won him a joint honorable mention from the Society of Publishers in Asia in its annual awards. He returned to Rakhine this year, after attacks by Rohingya Muslim militants on security forces in August triggered a crackdown by the army. Covering such subjects is not easy in a country where the transition from decades of junta rule is proving painful. His bravery over the past year, and particularly since Aug. 25, has been incredible. It s hard to describe the tide of ill-feeling towards journalists who question the military-government narrative on Rakhine, said Kean, his former editor. As soon as one of my colleagues said, Have you heard about Wa Lone? , I knew he d been arrested. His reporting has undoubtedly made him a target. It s heartbreaking, infuriating and completely unsurprising. Family and friends of Kyaw Soe Oo say he has always had a love of writing, and composed poetry before becoming a journalist. Min Min, the founder of the Root Investigative Agency, where Kyaw Soe Oo worked after starting his reporting career with the online Rakhine Development News, described the 27-year-old as a joyful person who had many friends. When I first met him in 2013, he was a poet not a journalist and not interested in journalism yet, said Min Min. An ethnic Rakhine Buddhist, Kyaw Soe Oe grew up in the state capital Sittwe, and was one of five siblings. He is a good elder brother, said his sister, Nyo Nyo Aye, adding that her brother always stood out from the crowd. He was always with books. He went to the book store or second-hand booksellers. He spent all his money buying books. . Childhood friend Zaw Myo Thu said he avoided becoming caught up in the communal tensions between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims that have seethed in the city since the upheavals in 2012. He wrote poems. He loved to read, he said. He never fought with anyone. But it was that conflict which drew him into journalism, covering Rakhine issues. He had been with Reuters since September, reporting on the army s crackdown in the aftermath of militant attacks on security forces on Aug. 25. As a journalist, he will cover news, but I think he will do it fairly because he does not discriminate between races, said his sister Nyo Nyo Aye. He just realises all are human. For Reuters, Kyaw Soe Oo worked on an investigative story about Myanmar s plan to harvest the crops of Rohingya farmers who fled to Bangladesh, and reported on how some Buddhists were enforcing local-level segregation in central Rakhine. He didn t tell me about the work and I never asked, said his wife, Chit Thu Win, with whom he has a three-year-old daughter. I believed in him that he is doing the right thing and he s just following his passion. He wanted to be a writer. ",1 "BREAKING: REPORTER Says Secret Service Took Debate Attendees Phones To Avoid Flash That Could Trigger Hillary’s Seizures [VIDEO]Health professionals have been speculating for months that Hillary s odd behavior and inability to stand or walk without help is likely related to Parkinson s disease. That would explain the videos where Hillary is seen having what appears to be having a seizure. Since seizures are triggered by flashes, it makes sense that the Secret Service would take phones away from the audience. Having a full-blown seizure on the debate stage would probably be a mistake at this point in the campaign after Hillary s been likely hiding a serious, debilitating disease Watch here:And here:https://youtu.be/11-EAzsGxgQLast night the Secret Service took attendees phones before going into the debate.now we know why REPORTER: This is why it was banned apparently because the Secret Service did not trust people to disable the flashes on their cameras and they were afraid it would inspire Hillary s seizure disorder. A reported admitted on Monday that the Secret Service told reporters not to use a flash because of Hillary Clinton s seizure disorder.Secret Service told reporters at the #debate not to use flash so that it won't trigger Hillary's seizure disorder. https://t.co/30zh3Y5cAb REGATED (@regated) October 10, 2016Via: Gateway Pundit",0 "A truly brave Cameraman films the intense fighting in Misratah, Libya on the 10th March",1 "Exclusive: Six U.S. senators urge Obama to prioritize cyber crime at G20 summitNEW YORK (Reuters) - Six U.S. senators have urged President Barack Obama to prioritize cyber crime at this weekend’s Group of 20 summit in China, in the wake of the theft of $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank, according to a letter obtained by Reuters. In the letter sent to the White House ahead of the Sept. 4-5 summit, Sherrod Brown, a senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and five other Democratic senators say they want the U.S. president to press leaders from the world’s 20 biggest economies to commit in joint communiques to a “coordinated strategy to combat cyber-crime at critical financial institutions.” The letter, dated Monday, suggests that concern among U.S. lawmakers is growing over the February incident in which hackers breached Bangladesh Bank’s systems and used the SWIFT banking network to request nearly $1 billion from an account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Some of the dozens of orders were filled, with much of the lost $81 million disappearing into Philippines casinos - prompting months of international finger-pointing, an ongoing investigation, and several requests from members of Congress for answers from the Fed and from SWIFT, the secure messaging service that banks use to transfer money around the world. “Our financial institutions are connected in order to facilitate global commerce, but cyber criminals - whether independent or state-sponsored - imperil this international system in a way few threats have,” the senators, headed by Gary Peters of Michigan, wrote in the letter to Obama. “We strongly urge you to work with your counterparts and prioritize this discussion at the G20 leaders level in September,” it said of the summit to be held in Hangzhou, China, adding that “executive leadership circles across the globe” needed to pay more attention to the risks. A senator in the Philippines has said Chinese hackers were likely to have pulled off the Bangladesh Bank heist, citing a network of Chinese people involved in the routing of the stolen funds through Manila. Beijing has dismissed the suggestion. Copies of the letter from the U.S. senators were also sent to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. OBAMA-XI TALKS The other senators signing the letter were Mark Warner and Martin Heinrich, both members of the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence; Kirsten Gillibrand and Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. The White House expects G20 members at the summit “to affirm their commitment to cooperate to fight cybercrime and to enhance confidence and trust in the digital economy,” a senior administration official said. Asked generally about cyber security on Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a press conference: “I would anticipate that this issue more generally will be on the agenda” when Obama meets Chinese President Xi Jinping, the G20 summit host, later this week. At a November summit, the G20 pledged not to conduct economically motivated cyber espionage, an agreement intended to reduce the estimated hundreds of billions of dollars worth of commercial trade secrets that are stolen by foreign governments seeking to benefit industry in their own countries. Since then, the Bangladesh Bank attack and others that have emerged are only some of the threats posed by cyber criminals, the senators wrote. World regulators should “erect more robust defenses and collaborative systems to prevent and mitigate the impact of successful attacks,” the letter said, noting that steps already taken by SWIFT are not enough. Bangladesh said it supported raising the issue at G20. “In most cases, cyber attacks and crimes take place from outside the country,” said Zunaid Ahmed Palak, a junior government minister for information and communications technology. “So while addressing fast growing cyber attacks, there should be a coordinated approach involving global stakeholders.” The Fed and other U.S. regulators said in a letter last week they were focused on cyber risks and controls at banks in the wake of the Bangladesh incident, though they offered few specifics. Peters, a member of the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, told Reuters he is considering requesting a committee hearing on the heist. “I am concerned about the response and what steps have been taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said in an interview. “You just need more collaboration and sharing of information... because often times all these entities aren’t talking to each other.” (This story has been refiled with full name of Bangladesh minister) ",1 Ukraine has asked the UN for troops,1 "Exclusive: Tillerson plans to skip NATO meeting, visit Russia in April - sourcesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to skip a meeting with NATO foreign ministers next month in order to stay home for a visit by China’s president and will go to Russia later in April, U.S. officials said on Monday, disclosing an itinerary that allies may see as giving Moscow priority over them. Tillerson intends to miss what would have been his first meeting of the 28 NATO allies on April 5-6 in Brussels so that he can attend President Donald Trump’s expected April 6-7 talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, four current and former U.S. officials said. Skipping the NATO meeting and visiting Moscow could risk feeding a perception that Trump may be putting U.S. dealings with big powers first, while leaving waiting those smaller nations that depend on Washington for security, two former U.S. officials said. Trump has often praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Tillerson worked with Russia’s government for years as a top executive at Exxon Mobil Corp, and has questioned the wisdom of sanctions against Russia that he said could harm U.S. businesses. A State Department spokeswoman said Tillerson would meet on Wednesday with foreign ministers from 26 of the 27 other NATO countries — all but Croatia — at a gathering of the coalition working to defeat the Islamic State militant group. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was due to have arrived in Washington on Monday for a three-day visit that was to include talks with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and to take part in the counter-Islamic State meetings. The State Department spokeswoman said Tillerson would not have a separate, NATO-focused meeting the 26 foreign ministers in Washington but rather that they would meet in the counter-Islamic State talks. “After these consultations and meetings, in April he will travel to a meeting of the G7 (Group of Seven) in Italy and then on to meetings in Russia,” she added, saying U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon would represent the United States at the NATO foreign ministers meeting. Representative Eliot Engel, the senior Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives foreign affairs committee, said that Tillerson was making a mistake by skipping the Brussels talks. “Donald Trump’s Administration is making a grave error that will shake the confidence of America’s most important alliance and feed the concern that this Administration simply too cozy with (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” Engel said in a written statement. “I cannot fathom why the Administration would pursue this course except to signal a change in American foreign policy that draws our country away from western democracy’s most important institutions and aligns the United States more closely with the autocratic regime in the Kremlin,” he added. A former U.S. official echoed the view. “It feeds this narrative that somehow the Trump administration is playing footsie with Russia,” said the former U.S. official on condition of anonymity. “You don’t want to do your early business with the world’s great autocrats. You want to start with the great democracies, and NATO is the security instrument of the transatlantic group of great democracies,” he added. Any Russian visit by a senior Trump administration official may be carefully scrutinized after the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday publicly confirmed his agency was investigating any collusion between the Russian government and Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign. Trump has already worried NATO allies by referring to the Western security alliance as “obsolete” and by pressing other members to meet their commitments to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense. Last week, he dismayed British officials by shrugging off a media report, forcefully denied by Britain, that the administration of former President Barack Obama tapped his phones during the 2016 White House race with the aid of Britain’s GCHQ spy agency. A former U.S. official and a former NATO diplomat, both speaking on condition of anonymity, said the alliance offered to change the meeting dates so Tillerson could attend it and the Xi Jinping talks but the State Department had rebuffed the idea. The former diplomat said it was vital to present a united front toward Moscow. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 to serve as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. “Given the challenge that Russia poses, not just to the United States but to Europe, it’s critical to engage on the basis of a united front if at all possible,” the diplomat said. ",1 "Members of one of the most isolated tribes on Earth have briefly emerged from the Peruvian jungle to ask for food..The tribe, which numbers in the hundreds, has had virtually no contact with the wider world..Campaigners say logging and urban dev't have diminished the area in which the tribe can live",0 ISIS has threatened to kill a Croatian hostage if Egypt does not meet its demands in 48 hours,0 "Trump opponents buoyed after front-runner's Wisconsin lossWASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s Republican rivals were invigorated on Wednesday by the front-runner’s loss in the Wisconsin primary and moved quickly to bolster efforts to block the New York billionaire from capturing the party’s presidential nomination. Ted Cruz’s emphatic victory in Wisconsin on Tuesday night dealt momentum to his once long-shot bid to force a contested convention in July by blocking Trump from amassing enough delegates to secure the nomination. The U.S. senator from Texas made the case he is increasingly viewed as the main Trump alternative by Republicans who cannot bring themselves to support Trump as their nominee for the Nov. 8 election. Allies of Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is positioning himself as a mainstream candidate who could emerge from a contested convention, met in Washington to brainstorm about how they could use obscure procedural rules to their advantage when the party convenes in Cleveland. One group trying to defeat Trump, who has alarmed many Republican establishment figures with his comments on immigration, Muslims and trade, was hopeful on Wednesday of a cash infusion to fund their efforts. “Our funders are committed to nominating a principled conservative that can win in November and can help Republicans up and down the ballot,” said Katie Packer, who is leading the anti-Trump Our Principals PAC. “They understand that this is a long slog now and they are supportive of our mission and strategy. I expect that we will have the funds necessary to execute.” U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, lobbyists and congressional staffers were among those who met with Kasich advisers on Wednesday to discuss what one Republican congressional staffer present admitted was the governor’s “long-shot” bid. He has won only his home state in nominating contests so far. Kasich’s campaign has “a plan going into the convention ... and if the convention goes to a brokered convention, they have a legitimate chance,” the staffer said. The next big test in stopping Trump will be New York, the state he calls home. A Monmouth University poll of New York Republicans released on Monday showed Trump with 52 percent of the state’s support, a huge lead over Kasich at 25 percent, and Cruz at 17 percent ahead of the state’s April 19 primary. Trump held a rally in Bethpage, New York, on Wednesday evening where he referred only obliquely to his Wisconsin loss, saying it “takes guts” to run for president and criticizing Cruz for drawing small crowds in the state. The Trump campaign also announced members of its New York-based team, including party leaders in each of the state’s 27 congressional districts. “It’s very important for Trump to bounce back strong. The sense of his inevitability is one of his strengths,” said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Center at Southern Illinois University. Cruz met with black and Hispanic religious leaders earlier in the day in the New York City borough of the Bronx. “The men and women of Wisconsin resoundingly rejected (Trump’s) campaign,” Cruz told reporters afterward. “Donald has no solutions to the problems that we’re facing.” A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Cruz statistically even with Trump among Republicans nationally. His recent gains marked the first time since November that a rival had threatened Trump’s standing at the head of the Republican pack. Trump has 743 delegates, Cruz 517, and Kasich 143, according to an Associated Press count. Trump would need to win about 55 percent of the remaining delegates to reach the 1,237 threshold. “We fully expect this to go to Cleveland,” Packer said of the anti-Trump effort. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders, a Brooklyn-born U.S. senator representing Vermont, is trying to stage a come-from-behind upset of Hillary Clinton, but will struggle to overcome a large deficit in delegates. Sanders’ big win in Wisconsin, which brought his victory tally to six out of the last seven contests, added to Clinton’s frustration over her inability to knock out a rival who has attacked her from the left. That frustration was on full display on Wednesday when the former secretary of state gave two live televised interviews in which she criticized Sanders. In contrast to a Republican primary season that has been rife with personal insults, the Democrats have largely avoided personal attacks and stuck to policy arguments. But Clinton attacked Sanders for his position on guns and said he lacked a depth of policy understanding. “You can’t really help people if you don’t know how to do what you say you want to do,” Clinton said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” She criticized him for an interview to New York’s Daily News in which he failed to offer specifics on how he would break up large banks - a key part of his campaign message - when he was asked how he would put to use the existing financial regulation Dodd-Frank law. “It’s not clear that he knows how Dodd-Frank works,” Clinton told CNN in an interview on Wednesday afternoon. The Democratic Party nominating race moves to Wyoming on Saturday before New York on April 19. ",1 "Murdoch Reporters's Phone-Hacking Was Endemic, Victimized Hundreds - Andy Coulson, currently media advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron, is accused of having encouraged the hacking during his tenure as editor of Murdochs News of the World paper",1 "Multi-summit Macron burns energy in hunt for resultsBRUSSELS (Reuters) - If European leaders earned points for the amount of time they spend at summits, French President Emmanuel Macron would probably top the rankings this week. A two-day gathering in Brussels - with talks running past midnight on Thursday - was merely the icing on the cake for Macron, who had already hosted a global climate conference and a counter-terrorism summit in the past four days. He certainly comes with a lot of energy and ideas, one European Council official said of the 39-year-old, who in seven months in office has earned a reputation for burning the candle at both ends, stretching his youthful staff. We just hope we can find a way to channel it. The question is, is it delivering results? When it comes to Europe, the report card is so far mixed, although that s not necessarily Macron s fault. During his election campaign and early months in office, he put euro zone reform at the heart of his program, hoping to work hand-in-hand with Germany and other member states on it. But the German election in September weakened Chancellor Angela Merkel s position and she is still trying to put together a coalition, a process unlikely to be completed before March. Without her, Macron lacks a partner to push things along. The discussions he wanted to have on ideas like a separate budget for the single currency area have been pushed back, an acknowledgement that the timing is not right. There are talks on migration, security and defense, all topics addressed by EU leaders on Thursday, but progress is slow and halting, particularly on migration, which led to divisive discussions late into the night. Macron, who in recent weeks has made trips to Africa, met Middle East leaders and brokered the return of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri from Saudi Arabia, is at the heart of all the exhausting debates. He may want to steer a course somewhere between former President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose hyperactive EU style drove some partners to distraction, and his immediate predecessor Francois Hollande, who was at times considered too low-key. His energy is much appreciated, especially after the blow of Brexit, but he must also try to stay a bit realistic, said a diplomat, mentioning that Macron had managed to raise the Ukraine crisis, the Middle East, euro zone reform and demands that the bloc offer more social protection to citizens. One problem the former investment banker faces is that getting 28 EU leaders to agree on a single course of action is always hard. When he acts outside the EU bubble, he has arguably had more success. His One Planet summit this week drew new green pledges from corporations and international organizations, keeping the battle against climate change high up the global agenda. An unscheduled stop in Saudi Arabia last month for talks with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman helped clinch the release of Hariri, who flew to Paris and then back to Lebanon, where he withdrew his resignation as prime minister. Macron has in some ways taken the international reins at a time when several Western leaders are otherwise engaged - Britain s Theresa May is tied up with Brexit, Merkel is bogged down in coalition politics and President Donald Trump s first year in office has been chaotic and unpredictable. His main rival for geopolitical engagement is Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has invited him to be guest of honor at the economic forum in St. Petersburg next May. No confirmation yet of whether Macron will find the time to go. ",1 "Barnier says 'still working' on Brexit terms with BritainBERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Wednesday he was still working to reach agreement with Britain about its exit from the bloc. We are still working. (That is) the only comment I can make, Barnier said after a speech at the Berlin Security Conference, when asked about reports that Britain had offered to pay much of what the EU was demanding to settle a Brexit divorce bill . I am working for an agreement, Barnier told Reuters. ",1 "BBC: A Russian ex-minister Alexander Pochinok dies aged 56, shortly after commenting that annexing Crimea would cost Russia trillions",1 "After deadly protests, Indian states in lockdown for 'godman's' rape sentencingNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is deploying thousands of riot police and shutting down internet services in two northern states, as it prepares for the sentencing on Monday of a self-styled godman whose followers went on the rampage after he was convicted of rape on Friday. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh s cult Dera Sacha Sauda has a vast rural following in Punjab and Haryana states, where frenzied mobs burned down gas stations and train stations and torched vehicles after a local court found him guilty of raping two women in a 2002 case. At least 38 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the violence in Haryana, officials said, drawing sharp criticism for the state government run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The case has also highlighted the Indian heartland s fascination with spiritual gurus, who enjoy immense political clout for their ability to mobilize millions of followers frustrated by the shortcomings of the state. Security forces have cordoned off a jail in Rohtak city, 70 km (44 miles) from New Delhi, where Singh - also known as the guru of bling for the clothes he wears in the movies he has starred in - is being held. The judge who convicted Singh will hold a special hearing inside the prison in Rohtak around 2.30 pm local time (0900 GMT) on Monday to decide the punishment, in a move that officials hope will prevent his followers from gathering in the streets like they did on Friday. Singh faces a minimum of seven years in prison. The town of Sirsa, home to Dera s headquarters, is already under lockdown, BS Sandhu, Haryana s police chief, told Reuters. School and colleges have been ordered shut, the government said. We re fully prepared, we have a contingency plan in place, Sandhu said, adding that more than 10,000 police would patrol the state as it awaits Singh s sentencing. Neighboring Punjab, where violence was sporadic, has summoned more than 8,000 paramilitary and police, banned large gatherings and switched off mobile internet connections across the state until Tuesday, its top administrator said. Our intelligence reports caution that there could be arson and some other incidents, Karan Avtar Singh, the chief secretary to Punjab government, told Reuters. In godman Singh s two films, Messenger of God and its sequel, there are sequences in which he fights off villains and tosses burning motorbikes into the air. In his spiritual avatar, Singh dresses in plain white traditional clothes, giving sermons or planting trees. In the movies he dons bejeweled costumes, rides motorbikes and sends bad guys flying. The Haryana government has faced severe criticism from opposition Congress and a state court for failing to stop the rioting and vandalism. Singh, whose verified Twitter profile calls him a saint, philanthropist, sportsman, actor, singer, movie director, writer, lyricists, and autobiographer, has been photographed with senior BJP leaders including Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Last year a Haryana minister announced the state would donate 5 million Indian rupees ($78,000) to Singh s Dera to promote sports. Bir Kumar Yadav, BJP s Haryana spokesman, said the party had been associated with Singh only in his capacity as a social worker who had spread awareness about public sanitation and cleanliness. Modi also weighed in on Sunday, vowing tough action against anyone trying to break the law. I want to assure my countrymen that people who take the law into their own hands and are on the path of violent suppression - whether it is a person or a group - neither this country nor any government will tolerate it, he said in his monthly radio address, without directly mentioning the recent violence. Singh s conviction in a rape case is the latest in a series of cases involving spiritual leaders who have been accused of sexually abusing followers, amassing untaxed money and finding favor with politicians. Besides the rape charges, he is also under investigation over allegations that he convinced 400 of his male followers to undergo castration, allegations he denies. ($1 = 64.0000 Indian rupees) ",1 " Seth Meyers Takes Aim At GOP Voter Suppression Tactics (VIDEO)Millions of Americans are at risk of not being allowed to vote in this year s presidential election because of voter suppression efforts by Republicans, and that did not sit well with Seth Meyers at all.During Wednesday night s edition of Late Night, Meyers took aim at restrictive voter ID laws that have caused absolute chaos during primaries in several states, in particularly Wisconsin and Arizona, where Republicans have enacted such laws in an effort to prevent Democratic voters from exercising their right and civic duty.On Tuesday, Wisconsin GOP state Rep. Glenn Grothman openly bragged that the voter ID he helped pass in his state would hurt Hillary Clinton in the general election. Hillary Clinton is about the weakest candidate the Democrats have ever put up and now we have voter ID and I think voter ID is going to make a little bit of a difference as well, he said on national television as the law caused long delays and forced voters to wait in long lines. You re not supposed to say that out loud, Meyers responded. That s like a dude rolling up in a Corvette and saying, You know, I bought this to compensate for my tiny penis. Meyers then moved on to North Carolina, where a sweeping GOP-passed anti-voting law has caused poll workers to make voting difficult for people who aren t white. During the North Carolina primary in March, poll workers forced an Asian couple to spell their names and made them wait to exercise their voting rights as white voters were allowed to breeze through the lines without a problem. Critics had warned in 2013 that the voter ID law would bring back Jim Crow era tactics, and it looks like they were right. That s terrible news for the nation s Kaileys, Meyers quipped. So many ways you can go, Kayleigh. This is America the only time you should have to spell your own name is when you re screaming it on a call with Time Warner Cable. Then Meyers took aim at Arizona, where the worst voting fiasco has taken place thus far this year.Arizona Republicans slashed the number of polling places from 400 to 200 in 2012, which led to thousands of citizens waiting in line to vote for hours. Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell went ahead and cut that down to 60 just this year, resulting in an even longer wait to cast votes in a county with a population of four million. But that s not all. Misinformation was spread via the Secretary of State s website and hundreds of voters, mostly Democrats, had their party affiliation altered prior to the primary. Even Secretary of States Michele Reagan testified that election fraud occurred and Arizonans are calling for a federal investigation. If you ve been waiting in line so long the pizza place is willing to deliver to you, you re going to be frustrated, Meyers remarked. Is that a house or an apartment? It s a line I live in a line. Meyers ended the segment by pointing out that these voter ID laws could end up repeating the 2000 Election. You know, the nightmare election that forced George W. Bush upon America because the conservative-leaning Supreme Court stepped in to halt a recount that could have resulted in an Al Gore victory. And we all know what happened over the next eight years.Yeah, let s not do that again.Here s the video via YouTube: Featured Image: Screenshot",0 "Palestinian foreign minister says he was ""amazed"" by US efforts to persuade other countries not to support the membership effort",0 "U.S. air strikes kill 17 Islamic State militants in Libya: U.S. militaryWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six U.S. air strikes on an Islamic State desert camp in Libya killed 17 militants and destroyed three vehicles, the U.S. military said on Sunday, the first American strikes in Libya since President Donald Trump took office in January. U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that strikes on Friday targeted a camp 150 miles (240 km) southeast of Sirte, a city that was once the Islamic State stronghold in Libya. The camp was used to move fighters in and out of Libya, plot attacks and store weapons, the statement said. ISIS and al-Qaeda have taken advantage of ungoverned spaces in Libya to establish sanctuaries for plotting, inspiring and directing terror attacks, the statement said, using an acronym for Islamic State. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strikes were carried out by armed drones. The last-known U.S. strike in Libya was on Jan. 19, a day before Trump s inauguration, when more than 80 Islamic State militants, some believed to be plotting attacks in Europe, died in U.S. air strikes on camps outside Sirte. That strike was led by two B-2 bombers, which dropped about 100 precision-guided munitions on the camps. Islamic State took over Sirte in early 2015, turning it into its most important base outside the Middle East and attracting large numbers of foreign fighters to the city. The group imposed its hard-line rule on residents and extended its control along about 155 miles (250 km) of Libya s Mediterranean coastline. But it struggled to keep a footing elsewhere in Libya and was forced out of Sirte by last December after a six-month campaign led by brigades from the western city of Misrata and backed by U.S. air strikes. Islamic State militants have shifted to desert valleys and inland hills southeast of Tripoli as they seek to exploit Libya s political divisions after their defeat in Sirte. The statement said the strikes were carried out in coordination with Libya s Government of National Accord. The United Nations launched a road map on Wednesday for a renewed international effort to break a political stalemate in Libya and end the turmoil that followed the country s 2011 uprising. The U.N.-backed Government of National Accord established under a December 2015 deal never fully materialized in Tripoli, leaving Libya with three competing governments aligned with rival armed alliances. ",1 " Fox Host Goes Rogue, Shreds Trump’s ‘Cowardly And Dangerous’ Charlottesville Remarks (VIDEO)It s a bad day for Donald Trump when even the most conservative, racist media networks are calling him out for his failure to denounce the white supremacists responsible for the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.On Monday, Fox host Eboni Williams went on Fox News Specialists and ripped Trump a new one for his disappointing, weak response to the Charlottesville tragedy. While many conservatives have stated that Trump s first pathetic response on Saturday was more than enough, many have gone after Trump and called for him to publicly denounce white supremacy in a follow-up statement. Williams said: Mr. President, your initial remarks were cowardly and dangerous, and they indeed warranted a second statement. Williams attack on Trump got even more bold when she bashed his Make America Great Again slogan, stating that people have been confused about the inclusiveness of Trump s message. Williams said that she will no longer give Trump the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Trump excluding other races. I was legitimately unsure, but absent more conclusive evidence, I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. I can no longer do that, Mr. President. No more benefit, all doubt. Williams also called Trump out for his statement in which he very intentionally chose to be ambiguous and to equivocate : President Trump, I do not know your heart. But what I do know for sure is that you ve clearly done the math, and you ve decided that your portion of the base that is absolutely racist is so significant, so valuable that you hesitate, even in the face of blatant, flagrant hatred to risk turning them off and thereby crippling your political stronghold. While you personally might not be a racist, President Trump, what you are is all too happy to reap the benefits of their support. Williams warned Trump that this moment is on you , making sure that Trump knew he missed a major opportunity to prove his critics wrong. Instead, he only solidified everyone s belief that he s a racist piece of sh*t. You can watch Williams trash Trump below:Featured image via Mario Tama / Getty Images",0 "Spicer resigning at White House, Scaramucci to be communications chief: Trump statementWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said in a statement on Friday that White House press secretary Sean Spicer was resigning as of August and that businessman Anthony Scaramucci, a long-time supporter, would become White House communications director. “I’m grateful for Sean’s work on behalf of my administration and the American people. I wish him continued success as he moves on to pursue new opportunities. Just look at his great television ratings,” Trump said in a statement read by White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. Scaramucci told a news briefing that Sanders would become Trump’s new press secretary. ",1 A law passed this morning allows Australian police officers to remove the burqa (or any head coverings) or face 12 months in prison,0 Thousands raped and abused in Catholic schools,0 "Archaeologists Explore War Torn Syria-Turkey Border Site for 1st Time in 90 Yrs, Building on Work of Lawrence of Arabia, When Slabs Carved With Soldiers, Chariots, Animals & Kings Were Found, Along With Ruins of Palaces & Temples",0 "Spanish cooperation buids a solar plant in Palestinia, provides electricity to 40 families of Emnaizel, a school and a medical center. Israel decides to demolish it in two weeks.",1 "Baby-beating charges dropped for mother begging with child in Barcelona, cops who falsely accused her sentenced to 2 years in jail.",0 An Australian father has been charged by police over the alleged genital mutilation of his infant daughter while they were holidaying overseas,0 Occupy Wall Street returns to Canada,0 "Gaddafi: ""It is not a piracy, it is self defense. It is defending the Somalia children\'s food!\'\'",1 "Israeli Driver: 'No black Ethiopians on my bus' - The driver added: ""All of these kushim [a derogatory term for Africans] should be sent back to Ethiopia. You are a stupid nation, and you damage our land.""",1 Putin sacks governor for rally against Russian invasion of Ukraine,1 "Vietnam police arrest ex-politburo member over misconductHANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese police on Friday arrested a former top Communist Party official suspected of misconduct while he was chairman of the main state energy firm, the first former politburo member to face prosecution in decades. Police issued arrest and prosecution orders for Dinh La Thang, 56, for suspected violation of state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences , the Ministry of Public Security said on its website. Thang is the most senior official so far caught up in a widespread crackdown on fraud in the energy and banking sectors, which has gathered pace since the security establishment gained greater influence in the party last year. Police are investigating two cases related to Thang s tenure as chairman of state oil and gas firm PetroVietnam that involved a loss of investment in local Ocean Bank and suspected wrongdoing at a PetroVietnam subsidiary, PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corp (PVC) (PVX.HN), police said. Thang was not available for comment. The corruption crackdown made global headlines in August when Germany accused Vietnam of kidnapping Trinh Xuan Thanh, a former chairman of PVC, in Berlin after he applied for asylum there. The party has said it aimed to let Thanh go on trial next month. Government critics have voiced suspicions that the corruption crackdown is politically motivated, at least in part, and aimed against those close to former prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who lost out in an internal power struggle in 2016. This development represents a major event in Vietnamese politics and reflects a concerted effort by those in the commanding heights of the party to rein in and prosecute instances of large scale corruption and serious cases of malfeasance among high ranking party and state officials, said Vietnam expert Jonathan London of Leiden University. Thang was dismissed from the politburo after the Communist Party found him responsible for financial losses at PetroVietnam. It also stripped him of his role as party head of Ho Chi Minh City to penalise him further. Prosecuting a former politburo member in the one-party state is not unprecedented. In 1979, a former politburo official, Hoang Van Hoan, was handed a death sentence in absentia after he had fled the country. On Friday, police also issued an arrest order for Nguyen Quoc Khanh, a former chairman of PetroVietnam. In September, another former PetroVietnam chairman was sentenced to death for embezzlement among other crimes. Khanh was also temporarily dismissed from his current role at the trade ministry on Friday, the ministry said in a statement. ",1 "China hopes all sides' words and actions reduce tension on Korean peninsulaBEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Monday that it hopes all sides’ words and actions can help reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula, after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would shoot down North Korean missiles if necessary. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the comment at a regular news briefing. ",1 "Pennsylvania $2 bln budget gap is 'time bomb': governorNEW YORK (Reuters) - Pennsylvania’s $2 billion budget deficit is a “time bomb” that could cause “fiscal catastrophe the likes of which we have never seen” if it is not resolved, Governor Tom Wolf said in his budget address on Tuesday. Wolf proposed a $32.7 billion fiscal 2017 budget that would add $200 million of funding for K-12 public schools and another $110 million to early and special education programs. Including pension contributions, the budget would be nearly $33.3 billion. To pay for the increases, Wolf would increase personal income taxes by nearly 11 percent to 3.4 percent, expand sales taxes, raise taxes on tobacco products and implement a 6.5 percent severance tax on natural gas producers, according to documents released during his speech. But dominating Wolf’s message was the budgetary crisis escalated by political gridlock. Wolf, a Democrat, and the Republican-led legislature have disagreed since this time last year, when Wolf proposed his first budget. Now seven months after the start of fiscal 2016 on July 1, the state still has only a partial $23.4 billion emergency spending plan. Wolf had been ready to sign a negotiated $30.8 billion agreement but it was scuttled in December. Wolf reminded lawmakers of that turn of events on Tuesday. In web-streamed remarks, he urged them to send the agreement back to him. “House Republican leaders just walked away,” he said during his speech at the state capitol in Harrisburg. Some booed in response. “Yelling will not make it go away,” Wolf said. “We need to do what’s right,” he continued, to applause. He later told lawmakers to “find another job” if they could not reach a solution. His 2017 proposal is built upon the eventual approval of that compromise budget for the current fiscal year. Senate Republicans, who had passed the budget compromise, said Wolf was “doubling down” on last year’s proposal. “This retread budget proposal offers superficial changes to his sizable tax-and-spend plan that has already been soundly opposed by taxpayers,” Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman said in a statement on Tuesday. Unless next year’s deficit is closed, property taxes for homeowners will skyrocket, Wolf said. More than 23,000 teachers and school employees would be cut, as would special education and pre-kindergarten programs. Services for senior citizens, the mentally ill, child care and domestic violence shelters also would be slashed, he said. Wolf’s address was no olive branch, said Muhlenberg College political scientist Christopher Borick. “He turned up the heat,” Borick said. ",1 "Boy Scouts of America apologizes for Trump's 'political rhetoric'NEW YORK (Reuters) - The head of the Boy Scouts of America apologized to members of the youth organization on Thursday for the “political rhetoric that was inserted” into its national gathering this week by U.S. President Donald Trump. “I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree,” Michael Surbaugh wrote in an open letter published on the Scouts’ website. “That was never our intent.” He said that every U.S. president, who serves as the Scouts’ honorary president, has been invited to speak at the national jamborees held every four years since 1937, but that the Scouts were nonetheless “steadfastly” non-partisan. “We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program,” Surbaugh wrote. He said there were 40,000 participants, including Boy Scouts, volunteers, staff and visitors. Trump, a Republican, started his speech before thousands of boys aged 12 to 18 in a West Virginia field on Monday evening lauding hard work and perseverance, then quickly turned to partisan attacks and ridicule of “fake media”. He attacked Democratic rivals, lambasted the current healthcare law and reminisced about a cocktail party he went to decades ago filled with “the hottest people in New York.” Trump’s speech drew intense criticism from former Scouts, parents of Scouts and others, with many saying the speech was not in keeping with Scout values and inappropriate. While many Scouting families expressed outrage, a few said the reaction was overblown, arguing that exposure to political speech in all forms was an important part of a Scout’s development. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said she had not seen Surbaugh’s letter of apology, and said she attended the event. “I saw nothing but roughly 40,000 to 45,000 Boy Scouts cheering the president on throughout his remarks and I think they were pretty excited that he was there,” Sanders said. ",1 SHOCKER! IS MITT ROMNEY Being Considered For A Trump Cabinet Position? ,0 "Senator talks all night as Democrats fight Trump court nomineeWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Democratic senator delivered a 15-1/2-hour, all-night speech denouncing President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee on Wednesday, joining an effort to block Senate confirmation of Neil Gorsuch in a heated political showdown with Republicans. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon began his speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday evening and wrapped up mid-morning on Wednesday. The Senate was expected to vote on Thursday at 11 a.m. to try to end a Democratic procedural effort called a filibuster aimed at blocking Gorsuch’s confirmation to a lifetime post on the court. Republicans were expected to fall short of being able to halt the filibuster, but said they had the votes needed to then immediately change the Senate rules to prohibit filibusters against Supreme Court nominees. Republicans said Gorsuch would be confirmed on Friday one way or the other. Senate confirmation of Gorsuch, 49, would reinstate the court’s conservative majority, allow Trump to leave an indelible mark on America’s highest judicial body and fulfill a top campaign promise by the Republican president. Toward the end of his marathon speech, Merkley looked weary, his suit jacket unbuttoned and his yellow tie billowing out. He stood beside an easel holding graphics that an aide would periodically adjust. “For the first time in U.S. history, a seat has been stolen from one president and delivered to another in a court-packing scheme. If that were to succeed, it would set a precedent that will haunt the court for decades to come,” Merkley said. He noted that the Republicans who control the Senate refused last year to consider former Democratic President Barack Obama’s nomination of appellate judge Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016, the same seat Gorsuch now has been named to fill. Later on the Senate floor, Republican Senator Cory Gardner countered that such an argument amounted to advocating that “two wrongs must make a right.” Merkley criticized Gorsuch’s legal opinions and said Gorsuch would become a conservative legal activist on the court. At one point, Merkley read a 1998 speech by one of the past giants of the Senate, Democrat Robert Byrd, decrying partisanship in Congress. “I believe that the American people are more than tired of partisan warfare. I believe they wish for less of it from Congress, especially in the Senate, where more statesmanship and a longer view are expected,” Merkley said, quoting Byrd. The Senate has a lengthy history of long speeches, including notable ones in recent years by Senators Ted Cruz, Chris Murphy and Rand Paul. The Senate Historical Office listed Merkley’s speech at 15 hours and 26 minutes, the eighth longest in Senate history. The longest came in 1957 when segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against legislation, later enacted, protecting black voting rights. On the second day of formal Senate debate on Gorsuch’s nomination, various Republicans called the conservative Colorado-based federal appeals court judge “incredibly qualified,” an “intellectual heavyweight” and “always true to the law.” “Democrats are bowing to hard-left special interests that can’t get over the results of the election and thus are demanding complete Democratic opposition to everything this president touches,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. Democrats accuse Gorsuch of being so conservative as to be outside the judicial mainstream, favoring corporate interests over ordinary Americans in legal opinions, and displaying insufficient independence from Trump. Republicans control the Senate 52-48. The rule change, which requires a simple majority, has been dubbed the “nuclear option,” and Trump has urged McConnell to “go nuclear.” A filibuster requires a super-majority of 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate in order to proceed to a simple majority vote on a Supreme Court nominee or legislation. The 60-vote super-majority threshold empowers the minority party to hold up the majority party and has forced the Senate over the decades to try to achieve bipartisanship on legislation and presidential appointments. Republican Senator John McCain, known as a defender of Senate traditions, offered reluctant support for the rule change, but said it likely would lead to judicial nominees “from the extremes of both left and right.” “What we are about to do at the end of this week will have tremendous consequences, and I fear that some day we will regret what we’re about to do. In fact, I’m confident we will,” McCain said on the Senate floor. The White House denied on Wednesday that Gorsuch had engaged in plagiarism after media reports accused him of copying some language and failing to cite relevant sources in his 2006 book about assisted suicide and euthanasia. “There is only one explanation for this baseless, last-second smear of Judge Gorsuch: those desperate to justify the unprecedented filibuster of a well-qualified and mainstream nominee to the Supreme Court,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. ",1 "AWESOME! DIAMOND AND SILK Rip Into The Press: “We don’t believe you!” [Video]President Trump s rally in FL on Saturday was a smashing success with about 9000 crowding into a hanger to hear him speak and another two or three times that amount congregating outside.Trump told his supporters I want to speak to you without the filter of the fake news. The warm up act to President Trump s speech was YouTube sensations Diamond and Silk who fired up the crowd.Diamond and Silk: Let me just say this to the media. Let me just say this. We didn t believe you in the primaries. We didn t believe you in the general election. And, read my lips, we don t believe you now! Diamond and Silk have a message for the media at @realDonaldTrump Melbourne FL rally pic.twitter.com/3b5U4UUbTO Kristinn Taylor (@KristinnFR) February 18, 2017Me with my favorite Deplorables @DiamondandSilk! #melbourne #trumprally #trumptrain pic.twitter.com/cW2RMiIOHU Cory Trump 2020 (@LiveLifeCorAZy) February 18, 2017(Source: Gateway Pundit)",0 "UCLA PLAYER’S FATHER Disses Trump On China Release…Downplays His Son’s Crime: ‘I’ve seen a lot worse’Send this kid back to China! The ungrateful attitude of the father of LiAngelo Ball is so classless. What s even worse the dad makes excuses and even dismisses the son s crime as no big deal: They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes. I m from L.A. I ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. LaVar Ball, father of UCLA player with sticky fingers And we wonder why we have little thugs who aren t remorseful for their crimes? The sense of entitlement stinks to high heaven! Bad parenting LaVar Ball! WHO? Days after President Donald Trump touted his role in the release of three UCLA basketball students who were arrested in China, LaVar Ball, the father of one of those players, suggested the President had little to do with the matter. Who? Ball told ESPN when asked about Trump s involvement in the situation. What was he over there for? Don t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out. Trump s social media director, Dan Scavino, fired back at Ball on his personal Twitter account Saturday afternoon, saying Ball s son, LiAngelo, would be in China for a long, long, long time without the President s assistance. Wannabe @Lakers coach, BIG MOUTH @Lavarbigballer knows if it weren t for President @realDonaldTrump, his son would be in China for a long, long, long time! #FACT, Scavino wrote.LiAngelo Ball, along with two other players, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, were arrested last week on suspicion of stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store while their team was in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Trump had said he personally asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to intervene in the case.On Wednesday, Trump issued a call for gratitude from the players on twitter. He did get a thanks for their release after his tweet.STICKY FINGERS NO BIG DEAL?Athletic Director Dan Guerrero confirmed the trio shoplifted from three stores near their hotel Monday night. The three were identified the next morning after police searched their bags and found the stolen items.LaVar Ball told ESPN he was happy to have his son back, and also seemed to downplay his alleged crime. As long as my boy s back here, I m fine, he said. I m happy with how things were handled. A lot of people like to say a lot of things that they thought happened over there. Like I told him, They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes. I m from L.A. I ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. All three players have been suspended from the UCLA basketball team indefinitely.",0 "Clinton thinks regulators should scrutinize AT&T-Time Warner deal: spokesmanWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton thinks U.S. regulators should closely scrutinize AT&T’s (T.N) acquisition of Time Warner(TWX.N), her spokesman said on Sunday. Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told reporters on Sunday there were “a number of questions and concerns” about the deal “but there’s still a lot of information that needs to come out before any conclusions should be reached.” “But certainly she thinks regulators should scrutinize it closely,” Fallon said. ",1 "Funding bill clears hurdle in HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to extend funding for the U.S. government through Dec. 22 and avert agency shutdowns on Saturday cleared a procedural hurdle in the House of Representatives on Thursday, paving the way for a vote on passage later in the day. By a vote of 238-188, the House approved the rules for debating the stop-gap funding bill. ",1 Russias volleyball coach commits suicide after Olympic failure report,1 "BREAKING: CAR PLOWS INTO #Charlottesville Protesters…Several Injured, Some Injuries Are Reportedly Life Threatening [VIDEO]A car plowed into a group of counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally in Virginia on Saturday afternoon, news reports said. Several people were reported with injuries from minor to life-threatening. Several hundred protesters were marching in a long line down a street in Charlottesville, VA when a car drove into a group of them, then quickly backed out and sped away. The person driving the car has already been apprehended and arrested. One Twitter user has identified the person in the car as a member of the violent leftist group Antifa.Another angle of the car running over protestors in #Charlottesville. This has no place in America! pic.twitter.com/YFM9KAGu1g Newt-Trump Fan Club (@NewtTrump) August 12, 2017#BREAKING: I just watched a car plow through dozens of protesters. Extremely heavy injuries #Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/rE8DWUmrfD Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) August 12, 2017***Warning***Video is graphic:Video of fascist driving through crowd of protesters in #Charlottesville Video by @Rebelutionary_Z #Antifa #UniteTheRight pic.twitter.com/ruT4V1kMdw Anarcho-Khomeinist (@NthRepublic) August 12, 2017LA Times The origin of the weekend s events can be traced back to the city s decision to order the removal of a statute of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from one of its parks, whose name was changed from Lee Park to Emancipation Park. The statue has not yet been removed.Attendees of the Unite the Right rally, which had been in the works for weeks, included white nationalists, Neo-Nazis and other far-right figures drawn from around the nation. Many came prepared for the possibility of a fight. Some militia members in military-style fatigues and open-carrying assault-style AR-15 rifles also came to watch the action.In morning news footage, white nationalists in helmets, who were holding plastic shields, and anti-racism protesters carrying red banners could be seen skirmishing with each other on a city street, with someone spraying what appeared to be a crowd-control substance at the counter-protesters. Virginia state police said pepper spray was being released by crowd members.Attendees and journalists at the scene had said that police were not intervening to break up many of the fights, which were shared on social media.Far-right speakers had been scheduled to address the rally attendees, but that didn t happen. Charlottesville city and Abermarle County officials declared a local state of emergency to ask for more law enforcement resources if necessary, citing imminent threat of civil disturbance, unrest, potential injury to persons, and destruction of public and personal property in their formal declaration. Police declared an unlawful assembly soon after.Rally organizer Jason Kessler blamed the chaos on the city s recent attempts to restrict the rally s location, disrupting organizers plans. He said some far-right leaders had been boxed into a small area by police, who are not allowing speakers into a park area to speak as planned. There are so many people that have come in, that have been Maced in the eyes, like half of our speakers have been Maced, Kessler said in a livestream video. There s not a single Charlottesville police officer out there protecting our guys. The event also had drawn a range of counter-protesters, including anti-fascists and interfaith clergy.New York Post Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency after which authorities ordered hundreds of people out of the downtown Charlottesville park, where hundreds of right wing activists, holding shields and swinging clubs, were protesting the removal of a Confederate statue.Among those attending were Ku Klux Plan Imperial Wizard David Duke, alt-right leader Richard Spencer and white nationalist Jason Kessler, the rally s organizer.The hundreds of counter-protestors included Black Lives Matter activists and Princeton professor Cornel West.Protestors threw punches, hurled plastic bottles and sprayed chemical irritants on each other. Several men were seen with blood running down their faces.Using megaphones, cops ordered everyone out of Emancipation Park at about 11:40 a.m. The rally had been scheduled for noon.Unlike Barack Obama, President Trump didn t choose sides in the conflict, nor did he remain silent, signaling that he approved of the violence Americans were using against each other. President Trump instead, took to Twitter to condemn the hate and violence by protesters, asking Americans to come together as one :We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017First Lady Melania Trump also spoke out against the violent protest on Twitter earlier today:Our country encourages freedom of speech, but let's communicate w/o hate in our hearts. No good comes from violence. #Charlottesville Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) August 12, 2017Leftists on Twitter immediately blamed President Trump and his supporters for the violence: pic.twitter.com/FdXfy6xwu5 Reasonable Human (@ajmcdermott615) August 12, 2017We ll wait to see who was behind the wheel of the car who struck people walking down the street with a vehicle as a way to show their disapproval for their opposing views.Police have already arrested the person driving the vehicle that ran into protesters.BREAKING: Police have arrested the driver who plowed into protestors in #Charlottesville is now in police custody. Thank you LEOs! pic.twitter.com/Y4JEk7ECu4 Newt-Trump Fan Club (@NewtTrump) August 12, 2017One Twitter user is saying the person who struck several people with his vehicle is an Antifa thug, who we all know by now are supported by George Soros.Antifa Terrorist Thug Arrested after plowing his car into Crowd of Protestors !! #AntifaTerroristOrganization#Charlottesville #Virginia pic.twitter.com/MRb7xu4Txt STOCK MONSTER (@StockMonsterUSA) August 12, 2017",0 "The U.N. nuclear watchdog said it has seen releases of steam and water indicating that North Korea may be operating a reactor, in the latest update on a plant that experts say could make plutonium for atomic bombs.",1 "BOOM! Wikileaks Shows Hillary Speech To Bankers:”I would like to see more successful business people run for office…You can be maybe rented but never bought”No wonder she didn t want anyone to see her speeches. She was singing the praises of Trump before she even knew he was going to defeat her in the general election From Wikileaks email dump: SECRETARY CLINTON: That s a really interesting question. You know, I would like to see more successful business people run for office. I really would like to see that because I do think, you know, you don t have to have 30 billion, but you have a certain level of freedom. And there s that memorable phrase from a former member of the Senate: You can be maybe rented but never bought. And I think it s important to have people with those experiences. And especially now, because many of you in this room are on the cutting edge of technology or health care or some other segment of the economy, so you are people who look over the horizon. And coming into public life and bringing that perspective as well as the success and the insulation that success gives you could really help in a lot of our political situations right now. [Goldman Sachs Builders And Innovators Summit, 10/29/13]",0 "Trump will send envoys to Middle East to discuss peace: officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is sending his son-in-law Jared Kushner and negotiator Jason Greenblatt to the Middle East soon to meet regional leaders and discuss a “path to substantive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks,” a White House official said on Friday. Deputy national security adviser Dina Powell will also be on the trip, which will include meetings with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the official said. “While the regional talks will play an important role, the president reaffirms that peace between Israelis and Palestinians can only be negotiated directly between the two parties and that the United States will continue working closely with the parties to make progress towards that goal,” the official said. Kushner, who serves as a senior adviser to his father-in-law, was charged with helping to broker a deal between Israelis and Palestinians after Trump took office. The president went to Saudi Arabia and Israel during his first post-inauguration trip abroad and has expressed a personal commitment to reaching a deal that has eluded his Republican and Democratic predecessors. The timing of the trip was pegged to the recent “restoration of calm and the stabilized situation in Jerusalem” after a spate of violence last month sparked by Israel’s installation of metal detectors at entry points to the Noble Sanctuary or Temple Mount compound there. Trump directed that the talks focus on a pathway to peace talks, fighting “extremism,” easing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and identifying economic steps that can be taken to ensure security and stability, the official said. “To enhance the chances for peace, all parties need to engage in creating an environment conducive to peace-making while affording the negotiators and facilitators the time and space they need to reach a deal,” the official said. ",1 "North Korea rocket test will cost $850m USD, equivalent of feeding 19 million people for 1 year - Yonhap News",1 "Liberty Report talks to Vanessa Beeley: ‘Everything the US media says about Aleppo is wrong’21st Century Wire says Why are western media lying and producing a fictional narrative regarding the situation unfolding in Aleppo, Syria?Ron Paul Liberty Report co-host Daniel McAdams talks with 21WIRE special contributor Vanessa Beeley about what is really happening in Aleppo right now. Beeley also reveals new information about the western covert creation, a pseudo NGO called the White Helmets in Syria.What s really going on in Aleppo? Are Assad and Putin exterminating the population for sport? Is it a war against US-backed moderates ? That is what the mainstream media would have us believe. Watch: SUPPORT 21WIRE and its work by Subscribing and becoming a Member @ 21WIRE.TV",0 "Trump urges EU to sanction Maduro government in VenezuelaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump urged the European Union on Tuesday to join in sanctioning the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, after a meeting with Spain s prime minister at the White House. We hope our friends in the EU will soon follow the United States, Canada and many Latin American nations in sanctioning the Maduro regime. We need everybody involved, Trump said at a White House news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The citizens of Venezuela have endured immense suffering, poverty, starvation, and dangerous political unrest under Maduro s oppressive socialist regime. ",1 "PM praises Italy's migrant policy as U.N. cites humanitarian crisisROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Wednesday that Italy was a model for Europe on how to reduce migrant arrivals, a day after U.N. agencies said its policies had trapped tens of thousands of people in dire conditions in Libya. Italy is proud to be a good example on the issue of migrants, Gentiloni told parliament before attending a meeting of European Union leaders where immigration policy will be discussed in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. We have reduced the number of people dying at sea and the number of irregular-migrant arrivals, he said. Sea arrivals to Italy and deaths recorded in the Central Mediterranean are down by a quarter so far this year. On Wednesday, EU border agency Frontex said September arrivals dropped by two thirds versus a year earlier. After more than 600,000 arrivals from North Africa mostly Libya in less than four years, Italy trained and equipped the Libyan coast guard, and an Italian navy ship is in Tripoli s port to repair vessels used to turn back migrant boats. With a national election due in the spring, Rome has promised tens of millions of euros to Tripoli and to local authorities to help them shut down people smuggling. The European Union has left Italy largely on its own to deal with Libya, where there are hundreds of armed militias and two rival governments vying for power six years after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. More than 20,000 migrants have been trapped in farms, houses and warehouses around Sabratha, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates, in a situation of human suffering and abuse on a shocking scale, spokesman Andrej Mahecic said on Tuesday. Amongst the refugees and migrants who suffered abuse at the hands of smugglers, there are pregnant women and new born babies, Mahecic said. While Gentiloni said there must be an increase in resources for the migrants in Libyan camps, he added that Italy s success in reducing migrant arrivals was very positive . The United Nations, on the other hand, is calling for Europe to create safe and legal pathways to Europe for refugees and migrants so that they will not try to reach Europe by making the dangerous journey through Libya. ",1 " Obama Shamelessly Mocks Trump: ‘Orange Is NOT The New Black’ (VIDEO)It s no secret that President Obama has a quick wit and a great sense of humor. Both were on full display on Thursday s edition of Jimmy Fallon s The Tonight Show, and the target of said wit and humor was GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump. First, Fallon asked Obama his opinion on how the GOP felt about Trump being their nominee, and he said that the Democrats are happy about it, for sure. Then on a more serious note, the president went on to say: The truth is, actually I am worried about the Republican Party. I know that sounds you know what it sounds like.The main role I m going to be playing in this process is to remind the American people that this is a serious job. This is not reality TV. Then the mockery resumed, this time aimed at the astoundingly stupid Republicans sitting in Congress who have made Trump their standard bearer. Obama said: Thank you, Congress, for spending eight years wishing you could replace me with a Republican. Or, to put it another way, how do you like me now? After that, the president reminded America just how much he has managed to do, how far he has pushed America in all the right directions, despite constant GOP obstruction during the entire tenure of his presidency: I m proud of the many progressive steps our country has taken in recent years, both socially and environmentally. The United States has been a leader in developing clean energy to ensure the health of our planet for future generations. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, an additional 20 million Americans now have access to quality health care, and same-sex couples across the country now have a constitutional right to marry. In short, climate change is real, health care is affordable and love is love. After that, the president got serious again for a second, and reminded us all what is at stake should Donald Trump take the White House: The American people face an important decision this fall. The entire world is watching, and they look to us for stability and leadership. I know some of the candidates have been critical of my foreign policy. I don t want to name any names, but I believe it is of the utmost importance to work alongside other world leaders. That s why I signed the Iran nuclear deal. That s why we reopened diplomatic ties with Cuba. And that s why I negotiated the new trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. That is when Jimmy Fallon asked President Obama his feelings on TPP, and the Commander-in-Chief did not mince words: Yeah, you know me. Look, Jimmy, the TPP allows American businesses to sell their products both at home and abroad. The more we sell abroad, the more higher paying jobs we have here at home. It s that simple. After that, things got funny again as the segment drew to a close, where Fallon asked what Obama thought of the Trump media circus. The president took a real shot at the GOP s incessant racist attacks against him, and, of course, Trump s own racism, when asked if he had been tuning in: No, but I have been watching my new favorite show, Orange Is Not The New Black. Once again, President Obama shows himself to be a warm, down to earth, classy and adorably hilarious human being, despite being near the end of what is arguably the most difficult presidency in the history of America. He is right about Trump, and he is right to endorse Hillary Clinton in an effort to stop Trump. Most of all, though, he has not allowed anything that has been slung his way to make him lose his humanity and his sense of humor.Well done, Mr. President! We re sure gonna miss you.Watch the video below, via Raw Story:Featured image via video screen capture",0 "Big financial woes linger in Illinois' new budgetCHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois’ first budget after two years is filled with partial outlines to address its debt-ridden pension system and unpaid bill backlog — signs that political fighting and the fiscal mess in the nation’s fifth-largest state are far from over. At least 15 House and Senate Republicans broke with first-term Republican Governor Bruce Rauner on Thursday and joined with Democrats to override Rauner’s vetoes of the state’s first budget package in more than two years. The $36 billion spending plan relies on a $5 billion tax increase that permanently hikes the flat personal income tax rate to 4.95 percent, up 32 percent from its prior 3.75 percent rate. To address the state’s nearly $15 billion in unpaid bills, Illinois depends heavily on borrowing. Lawmakers approved $6 billion of 12-year bonds to raise money for repayments. But State Representative Greg Harris, the House Democrats’ point person on the budget, has acknowledged there is only enough revenue to support half of that borrowing amount. Illinois will also borrow up to $1.2 billion from various state accounts that have accumulated cash for specific purposes, while “sweeping” cash from other accounts —a government version of looking under couch cushions that is expected to yield $300 million. Illinois’ $130 billion pension liability is one of the largest in the nation, and the new budget takes only small steps to address the structural underfunding of Illinois’ five retirement systems. The new law gives the state five years to phase in changes retroactive to fiscal 2014 in actuarial or investment return assumptions made by the pension systems for an estimated savings of $892.1 million. Seemingly small changes in projected investment results can have significant impact on a pension fund’s actuarial calculations. Last year, when the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System reduced its earnings assumption to 7 percent from 7.5 percent, the change caused a $660 million spike in the state’s fiscal 2018 contribution. The new budget attributes $500 million in savings to the creation of a new tier of pension beneficiaries. But that tier applies largely to newly hired employees, raising questions about how the state expects to book that savings in the current fiscal year. That estimate was lifted straight from the proposed budget presented by Rauner earlier this year. The projection has not been independently verified by legislative leaders, and Rauner’s office has not responded to requests for an explanation of how the estimate was calculated. The Illinois Education Association, one of the state’s largest unions, said it has no evidence that its pensioners would be harmed by the new budget’s pension provisions. But the union questioned why lawmakers approved structural changes to pensions without an independent financial analysis. “It’s a little bit of a shot in the dark. For something this major, you’d think the legislators who are voting on this would want to know this information,” said Jim Reed, the union’s government relations director. A budget was welcomed as a positive step for Illinois, which still faces fiscal and pension crises. “The pension pressures will continue, and Illinois’ financial challenges will continue, but at least there will be a framework to recognize there’s a limit to the liability growth to this state,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a budget watchdog group. Steve Malanga, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank, said the fixes in the new budget do not match up to the challenges faced by Illinois. “This is the kind of budget you would pass if you were a state that hit a bump in the road and had a deficit you needed to get rid of over the next two or three years,” he said. “It’s not the kind of budget you’d pass if you have $14 billion in unpaid bills and a $130 billion unfunded (pension) liability.” The Democrats and Republicans who voted for the budget did so at least in part to prevent Illinois from becoming the first U.S. state in history to see its credit rating fall to “junk” status. Moody’s on Wednesday put Illinois on review for a possible downgrade, but some of the state’s bonds traded higher on Friday, an apparent sign of optimism about the budget.      ",1 " Devin Nunes’ Credibility Is Officially SHATTERED – New York Times Reveals The Scope Of His LiesWhen Devin Nunes went running to Trump with information that Trump s transition team was caught up in surveillance, he probably didn t think he d get caught in his lies. He probably didn t think that anybody would look into his claim that, while yes, he visited the White House, he absolutely did not get his info from White House staffers. The New York Times did, and now Nunes entire world is cracking around him.Two of his sources were, in fact, White House staffers with not-insignificant positions. One was Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director of intelligence for the National Security Council who was brought on board by the one and only disgraced Michael Flynn.The other was Michael Ellis, a national security lawyer working in the White House Counsel s office. Ellis once served as a staffer for the House Intelligence Committee.So it s not like Nunes got his info from two low-level, no-name staffers who may or may not know anything real. He got it from high-level security officials within the White House, and now his credibility is shot to hell.The sources who spoke to The New York Times did so on the condition of anonymity, but they did say that the reports that Ellis and Cohen-Watnick were looking at pretty much matched what Nunes said they were. Nunes has insisted from the beginning of the House s Russia investigation that the real problem is who s leaking information, and why he could identify some of the people in the intelligence reports, and not the possibility of high treason.But now that we know he lied about where his sources came from, we have to wonder where his loyalties lie and whether he himself is guilty of treason.While the House Intelligence Committee remains stalled due to Nunes feeling more obligated to Trump than he does to conducting a thorough and impartial investigation, the Senate Intelligence Committee is plugging smoothly on with theirs. At the bare minimum, Nunes needs to recuse himself from this investigation. He really ought to resign his post entirely, though.Featured image by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images",0 "Mali Islamists 'buying child soldiers, imposing Sharia': Islamists who seized control of part of Mali are amassing money from ransoms and drug trafficking while imposing Sharia law, says a senior UN official. They are also buying child soldiers, paying families $600 (375) per child.",0 "Pakistans Billion Tree Tsunami gains momentum, hopes to achieve target of One Billion new saplings plantation by end of next year.",0 "MUSLIM TEENS Stage Fake Terrorist Attack In MN Movie Theater…Guess Who They Blame?Oh and as an added bonus, according to one of the Muslim teens, they snuck into the theater as well In addition to faking hate crimes against themselves, Muslims are now resorting to staging fake terrorist attacks to prove how Islamophobic America is. First there was Clock Boy in Texas, then The Muslim Hipsters in Arkansas, and now it s the Muslim Movie Goers in Minnesota. A group of Muslim teens did their best to make movie theater patrons think they were about to launch an attack with some purposely-suspicious actions recently.It turns out the Mall of America isn t just a place for angry black protesters; it s also a great spot for creating a false Islamophobic response. The City Pages reports that on January 1st a group of African Muslim teenagers, possibly from Somalia, went to a movie at the country s largest mall. They were all carrying backpacks and speaking with heavy accents and foreign tongues. They wanted to be noticed.Once the movie began, the 5 or so black Muslims got up and separated, taking seats away from each other. As you can imagine, the rest of the people in the theater thought this was a pretty unusual thing for them to do. In fact, most of the other moviegoers thought these Muslim teens were about to launch a jihad right then and there.Reportedly, as many as 15 movie patrons left the theater and called the police, fearing that radical Islamic inspired bloodshed was eminent. The police and mall security arrived and detained the Muslims. They explained to the officers that they got up and moved away from each other because they didn t want to be tempted to talk to each other during the film, which sounds like a complete load of shit.One of the Muslims, Akram Oromo, took video of the cordial police officers questioning him and his co-conspirators and posted it to his FaceBook page. He also pointed out how racist this intrusion was:Racism well never stop ima let u know that because this white people though this young Muslim teens going to blow up the movie theater because we all have a backpack. More than 15 whites start running from the theater like we about do some stupid shit they called police and moa security but they didn t find anything from usAccording to the video, in addition to freaking people out, Oromo and his friends also snuck into the movie without paying.// Racism well never stop ? ima let u know that because this white people though this young Muslim teens going to blow up the movie theater because we all have a backpack. More than 15whites start running from the theater like we about do some stupid shit they called police and moa security but they didn t find anything from us #racism #muslims#freedom#AfricanPosted by Akram Oromo on Friday, 1 January 2016Islamic terrorists have struck on US soil recently. Radical Islamic groups have actually called for a hit on the Mall of America. It is not racist or Islamophobic for people to react to obvious Muslims acting in a very suspicious manner. That is called vigilance. Even Muslim apologist Barack Obama has said that Americans should keep their eyes open and report anything that doesn t seem right as a way to combat terrorism.It s my opinion that these Muslim teens did this on purpose with the goal of triggering a police response so they could cry about the unfair treatment they receive in the US. Terrorism is evolving, but so too is hate crime hoaxing. It s really quite simple: go to a public place, do something technically legal yet terribly suspicious, then sit back and reap the liberal media sympathy.Via: DownTrend",0 "Russia's Sibur says had no direct dealings with Wilbur RossMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian petrochemical holding Sibur said on Monday it had no direct dealings with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and that its ties to its partners were not in breach of sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Sibur was commenting on reports that Ross has kept investments in Navigator Holdings, a shipping firm which has supplied services to Sibur. Stakeholders in Sibur include an associate of Russian Vladimir Putin who is subject to U.S. sanctions. In a statement, Sibur said that in the first half of this year, Sibur spent $15.9 million on services provided by Navigator, or 2.8 percent of Sibur’s overall expenditure on logistics. It said Navigator was never a sole contractor for shipping Sibur’s petrochemical products. “All negotiations and meetings were held solely by Sibur management and solely with management of those companies (which were shipping Sibur’s liquefied petroleum gas) and without shareholders’ involvement,” Sibur said in an emailed statement. “In connection with the introduction in 2014 of sanctions with regard to one of the company’s shareholders, our counter-parties conducted all necessary checks into whether there were any restrictions on working with Sibur. No such restrictions were found,” the statement said. “Sibur expresses its surprise at the politically-charged interpretation in certain media publications of regular commercial activities, over many years, which from the outset were reflected in the company’s published accounts.” Sibur’s shareholders include Gennady Timchenko, a close Putin ally who has been under U.S. sanctions since 2014. Another Sibur shareholder is Putin’s son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov. Shamalov did not reply to an email from Reuters seeking comment. Spokesman for Volga Group, an investment vehicle for Timchenko’s assets, declined to comment. The New York Times and other publications, citing leaked documents from an offshore law firm, reported that partnerships used by Ross have a 31 percent stake in Navigator Holdings. Reuters has not independently verified the documents. ",1 "Iran: Despite rising rhetoric among officials, Iranians don't think war is likely.",1 No 'bad thing' if Greece leaves euro: Warren Buffett,0 ISIS To Obama: 'We Will Cut Off Your Head In The White House',1 Hong Kong triad boss run down and hacked to bits in front of luxury hotel,0 Saakashvili Staged TV Report of Russian Invasion - BusinessWeek,1 """I think we just got read the riot act"" Hong Kong must accept Beijing's control, China's Communist Party warns",0 Bulgaria wary as Russia steps up military flights over Black Sea,1 "HA! THEY’RE NOT FORGETTING About Hillary At The World Series!Cubs close out Indians to win first Series since 1908 Mike Montgomery gets Michael Martinez to ground into the final out, and the Cubs clinch their first World Series since 1908 with an 8-7 victory over the Indians in 10 innings.A HILLARY FOR PRISON SIGN POPPED UP TONIGHT DURING THE WORLD SERIES COVERAGE A COUPLE NIGHTS AGO ",0 Catholic Church sues three pro Pussy Riot protestors in Germany. They might face more jail time than Pussy Riot in Russia,1 "Romania expels Russian diplomat ",1 " The Ridiculous Reasons Obama’s Half-Brother Is Voting For Trump (VIDEO)The right is giddy over the fact that President Obama s Kenyan half-brother Malik says he plans to vote for Donald Trump. They shouldn t be. His reasons for voting for the braggadocios billionaire are even worse than the reasons for most Americans.Malik Obama lives in Kenya, but he is eligible to vote in the United States because he sometimes lives in Maryland and he worked there. Rupert Murdoch s New York Post claims that Malik is registered to vote in the United States.Malik is the oldest of the Obama brothers; he s related through their father, but the two men have different mothers. The older Obama, 58, has spent most of his life as a Democrat, but likes Trump s slogan of Mak(ing) America Great Again. He doesn t like Hillary Clinton s email scandal, and he has more than one personal bone to pick with his younger brother.About Trump: I like Donald Trump because he speaks from the heart, Malik Obama told The Post from his home in the rural village of Kogelo. Make America Great Again is a great slogan. I would like to meet him. About Hillary Clinton and the email situation: She should have known better as the custodian of classified information, said Obama.The third reason makes one question whether Malik had been a Democrat at all. The man who reportedly has as many as 12 wives hates the idea of marriage equality. I feel like a Republican now because they don t stand for same-sex marriage, and that appeals to me, he said.Then, it gets a bit more personal. The elder Obama says that he was close, personal friends with ousted and assassinated dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. I still feel that getting rid of Khadafy didn t make things any better in Libya, he said. My brother and the secretary of state disappointed me in that regard. Malik has an even more personal beef with his brother. It s about money. Malik is in charge of the Barack H. Obama Foundation, which named after the Obamas father. The foundation was set up to help people in their native village in Kenya, but it hadn t registered with the state of Virginia, from which it was run. Shortly after the story became public, the IRS approved the foundation s tax exempt status. Fingers pointed at President Obama, but Malik insists his brother didn t help at all, and for that, he seems to resent him. My brother didn t help me at all, said Obama. He wanted me to shut it down when I set it up. He hasn t supported me at all. Oh, and the President also refused to intervene in his older brother s foray into politics, when he ran for governor of his Kenyan county. Malik partly blames his brother for his loss.Here s the video:Trump, in the meantime, is loving it. Wow, President Obama s brother, Malik, just announced that he is voting for me. Was probably treated badly by president-like everybody else! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2016None of this should be terribly surprising. Despite the fact that the two men were best men at each others weddings, Malik got on the birther train. He even questioned whether the President actually shared a father with him. Of course, we can also go birther, asking if Malik is actually registered to vote.Featured image via New York Post screenshot.",0 "HOW SENATE DEMOCRATS PLAN TO FORCE GUN-CONTROL Amendment On GOP’s Bill To Repeal ObamacareNo word yet on plans to de-fund State Department s Refugee Resettlement Program, that brings hundreds of thousands of Muslims to America from countries who hate us Reeling from the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Democrats will try to force the Senate to vote Thursday on legislation to stem gun violence.The specific measures are still being considered, but they would be proposed as amendments to a GOP package to repeal the Affordable Care Act.Passage of any effort to limit access to firearms appears unlikely, as Congress has been unable to build support for toughening the nation s gun-control laws in the face of opposition from the Nation Rifle Assn. Even in the aftermath of the mass shooting of elementary schoolchildren at Newtown, Conn., a measure to beef up laws failed.Other measures, including one to provide funding for federal health officials to study gun violence, may find broader support in Congress.We're going to force the Senate to vote today on amendments that do something to stop gun violence. Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) December 3, 2015Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said after Wednesday s shooting in California that gun violence has become a cancer on the nation. We are better than this, Reid said. This madness must stop. Via: Los Angeles Times",0 "Syria referendum called ""a sham"": Only 5% of the population turned out to vote",1 Police move to clear Occupy protesters from Parliament Square,1 "Top Intel Official Confirms ISIS Made, Used Chemical Weapons",0 " BUSTED: Republican Conspired With Aide To Label Angry Constituents ‘Un-American’ For Booing HimA Michigan Republican may have literally guaranteed that he won t get another term in Congress.Republicans across the country have been cowardly avoiding holding town hall events because thousands of their angry constituents have been showing up to protest their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a move that would strip healthcare away from millions of Americans and drive up the price of healthcare beyond what many can afford.And that s exactly what happened on Saturday in Michigan when Rep. David Trott actually had the balls to show his face to his constituents in the 11th district he supposedly represents.However, things went spectacularly wrong for Trott from the beginning as the 1,000 people in attendance were not amused by his defense of the repeal effort. The crowd booed him and chanted, Vote him out! Things got even worse when Trott lied by claiming that the United States military is the weakest it s ever been. In fact, our military is the most funded military on the planet. It could be cut in half and still be the most well-funded military on Earth. Claiming that our military is weak is not only a lie, it s an insult to every American who currently wears the uniform.But in response to being booed off the stage, Trott dug the hole deeper by getting caught on a hot mic conspiring with one of his aides to portray his own constituents as un-American. We re going to take that part where they re booing funding the military and I m going to get somebody to write a story and we re going to promote the sh*t out of that, an aide told Trott behind closed doors. It s un-American crap. Here s the video via YouTube: That s right. A Republican congressman is literally going to get someone to write a cheap propaganda story for him so he can accuse his own constituents of hating the military and portray them as un-American in retaliation against them for booing him and his lies.Forget waiting until the next election, Trott should be forced to resign in disgrace right now for what his aide just said about his own constituents.Featured image via screenshot",0 Russian strikes blamed for 400 Syrian civilian deaths,0 "Nigeria: An oil spill at an ExxonMobil facility offshore from the Niger Delta has spread at least 20 miles from its source, coating waters used by fishermen in a film of sludge.",1 "Screw You, TSA: No Conviction on Key Charges in Liquid-Bomb Trial in London",1 " Bill Cosby Thanks ‘Friends And Fans’ In New Year’s Tweet, Twitter EVISCERATES Him (TWEETS)Bill Cosby was America s favorite dad for a long time. However, there was a dark side to the comedian and television icon s legacy. For years, there have been whispers that Cosby was drugging and sexually assaulting young women, many of whom were young, starstruck, naive and believed that Cosby could help with their entertainment careers.In recent times, though, Cosby s alleged dirty deeds came back to haunt him, and nearly 60 women came forward to reveal to the world what he had done. Finally, with the statute of limitations on one of the cases just days from running out, Cosby was arrested for sexual assault.On New Year s Eve, Cosby sent out a tweet to his friends and fans, who support him despite the damning evidence against him and the huge number of women saying he violated them. While there are certainly many Cosby apologists out there, most people at this point believe the women. It turned out that sending this tweet was definitely the wrong thing to do. Twitter pounced on the disgraced star as he, in my opinion, so richly deserved:@BillCosby I get the friends and fans things, Bill, but what do you say to the victims? Steve Elzer (@Steveelzer) January 1, 2016@BillCosby having any ladies over tonight for quaaludes and rape? Augie March (@AugustMarch2) January 1, 2016@BillCosby Forgot u were on here & i was following you. Your past has finally caught up to you. There isn't a known level of shame for u yet #GoBucks (@Tim_Static) January 1, 2016@BillCosby enjoy getting roofied in prison. Joe 2016 Edition (@JoeAlv) January 1, 2016@BillCosby Seriously? You & your wife need to be locked up. Mary Kastelic (@MaryKastelic) January 1, 2016@BillCosby No, thank you for sabotaging your own legacy and tarnishing people's childhoods. Tryin not to pass judgment, but, c'mon dude Kenny Baker (@BoyRaisin2) January 1, 2016@BillCosby what would you do if you found out there was a slight chance someone drugged and raped your wife or daughter? Would you be cool.. stephen slade (@StephenSlade) January 1, 2016Plenty of people pointed out that Cosby is innocent until proven guilty, which, to be fair, is true. However, considering the fact that he admitted under oath that he used quaaludes on women he wanted to have sex with well, let s just say the cards are stacked against him.This really just goes to show that America has a major issue with victim blaming and refusal to believe women who are victimized, especially when a beloved celebrity is the one being accused. Being rich and famous with a lot of fans and influence should not mean that one is above the law, and that is what has been the case with Cosby for years. Yes, he should have his day in court but so should the victims. Justice is what is important here, not a television legacy.Featured image via Bill Cosby Twitter/Raw Story",0 "Iran tests new missile after U.S. criticizes arms programDUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday it had successfully tested a new ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) and would keep developing its arsenal despite U.S. pressure to stop. The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, saying its missile tests violate a U.N. resolution, which calls on Tehran not to undertake activities related to missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no such plans. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter the missile test illustrates the weakness of the Iran nuclear deal reached by his predecessor Barack Obama. He also linked the action to recent aggressive moves by North Korea. Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea, Trump said on Twitter. Not much of an agreement we have! Iran said in its announcement on Saturday that the Khorramshahr missile could carry several warheads. State broadcaster IRIB carried footage of the missile test without giving its time or location. It included video from an on-board camera which it said showed the detachment of the cone that carries multiple warheads. You are seeing images of the successful test of the Khorramshahr ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km, the latest missile of our country, state television said, adding this was Iran s third missile with such a range. The Khorramshahr was first displayed at a military parade on Friday, where President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would strengthen its missile capabilities. Britain voiced concerns about the latest test. Extremely concerned by reports of Iran missile test, which is inconsistent with UN resolution 2231. Call on Iran to halt provocative acts, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter. France also said it was extremely concerned and called on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to carry out a full report on the launch. France asks that Iran cease all destabilizing activity in the region, Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne said in a statement. (France) will consider with its partners, notably European, the means to obtain from Iran the cessation of its destabilizing ballistic activities. Trump told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that Iran was building its missile capability and accused it of exporting violence to Yemen, Syria and other parts of the Middle East. He also criticized a 2015 pact that the United States and other world powers struck with Iran under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions. Iran s defense minister said on Saturday foreign pressures would not affect Iran s missile program. On the path to improve our country s defensive capacity we will certainly not be the least affected by any threats and we won t ask anyone s permission, Brigadier General Amir Hatami said in remarks carried by state television. Iran denies its missile development breaches the U.N. resolution and says its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons. The weight of the Khorramshahr missile s warhead has been announced to be 1,800 kg (4,000 lbs), ... making it Iran s most powerful missile for defense and retaliation against any aggressive enemy, state television said. ",1 I'm surprised this hasn't made it higher up on Reddit today... The scale of this bomb that went off in Spain today is incredible! [youtube],1 Two former prisoners of Auschwitz are suing the \r\nBush family for their part in Hitler's rise to power,1 "Trump to visit Utah next week, expected to announce monument decisionWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is set to visit Utah on Monday and is expected to announce his decision on whether to reduce the size of two national monuments where drilling and mining are banned, an administration official said on Tuesday. Trump is expected shrink the Bears Ears National Monument, set aside by former Democratic President Barack Obama, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, preserved by former Democratic President Bill Clinton. The trip was first reported by the Salt Lake Tribune. Trump has pushed to roll back regulations that prevent development. To that end, he had ordered a review of the size of 27 monuments: land with cultural, historical or scientific importance preserved from development by past presidents under the Antiquities Act. Last month, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump would travel to Utah in early December, and U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said Trump would reduce the size of the monuments. Environmental groups and Native American tribal organizations plan to protest Trump’s planned visit on Saturday at Utah’s state capitol at what they call “The Rally Against Trump’s Monumental Mistake.” The announcement is expected to touch off a legal battle with environmental groups and Native American tribes. The Navajo Nation and the four other tribes that created and co-manage the Bears Ears monument plan to file a lawsuit the next day. “We will be fighting back immediately. All five tribes will be standing together united to defend Bears Ears,” said Natalie Landreth, an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and other conservation groups also plan litigation against the Trump administration to challenge changes to both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase, said Steve Bloch, director of SUWA. Bloch said conservation groups are concerned that Trump’s announcement will include an order to offer areas in the monuments for public lease sales for coal mining or oil and gas drilling. Industry groups like the oil lobbying organization the American Petroleum Institute have said in the past that both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante were unfairly designated as monuments and needed to be reviewed. Some Utah county officials welcome a reduction in the size of the monuments, which they say has restricted road access to protected areas. In Kane County, where 60 percent of land is located within Grand Staircase, commissioner Dirk Clayson plans to attend Trump’s event if he is invited. “We are grateful that somebody is listening to our local voice,” he said. ",1 "Jordan has a population of 6 million, but have taken in 1.5 million refugees. All with little protest or mass global coverage.",0 Members of an isolated indigenous group made contact over the weekend with villagers in Peru's Amazon basin seeking food and supplies,1 BBC News - Afghan judge Zahorudin recorded on tape 'seeking bribe',0 Take that Sweden! Newsweek crowns Finland as the world's best country.,1 " Sean Hannity Accidentally Makes The Case For Media’s Scrutiny Of Trump’s Vets Fundraiser (VIDEO)It s no secret that Sean Hannity is one of Donald Trump s biggest bootlickers. Following Trump s most recent press conference, in which he slammed the media and even called ABC reporter Tom Llamas a sleaze to his face, Hannity spoke with Trump about the so-called liberal media, and what they ve been doing to the poor guy.During the back-and-forth (Hannity is so far up Trump s rear that this can hardly be called an interview), Hannity demonstrated his complete ignorance of the media s coverage of The Donald s veterans fundraiser by asking: Do they think you need the money? Do they think you re gonna steal it? Yes, and yes. That s the whole issue right there. Apparently, Hannity hasn t been paying attention or he d have known not to ask that question.First of all, Trump s campaign is hardly self-funded and is low on money. He had to have known his self-funding scheme couldn t last forever. We re also talking about the liar of liars here who in their right mind wouldn t be suspicious when money goes missing?In addition to the campaign s financial woes, the Washington Post contacted every one of the 24 charities that Trump listed as beneficiaries of his largesse, back in March, to find out what had happened to that $6 million that he said he raised. They could only account for $3 million of it.There was also Sandra Miniutti, the vice president of Charity Navigator, who said that it s not uncommon for some fundraisers to vet beneficiaries after the fact, such as when they re raising funds in times of emergency. That makes sense, because they need to work quickly under those circumstances. Raising the money and then vetting potential beneficiaries is the fastest way to do it.Miniutti also said, though, that it was fair to question why it was taking so long to distribute the money. Trump already had a list of potential beneficiaries ready, and his fundraiser was ridiculously public. His groups should have been vetted beforehand.Furthermore, Trump received heavy criticism from some veterans groups who were angry at him for using them as a political stunt, and who were angry because they hadn t yet received the money they were promised. It wasn t just the press that was trying to figure this out. Hannity, however, has his blinders firmly in place and is likely blissfully unaware that he just made the liberal media s case for them.Watch the whole debacle of an interview below:Featured image via screen capture from embedded video",0 "VIOLENT ANTIFA THUGS WEAR MASKS To Hide Their Identities…Let’s Make Sure Every American Sees Their Mug ShotsAntifa is a violent, anti-fascist protest group with deep roots in the political left. The disparate, loosely organized factions of the group are peppered throughout the country and show up at events that they deem fascist in order to disrupt and often engage in criminal behavior.A detailed list of what antifa stands for is hard to pin down, but it is certainly anti-Trump, and the group s tactics typically involve the destruction of property and violence towards innocent civilians.That violence has resulted in a number of antifa arrests over the past few months. Last weekend, marauding mobs of antifa thugs descended upon UC Berkeley s campus in California in protest of a prayer event. The antifa members systematically hunted down and beat innocent civilians in the street, assaulting journalists, veterans and police officers along the way. IJRLast week, this careless Antifa thug was caught assaulting an innocent reporter:The now identified Emily Gillespie, had one request at the time of her arrest, Don t take my picture! . Let s work to make America safe again, and make sure everyone sees her picture.When arrested, Emily Gillespie screamed, ""DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE!"" Let's make her famous #Berkeley #AntifaTerrorist pic.twitter.com/kV1H7TyTj0 Red Nation Rising (@RedNationRising) August 29, 2017Here is Berkeley student, Emily Gillespie s mug shot:Just for fun, here are a few more mug shots of violent Antifa thugs: ",0 Russia calls for international cooperation to fight Islamic State,0 "Mexico announces more help for migrants after tough Texas lawMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico has been increasing actions to protect Mexican migrants in response to a law in Texas that allows police to question people about their immigration status, a Mexican official said on Monday. Deputy Foreign Minister for North America Carlos Sada said Mexico respected decisions by the United States but added that Mexico had increased the number of places where its citizens could seek information and legal aid from consulates. ",1 Big pharma is cut out by India's plan to bring medicine to masses.,0 President of El Salvador sends son to France to escape the violence of his native El Salvador. Son is stabbed to death with an awl on a Parisian bridge in a random act of violence with no apparent motive.,1 "DOES NANCY NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION? Watch As Nancy Pelosi Stumbles Over Everyday Words A 3rd Grader Can Pronounce [VIDEO]Thank you to the American Mirror for putting this video together showing Nancy s very bad week.Nancy Pelosi is apparently the best leadership Democrats have to offer America, so drink it in.During two public appearances this week, she confused Iran with Iraq, pronounced words strangely, and claimed Republicans are offering a Mini Me or Mickey Mouse budget. Ends her very strange press conference by saying, I don t know. But there s no there there . We re beginning to wonder if Nancy is still there ?Is Nancy so flustered and panicked by Trump s presidency and her diminished role in Congress that she is no longer able to speak in public? Or, is it possible (all kidding aside) that she needs to be examined by a medical professional?You be the judge ",0 Born In An Iranian Prison -- And Into A Lifetime Of Consequences,1 Ninety-two children and three teachers were poisoned in northern Peru when a plane fumigating nearby fields sprayed a weed-killer too close to their school.,0 Rescuers working to release 33 trapped Chilean miners have achieved a pivotal breakthrough by drilling an escape shaft through to the underground chamber occupied by the men.,1 "Kremlin 'has nothing to do' with Russian lawyer who contacted Trump's teamMOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin has never been in touch with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya who met a group of U.S. President Donald Trump’s associates last year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. “We have already said we are absolutely unaware of this story, we have never been in contact with this lawyer ... She has nothing to do whatsoever with us,” Peskov told a conference call with reporters. Trump’s eldest son eagerly agreed last year to meet a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic White House rival Hillary Clinton as part of Moscow’s official support for his father, according to emails released on Tuesday. ",1 "Manafort attorney: No evidence client colluded with RussiaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The attorney for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said on Monday there was no evidence Manafort colluded with the Russian government while working for the campaign and in fact his work on behalf of Ukraine had ended two years earlier. “I think you all saw today that President Donald Trump was correct. There is no evidence that Mr. Manafort or the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government,” attorney Kevin Downing told reporters after Manafort pleaded not guilty to money laundering and other charges. “Mr. Manafort represented pro-European Union campaigns for the Ukrainians and ... was seeking to further democracy and to help the Ukraine come closer to the United States and the EU,” Downing said. “Those activities ended in 2014 over two years before Mr. Manafort served in the Trump campaign.” ",1 Israel agrees to negotiate over pre-'67 lines,0 "LOL! HILLARY GETS AMBUSHED At Book Signing…”Where’s the 33,000 emails? What happened To Seth Rich?”Hillary was in the middle of a book signing for her new book What Happened when a brave young woman approached her with Hillary s new book in hand. As Hillary began signing her book, the young lady told Hillary it was great to see her. Hillary in turn, hilariously replied, Well, it s great for you to be here. When the young woman waiting for her book to be signed started to ask Hillary a few questions the mainstream media couldn t be bothered to ask during the election, things started to get interesting.Young woman: So the American people would really like to know, what happened to your 33,000 emails? What happened in Benghazi? What happened to the millions of dollars that was supposed to go to the people Haiti? What happened to your health Hillary?Hillary: Ya know what? I m so sorry you believe things that are untrue. The young woman persisted: What happened to Seth Rich? What happened to your health Hillary? The young lady was then forcibly removed from the book signing table. On the way out she notices Hillary s loyal aide Huma Abedin and confronts her about her pedophile husband: Huma, it s so great to see you. I have a question for you. When are you going to divorce your husband for texting underage girls? The young lady was then told to leave, but not before she insisted she gets her signed book about What Happened , even though the truth about what really happened with Crooked Hillary will likely never be exposed.Watch here:",0 "Three injured in stabbing attack near Hadera,Israel.",1 VICIOUS! PORTLAND RIOTERS ATTACK Pregnant Woman With Baseball Bat [Video] ,0 Paedophiles Have Created A Deep Web Version Of Kickstarter To Crowdfund Child Porn,0 "U.S. appeals court upholds gag orders on FBI data surveillanceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court on Monday upheld nondisclosure rules that allow the FBI to secretly issue surveillance orders for customer data to communications firms, a ruling that dealt a blow to privacy advocates. A unanimous three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco sided with a lower court decision in finding that rules permitting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to send national security letters under gag orders are appropriate and do not violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution’s free speech protections. Content distribution firm Cloudflare and phone network operator CREDO Mobile had sued the government in order to notify customers of five national security letters, or NSLs, received between 2011 and 2013. The FBI’s use of NSLs has drawn increased scrutiny as new transparency laws have let companies publish some of the letters, which has shown the agency may have run afoul of rules restricting their use. Andrew Crocker, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented the companies in the consolidated case, said no immediate decision whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court had been made. He called the ruling disappointing. The Justice Department declined comment. Several major technology firms, including Microsoft and Twitter, have mounted a variety of legal challenges in recent years to U.S. government restrictions limiting what they can disclose, both to affected users and to the public, about the surveillance requests they receive. National security letters are a type of government subpoena for communications data sent to service providers. They are usually issued with a gag order, meaning the target is often unaware that records are being accessed, and they do not require a warrant. Tens of thousands of NSLs are issued annually, and some gag orders last indefinitely. Writing for the panel, Judge Sandra Ikuta said the gag orders meet a compelling U.S. government interest, are sufficiently narrow and allow for appropriate judicial review. Ikuta, appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush, said recent changes to the law passed by Congress in 2015 bolstered oversight of NSL use. In June of last year the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected a Republican-backed proposal to expand the kinds of telephone and internet records the FBI could request under an NSL to include senders and recipients of emails, some information about websites a person visits and social media log-in data. The legislation failed, but lawmakers have said they intend to pursue the expansion again. ",1 "Alt-Left Vandalizes Catholic Saint Statue: “The statue should come down”President Trump was right again! He said mob rule of removing statues is a slippery slope. Where does it end? A great example of the problem is the latest statue to be vandalized:On top of people calling for the removal of George Washington s statue and the Jefferson Memorial, vandals in California have pointed their crosshairs at recently-canonized St. Junipero Serra.According to a CBS Local report, a photo circulating the rounds on Facebook shows that a statue of Junipero Serra alongside a Native American boy in a park across from Mission San Fernando was vandalized with red paint and the word murder written in white. The Native American boy had a swastika painted across his chest.City officials could not confirm the photo s authenticity. However, when investigators went to the site, they did indeed see red paint on Serra s arm and a swastika painted on the child next to him, which means the neighboring Catholic mission apparently cleaned the statue as best they could to avoid drawing controversy.That would make perfect sense, considering that whenever the Left gets their hands on controversy like this, they always show up to get their inner Bolshevik on.Some of the people interviewed by CBS expressed disapproval of the statue s presence, falsely claiming that St. Junipero Serra sought the destruction of Native American culture.Read more: Daily Wire",0 "U.S. federal employee 'gag orders' may be illegal, lawmakers warn TrumpWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called on the White House to lift orders barring government agency employees from communicating with the public and Congress, saying such restrictions may violate federal laws. Congressmen Elijah Cummings of Maryland, ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, sent a letter to White House counsel Donald McGahn asking for immediate action to address the administration’s “gag orders on federal employees that prevent them from communicating with Congress. “We urge you to immediately rescind all policies on employee communications that do not comply with the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act and other federal statutes,” they wrote in the letter dated on Thursday. Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services have seen directives from the newly minted leadership that limit how they communicate to the public, according to multiple sources. [L1N1FE5FE] At a news conference on Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the White House had not ordered such directives. “I don’t think it’s a surprise we’re going to review the policies, but I don’t have any info at this time,” Spicer added. The letter from Cummings and Pallone asked U.S. President Donald Trump to issue a statement “making clear to all federal employees that they have the right to communicate with Congress and that he and his Administration will not silence or retaliate against whistleblowers.” ",1 "Judges find two North Carolina congressional districts racially gerrymandered(Reuters) - Two of North Carolina’s congressional districts were racially gerrymandered in a 2011 redistricting and must be redrawn within two weeks, a U.S. appeals court panel ruled on Friday. The order written by Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Roger Gregory bars elections in the majority black districts, the 1st and the 12th, until the new maps are approved. North Carolina congressional primaries are scheduled for March 15 “This Court finds that Congressional Districts 1 and 12 as drawn in the 2011 Congressional Redistricting Plan are unconstitutional,” Gregory wrote. The ruling said race had been the main factor when the Republican-controlled legislature redrew the boundaries and state lawmakers were not justified in using that benchmark. Three voters filed suit in 2013 to invalidate the districts. Both are represented by Democrats, with G.K. Butterfield in the 1st, and Alma Adams in the 12th. State Senator Bob Rucho and House member David Lewis, who guided the redistricting plan through the legislature, were quoted on the Raleigh News and Observer website as saying they would appeal the ruling by the three-judge panel. ",1 "NATION OF ISLAM Joins #BlackLivesMatter Terrorists To Shut Down Chicago’s Popular “Miracle Mile” On Busiest Shopping Day Of Year [Videos and Photos]How can it possibly be legal for these terrorists to lock arms and block innocent shoppers from entering these stores? The Miracle Mile, located in the city of Chicago draws tens of thousands of shoppers every year at Christmas time. Imagine the faces of families of every ethnicity when they find out the City of Chicago is allowing these terrorists to prevent them from entering these stores? Roughly 3,000 demonstrators have shut down a large portion of Michigan Avenue in Chicago the Magnificent Mile in the middle of Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, to protest the shooting of black teenager Laquon McDonald.The 17-year-old was killed in October 2014, and was apparently armed with a knife at the time. Video of the shooting released on Tuesday, however, shows that he was walking away from police at the time he was shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke.Turnout was strong despite 39-degree weather and rainy conditions. Demonstrators shouted 16 shots! and No justice, no shopping! The march started at Michigan and Wacker Drive and began walking north. They include demonstrators from the Nation of Islam, which is marching under the banner of Justice of Else ; RevCom, the Revolutionary Communist Party, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson s Rainbow PUSH coalition.100 Percent FED UP: Here, the terror groups can be seen (without any visible resistance from the police) chanting about shutting down the Apple Store, located on the Miracle Mile:Apple Store on Michigan just locked its doors. #LaquanMcDonald #BlackFriday @TouchVisionTV pic.twitter.com/y97WaHTQVT Lauren Mialki (@laurenmialki) November 27, 2015Shutting down Tiffany's over #LaquanMcDonald ""No diamonds today"" pic.twitter.com/ygHQdLKaUL Kathryn Pensack (@katpen6) November 27, 2015The #LaquanMcDonald protest is on the move, heading north on Michigan Avenue https://t.co/2E4mcauYv0 Whitney Dawn Carlson (@whitneydawn) November 27, 2015And of course, what would a #BlackLivesMatter protest be without pro-communism supporters?Old, White Communists Lead Anti-Cop Protests In Chicago Over McDonald Death: https://t.co/gVpflUqm6M #LaquanMcDonald pic.twitter.com/29PKqhcQ0A The Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 27, 2015Yesterday, we shared a story about BLM terrorists attempting to rip down the iconic Christmas tree on Miracle Mile. Click HERE for the full story.The latter group is marching slowly, while the other groups have pushed ahead, effectively taking up five city blocks along Michigan Ave., with hundreds of Chicago Police Department officers lining the streets.Various groups begin marching down Michigan Ave in protest of Mayor @RahmEmanuel s handling of #LaquanMcDonald vid.Various groups begin marching down Michigan Ave in protest of Mayor @RahmEmanuel's handling of #LaquanMcDonald vid. pic.twitter.com/FF0XbYMOZ0 The Chicago Reporter (@ChicagoReporter) November 27, 2015 The Chicago Reporter (@ChicagoReporter) November 27, 2015Protesters are attempting to gain access to major department stores and shopping malls. Police turned them away at the entrance to Water Tower Place, but they continue to try to enter other shopping areas with the intention of blocking commerce from taking place. As of noon, the protesters were walking toward the John Hancock tower.Update 1:00 p.m.: Several stores have been blocked and effectively shut down, including Macy s, H&M, and others over six blocks. Shoppers are either stuck inside the stores or cannot enter. Some shuffle by, as protesters shout at them. Michigan Avenue itself, normally filled with traffic, is empty.)Photo- Lee Stranahan, Breitbart NewsIn conversations with demonstrators, Breitbart News has learned that the groups plan to target the Chicago Board of Trade, one of the world s most important commodities exchanges, in future demonstrations. The aim is to do as much economic damage as possible while drawing attention to perceived racism and abuse by the Chicago Police Department. The police have struggled to manage the city s rise in crime in recent years, and now labor under new suspicions of prejudice and political corruption. Via: Breitbart News ",0 "Kremlin says Russia not accused in U.S. case against ex-Trump aidesMOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that U.S. charges against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and another aide showed Moscow had been unfairly maligned in accusations that it meddled in last year’s U.S. presidential election. Federal investigators probing alleged Russian interference in the election, something Moscow denies, charged Manafort and Rick Gates with money laundering on Monday. But despite being brought as part of a five-month-old investigation into alleged Russian efforts to tilt the election in Trump’s favor and into potential collusion by Trump aides, the charges, some going back over a decade, centered on Manafort’s work for Ukraine’s former government, not Russia’s. That was welcomed in Russia, where officials are watching the investigation closely since public evidence of Russian meddling, something that has not so far been presented, would be sure to translate into tougher U.S. sanctions against Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov highlighted the absence of allegations against Russia in the indictment against Manafort and Gates, saying on Tuesday that Moscow had always said it had never interfered in the U.S. election. That assertion is challenged by U.S. intelligence agencies who say unequivocally that Moscow did interfere in the November 2016 vote. “...Russia does not feature in the charges that were leveled in any way. Other countries and other people feature (in the charges),” Peskov told a conference call with reporters. “Moscow never felt itself guilty so it doesn’t feel exonerated now,” he said, when asked whether the Kremlin interpreted the indictment as proof that its repeated denials about meddling election were true. Peskov also brushed aside any suggestion that someone with links to the Russian Foreign Ministry might have tried to set up a meeting with the Trump campaign through a third ex-aide, George Papadopoulos, who it was announced on Monday pleaded guilty in early October to lying to the FBI. Russia’s flagship TV news show took a similar line on Monday evening, saying it was “now clear that there was nothing” to allegations about Manafort being in touch with Russian officials to try to sway the election. The U.S. investigation was an internal matter for the United States, said Peskov, but Moscow was following it with interest. Peskov laughed off the purported role of Papadopoulos, who told investigators he had tried to set up a meeting between the Trump campaign and the Russian leadership. In his unsuccessful quest to broker such a meeting, Papadopoulos said he had met a London-based professor boasting of contacts with Russian officials and an unnamed Russian woman. He also mentioned being in touch with someone linked to the Russian Foreign Ministry. Peskov, when asked what the Kremlin made of someone linked to the Foreign Ministry allegedly trying to set up a Putin-Trump meeting, said: “It’s an absolutely laughable allegation.” Media reports have suggested the individual linked to the ministry is Ivan Timofeev, who works for a Moscow-based think-tank called the Russian International Relations Council (RIAC). Timofeev did not respond to a request for comment, but told the gazeta.ru online news portal in August that Papadopoulos had emailed him in the spring of 2016 and spoken about the possibility of organizing a Trump trip to Russia. Timofeev said Papadopoulos had never made a formal request to either RIAC or the Russian Foreign Ministry for such a visit, however, and that he had got the impression that he had been “acting on his own initiative” and was “an enthusiast with little experience.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday that there was nothing “illegal” about Papadopoulos contacting someone at RIAC. ",1 "India's Gandhi scion seeks revival in PM Modi's backyardNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India s most fabled political dynasty, will within weeks be crowned leader of the Congress party, handing him a freer rein to prove if he can mount a credible challenge to the dominance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The great-grandson of India s founding prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, has struggled to convince voters - and many in his party - that he is leadership material, especially after a drubbing in the 2014 general election. Modi s depiction of the 47-year-old as an undeserving prince has helped sideline Gandhi since the last national vote, during which time Congress has suffered some of its worst ever local election results. But this year the economy has stumbled, and Congress politicians hope a round of state elections, beginning in Modi s home state of Gujarat, offer them - and their leader - a shot at revival ahead of the next national poll in 2019. Gandhi will soon take over as Congress president from his 70-year-old mother, Sonia Gandhi, a symbolic promotion that three Congress officials said they hoped would free his hand to shift the narrative from a clash of personalities - which Modi has so far resoundingly won - to a debate about policies. You will see many changes and every change will be a reaffirmation of what Congress s core beliefs are, said party MP and senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who works closely with Rahul Gandhi. The right time has come to strike a chord with the masses against Modi s governance style, and we will not miss it. Congress insiders acknowledge their leader has sometimes made it easy for Modi s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to question his commitment to politics. The key problem with Rahul Gandhi has been his lack of consistency, said a senior party figure, who declined to be identified. He frequently takes a break after few roadshows and it is this inconsistency that has been a huge issue. But Congress officials say Gandhi has recently been finding his stride criticizing Modi for failing to create jobs, while the party has won a handful of recent by-elections. Gandhi is traversing Gujarat, the western state where Modi made his name, to fire up his party workers. He has ditched some of the party rallies for one-on-one meetings with trade unions, dairy workers and small traders - a traditional Modi powerbase that has been hit hard by recent economic reforms championed by the prime minister. Modi has taken notice. Last week he told workers from his Hindu nationalist BJP that the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty would destroy Gujarat . His party president, recently dispatched to the Gandhi family heartland in northern India, said this month that Gandhi needed to swap his Italian glasses for Gujarati spectacles to see the economic development the BJP had brought to the region, in a jibe at his Italian-born mother s roots. BJP would love it to be a war of personalities. Congress has to frame it as a war of two different approaches, even ideologies, said Sandeep Shastri, a political scientist and Congress expert at Jain University. Gandhi, who rarely talks to the media, declined a Reuters interview request. Rahul s father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers in post-independence India. But critics deride Gandhi as a political lightweight who depends on his family name for power. Bursts of political energy have been followed by lengthy absences. In 2015 he took nearly two months of leave, prompting Modi s party to accuse him of holidaying while parliament was in session. Congress now governs states home to less than 10 percent of India s 1.3 billion population, its powerbase shriveled under the onslaught of Modi s popularity. Congress insiders acknowledge the party is unlikely to win the December election in Gujarat, but cutting into the BJP majority in the state would send a powerful signal that Congress under Gandhi has a fighting chance against a still-popular Modi. Gandhi has set up a new social media team in New Delhi to work on his image, and officials say he has been forging better ties with regional parties that are often key powerbrokers in India politics. On a recent tour of Gujarat, Gandhi reached out to the frustrations of the state s powerful business community with a new tax regime, including small traders such as those selling dry fruits. Different tax rates on almonds and cashews, imposed under a new national sales tax Modi s government launched in July, had left traders confused and damaged sales during the peak festival season. We have to show him as the face of the party before Gujarat elections, said a close aide, who declined to be named. BJP leaders say they are untroubled, and that any small bounce in Gandhi s standing will die down once the economy strengthens. Modi has called the slowdown a blip. What does his claim to fame rest on?, said Nalin Kohli, a national spokesman for the BJP. Two months of campaigning does not make him an active politician. ",1 "Russia Orders 'Submarine-Killer' Be-200 Amphibious Aircraft For Production By 2020, Official Says",1 Indian Spacecraft Snaps Spectacular Portrait of Mars (Photo),0 Using water as a weapon in the West Bank: The Civil Administration is protecting a law that its title in contemporary Hebrew is 'keeping most of the West Bank Palestinian-free.',0 "GOP MAJORITY SENATE FINALLY GETS IT RIGHT: Votes To Gut Obamacare And Defund Planned ParenthoodThe Democrats tried to attach a gun control amendment to the bill, but Republicans blocked those amendments. Of course, Obama says he ll veto the bill. What the majority of Americans want is of no consequence to the King The U.S. Senate approved a bill Thursday that would strip Obamacare of key tax-raising features and would also eliminate taxpayer-funding of abortion businesses, including Planned Parenthood. For years, the American people have been calling on Washington to build a bridge away from Obamacare, said Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). For years, Democrats prevented the Senate from passing legislation to do so. The 52 to 47 vote also would strip taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood for one year. This measures has been pushed by a renewed call to defund the abortion business since the release of videos exposing the organization s apparent practices of harvesting body parts of unborn babies and altering the position of babies during abortions in order to harvest their intact organs.Sens. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)challenged a repeal bill passed by the House for not going far enough. A conservative aide tells Breitbart News that Senate leadership is finally following their lead in keeping their promises to the American people who elected them.The measure, which passed 52-47 under the reconciliation budgetary process, will head to the House for a vote. The House passed a similar Obamacare repeal bill. The Senate and the House must soon approve identical bills before they can get to the president s desk.President Barack Obama, however, has already said he will veto the Senate bill.In the Senate, Democrats and several liberal Republicans tried but failed to gut the language that defunds Planned Parenthood from the bill.Family Research Council president Tony Perkins commended the U.S. Senate for approving the bill. This is a huge victory for unborn children, their mothers, and for taxpayers, Perkins said. For the first time during the Obama presidency, both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have approved legislation that begins to end the forced partnership between taxpayers and Planned Parenthood. President Obama will now bear the moral responsibility for sending our tax dollars to a group that has engaged in the selling of baby body parts, he continued. Even if the President vetoes the bill, we ve still succeeded, because a Senate precedent has now been set for moving a similar measure forward when America finally has a President who understands the value of every person, born and unborn. Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, also praised the Senate s approval of the legislation that would transfer taxpayer Medicaid money from Planned Parenthood to health care clinics that do not perform abortions. It s an understatement to say that Planned Parenthood has shown itself unworthy of taxpayer support, said Pavone. The 325,000 lives it destroys every year are 325,000 reasons to redirect taxpayer funds to groups that provide health care without taking innocent lives. When there are legitimate health care providers that actually help women and their babies, it s a travesty to give one dime to Planned Parenthood, he added. The Senate is to be commended for standing up for women, their children, and taxpayers who object to subsidizing a billion-dollar abortion business. The bill would also end the individual mandate of Obamacare that requires most people to purchase health insurance, and strip the authority of the federal government to run health care exchanges. Via: Breitbart News ",0 Ruble Hits 100 Against the Euro As Currency Collapse Accelerates,0 Germany tells citizens to get out of Libya,1 Violence in Zhanaozen threatens Nazarbayev legacy (Video of police firing on Kazakh protesters),1 "This is Chicago, the fake Arab town built by Israel in the middle of the Negev desert to train its military forces in urban warfare.",0 Monsanto Uprooted :: Germany Bans Cultivation of GM Corn,1 "Typical U.S. family earning $100,000 to get $1,000 tax cut under Trump plan: aideWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A typical U.S. family with two children earning $100,000 a year can expect a tax cut of $1,000 under President Donald Trump’s proposed tax overhaul, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said on Thursday. Cohn also told reporters at the White House that the repeal of estate tax and alternative minimum tax would be immediate under the proposal. ",1 "China shows of its ""Shock and Awe"" Fighter Jets",1 Maoists Storm Nepal's Parliament,1 "Obama to meet the Dalai Lama at White House on WednesdayWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will meet the Dalai Lama at the White House on Wednesday, a move certain to anger China which considers the exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader a dangerous separatist. Obama and the Dalai Lama will meet privately at 10:15 a.m. (1415 GMT), a White House statement said. Earlier on Tuesday, China warned the United States to stick by its promises not to support any separatist activities. In an interview with Reuters on Monday, the Dalai Lama had said it was possible he would meet Obama and on Tuesday Taiwan announced that its new president would make a transit stop in the United States next week. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said both issues touched on the “one China” policy, a basic diplomatic tenet referring to both Taiwan and Tibet being part of China that Beijing insists foreign governments recognize. Lu said the United States had said it opposed Taiwan’s independence and recognized that Tibet was an inseparable part of China. “We demand the U.S. government earnestly stands by its promises, conscientiously handle the relevant issue in accordance with the one China principle and not give any space to any individual or behavior which tries to create two Chinas, one China one Taiwan, or to split China,” he said. Obama met the Dalai Lama when the latter visited Washington in 2014 and angered China then when he vowed “strong support” for Tibetans’ human rights. The Dalai Lama says he wants genuine autonomy for Tibet rather than independence. He told Reuters Obama was a “a long-time friend” whom he admired for his work to normalize relations with Cuba, on Iran and for his recent visits to former U.S. foe Vietnam and the site of the Hiroshima atomic bombing in Japan. Asked how Beijing (Peking) might respond to a meeting, the Dalai Lama said: “I don’t know - you should ask them. I think in Peking, we cannot as of now ... generalize. In Peking there are different views. Some people there have a more realistic view. Some are more hardline, which is more narrow-minded.” Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will transit in Miami on her way to Panama, one of the island’s few diplomatic allies, and stop over in Los Angeles on her return, Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister, Javier Ching-shan Hou, said. China is suspicious of Tsai, who assumed office last month, as she is also head of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. Travel abroad is sensitive for Taiwanese leaders who have angered China as it is seen as exerting sovereignty. Tsai’s trip will run from June 24 to July 2 and include Paraguay. ",1 Israelis Restrict Palestinians' Water Supply: Israelis have access to four times as much water as Palestinians due to restrictions,1 Indian Government starts offering up to 90% discount on cancer drugs and reduces costs of cardiac implants by 50 to 60 percent.,1 "Trump administration issues new rules on U.S. visa waiversWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration put new requirements in place on Friday for the 38 countries participating in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, including that they use U.S. counterterrorism data to screen travelers, officials said. The program allows citizens of mainly European countries to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa. Citizens from the 38 countries are required to obtain a so-called travel authorization to enter the United States. President Donald Trump has sought to tighten the rules for those seeking to visit or live in the United States in several ways, saying restrictions are necessary for security reasons. The changes will apply to all countries in the program. One change is that they will be required to use U.S. information to screen travelers crossing their borders from third countries. Many countries in the program already do that, one administration official said. Countries whose citizens stay longer than authorized during visits to the United States at a relatively higher rate will be required to conduct public awareness campaigns on the consequences of overstays, the officials said. One existing penalty is that people who overstay a visit may not travel visa-free to the United States in the future. The threshold for the overstay rate triggering the public information campaign requirement is two percent, the officials said. In the 2016 fiscal year, of the VWP countries, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, and San Marino, a wealthy enclave landlocked inside central Italy, had total overstay rates higher than two percent, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security. The overall overstay rate for VWP countries is 0.68 percent, lower than non-VWP countries excluding Canada and Mexico, which is at 2.07 percent, according to the DHS report. Members of Congress have expressed concern about the security risks of overstays. A May 2017 report by the DHS inspector general found the department lacked a comprehensive system to gather information on departing visitors, forcing it to rely on third-party data to confirm departures, which is sometimes faulty. The United States will also start assessing VWP countries on their safeguards against “insider threats” at their airports, especially those with direct flights to the United States, officials said. The goal is to ensure countries “make sure that airport employees, aviation workers et cetera, aren’t corrupted or are co-opted to pose a threat to aircraft, especially those that are U.S.-bound,” an official said. ",1 "Groups see climate science review as chance to undercut regulationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration will soon begin a review that will question the veracity of the climate change science used by President Barack Obama’s administration as the basis for environmental regulations. The move by the Environmental Protection Agency to launch public debates between scientists on climate research, known as red-team, blue-team exercises, would be the first major effort by the Republican administration to challenge the long-standing scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. Advocates who have petitioned the EPA to reverse the scientific finding underlying U.S. regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions see the proposal to scrutinize mainstream climate science as a first step in that direction. “It’s a way to survey the landscape before reopening the endangerment finding,” said Myron Ebell, head of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, one of the groups that filed a petition with the agency to undo the 2009 scientific determination that formed the basis for the Democratic Obama administration’s regulation of greenhouse gases. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA had authority under the federal Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases from cars if the agency determined they endangered human health. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has spoken several times about the merits of opening the climate change debate up to the public. The website Climatewire on Friday cited a senior administration official, who said Pruitt plans to launch the back-and-forth scientific critiques formally. Francis Menton, a lawyer who filed an endangerment finding petition in January on behalf of the Concerned Household Electricity Consumers Council, said Pruitt told an event at the Manhattan Institute think tank in New York on Friday that he would launch the debates in the next few months. Menton said he asked Pruitt whether he had made a decision on reopening the endangerment finding. Pruitt said the agency is weighing its options. The review “can create a body of scientific work that can be trustworthy and dependable to make regulatory choices and decisions,” said Rob Henneke, of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a third group that filed an endangerment finding petition. Unlike the other two, it has challenged the legality of the endangerment finding, not the science. Environmental groups are confident that Pruitt will not be successful if he tries to undo the endangerment finding because they expect the courts will side with the scientific consensus that human beings cause climate change. Pruitt and the EPA would need to build up a new case that shows carbon dioxide is innocuous and counter the volumes of scientific research that support the finding. “If he has any grasp of scientific and legal reality, he would realize that it’s a fool’s errand to reverse the endangerment determination,” said David Doniger, climate director for the Natural Resources Defense Counsel. “This could be a way for him to keep the right-wing fringe groups occupied and also accomplish the goal of further confusing the public debate,” he said. Ebell, who was also the transition leader of the Trump EPA, had previously been critical of Pruitt’s hesitation to take on the endangerment finding because of the time and staffing it would require. The Trump administration has not yet appointed second-tier assistant administrators to run different policy divisions of the agency. “I think (the red-team, blue-team process) is a logical first step, but I don’t think it commits the administrator to anything yet,” Ebell said. ",1 "Syphilis, gonorrhea cases up among all ages in Canada - Health",0 "Obama to make first visit to U.S. mosque next week WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will make his first visit as president to a U.S. mosque next week in a defense of religious freedom, the White House said, following a rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric in the United States. Obama will visit on Wednesday the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque, where he will hold a roundtable with the community and deliver remarks, a White House official said on Saturday. At the mosque, the president will “reiterate the importance of staying true to our core values – welcoming our fellow Americans, speaking out against bigotry, rejecting indifference, and protecting our nation’s tradition of religious freedom,” the official said. He has visited mosques outside the United States on his trips abroad. Obama, a Democrat in his last year as president, has appealed to Americans to reject anti-Muslim comments by politicians, most notably Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump. Trump, who is leading the Republican field in opinion polls, called for a ban on Muslim visitors to the United States after a Muslim couple inspired by Islamist militants killed 14 people in a shooting in San Bernardino, California, in early December. According to a Gallup poll in December, Americans are now more likely to name terrorism as the top issue facing the United States than any other issue. ",1 Afghan soldier kills 3 Brit troops during joint patrol,1 "Engineers, academics accuse feds of misleading public about oil supplies",1 "Thailand braced for a ""shutdown"" of its capital on Monday by protesters who want to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and install an unelected government, as fears grew that the southeast Asian country could be heading for civil war",0 "EXPOSED: REASON FOX NEWS Doesn’t Want Donald Trump On The Debate Stage… And Which Candidate They’re Pushing ForJulia Hahn is a young, brilliant reporter with Breitbart News. She already has a reputation for fearlessly exposing corruption on both sides of the aisle. Julia does a brilliant job of exposing the truth about why FOX News will likely not be too disappointed that Trump has declined to appear on their upcoming debate. There are few news outlets that conservatives can turn to for the truth. This piece is disappointing because I, like many others have been relying on FOX News for years for unbiased reporting. When it comes to the truth about illegal immigration and amnesty, we need to keep a closer eye on FOX News, who appears to be no different than the rest of the networks when it comes to the invasion of our nation by illegals and Muslim refugees The announcement from Donald Trump s campaign that the Republican frontrunner will definitely not partake in Thursday night s Fox News debate has sent shock waves throughout the nation s political scene.At a press event Tuesday evening, Trump seemed to cite disparate treatment from the network as his reasoning for not participating. What s wrong over there, something s wrong, Trump said of the games Roger Ailes and the network are playing. In asking the question of what s wrong over there? Trump has shined a spotlight on one of Washington s best kept secrets: namely, Fox s role via its founder Rupert Murdoch in pushing an open borders agenda. The Trump campaign is a direct threat to Murdoch s efforts to open America s borders. Well-concealed from virtually all reporting on Fox s treatment of Trump is the fact that Murdoch is the co-chair of what is arguably one of the most powerful immigration lobbying firms in country, the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE).In addition to blanketing the country, media, and politicians with literature, advertisements, and a barrage of lobbyists pushing for open border immigration policies, the Partnership for A New American Economy (PNAE) was a prime lobbyist for one of the biggest open borders pushes in American history: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 2013 Gang of Eight immigration bill.While Donald Trump has pledged to deport those illegally residing in the country and temporarily pause Muslim migration, Rubio s immigration bill would have granted immediate amnesty and eventual citizenship to millions of illegal aliens, it would have doubled the annual admission of foreign workers, and it would have dispensed 33 million green cards to foreign nationals in the span of a single decade despite current record immigration levels.While Megyn Kelly made headlines with her heated questioning of Donald Trump, not one of the Fox News anchors asked Rubio in the first Fox News debate about his signature piece of legislation, which Murdoch s immigration lobbying firm had endorsed. Instead, they lobbed Rubio a series of softballs, such as asking Rubio if he could put God and veterans in the same sentence.Interestingly, Bill Sammon FOX News s vice president of News and Washington managing editor is the father of Brooke Sammon, who is Rubio s press secretary.As Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told The New Yorker s Ryan Lizza back in 2013, Fox News was essential to the Rubio-Schumer effort to expand immigration levels beyond all known historical precedent. As Lizza wrote at the time:McCain told me, Rupert Murdoch is a strong supporter of immigration reform, and Roger Ailes is, too. Murdoch is the chairman and C.E.O. of News Corp., which owns Fox, and Ailes is Fox News s president. McCain said that he, [Lindsey] Graham, [Marco] Rubio, and others also have talked privately to top hosts at Fox, including Bill O Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Neil Cavuto God bless Fox, Graham said. Last time [i.e. during the 2007 immigration push], it was amnesty every fifteen seconds. He said that the change was important for his reelection, because eighty per cent of people in my primary get their news from Fox. He added that the network has allowed critics to come forward, but it s been so much better. Murdoch s support of open borders immigration policies has been identified as a potential conflict of interest for years. As ABC reported in 2013:Murdoch, Australian born and a naturalized U.S. citizen, has become an outspoken advocate for immigration reform and mass legalization of the country s undocumented immigrants, partnering with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in this cause. Whether Murdoch s personal views will percolate through his network, or at least temper criticism on the airwaves of those who don t share it, remains to be seen.In 2013, during the Rubio-Schumer Gang of Eight push, Mickey Kaus similarly pointed out:In 2007, John McCain s comprehensive immigrant-legalization bill failed after opponents flooded the Senate with calls, shutting down the switchboard It won t be that easy this time The GOP donor class is asserting itself One of the more influential members of this donorist class is Rupert Murdoch, which means that FOX News has for all intents and purposes switched sides, giving immigration comprehensivists a monopoly in the MSM five networks to none.Indeed, Murdoch has himself expressed his support for large-scale immigration. In a 2014 op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal s open borders opinion pages, titled, Immigration Reform Can t Wait, Murdoch wrote:When I learned that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had lost his Republican primary, my heart sank. Not simply because I think he is an intelligent and talented member of Congress, or because I worry about the future of the Republican Party. Like others who want comprehensive immigration reform, I worried that Mr. Cantor s loss would be misconstrued and make Congress reluctant to tackle this urgent need. That would be the wrong lesson and an undesirable national consequence of this single, local election result.In his Wall Street Journal op-ed, Murdoch echoed Rubio s position on granting citizenship to illegal immigrants. Murdoch wrote, We need to give those individuals who are already here a path to citizenship. Murdoch even decried Americans who opposed amnesty as, nativists who scream about amnesty a statement which is perhaps even more significant given the fact that Murdoch is himself a beneficiary of the nation s generous immigration policy.Murdoch praised President Obama for showing wise restraint on immigration, even though, at the time of Murdoch s writing, Obama had already implemented his first unconstitutional executive amnesty, giving away American jobs to illegal aliens including the jobs of black Americans whose have suffered some of the greatest harms from mass immigration.When asked about the president s unconstitutional 2012 executive amnesty, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA], Marco Rubio has said that, if he is elected president, he wouldn t undo it immediately. This was another statement of Rubio s which the Fox News anchors utterly failed to probe in their first debate to which they came loaded with questions for Trump, who unlike Rubio had not pushed an immigration plan backed by the network s founder.Murdoch also called for an unlimited number of foreign workers to fill coveted tech jobs through the H-1B visa program, which experts have described as an indentured servitude program:We need to do away with the cap on H-1B visas, which is arbitrary and results in U.S. companies struggling to find the high-skill workers they need to continue growing. We already know that most of the applications for these visas are for computer programmers and engineers, where there is a shortage of qualified American candidates.Contrary to Mr. Murdoch s assertions, there are more than 11 million Americans with degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) who lack employment in these fields, and U.S. schools are graduating two times more students with STEM degrees than are annually finding employment in these fields.FOR ENTIRE STORY: Julia Hahn, Breitbart News ",0 "‘Trumping’ America’s Liberal Elite: The Failure of Political CorrectnessKirsten Powers USA TodayOver the past 18 months, whether in Midwestern airports or New Hampshire and Iowa hotels, I learned the best way to spot a Donald Trump supporter was to note who was remaining silent.As Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz or John Kasich voters enthusiastically shared their reasons for supporting their candidate, a family member or friend would often stand by quietly.When pressed, if they came clean, it was often with downcast eyes or an apologetic smile: I m voting for Trump, they d almost whisper.A few months ago, an Uber driver told me he was voting third party, then tepidly announced he was voting Trump as I exited the car. Why didn t he just tell me this in the first place, I asked. Because I thought you would judge me, he said.Here we can see why Donald Trump s constant inveighing against political correctness was so ingenious. It forged an unlikely but unshakable bond between a Manhattan billionaire who had manifestly lived a life of New York values with conservative white Americans who feel under constant assault by a cultural elite that treats them with contempt. Perhaps more importantly, it ultimately inoculated Trump against allegations that many believed would be his undoing: that he was a racist and misogynist who bragged of sexually assaulting women. Trump s success among women was in part a reaction against enforced political correctness (Image Source: Pulse.ng)After all, these same voters have watched as every Republican candidate in recent memory has been accused of waging a War on Women. If Democrats are going to claim that Mitt Romney and John McCain hate women (and they did), then they shouldn t be surprised when voters ignore them when they say Donald Trump hates women. If every Republican is a misogynist, then no Republican is.While many liberals have dismissed the idea of political correctness as a right-wing manufactured hysteria, it is in fact a real thing. That Trump has stretched its meaning to encompass pretty much any horrible thing he wants to say makes its existence no less real.Conservative white Americans have watched (often fearfully) as liberal cultural elites demand that everyone fall in line with their agenda or risk being called a homophobe, racist or misogynist. The concept of persuasion and debate has been overridden by a quest for immediate and forced cultural conformity. My friend Sally Kohn, the liberal commentator, summed up the left wing view fairly honestly when she told me in a recent debate over free speech that, If [conservatives on campus] feel like they can no longer speak against positive social change, good. This is a paradigm where honest disagreement about abortion makes one a woman-hater, holding orthodox religious views on marriage equates to gay-bashing, and refusing to cop to white privilege even if you are a working class white person struggling economically defines you as a racist.A recent Slate article explaining why a slight majority of white women voted for Trump asserted that these female Trump supporters were self-loathing racists who were doing the bidding of their husbands and fathers. This is the omnipresent lefty trope Republican women have lived with for a long time, yet people are actually shocked that they wouldn t throw their support behind a party that too often casts them as gender-traitors.It s not hard to see how accusations against Trump as a racist and misogynist would be met with eye rolls and knowing murmurs of political correctness by people who have had their worldview constantly caricatured and demonized by the cultural elites in academia, media and politics Continue this story at USA TodayREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files",0 China Releases Human Rights Activist Teng Biao,1 "Hamas [will] agree to a ceasefire only after Israel ""stops its aggression, ends its policy of targeted assassinations and lifts the blockade of Gaza.""",1 "(VIDEO) For the Love of Winston Smith, “Let The Truth Be Told”Undoubtedly, we are living in an age of universal deceit, where government and corporations are colluding to bury the truth, and promote only state-sanctioned narratives. The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. George Orwell describing the plight of Winston Smith in the literary classic, 1984.YouTube artist Rebekah Johnson says, Propaganda puppets are lying to the public and suppressing the truth to further their agenda. Listen to her song and watch her video here:. READ MORE PROPAGANDA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Propaganda FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 "Russia deploys troops westward as standoff with NATO deepens: building an army base near its border with Ukraine, the latest in a chain of new military sites along what the Kremlin sees as its frontline in a growing confrontation with NATO",1 "Kissinger says impressed by China's 'calm reaction' to Trump's Taiwan callNEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said on Monday he was impressed by the Chinese leadership’s calm reaction to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s call last week with the president of Taiwan. “At this moment I’ve been very impressed at the calm reaction of the Chinese leadership, which suggests a determination to see whether a calm dialogue can be developed,” Kissinger said at an event sponsored by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. ",1 "DEMOCRAT CONGRESSWOMAN, WIFE OF FELON Threatens Paul Ryan On Twitter Over Cutting Federal Funds To Kill Babies.@SpeakerRyan the women of America are watching. You will regret any attempt to defund Planned Parenthood https://t.co/pc37ND0fLd Jan Schakowsky (@janschakowsky) January 5, 2017The wife of felon Bob Creamer is apparently borrowing a page from her husband s Chicago politics playbook. The good news is, Schakowsky is wasting her time with her silly rhetoric. America has spoken, and the radical leftist agenda of the Left can now be found exactly where it belongs in the White House trash bin.Republicans will need just a simple majority of members to pass both measures. Planned Parenthood legislation would be in our reconciliation bill, Ryan said to reporters at a press conference, when asked how and when the House will pass legislation to defund the organization. I think the 2015 bill we passed will make it into reconciliation and be part of it, said Rep. Mark Meadows said. Nothing in Washington, D.C. is 100 percent, but I do believe there is a high probability that it happens. Republicans across the spectrum of conservatism, from moderates to far right members, are now lined up and prepared to support that bill and strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding.That commitment that is not new to Capitol Hill, where Republicans have pushed since 2015 to defund the organization in response to secretly recorded videos of abortion doctors discussing the use of fetal tissue, which were deceptively edited. House Republicans passed a defunding bill in 2015, but the bill never got a vote in the Senate. -BuzzFeed (We only used the fake news site Buzzfeed as a source because it is part of the story, as it was included in Rep. Schakowsky s tweet. As a disclaimer do NOT consider them a reliable source of news.) In October 2016, James O Keefe released an undercover video in that exposed Democratic operatives working in the underbelly of their party to coordinate and commit violent and illegal activities against Americans in order to defeat Trump.One of the key figures in O Keefe s report was convicted felon and husband of Rep. Jan Schakowsky ( D-IL), Robert Creamer who oversaw a check-kiting scheme so elaborate that his employees followed a written manual complete with detailed instructions on when and where to float checks totaling millions of dollars.Go to the 3:35 mark to see who Bob Creamer is:James O Keefe asked Rep. Jan Schakowsky how her felon husband was doing after he saw her tweet:How's your husband doing? Bob Creamer? https://t.co/wgcvqIhre1 James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) January 10, 2017As it turns out, convicted felon Robert Creamer was also a frequent visitor of the White House. Between 11/21/2009 and 6/24/2016, Robert Creamer appears to have visited the White House 342 times, 340 times as Robert Creamer and twice as Bob Creamer . He logged in times and was either a guest of Barack Obama or his lovely wife Michelle. One can only wonder what business Michelle had with this criminal. Hmmm Here s Mooch cozying up to Democratic voter-fraud operative Robert Creamer:.@FLOTUS @POTUS why did you invite convicted felon @rbcreamer who oversaw @realDonaldTrump rally agitators to the @WhiteHouse 342 Times? pic.twitter.com/PLcDzErlOR James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 19, 2016Like so many other Democrats whose spouses have been convicted of felonies and sent off to prison, the radical anti-gun activist and congresswoman, Jan Schakowsky was not found to have any part in her husband s crimes (even though she signed the false W-2 forms he used to deceive the IRS).As executive director of the Illinois Public Action Fund, Robert Creamer s actions led several banks to experience shortfalls of at least $2.3 million, authorities alleged.In all, the 56-year-old Evanston resident was charged with 16 counts of bank fraud involving three alleged check-kiting schemes in the mid-1990s.The indictment, however, alleges no wrongdoing on the part of Schakowsky, who served on the group s policy board and currently holds a similar position with Citizen Action/Illinois. That group was formed by ex-employees after Creamer resigned in 1997 when the allegations first surfaced.Creamer worked for 22 years for the Illinois Public Action Fund and for the Citizens Action Center for Consumer Rights. The not-for-profit groups had been influential in pushing progressive causes such as campaign finance and health care reform.",0 "Mexico just discovered oil ""3.8 times its present known reserves, and half that of the Saudis"" There goes your Electric vehicle progress.",0 Violent Anti-Japanese Protests Erupt in China,1 " ‘Not-Racist’ Steve King Doubles Down: Nope, Whites Are Definitely The Superior RaceYou know what s even more stupid than blaming Melania Trump s plagiarism on My Little Pony? Claiming that whites are the superior race. What s even worse than that? Doing it again.On Monday, Iowa Rep. Steve King replaced his dog whistle with a microphone and openly declared that whites are the superior race. Responding to criticism that the Republican National Convention is filled with loud, unhappy, dissatisfied white people during an appearance on MSNBC, King snapped: This whole business does get a little tired. I would ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you are talking about, where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization? Than white people? Chris Hayes asked. Than than western civilization itself that s rooted in western Europe, eastern Europe and the United States of America, and every place where Christianity settled the world, King replied after realizing that he had actually uttered the words he was thinking. That s all of western civilization. On Tuesday, King clarified his remarks, explaining that while whites are the superior race, people of other races have also made contributions to civilization. It s pretty close [to what I said]. What I really said was Western civilization and when you describe Western civilization that can mean much of Western civilization happens to be Caucasians. But we should not apologize for our culture or our civilization, King told ABC News. The contributions that were made by Western civilization itself, and by Americans, by Americans of all races stand far above the rest of the world. The Western civilization and the American civilization are a superior culture. King says he was responding to, and correcting, political blogger Charlie Pierce but he s happy that he was able to start a dialogue about how awesome white people are: But what we have is people who are trying to parse something, to hyperventilate about that. I m OK if they do that because it starts the dialogue so we can open up more minds so people can think about what s right for America. So, there you have it: whites have contributed far more than other races, according to King, but he s now willing to admit that maybe others have done stuff too.Watch King s original remarks below:Featured image via Getty Images/Andrew Burton",0 "Venezuelans on Tuesday woke up to discover that the government-controlled price of corn flour - used to make corn patty arepas, a staple of local cuisine - has risen by 900%. The Superintendent also said that the price of chicken would rise, up 13 times from 65 bolivares a kilo to 850 bolivares.",1 "French magazine attacked after it portrays Mohammed | Reuters ",1 Rallies in support of elections boycott held by Belarusian expat community,0 " Evan McMullin GOES THERE, Says What No Republican Has The Balls To About The GOP (TWEETS)The GOP has long been a place that only held the interests of white men but no Republican has ever had the guts to admit this until now. Yesterday, Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin the candidate that many conservatives hoped would have beaten Donald Trump sent out a series of tweets blatantly exposing the racism that exists within the Republican Party.In his revealing tweetstorm, McMullin condemned conservatives like Carl Paladino, who had recently made these offensive comments about First Lady Michelle Obama: I d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortable in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla, Paladino said.Twitter McMullin also stated that many Republicans were aware that there is a racism issue in the GOP, but they are up against a majority of conservatives who are too invested in their white privilege to explore a better way forward.TwitterTwitter McMullin also made sure to throw Trump under the bus for his racist, divisive rhetoric as he has had a major role in how racism played out in our country over the last year.Twitter McMullin s tweets were surely going to infuriate most Republicans who insist that America is post-racial instead of addressing their ignorance, but he also made someone else angry. Former KKK leader and avid Trump supporter David Duke was among the first to respond to McMullin and bash him for being so transparent:Twitter And of course, McMullin s response couldn t have been more perfect: Racism within the Republican Party has been a massive issue, and some GOPers have made lesser attempts to point this out. Years ago, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham said, We re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term. And yet, the GOP has still ignored the fact that racism exists and continues to promote platforms that exclude minority voters. Hopefully, McMullin s brutal honesty will encourage the Republican Party to take a good hard look at itself.Featured image via George Frey/Getty Images",0 India suspends sending workers to Saudi Arabia,0 12 year old girl ends life to donate eyes to dad & a kidney to her brother,1 "Factbox: How U.S. multinationals in Puerto Rico are responding to Hurricane Maria(Reuters) - Hurricane Maria has devastated the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, another blow to its already precarious economic situation. Puerto Rico s government owes $72 billion to bondholders, and an additional $50 billion in pension obligations to teachers and almost all other government employees. In May, it filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The following are responses from multinational companies on how they are dealing with the aftermath of Maria: WAL-MART STORES INC Phillip Keene, Wal-Mart s director of corporate communications, said, Like many businesses, we are working to assess any damage to our facilities as we are safely able to access them and working to connect with our associates to assess what their needs are so we can support as appropriate. We are planning to open facilities very thoughtfully, starting with limited hours at our Sam s Club near San Juan, perhaps as soon as Sunday. One of our Amigo stores has already reopened under limited hours on the south side of San Juan as of this morning. Walmart operates 48 retail facilities, a distribution center and a satellite headquarters in Puerto Rico, supported by more than 14,700 associates across the Island. At this time, we are trying to best understand the impacts of Hurricane Maria to Puerto Rico, but it s been a slow process due to widespread power outages and communication issues. We have activated the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the Walmart Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas, to support our associates in Puerto Rico. The EOC is Walmart s centralized platform for crisis coordination. In the EOC, we work directly with logistics, store operations and other teams within the business to ensure we re aligned on our support plans. We have been in contact with leaders on the Island and continue to be in regular contact with FEMA and the American Red Cross. Our first priority is, and continues to be, the safety of our associates - taking care of them and their families. We are working rapidly to account for our associates, through store and HR leadership as well as social media, local radio and other channels. These efforts will continue. Although our normal assessment process has been impeded a bit by road conditions and flooding, we are currently working to identify the status of our facilities on the Island. Our Merchandising, Replenishment, Supply Chain and Logistics teams are working to ensure we have critical supplies and product headed to the island via shipping vessels that are slated to depart as soon as Friday (Sept. 22). This is in addition to the shipment of water that was sent toward the island earlier this week, which is currently staged at sea awaiting clearance to safely enter port. We will continue to assess the right flow and mix of merchandise and supplies to send to Puerto Rico in the coming days and weeks. Tammy Hull, communications manager at Eli Lilly, said: Lilly has two manufacturing sites in Puerto Rico as well as an affiliate office and sales team. Safety of our employees is our primary concern. The small team of employees who stayed onsite during the storm are safe. We are still accounting for all employees, which is a slow process due to power and communications loss on the island. We are currently assessing our facilities to determine if any damage occurred. Lilly follows emergency procedures that enable us to maintain adequate inventory at our manufacturing sites around the world to ensure a reliable supply of medicine for patients. Kristen Davis, senior manager of corporate communications at Amgen, said: Our first priority is the safety of our colleagues and their families. The vast majority of staff at our Amgen Manufacturing Limited (AML) site in Juncos were sent home prior to Maria making landfall, with only a limited number of colleagues remaining on site to monitor operations. At the moment, we are still working to determine the safety of our people and are hopeful that all will be well. At the same time, we are executing on a comprehensive and well-rehearsed business continuity plan for the site itself. Based on what we know at the moment, we are confident there will be no product supply disruptions for patients around the world. Of course, we will work diligently to ensure drug supply for patients in Puerto Rico and to return our operations in Puerto Rico to normal as quickly as possible. Michele Meixell, head of external communications and affairs at AstraZeneca, said: Given the early nature of the disaster, we are still in the process of gathering more information, but I can tell you what we know so far. Our Puerto Rico employee base consists of approximately 250 colleagues. This represents both field-based employees as well as those working in our manufacturing facility located in Canovanas. Right now our number one priority remains the safety and health of our employees and their families. At this point, it s still early to understand the full impact to our site, but we have started the process to assess our facility. The site does have backup power capabilities and we have a storm crew in limited operation right now until employees are able to safely return to work. In advance of the storm, the facility took appropriate precautions and we have business continuity plans in place to ensure our medicines continue in production. We do not anticipate interruption in supply at this time. I also want to point out that while our Puerto Rico site is of critical importance to our organization, we have manufacturing facilities all over the globe producing medicines, so in terms of overall business impact, this is important to clarify. Regarding the safety of our employees, all non-essential employees had been sent home prior to the storm earlier this week. This is a critical time for our employees to be safe and with their families and we will stay in touch with them in various ways that work best for them in this time of need. We stand behind those impacted by Hurricane Maria and AstraZeneca is committed to helping the people and employees affected by all of these recent natural disasters. We will continue to assess the needs of both our employees and those impacted by the storm and once we have more clarity on their needs, provide support and aid however we can. Pfizer spokeswoman Joan Campion said, We re continuing to assess the situation in Puerto Rico. ",1 "Vancouver lawyer Gail Davidson seeks Dick Cheney's arrest - The cofounder of the Lawyers Against the War wants Canada either to bar the [Cheney] from entering the country or, if hes allowed in, to arrest and prosecute him for torture, war offences, and crimes against humanity.",0 "U.S., Japan agree China should play larger role on North KoreaTOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Tuesday that the two countries need to persuade China to play a larger role in dealing with North Korea, a Japanese government spokesman said. The two confirmed during a working lunch that China’s role was important in dealing with North Korea, and they needed to work on China to take on a bigger role, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda told reporters. North Korea has conducted a series of ballistic missile launches in recent months in defiance of U.N. sanctions and concerns have been growing that the reclusive state could soon conduct a sixth nuclear test. With a U.S. aircraft carrier group steaming to the area in a show of force, fears of a confrontation have been rising. ",1 "CIA INSPECTOR: “Hillary endangered lives” FORMER JUDGE: Hillary Is A “Prime candidate for prosecution”Poor Hillary, she s always the victim of some Right-Wing conspiracy When members of Congress are not allowed to see the contents of the emails Hillary had on her private UNSECURED server that s a pretty big deal!The government intelligence in Hillary Clinton s private emails as secretary of state is sometimes considered so sensitive that some congressmen have been hindered in their ability to even read them, a new report Thursday says.The material in the emails is classified at a level above top secret, Fox reported, meaning that some lawmakers have been required to sign new agreements not to reveal their contents. The situation highlights the sensitivity of the information that is being pored over, despite Clinton s long habit of downplaying their significance.A level above top secret is considered subject to special access programs, requiring the additional security because of the increased sensitivity.Congressional reviewers who scoured the SAP information in Clinton s emails already had Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented clearance the highest level of security clearance but were required to sign extra non-disclosure agreements.Last week, Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III wrote senior lawmakers to advise them that several dozen additional classified emails have been identified including specific intelligence from special access programs. In a later interview with National Public Radio, Clinton downplayed the IG letter and claimed it was politically biased. This seems to me to be, you know, another effort to inject this into the campaign, it s another leak, she told the network. I m just going to leave it up to the professionals at the Justice Department because nothing that this says changes the fact that I never sent or received material marked classified. Via: UK Daily Mail",0 "Kenya opposition calls for protests on date repeat election dueNAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s opposition leader Raila Odinga called on Wednesday for a mass protest on Oct. 26, the date the country is due to hold a presidential vote that he is boycotting. Demonstrations will continue. October 26 will be the biggest demonstration of them all, he told a crowd of several thousand cheering supporters in Nairobi. ",1 "Saudi stocks rebound after initial drop on corruption probeDUBAI (Reuters) - The Saudi stock market rebounded into positive territory on Sunday after initially dropping sharply in response to a corruption inquiry that led to a string of detentions of prominent political and business figures. The stock index .TASI was up 0.02 percent an hour before the close, after falling 2.2 percent at one stage. Some investors worry the investigation could force people implicated to sell equity holdings. But many think the purge will remove opposition to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, helping him accelerate economic reforms such as privatization and big development projects. ",1 Mexican flags raised around Donald Trump's golf course - Ahead of Trump's visit to Scotland this week,0 " Former KKK Leader Thanks Trump’s VP For Being So Nice (AUDIO)The most infamous leader of the Ku Klux Klan has just proven that the biggest bullies have the thinnest skins. Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, a Trump-loving white supremacist who spent a good chunk of his life leading a hate group, apparently doesn t like to be called bad names because it hurts his feelings.Duke let Americans in on his sensitive side when the ex-KKK leader spoke about the fact that Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence had held off on calling Duke names like deplorable (even though Pence has disavowed Duke s support, unlike his boss). In return for his kindness and compassion, Duke praised Pence extensively on his radio show for refusing the call Duke exactly what he is. Duke said: The whole idea that they were trying to make Pence call me names basically, and he didn t bite on that, was a real positive thing for all of us. The secret alliance between Duke and the Trump campaign is disgusting, and it has had disastrous effects. Because he was so inspired by Trump s racist and hateful presidential campaign, Duke is now running for the Senate and why wouldn t he, when several Americans have been so accepting of the racist and anti-Semitic views that Trump holds as well? The Trump campaign has basically paved the way for people like Duke!You can listen to Duke rave about Pence below:The terrifying thing about Trump s campaign is that the GOP nominee has literally made it ok for hate speech and bigotry to be expressed publicly. He has, in many ways, normalized it in his campaign speeches, his violence-provoking rallies, and by sharing white supremacist and anti-minority messages on social media on a regular basis. Trump has made room for the most awful, divisive views to be expressed and given people like Duke the guts to have platforms they never would dared to pursue before. This is the America that Trump is creating and it s not great. It s terrifying.Featured image via screenshot",0 Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian throws away medal in Olympic hissy fit ,1 " ‘Well-Regulated’ Militia Member Shoots 12-Year-Old Girl In Stomach During Target PracticeYou know that well-regulated militia that is mentioned in the Second Amendment? Well, one of their members just shot the 12-year-old daughter of the group s leader. Yes, the same group of responsible gun owners our friends on the Right deem necessary to fend off a tyrannical government can t handle their toys well enough to avoid shooting children they inexplicably bring to target practice.The III% Idaho group was meeting at a local gun range after the group, which was involved in the armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last month, decided to enjoy some target practice to blow off the sort of steam one needs to blow off after a total defeat at the hands of a tyrannical government. According to the president of the group, Brandon Curtiss, the accident occurred when a member failed to take proper safety precautions while clearing a gun.Curtiss says the weapon discharged, and the bullet ricocheted off a metal table beside a shelter and struck the girl in the stomach. The projectile pierced through the girl s abdomen and exited out the other side a true testament to freedom. Sandra Sullivan shared a post from the Pacific Patriots Network containing details. While clearing a weapon there was an accidental discharge, the bullet hit the metal table under the canopy area and then ricocheted where it then struck the 12 year old daughter of Sean Odie O Donahue in the stomach then exiting through her side, Sullivan s message reads. I spoke to Sean and it sounds as if she is going to be ok, she was able to tell him she loved him as they were loading her into the helicopter. The post then begs for donations to help the girl rather than for justice the sort that should end with the shooter behind bars for his negligence reminding members that now is not the time to ask for details. The III% Idaho group showed up to aid Ammon Bundy in the occupation of Malheur by securing the perimeter, but his group s offer was ultimately rejected by the armed insurgency leader. The group also took part in Cliven Bundy s armed standoff with federal officials in 2014 something the FBI may want to remember if they consider any additional charges against militants.Sure, these people believe that they are somehow defending freedom by playing cowboy, but in the end they are just a group of people who should never touch a gun a group that, unfortunately, spends most of its time playing Cowboys and Tyranny.The girl is reportedly recovering from her injuries.Featured image via Facebook",0 " Worried About A Trump Presidency? This Canadian Island Will Welcome You With Open Arms (IMAGES)Ever since Donald Trump announced he was running for president, most Americans pretty much thought it was a joke and brushed it off as Donald being Donald. However, as his poll numbers began to rise, so did people s curiosity with whether he may actually be in it to win it. And now that Trump has won New Hampshire and is still polling high nationwide the probability of a Trump presidency is actually starting to sink in among several American citizens and it is terrifying the living daylights out of them.However, don t fret! There seems to be a way out if Trump were to actually win the White House.Move to Canada!!A new website has been set up to advise people to move to the lovely Cape Breton Island.The site is called Cape Breton If Donald Trump Wins and it encourages Americans to move to the island if that awful circumstance were to become a reality. It says: Hi Americans! Donald Trump may become the President of your country! If that happens, and you decide to get the hell out of there, might I suggest moving to Cape Breton Island! And you can find lots of cool things there! And lots and lots of yummy SEAFOOD!Where is Cape Breton? Not far from New England! You could be there in no time!While this site is technically a joke website set up by radio host Rob Calabrese, people are still reaching out to him in droves. It seems people are horrified at that possibility of a Trump presidency. Calabrese had no idea it would actually be this popular. He told nationalpost.com: I m in disbelief, Calabrese said in an interview Wednesday from Sydney, the largest community in Cape Breton. I wish everyone from Cape Breton could read them because they really make you proud of living here. You can find the FAQ page telling you it s not a joke:And it actually will lead you to the Canadian government citizen website:So, while it is a joke, you may want to still check out the possibilities anyway. The site also directs you to the real Cape Breton tour page.As they say, it s always good to have a back up plan. Featured image: Flickr/Wikimedia",0 Canada officially in recession,0 "Kenya election board: all eight candidates will be on ballot in repeat pollNAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s election board said on Wednesday that all eight presidential candidates who competed in elections in August - later nullified by the Supreme Court - would be on the ballot when repeat elections were held on Oct. 26. The board also noted that opposition leader Raila Odinga, the main challenger to incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, had not yet submitted the official form to withdraw from the elections. Odinga had only sent them a letter after he announced he was withdrawing on Tuesday amid concerns over fairness. ",1 "COLLEGE STUDENTS EXPRESS DISGUST In Trump’s “First 100 Days”…Until They Find Out Interviewer Was Talking About Obama [VIDEO]Campus Reform Saturday will mark Donald Trump s 100th day in office, an important milestone for U.S. presidents ever since the flurry of panicked failings with which Franklin Roosevelt began his administration.While supporters of President Trump point to his slew of executive orders and the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch as markers of his success, detractors claim Mr. Trump has accomplished very little since taking office.Throughout the year, Campus Reform has shown how liberal professors and students across America have been quick to oppose the President s actions often without understanding important details about them.Hoping to tease out whether such reflexive opposition to Trump is based on policy disagreements or simply distaste for Trump himself, Campus Reform headed to George Mason University to ask students their opinions about the first 100 days.Watch George Mason student s reactions to questions that are actually about things Barack Obama did while in office, as the interviewer poses them as things President Trump accomplished: ",0 Men trick way into North Korea,0 "OUCH! BERNIE SANDERS Responds To Hillary’s Criticism…Slams Her With Category-5 Zinger [VIDEO]WFB- The former Democratic presidential candidate appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where he discussed the 2016 election and Clinton s new book What Happened, which delves into her devastating defeat at the hands of Trump.Colbert questioned Sanders about Clinton s claim that he caused lasting damage to her campaign during the primaries through his attacks against her.Next, Sanders hit Hillary right between the eyes when he reminded her how she lost to the candidate that the left never imagined could beat her Look, Secretary Clinton ran against the most unpopular candidate in the history of this country, and she lost, Sanders said. And she was upset about it. Now, I understand that. Our job now is really not to go backwards, it is to go forwards, Sanders said. And I think it s a little bit silly to be keeping talking about 2016. We got too many problems. ",0 "Thousands of Canadians protest Ann Coulter after she told a Muslim to ""take a camel"" (instead of a flying carpet, of course) ",1 Israel had 'no other choice' over raid... Except for the other choices they had.,1 "A BBC Newsnight investigation has found that a so-\r\ncalled ""bomb detector"", thousands of which have \r\nbeen sold to Iraq, cannot possibly work.",0 " Trump’s Department Of Justice Just Made A Move That’s Enraging Democrats AND RepublicansRepublicans and Democrats are upset over Attorney General Jeff Sessions controversial plans to increase civil asset forfeiture. The Department of Justice is stepping up efforts to seize property and money suspected of being used in a crime or obtained through illegal activity. That whole innocent until guilty thing was just thrown out the window.Local officials would be able to pull the feds into an investigation in order to ease the process of seizing assets from criminal suspects, even if they are not charged with a crime. This would allow law enforcement to take property without proving a crime occurred.JUST IN: DOJ new asset forfeiture policy police can seize property from people not charged w/crime even in states where it's been banned. pic.twitter.com/P8K0g80m4E Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) July 19, 2017Sessions issued an order that authorized, federal adoption of all types of assets seized lawfully by state or local law enforcement under their respective state laws . . . whenever the conduct giving rise to the seizures violates federal law. This move is so bad that even Darrell Issa is against it. This is a troubling decision for the due process protections afforded to us under the Fourth Amendment as well as the growing consensus we ve seen nationwide on this issue, Issa said, according to Politico. Ramping up adoptive forfeitures would circumvent much of the progress state legislatures have made to curb forfeiture abuse and expand a loophole that s become a central point of contention nationwide. Criminals shouldn t be able to keep the proceeds of their crime, but innocent Americans shouldn t lose their right to due process, or their private property rights, in order to make that happen. Rep. Justin Amash weighed in calling it a move backward. This policy takes us backward. Congress must step up to protect the property of Americans from a government that keeps stealing from them. https://t.co/62t4tKLZHz Justin Amash (@justinamash) July 17, 2017Mike Less isn t happy about this either.JUST IN: DOJ new asset forfeiture policy police can seize property from people not charged w/crime even in states where it's been banned. pic.twitter.com/P8K0g80m4E Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) July 19, 2017Conservatives are upset.This is awful. https://t.co/YpYJ8BTWW7 Instapundit.com (@instapundit) July 19, 2017How conservative. https://t.co/JeGb1j9gla Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) July 19, 2017Small government and libertarian minded conservatives should be outraged by this. It's bad policy and bad principles. https://t.co/gyW8749ODJ Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) July 19, 2017Civil asset forfeiture for people not charged with a crime is a Constitutional outrage. This is raw statism. https://t.co/7m312luBLc Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 19, 2017Indefensible. Totally incompatible with a free society. License to turn law enforcement into Moscow traffic cops. https://t.co/WWlxXIKGDY Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) July 19, 201784 percent of Americans oppose civil asset forfeiture. Among those is Justice Clarence Thomas who delivered harsh criticism in March of the civil forfeiture system, expressing doubt over the constitutionality of the process in which police seize cash, cars and other property that they suspect have ties to crime without going through a criminal procedure, Forbes reported.This isn t a Democrats vs. conservatives partisan issue. In fact, it s one thing both sides oppose. But it s good for local law enforcement officials, who see it as a lifeline for cash-strapped agencies who can profit from the seizures.But congrats, Mr. Sessions, for getting both sides to agree on an important issue against you.Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.",0 Call girl who made Berlusconi look bad receives death threats,1 "U.S. Congress urged to require Chinese journalists to register as agentsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A report to the U.S. Congress released on Wednesday accused Chinese state media entities of involvement in spying and propaganda and said their staff in the United States should be required to register as foreign agents. The annual report of the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission said that while China had tightened restrictions on domestic and foreign media, Chinese state media had rapidly expanded overseas. The commission, created by Congress in 2000 to monitor national security implications of U.S.-China trade relations, said China’s state media expansion was part of a broader effort to exert greater control over how China is depicted globally, as well as to gather information. The report highlighted the rapid growth of the Xinhua news agency and noted that it had offices at the United Nations in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and San Francisco. “Xinhua serves some of the functions of an intelligence agency by gathering information and producing classified reports for the Chinese leadership on both domestic and international events,” the report said. It quoted testimony to the commission by the U.S. Government-funded rights organization, Freedom House, as saying it was a “loophole” that individuals working for Xinhua and China’s People’s Daily newspaper were not covered by the Foreign Agents Registration Act. FARA, first passed in 1938 in the lead up to World War Two to combat German propaganda efforts, requires foreign governments, political parties and lobbyists they hire in the United States to register with the Department of Justice. The China Daily, an English-language newspaper owned by China’s government and ruling Communist Party, is already registered under FARA but only its top executives are required to individually disclose working for the publication. A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is working to overhaul FARA after Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, and a business associate were indicted for failing to register under the law. The reform, backed by powerful Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, could provide an opportunity for Congress to act on the commission recommendations. On Monday, the Kremlin-backed television station RT America registered under FARA after U.S. intelligence agencies in a report in January called it a “state-run propaganda machine” that contributed to the Kremlin’s campaign to interfere with last year’s U.S. presidential election. Under the act, RT will be required to disclose financial information. Moscow has said it views the action against RT as an unfriendly act. ",1 Japan:Scientists sound alarm on plan to bury nuclear waste,1 "U.S. states gird for fight as Trump targets consumer finance watchdogWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pennsylvania’s Attorney General is leading the charge among his Democratic peers preparing to shore up protections for borrowers and savers while President Donald Trump follows through on a pledge to defang a powerful consumer finance watchdog. Since he was sworn in January, Democrat Josh Shapiro has built up his own consumer finance unit in preparation for when Republican Trump’s officials take over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The unit is staffed with more than a dozen people and led by a former senior CFPB attorney. Shapiro and this team have already filed cases against Navient (NAVI.O), a student loan servicer, which is accused of deceiving borrowers in order to drive up profits, and are leading a 48-state investigation into hacking at Equifax (EFX.N), a consumer credit bureau. “We’re demonstrating a capacity to handle these big, complex consumer financial protection cases,” Shapiro told Reuters, adding that attorneys general from both parties have asked about how they can “mimic our efforts”. Navient has said it operates within federal laws and rules on student loans, and has contested similar charges brought by the CFPB in court. An Equifax spokesperson said the company cannot comment on pending litigation, “but we remain focused on helping our customers, as well as their employees and consumers, to navigate this situation.” Shapiro expects his case load will grow, particularly now that Trump has installed his budget director and fierce CFPB critic, Mick Mulvaney, as temporary chief of the agency. The press office at the Office of Management and Budget, which is currently handling public relations for CFPB, said it was too early to comment on Democratic attorneys’ plans. “However, of course we will carry out what we are statutorily obliged to enforce,” spokesman John Czwartacki said. Created in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis to crack down on predatory financial practices, the CFBP has long been criticized by Republicans, including Trump, who say it is far too powerful and burdens lenders with red tape. Shapiro is part of a group of Democratic attorneys general from powerful and large states such as California and New York who disagree with Trump’s call for financial deregulation. Since Trump’s inauguration in January, those top law enforcement officials have sued the administration at least 25 times over its crackdown on immigration and dismantling of regulations across a range of areas from energy to education. When it comes to financial consumer protection state attorneys general wield an additional potentially powerful weapon. A little-known provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, which created the CFPB, gives them the authority to enforce the agency’s rules and its broad ban on “unfair, deceptive and abusive” practices beyond state lines. States have rarely used those provisions while Richard Cordray, appointed by President Barack Obama and known for aggressively pursuing financial firms, was in charge of the watchdog. But with his departure last week, Mulvaney freezing new rulemakings and hiring and a permanent successor expected to loosen the watchdog’s regulation and enforcement, top attorneys in states such as Pennsylvania and California say they are preparing to get more active. “If we have to do this with just states that makes it more difficult but that doesn’t make it impossible,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat. One difficulty for states wanting to pursue federal enforcement cases and go after financial firms across state lines, is that, by law, they must notify the CFPB, said Ori Lev, consumer financial services partner at law firm Mayer Brown. If they proceed without the CFPB’ blessing or if the agency changes its mind about a case, then the agency could challenge them in federal court, and they would most likely have to defer to the CFPB, said C. Boyden Gray, a founding partner of Boyden Gray & Associates, who works with the conservative Federalist Society on tracking regulation. Still, attorneys general have jurisdiction to sue institutions operating in their states under state consumer protection laws and they could join forces to pursue cases nationally. Attorneys general contacted by Reuters and the Democratic Attorneys General Association, representing 22 officials, or nearly half the top state attorneys in the country, said they were prepared to take on more cases. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said his office’s consumer finance division now had 27 attorneys, compared with 11 four years ago. “Consequently, we are well positioned to use all the tools available to us to protect Washingtonians if a new leader of the CFPB does not share director Cordray’s vigor for protecting consumers,” the Democrat said. Before the consumer watchdog was created, states often took the lead in cases involving consumer lenders. As Ohio’s attorney general, Cordray, for example, led the investigation of financial firms which precipitated the financial crisis, winning more than $2 billion in settlements for the state and its pension funds. Consumer advocacy groups have generally applauded the work of both the CFPB and the states on consumer protections, but some Republican attorneys general have sided with Trump on the need to rein in the federal watchdog. In a Nov. 27 letter to Trump, Republican attorneys from West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas and Oklahoma said Mulvaney would help curb “the CFPB’s practice of overreaching regulation that harms the interests of consumers and small financial institutions.” Anticipating more state activity, Maria Earley, partner at the law firm Reed Smith, has been advising clients facing CFPB charges against stalling in hopes the watchdog will become more lenient under Trump. “You may want to litigate to run out the clock, but you’re going to have six, seven, eight states who will start looking into you,” Earley said, adding she has settled three CFPB cases for clients since Trump took office. Reuters could not independently verify this number. Michelle Rogers, a partner with Buckley Sandler, said Wall Street may end up with increased regulatory complexity rather than relief as the state attorneys step in. “They are more nimble than a big federal agency. They have their own staff, and their own agenda, and they can send out a subpoena on a whim on a broader set of issues,” she said. (This story corrects 18th paragraph to attribute idea to C. Boyden Gray, instead of Ori Lev) ",1 "Trump says only role for U.S. in Libya is defeating Islamic StateWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he does not see a role for the United States in Libya apart from defeating Islamic State militants. “I do not see a role in Libya. I think the United States has right now enough roles. We’re in a role everywhere. So I do not see that,” Trump said during a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. “I do see a role in getting rid of ISIS, we’re very effective in that regard ... I see that as a primary role and that’s what we’re going to do, whether it’s in Iraq, or Libya or anywhere else,” Trump said, using an acronym commonly used to refer to the Islamic State. ",1 " Conservative Activist Tells Milwaukee ‘Patriots’ To Shoot Black ‘Women And Children’ (VIDEO) Greetings patriots, right-wing activist and all-around bigoted Cracker-American Jim Stachowiak greets his mixed crowd of vapid idiots and people laughing at him in his August 14 video blog entry. As usual, this right-wing Patriot is proudly standing before his camera with his trusty penis enhancement (known by the ammosexual community as a gun ). But instead of his usual anti-Islam rant and matching Fuck Islam t-shirt, viewers are treated to an image of the not-racist standing before them in a t-shirt reading [Middle finger] Black Lives Matter. Yup, you know what s coming next: a disgusting racist rant he will swear endlessly is not racist. I want to address the recent unrest of Black Lives Matter and what happened last night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. What happened in Milwaukee was horrible. Spurred by police shooting a fleeing black man who happened to be armed with a stolen handgun. The community, which police describe as a powder keg for potential violence during the summer, erupted as yet another black man was gunned down by cops this year. While the majority of protests were peaceful, some people chose to destroy rather than fight for healing. But plagued by police violence, some of the community members could no longer contain their anger. After all, simple possession of a handgun police did not know was stolen until after they murdered the suspect is not deserving of a death sentence. Based on everything I ve seen, Stachowiak says, the officer act properly because the suspect was running away, clearly not a threat even if he had a gun in his possession. If he didn t want to get shot, he says, he should have stopped. The actions of the Black Lives Matter in the black community in Wisconsin had proven once again that Black Lives Matter is not just a hate group, but a domestic terrorist organization, Stachowiak continues, calling the social justice group a bunch of animals before backtracking and limiting his animal claim to looters he says are affiliated with Black Lives Matter. He continued, accusing Hillary Clinton and you, Barack Obama of embracing a terrorist organization you know, kind of like how Trump has embraced the Ku Klux Klan, but without the actual terrorist organization.Stachowiak says that the homes of Black Lives Matter leaders should be burned to the ground as should any looters, real or imaginary (let s face it: he just wants to kill him some n*ggers, as he has oh-so-politely said in the past). He also had something to say about black people who take advantage of the chaos to steal from stores especially the women and children: I don t care if they re women an children, anyone coming out of a store [he raises his gun and points it menacingly at the camera] should be shot on site. They should be shot exiting the store. If they make it down the street shoot them in the back. What the f*ck kind of coward wants to shoot women and children in the back? What sort of degenerate would even suggest such a thing? This guy. This guy right here. I got a round with your name on it, Stachowiak says, producing a bullet with BLM written in marker. Try to burn my home. Try to burn my business and I guarantee you ll never make it out of the driveway because I ll drop you like it s hot. Neither arson, nor attempted arson, is a crime that would make one eligible for the death penalty in any state.Stachowiak continued his unhinged rant with an explanation that Black Lives Matter are working with the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the master detective, the Muslim Brotherhood is supplying weapons to radical black Americans. After condemning the Mayor, the National guard, and police for failing to sharpie up their bullets and shoot black men, women, and children they suspected of looting in the face without a trial. His solution, of course, is to light up the front of the store whenever a looting is suspected and mow everyone who comes out down in the street. But Jim, there might be a 12-year old girl or a 8-year old boy, he says sarcastically. It s called collateral damage. Children are collateral damage. Yes, he really said that.Stachowiak says that Michael Brown got the justice he deserved after Officer Darren Wilson accused him of jaywalking, and warned the Justice Department that things are going to get much worse if they don t start shooting black people who might or might not be protesting or rioting on sight. If this lack of face-shooting persists, he says he will gather his Veteran friends to do some hunting. Turning to show the back of his t-shirt, which reads Black Lives Matter are domestic terrorists, he said: Black Lives Matter is a domestic terrorist organization. And the way my friends that are Iraq and Afghan veterans, some of which are schnipers [sic], the way they dealt with terrorists on the battlefield is the way we need to deal with Black Lives Matter in the streets of America.Watch the video below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtSGY3b9mqwFeatured image via screen capture",0 Paris mayor: We intend to sue Fox News,1 "Israeli 'phosphorous shells' incinerate 1,000s of tons of UN food as Gaza starves",1 BBC: World leaders and philanthropists pledge nearly $3 billion to fight malaria,1 "Your porn is not Canadian enough, Canadian Radio & Television Commision warns erotica channels",1 "The dominance of India's most famous political dynasty may be finished: Exit polls suggest the hold of the Nehru-Gandhi family over Indian politics is over, as Narendra Modi draws closer to win",0 " @Ammon_Bundy’s Ridiculous Late Night Twitter Rant Has Everyone Talking (TWEETS)Either Ammon Bundy himself or a clever imposter has taken Twitter and the media by storm. The head of the Oregon Moron Militia, Bundy is the textbook case of the modern Murican patriot. He is either just being himself and having a Twitter-fest of spewing out right-wing talking points or someone has decided to channel him, guessing the Bundy-esque things he might say.The rant was late-night, when the cold of the Oregon forest may have demanded a little something to make a person forget what aches. More than a dozen tweets went out from the account, including a retweet of an interview Bundy did with a local blog. Here are a few examples:As Thomas Paine said, It is the duty of the patriot to protect its country from its government. #CitizensForConstitutionalFreedom Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 5, 2016We are not about fear, we are not about force, we are not about intimidation. #CitizensForConstitutionalFreedom Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016We came here in protest because of the force and the intimidation that we have seen in this county. #CitizensForConstitutionalFreedom Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016With that being said, we will not be intimidated by the federal government for taking stand for something we strongly believe in. Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016It even went so far as to compare the Moron Militia to Rosa Parks:We are doing the same thing as Rosa Parks did. We are standing up against bad laws which dehumanize us and destroy our freedom. Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016However, reporters now say the account is believed to be a fake. Tony Dokoupil of MSNBC tweeted this:People, Ammon Bundy is not operating a twitter account. I stood with him last night as tweets supposedly from him went out. tonydokoupil (@tonydokoupil) January 6, 2016That seems to be compelling enough. A reporter who was there at the time says Bundy isn t on Twitter at all. That seemed like the case for sure when the account was suspended by Twitter, which has a process of verifying identities of celebrities and others in the news. Then USA Today reported that the account was suspended and that it was re-instated.Another theory may be that much like many people on Twitter who have become public figures, Ammon Bundy has someone smarter than he is running his account. With all the freedoming and interviews he s doing, Bundy probably doesn t have time for the social media onslaught for the movement, which has obviously been even less successful than the movement itself.Alas, the account is still alive and well and as of Wednesday at just after 11 AM EST tweeted this:The last thing we want is an armed confrontation. We want this to end peacefully without anyone being harmed. Ammon Bundy (@Ammon_Bundy) January 6, 2016That s the first real evidence that the account may not be real unless Ammon Bundy s goal of remaining for years to give a bird preserve to loggers, miners and ranchers has changed. Or maybe he s just cold.Featured image via Twitter",0 "Thousands riot in south China over gov's land grab: ""sticks, bricks and fists""",1 51 Headless Vikings in English Execution Pit Confirmed,1 "Japan : Radiation leaks from fuel rods suspected at Tsuruga plant",1 U.S. Agent Gets Six Years Prison for Silk Road Bitcoin Theft,0 "Allowing nuclear weapons in Japan could defuse North Korean threat, say some policy makersTOKYO (Reuters) - As Japan looks for a quick, resolute response to North Korea s growing missile threat, some defense policy makers in Tokyo say it may be time to reconsider non-nuclear pledges and invite U.S. nuclear weapons on to its soil. Japan, the only country to suffer nuclear attack, upholds three non-nuclear principles that commit it not to possess, manufacture or allow nuclear weapons on to its territory that were adopted five decades ago. Perhaps it s time for our three principles to become two, a senior defense policy maker told Reuters, suggesting nuclear weapons be allowed into Japan. He asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. North Korea, pursuing its weapons programs in defiance of international condemnation, fired an intermediate ballistic missile over Japan last week, prompting authorities to sound sirens and advise residents to take cover. On Sunday, North Korea tested a nuclear device that had a yield estimated at ten times that of the atom bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima in 1945. Inviting U.S. nuclear weapons would be an attempt by Japan jolt China, North Korea s sole major ally, to do more to rein in its neighbor by showing there are consequences to North Korean provocations that threaten its neighbors and destabilize the region, the policy maker said. A simple way to do this could be for a nuclear-armed U.S. submarine to operate from one of the U.S. Navy bases in Japan, he said, a move bound to infuriate China. Former Japanese defense minister Shigeru Ishiba stoked controversy on Wednesday by questioning whether Japan can expect protection under the U.S. nuclear umbrella while maintaining its non-nuclear principles. Is it right that we don t discuss this? Ishiba asked in a television interview. In his election campaign last year, Donald Trump chided Japan and South Korea for not contributing enough to their defenses. On Tuesday, the president said he was ready to sell Seoul billions of dollars in weapons and scrap a limit on the size of warheads the Washington would supply. We don t have any plan to begin discussing the three non-nuclear principles, Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters when asked to respond to Ishiba s comment. Yet, the growing North Korean threat could stifle some of the opposition, experts say. Just by raising this issue of nuclear principles, Japan will push the United States and China to act, and it is something that Beijing is not going to like, said Takashi Kawakami, a security expert at Japan s Takushoku University. It s the medicine that China needs to make it act against North Korea. Allowing the U.S. military to deploy nuclear weapons on Japanese territory would pose a grave political risk for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, particularly amid an influence-peddling scandal that has hit his popularity ratings. Any move toward relaxing the non-nuclear principles, however, is unlikely to lead to a home-made atomic bomb, despite Japan s technical abilities, say experts. Tokyo has the civilian nuclear program, fissile materials and the weaponization technology necessary. It could probably develop a small arsenal of nuclear devices within a year if there was motivation to do so, said Emily Chorley, a nuclear weapons expert at IHS Janes. But doing so would force Japan to renege on its non-proliferation commitments and could severely damage Washington s alliances and position of strength in Asia. This would signal that the Japanese no longer have confidence in U.S. extended deterrence, said a former senior U.S. military commander who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to talk to the media. That would essentially mean that they no longer have confidence in the alliance. ",1 "West urged to give Pakistan $5bn. ""If we fail, we face a truly frightening prospect: terrorist sanctuary, economic meltdown, and spiralling radicalism, all in a nation with 170 million inhabitants and a full arsenal of nuclear weapons,""",1 Kremlin is ready to release phone conversation about 'taking Kiev in two weeks',1 " Zuckerberg Was Personally Warned About Russian Meddling By Obama And He Completely Blew It OffAs the investigations into how Russia meddled in our election escalate, Facebook has turned records relating to ad buys from Russian actors over to Congress. Facebook has found itself in the crosshairs of Democrats and Republicans alike because of this (and for other reasons), and Mark Zuckerberg is finally, finally wondering if maybe he should be taking a more active role in his own company.Why? Because Facebook sold over 3,000 pro-Trump and pro-right wing ads to fake accounts run by Russians and people with ties to Russia. They turned those records over to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. They re going to re-evaluate the processes they use to review political ads, and they will supposedly offer a higher standard of transparency on those ads than what the law requires for radio, television and other platforms.For many, it s too little, too late, though. Trump was elected, a hostile foreign power helped him win, and the true scope of how Russia used and manipulated Facebook is still unknown. When they first came under fire for allowing the proliferation of fake news following Trump s win, Zuckerberg s excuse was that they were a technology company, not a media company. The implication was that they couldn t be held responsible for any of that.They re only now starting to come around to the truth, but the sad thing about this is that Zuckerberg was warned about people misusing his platform to swing the election several times. In fact, none other than President Obama himself literally pulled Zuckerberg aside during a conference in Peru to practically beg him to take the threat of fake news and disinformation seriously. Obama told Zuckerberg that, unless he actually paid attention, this would only be worse in four years.But Zuckerberg blew him off. He told Obama that such messages weren t widespread on his platform, and that there wouldn t be an easy solution to it. Like his pathetic excuse of being a tech company, Zuckerberg shirked any and all responsibility for it. Obama tried. Zuckerberg didn t really seem to care.Discovering that another country would even dare to try and influence our elections should be a horrific epiphany for any American. It s true that neither Zuckerberg, nor anyone else at Facebook (or anyone really) could have sufficiently predicted that anything like this would happen. As recently as two to three years ago, most of us would have made fun of the conspiracy theorists making bizarre claims about shady and hostile foreign actors working to swing our elections to their favor. That s reality now, but early warnings like Obama s seem to have slid right off Zuckerberg s back, as he was more concerned with his product than with how his product was being misused.Russia weaponized Facebook, and it s not over. Facebook has its part to do and they need to get to it post-haste. But another part may lie with Washington, with our lawmakers. It may well be time to apply laws similar to those that govern political advertising elsewhere to social media. Facebook hasn t yet provided many details about how they ll be transparent, especially given the fact that many of their political ads don t meet current legal definitions for political ads. They are, however, talking the talk. Now they need to walk the walk, or be forced to do so under law.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images",0 "Zambian election results check Chinese influence in Africa: The election victory of ""King Cobra"" Michael Sata is a blow to Beijing. ",1 Qatar designs a law against offending religions - Draft will be presented to the UN with aim of creating int'l law,0 Appeal for Afghan Convicted of Saying Men & Women are Equal...,0 " Jewish Elders Warn Their Grandchildren: Vote For Hillary, ‘We’ve Seen This Before’ (VIDEO)This election will ask us to choose one of the following: an overqualified, dignified woman, or a fascist, xenophobic billionaire. The woman, Hillary Clinton, has dedicated her life to fighting for the rights and dignities of all, while the man, Donald Trump, has fought only for himself and his pockets.One group that tends to vote Democrat but has been leaning a little more towards the right recently are Jewish people. In 2008, 78 percent of Jewish Americans voted for President Obama, as did 74 percent in 2012.This year is different. Instead of facing off against John McCain or Mitt Romney, the Democrats are facing off against the definition of fascism and xenophobia. And they have a message to their grandchildren: vote for Hillary Clinton.Why? Because they ve seen this before.In a video titled A Message From Grandma & Grandpa: We ve Seen This Before, a group of elderly Jewish Americans plead with their younger generations to get out and vote, and warns against the type of man Donald Trump is. They enlisted some powerful allies in the effort to defeat Donald Trump: grandparents. And they aren t holding back: This is probably one of the most important elections, because there is so much is at stake. Of course, their experiences with Germany take front and center: We have seen this before. We saw it in Germany, and don t want to see it again. Their hatred for Trump is not hidden, and for good reason: Trump is more than a tyrant. He s an obnoxious lying individual and I haven t any respect for him. I have tremendous fears for the country and and for you, my grandchildren. Adding some lighthearted (but important) humor, one grandparent tells their grandkids: If you vote the future is yours. If you don t vote for Hillary, and that crazy man Trump is elected, I ll haunt you when I die. Another promises to be a major spoiler: I ll spoil every episode of Game of Thrones. When you re having a dinner party, I ll come down and say something racist, but if you re voting for Trump, you probably don t care. The powerful video, sponsored by Bend the Arc Jewish Action, was released to warn future generations not to forget their history, and to listen to the wisdom of their elders, especially ones that know oppression when they see it: We, as Jews, recognize that [Trump s] candidacy has echoed times when the Jewish community experienced the dangers of fascism, anti-immigration and persecution against religious minorities. We ve seen this before and we wanted to make sure that as Jews we were speaking out boldly and loudly and making sure it was known the Jewish community rejects Trump for the platform of hatred and bigotry that he has unleashed. Watch the powerful ad here:Featured image from the video",0 "Plans to hold delayed Kenya vote postponed in some countiesNAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya s election commission on Friday postponed plans to hold delayed elections in some constituencies in western Kenya where voting has not taken place yet, saying persistent insecurity made it too dangerous for staff. Wafula Chebukati, chairman of the election commission, said the postponement would affect dozens of constituencies in Kisumu, Migori, Siaya and Homa Bay counties. Voting was due to take place on Saturday after polls failed to open on Thursday due to protests by opposition supporters. ",1 China 'concerned' over YouTube video - Tokyo probes Senkaku ship collision upload,1 " Obama Visits Wounded Warriors After Trump Uses Soldiers As Campaign PropsOn Tuesday President Obama visited wounded and ill soldiers receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.Obama spent about an hour making the rounds Tuesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.The White House says Obama met with eight Army members, two Marines and one member each from the Navy and Air Force. He also met with veterans and family members.CBS reporter Mark Knoller pointed out the visit was President Obama s 27th to a military hospital since becoming commander-in-chief in 2009.There aren t any photos of the President inside the facility because he considers these trips private. During the presidential campaign in 2008, Republicans tried to use the lack of photos as evidence then-Senator Obama had snubbed the troops. It was a lie.Obama s reverence for the troops stands in strong contrast to the recent episode with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.While feuding with Fox News during the Republican primaries, Trump threw a temper tantrum about debate moderator Megyn Kelly and skipped a debate on Fox News. Instead, Trump threw what he claimed was a fundraiser for military charities and announced at the event that he had raised several million dollars for those groups.Trump proceeded to congratulate himself at several campaign events in the following days.But the Washington Post looked into it, and could find no evidence that Trump had made the donations, despite using them to promote himself.Trump was eventually pressured into donating to the groups, months after he claimed he had done so in the first place, and held a defensive, petty press conference claiming that nothing had gone wrong, despite the ample evidence to the contrary.While President Obama, who is tasked with the decision of whether to put the military in harm s way, quietly honors military service and sacrifice, Trump used them as human shields and as a cheap and tawdry campaign gimmick.Featured image via Flickr",0 " After Charlottesville GOP Asks Supporters How Trump Is Doing: Great, Good, Or Just Okay?Donald Trump has a massive ego, so much so that he s claimed several times that he won the popular vote (he didn t win the popular vote). The former reality show star is seven months into the job and he s still in campaign mode, holding ego-rallies while bringing up Crooked Hillary Clinton on Twitter in order to deflect from his scandal-plagued administration. But Trump s failure to directly blame the Nazis who stormed the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia in his name while carrying torches and shouting Blood and soil, a Nazi Germany era slogan and Jews will not replace us! has resulted in a backlash of epic proportions. The Alt-Righters are his people and instead of denouncing them for the murder of a Heather Heyer, 32, while leaving 19 others injured, he blamed both sides. That said, the GOP gives three options in their latest poll which is titled, Official Presidential Job Performance Poll. How would you rate President Trump s job performance so far? the poll asks.Your choices are:Great.Good.Okay.Other.We re not saying that you should take the poll (you should take the poll) but that other option is screaming for attention. According to the latest Gallup poll, Trump s approval rating is at a dismal 34 percent. If it gets much lower, he ll be in Nixon territory and Mr. Watergate, unlike Trump, started his presidency with strong approval ratings. By the end of his presidency, Nixon s approval rating had tumbled to 24 percent. Now, Nixon may not have had support from Nazis but he did have Roger Stone.Trump s approval ratings are worse than Bill Clinton s were at the height of the proceedings to impeach him because he was the recipient of an adulterous blow job. The Trump campaign s collusion with Russia scandal is rocking the White House but Robert Mueller is all over that. Because Trump can t control his own temper, he lashed out at the media while blaming the victims of a terror attack perpetrated by one of his own followers so we re going to link to the totally official poll again.Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images.",0 "Cuban dissidents in electoral challenge as Castro era nears endHAVANA (Reuters) - Opponents of the Cuban government are putting forward an unprecedented number of candidates for municipal elections in late October, the first step in a process to select a new president after nearly 60 years of the Castro brothers rule. The electoral cycle comes at a tricky time for the Caribbean nation as the Castros revolutionary generation dies off, an economic reform program appears stalled, aid from key ally Venezuela shrinks, and the Trump administration threatens. The municipal vote, the only part of the electoral process with direct participation by ordinary Cubans, is expected to attract 35,000 candidates for the island s 168 municipal assemblies. It will be followed by provincial and national assembly elections in which candidates are selected from slates by commissions. The new national assembly will in late February select a successor to President Raul Castro, 86, who has announced he will step aside after two terms. Raul, younger brother and successor to Fidel Castro who died in November, will retain a grip on power as head of the Communist Party, the only legal party in Cuba. The elections are being cast in state-run media as a show of support for the Castros 1959 revolution rather than an opportunity to debate the pressing issues. Campaigning is prohibited and candidates for the 12,515 ward delegate positions are nominated at neighborhood meetings based on their personal merits, not policy positions. They need not belong to the Communist Party and many candidates are independents but only few government opponents have ever competed. During the last election, the three dissidents nominated lost at the polls. This year, however, one coalition of opposition groups, Otro18 (Other18), says it is running more than 160 candidates in the municipal elections, demanding electoral reform and government transparency. This is unheard of, said Boris Gonzalez, 41, one of the aspiring Otro18 candidates, explaining they wanted to challenge the Communist Party from within the system. Otro18 spokesman Manuel Cuesta Morua said in an interview that its candidates had faced harassment and threats by state security forces for months and had been warned not to participate. The government has not responded to these accusations. The Communist Party says it does not intervene in the elections, but a video circulating on social media of First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Raul Castro s probable successor, suggested otherwise. There are six initiatives for the 2018 elections that seek to propose counter-revolutionaries as candidates, Diaz-Canel told Communist Party cadres in the video. We are taking steps to discredit all that. In this battle, which we are already fighting, we are going to be involved in this whole process in the second half of the year, he said. The government has not commented on the video. Cuba brands all dissenters as mercenaries funded by foreign governments and exiles, out to topple the government. Even if a few dissident candidates beat the odds and are elected to municipal assemblies, they have little chance of getting any further. The candidates for the provincial and national assemblies are nominated by commissions composed of representatives of Communist Party-controlled organizations such as the trade union federation and Committees in Defense of the Revolution. The slates have had the same number of names as seats in previous elections. Up to 50 percent of those names must be ward delegates. After the general election, the assemblies elect their respective executives and on Feb. 24 the new National Assembly is scheduled to name a new president and other members of the Council of State. I have never voted for anyone important, not even our president, said retired air force mechanic and staunch Castro-supporter Eduardo, who requested his last name not be used. I can only vote for my neighborhood representative and they never go anywhere, he said, but I still think it s a better system than one based on money and lies. ",1 Is it just me or does the BBC News and television network seem more neutral and less opinionated than US news networks and television?,1 "U.S. State Department calls for Myanmar to release Reuters journalistsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department called on Tuesday for the immediate release of two Reuters journalists who have been detained for about a week in Myanmar and whose whereabouts have not been reported to their families. We ve been ... following the cases of the two reporters, the Reuters reporters, very closely. We re deeply concerned about their detention. We do not know their whereabouts. That is of concern also, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a news briefing. Today I want to make it clear that we re calling for their immediate release. ",1 "Pres. Jimmy Carter defends Snowden, also says: ""America has no functioning democracy."" Could only find this on German news sites, not American",1 """Sources inside the (World ) bank confirm that servers in the institution\'s highly-restricted treasury unit were deeply penetrated with spy software last April.""",0 Olympic bike lane collapses in Rio; at least 2 die,1 "Rubio says he regrets getting personal with Donald TrumpWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio voiced regret on Wednesday about making personal attacks against front-runner Donald Trump, a strategy that has failed to slow the New York billionaire’s momentum.Rubio, Trump, Ohio Governor John Kasich and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the four remaining Republican presidential candidates, participated in a round of Fox News-sponsored town hall events a day before they meet for another debate on Thursday in Miami. Rubio, whose campaign is fighting for survival after a series of disappointing performances in nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election, has drawn fire for a line of attack in recent weeks in which he got personal with Trump. He called him a con artist and said among other things that he had small hands, a charge that Trump took to mean as questioning the size of his manhood. Until Rubio got personal, the U.S. senator from Florida had largely stayed above the fray and had focused his assault on Trump from a policy standpoint. He told Fox News’ “The Kelly File” that if he had to do it over again, he would handle the issue differently. “My kids were embarrassed by it. My wife didn’t like it. I don’t think it reflects good. That’s not who I am. That’s not what my campaign is going to be about or will ever be about again,” Rubio said. “I’d do it differently – on the personal stuff. I’m not telling you he didn’t deserve it, but that’s not who I am and that’s not what I want to be,” he added. Rubio, 44, fared poorly when Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii voted on Tuesday. He needs to win his home state of Florida next Tuesday or face calls for him to exit the race. He said opinion polls showing him lagging far behind Trump in Florida were not accurate. “The fact of the matter is the only poll that counts is the one they’ll take on Tuesday when they count the votes that these people are going to cast and we’re going to win in Florida,” he said. Cruz, 45, looking to emerge as the main Trump alternative should Rubio and Kasich falter, said he would keep the focus of the campaign on substantive issues. “I don’t have any views on Donald Trump’s anatomy,” Cruz said at his Fox News town hall. Kasich, at his Fox News town hall, said he believed he had a path forward if he wins his home state of Ohio on Tuesday, but that it involved a convention fight when Republicans gather to officially pick their nominee in Cleveland in July. A contested convention would result if Trump, 69, does not win the required 1,237 delegates, forcing delegates to decide whether to back him at the convention or find a consensus candidate such as Kasich, 63. President Gerald Ford and challenger Ronald Reagan staged a spirited nomination fight at the 1976 Republican National Convention, but no Republican convention has gone beyond a single ballot since Thomas Dewey’s third-ballot win in 1948. Trump, who has come under withering attack by mainstream Republicans for his statements on Muslims, illegal immigrants and trade policy, said at his Fox News town hall he had attracted many new voters to the Republican Party with his crossover appeal. He said establishment Republicans would be risking the energy he had brought to the race by trying to prevent him from winning. “They would be so foolish to throw it away,” he told host Sean Hannity. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Peter Cooney) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 Finland has become the first country in the world to make broadband internet access a legal right for all citizens.,0 "France's Le Pen: far-right will rebuild, continue fight against EUPARIS (Reuters) - Marine Le Pen, the leader of France s far-right National Front, said the party would rebuild after her number two quit on Thursday and said she would continue to campaign against the EU and for national sovereignty . The National Front will rebuild itself without difficulty, she told LCP television. There are lots of talented people, lots of people with profile ... that I am going to lead. Her deputy Florian Philippot, who advocated a strong line against the euro and drafted the manifesto for this year s presidential election, when Le Pen resounding lost the run-off to Emmanuel Macron, quit over policy differences. Rather than softening her stance on the EU in the wake of his departure, Le Pen said she would pursue that line. National sovereignty is a mainstay of our struggle, she said. We will continue to fight the European Union with all our soul because it is an instrument for the elimination and impoverishment of our people. ",1 Palestinians Attack Gaza UN Compound After Aid Suspended,1 Germany Breaks its Own Record for Solar Power Generation,1 "MURDERERS AND RAPISTS FOR HILLARY: VA Governor, Close Clinton Friend Gives 206,000 Felons Voting Rights, Releases Them From Jail Before ElectionThe good news for Hillary is that she should be able to connect with these hardened criminals on a personal level. The only thing that stands behind Hillary and an orange jumpsuit is her husband s connections and the corrupt Democrat machine that can t get enough of the Clinton Crime Syndicate.In a move called unprecedented by the Richmond-Times Dispatch, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a sweeping order that grants 206,000 convicted felons voting rights just months before the presidential election.McAuliffe s order extends to non-violent and violent felons, including convicted murderers and rapists, an expert told the New York Times.If some cannot abide by society s standards, those standards are barriers that society must break down, McAuliffe affirmed in announcing the order. If we are going to build a stronger and more equal Virginia, we must break down barriers to participation in civic life for people who return to society seeking a second chance. We must welcome them back and offer the opportunity to build a better life by taking an active role in our democracy. I believe it is time to cast off Virginia s troubling history of injustice and embrace an honest, clean process for restoring the rights of these men and women, the governor said in a statement.McAuliffe couched his move in terms of social justice and civil rights, having compared felon disenfranchisement to a poll tax. The order will likely boost black voter turnout in a critical swing state that could deliver Hillary Clinton one estimate provided to the New York Times claimed as many as one in five blacks in Virginia lost their right to vote after being convicted for committing felonies. Via: Breitbart News ",0 BOOM! LIBERAL COLUMNIST Gets DESTROYED By Tucker Carlson When He Can’t Answer Why He Lied About Senator Jeff Sessions [VIDEO] ,0 "After being kidnapped at the age of 16 by a group of thugs and enduring a year of rapes and beatings, Assiya Rafiq was delivered to the police and thought her problems were over.\n\nThen, she said, four police officers took turns raping her.",1 "NC TAXPAYERS UNKNOWINGLY Fund Stunning COMMUNIST Guide At UNC: Why Students Are Told Not To Use “Christmas Vacation” Or “Golf Outings” Will Make Your Blood BoilTaxpayers need to start calling out the colleges and universities they re funding with their tax dollars. This kind of communist indoctrination, that is being widely accepted as the norm is NOT okay! The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill issued a guide this week which instructs students that Christmas vacations and telling a woman I love your shoes! are microagressions. The taxpayer-funded guide entitled Career corner: Understanding microaggressions also identifies golf outings and the words boyfriend and girlfriend as microagressions.The UNC Chapel Hill guide, published on Thursday, covers a wide range of menacing microaggressions which are everyday words that radical leftists have decided to be angry or frustrated about.Christmas vacations are a microagression, the public university pontificates, because academic calendars and encouraged vacations which are organized around major religious observances centralize the Christian faith and diminish non-Christian spiritual rituals and observances. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill issued a guide this week which instructs students that Christmas vacations and telling a woman I love your shoes! are microagressions. The microagression of liking shoes occurs when someone says I love your shoes! to a woman in leadership during a Q & A after a speech. So it s a very specific microagression. The problem, the University of North Carolina document declares, is that the shoe admirer values appearances more than intellectual contributions. Similarly, the public school pronounces, interrupting any woman who is speaking is a microagression.Golf outings are also a microagression, the University of North Carolina says, because suggesting a staff retreat at the country club or even just a round of golf assumes employees have the financial resources to participate in the fairly expensive and inaccessible sport. (As an aside, daily greens fees at the gorgeous UNC Finley Golf Club range from $30 for students to $40 for professors and administrators.)The words boyfriend and girlfriend as well as husband and wife are microaggressions, the University of North Carolina admonishes, because these words set the expectation that people do not identify as LGBTQ until they say otherwise or disclose their sexual orientation. The correct terms are now partner and spouse, UNC Chapel Hill demands.In this same vein, bureaucratic forms only containing the options male and female are microagressions, the taxpayer-funded flagship school says. It s also a microagression to refer to men who dress up as women with the pronouns he or him, UNC Chapel Hill scolds.Still more microagressions cited by UNC Chapel Hill include complimenting a foreign-born person s English skills, saying I get ADHD sometimes and telling a person you don t judge them by the color of their skinThe two lady authors of the UNC Chapel Hill microagressions guide are Sharbari Dey, an assistant director of multicultural affairs, and Krista Prince, a dorm life coordinator.In order to counter the multitude of microagressions listed in their document, Dey and Prince advise students to respond by interrupting and aggressively asking, What did you mean by that? UNC Chapel Hill is home to a cultural competency workshop which instructs that white people are privileged because they can buy Band-Aids in flesh color and have them more or less match their vaguely beige-hued skin. At least some students have apparently been required to participate in the workshop.Via: Daily Caller h/t Campus Reform ",0 "GREAT NEWS! Thanks To New York’s Socialist Mayor And Leftist City Council…You Can Now Pee In The Streets!The social rot continues in a city that was miraculously cleaned up on Mayor Giuliani s watch. All of the hard work Rudy did to fight crime and make tourists as well as residents feel safe again will all be undone by one Socialist mayor Scofflaws of New York, rejoice the City Council has cleared the way for you to litter, loiter and pee in the street to your heart s content.Watch here:New legislation dubbed the Criminal Justice Reform Act was passed by lawmakers Wednesday, giving miscreants a get-out-of-jail-free card by eliminating the criminal penalties on a raft of quality-of-life crimes.The disgusting and disturbing acts that the council voted to decriminalize include drinking alcohol out of a paper bag, lurking in parks after hours, urinating in the street and making enough of a racket to violate the noise code.Under the legislation, which Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to sign, offenders will face only civil summonses instead of criminal citations.The main part of the reform act sponsored by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito deals with reducing the penalty for public urination and other quality-of-life offenses. It passed by a 40-9 vote in the liberal-leaning council.It aims to keep offenders from getting a permanent criminal record and requires the NYPD to develop guidance for cops on when to issue criminal instead of civil summonses.",0 "U.S. urges Congolese security forces' restraint, probe into violenceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Wednesday called on the Democratic Republic of the Congo to protect civilians affected by violence in the country s east, and urged its security forces to refrain from excessive force. Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. government was dismayed by the deaths of 30 refugees from Burundi and a Congolese soldier in the city of Kamanyola last week, adding: The cause of the violence must be determined and perpetrators must be held accountable. ",1 Senate's Schumer urges stabilizing health insurance marketWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Monday said he had written to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urging bipartisan effort to stabilize the U.S. health insurance market. Schumer noted that McConnell had been quoted recently as saying Congress will need to shore up that market if lawmakers fail to repeal Obamacare. ,1 VICE News crew facing terrorism charges in Turkey on Monday.,0 OBAMA IS OFF HIS ROCKER: Here’s What He Said About People Who Drive SUV’s [Video]Obama is off his rocker! He went on a rant about Donald Trump and now he s scolding owners of SUV s! ,0 "MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican archaeologists say they have found an unprecedented human burial in which the skeleton of a young woman is surrounded by piles of 1,789 human bones in Mexico City's Templo Mayor",1 "Bank of England votes 7-2 to print money - Policymakers meanwhile voted unanimously to keep the BoE's main interest rate at a record low 0.50%, where it has stood for over 3 years.",1 "A 6.9 event has occurred off the coast of Vanuatu, just a few days after another 6.9 event. No Tsunami warning.",1 Mexico drugs war: 'This is a hell that is just too big',0 "House bill aims to identify lawmakers in sex harassment casesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday introduced legislation requiring the disclosure of sexual harassment case settlements involving members of Congress and their staffers. The move came amid a snowballing number of revelations about harassment of co-workers and others by members of Congress, as well as high-profile entertainment and media figures’ being accused of workplace improprieties. If the legislation were to become law and such settlements came to light they potentially would have a ripple effect on politicians and elections. Republicans control the House, but it was not clear whether Speaker Paul Ryan would throw his weight behind the legislation. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A House committee hearing on overhauling existing procedures dealing with harassment cases is set for Dec. 7. Ryan called reports that Democratic Representative John Conyers was involved in a settlement over allegations of sexual impropriety “extremely troubling.” An aide to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi noted that she has indicated she would support legislation such as the bill offered on Wednesday, although it would have to respect the wishes of victims who want to remain anonymous. Under current practice, the names of lawmakers and aides who settle sexual harassment cases at taxpayer expense have not been divulged. The bipartisan “Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund Act” was introduced with at least 21 co-sponsors. It would require disclosure within 30 days of all settlement payments, the reason for the payment and nature of the allegation, as well as the lawmakers and staffers implicated. The public disclosure of lawmakers would be retroactive under the bill and any payments as a result of settlements would be the responsibility of members of Congress and staff involved, instead of taxpayers. Over the years, more than $15 million in taxpayer dollars have been paid out in an array of settlement claims, including those involving sexual harassment, noted Representative Ron DeSantis, a Republican and one of the bill’s authors. Separate legislation has been introduced on tightening procedures for Congress handling sexual harassment cases. On Wednesday the full House approved a resolution requiring lawmakers and their aides to take courses aimed at preventing harassment. ",1 Japan adopts negative interest rates in surprise move,1 "In hats and t-shirts, Trump fans rally in Jerusalem's Old CityJERUSALEM (Reuters) - On a rooftop overlooking the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, around 200 American-Israeli fans of Donald Trump gathered to proclaim their support for the Republican candidate, convinced he will be Israel’s best friend if elected. Wearing “Make America Great Again” baseball caps, the small crowd, ranging from Holocaust survivors in their 80s to grinning teenagers in Trump t-shirts, said they didn’t care about the sexual assault allegations against the candidate or the online anti-Semitism of some of his supporters. “Trump will let Israel be itself and make its own decisions, that’s what I like,” David Weissman, a 35-year-old from Queens, New York, who moved to Israel three years ago, said at the event late on Wednesday. “He’s not a saint, but look at his achievements. He’s not afraid to identify the enemy as radical Islam, and he’s not going to support the two-state solution,” he said, referring to long-standing efforts to forge peace with the Palestinians. Trump has said that the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct fabricated their stories to damage his campaign. Others at the rally said they liked the fact that Trump was promising to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and would not berate Israel for building Jewish settlements in occupied territory. “It’s very important that he becomes president,” said Connie Gordner, 82, who moved to Israel from Jacksonville, Florida, 21 years ago. “If Hillary Clinton becomes president, we’re dead.” The rally was organized by Republicans Overseas Israel, which estimates that there are 300,000 U.S. citizens living in Israel or in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians seek for their own state. Even if only a third of those cast absentee ballots, organizers believe it could have an impact in some swing states, come Nov. 8. Marc Zell, co-chairman of the non-profit group, believes around three-quarters of American-Israelis support the Republican party and its candidate. In an impassioned speech to the small crowd, David Friedman, Trump’s adviser on Israel, heaped criticism on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for her decisions as secretary of state and said Trump was Israel’s greatest hope. “Under Trump, the United States will never pressure Israel into accepting a two-state solution or any other solution that is against the wishes of the Israeli people,” he said, to whoops, cheers and a few shouts of “Crooked Hillary”. While the motley crowd was unabashed in its Trumpian fervor, polls indicate that most Jewish Israelis favor Clinton over Trump, by 40 percent to 31 percent. The critical element is American-Israelis who retain the right to vote in U.S. elections. Some estimates suggest more than a quarter of them live in settlements, which tend to have a more conservative, national-religious outlook. Trump’s messages have been designed to appeal to their sentiments. On Wednesday, he delivered a minute-long video to the rally, playing up his connections to Judaism through his daughter’s marriage, saying it enhanced his respect for the faith. “My administration will stand side-by-side with the Jewish people and Israel’s leaders to continue strengthening the bridges that connect not only Jewish Americans and Israelis but also all Americans and Israelis,” he said. “Together we will make America and Israel safe again.” ",1 Top 10 Endangered Languages in the World,1 "Germany Not Immune To Bank Fiasco: ""'In Germany we have a problem with the bigger banks, but no one is talking about it,' said Dr Mechthild Schrooten, professor of economics ... 'It is not clear how big a banking problem there is, I wouldn't even want to begin to guess, but it has a lot of zeroes.'""",0 NGO wants right to toilet as a fundamental right,0 "(VIDEO) CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: DEBT HEADED TO 103% OF GDP – LAST SEEN AT END OF WWIICBO DIRECTOR: How long the nation could sustain such growth in federal debt is impossible to predict with any confidence. At some point, investors would begin to doubt the government s willingness or ability to meet its debt obligations, requiring it to pay much higher interest costs in order to continue borrowing money. Such a fiscal crisis would present policymakers with extremely difficult choices and would probably have a substantial negative impact on the country. ",0 US sends Air Force to rescue injured Chinese sailors,0 "UAW chief says union to endorse either Clinton or Sanders 'soon'DETROIT (Reuters) - United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams said on Thursday the union will endorse either Democrat Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders for U.S. president “soon,” and called for unity among Democrats behind the eventual nominee. Williams, head of the richest U.S. union, vowed that the labor group will be “all in” to support the eventual Democratic nominee. The UAW has more than 1 million current and retired members. In a news conference at UAW headquarters, Williams did not say whether the UAW would endorse a candidate before the June 7 Democratic primary in California, but said he and top union leaders could decide quickly over the phone when the time comes to announce a decision. In early polling of UAW members, 28 percent preferred Donald Trump, who is now the presumptive Republican nominee. Williams said the poll was conducted at a time when Trump talked about bringing jobs back to the United States and before the union distributed comments Trump made last August in a Detroit News interview when he said U.S. automakers should shift production from Michigan to states where wages could be lowered. Williams would not reveal how Clinton or Sanders fared in the early polling among UAW members when Trump received about 28 percent of the support. Williams said he did not know the current level of support among UAW members for Trump, but he indicated that he is confident most of the onetime Trump supporters would side with a Democratic candidate. Williams said the Republican Party is for “free trade” and not “fair trade” and that the result of a Republican presidency would be lower wages for U.S. workers. “I don’t want a president that has a good line,” said the UAW chief. “I want to know what the detail is.” Williams said, “It’s not a game show.” Separately, he said he may seek a meeting with Tesla Motors Inc’s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk when he calls on other corporate leaders. Williams said he met twice with Musk five years ago, before he became UAW president in mid-2014. Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, which is nonunion, has increased production and the number of employees greatly since then. Williams said the UAW continues to work to organize the Tesla plant but he would not give any details on how intense that effort is. “It’s still a priority,” he said. ",1 It's Time To End the Greek Rescue Farce,1 "Stephen Harper secretly recorded - ""If we do not win a majority, this country will have a liberal government propped up by the socialists and the separatists.""",1 TSA targets mobile phones and electronics in new security policies: direct flights to US will require passengers to show cellphones to security as authorities work to counter threat of explosives,0 "Facing test of resolve, Trump pushes ahead with North Korea reviewWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Faced with a growing test of resolve for a new U.S. president who vowed while campaigning to get tough on North Korea, Donald Trump’s aides are pressing to complete a strategy review on how to counter Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear threats. Pyongyang’s latest missile launches and the assassination in Malaysia of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother have added urgency, driving home the need for Washington to confront the security challenge. All options are on the table, ranging from tighter sanctions aimed at pushing North Korea back into disarmament talks, to a return of U.S. nuclear weapons to South Korea, and even pre-emptive air strikes on North Korean missile installations, senior U.S. administration officials said. They added a consensus was forming around relying for now on increased economic and diplomatic pressure – especially by pressing China to do more to rein in North Korea - while deploying advanced anti-missile defenses in South Korea and possibly in Japan, as well. Among the other possibilities, one U.S. official said, was returning North Korea to the U.S. list of countries that support terrorism. That would be a response to the suspected use of nerve gas to kill Kim’s brother at a Malaysian airport last month. It would subject Pyongyang - already heavily sanctioned by the United Nations and individual states, so far to little effect - to additional financial sanctions that were removed when it was taken off the list in 2008.     For now, U.S. officials consider pre-emptive military action far too risky, given the danger of igniting a regional war and causing massive casualties in Japan and South Korea and among tens of thousands of U.S. troops based in both allied countries. Such ideas could gain traction, however, if North Korea proceeds with a threatened test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States. Just before he took office in January, Trump tweeted: “It won’t happen!” when Kim said North Korea was close to testing an ICBM. Trump also could opt for escalating cyber attacks and other covert actions aimed at undermining the North Korean leadership, a U.S. government source said. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the month, officials said. Decisions could be held up, however, by the slow pace at which Trump has been filling national security jobs. Trump is known to have little patience for detailed foreign policy discussions, but officials said he seemed to have heeded a warning from his White House predecessor, Barack Obama, that North Korea would be the most urgent international issue he would face - so much so that he requested intelligence briefings on the issue. While officials have stressed the need to persuade China to do more to pressure North Korea, Trump’s first concrete response to North Korea’s missile tests has been to start installing an advanced anti-missile defense system in South Korea, which has incensed Beijing. Diplomats said the move might reassure U.S. allies but could backfire by antagonizing China, which regards the system as a threat, and make it less willing to step up sanctions on its neighbor. “You have to adjust and calibrate all the options based on the facts on the ground,” said an administration official, who added that media reports highlighting military options were overblown. “The ability to have sanctions that pack some punch and are more dynamic than we have had in the past is going to be dependent to some extent on Chinese cooperation,” he said. Chinese diplomats argue that Beijing is doing all it can. Bonnie Glaser at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies said China could close banks that conduct illicit financial transactions with North Korea, prosecute front companies facilitating business, cut off oil exports and expel North Korean workers. Glazer said she saw no good military option. While past talks have failed, she would not be surprised if Trump wanted to try diplomacy. One idea could be to discuss a freeze in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, which would fall short of current demands for nuclear disarmament. “North Korea may insist on being recognized as a nuclear weapons state as a precondition, in which case the U.S. would have to decide whether to make that concession,” she said. Evans Revere, a former senior diplomat who dealt with Korea under President George W. Bush, said Washington should pressure North Korea with sanctions, military deployments and covert operations. “Doing this would ... compel the regime to rethink its course and make it more likely to return to dialogue and denuclearization, lest it risk collapse,” he said. Whether Trump will be willing to tolerate the level of risk needed to make such a strategy work remains unclear. “This is an administration that is more inclined to be averse to regime change than previous administrations,” the first administration official said. “That’s from the top down.” “This administration intends to come up with options based on the cards we are dealt; not try to change the deck entirely, which is what regime change is.” ",1 " WATCH: President Obama ZINGS The Hell Out Of Trump On Jimmy KimmelOne of the more popular segments on Jimmy Kimmel Live is Celebrities Read Mean Tweets. Sometimes Kimmel runs special editions, like sports editions, film editions, creator editions, and more. Last night, Kimmel had President Obama on his show to read mean tweets the second time that Obama has done that. Most of the tweets are pretty standard, vanilla hate, right up until the end, when he gets to a tweet from none other than one Donald J. Trump.Trump takes potshots at Obama all the time on Twitter that s nothing new. His Twitter feed is a cesspool of self-congratulations, pseudo-gratitude for his loyal subjects, and insults at everyone who bothers him. The tweet that Obama read said: President Obama will go down as perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States! It was Obama, though, who got the last laugh on that one with a truth that the Donald will never acknowledge: Really? Well, @realDonaldTrump, at least I will go down as a president. Bam! Right in Trump s bright orange face! That s one thing that Obama will always have that Trump is less and less likely to ever get. His zinger is at the end of the video below:[ad3media campaign= 1231 ]Featured image via screen capture from embedded video",0 " Trump BETRAYS House Republicans, HUMILIATES Them For Trying To Weaken Ethics Office (TWEETS)Yesterday, House Republicans set themselves up for loads of humiliation after they quietly voted to take away the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics without giving any warning whatsoever.Republicans in Congress had been trying to take away the ability of the ethic watchdog to do its own independent investigations. As soon as the announcement was made, these GOPers were faced with an onslaught of criticism for trying to help aide corruption and keep the public in the dark. To make the criticism even more humiliating, one of those people was President-elect Donald Trump.On Tuesday morning, Trump decided to abandon the Republican Party and blast them on Twitter for making the gutting of the ethics office their first priority when there were more pressing matters at hand:Twitter TwitterIt is important to note that Trump isn t necessarily condemning the House GOP s choice to limit the ethics office Trump is merely upset about the timing of it. Sean Spicer, Trump s incoming press secretary, set the record straight with reporters that Trump s annoyance with the Republicans had nothing to do with the action itself, as Jennifer Bendery pointed out:TwitterThe GOP has been so humiliated by the response from Trump and many others that they ve practically been forced to take back their vote. Shortly after Trump tweeted his disapproval of the initiative, the House GOP held an emergency meeting where they unanimously voted to abandon the issue for now. Many Republicans plan to return to the idea later on, once the criticism has died down.TwitterThe GOP has truly gotten an embarrassing start to 2017, already having to back down from one of their corrupt ideas after their own Republican Party leader trashed it. If the GOP thought Trump was going to have their back all the time, they have another thing coming.Featured image via Mark Wilson / Getty Images",0 Japanese school cancels US exchange student program over California comfort women monument,1 "WHY IS JILL STEIN Demanding A Recount? Is Hillary Camp Using Her In Desperate Effort To Stop Trump?…”Is Hillary Clinton Willing To Risk A Civil War In America?” [VIDEO]Why a recount only in states that Trump won?Why a recount in Michigan, which is all paper ballot?@DrJillStein?https://t.co/hXRRg75qPW pic.twitter.com/xEpxFraDoi Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 25, 2016 This election, we are not only deciding what kind of world we will have, but whether we will have a world or not going forward, Stein warned, explaining that Clinton s trigger-happy militarism is a mushroom cloud waiting to happen. Stein blasted Clinton s warmongering that almost singlehandedly brought us the turmoil in Libya and could lead us into a nuclear war if Clinton were elected president. Hillary brought us Libya almost singlehandedly, Stein explained in a Thursday Fox Business interview. She continued:And she has said that she will lead the charge with a no-fly zone in Syria, and that basically amounts to a declaration of war against Russia, who is there under international law, having been invited by the sitting government. Like it or not, Russia has the sanction of international law to be there. For us to go in and declare a no-fly zone means get ready for war with Russia. Both of us have 2,000 nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert. This is the most dangerous moment according to the former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, who, two weeks ago, said this is the most dangerous nuclear moment ever.Stein elaborated on this view during a Facebook Live interview with progressive Marc Lamont Hill, who has endorsed Stein over Clinton: In this election, we are not only deciding what kind of world we will have, but whether we will have a world or not going forward, Stein said, adding:Not only in regards to climate, not only in regards to these expanding wars where Hillary has this proven track record of the most pro-conflict military policy as possible, and she s calling for a no-fly zone in Syria, which means we re essentially declaring war on Russia if Hillary gets elected declaring war on Russia at a time when we have 2,000 nuclear weapons between us and the Russians on hair trigger alert. This is a mushroom cloud waiting to happen. So it s really important right now for us to stand up and start building a force to do the right thing.Paul Joseph Watson asks another great question for Americans. Why not count the states Hillary won by a small margin?:Why is there no recount in states that Hillary won with smaller margins than Trump won PA? #AuditTheVote pic.twitter.com/qYLw7pK3dv Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 25, 2016",0 Former Colombian general sentenced to 40 years in prison for colluding with rightwing death squads in Mapiripn massacre,1 "According to the 23-year record of satellite data from NASA and its partners, the sea level is rising a few millimeters a year -- a fraction of an inch. If you live on the U.S. East Coast, though, your sea level is rising two or three times faster than average.",1 "MONEY TO “BERN!”…SOCIALIST BERNIE SANDERS Endorses Clinton…Buys THIRD Home On Lake For $600K Only 3 Weeks LaterFeel the Bern of a lot of gullible young people who were fed a big line of Bullsh*t Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) is the proud new owner of a summer home in the Champlain Islands, Seven Days has confirmed.The Burlington resident last week plopped down nearly $600,000 on a lakefront camp in North Hero.Sanders new crib has four bedrooms and 500 feet of Lake Champlain beachfront on the east side of the island facing Vermont, not New York. The Bern will keep his home in Burlington and use the new camp seasonally. We ve traveled up to the islands many times over the years almost always on day trips, Sanders wife, Jane O Meara Sanders, told Seven Days in a written statement. We ve been impressed with the North Hero community, eaten at the North Hero House and Shore Acres and have suggested them to friends who were looking for a beautiful place to stay or have dinner. St. Anne s Shrine in Isle La Motte is my favorite church and it is nearby. Last Tuesday, the day of the closing, a relaxed-looking Bernie Sanders posed for a photo at Hero s Welcome General Store on Route 2. The store, a bit south of his new abode, serves a sandwich called Feel the Bun in the senator s honor. The $6.99 deli delight consists of a HUGE homemade roll, sliced turkey, fresh apple chutney, hot pepper relish, lettuce, tomato and provolone cheese. It s not fair that the Billionaire Class controls 99 percent of the bread, the menu description reads. Here s a sandwich for the rest of us to keep us nourished until everything cool is free! Seven Days",0 "Ex-Georgian leader Saakashvili barges across Ukraine borderSHEHYNI, Ukraine (Reuters) - Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili and a crowd of supporters barged past guards to enter Ukraine from the Polish border on Sunday after a prolonged standoff between Saakashvili and the Ukrainian authorities. Amid shouts of victory and glory to Ukraine , Saakashvili returned to Ukraine despite being stripped of Ukrainian citizenship by his one-time ally, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and facing possible arrest and deportation. Poroshenko invited Saakashvili to be a regional governor to help drive reforms after protests in 2014 ousted a pro-Russian president in Kiev. But Saakashvili quit as governor of Odessa in November, accusing Poroshenko of abetting corruption. Thousands of Saakashvili s supporters gathered on the border on Sunday while prominent lawmakers, including former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, traveled with him from Poland. Saakashvili had tried to cross the border by train but the train did not leave its station in the Polish town of Przemysl. The woman in charge of the Ukrainian train said she had been ordered by the authorities - she declined to specify whether Polish or Ukrainian - to stop the train leaving until Saakashvili got off. He then traveled by bus to the border and was stopped by guards who sealed off the area, causing a tailback of vehicles. Supporters pushed their way through and escorted him across. I came with my Ukrainian passport, I wanted to show my passport and make a statement, a triumphant Saakashvili told supporters after crossing. Instead, the authorities arranged this circus. Poroshenko s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The crowd broke through the Shehyni checkpoint, Oleh Slobodyan, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border service, wrote on Facebook. The fight started. It s hard to predict the consequences of this situation. A statement by the border service said several police and border guards were injured during the clash and said a group of people, whom it did not name, had crossed the border illegally. Saakashvili took power in Georgia after a peaceful pro-Western uprising, known as the Rose Revolution, in 2003. The 49-year-old is now wanted on criminal charges in Georgia, which he says were trumped up for political reasons. Loathed by the Kremlin, Saakashvili was once a natural ally for Poroshenko after Moscow annexed Ukraine s Crimea region in 2014. But he has become one of the Ukrainian president s most vocal critics, casting doubt on the Western-backed authorities commitment to tackle entrenched corruption. Saakashvili has accused the Ukrainian authorities of using pressure tactics to deter him from returning to Kiev, where he has launched a campaign to unseat Poroshenko. Speaking to reporters earlier in the Polish city of Rzeszow, Saakashvili said Poroshenko viewed him as an existential threat . It looks like he is getting rid of a political opponent and no matter how many times he says that I am not a danger to him, every action of his shows exactly the opposite, that he regards me as a great and immediate danger, he said. ",1 " Hillary Responds To Trump’s London Failure And It’s Absolutely Perfect (TWEET)Donald Trump s reaction to the London terrorist attack could not have been more disgraceful. Not only did he use the incident to promote his extremely unconstitutional Muslim ban, but he trashed the London mayor and completely failed to send a message of solidarity or hope.Thank goodness we still have Hillary Clinton, the overqualified Democratic presidential candidate who won the popular vote by millions. Despite losing the election to an undeserving orange man baby, Clinton has not abandoned Americans or the world, and continues to act far more presidential than the current moron we have in the White House.Clinton also responded to the London attack, and it was a sharp reminder that we elected the wrong candidate. In her response on Twitter, Clinton showed everyone just how an American president should act, and just how much Trump falls short. She tweeted: After acts of unspeakable cruelty and cowardice, the people of London and the UK choose resolve over fear. Your friends in the US stand with you. Trump s message was divisive, while Clinton sent out a call for unity and peace. At a time when Trump currently has a historically low 36% approval rating, it appears that America is admitting that the wrong person is in the White House.This amazing message from Clinton is hardly surprising. During Trump s abrasive presidential campaign, in which he attacked her nonstop for months, Clinton always remained classy, dignified, and focused on the job ahead. She was always there for the American people, and truly believed in the values this country was built on.This tweet should be burned into the minds of every American when it comes time to vote in 2018 and 2020. America cannot afford to keep Trump in office, or to have another imbecile like him leading the country.Featured image is a screenshot ",0 Disaster prompts resurgence for Pakistan Army,1 "Planning group puts $43 billion price tag on Illinois transportation fixCHICAGO (Reuters) - Cash-strapped Illinois needs $43 billion over 10 years to repair and improve its transportation network and boost the state economy, according to a report released on Monday by the Metropolitan Planning Council. “The $43 billion needed to rebuild and improve our transportation infrastructure is less than what we’re wasting today on vehicle repairs due to poor road conditions, time lost to traffic congestion, and population and jobs going to neighboring states,” Jim Reilly, a senior fellow at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Chicago region planning group, said in a statement. The fifth-largest U.S. state is in its 10th month without a full fiscal 2016 budget due to an impasse between its Republican governor and Democrats who control the legislature. Illinois is struggling with a $6.7 billion bill backlog as pensions and debt payments gobble up a big chunk of available revenue. The report called for raising $2.7 billion a year by increasing the current 19 cents-a-gallon state gasoline tax by 30 cents and hiking vehicle registration fees, which cost $101 a year for most cars, by 50 percent. Half of the new money would be tapped for pay-as-you-go projects, with the other half backing $25 billion of 25-year bonds. The money would be spent on state and local roads, mass transit and railroads. The council recommended an amendment to the Illinois Constitution creating a transportation trust fund to ensure the new revenue is not diverted for other purposes. ",1 "Skeptics Unconvinced After Release of Feds’ Latest Report On ‘Russian Hack of DNC’21st Century Wire says In the wake of the Friday release of the ODNI s 25 page report from US intelligence agencies (notice how they don t even specify the agency names anymore in these reports) on the alleged Russian hack of Clinton campaign related DNC computers, cyber security experts are still not convinced that there is any credible evidence supporting the theory.The Feds site the need to keep their sources secret as the reason for the lack of specific evidence of the hacks (see full 25 page report embedded at WIRED) in the report but is this a legitimate concern when the forensic evidence is likely located in simple text files and virus protection software logs. Doesn t the government have the biggest data collection network monitoring facility in the world? Can the evidence not be shown via server traffic logs that wouldn t expose any sources ?Wired brings some analysis on the 25 page report and cyber security professionals response to it Take notice of the language when WIRED is discussing the other side of this argument, referencing unknown sources speaking to The Washington Post, (WashPost, who ve just been caught more than once pushing fake Russiaphobia stories in recent weeks). Andy Greenberg WIREDOn Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence finally released a declassified report on Russia s role in influencing the US election. And though it offers the most detailed official analysis yet of Russia s operations, critics in the cybersecurity community say it lacks the still-secret evidence needed to persuade skeptics that analysis is true.The ODNI s 25-page report (embedded below) from US intelligence agencies lays out a vast Russian intelligence operation that extends from hacking both Democratic and Republican targets to propaganda campaigns to troll-fueled social media disinformation. It re-asserts the intelligence community s findings that the Kremlin is behind breaches of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Hillary Clinton s campaign, and even state election board websites. And the express intention of those operations, the report states, was to not only disrupt the American electoral process, but to elect Donald Trump. Russia s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency, the report reads. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments. Even so, the report leaves out the much hoped-for technical evidence that informed these conclusions. In its Scope and Sourcing section, the report explains that this evidence exists, but can t be declassified. And that means the report won t satisfy the majority of the cybersecurity community that believes Russia hacked Democratic targets but has demanded more evidence, let alone the diehard deniers of the Kremlin s fingerprints. Seeing more of the context in which this happened does make me a little more trusting that this really was Russia, says Robert Graham, an analyst for the cybersecurity firm Erratasec who has closely followed the Russian hacking investigation. But knowing what data they probably have, they could have given us more details. And that really pisses me off. Knowing what data they probably have, they could have given us more details. And that really pisses me off. Robert GrahamOver the past weeks, rumors circulated that senior intelligence officials had pushed for far more of the agencies evidence pointing to Russia to be declassified and revealed to the public, according to Susan Hennessey, a former NSA attorney. But that cards-on-the-table approach, which likely would have sacrificed intelligence sources and methods in favor of more public transparency, didn t make it to the final report. This isn t a remotely risk-embracing document, says Hennessey. There s alway a tension between those who think it s worth bringing forward sources and methods and those that don t. It s clear that those with very conservative views about protecting sources and methods prevailed. 1The unclassified report is underwhelming at best. There is essentially no new information for those who have been paying attention. Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) January 6, 2017One skeptic, at least, has somewhat altered his viewpoint based on the intel agencies case: Donald Trump. After the president-elect was briefed Friday by the heads of the NSA, FBI, CIA, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he offered an oblique statement that neither confirmed nor denied his belief that Russia hacked Democratic targets. While Russia, China, other countries, other groups and people are constantly trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our government institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democratic National Committee, Trump s statement reads, there was no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines. But even that mealy-mouthed comment no intelligence officials had claimed Russia hacked American voting machines contrasts sharply with Trump s past denials. Until now, the president-elect has remained doggedly skeptical and even willfully ignorant of the evidence tying Russia s government to the attacks. He s blamed the intrusions on everyone from China to a 400-pound hacker in New Jersey to the Democratic party itself. Rather than call for investigations into the hacking, he s said the country needs to move on. At times he has even refused to admit any hacks took place. He continued those assertions even after he began receiving classified briefings on the attacks as the Republican presidential candidate, and then after US intelligence agencies stated that the Kremlin was responsible in early October, and even after he was elected and gained full access to presidential briefings from the intelligence community. As late as Friday morning, ahead of his own personal briefing on the full report, he continued to refer to China as the possible source of the attack and called the investigation into Russia a political witch hunt. (He also wrote on Twitter that he s asking Congress to investigate the unauthorized early leak of today s report to NBC News, showing that he has interest in investigating some leaks, at least.)The report makes a few new assertions: stating plainly that WikiLeaks received hacked DNC data from Russian intelligence, and outlining a broader history of Russian meddling in US elections. It spends significant ink on Russia s state-sponsored propaganda efforts, and delves into state-sponsored social media disinformation strategies and widespread Russian media claims that the US is not a functioning democracy. The report points out, for example, that the RT America television channel has been running stories about the US s weak voting infrastructure and alleged election fraud since November 2012.RT s role as a distributor for Russian government propaganda is hardly news, though. And while data leaks and disinformation campaigns were central to last year s campaign meddling, the report seems to give them disproportionate weight over technical hacking, perhaps because those sections of the report were redacted.In terms of proving the core claim that Russia hacked American political targets, though, Friday s report is sure to leave any skeptic not privy to classified briefings briefings unconvinced: It fails to include even the already public evidence visible to the cybersecurity community over the last six months, which drew a thick dotted line from the DNC hack to the Kremlin. A hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0, for instance, in June claimed to be a lone Romanian hacker responsible for the breach. But the stolen DNC files he published on the web and also said he d leaked to WikiLeaks contained telltale Russian-language error messages. A piece of malware known as X-Agent was used in both the DNC hack and previous attacks long believed to be Russian intelligence operations. And an analysis of the URL shortening service used by the hacker who stole the Gmail password of Clinton staffer John Podesta shows that the same account was used to target more than 5,000 other Gmail accounts, including Russia-focused journalists and authors, and the spouses of American military officials.Early leaks from a classified version of the report revealed some of the evidence intelligence agencies have to implicate Russia. Unnamed intelligence officials told the Washington Post that US agents had intercepted the communications of senior Russian officials celebrating Trump s win. In another leak to Reuters, intel officials said that they d identified the intermediary who had passed files stolen by Russian hackers to WikiLeaks.The Obama administration, for its part, has for months harbored little doubt about Russia s involvement in the political attacks. In fact, it s already responded: In late December, the White House announced new targeted sanctions against Russian intelligence officials and contractors, ejected 35 Russian diplomats from the country, and seized two Russian-owned properties on American soil it said were being used for intelligence gathering. James Lewis, a cybersecurity-focused fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told WIRED at the time that it was the the biggest retaliatory move against Russian espionage since the Cold War. But critics from Trump s presidential transition team have accused Obama of acting against Russia before proving the sanctions were warranted Continue this report at WIREDREAD MORE RUSSIAN HACK NEWS AT: 21WIRE Russian Hack Files",0 IT firms lose billions after NSA scandal exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden,1 China's Reputation On Product Safety Reaches a New Low,0 "BREAKING: Putin Tramples Obama’s Imaginary Red Line With Airstrikes In SyriaWe have a weak leader in our White House who s willing to be pushed around after leaving a vacuum in the Middle East for chaos. Putin has decided he s in it for the long term and wants to have his presence strengthened in the Middle East since the U.S. has been so absent in the area. Remember THE RED LINE? That was a big turning point in our President s effectiveness in the area. Obama has done NOTHING and continues to let Putin bring in his military mite to take over dominance. So it s a win for Russia and Putin s desire to be the dominant big gun in the Middle East. Obama has officially surrendered influence in the Middle East and Assad is staying. Checkmate! FOX NEWS: Russian warplanes have begun bombarding Syrian opposition targets in the war torn nation s north, working on behalf of dictator Bashar al Assad, according to a senior military official.The official said airstrikes targeted fighters in the vicinity of Homs, located roughly 60 miles east of a Russian naval facility in Tartus, and were carried out by a couple of Russian bombers. It was not clear if the strikes targeted ISIS, Al Qaeda or other forces opposed to Assad, who Moscow is aiding. According to a Twitter handle belonging to the Syrian government, the Russian strikes were initiated at the request of Assad.The development came after Pentagon officials brushed aside an official request from Russia to clear air space over northern Syria, where Moscow intends to conduct airstrikes against ISIS on behalf of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, according to sources who spoke to Fox News.The request was made by a Russian three-star general who spoke with U.S. officials at the American embassy in Baghdad, sources said. The general, who was not identified, used the word please when delivering the verbal request, known as a demarche, according to the written transcript of the exchange. ",0 "New outsource job, Indians have to check american doctors and nurses wash their hands properly via cam and sensors",0 America Loses Its Dominant Economic Role,1 "Pope: The Internet is a ""gift from God"" that facilitates communication, but he warns that the obsessive desire to stay connected can actually isolate people from their friends and family",0 "Irma evacuees find full hotels but a warm welcome in GeorgiaATLANTA (Reuters) - As hundreds of thousands of Floridians flee Hurricane Irma, people in the state of Georgia have opened their homes to strangers who emerged from hours-long traffic jams to find hotels and campgrounds booked solid. Authorities in Florida have ordered about a third of the state s population, 6.3 million people, to evacuate ahead of the hurricane s expected landfall on Sunday. Some stayed put, but many left their homes. And many who drove to neighboring Georgia initially had nowhere to stay. With churches in Atlanta appealing for donations of mattresses and blankets for shelters, and hotels and motels along Interstate 75 heading north to the city from Florida reportedly at capacity through next week, homeschool teacher Mary Hoyt decided something needed to be done. She helped found Atlanta Hurricane Solidarity, an informal network that works via word of mouth and local news media attention, and has so far managed to match 75 evacuee families with homes in Atlanta. Those are the ones we have settled or on their way, said Hoyt, who lives in the city s eastern suburb of Decatur. We have 300 more homes and counting that are available. People are so amazingly generous. At the Atlanta Motor Speedway, meanwhile, staff are accustomed to accommodating thousands of campers at their NASCAR stock car racing events. They have opened the facilities in Hampton, about 25 miles (40 km) south of Atlanta, for free to anyone seeking refuge. Many Georgia coast residents were also locking up homes and heading inland before Irma hits. On Saturday, all lanes of Interstate 16, which runs west of historic Savannah, were turned inland for evacuating traffic only. Campsites in places like Indian Springs State Park, near the small town of Flovilla, a few miles (kms) east of Interstate 75, were full, said park manager Katherine Darsey. There are a lot of Florida license tags here, Darsey said, adding that people were still welcome to use the parking lot overnight if they needed a safe place to rest. The Airbnb website listed 85 homes in Georgia and Florida on Saturday evening that had been made available for free to Irma evacuees by the properties owners, said Airbnb spokeswoman Crystal Davis. Evacuees four-legged friends were also seeking safety: Animal shelters that were already busier than usual with pets displaced from Texas and Louisiana last month by Hurricane Harvey reported more arrivals from Florida. The equestrian center in Alpharetta, another Atlanta suburb, has agreed to house 150 horses from Florida for free, said its director, Matt Casey. Forty horses had arrived by Saturday afternoon, and more were on the way. One cat from Paisley, about 40 miles (60 km) north of Orlando, was en route to sanctuary in Indiana when she was spooked by a traffic accident while being driven through Atlanta. The 2-year-old calico named Coco jumped out of the car s window and darted into woods. I ve been heartsick over it, said her owner, Cindy Voelz, 55. She must be so frightened. Voelz is staying with friends in the city while she looks for Coco. She said she really appreciates the help she has had searching from volunteers at an Atlanta animal shelter. I can t believe how nice everyone is here, she said. ",1 " Aziz Ansari Just Told Trump To ‘Go F*ck Himself’ As Only He Can (TWEET)In the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, there has been yet another unfounded uprising of hate and fear against the Muslim community. Donald Trump is even calling, once more, for a ban on all Muslim immigrants.With a lot to say on this matter is none other than comedian Aziz Ansari, whose parents just so happen to be Muslim immigrants. He wrote a piece for the New York Times, and called out Trump s hatred where it stands.In the intro to his article on Twitter, Ansari just flat-out told Trump to go f*ck himself. Trump wants to ban Muslim immigrants like my parents. I wrote a piece for New York Times telling him to go fuck himself. Trump wants to ban Muslim immigrants like my parents. I wrote a piece for @NYTimes telling him to go fuck himself: https://t.co/MCDsQyz2jy Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) June 24, 2016Within the article, which you can find in full here, Ansari wrote: Today, with the presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and others like him spewing hate speech, prejudice is reaching new levels. It s visceral, and scary, and it affects how people live, work and pray. It makes me afraid for my family. It also makes no sense. He explains that he s the son of Muslim immigrants, and how his family is now told to be careful in how they worship. Also explaining, that as American citizens, that is absolutely awful. We have the freedom of religion in this nation, and everyone has a right to worship how they so choose on their own time.Ansari wrote that despite not being religious himself, even looking like you might be Muslim can make you a target of discrimination: There is a strange feeling that you must almost prove yourself worthy of feeling sad and scared like everyone else. He added: The vitriolic and hate-filled rhetoric coming from Mr. Trump isn t so far off from cursing at strangers from a car window. He has said that people in the American Muslim community know who the bad ones are, implying that millions of innocent people are somehow complicit in awful attacks. Not only is this wrongheaded; but it also does nothing to address the real problems posed by terrorist attacks. By Mr. Trump s logic, after the huge financial crisis of 2007-08, the best way to protect the American economy would have been to man white males. Is Ansari right in telling Trump to go f*ck himself ?? Absolutely. Trump is personally attacking Ansari and his family and is just so absolutely wrong about the Muslim faith and community.Trump s tactic of divide and conquer, putting himself and his white pride fanatics against anyone who doesn t fit the mold of what he sees fit to live in the United States, isn t only bigoted, but just outright dangerous.Good on Ansari for speaking out and calling Trump out on his bigotry.Featured Photos by John Moore/Getty Images and Gary Gershoff/Getty Images for Peabody ",0 "WAR HAWK, ANTI-TRUMPER RINOS Join Dems To Investigate Russian Influence In Election…Trump Says Russian Interference Claim Is “Ridiculous”[VIDEO]Pro man-made climate change, RINO Lindsay Graham, who never saw a war he didn t want to engage our troops in, joins his war hawk, RINO, anti-Trumper friend John McCain (who got crushed by Obama in the 2008 Presidential election), to call for investigations into Russian influence in our November elections. John McCain withdrew his support for Trump after the bad words he used in a private conversation with another guy. Lindsey Graham got crushed by Trump in the primaries and was a loud voice against his nomination. He eventually changed his mind and offered his support for Trump in the general election against Hillary. John McCain did not change his mind.The recount is over, but there s still time to discredit the legitimacy of Donald J. Trump s landslide election. Who better to help the Democrats, than two RINO s who are at the top of the heap when it comes to draining useless Republicans from the swamp. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) said Wednesday he would lead a charge to investigate Russia s interference in the U.S. election and hacks on the Democratic Party. I think [Donald] Trump should take a real tough tone with Russia, because if he doesn t, you re going to allow Russia to begin to break apart alliances, Graham told CNN s Manu Raju.The Republican senator also said he hoped to use his leadership role on two subcommittees to launch a deeper investigation of Russia s hacks, CNN reported. Graham chairs the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs subcommittee and the Crime and Terrorism subcommittee.Raju said Graham told him that he and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chair of the Armed Services Committee, will travel to Eastern Europe to investigate Russian meddling in other countries elections.During the campaign, Graham was a strong GOP critic of Trump, including on his friendlier stance toward Russia, and chose to vote instead for independent candidate Evan McMullin. The HillThe Obama administration clearly stated that they saw NO evidence of outside election tampering in the general election.On November 26, 2016 the Obama administration said it has seen no evidence of hackers tampering with the 2016 presidential election, even as recount proceedings began in Wisconsin. We stand behind our election results, which accurately reflect the will of the American people, a senior administration official told POLITICO late Friday. The federal government did not observe any increased level of malicious cyber activity aimed at disrupting our electoral process on election day, the official added. We believe our elections were free and fair from a cybersecurity perspective. Yet yesterday this story appeared in the New York Times: WASHINGTON American intelligence agencies have concluded with high confidence that Russia acted covertly in the latter stages of the presidential campaign to harm Hillary Clinton s chances and promote Donald J. Trump, according to senior administration officials.They based that conclusion, in part, on another finding which they say was also reached with high confidence that the Russians hacked the Republican National Committee s computer systems in addition to their attacks on Democratic organizations, but did not release whatever information they gleaned from the Republican networks.In the months before the election, it was largely documents from Democratic Party systems that were leaked to the public. Intelligence agencies have concluded that the Russians gave the Democrats documents to WikiLeaks.Republicans have a different explanation for why no documents from their networks were ever released. Over the past several months, officials from the Republican committee have consistently said that their networks were not compromised, asserting that only the accounts of individual Republicans were attacked. On Friday, a senior committee official said he had no comment.Donald Trump has said the CIA s conclusion that Russia interfered in the presidential election is ridiculous and being used by Democrats as just another excuse for his defeat of Hillary Clinton.The president-elect told Fox News Sunday that he did not necessarily oppose Barack Obama s order for a review of campaign-season cyber-attacks.But he added that in any such effort, you should not just say Russia . You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals. Guardian",0 "Obama to announce Supreme Court nomineeWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will announce his choice on Wednesday to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, he said in a statement released by the White House. Obama will make the announcement at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), the statement said. “I’ve made my decision: Today, I will announce the person I believe is eminently qualified to sit on the Supreme Court,” Obama wrote. He did not identify his pick in the note. ",1 "GOP MAJORITY SENATE FINALLY GETS IT RIGHT: Votes To Gut Obamacare And Defund Planned ParenthoodThe Democrats tried to attach a gun control amendment to the bill, but Republicans blocked those amendments. Of course, Obama says he ll veto the bill. What the majority of Americans want is of no consequence to the King The U.S. Senate approved a bill Thursday that would strip Obamacare of key tax-raising features and would also eliminate taxpayer-funding of abortion businesses, including Planned Parenthood. For years, the American people have been calling on Washington to build a bridge away from Obamacare, said Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). For years, Democrats prevented the Senate from passing legislation to do so. The 52 to 47 vote also would strip taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood for one year. This measures has been pushed by a renewed call to defund the abortion business since the release of videos exposing the organization s apparent practices of harvesting body parts of unborn babies and altering the position of babies during abortions in order to harvest their intact organs.Sens. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)challenged a repeal bill passed by the House for not going far enough. A conservative aide tells Breitbart News that Senate leadership is finally following their lead in keeping their promises to the American people who elected them.The measure, which passed 52-47 under the reconciliation budgetary process, will head to the House for a vote. The House passed a similar Obamacare repeal bill. The Senate and the House must soon approve identical bills before they can get to the president s desk.President Barack Obama, however, has already said he will veto the Senate bill.In the Senate, Democrats and several liberal Republicans tried but failed to gut the language that defunds Planned Parenthood from the bill.Family Research Council president Tony Perkins commended the U.S. Senate for approving the bill. This is a huge victory for unborn children, their mothers, and for taxpayers, Perkins said. For the first time during the Obama presidency, both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have approved legislation that begins to end the forced partnership between taxpayers and Planned Parenthood. President Obama will now bear the moral responsibility for sending our tax dollars to a group that has engaged in the selling of baby body parts, he continued. Even if the President vetoes the bill, we ve still succeeded, because a Senate precedent has now been set for moving a similar measure forward when America finally has a President who understands the value of every person, born and unborn. Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, also praised the Senate s approval of the legislation that would transfer taxpayer Medicaid money from Planned Parenthood to health care clinics that do not perform abortions. It s an understatement to say that Planned Parenthood has shown itself unworthy of taxpayer support, said Pavone. The 325,000 lives it destroys every year are 325,000 reasons to redirect taxpayer funds to groups that provide health care without taking innocent lives. When there are legitimate health care providers that actually help women and their babies, it s a travesty to give one dime to Planned Parenthood, he added. The Senate is to be commended for standing up for women, their children, and taxpayers who object to subsidizing a billion-dollar abortion business. The bill would also end the individual mandate of Obamacare that requires most people to purchase health insurance, and strip the authority of the federal government to run health care exchanges. Via: Breitbart News ",0 "China says has made best effort on North Korea ahead of Trump visitBEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday China has made its best efforts to resolve issues on the Korean peninsula, ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing next week when he is expected to press China to do more on North Korea. Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said the North Korean nuclear issue would be an important topic up for discussion at the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump. China firmly opposes conflict on the Korean peninsula and believes using force is not the correct way to resolve the issue, Zheng told reporters at a briefing in Beijing. China and the United States have a shared interest in peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, Zheng said. ",1 " Libertarians Want Security Briefings – Maybe Then Gary Johnson Would Know What Aleppo IsLibertarians are convinced that their presidential ticket should be getting security briefings too, just like the Democrats and the Republicans. Why? Because they seem to think there is some possible scenario where they could come out on top in November.Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton began receiving security briefings shortly after they officially became the nominees for their respective parties. Apparently, poor Gary Johnson is feeling left out.Even though it is uncommon for third party candidates to get these kinds of briefings, it wouldn t be a first. The last third party candidate to receive security briefings was John Anderson, an Independent, in 1980. And now, the Libertarian Party thinks that Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, should be eligible to receive security briefings, too.Libertarian National Chairman Nicholas Sarwark wrote a letter to the General Service Administration (GSA) on Thursday, arguing that the Libertarian candidates should be getting national security briefings since they are on the ballot in all 50 states. Even the federal government is in the business of attempting to pre-select voters choices for President and Vice-President. Three tickets will be on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, but only two are receiving taxpayer-funded national security briefings. That is just wrong, and we urge the GSA to provide the same information to Governor Johnson that is being given to Mr. Trump and Sec. Clinton. The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 makes it so that all presidential candidates are able to receive security briefings, including third party candidates. However, the law also says that the candidates must have a significant level of public support in national polls and need to be realistically thought to have a chance at winning the presidency.Even though Johnson s name will be on the ballot in all 50 states, he s only polling at 8.3 percent. Which is not enough public support to get him onto the debate stage, let alone the White House. So I m not sure how realistic the possibility of a Johnson presidency actually is.On the other hand, perhaps a national security briefing or two would be good for Johnson. Maybe they could tell him what the heck Aleppo is.Featured image via George Frey/Getty Images",0 https://fedup.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/hillarystreetart.jpghttps://fedup.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/hillarystreetart.jpg,0 Putin claims west is provoking Russia into new cold war,1 Afghanistan: 'We are fighting ghost soldiers' ,1 Over 2/3 of Irans lawmakers endorse cutting off oil sales to the European Union before EU sanctions on their country go into effect,1 "[VIDEO] GERMAN MAYOR Blames Victims Of Mass Rape, Sexual Assault By Muslim Migrants For Not Defending ThemselvesBecause blaming the Muslim migrants who raped and sexually assaulted an untold number of women on New Years Eve would be politically incorrect and certainly not very hospitable A political scandal is developing in Germany as ordinary citizens wake up to the scale of the migrant crime cover-up, and the callous reaction of the mayor of Cologne to mass-sex crime on new year s eve.The Mayor of Cologne has spoken out about the attacks, but her carefully chosen words are unlikely to delight many. Rather than addressing the root causes of the violence unlimited mass migration and a totally failed system of integration the newly elected pro-migrant mayor instead blamed the victims of the sexual abuse for having failed to defend themselves against the immigrant attackers.Here is a video of the shocking chaos that took place on New Years Eve:Speaking on live television this afternoon mayor Henriette Reker, who was near-fatally stabbed in the run up to October elections by an anti mass migration campaigner, said in future women would have to be better prepared in her city to deal with migrants.She remarked: The women and young girls have to be more protected in the future so these things don t happen again. This means, they should go out and have fun, but they need to be better prepared, especially with the Cologne carnival coming up. For this, we will publish online guidelines that these young women can read through to prepare themselves .What form this guidance will take is presently unclear, the mayor could take inspiration from young victim whose modest clothes protected them from the worst consequences of walking at night in areas controlled by migrant men. The woman said: Fortunately I wore a jacket and trousers. a skirt would probably have been torn away from me .Despite her words of warning towards women in the city they could prepare for more violence against them, she refuted the suggestion there was any link between the attacks and migrants, contradicting her own chief of police.An opposition council member has today sounded the alarm bell on the deteriorating state of control the local government has over the city of Cologne, and in an official letter from the council group has warned those planning to come to the famous Cologne council next month the city and the police are unable to guarantee the safety of locals and tourists .Council group leader and lawyer Judith Wolter said in her letter to the people of Cologne today: I want as a member of the Cologne City Council to submit a travel warning for the carnival time in Cologne city centre. Especially the area in and around the central station, the cathedral and the adjoining area towards the banks of the Rhine for tourists (and locals) is no longer considered even in normal times as safe. For months, there is in these areas numerous thefts, open drug dealing, robberies and harassment of all kinds Dozens of women were sexually harassed in public and there was at least one rape. Neither the city nor the police are able to guarantee in the territory described the safety of tourists and locals. Especially for women it must be assumed that a high security risk is here in the evening and night hours. At New Year s Eve there was a legal vacuum and a no-go area for women. With the climax of the Carnival season it is unfortunately expected to be a similar situation .German police have admitted to losing several urban areas to migrant gangs as so-called no-go zones, but this is possibly the first time a public square in the centre of a European city has been acknowledged by officials as having been lost to criminality, and out of the control of police at night.News of the attacks was suppressed for days, with just short reports of isolated incidents in Cologne city centre making it to local outlets on New Year s Day.The Kolnifsche Rundschau described the scene at the railways station as largely peaceful and made no effort to describe those who attacked the young women, one of which told press she had fingers on every orifice after she was stripped near naked.Only after nearly 100 victims of assault and abuse came forwards to police, and stories of attacks started circulating on social media did the truth of the situation start to slowly emerge, forcing local police to hold a press conference on Monday afternoon.Despite the chief of police admitting the enormous scale of sexual assault and confirming the attackers were of North African and Arab origin, much of the mainstream media is still in damage control mode, either trying to shift the focus from migrants, or avoiding the events completely. Via: Breitbart News",0 "Russian stock exchanges halt trades, drop 60% since May",0 " Trump Immediately Politicizes London Tragedy On Twitter In A New Low Even For HimHere s a new low for America: During the unfolding tragedy in England, NBC announced that it would not be displaying the messages of Donald Trump, the President of the United States, because his tweets were spreading potential lies.Pres. Trump has used Twitter to share news report on London incident.We aren't relaying president's retweet, as the info is unconfirmed. NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) June 3, 2017Trump decided the minutes after a possible terror incident in London would be a good time to retweet fear-mongering speculation from the right-wing conspiracy site Drudge Report. His action may have done one of two equally disgusting things: He either amplified the terror being spread by a terror attack (thereby doing the work of the terrorist) or he spread misinformation and rumors thereby needlessly scaring people because of his eagerness to exploit a tragedy.Either way, people were appalled.But Trump wasn t done.Rather than wait for the facts to come in, Trump immediately seized on the moment to renew his push for a Muslim ban in the United States. British officials hadn t even confirmed the number of dead and wounded, and Trump was busy using the tragedy to promote his own bigoted policies an ocean away. It would take him three tweets before he got around to expressing concern for the victims.Trump has been increasingly relying on unreliable right-wing conspiracy sites to get his information. As president, he regularly receives extremely detailed information about world events from experts in the intelligence community, but his animosity towards the officials in the FBI and CIA, and his general dislike of reading makes him often ignore the valuable intel. Instead, he chooses to get his information from Drudge, Fox News, and InfoWars. The right-wing media sites are notoriously unscrupulous. InfoWars, for example, endorsed the theory that the Sandy Hook school shooting was staged by Obama as a pretext to taking people s guns. Drudge routinely gets facts wrong in its rush to promote fear and intolerance in its extremely right-wing audience.Two hours later, Trump finally deleted the Drudge Report tweet which puts him in an awkward position because it technically violates federal law to do so. His advisers might want to tell him that the best way to avoid that is by not spreading Drudge Report tweets in the first place.Briefed by top National Security officials in the nation.Retweets Drudge.UnRetweets it.Unpresidented. pic.twitter.com/LhKqmD0zn2 Karen DaltonBeninato (@kbeninato) June 3, 2017Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 "Turkey cautions citizens about travel to 'anti-Turkey' GermanyANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey cautioned its citizens on Saturday to take care when traveling to Germany, citing what it said was an upswing in anti-Turkish sentiment ahead of a German national election later this month. The advisory is likely to further exacerbate tensions between the two NATO allies, whose ties have soured following last year s failed coup against Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his subsequent crackdown on alleged coup supporters. The political leadership campaigns in Germany are based on anti-Turkey sentiment and preventing our country s EU membership. The political atmosphere... has actually been under the effects of far-right and even racist rhetoric for some time, Turkey s foreign mininstry said in a statement. Last weekend German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during a televised election debate that she would seek an end to Turkey s membership talks with the European Union, in an apparent shift of her position that infuriated Ankara. Merkel, whose conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) have long been skeptical about Turkey s EU ambitions, is expected to win a fourth term in office in Germany s Sept. 24 election. Turkish citizens who live in, or who plan to travel to, Germany should be cautious and act prudently in cases of possible incidents, behavior or verbal assaults of xenophobia and racism, the foreign ministry said. The advisory marks a reversal of roles. Earlier this year Germany warned its own citizens traveling to Turkey about increased tensions and protests ahead of a Turkish referendum on April 16 which considerably expanded Erdogan s powers. Merkel and other EU leaders have strongly criticized Erdogan s actions since the failed coup, saying his purges of Turkey s state institutions and armed forces amount to a deliberate attempt to stifle criticism. More than 50,000 people have been detained and 150,000 suspended in the crackdown, including journalists and opposition figures. Some German nationals have also been targeted. Turkey says the purges are necessary given the extent of the security threat it faces. ",1 Dog Risks Life To Save Injured Friend,0 "UN accuses Israeli troops of using boy, 11, as human shield",1 " Right-Wing Terrorist Cliven Bundy Finally Charged In Relation To 2014 Standoff With Feds In NevadaIt s about damn time.It s been two years since Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy engaged in an illegal armed standoff with federal authorities with the help of right-wing gun nuts.As you ll recall, Bundy threw a temper tantrum after the government began rounding up his cattle because he refused to pay the $1 million in grazing fees and penalties owed to the Bureau of Land Management even after a judge ordered him to do so.Anti-government gun nuts rushed to Bundy s side to prevent him from being arrested and interfered with federal agents who were doing their job.Not only did Bundy and his band of armed militants use women and children as shields, they also used a highway to aim their guns at federal officials and set up unauthorized checkpoints to question and search people.And after two years of seemingly getting away with his illegal rebellion against the government, it appears Bundy is finally going to see the inside of a prison cell for his actions.Bundy was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday at Portland International Airport as he tried to make his way to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in support of the remaining armed thugs who have refused to surrender since Bundy s sons Ammon and Ryan were arrested at the end of January.According to The Oregonian, Bundy was booked into the downtown Multnomah County jail and faces the charge of conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer in relation to his little standoff in 2014.In fact, here is Bundy s mugshot courtesy of The Oregonian.Perhaps this will serve as a lesson to other anti-government gun nuts that the long arm of the law will come for them if they pull more stunts like the one Bundy and his boys have pulled over the years. And maybe the prison time they serve will give them the opportunity to actually read the Constitution they claim to love so much and realize that their claim that the government is violating it is pure bullshit. Featured image from Multnomah County records",0 "Spain's Supreme Court refuses bail for former Catalonia cabinet membersMADRID (Reuters) - Spain s Supreme Court refused bail on Monday for two Catalan pro-independence leaders accused of sedition ahead of regional elections that Madrid hopes will defuse the nation s worst political crisis in four decades. The ruling will leave the leaders of Catalonia s biggest secessionist groups behind bars during campaigning for the Dec. 21 election, and could generate sympathy for the independence movement just as opinion polls show some voters abandoning it. The battle between Madrid and secessionists in the wealthy northeast region has hurt the national economy and prompted thousands of companies to shift their legal headquarters outside Catalonia, which accounts for a fifth of the Spanish economy. The former head of the regional government, Carles Puigdemont, and four of his disbanded cabinet, went in to self-imposed exile in Belgium shortly after a call for secession Oct. 27. They are currently under conditional release after an international arrest warrant was served against them. The judge in Brussels on Monday said he would rule on Puigdemont s extradition Dec. 14. Eight members of the disbanded cabinet, including vice-president Oriol Junqueras, were detained in custody Nov. 2 facing potential charges of sedition, rebellion and misappropriation of funds. In a court statement, the judge ruled that, while he considered there was no risk the defendants would leave the country, he did believe there was a risk of criminal reiteration. The Catalan politicians have since called to be released to campaign for the election, with Junqueras heading his ERC party s list. Campaigning officially begins on Tuesday. Six other former members of the Catalonia cabinet also detained in custody were set bail of 100,000 euros ($118,570). While many polls have shown that the election is likely to be a dead heat between the pro-independence and pro-unionist camps, the latest official poll saw the secessionists just losing their majority in the regional parliament. Pro-independence party Junts per Catalunya was seen as winning 25-26 seats, ERC another 32 seats and extreme-left party CUP 9 seats, according to the poll carried out by Sociological Research Centre (CIS) published on Monday. That would give the secessionist camp just 67 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament, stripping them of the previous slim majority. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has flatly refused to negotiate any talks on an independence referendum, saying that the constitution does not allow for any separation of any of the country s 17 autonomous regions. The regional election was called to return legal certainty to Catalonia, Rajoy has said. In an editorial in Politico, published on Sunday, Junqueras said Madrid could not be trusted to oversee the election, and called for the European Union to step in. It is hard to believe that Spain s conservative People s Party government will actually respect the result of these elections. Therefore, it is vital that the European Union oversee the results to ensure they are truly respected, and to erase any doubts about the outcome, he wrote. EU leaders are extremely wary of Catalonia s search for independence because it has stirred separatist feelings far beyond Spanish borders and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had called nationalism a poison . Civic pro-independence group ANC, whose leader Jordi Sanchez was one of the defendants to be refused bail on Monday, has called for protests against the ruling at 8 pm (1900 GMT) in front of Catalan government buildings. ($1 = 0.8434 euros) ",1 Journalists increasingly under fire from hackers: Google researchers show 21 out of 25 top news organizations hit by state-sponsored attacks.,1 "ADVISORY: Story on Kushner visiting Iraq withdrawn(Reuters) - The story “Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner visits Iraq, U.S. official says”, the accompanying alert and subsequent update are wrong and were withdrawn. A substitute story is available here",1 "HELL FREEZES OVER…Or Does It? [Video] Hundreds Of Muslims In Dearborn, MI Take To Streets To Protest ISISIt only took what 14 years for this to happen? 9-11-01 is a memory that is etched in the minds of every American. One of the most distinctive memories many of us have following the attack by Muslim extremists on our country, was the deafening silence from the huge Muslim community in Dearborn, MI.The protest against ISIS in the majority Muslim community of Dearborn, MI is a good start. Americans can t help but wonder though, why it took so long for Muslims to protest these acts of terror by Islamic extremists? Is it because they ve come to the realization that ISIS is not particularly discriminating about who they target? You can t help but notice the Muslims in this video are carrying a huge sign telling Muslims that 99.9% of ISIS victims are actually Muslims. And you certainly can t help but question where were all the protests when Al-Qaeda and other terror networks announced they were specifically targeting the West.There is no doubt there are Muslim Americans who love this country. Why wouldn t they? We offer freedom of religion, free education, housing, healthcare and food benefits. What we really need to see is that love for country extended to the love for their neighbors, for their Christian and Jewish neighbors specifically. This protest is a good start, but when Muslims make an honest attempt to assimilate in our country, instead of coming here with the intent of maintaining Sharia law and replacing our cultures and religious values with theirs. When they make an attempt to assimilate, that s when we ll know and believe they are truly interested in becoming Americans, not transplanted Muslims from overseas working to turn America into a Sharia compliant nation.",0 "U.N. denounces air raids on Idlib hospitals, seeks protection systemGENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations condemned air raids on five hospitals and two humanitarian warehouses in Idlib, Syria, this week and called for setting up a system so warring sides would protect civilians and medical facilities near terrorist groups. Jan Egeland, U.N. humanitarian adviser on Syria, said it was not clear who had carried out the attacks, but said it was part of an escalating trend to attack humanitarian lifelines including hospitals, ambulances and health workers. We urgently need a workable and respected system of notification for these protected localities that armed actors will respect, he told reporters, although he conceded that some aid agencies were reluctant to share their GPS coordinates with the warring sides. ",1 " Kansas Tea Party Governor Gets His A** Handed To Him As Republicans Vote To Reverse Disastrous Tax CutsIt s about time Kansas Republicans saw the light and told Governor Sam Brownback to go f*ck himself.Kansas has been taking a beating because of Brownback s trickle-down economics policy of slashing taxes. And Republicans in the state have finally done something about it.In 2012, Brownback convinced the Republican-controlled state House and Senate to pass massive tax cuts for businesses and wealthy individuals. For the first time, conservatives employed their trickle-down policy over an entire state. And the experiment turned out to be an immediate disaster that has destroyed the state financially to the point where little revenue was coming in, creating an unsustainable budget shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars that was only going to get worse.Republicans desperately tried to plug the budget hole by cutting education and other programs, which caused a lot of Kansans to suffer. Basically, Republicans refused to admit that their tax policies failed and hoped they could the problem without reversing the tax cuts.Unable to do so, and facing a $348 million shortfall, Republicans in Kansas passed legislation in the House and Senate designed to raise income tax rates and end a tax exemption for roughly 330,000 business owners. In other words, Republicans rejected Brownback s tax policy.Brownback, of course, vetoed the legislation. But lawmakers in the Kansas House formally overrode his veto on Wednesday by a huge margin of 85-40. The legislation now heads to the state Senate.If enough state senators have the backbone to stand up to their unpopular governor, revenues will start pouring into government coffers to cover the budget hole he dug and Kansas will avoid future financial ruin.For four years, Republicans denied reality by insisting that tax cuts on businesses and the wealthy somehow generate more revenue and they continue to insist on such a policy at the national level. The problem is that Republican tax policies have only created a skyrocketing national debt and trillion dollar deficits that cannot be filled by slashing things like food stamps, which only accounts for less than 4 percent of federal spending.The fact is that taxes make civilization possible. If we want things like good education, healthcare, roads, food aid, and Social Security, then we need to pay taxes to pay for them. And that includes businesses and the wealthy. Arguing otherwise on their behalf like Republicans have been doing for decades is unpatriotic and un-American. And Kansas failed experiment proves it.Featured Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images",0 "BEST BERNIE SANDERS Yard Sign You Will EVER See!Here s a great way to explain socialism to the neighbors. Of course, we re not condoning doing anything that might be considered illegal ",0 " New Polls Stun: State That’s Been Deep Red For OVER 20 YEARS May Become Key Battleground StateRepublicans have long held the Deep South in their grip, but there are signs that may be changing. FiveThirtyEight.com is looking at Georgia right now, which has consistently voted for Republican candidates in every presidential election going back to 1992. However, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are virtually neck-and-neck there, and there are other races that show Georgia possibly turning purple this year.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution just released a poll showing Hillary leading Trump 41 percent to 38 percent. While that is within the margin of error for that poll, other polls likewise show a very tight race there. Trump is still favored to carry Georgia and its 16 electoral votes, with a 55 to 72 percent chance of winning, according to FiveThirtyEight s polls-only and polls-plus models, respectively. This poll shows a growing chance that Trump will lose there.Hillary would have a 59 percent chance of winning if the election were held today. Georgia doesn t have a huge chance of being the state that decides the outcome of November s election, but the fact that it has a chance at all is astounding, given the rabid conservatism there. With a Georgia win, FiveThirtyEight s electoral maps give Hillary 270 to 275 electoral votes even if she loses Ohio, Pennsylvania, and possibly Florida.It s not just the presidential race that s making Georgia stand out. Senator Johnny Isakson is struggling to keep his seat amidst a tight race with his Democratic opponent Jim Barksdale. Isakson only has a six-point lead right now, compared to his previous two elections, both of which he won by more than 17 points.Nationwide, another poll shows that more people favor a Democratic Congress than a Republican Congress. Six years of Tea Party obstruction, childishness and general craziness has likely soured people s opinions of the GOP, and the train wreck that is Donald Trump isn t helping. In fact, Isakson s race (along with Sen. Kelly Ayotte s and others) is confirming GOP fears that Trump s poisonous influence is starting to harm down-ticket races.Georgia s stunning transformation into a battleground state is due in part to its changing demographics. There s a swiftly-growing black community there, and the black community nationwide tends to vote overwhelmingly Democratic. Trump s shunning of so-called political correctness, along with his blatant racism, is probably amplifying that effect.Like what s happening in Utah, this is an interesting and surprising development. Georgia is well-known as a Republican stronghold. Now, it s further evidence that the GOP s stranglehold over many states is weakening.Photo of Hillary by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. Photo of Donald Trump by Alex Wong/Getty Images. Images merged by Rika Christensen",0 "How China dominates solar power - Huge loans from the Chinese Development Bank are helping Chinese solar companies push American solar firms out of the market",1 "Berlusconi denies resignation rumours: Italian PM says reports he plans to resign are ""baseless"", but looming vote could take matters out of his hands.",1 MICHAEL FLYNN’S LAWYER Releases Statement Scorching “Highly Politicized Witch Hunt” ,0 "Shots fired, officer taken from Ukraine base in Crimea",1 Loss of world's rarest ape charted - Decline of the Hainan gibbon - worlds rarest primate - has been revealed by a trawl through historical Chinese documents. There are only 26-28 left in the wild. Old govt documents helping reveal when & how the numbers fell.,0 "US senator says 4,700 killed in drone strikes",0 "Two women injured by hammer-wielding attacker in eastern FranceLYON, France (Reuters) - Two women were injured on Friday by an attacker wielding a hammer and shouting Allahu Akbar in the eastern French town of Chalon-sur-Saone in Burgundy, local officials said. The local prosecutor s office said witnesses of the attack in a public park of the town center heard the attacker shout Allahu Akbar while hitting the women, who were taken to hospital but whose life is not in danger. Prosecutors said they were treating the incident as a possible terror attack, but also did not rule out the possibility the attacker was deranged. The attacker was still on the run on Friday afternoon, police said. ",1 "Vote plus marathon spells super-busy Sunday for Berlin policeBERLIN (Reuters) - More than 1,500 police will be on duty in Berlin on Sunday, when Germany s capital faces the logistical challenge of organising an election expected to draw a large turnout - while ensuring its annual marathon also runs smoothly. Police, election officials and race organisers have been in close consultations about security arrangements, especially following a deadly truck rampage on a Berlin Christmas market last December as well as an attack on the Boston marathon in 2013. Officials with the Berlin police and the BKA Federal Criminal Police Office said they had no indications of any specific plots to attack either the race or the city s 1,779 polling stations. Berlin s state election office said letters had been sent to around 44,000 of the city s 2.5 million eligible voters warning that some 30 stations might be difficult to reach because of the marathon. The marathon is expected to end in early afternoon, while polls close at 6 p.m. local time. Voter participation is expected to exceed the 72.5 percent of 2013 largely due to a referendum about the fate of Berlin s Tegel airport that served the city through the Cold War. Voter participation was already relatively high in 2013, but we think it will be even higher this year because of high interest in the Tegel referendum, a spokesman said. ",1 "OSCE sees increase in ceasefire violations in east Ukraine (This version of the November 8 story corrects 1st and 8th paragraphs to add other Minsk signatories) By Andrea Shalal and Sabine Siebold BERLIN (Reuters) - An international security organization called on the parties in eastern Ukraine s conflict to pull back tanks and other heavy weapons, after five people were injured and a nine-year-old child was killed over the weekend. A shaky ceasefire between Ukraine and the region s pro-Russian separatists is regularly violated, and violations have spiked in recent weeks, Alexander Hug, principal deputy chief monitor for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe s mission in Ukraine, said in an interview. The OSCE s 503 monitors in the region are now seeing a weekly average of 220 incidents involving heavy weapons, up from around 40 a week after a harvest ceasefire, with a total of 3,877 such weapons spotted this year in violation of the ceasefire. The warning signals of this uptick have been out there, Hug said. We have been warning through our reporting that the situation is gradually deteriorating again. If some of these military technical issues are not tackled now ... we may see an increase in violence towards the end of this year, Hug said. Once the ground froze in the region later this month, he said, it would be easier to move around tanks, heavy artillery and other equipment. Heavy weapons are the main cause of death in the conflict, which first broke out in 2014 and has claimed 75 lives and injured 346 so far this year, up some 3 to 5 percent from last year, Hug said. Over 10,000 have died since 2014. Kiev accuses Moscow of sending troops and heavy weapons to the region, which Russia denies. Hug urged the sides to implement decisions already made in the Minsk ceasefire agreement to withdraw heavy weapons from along the 500-kilometre (300 mile) line of conflict and disengage opposing forces, which are often staring at each other just 10 meters apart. All along the 500-km contact line where the fighting takes place, they are standing basically next to each other, and that is of course a recipe for more of the same, he said. Both sides were violating the ceasefire, Hug said. Returning fire is also a violation of the agreements. There is no exception to the non-use of weapons, he said. ",1 Italian Prime Minister is having an affair with an 18 year old girl.,1 UK govt wants paedophile checks even for those not working with children. Already 11.3 million including parents who take pupils to sports events face backgrounds checked to allow them to work with children,0 Chevron takes full responsibility for oil spill off the coast of Brazil. ,0 "Belgium eyes British, U.S. jets; French offer under legal scrutinyBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium has received proposals from Britain and the United States to replace its ageing fleet of fighter jets, while a French proposal that was not part of the tender process will be looked at separately, Belgium s defense minister said. Belgium invited government-led proposals in March for the replacement of its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16 planes with 34 new fighters, in a deal that could be worth more than 3.5 billion euros ($4.2 billion). Last month, France proposed a wide-ranging military deal with Belgium instead of responding to the tender. The deal goes beyond the terms of the tender whilst including the sale of Rafale fighter jets. While the French offer would be discussed by the government, it could open Belgium to criticism that it was not treating candidates equally, Vandeput said. To be very clear, the French offer is not part of the contest, minister Steven Vandeput told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday. Offers from the U.S. for Lockheed F-35 Lightning II planes and British offers for the Eurofighter Typhoon did meet the tender rules, the minister added. A spokeswoman for the defense ministry said the French proposal was being checked by its legal services and forwarded to the government which would decide at a later stage whether or not to respond. The Rafales are made by France s Dassault Aviation which declined to comment on Thursday. Boeing pulled out of the race last spring. The French government said that its proposal was in line with Belgium s request. We have made an extended proposal which is legally relevant and we are waiting for a proposal by the Belgian government, a spokeswoman for the French defense ministry said. Belgium will make a decision on which jet fighter to pick next year. The 34 jets are to be delivered from 2023, at a rate of 4-5 aircraft a year. ",1 "13 YR OLD BLACK CONSERVATIVE Hammers #BlackLivesMatter College Activists:”Grow Up!” [Video]The spoiled brats protesting on colleges campuses across America could benefit from a little common sense advice from 13 year old conservative, CJ Pearson Cj Pearson is running for Chairman of the Georgia Teen Republicans. If you live in Georgia, you might consider supporting him.You can also donate to his #StandwittCJ campaign here: https://rally.org/CJPearson ",0 "Mattis says North Korea missile test meant to provokeRIYADH (Reuters) - The failed North Korean missile test over the weekend was an attempt by the reclusive country to “provoke something,” U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday, pledging that the United States will work with China to reduce tensions. U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a hard line with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has rebuffed admonitions from China and proceeded with nuclear and missile programmes seen by Washington and others as a direct threat. On Saturday North Korea carried out a missile launch which the Pentagon said failed, blowing up almost immediately . Speaking with reporters on his way to the Middle East, Mattis said the most recent test was not an intercontinental ballistic missile but still a reckless move. “It shows why we are working so closely right now with the Chinese... to try to get this under control and aim for the denuclearized Korean peninsula,” Mattis said. Trump acknowledged on Sunday that the softer line he had taken on China’s management of its currency was linked to its help on North Korea. The United States, its allies and China are working on a range of responses to North Korea’s missile test, U.S. officials have said. China itself has spoken out against the North’s weapons tests and has supported U.N. sanctions. It banned imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting off its most important export and Chinese media has raised the possibility of restricting oil shipments to North Korea if it unleashed more provocations. On Monday U.S. Vice President Mike Pence put North Korea on notice, warning that recent U.S. strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed that the Trump administration’s resolve should not be tested. The Trump administration is focusing its strategy on tougher economic sanctions, possibly including an oil embargo, a global ban on its airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang. The North has warned of a nuclear strike against the United States if provoked. It has said it has developed and would launch a missile that can strike the mainland United States but officials and experts believe it is some time away from mastering the necessary technology, including miniaturizing a nuclear warhead. ",1 "David Cameron: Britain should reflect on role in Afghanistan - ""We are paying a high price for keeping our country safe, for making our world a safer place, and we should keep asking why we are there and how long we must be there.""",0 Explosion rocks downtown Turkish capital,1 " Hillary Clinton TOTALLY Just Rubbed ‘Indictment’ Rumors In Trump’s Big Orange Face (SCREENSHOTS)Former First Lady Hillary Clinton doesn t tweet nearly as often as current national embarrassment Donald Trump, but hers are far more entertaining than The Donald s.With news circulating that the first of probably many indictments in the Russia investigation is being handed down Monday, Clinton seized upon the opportunity to point out that it was the anniversary of the Comey letter, which was probably decisive in placing our tiny-handed orange dotard in the office in the first place according to FiveThirtyEight editor-in-chief Nate Silver. Oh is that today? Clinton said, linking Silver s tweet.The article Silver links notes that the letter Comey sent to Congress telling them the FBI had learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation into Clinton s private email server, upended the news cycle and soon halved Clinton s lead in the polls, imperiling her position in the Electoral College. Republicans and the majority of the media shoved the letter in the American people s faces seemingly non-stop, sticking us with the useless egomaniacal danger to our country who, unlike his predecessor, is embroiled in a legitimate scandal that actually threatens the future of our nation, that we know and hate today.It s good to see that Clinton was able to keep her sense of humor through all of this. It s a good reminder to all of us that we need to occasionally step back and have a laugh at the almost unbelievably stupid situation we ve found ourselves in.Featured image via Getty Images",0 "Fukushima Reactor 1 melted down, 2 and 3 may have too",0 Canada Destroys Legislation to Protect its Natural Lakes and Rivers. 2.5 million down to 82. ,1 "A Saudi oil firm paid former British prime minister Tony Blair a fee of about 41,000 a month and a 2 percent slice of each contract he helped arrange.",1 "Britain wants Brexit accord but prepared for a 'no deal': DavisLONDON (Reuters) - Britain wants to reach agreement over the terms of its departure from the European Union but is prepared for a no deal scenario, Brexit minister David Davis said on Friday. We don t want a no deal, but if one comes, we ll be ready for it, Davis told broadcasters. ",1 "Lavabit founder raises $20,000 to fund court battle",0 "Slum clearance, South Africa-style",1 Flight data released by Russian Ministry of Defense shows that the Su24 never entered Turkey.,1 " Trump Is Throwing Jared Kushner Under The Bus Over Mueller IndictmentsThe White House is falling apart following indictments against two former Trump associates and a third who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Here s what Manafort s indictment tells me: Mueller is going to go over every financial dealing of Jared Kushner and the Trump Organization, said former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg. Trump is at 33 percent in Gallup. You can t go any lower. He s fucked. According to Vanity Fair, Trump is reportedly blaming White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is also his son-in-law, for his role in decisions that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.Trump spoke to President Steve Bannon on Tuesday and blamed Kushner for the firings of Mike Flynn and James Comey, that led to Mueller s appointment. Furthermore, Trump agreed with Roger Stone recently when the Dirty Trickster told him Kushner was giving him bad political advice. Jared is the worst political adviser in the White House in modern history, Nunberg said. I m only saying publicly what everyone says behind the scenes at Fox News, in conservative media, and the Senate and Congress, he continued.Advisers want Trump to consider ways to neutralize Mueller, from conciliation to a declaration of all-out war, according to Vanity Fair. One Republican said that a good move would be for Trump to get his poll numbers up. Trump s numbers are lower than any other president s in the history of modern polling, so that would be a neat trick. The establishment has proven time and time again they will fuck Trump over, a Bannon ally told the paper. SURE, it s the Deep State globalists who are trying to hurt Trump, when actually, the former reality show star hurts his agenda every time he tweets to lash out at the world. Trump can t afford to fire Mueller politically, Stone said, but the so-called president has also reportedly complained about Mueller s investigation being allowed to continue.Stone wants Trump to call for a special prosecutor to investigate the Uranium One non-scandal, which has been debunked, but it s just an effort to use Hillary Clinton as a shield.We re wondering how First Lady Ivanka Trump feels knowing that her husband is getting blamed for her father s scandals.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 " Trump Fanboy Newt Gingrich Turns Traitor On Him And His Economic PlanEvery presidential candidate s economic plan has flaws. They either rely on deficit spending (Hillary Clinton), or they rely on magic mirrors (every Republican there is). Trump s plan will cost the U.S. more than $11 trillion, mostly from tax cuts for the wealthy that aren t paid for. Campaigns and their surrogates are supposed to rally around their candidates, but Newt Gingrich found himself unable to defend Trump s economic plan during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.Chris Wallace asked Gingrich point-blank whether Trump s numbers add up. Gingrich said: Of course not. Historically, no candidates have numbers that add up. Brilliant cover there, fanboy. You re still a campaign surrogate admitting that his candidate s economic plan is a worthless pile of steaming dog shit. Doing this is virtually unheard of. Even Romney s surrogates didn t admit outright that his economic plan was going to kill the economy, not stimulate it. When the Tax Policy Center said that Romney s plan would require raising taxes on the middle class to avoid ballooning the national debt, his campaign, and the entire GOP, came to his defense.Back in June, Moody s said that Trump s economic plan would cost us millions of jobs in addition to raising the national debt by $11 trillion. Trump only has a tiny part of his massive tax cuts offset. The rest amount to a massive black hole in the middle of the budget, which, in turn, would cause interest rates to skyrocket. Skyrocketing interest rates, when combined with other factors, harm corporate output, and eventually, stock prices.We all know what happens when the stock market crashes.Predictably, Trump s campaign said there were profound errors in Moody s analysis. Trump wants to rely on strong-arming China into a different trade agreement for his jobs plan, because of course he does. He s a master negotiator, so China will capitulate.This isn t the beginning of the end of Gingrich s love affair with Trump; not by a long shot. That s evident by his cover that no presidential candidate s economic plans ever add up. But a surrogate going so far as to say on television that it s nonsense, even with a cover, is virtually unprecedented.Featured image by T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images",0 "Paris Plans Defiant Night of Food, Drink and Cafe Life in Wake of Attacks",1 "Philippine ferry capsizes with 251 on board, four deadMANILA (Reuters) - Four people were killed and seven were missing after a Philippine ferry with 251 people on board capsized during bad weather on Thursday near the capital, Manila, disaster officials and a coastguard spokesman said. Accidents involving boats sailing between the many islands of the Philippines are common. Vessels are often overloaded but the coastguard said that was not the case on Thursday and the ferry had the capacity to carry 286 people. A total of 240 people were rescued from the sea by fishermen and rescue boats sent out by the coastguard hours after the ferry capsized and sank, about eight miles off Real town in Quezon province. Search and rescue operations will continue until all crew and passengers are accounted for, said coastguard spokesman Captain Armand Balilo. Most of the rescued passengers were brought to Dinahican port. Two men and two women drowned, he said. The ferry set sail at around dawn from a port in Real. Survivors told reporters the weather turned bad three hours later with strong winds and huge waves. The ferry began taking in water and in minutes it capsized and sank, they said. Disaster officials said search and rescue operations were hampered by heavy rain and huge waves caused by a tropical storm affecting the southern Philippines. A tropical storm is expected to make landfall on the southern island of Mindanao late Thursday or early on Friday. The weather bureau has warned of extensive flooding and landslides as the storm, packing center winds of 65 kph (40 mph), approaches the Philippines. ",1 Iceland wins controversial Icesave case at European court,0 "DELUSIONAL HILLARY Calls Her Email Scandal The “Biggest Nothing-Burger Ever”…”They covered It Like It Was Pearl Harbor” [Video]Hillary Clinton continues on the path to complete and total denial. #CODECON 2017 included a blah, blah, blah session by Clinton. She spews ridiculous victimhood it s embarrassing! Nobody said don t do this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_nKOL4h0iUThis woman needs to go off into the woods for another walk. ",0 "Wildfire destroying Fort McMurray, most of city evacuated",0 "In Mexico journalists get as much respect from drug cartels as they get from the Mexican Government. What both don't want, both kill. Carmen Aristegui, a top journalist who exposed conflict-of-interest deals of Pres. Enrique Pea Nieto, his wife and their mansions, is now off the air.",1 "China's New Bachelor Class ""An estimated 12 to 15 percent of Chinese men -- a population nearly the size of Texas -- will be unable to find a mate within the next seven years.""",1 WATCH JOHN KERRY’S FEAR MONGERING ON IRAN DEAL SUPPORT: “Profound and damaging implications” if denied by CongressIf denied by Congress it would have profound implications for us It would be extraordinarily damaging . Is Kerry trying to say that if not for this deal with Iran we would be attacked by Iran? ,0 "TOUGH TEXAS MAYOR Who Fought Back Against Implementation Of Sharia Law In Her City Will Join Trump Team [VIDEO]When a group of imams tried to bring a form of Shariah light to Texas, they met an unlikely foe Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne.Van Duyne was thrust into the national media spotlight, and her city was being called ground zero in the battle to prevent Islamic law from gaining a foothold, no matter how small, in the U.S. legal system.The media frenzy was touched off by reports that an Islamic tribunal was being set up in the Dallas, Texas, area. A group of imams from surrounding mosques would sit on what they call a mediation panel, as defacto judges, and mediate disputes between Muslims who voluntarily submit to its edicts. They denied this was a Shariah court, saying the panel would mete out nonbinding decisions in business disputes, divorces and other family matters in full accordance with the law. She worked with state legislators to craft a bill that would declare it illegal for any U.S. court to adopt any foreign legal system for the basis of its rulings. Islam was not mentioned in the bill, nor was any religion.The Irving City Council voted 5-4 to endorse the bill before a packed room full of mostly angry Muslims. WNDWatch: Irving Mayor Van Duyne also made news when she took on clock boy and his family.The mayor said the records would help to describe why it progressed as it did. Nobody is going to walk in and say, Oh you re a 14-year old child, you re totally cooperating, we have all the answers we need, let s arrest you, Van Duyne said, adding she had information that Mohamed was being passive aggressive and non-responsive when police questioned him.Van Duyne also noted that the family seemed more interested in seeking press than resolving the issue.Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne will be joining the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to work under Secretary Ben Carson, a source with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Daily Caller.Van Duyne announced at a luncheon Thursday that she would be joining the Trump administration, but declined to say which department she will be joining, CBS DFW reported. She is expected to make an official announcement sometime next week after completing the necessary paperwork. Daily Caller ",0 "Kenya's foreign debt investors take election turmoil calmlyLONDON (Reuters) - While many Kenyans fear Thursday s election re-run will provoke serious trouble, foreign investors are cautiously confident that the country s debt can ride out the crisis, although they remain hesitant about local stocks. Their base scenario is that the vote can conclude largely smoothly. However, given that Kenya s external debt is rated B+ but trading at levels more akin to bonds with ratings two notches lower, this means assets have already adjusted to the uncertainty and any negative surprises may have less of an impact. And Nairobi s $1.5 billion stand-by facility deal with the International Monetary Fund provides additional comfort. East Africa s largest economy has slipped into turmoil since a Supreme Court ruling annulled the result of presidential elections in August. Matters worsened when opposition leader Raila Odinga quit the re-run against incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta. In the very, very near term ... with the ruling we had in September, the period of uncertainty was extended to up until this point, said Diana Amoa, portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management. But the outlook going forward - once we get past this period - should be a positive one. Police clashed with opposition supporters on Thursday and gangs of youths prevented voting in some towns. A handful of polling officials who pitched up to work in Kisumu, the scene of major ethnic violence after a disputed election in 2007, cowered behind closed doors, unable to distribute any voting material. However, the government said the security situation was by and large OK , with polling stations open in over 90 percent of the country. For funds active in Africa and across frontier markets - a sub-set of riskier, smaller developing countries - the $55 billion Kenyan economy has been a firm part of their portfolios. The country s $2.75 billion in dollar-denominated bonds maturing in 2019 KE102895185= and 2024 KE102895240= form part of major emerging market debt benchmarks and frontier indexes .JPMEGDR .JPMNG. Year-to-date, Kenyan dollar bonds .JPMEGKENR .JPMEGDKENR have chalked up solid returns of more than 12 percent compared with nearly 9 percent on the index .JPMEGR .JPMEGDR. However, the political stand-off has blunted economic growth in Kenya, which has been largely stable since the violence a decade ago. Kenyan debt has still underperformed its peers, said Gabriele Foa, a strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He noted that yield premiums over U.S. debt had not narrowed as much as those on other sub-Saharan debt. When you look at the spreads with Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, that has been widening over this year, said Foa, who has an overweight rating on Kenya s dollar bonds. We saw a compression in line with the region, but Kenya is definitely lagging. Still, investors are also upbeat on the local government bond market, worth 1,387 billion shillings ($13.4 billion). The Kenyan shilling has been broadly unshaken by the political events, softening just over 1 percent since the start of the year. Previous experience points towards the shilling bouncing back swiftly. When violence ripped through the country following the 2007 elections, the shilling fell about 15 percent against the dollar, but recovered to pre-vote levels within three months. Any softness in the currency, coupled with low foreign positioning overall in those assets, made local debt attractive, said JPMorgan s Amoa. Investors in Kenya s $22.3 billion stock market have been more cautious. While the Nairobi Stock Exchange All Share Index .NASI has risen around 17 percent since the start of the year in dollar terms, the gains fall well short of the 30 percent jump across emerging equities .MSCIEF more broadly. Foreign investors have been generally in wait-and-see mode with some net selling at the margin, said Hasnain Malik, head of equity research at Exotix Capital. The percentage of Nairobi-listed stocks owned by foreigners has edged down to 21 percent in 2017 from a peak of 22.5 percent in 2013. Yet those waiting on the sidelines may well be happy to return if and when the political impasse has been resolved. Kenya is the great hope for investors in Africa as a non-commodity producing country, which has the potential to industrialize ahead of its peers, with money going into railways, roads and ports, said Daniel Salter, head of equity strategy at Renaissance Capital. It is a country that investors want to like, but what they don t like is the current uncertainty. ",1 "In Russia, an attempt to build its own Silicon Valley on the Moskva River",1 "Canada's move to legalize marijuana would be the most high-profile rebuke of international drug treaties to date, exposing ""a huge hole in the treaties, making more nations comfortable with the idea of legalization.""",1 Indian principal on the run after 22 students die from school lunches,1 " ‘The Lord’ Told A Trump-Loving Tow Truck Driver To Leave A Disabled Woman Stranded–So He DidShupee Max Towing in Traveler s Rest, South Carolina apparently has some rules if you re looking to actually be towed somewhere. At least that s what Cassy McWade found out when she was in an accident and her family called for a tow. Her regular mechanic wasn t available, so they called Ken Shupe, who arrived on the scene in about an hour.McWade, most likely relieved to see the car being cared for and the incident behind her, was stunned when Shupe came around the car, told her he couldn t help her because of who she supports, got in his truck and drove away. Yes, that just happened. According to WLOS News 13: He goes around back and comes back and says I can t tow you. My first instinct was there must be something wrong with the car. And he says, No, you re a Bernie supporter. And I was like wait, really? And he says, Yes ma am, and just walks away. This Bernie sign and a message from the lord were all Ken Shupe needed to be an ignorant jerk screen captureShupe claims it was a moment of clarity. He says he thinks the Lord came to him and told him to get in his truck and leave. With his backwards-thinking head held high and his ignorance on his sleeve, this idiot left a disabled woman sitting on the sidewalk. McWade, 25, suffers from fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, psoriatic arthritis and early-onset Crohn s. All of which she said made the waiting by the side of the road with no restroom nearby terrifying. McWade Told WLOS: I personally don t believe that you don t have to agree on anything just to be kind to one another. I was like, what did I do to you? You know, I do believe I try to do right by people. So I was offended, and I don t know what exactly he thinks I would have done to him directly by being a believer in Bernie. Shupe s claims that it was all about his convictions and a message from God came crashing down when he got to the real reason he doesn t want to do business with Bernie Supporters: I ve had some horrible experiences in the last six months with towing cars for this mindset individuals, in that I don t get paid. They want to argue about a $50 tow bill, and it turns into just a drama and a fuss. And I said, you know, I m not going to associate with them, and I m not going to do any business with them. I m really not interested in doing business with that clientele, In other words, I believe Bernie supporters are socialist commies who want stuff for free because internet memes tell me so, so my ignorant self just wasted a bunch a gas and made myself look like an imbecile in public. It would be highly doubtful that anyone could corroborate this guy s stories about all of his terrible misdealings with Bernie supporters. Should have stuck with God; at least the zealots will give you GoFundMe money.Watch the report from WLOS below:Featured image via screen capture",0 "UK spies continue quantum insert attack via LinkedIn, Slashdot pages",1 "Egypt's Military Accepts Cabinet's Resignation, Sets Elections for Next Year - The ruling military council in Egypt has accepted the resignation of the country's entire cabinet in the face of demonstrations that have increased in fervor over the last 4 days, & offered to end its rule by July 2012.",0 Palestinian refugee camp in Syria hit by fighting ,1 Fears grow that banks could send euro crisis global,0 Dumped in Africa: Britains toxic waste,0 "Congress weighs Harvey aid that Trump calls historicWASHINGTON/AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress started to come to grips on Tuesday with crafting a multibillion-dollar Hurricane Harvey emergency aid package that President Donald Trump suggested could be historically large, without providing specifics. On a tour of rescue operations after catastrophic flooding in Texas and Louisiana, with rain still pounding Houston and New Orleans, Trump told officials and reporters at a briefing that he was working with Congress on an aid package. “It’s going to be a costly proposition,” he said. “I think we’ll come through ... with the right solution.” He added, “But probably there’s never been anything so expensive in our country’s history and never been anything so historic in terms of damage.” Lawmakers said it was too early to estimate the price-tag for U.S. taxpayer assistance on Harvey, which has killed at least 11 people and paralyzed Houston. Hurricane Katrina, which killed at least 1,200 people in 2005, was the most damaging storm in U.S. history. After Katrina, and two smaller hurricanes that followed behind it, the U.S. government devoted $100 billion to relief and recovery, said the Congressional Budget Office. John Cornyn, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said Harvey recovery aid will take time. “There may be several different appropriations bills,” Cornyn told KTRH Radio in Houston. “What I would personally like to see is some emergency upfront funds to help with the temporary expenses, but as you can imagine, it is going to take a while to assess the losses.” The head of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee said the panel was prepared to provide the funding needed. Republican Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen said in a statement: “We are awaiting requests from federal agencies who are on the ground, and will not hesitate to take quick action once an official request is sent.” Senator Ted Cruz said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, “By any measure it is going to be billions upon billions of dollars.” Two senior White House officials said hurricane relief might be handled in Congress as a special emergency request, not attached to other spending legislation. Congressional leaders have not said exactly how they will handle the aid package. House conservatives may favor a standalone measure. “My sense is that they’d want a relief aid package to be a standalone that doesn’t have a lot of unrelated stuff added on,” said Alyssa Farah, spokeswoman for the conservative House Freedom Caucus. ",1 "Trump, now president, pledges to put 'America First' in nationalist speechWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump took power as the 45th president of the United States on Friday and pledged to end what he called an “American carnage” of rusted factories and crime in an inaugural address that was a populist and nationalist rallying cry. Striking a defiant tone, Trump said American workers have been devastated by the outsourcing of jobs abroad. “From this day forward it’s going to be only America First,” the Republican told thousands of people gathered on the National Mall to see him take over from Democrat Barack Obama. With Obama and three other former presidents sitting nearby, Trump accused previous U.S. administrations of enriching Washington at the expense of struggling American families. Underscoring the deep divisions in the country, protests against Trump turned ugly in downtown Washington. Black-clad activists smashed store windows, blocked traffic and fought with police in riot gear who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. Police said more than 200 people were arrested. Aerial pictures of the crowds of Trump supporters on the Mall showed a much smaller turnout at midday on Friday than that in comparable photos from Obama’s first inauguration in 2009. Estimates of Friday’s crowd size were not immediately available from police. The inaugural address was vintage Trump, with plenty of material gleaned from dozens of campaign rallies he staged last year on the road to victory on Nov. 8 over Democrat Hillary Clinton, who attended the ceremony with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Trump said the United States has enriched foreign industry at the expense of American companies, subsidized the armies of other countries while letting the U.S. military become depleted, and spent trillions abroad while allowing infrastructure at home to crumble. “The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed across the entire world,” he said. Trump accused the Washington establishment of protecting itself but abandoning regular citizens who have suffered from poverty and crime. “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,” he said. “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families,” he said. Trump, 70, takes over a country divided after a savage election campaign. The grim vision of America he often paints is belied by statistics showing low levels of unemployment and crime nationally, although Trump won many votes in parts of the nation where manufacturing industry has been badly hit. While Trump positioned himself as a champion of working Americans, the Tax Policy Center non-partisan think tank estimates that his tax proposals would not only add $7.2 trillion in U.S. government debt over the first 10 years, but are skewed to help the wealthiest Americans. Hours after taking the oath of office, Trump, who repeatedly promised to repeal Obama’s signature health-care law, signed his first executive order, directing U.S. agencies to delay, waive or grant exemptions from any provisions of the Affordable Care Act deemed burdensome for states or individuals. Republicans in Congress hope to repeal the health care law, also known as Obamacare, and replace it. Sitting behind the presidential Resolute Desk, Trump signed the order in a hastily arranged ceremony. In the Oval Office, which Obama vacated Friday morning, gold drapes had already been hung in place of crimson ones. Trump’s election was greeted with concern by many countries around the world, in part because of the potential for an isolationist foreign policy. In an interview after Trump was sworn in, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said, “What we heard today were high nationalistic tones.” “I think we have to prepare for a rough ride,” Gabriel told public broadcaster ZDF, adding that Europe should stand together to defend its interests. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto congratulated Trump on his inauguration, but cautioned that the sovereignty, national interest and protection of Mexicans would be paramount. Mexicans have been angered by Trump’s pledge to build a wall along the southern U.S. border to keep out illegal immigrants, and to make Mexico pay for it. Trump has also frequently criticized U.S. companies that have manufacturing operations in Mexico. U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday in a modest advance, marking the first time in more than 50 years that a new commander-in-chief has been welcomed by a rising equity market on his first day in office. Pope Francis urged Trump to be guided by ethical values, saying he must take care of the poor and the outcast. In Moscow, Russians hoping Trump will usher in a new era of detente celebrated his inauguration. Russian nationalists held an all-night party at what used to be the main Soviet-era post office in Moscow. In the city of Zlatoust, craftsmen released a limited series of silver and gold commemorative coins, engraved with “In Trump We Trust.” Trump signaled the possibility of a more aggressive approach to Islamic State militants. “We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones, and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth,” he said. The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted on Friday to confirm retired General James Mattis as defense secretary and retired General John Kelly as homeland security secretary, making them the first Trump Cabinet nominees to be approved. New Vice President Mike Pence swore both in Friday night. After repeating the 35-word oath of office in the ceremony, Trump stretched his arms wide and hugged his wife, Melania, and other members of his family. Ceremonial cannon blasts fired. The Trumps rode in a heavily armored limousine to lead an inaugural parade to the White House. The couple and their 10-year-old-son, Barron, hopped out of the limo and walked part of the parade route, waving to cheering well wishers. Later, they watched some of the parade from a reviewing stand built on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. Trump takes office with work to do to improve his image. An ABC News/Washington Post poll this week found only 40 percent of Americans viewed him favorably, the lowest rating for an incoming president since Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1977, and the same percentage approved of how he has handled the transition. Trump’s rise, while welcomed by Republicans tired of Obama’s eight years in office, raises a host of questions for the United States. Trump campaigned on a pledge to take the country on a more isolationist, protectionist path and he has vowed to impose a 35 percent tariff on imports from U.S. companies that went abroad. More than 60 Democratic lawmakers stayed away from the proceedings to protest Trump. Many demonstrators will participate in a “Women’s March on Washington” on Saturday. Protests are also planned in other cities in the United States and abroad. Trump’s to-do list has given Republicans hope that, since they also control the U.S. Congress, they can approve sweeping tax reform and roll back many federal regulations they say are stifling the U.S. economy, as well as repeal and replace Obamacare. “He’s going to inject a shock to the system here almost immediately,” Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News. Democrats, in search of firm political footing after the unexpected defeat of Clinton, are planning to fight him at every turn. Trump’s critics have been emboldened to attack his legitimacy because his win came only in the Electoral College, which gives smaller states more clout in the outcome. He lost the popular vote to Clinton by about 2.9 million. Trump’s critics also point to the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia used hacking and other methods during the campaign to try to tilt the election in the Republican’s favor. Trump has acknowledged the finding - denied by Moscow - that Russia was behind the hacking but said it did not affect the outcome of the election. ",1 """All violent video games to be banned in Germany"" - ""The law would result in no Call of Duty, no God of War, no Crysis, no World of Warcraft, no BioShock, no Uncharted, and no Grand Theft Auto.""",0 " Watch John Oliver Speak Directly To Donald Trump To Ask A VERY Important Question (VIDEO)If there s anyone who is absolutely tired of Donald Trump s shenanigans running for office, it s Last Week Tonight host John Oliver.On Sunday s show he had a simple request of Trump: Drop out. Simply drop out and tell America this entire candidacy was a stunt. A satire designed to expose the flaws in the system. He also added: You re either going to win, or you re going to lose, and I think both those scenarios end pretty badly for you. Oliver then went on to explain that if Trump were to win that he would absolutely unqualified and his candidacy is very reminiscent of a fiction book that is about a class clown who ran for president as a joke.Speaking directly to Trump, he also says: Although your campaign was the political equivalent of a bigoted clown s blazing funeral pyre, you have accidentally made upwards of four good points during this campaign. Adding: If you dropped out in order to teach America a lesson, you would not be a loser, you would be a legend. It would actually be something quite extraordinary if Trump were to just drop out, because it would absolutely expose how flawed not only our system is, but also how flawed many of the citizens are living within it.Oliver wants Trump to admit that it s all been a joke, and to come on his show, but under one condition, he must read the speech from the book The Kid Who Ran For President. That speech reads: I have a question for the grown-ups of America Are you out of your minds? Are you expecting me to enforce the Constitution? I never even read it. I was absent from school that day. You want me as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces? What if somebody attacks the United States? Would you really want me in charge? America must be in really bad shape if you elected me president. You better get it together and find some qualified people to run this country or we ll all be in big trouble. It s a speech that one could quite literally imagine Trump saying.Now it s up to Trump to own up to pulling a fast one over on the United States and appear on Oliver s show, OR continue on being the schmuck that he may truly be. It s really up to him.Watch the segment here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDqDKfBvirQFeatured image via video screen capture",0 "Justice Department asks U.S. judge to reconsider ruling against Trump sanctuary orderSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Monday asked a federal judge to reconsider a ruling which blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to cut off federal funding for so-called sanctuary cities, citing a new memo from the attorney general. U.S. District Judge William Orrick III in San Francisco last month said Trump’s order targeted broad categories of federal funding for sanctuary governments and that plaintiffs challenging the order were likely to succeed in proving it unconstitutional. The Republican president’s moves on immigration have galvanized legal advocacy groups, along with Democratic city and state governments, to oppose them in court. The administration suffered an earlier defeat when two federal judges suspended executive orders restricting travel from several Muslim-majority countries. The government has appealed those decisions. The new filing comes in the wake of a memo released on Monday in which Attorney General Jeff Sessions formally endorsed a narrower interpretation of Trump’s order, saying that the only funds the government intended to withhold were certain grants tied to law enforcement programs. “The authoritative position set forth in the AG memorandum squarely contradicts the court’s determination,” DOJ lawyers wrote. In Orrick’s original ruling against the Trump order, he cited comments by the president and Sessions which suggested the government intended to target a much wider swath of federal funds. Sanctuary cities generally offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and often do not use municipal funds or resources to advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Dozens of local governments and cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, have joined the growing “sanctuary” movement. Supporters of the sanctuary policy argue that enlisting police cooperation in rounding up immigrants for removal undermines communities’ trust in local police, particularly among Latinos. The Trump administration contends that local authorities endanger public safety when they decline to hand over for deportation illegal immigrants arrested for crimes. Santa Clara County, which includes the city of San Jose and several smaller Silicon Valley communities, sued in February, saying Trump’s order was unconstitutional. San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit. ",1 "Bosnia's war crimes court gives former Serb officer Milorad Trbic 30 years for killing dozens and taking part in the persecution and detention of thousands during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Muslims, but acquits him of genocide charges due to lack of evidence",0 "Ancient planets are almost as old as the universe: Five small planets orbit an 11.2 billion-year-old star, making them about 80 per cent as old as the universe itself. That means our galaxy started building rocky planets earlier than we thought.",0 Suicide bomber kills 20 in Afghan mosque ,1 Largest-ever dark-matter experiment poised to test popular theory,0 UN find challenges Israeli version of attack on civilian building in Gaza war,1 "India files sex assault case against airline passenger for allegedly molesting Bollywood actressMUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian police have filed a sexual assault case against an airline passenger after a 17-year-old Bollywood actress said the male passenger had molested her during a New Delhi-Mumbai flight, police said on Monday. A special court ordered police to detain the passenger for interrogation until Wednesday, when the case will be heard next. It can take months for formal charges to be filed in India. Zaira Wasim, the actress, was seen sobbing in a video she posted on Instagram after getting off a Vistara flight. She alleged she was attacked by the passenger seated behind her. He kept nudging my shoulder and continued to move his foot up and down my back and neck, Wasim said in the post. Is this how we are going to take care of girls? The video sparked outrage on social media with fans coming out in support of Wasim, who shot to fame through her role as a child wrestler in the 2016 blockbuster Bollywood drama Dangal . Police have registered a case against a man identified as Vikas Sachdeva, under Section 354 - for assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty - and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, a Mumbai police control room official said. Vistara is jointly owned by Tata and Singapore Airlines. We are investigating fully and will support Zaira in every way required, Vistara chief strategy and commercial officer Sanjiv Kapoor said. We have zero tolerance for this kind of thing. Neither Sachdeva or his lawyers could be reached for comment. In court, Sachdeva s lawyer accused Wasim of making the allegations for publicity, and asked why she had not complained to crew members during the flight. Local media quoted the suspect s wife, Divya Sachdeva, as saying her husband was innocent and that she was returning from a funeral and had been asleep on the flight. She accused Wasim of having made the allegations for publicity. A spokeswoman for the airline said it had provided details to the police and aviation authorities and its senior management had flown to Mumbai to assist Wasim in the investigation. We are deeply concerned and regret the unfortunate experience Ms. Zaira Wasim had onboard our flight last night. India s National Commission for Women, a government-appointed body fighting for women s rights, has asked the airline to explain why the crew did not step in to help the actress, according to local media reports. This is not done at all, Wasim, who hails from the northern Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, was seen saying in the video while wiping away tears. This is not...how people should be made to feel. ",1 "The 14th round begins: of negotiations over the TPP, a secretive, multi-national trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive IP laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on their enforcement",1 "Irma shakes Havana's deadly crumbling buildingsHAVANA (Reuters) - Roydis Vald s dilapidated home on Animas Street in the densely packed center of Old Havana had been declared uninhabitable by Cuba s Communist authorities years ago, his neighbors said. After Hurricane Irma shook the Cuban capital - a crumbling architectural jewel of the Caribbean - Vald s and his brother were found under a collapsed wall, just two of the seven people killed by falling buildings on the island. Havana s historic center, where baroque Spanish colonial-era palaces butt shoulders with sleek Art Deco apartment buildings, was already crumbling before it took a lashing from Irma - a visible reminder of the hardship caused by a 57-year U.S. trade embargo. Residents fear the violent storm - the worst to hit the Cuban mainland since 1932 - will accelerate the city s decline. While the eye of the hurricane did not reach the capital, tropical-storm force winds and heavy rains of its outer bands, as well as a storm surge, wrought havoc on its decrepit buildings. Salty water from Irma s heavy rains that has seeped into the brick and mortar of the capital s buildings will worsen corrosion and likely cause a raft of new collapses, residents and architects warn. Now when the sun comes out, that s when things will really start to fall apart in Havana, said Berta Rodriguez, a 71-year-old pensioner who lives on Animas Street and knew Vald s and his brother well. We spent years asking the state to remove them from there, she said, crying. The state has to answer for this. Irma has shone an unwelcome spotlight on the Caribbean nation s housing problems at a tricky time for the government. Already dealing with a cash crunch in the wake of a steep decline in aid from its key ally, Venezuela, Cuba also faces a political transition as President Raul Castro steps down next year, symbolizing the passing of the baton from the generation that led the 1959 Revolution. Rodriguez, who evacuated to her son s sturdier home during the hurricane, says she has been asking the Communist authorities for a new home for more than 20 years, echoing the frustrations of many Havana residents. After the Revolution led by Raul Castro s elder brother Fidel, the Cuban state confiscated many of Havana s grand historic buildings and distributed them to poor and middle-class families who over the years have divided them into ever-smaller units. Maintaining those buildings in a punishing tropical climate, however, fell by the wayside as the Communist government prioritized universal healthcare and education, as well as building infrastructure in the impoverished countryside. With state salaries averaging $30 per month and credit hard to get, Cubans say they do not have the money to fix up buildings themselves. A builder told me I need to repair the walls that are full of holes, but I couldn t find the cash, said Rodriguez, who suffers from chronic bronchitis made worse by her badly leaking ceiling. About 4,400 cases of damage to housing were reported in the capital due to Irma, state-run media said on Thursday. Of those, authorities confirmed nearly 1,200 buildings were entirely or partially destroyed. The city is working on restoring damaged roofs and preparing two shelters for families left homeless, the newspaper Granma added. But this will solve only part of a far greater problem. The housing deficit in the nation of 11 million people rose last year by 30,000 to nearly 900,000 units, the government told parliament in July. In Havana, it estimated a shortage of more than 200,000 homes. The state had built 316,595 homes between 1990 and 2013, an effort that the president of the Construction Commission Santiago Lajes Choy told parliament was still insufficient. Litza Penalver, whose sister s family lives in the building on Animas street partially destroyed by Irma, said authorities want to get residents out now. They want to demolish it, to cover up their errors, she said. They want to oblige us to stay in a large shelter and wait (for a new house) but the wait can last 30 years - Cuba doesn t have the resources. Many Havana residents say they would prefer to stay in their decrepit homes, no matter how dangerous, rather than move to large shelters that offer no privacy. Still, with the rainy season ongoing, many worry that more hurricanes could hit before it ends in November. While Irma has exacerbated frustration with Cuba s housing problems, even dissidents say it is unlikely to fuel outright opposition to the government. There might be more spontaneous, isolated expressions of discontent, said Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), one of the island s largest dissident groups. But not organized protests with clear political aims given the high level of repression at the moment. Rodriguez, Penalver and others on Animas Street said theirs was not a political problem and noted they were strong supporters of the Revolution that toppled right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and subsequently provided free healthcare and education to ordinary Cubans. I love my country, said Penalver, adding she had a Spanish passport but chose to live in Cuba. I m not looking for political problems. I m looking for solution to the housing issue. ",1 "CLASSY GEORGE CLOONEY: “Steve Bannon is a failed f—ing screenwriter” If He Was In Hollywood, He’d Be “licking my A** to get me to do one of his stupid-ass screenplays”Steve Bannon has called himself a street fighter, but George Clooney has another way to describe the controversial former advisor to President Donald Trump: a failed f ing screenwriter. Speaking to journalists at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday to promote his new film, the racially-charged Suburbicon, Clooney unloaded on Bannon, who will appear on Sunday s 60 Minutes for his first televised interview since leaving the White House last month. I like picking fights. I like that Breitbart News wants to have my head. I d be ashamed 10 years from now if those weaselly little putzes, whose voices are getting a lot higher every week as this presidency starts to look worse and worse weren t still [after me], Clooney said. Steve Bannon is a failed f ing screenwriter, and if you ve ever read [his] screenplay, it s unbelievable. Now, if he d somehow managed miraculously to get that thing produced, he d still be in Hollywood, still making movies and licking my ass to get me to do one of his stupid-ass screenplays. Before he became a prominent right-wing media baron and member of Trump s inner circle, Bannon worked in Hollywood as a producer and financier (he famously made some money off the Seinfeld syndication deal). He also dabbled in screenwriting, having co-written a hip-hop musical based on Shakespeare s Coriolanus that takes place during the 1992 L.A. riots. (Clooney has mocked Bannon for his Hollywood background in the past as well.)Paul Joseph Watson had one of the best videos ever in response to Clooney s remarks about Trump (above). ***Language warning*** ",0 "World Bank: tackle global warming and add $2 trillion to global economy, save a million lives",0 The Economist is now publishing anti-Russia propaganda.,1 "UK cod collapse due to overfishing & politics - Criticism follows EU's recommendation to stop cod fishing in Irish Sea & off west Scotland",0 "North Korean leader makes first appearance in weeks, pays tribute to late grandfather, father at mausoleum",0 " Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson STUNS America With Statement On Presidential ElectionFor months, various third parties have been making all sorts of noises about how we need third-party candidates in the presidential elections if we ever want to break the tyranny of the two-party system. This has resonated especially well with people who think Hillary Clinton is about as bad as Donald Trump. However, Libertarian Gary Johnson, and his running mate, Bill Weld, have issued a surprising announcement about this election that doesn t include begging for votes for Johnson.The Johnson-Weld campaign believes that Trump is a monumentally bad choice for President of the United States, saying, in their statement on the matter: A President of the United States operates every day under a great deal of pressure from all sides, and in furtherance of many different agendas. With that pressure comes constant criticism.After careful observation and reflection, I have come to believe that Donald Trump, if elected President of the United States, would not be able to stand up to this pressure and this criticism without becoming unhinged and unable to perform competently the duties of his office. [emphasis mine]No, Trump wouldn t be able to handle the pressure. Johnson and Weld are both reading this quite correctly, because Trump is a) too thin-skinned to deal with hostile world leaders who might ridicule him (along with a hostile Congress that just won t do his bidding), and b) just plain too mired in fascism to be the leader of the free world. He would destroy the free world.The campaign went on to say: Mr. Trump has some charisma and panache, and intellectual quickness. These qualities can be entertaining. Yet more than charisma, more even than intellectual ability, is required of a serious candidate for this country s highest office. A serious candidate for the Presidency of the United States must be stable, and Donald Trump is not stable. [emphasis mine]While it does sound like they re admitting defeat and endorsing Hillary, or, at least, trying to convince people to vote for Hillary, that s not quite the case, whatever other sites have claimed. The Johnson-Weld campaign wants the Nov. 8 election to be between Johnson and Hillary, rather than Hillary and Trump: Governor Weld and Governor Johnson are campaigning nonstop, with rallies and appearances scheduled over the next few days across the country from Alaska to Cincinnati, and are fully committed to giving voters the third choice they deserve in this election.Any suggestion to the contrary is the product of active imaginations and partisans in both the Republican and Democrat camps who see how many independents, millennials [sic] and other disenfranchised voters are looking to the Johnson-Weld ticket as a vote they can cast in good conscience. Either way, the Johnson campaign, despite being much closer to Republicans than Democrats ideologically, cannot stomach voting for Trump. They can t tolerate their voters voting for Trump, either, but neither do they want their voters choosing Hillary.Featured image by Bill McCay via Getty Images for SiriusXM",0 "Trump urges U.N. council to renew Syria chemical arms inquiryWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday urged all members of the U.N. Security Council to back the renewal of the international inquiry into chemical weapons attacks in Syria, saying it was needed to prevent President Bashar al-Assad from using the arms. Need all on the UN Security Council to vote to renew the Joint Investigative Mechanism for Syria to ensure that Assad Regime does not commit mass murder with chemical weapons ever again, Trump said in a note on Twitter. The 15-nation council was due to vote on Thursday on rival U.S. and Russian bids to renew the international inquiry, diplomats said on Wednesday, a move that could trigger Russia s 10th veto to block action on Syria. ",1 "Haiti earthquake: With an eye to both short and long-term needs, IFRC increases appeal to 100 million USD",0 "Obama pushes values and prods Trump in final, emotional address (The story refiles, to fix quote in 14th paragraph to read “middle-aged white guy,” not “middle-aged white man”; read “has seen his world,” not “who’s seen his world”; add dropped word “and”) By Jeff Mason CHICAGO (Reuters) - With a final call of his campaign mantra “Yes We Can,” President Barack Obama urged Americans on Tuesday to stand up for U.S. values and reject discrimination as the United States transitions to the presidency of Republican Donald Trump. In an emotional speech in which he thanked his family and declared his time as president the honor of his life, Obama gently prodded the public to embrace his vision of progress while repudiating some of the policies that Trump promoted during his campaign for the White House. “So just as we, as citizens, must remain vigilant against external aggression, we must guard against a weakening of the values that make us who we are,” Obama told a crowd of 18,000 in his hometown of Chicago, where he celebrated his election in 2008 as the first black president of the United States. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, proposed temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country, building a wall on the border with Mexico, upending a global deal to fight climate change and dismantling Obama’s healthcare reform law. Obama made clear his opposition to those positions during fiery campaign speeches for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but has struck a more conciliatory tone with Trump since the election. In his farewell speech, he made clear his positions had not changed and he said his efforts to end the use of torture and close the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were part of a broader move to uphold U.S. values. “That’s why I reject discrimination against Muslim Americans,” he said in a clear reference to Trump that drew applause. He said bold action was needed to fight global warming and said “science and reason” mattered. “If anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we’ve made to our healthcare system that covers as many people at less cost, I will publicly support it,” he said in another prodding challenge to his successor. Trump has urged the Republican-controlled Congress to repeal the law right away. Obama, who came to office amid high expectations that his election would heal historic racial divides, acknowledged that was an impossible goal. “After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America,” he said. “Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. Race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society.” However, Obama said he remained hopeful about the work that a younger generation would do. “Yes we can,” he said. “Yes we did.” In an indirect reference to the political work the Democratic Party will have to do to recover after Clinton’s loss, Obama urged racial minorities to seek justice not only for themselves but also for “the middle-aged white guy who from the outside may seem like he’s got advantages, but has seen his world upended by economic and cultural and technological change.” Trump won his election in part by appealing to working-class white men. First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, his wife Jill Biden, and many current and former White House staff members and campaign workers attended the speech. Obama wiped his eyes as he addressed his wife and thanked his running mate. They all appeared together on stage after the address. The Chicago visit is Obama’s last scheduled trip as president, and even the final flight on the presidential aircraft was tinged with wistfulness. It was the president’s 445th “mission” on Air Force One, a perk he has said he will miss when he leaves office, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. All told, Obama will have spent more than 2,800 hours or 116 days on the plane during his presidency. Obama plans to remain in Washington for the next two years while his younger daughter, Sasha, finishes high school. Sasha, who has an exam on Wednesday, did not attend the speech but her older sister Malia was there. The president has indicated he wants to give Trump the same space that his predecessor, Republican President George W. Bush, gave Obama after leaving office by not maintaining a high public profile. ",1 " HOLY F*CK: Trump Had to Be Forced To Say He Hasn’t Sexually Assaulted Women (VIDEO)At the second presidential debate, Donald Trump had a chance to address the controversy surrounding his claim that he greets seemingly every woman he meets by grabbing them by the pussy. To Trump, this was locker room talk, though I can t say I have ever been in a locker room in which anyone has bragged about sexually assaulting women. To the rest of us, it was a horrific reminder that the 2016 GOP nominee is exactly the sort of person to make creepy sexual remarks about his own daughter a man who has been sued for grabbing someone by the pussy (the woman was branded a liar), who is being sued for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, and who admitted he was attracted to 12-year-old Paris Hilton.Asked if The Donald had actually sexually assaulted women, he repeated that it was locker room talk (whatever that means), but was reticent to admit that he doesn t walk about grabbing women by the pussy largely because, one can safely assume, he can not honestly say that he has not sexually assaulted a woman. Sniffles deflected to ISIS for a while before explaining that it s just one of those things. Asked if he has ever kissed or groped a woman without her consent, Trump replied that he has great respect for women and that nobody has more respect for women than he does. For the record, you re saying you never did that, Anderson Cooper said, fishing for clarification. I ve said things, you hear these things I ve said, and I was embarrassed by it but I have tremendous respect for women and they have respect for me, Trump said, once again evading the question. Have you ever done those things? Cooper pressed, finally earning an offhanded no I have not from Trump before he went on to call Bill Clinton a rapist.Watch it below: ",0 Israeli Air Force Prepare for Airstrike on Iran,0 " Trump HUMILIATED Over Name-Drop That’s Worse Than Frederick Douglass Gaffe (TWEETS)Is The Donald really this oblivious to the entire world? And history? And, well, everything? Two and a half months after embarrassing himself by implying that Frederick Douglass was still alive, he embarrasses himself by dropping the name of yet another famous person who has passed away Luciano Pavarotti. He didn t just imply that Pavarotti is still living today (he died of pancreatic cancer ten years ago). While he and Italy s prime minister held a joint press conference, he must have decided to praise Italy for the gift of Pavarotti (or rather, he decided to use Pavarotti to puff himself up and appear more superior) by saying: Pavarotti, friend of mine, great friend of mine. First off, as stated before, Pavarotti is no longer gracing the world with his amazing tenor voice. Twitter made a point of reminding Trump of that:@kylegriffin1 @colattesipper @MSNBC Which is when I wish that Trump had died, instead of Pavarotti. Since at least Pavarotti could sing, and Trump can t do anything ..sad! Conversation Bug (@Conversationbug) April 20, 2017I can t get enough of this.#Trump #pavarotti such good friends.#FakePresident#FakeFriends#DeadFriends https://t.co/stId5Lkx0N Betsy (@studio_gal) April 20, 2017So Trump let everyone know that Pavarotti is a friend of his. Maybe he ll invite Pavarotti and Frederick Douglass to attend a WH dinner. Gail Stein (@gailstein) April 20, 2017@kylegriffin1 @jefferyrhenry @MSNBC Is Trump inviting Frederick Douglass and Pavarotti for unbelievable chocolate cake? Leticia (@ColinLeti) April 20, 2017@ALT_uscis We re still at zero for the number of days he hasn t been an embarrassment to this country. Kim Thompson (@KimYarnwrangler) April 20, 2017@ALT_uscis Chef Boyardee. The best chef. Great friend of mine. He cooks for me all the time. Love his food. Anybody s Guess (@boxcarbrenda) April 20, 2017@kylegriffin1 @MSNBC Since Trump and Pavarotti are such great friends I m sure he ll be saddened to hear of his passing #LobCitySoldier (@RealAnthony14) April 20, 2017Trump & Pavarotti were great friends. They d get together & wear each other s sports bras. Good DAY, Sir! (@xISaidGoodDAY) April 20, 2017Little known fact: Trump still gets together every weekend with Joe Paterno and Luciano Pavarotti for Trump s Little Italy club. https://t.co/h5z6faw64l Joe Bob #721 (@JHowieJr) April 20, 2017Trump should have asked Pavarotti to sing at his inauguration. William Peace ?? (@WilliamPeace81) April 20, 2017@sddphoto @ntned I know who Pavarotti is, but I don t know why Trump thinks he is still alive. sara caudell (@CaudellSara) April 20, 2017Don t worry, guys. Pavarotti told Marcello Mastroianni we should keep acting as if Trump s normal, and Marcello told me. Suzanne Munshower (@expatina) April 20, 2017@IMPL0RABLE @teka21bat Trump s presser with Italian PM is so cringe worthy, his good friend Pavarotti can t even stand to watch it. (((Shelley Rivlin))) (@srivlin) April 20, 2017But it s also not likely that Pavarotti was any friend of Trump s at all. Trump repeatedly used a recording of him singing Puccini s Nessun Dorma during his campaign, and his family asked Trump to stop. Nessun Dorma means None Shall Sleep, and Pavarotti s rendition has a climax where he sings Vincero three times, which means I will win. We all know how Trump likes to win. The family issued a statement that said: As members of his immediate family, we would like to recall that the values of brotherhood and solidarity which Luciano Pavarotti expressed throughout the course of his artistic career are entirely incompatible with the world view offered by the candidate Donald Trump. Trump may well have met Pavarotti at some point, but one would think that, if they had been great friends, he would have at least been able to act like he knew Pavarotti was gone. The family may also have taken that into account regarding the use of Pavarotti s aria at rallies if it were true.So not only did he again demonstrate that he doesn t know a damn thing about anything that goes on, and he likely lied about being great friends with that man. Pavarotti was a great man. Trump is an insecure, pathetic fraction of a man.Watch below:Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images",0 "A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced a member of an independent human rights organization to eight years in prison in the latest guilty verdict to be issued against the group's members, rights group Amnesty International said",0 Hungary to Seal Border With Croatia to Stem Flow of Immigrants,1 "Osama Bin Laden told his children: ""Live in Peace in the West. Get an Education.""",1 "Turkey: On the day of the Gaza flotilla raid, 7 Turkish sailors were killed by Kurdish terrorists... using rockets.",1 Taliban Join Global Effort to Kill Off Polio in 2016,1 " Donald Trump Thanks The ‘Poorly Educated’ For Handing Him Victory In Nevada (VIDEO)Donald Trump moved ever closer to securing the Republican nomination for President of the United States this week with victory in the Nevada caucus.There s no way around it Trump thrashed his opponents in Nevada. He won a massive 45.9% of the vote, knocking Marco Rubio into 2nd place with just 23.9%, and Cruz in 3rd on 21.4%. It appears that the Trump campaign is unassailable at this point, although a week is a long time in U.S. politics.Graphic via GuardianPerhaps the darkest moment of the night was when Trump actually said these words in his victory speech: We won with poorly educated! I love the poorly educated! There were whopping cheers and applause for this comment. Which seemingly bore zero irony. He continued: We re the smartest people. We re the most loyal people. First things first: Donald Trump is not poorly educated. He attended the Kew Forest School until 8th grade before spending the rest of his schooling in the New York Military Academy. He later won a bachelors degree in Economic from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. So, another total lie from this candidate.One reason poorly educated might appeal to Trump though, is that part of the education process is to give a person the tools to think critically about an issue, and to fact-check arguments. It is not to say you cannot have these skills without a decent high school education, but it s an uphill struggle. It s not impossible to save a person having a heart attack without having had medical training, but you d put your money on the doctor every time.So, now wonder Trump would like to keep America under-educated.According to leading fact-checking site Politifact, just 1% of claims made by Donald Trump are true. One percent! Meanwhile, 3 out of every 5 statements he makes are absolute lies. Let s take a look back at some of those lies:They just keep on coming.And on the matter of faith, Donald Trump is now claiming to be some sort of born again evangelical. Yet, Trump has been married three times, pokes fun of Holy Communion as eating the little cracker , claims he has never asked God to forgive his sins in his life, and could not name a single passage of the Bible when pressed for his favorite piece of scripture.Trump is about as devout a Christian as Bill Nye.And yet, he is winning evangelical support in droves. Why? Because the evangelical, Christian Conservative movement has zero to do with faith in God, and everything to do with a fanatical conviction in right-wing principles of crony capitalism, white supremacy, homophobia and sexism.If this was not the case, Trump would be the LAST candidate that appealed to Evangelicals. To any right-thinking Christian, he is the 21st century incarnation of the Whore of Babylon.But Trump gets a pass for all of this, because under-educated people are having their ignorance exploited, and bigoted people are having their bellies tickled. This resurgent right is euphoric that it s candidate can say things on national television that have been outlawed in workplaces and public spaces for decades. They are thrilled that hate has been made mainstream by their candidate, and they are going to come out in their droves to support him.This means that voting in this year s election will be the most important ballots cast on American soil in a very long time. The reproductive rights of women, the rights of LGBT Americans, the rights of non-Christians, the rights of victims of rape and sexual assault, the rights of victims of gun crime, the rights of non-white Americans they are all on the chopping block in this election. Every American with a conscience and a sense of decency has the absolute duty to make a stand against this sh*tstorm of stupidity, bigotry and ignorance. Featured Image via Screengrab",0 "SHOUT! POLL: Should Protesters Be Allowed to Shut Down Political Rallies? 21st Century Wire asks HAVE YOUR SHOUT: Friday night in Chicago saw an unprecedented incident where flash mobs from an opposing political party were successful in shutting down a presidential political rally. We ask our readers if protesters should be allowed to shut down political rallies.Vote, comment and share below READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files",0 Four men admit London Stock Exchange bomb plot ... pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism,1 Israel's elections bring 'racism' to the fore,1 First photos of so-called Fukushima Fifty the crew working around the clock to prevent a meltdown ,1 Show-off French philosopher BHL is a laughing stock after citing spoof fictional philosopher,0 "In a study of more than 5.7 million children in 5 countries, Autism was found to be linked to parental age.",0 Heavy clashes between the Syrian Army and the Islamic State resulted in a defeat for the Islamic State in Eastern Reef Homs and the Syrian Army took over an Oil well,1 " Report: Trump Businesses Seeking Dozens Of Special Visas For Foreign WorkersDuring Made In America week, an initiative which is supposedly to promote U.S. jobs and products, the Trump Organization is asking the federal government to grant dozens of special visas to foreign nationals to work at two of Donald Trump s private clubs in Florida, including his Mar-a-Lago resort, which he also calls the Winter White House. it s like the former reality show star isn t even trying anymore.ABC reports:The company is seeking 35 waiters and waitresses at Mar-a-Lago along with 20 cooks and 15 maids. A listing is also posted for six cooks at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter. The jobs pay anywhere from $10.33 to $20.01 per hour. They run from Oct. 1 to May 31.On Thursday, requests for H-2B visas had been made public on the Department of Labor s website.The jobs would begin in October and end in May 2018 and pay a minimum of $10.33, $11.88 and $13.34 per hour but would be eligible for higher wages with overtime.The visa request filing came just days after the Trump administration announced it would offer an extra 15,000 temporary, seasonal work visas this budget year and we re sure that s not a coincidence at all.In mid-April, Trump signed an executive order which promotes the Buy American and Hire American idea.The EO states it is to create higher wages and employment rates for workers in the United States. While we wouldn t have any problem with the hiring of foreign workers, Trump s hypocrisy is staggering.CNN reports:A CNN analysis of visa records in April found businesses run and owned by Trump and his adult children have been certified to hire at least 1,371 foreign visa workers since 2001.Just this past March, a winery owned by Eric Trump in Virginia applied to hire more foreign workers to pick grapes after being unable to find U.S. citizens willing to do the job.Trump s actions against immigration has farmers concerned because, they also hire foreign workers. If it gets worse, as one farmer put it, you re going to be living in a world without peaches maybe at least California peaches. But Mar-a-Lago and the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, will be OK. Whew!Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.",0 "Israel Stole $2B from Palestinian Workers, Israeli economists have revealed",0 More people in Europe are dying than are being born,0 Sri Lankan Cricketers seriously injured when their bus was ambushed by terrorists in Pakistan,0 S.African hospital reports 'superbug' outbreak,0 Iranian forces ready to clear country of 'hooligans',0 Sister of slain scientist says Iran killed him because he would not agree to help weaponize peaceful nuclear activities.,0 Temperatures in Germany fell as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius on Monday night and the weather is expected to remain Arctic for several days.,1 "Greenwald: The detention of my partner, David Miranda, by UK authorities will have the opposite effect of the one intended",0 "Venezuelan opposition disarray heaps pain on protestersCARACAS/SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (Reuters) - With some nursing wounds, others jailed and many heading abroad, Venezuela s young opposition supporters are demoralized by the ruling socialists shock election win this month, after prolonged protests failed to oust President Nicolas Maduro. Having for months led rallies and battles against Maduro s security forces in which scores died, youth demonstrators reluctantly abandoned the streets as the opposition turned its attention to the Oct. 15 gubernatorial vote. Though the opposition looked set to win comfortably due to public anger over food and medicine shortages, plus soaring inflation, the government took 18 of 23 governorships. That left thousands of young protesters furious and disillusioned with opposition leadership. Many had vigorously opposed participating in the election because it would legitimize what they see as a dictatorship. We have been betrayed, said graphic designer Manuel Melo, 21, who lost a kidney when hit by a water cannon jet. The political opposition does not represent us, he added, in his small bedroom in a poor neighborhood of the teeming capital Caracas. A stylized picture of a heart emblazoned one wall of the room, while a gas mask, used to protect him from tear gas during the unrest, adorned the other. Melo and many others now see the protests, which left 125 people dead and thousands wounded or in jail, as a waste of time. They have little stomach to return to the fight and view the leaders of the opposition Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition as traitors for abandoning the streets in favor of a ballot they believe was rigged by the pro-Maduro election board. Their disillusionment heightened this week when four of the five winning opposition governors with the Democratic Action party broke ranks with the coalition to swear themselves in before an all-powerful legislative superbody that Maduro s foes had vowed never to recognize. That set off a round of unseemly in-fighting and recriminations within the opposition, with heavyweight leader Henrique Capriles saying he would abandon the coalition while Democratic Action leader Henry Ramos remained a member. I m totally dejected because after all these protests, the election, nothing has changed, said student Javier Lara, 18, who watched a fellow protester die in unrest in the volatile city of San Cristobal on the border with Colombia. Like many young Venezuelans, Lara now plans to head abroad as soon as possible - to Peru in his case. We ve been sold out by the opposition, he said. The Democratic Unity coalition finds itself in crisis. Its strategy of contesting the gubernatorial elections backfired spectacularly. In the wake of defeat, stunned opposition leaders could not even agree whether to pursue fraud allegations, with some refusing to accept the election results and others publicly admitting defeat. A breakup, or reformulation of the coalition, now looks inevitable, with a new strategy and possibly fresh blood needed for the 2018 presidential election. Though polls routinely showed the opposition had majority support, many Venezuelans view their leaders as an elitist group out-of-touch with their problems. The MUD is all over the place, said Antonio Ledezma, a veteran politician and former opposition mayor who is under house arrest. The international community deserves an explanation of our behavior. Some young opposition supporters are seeking inspiration away from traditional leaders. They voice admiration for Lorenzo Mendoza, a billionaire businessman who has shied away from politics, and Juan Carlos Caguaripano, a former National Guard captain who led an August attack on a military base. Heaping humiliation on the opposition, Maduro says daily in speeches that peace has won and a U.S.-backed plot to oust him has been defeated. To stoke his foes disarray, Maduro has urged Democratic Action leader Ramos - a hate figure for some younger opposition supporters - to stand in the next presidential vote. Get ready for 2018, I m waiting for you! Maduro said this week, exulting in the opposition s chaos , back-stabbing and divisionism . ",1 "GOVERNMENT SANTA CANDIDATE Gets Another Huge Endorsement… Just In Time For ChristmasThe USPS is drowning in debt, has lost every one of its life-lines and has mismanaged its funds for decades. No worries though, the US Postal Union is quite certain Socialist Santa Claus will fix everything Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won the endorsement of the American Postal Workers Union on Thursday, giving the self-described democratic socialist a boost as he seeks more support from organized labor in the Democratic primary.APWU represents 200,000 U.S. Postal Service employees and retirees. It s the second major national union and member of the AFL-CIO labor federation to endorse Sanders over rival and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.Sanders stands above all others as a true champion of postal workers and other workers throughout the country, said Mark Dimondstein, the union s president, in a statement. The endorsement came from the union s 13-member executive board.The United States Postal Service (USPS) lost $5.5 billion last year. That is the eighth annual loss in a row and the third-highest ever. The only silver lining is that the loss was below the red-ink tsunami of $15.9 billion in 2012.Why does the federal government deliver the mail? Why does it have a monopoly over delivering the mail?Admittedly, the Postal Service is one of the few government programs with actual constitutional warrant. The Constitution authorizes Congress to establish post offices. And early American politicians rushed to take advantage of their opportunity, creating the Post Office Department in 1792.With politics rather than service as the post office s priority, Congress took the next step and approved the Private Express Statutes, which prevented anyone from competing with the government in delivering first-class mail. And Uncle Sam enforced his monopoly, fining would-be competitors, including celebrated libertarian author Lysander Spooner.The feds continue to prosecute anyone with the temerity to compete with the USPS, even threatening the Cub Scouts for once offering to deliver Christmas cards.Believing that Americans existed to serve the USPS left the system ill-equipped to adapt to changing circumstances. In 1971, Congress turned the Post Office Department into the semi-independent USPS. That removed its direct role in politics, but the USPS still is exempt from taxes and regulations, including local parking restrictions. Congress retained its control over postal policies and, of course, preserved the system s delivery monopoly.But banning competition could not preserve the postal market. The number of pieces of mail peaked in 2001 and continues to fall despite a rising population. Mail pieces dropped from 213 billion in 2006 to 155 billion last year, and the number is expected to decline to 130 billion by 2020. The USPS s last profitable year was 2006. Since then, losses have run between $2.8 billion and $15.9 billion. The Postal Service has maxed out its borrowing from Uncle Sam and missed four retiree program payments. With characteristic understatement, the Government Accountability Office observed, Given its financial problems and outlook, USPS cannot support its current level of service and operations. The postal unions insist that nothing is wrong at least, nothing that a federal bailout wouldn t solve. They reserve particular ire for the requirement that the USPS prefund workers retirement. Had this rule not been in place, noted former postmaster general Patrick Donahoe, the Postal Service would have earned money last year.But prefunding protects taxpayers. Washington s unfunded (government) retirement liability is about $800 billion and growing every year. That no other agency is required to prefund is unfair to taxpayers, not the Postal Service, since every agency should have to set aside sufficient money to fulfill its financial promises. With the Postal Service earning too little to pay and with nothing left of its federal credit line, the USPS has defaulted four times over the last three years on its mandated contributions.Sanders has long been a vocal backer of a robust postal service, particularly during the postal reform debate of recent years. APWU views itself as fighting a battle against postal service privatization, and it counts the Vermont senator as perhaps its leading defender.As the postal service bleeds millions in losses mostly due to unique funding mandates placed upon it by Congress Sanders has staunchly opposed the closure of postal facilities and cuts in postal service, such as Saturday delivery. He is also a leading proponent of the concept of postal banking, which would allow post offices to provide small loans and compete with payday lenders. Postal banking is a top issue for APWU, and Sanders has sought to make it a campaign issue.In his statement, Dimondstein noted Sanders long history of standing with workers on picket lines, as well as his support for a national $15 per hour minimum wage. Sanders spoke at a protest against Verizon last month that was held by the Communications Workers of America union, and he joined a Fight for $15 rally outside the U.S. Capitol building earlier this week.Via: Huffington Post ",0 CNN's Richard Quest: Guilty bankers should clean toilets,0 Pentagon Papers leaker: Snowden was right to run,1 " CIA Finally Puts Biggest Lie About Iraq War To Rest; Bush/Cheney Should Be In PrisonIf you or your conservative friends, as many still do, ever believed that the Iraq war was a response for 9/11, the CIA finally put that myth to rest. Not only was the Iraq war one of the most fiscally and internationally irresponsible moves the George W. Bush administration could have made, it was based on lies and, as the CIA just confirmed, a political agenda.As recently as a year ago, polls were conducted that said that more than half of Americans still believe the lie that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11. He wasn t. The success of that massive lie is no doubt what led us to the fact free world which gave us Donald Trump.Instead of waiting to gather all the intelligence, according to the CIA, the Bush administration was fully committed to pulling the trigger immediately following the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.Discussing the first days of the Bush administration on BBC Radio 4 s Today Programme, (former CIA analyst John) Nixon said: We had gotten word that they saw Iraq as unfinished business . We never really understood at that point what unfinished business meant, but we knew that they wanted to do something. He added: You know, they had their minds made up from day one. And then after 9/11, that s when the death warrant for Saddam Hussein was signed. Source: IndependentNixon didn t offer any speculation as to why Bush had it in for Hussein, but a number of explanations have been floated, such as it was (as Nixon seems to imply) the younger Bush finishing what his father started when the George Bush Sr. invaded Iraq. Another possible explanation is even worse. It s war profiteering, plain and simple. It s also highly likely that it was both. The bottom line, though, is that we never should have been in Iraq and that was a giant failing of not just Washington, but of our media. Unfortunately, neither the media nor Washington seems to have learned their lessons and we will be led by lies from now until at least the end of the Trump administration.Featured image via Mike Heffner/Getty Images",0 Billions flown out of Kabul in suitcases,0 "With recently gained power, German Socialists and Greens have forced Merkel into a U-turn & required a new Financial Transactions Tax into the new EU Treaty.",0 " White Racists Are FURIOUS With Netflix; The Poor Little Snowflakes Are Even BoycottingIf it weren t for the whiney phrase, political correctness, which is really just another phrase for being polite, Donald Trump would likely have never invaded the White House. It seems that over the last 50 or so years, black people have gotten much too uppity, so when Netflix announced the release of a series called Dear White People, which isn t supposed to be exactly flattering to white people and especially racist white people, they threw a fit and are canceling their Netflix memberships.Because they can be as cruel as they want toward People of Color, but if the People of Color call them on it, well, that s out of bounds. So, White Supremacists, taking a cue from their Supreme Orange Leader, came up with a protest Twitter hashtag, #NoNetflix.Netflix announced a new anti-white show (Dear White People) that promotes white genocide.I cancelled my account, do the same. #NoNetflix pic.twitter.com/2HIGqviLHj Shia LeBaked (@bakedalaska) February 8, 2017This is the type of anti-white bigotry that gets incited by @Netflix sponsored shows. #NoNetflix pic.twitter.com/gaozYZ6kyO Shia LeBaked (@bakedalaska) February 10, 2017Netflix is working with Code Red Production, peddling their anti-White garbage. #NoNetflix #BoycottNetflix pic.twitter.com/ZutCzDus0L Boatsinker (@Clausfarre143) February 11, 2017To be fair, this is one of the show s writers, but after reading these tweets, I too hate white people and like Moore, I m one of them.Why I canceled my membership @netflix #NoNetflix pic.twitter.com/vQspcNM5Mi trevr (@trevrc) February 9, 2017If you can stomach it, read this trash:retweet and like if you think this guy summed it up beautifully. #netflix #NoNetflix pic.twitter.com/Xf8OVC24Uk Dwight Mann (@geno_philia) February 9, 2017Netflix. More like Nettrix, am I right? #NoNetflix #BoycottNetflix pic.twitter.com/EqDWW4vt5o Boatsinker (@Clausfarre143) February 9, 2017So, what is this that got the Dear White People riled up? This trailer that talks about people dressing up in black face, which I thought we agreed a long time ago was beyond offensive.Take a stroll through those comments and you ll be hating white people too.The series is based on a movie of the same name and if white people watched it with open minds, they would know that no one came across as anything more than flawed human, although deservedly, white people were portrayed as much less aware.Featured image via John Moore/Getty Images",0 " Pres. Obama Just Saved Chelsea Manning On His Way Out The DoorPresidential commutations and pardons are not at all uncommon. However, they can sometimes be controversial. President Obama s commutations and pardons are no different. Case in point his commutation of former Army soldier Chelsea Manning s 35-year prison sentence for her activities regarding leaking secrets to Wikileaks.Manning was charged and prosecuted as Bradley Manning, and then, after a great struggle, underwent gender reassignment surgery in prison and changed her name to Chelsea Manning. There was plenty of evidence that, like many transgender people, Manning was treated inhumanely in the military prison. She has attempted suicide on two occasions, and it is reported that she did not receive proper care after her surgery. She has also been subjected to solitary confinement.With President Obama s action, the cruel and unusual punishment Manning has been subjected to will come to an end on May 17, 2017. Manning will have been in jail for roughly seven years at that time.This also may help bring Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to justice, as last week Wikileaks tweeted the following: If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case. While there is no way of knowing if this is true or not, considering who Julian Assange is, it would certainly be a step in the right direction.Of course, conservatives are hating on the President s decision. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas tried to say that President Obama s using his power in this way is bad for the cause of criminal justice reform: I think on the larger issue of criminal justice reform, the president is really undermining our political capital by granting clemency at an unprecedented rate. People say, well why should we change the sentencing rules in criminal justice reform if the president can just do it with a flick of his pen? This is, of course, a load of BS, but facts and Republicans don t mix very well these days. Anyone with a brain knows that an overhaul of the so-called justice system is needed, full stop. A few commutations and pardons here and there will not change that fact.Good on you, Mr. President, for doing the right thing. We sure will miss you.Featured image via Flickr",0 "Trump tells Sisi U.S., Egypt will fight Islamist militants togetherWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump moved to reset U.S. relations with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday after the prior Obama administration’s strained ties, giving him firm backing and vowing to work together to fight Islamist militants. A joint statement said the two leaders agreed on the importance of advancing peace throughout the Middle East, including in Libya, Syria, and Yemen, and expressed interest in supporting Israel and the Palestinians in moving toward peace. “I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President Sisi. He’s done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt,” Trump said in an Oval Office meeting with the Egyptian leader. The trip was Sisi’s first official U.S. visit since being elected president in 2014. Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, never extended an invitation. Obama froze aid to Egypt for two years after Sisi, then a general, overthrew President Mohamed Mursi in mid-2013 after mass protests against Mursi’s rule. Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, had been elected the previous year. The one-on-one meeting between Trump and Sisi, followed by a separate gathering with top aides, showed how intent the new U.S. president is on rebooting the bilateral relationship and building on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September. “I just want to say to you, Mr President, that you have a great friend and ally in the United States, and in me,” Trump said. Sisi said he appreciated that Trump has been “standing very strong ... to counter this evil ideology.” The joint statement said Trump and Sisi agreed that Islamist militants could not be defeated solely by military force. It said the leaders “agreed on the necessity of recognizing the peaceful nature of Islam and Muslims around the world.” While Trump noted the United States and Egypt “have a few things” they do not agree on, he made no public airing of U.S. concerns about human rights in Egypt. Rights groups have called for the release of Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American who works with street children and was arrested in May 2014 on human trafficking charges. Hijazi has been held in custody for 33 months in violation of Egyptian law, which states that the maximum period for pre-trial detention is 24 months. A senior administration official said the subject of Hijazi did not come up in the meeting with Trump, Sisi and their advisers, but said the detention was an issue of concern and a case that was being watched closely by the Trump administration. At the United Nations in New York, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said the Trump administration was not backing away from human rights “because they fully support me speaking about human rights in the Security Council.” Human rights groups have estimated that Sisi’s government has detained at least 40,000 political prisoners. Egypt has long been one of Washington’s closest allies in the Middle East, receiving $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid annually. It is fighting an Islamist insurgency in Sinai in which hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed. ",1 "None of Japans 16 nuclear power plants has satisfied the government's proposed new safety standards, making them ineligible to be restarted in the near future, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey. ",1 The Sad Truth About Liberal Logic In One Meme The liberal logic of Bernie Sanders fans who would vote for more free stuff that taxpayers have to pay for. ,0 "BREAKING: US SUPREME COURT RULES King Obama Overstepped Authority…Executive Amnesty For 5 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS/ Democrat Voters Not Going To HappenDon t let the door hit ya B..b..but who will beat up innocent Trump supporters? The assertion of presidential power was remarkable in scale. With the flick of a pen just before Thanksgiving in 2014, President Obama ordered that nearly five million illegal immigrants be allowed to come out of the shadows and work legally in the United States.Standing at the same lectern where he had announced the death of Osama bin Laden three years earlier, Mr. Obama insisted in a speech to the nation that his plan for immigrants was a fully legal response to a Republican-controlled Congress that had refused his plea for an overhaul of the nation s immigration laws.But on Thursday, the Supreme Court disagreed. In a 4-to-4 decision, the justices let stand a lower court ruling that Mr. Obama had overstepped his authority. The decision freezes the president s actions for the balance of his term, leaving the future of the program and millions of undocumented workers in limbo.Mr. Obama campaigned vowing to win passage of comprehensive immigration legislation in his first year in office, but the Supreme Court defeat will force him to finish his term without securing the major progress he had promised to millions of Latino immigrants living under the threat of deportation.Instead, one of the president s chief immigration legacies will be the years of increased enforcement he ordered at the border with Mexico and in immigrant communities, hoping it would lead to a compromise with Republicans. The aggressive actions of immigration agents and local law enforcement, especially during Mr. Obama s first term, angered many family members separated by raids and deportations.Mr. Obama did earn praise from Hispanics for taking action in 2012 to help the so-called Dreamers, young undocumented immigrants who had been brought to the United States as small children. Under the president s program, more than 730,000 of them received documents allowing them to work legally without constant fear that they might be sent home.Hillary Clinton, who embraced the president s executive action programs, has said she would expand them. The court s actions could complicate her ability to do that if she is elected president in the fall.But the successful legal assault on Mr. Obama s actions may also yield some political benefits for Mrs. Clinton and Democrats by helping to motivate and energize Hispanic voters who are angry with the court s decision. Activists have promised to punish Donald J. Trump and other Republicans who opposed the president s actions by registering more Hispanic voters and getting them to vote. Mr. Trump s rhetorical assault on immigrants, especially Mexicans, is also likely to help energize Hispanic activists on behalf of Mrs. Clinton and other Democratic candidates.The court s action comes after nearly eight years of largely futile attempts by the president to make good on his promise.Mr. Obama had resorted to executive actions in 2014 after years of fighting to get Congress to act. In 2013, the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration overhaul that the White House said the president could support. But House Republicans blocked any consideration of the legislation, accusing the Senate and Mr. Obama of supporting amnesty for the millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States.For most of his presidency, even Mr. Obama said he did not have the power to act unilaterally. He repeatedly told Hispanic activists that he could not use the Dreamers program as a model to expand similar protections to a much larger pool of illegal immigrants. If we start broadening that, then essentially I ll be ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally, Mr. Obama told Jose Diaz-Balart in an interview in September 2013, after it was clear that House Republicans were blocking the Senate s immigration measure. So that s not an option. NYT",0 "Turkey's Erdogan links fate of detained U.S. pastor to wanted cleric GulenANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan suggested on Thursday that Turkey could free a detained U.S. pastor if the United States handed over a Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania whom Ankara has blamed for a failed military coup last year, an idea that Washington appeared to dismiss. Turkey has been seeking the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan whose supporters are blamed for trying to overthrow Erdogan s government in July 2016. Gulen has denied any role in the coup attempt, in which 250 people were killed. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said the Turkish government has yet to provide enough evidence for the U.S. Justice Department to act. Thousands of people have been detained in a crackdown since the failed coup, including American Christian missionary Andrew Brunson, who ran a small church in Izmir on Turkey s western coast. Brunson has been held since October. Turkish media has said the charges against him include membership of Gulen s network, considered a terrorist organization by the Turkish government. The United States has said that Brunson has been wrongfully imprisoned and has called for him to be released. In a speech to police officers at the presidential palace in Ankara, Erdogan appeared to link the fate of the two men. Give us the pastor back , they say. You have one pastor as well. Give him (Gulen) to us, Erdogan said. Then we will try him (Brunson) and give him to you. The (pastor) we have is on trial. Yours is not - he is living in Pennsylvania. You can give him easily. You can give him right away. A decree issued in August gave Erdogan authority to approve the exchange of foreigners detained or convicted in Turkey with people held in other countries in situations required by national security or national interests . Asked about Erdogan s suggestion of a swap of Gulen for Brunson, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, I can t imagine that we would go down that road. We have received extradition requests for him (Gulen), she told a daily State Department briefing. I have nothing new for you on that. We continue to call for Pastor Brunson s release. She said U.S. diplomats were able to visit Brunson on September 18, and added, We continue to advocate for his release. He was wrongfully imprisoned in Turkey, and we d like to see him brought home. ",1 A Colombian court has sentenced a soldier to 54 years in prison for killing three people and passing them off as rebels killed in combat,0 UK economy comes to a standstill ,1 Rio's waters are so filthy that 2016 Olympians risk becoming violently ill and unable to compete,0 "MLK And Two Others Will Be on The Back Of The $5 BillLeave it to Obama to politicize our money some think the past presidents should be on the money but now Obama s made our money like a postage stamp. He s made this political and racial which really is what you d expect from this pitiful man.Abraham Lincoln will not be the only person depicted on the $5 bill much longer.The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it will overhaul the design of the $5 note, a move overshadowed by its decision to revamp the back of the $10 bill to include women and to feature Harriet Tubman on the front of the $20.Civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., famed opera singer Marian Anderson and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt will be depicted on the back of the updated $5 bill.All three will be portrayed in historical moments in front of the Lincoln Memorial, which is currently pictured on the back of the bill. King will be shown delivering his 1963 I Have a Dream speech. Anderson will be shown performing in 1939, when concert halls were still segregated and she was banned from singing in Constitution Hall, supported by Roosevelt.In redesigning the $5 bill, a previously unannounced step, the Treasury will disrupt Lincoln s long-running tenure on both the front of the bill, in a portrait, and on the back, captured as a statue within the Lincoln Memorial. The basic layout of the note hadn t changed since 1929.Read more: WE",0 "Massive revolt brewing- 67361 responses, 91% support to fight the Obama $275 B mortgage bailout",0 "Putin shrugs off Trump's nuclear plans, says Democrats sore losersMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Vladimir Putin said on Friday he was unfazed by President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to boost the U.S. nuclear arsenal, praising Trump for being in touch with U.S. public opinion while branding the Democrats sore election losers. Speaking at his annual news conference in Moscow, the Russian president said earlier comments he had made about his country’s own military modernization had been misunderstood in the United States and that he accepted that the U.S. military, not Russia’s, was the most powerful in the world. Putin said on Thursday Russia’s military was “stronger than any potential aggressor”. Trump later tweeted that the United States “must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” Asked to clarify his comments on Friday, MSNBC reported that Trump had said: “Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.” But Putin said he did not regard the United States as a potential aggressor and had only been talking about countries he thought might realistically launch an attack on Russia. “I was a bit surprised by the statements from some representatives of the current U.S. administration who for some reason started to prove that the U.S. military was the most powerful in the world,” Putin said, referring to State Department comments from Thursday. “Nobody is arguing with that.” Putin said he saw nothing new or remarkable about Trump’s own statement about wanting to expand U.S. nuclear capabilities anyway. “In the course of his election campaign he (Trump) spoke about the necessity of strengthening the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and strengthening the armed forces. There’s nothing unusual here,” said Putin. “If anyone is unleashing an arms race it’s not us ... We will never spend resources on an arms race that we can’t afford.” Trump’s comments, made in a tweet, alarmed non-proliferation experts who said that a boost to the U.S. arsenal could fuel global tensions. The Russian leader, speaking in a news conference that lasted just under four hours, fielded questions on everything from Syria to the economy, Ukraine and sports doping. But he only became really animated when talking about the United States, launching a scathing attack on the Democrats. He said they had forgotten the meaning of their own name and were sore losers. “The current administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party are trying to blame all their failures on external factors,” said Putin. “(We are talking about) a party which has clearly forgotten the original meaning of its own name. They (the Democrats) are losing on all fronts and looking elsewhere for things to blame. In my view this, how shall I say it, degrades their own dignity. You have to know how to lose with dignity.” The Obama administration and U.S. intelligence officials have accused Russia of trying to interfere with the U.S. election by hacking Democratic Party accounts. Information from those hacks was leaked online, causing political problems for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Putin dismissed suggestions Moscow had helped Trump to victory in any way however. “It’s not like that,” he said. “All of this (the accusations) speaks of the current administration’s systemic problems.” Putin, who spoke positively of Trump before his election win, said that only Moscow had believed in his victory however. “Trump understood the mood of the people and kept going until the end, when nobody believed in him,” Putin said, adding with a smile. “Except for you and me.” Putin said he would be willing to visit the United States if Trump invited him and expected U.S.-Russia ties to return to normal now, particularly in the security and economic spheres. He was more cagey when it came to his own political future though, saying he needed time before deciding whether he would run for president again in 2018. Most Kremlin-watchers believe he will stand and win again. “I will look at what’s going on in the country, in the world,” said Putin coyly, calling a reporter who had asked him to provide reasons why people would want to vote for him again “a provocateur”. ",1 Europe says US-made cheeses can't use Old World names,0 "Netanyahu, battling Obama, says that everyone in Israel has the right to live in Jerusalem. But Israeli Court ruled otherwise - Arab can't rent on ruins of his family home, because that's not the 'Arab' part of town. ",1 "Lebanon's Hariri says to hold off resignation as PMBEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s Saad al-Hariri said on Wednesday he would hold off presenting his resignation as prime minister in response to a request from President Michel Aoun to allow more dialogue. I presented today my resignation to President Aoun and he urged me to wait before offering it and to hold onto it for more dialogue about its reasons and political background, and I showed responsiveness, Hariri said in a televised statement. ",1 Palestinian illegally staying in Israel saved two Jews from a mob,0 "Jeremy Clarkson dropped from Top Gear, BBC confirms",0 " Carly Fiorina Made A Killing Off Of Those ‘Baby Parts’–Because All Cash Is Sacred (VIDEO)Carly Fiorina has joined the ranks of the biggest hypocrites of all time. Joining the likes of Josh Duggar, Sarah Palin and Kim Davis, Fiorina has committed the ultimate of egregious errors: She worked for a company that profited from fetal stem cell research.In a scathing report from Al Jazeera America, Fiorina was exposed for collecting some $83000 working for a major pharmaceutical company:Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, a staunch opponent of abortion, made at least $83,000 serving on the board of directors of Merck & Co. at a time when the pharmaceutical company was producing vaccines using fetal stem cell lines derived from aborted fetuses, according to corporate documents reviewed by Al Jazeera America. The program Inside Story with Ray Suarez also obtained documents indicating that during Fiorina s tenure on the board, anti-abortion groups had asked Merck to stop producing such vaccines, and that the company had refused.How can someone be so openly pro-life and still cash a check earned at least in part by the use of fetal tissue? That s easy: She s a Republican. Republicans live by a different code. All things American should follow the constitution, unless it s something they don t like. They cherry-pick parts of the First Amendment to ignore. They ignore the 14th Amendment altogether. They don t recognize the power of the Supreme Court under article 3 section 2 unless you re talking about Hobby Lobby or Citizen s United.Carly Fiorina touts herself as a candidate from outside of the establishment. Sure she is. She s a multi-millionaire former CEO who will look directly into the camera and lie to our faces. She destroyed people s lives at Hewlett-Packard and refuses to take responsibility for it. She answers the bulk of questions she s asked with Hillary Clinton emails. She s exactly what the GOP loves to see. She fits in rather perfectly with the likes of Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John Kasich.Here she is at GOP debate Thursday night talking about just how much she loves those precious little fetuses and doubling down on her lies: Featured image by Gage Skidmore",0 " White House Admits How Trump Made Paris Deal Decision, It’s Really Disturbing (VIDEO)Donald Trump s disastrous decision to take the United States out of the Paris climate deal was met with loads of criticism, as this will have devastating consequences for the entire planet.As several world leaders have already openly condemned Trump s decision, the backlash is about to get a whole lot worse once every finds out just what motivated Trump to reach this decision. According to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Trump made this decision based on one thing only, simplifying a complex matter to a kindergartener s level of reasoning: whether it was good or bad. Pruitt told reporters at a press briefing: The discussions that the president and I have had over the last several weeks have been focused on one key issue. Is Paris good or bad for this country? The President and I focused our attentions there. He determined it was bad for this country, and hurt us economically. It didn t achieve good environmental outcomes, and he made the decision to reject the Paris deal. We all knew Trump had the temperament of a child, but apparently, his decision-making process is just as bad. Trump has no idea what the hell he s doing, and so he looks to others to give him over-simplified answers to serious issues that will have a massive impact on our world. Such matters shouldn t require a yes/no, good/bad answer. They must be examined and carefully thought out which Trump clearly has not taken the time to do.With this decision, Trump has solidified the fact that America will no longer be a global leader, as other countries shun the United States thanks to its incompetent, orange dictator. Trump has proven that the only thing he is capable of is ruining things. He s been extremely successful in devastating America, so now he is taking on the planet.You can watch the White House report on Trump s childlike decision-making process below:Featured image via Pool/Getty Images",0 " Trump Pisses Off Yet Another World Leader With His Latest Broken Campaign Promise (TWEET)Donald Trump continues to find even more ways to fail and fall back on all of the ridiculous promises he made during his presidential campaign all while managing to piss off the rest of the world and cut ties with America s allies.Trump proved himself even more incompetent on Thursday, when he broke another campaign promise by granting a six-month waiver for a law that would move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. During his presidential campaign, Trump had sworn up and down that he would relocate the embassy fair quickly after he got into the White House and began his term. Like many of his other empty campaign promises, we are still waiting.According to the Associated Press: Trump was facing a Thursday deadline to renew the waiver or see the State Department lose half its funding for its overseas facilities. Presidents of both parties have renewed the waiver every six months for years. This could not have pissed off Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more, especially right after Trump already disrespected the Middle Eastern country during his first trip overseas, when he outed Israel as the source for his intelligence leak to Russia. After Trump issued this waiver, Netanyahu expressed his disappointment in a statement that was posted to Twitter:Statement by the Prime Minister s Office pic.twitter.com/xP1FZ1vrZf PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) June 1, 2017Trump s presidency is turning out to be nothing like what his supporters and the Republican Party thought it would be. Even those who were against him are taken back by how awful it s actually turning out to be. He s only a few months into his first (and only) term, and already most of Trump s campaign promises have crumbled. Even the ones he s tried to follow through with have been massive failures. Can we really take three and a half more years of this?!Featured image via Sean Gallup / Getty Images",0 "Survey finds broad discontent in World Cup host Brazil | People take the view that the billions of dollars poured into the soccer tournament would be better spent on services such as healthcare, schools and public transportation.",0 UK ranked among least religious countries in world,0 "Israeli security services deny Palestinian detainees access to legal advice or family before confessions are signed, according to a report by an Israeli and a Palestinian rights group.",1 "In search of rebound, Trump ramps up attacks on ClintonMANHEIM, Pa. (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump closed out a rough week for his campaign on Saturday by escalating personal attacks on Democrat Hillary Clinton, questioning her stamina and saying she should be in prison for her handling of classified emails. After a week in which he drew wide criticism for a public feud with a former beauty queen, Trump sought to rebound with a highly negative attack on his opponent in the Nov. 8 election, with a second presidential debate against her looming in a week. At the same time, the New York Times reported it had obtained records showing Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a deduction so large that it may have allowed him to avoid paying any federal income taxes for years. Trump has refused to release his tax records, saying he is under a federal audit. At a rally in Manheim, Pennsylvania, Trump said he did not believe Clinton, who suffered a bout of pneumonia last month, was up to the task of being president. He tried to resurrect a tactic he employed against former Republican rival Jeb Bush, who Trump had derided as “low energy.” Clinton kept her pneumonia diagnosis private until she was seen nearly collapsing while getting into her vehicle at a ceremony marking the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York. Ticking off a list of world problems, Trump said, “She’s supposed to fight all of these things and she can’t make it 15 feet to her car. Give me a break.” “Folks, we need stamina, we need energy, we need people who are going to turn deals around,” Trump said. Trump has often told crowds who chant “lock her up” over her use of a private email server as U.S. secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 to instead help him defeat her. But on Saturday, Trump told thousands of supporters that Clinton’s handling of classified emails and destroying of 33,000 emails that she had deemed of a personal nature meant that “she should be in prison, let me tell you.” Trump did not stop there. He said he did not believe Clinton would be loyal to her supporters and chuckled, “I don’t even think she’s loyal to Bill, to tell you the truth. And why should she be, right? Why should she be?” In 1998, Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, was caught up in a sex scandal involving former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Trump was widely seen as having lost his first presidential debate with Clinton last Monday although he cites online polls showing he won. In the days since the debate, Trump has been struggling to regain his footing, getting caught up in a back-and-forth with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who Trump had criticized for gaining weight. ",1 "BREAKING UDATE: IRAN CONFIRMS $1.7 BILLION Was RANSOM Payment For Prisoners And NOT Part Of “Nuclear Deal” ORIGINAL STORY: OBAMA AND KERRY Agree To Give Iran $1.7 BILLION U.S. Taxpayer Dollars As “Settlement”Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!The United States sent Iran $400 million in debt plus $1.3 billion in interest, and the money was disbursed as a ransom payment for four American hostages of the Islamic regime, a top Iranian commander said Wednesday afternoon. Therefore, the U.S. paid the Iranian regime $425 million dollars per American hostage, according to the commander. The annulment of sanctions against Iran s Bank Sepah and reclaiming of $1.7mln of Iran s frozen assets after 36 years showed that the US doesn t understand anything but the language of force, said Iranian Basij Commander Brig Gen Mohammed Reza Naqdi, addressing his forces in Tehran. This money was returned for the freedom of the US spy and it was not related to the (nuclear) negotiations, he claimed, according to state-controlled Fars News Agency.Four Americans who were held hostage by the Islamic Republic Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, Pastor Saeed Abedini, and Nosratollah Khosrawi Roudsari (who decided to stay in Iran) were part of the deal that included the ransom payment, along with the release of seven Iranians who were sitting in American jails on charges of thwarting international sanctions, and the delisting of 14 Iranian nationals from Interpol s Red List, which seeks international criminals for extradition.A fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, who was imprisoned by Tehran, was also released, but under the terms of a separate deal, according to reports.The U.S. State Department tells Breitbart News that the payment to Iran was separate but simultaneous, and not a ransom. We did not pay ransom to secure the return of these Americans. The funds that were transferred to Iran were part of a separate but simultaneous arrangement we agreed to with Iran related to the U.S.-Iran Claims Tribunal at the Hague, a State Department spokesperson told Breitbart News late Wednesday.State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters earlier on Wednesday in Washington that no ransom was paid, rejecting the remarks of the Iranian commander. There was no bribe, there was no ransom, there was nothing paid to secure the return of these Americans who were, by the way, not spies. We ve spoken to this in the days after their release on Sunday morning in great detail about how this process worked. There was this consular channel that was opened up to secure their release, Toner said. Via: Breitbart NewsHere is the question we posed after discovering the interesting timing of this $1.7 BILLION payment to Iran while 4 American prisoners were being simultaneously released:Was this transfer of funds to a terrorist state (via the American taxpayer), the REAL reason the prisoners (hostages) Iran was holding were suddenly released? Did the incompetent Obama-Kerry duo use this settlement as a bargaining chip to make it appear as though freeing these hostages was part of the Iran nuclear deal all along? This is absolutely sickening The United States and Iran on Sunday settled a longstanding claim at the Hague, releasing to Tehran $400 million in funds frozen since 1981 plus $1.3 billion in interest, the State Department said.The funds were part of a trust fund once used by Iran to purchase military equipment from the United States but which was tied up for decades in litigation at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal.The settlement announcement was made after Tehran released five American detainees in a prisoner swap as a nuclear deal was implemented. Via: Business Insider ",0 Canada set to phase out the penny,1 Deadly red-backs invade New Zealand,1 "Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: ""The U.S. 'wants to control everything' and takes decisions unilaterally on key questions . . . 'Sometimes I get the impression the U.S. doesn't need allies, it needs vassals.'""",0 "Israel has erupted in protest -- yes, you read that right: Israel joins Egypt, Syria and many others in an increasingly global struggle for social justice",0 "25 tons of tetrachloroethane spilled in Fuchun River, China~ drinking water shut-off",1 "BREAKING: [Video] DIRTY BOMB FEARS, As NYC Police Officers With Targets Placed On Their Backs By Obama And DeBlasio Wear Nuclear Bomb Detectors July 4th WeekendNot knowing how many members of ISIS and other terrorist groups have slipped undetected into our country is yet another serious consequence of Obama s open borders Several thousand New York City uniformed and plain clothes officers will patrol the city this weekend.7,000 closed circuit security cameras will be closely watched.Air and water patrol will be equipped with radiation detection.Police officers will also be equipped with special radiation detection monitors to be put on their belts to detect for dirty bombs. America faces the highest threat level ever this year for the 4th of July.https://youtu.be/Zflo1wizClUVia: Gateway Pundit ",0 Most Dangerous Cities In The World,0 " BREAKING: Russian Officials Celebrate Rex Tillerson As ‘A Gift’ From Trump To RussiaQuid pro quo in the Trump/Russia situation is happening sooner than expected, at least according to Russian officials you know, they give him a gift by using hacking a propaganda to hand him the election, and Trump builds a nightmarish team for himself that will be very friendly to Russia. So friendly, in fact, that the Kremlin is pretty openly celebrating Trump s newest gift to them.Thus far, The Donald has filled his cabinet to the brim with so many pro-Russian people that Stolichnaya stocks have gone through the roof (just joking, don t bother Googling that). Seriously, though, Russia is thrilled with Trump s selections so far.But it is Rex Tillerson s nomination for Secretary of State that, as The Guardian notes, confirms Vladimir Putin as one of the strategic victors of the US presidential election. The Wall Street Journal notes that Friends and associates said few US citizens are closer to Mr Putin than Mr Tillerson. And, of course, Tillerson will now be in a position to make a f*ckton of money in his new position, as The Guardian points out:The 2011 Exxon-Rosneft agreement was frozen when sanctions were imposed on Russia in 2014, following the annexation of Crimea and covert military intervention in eastern Ukraine. Exxon Mobil estimated the sanctions cost it $1bn and Tillerson has argued strenuously for the measures to be lifted. We always encourage the people who are making those decisions to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really harming with sanctions, he said, at a shareholders meeting.In June, two years after sanctions were imposed and in an apparent show of support for Sechin, Tillerson reportedly turned up at a St Petersburg economic summit.If the sanctions were lifted, the Arctic project would probably go ahead and Tillerson s retirement fund of Exxon Mobil stock would increase in value. He would most likely have to divest himself of stock by the time he entered the office on the seventh floor of the state department. It might be harder to divorce his judgments entirely from the oil company where he spent his career.Tillerson s nomination can be called a lot of things but pro-Kremlin Russian political commentator Sergei Markov calls it what it is: some kind of Christmas gift from the American people to the Russian people especially in light of the artificial Cold War that was started with Russia over the country s involvement in hacking Donald Trump s political enemies for him (at his request, no less).Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, which advises the Kremlin, says that Tillerson represents profound changes in U.S. foreign policy that stands to favor Russia heavily. Mr. Tillerson is very well known to the important people here, and neither Mr. Putin nor the others will need time to learn who he is and how to deal with him, Lukyanov says. This news is better than any other possible person for this position. At this point, how can we allow Donald Trump to assume power on January 20? Electors have the weight of the world on their shoulders as December 19 approaches. Will they do nothing and allow a tyrant installed by a foreign power to take office or will they do the right thing and say no more? Featured image via Getty Images/Alexey Druzhinin",0 "US Media Silence as Pentagon Deploys Rangers Armoured Regiment on the Ground in Syria US Army M1126 Stryker armoured vehicles rolled into Syria this week (Source: Twitter)21st Century Wire says Yesterday reports emerged of a US heavy armoured convoy heeding through northern Syria, heading towards a forward position near the flashpoint city of Manbij, near the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa. Not surprisingly, this news which would normally be strewn across all headlines and TV news leader boards has been completely blacked-out by the US media, aside from some website mentions.Naturally, Americans have to go to RT to get news about what the US military is doing in far-flung destinations. Here is a video report by RT s Ruptly News Agency which shows the US servicemen leading a convoy of Stryker armoured vehicles in the Syrian countryside: According to military blog SOFREP, call signs indicate that this US battalion is based out of Fort Benning, Georgia. By looking at the call sign tag on the back of the Stryker, it is evident that this is 3rd Ranger Battalion out of Fort Benning, Georgia, which has been confirmed via other sources. This clearly indicates that the Trump Administration is in the process of actively building up its military presence in Syria. To what degree is unclear, although early indications suggest a similar commitment to what the US has laid-on in Mosul in their joint operation to retake that Iraqi city away from ISIS control.Currently, the US is at odds with NATO ally Turkey over the Pentagon s support of the Kurdish YPG whom Turkey has designated as a terrorist organization. This could be a point of contention going forward, as the US, Russia and Turkey conduct trilateral negotiations this week in Antalya, Turkey this week.STAY TUNED TO 21WIRE FOR MORE UPDATESREAD MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 Germany tries 20-year-old man who fought with ISIS in Syria and sentences him to 3 years 9 months.,1 "TARGET STORES TO REMOVE GENDER LABELS FROM KIDS DEPARTMENTSThe LGBT Mafia and PC Police doing what they do best shaming Americans and businesses into conformity. Does anyone have the courage or fortitude to fight back, or are we just going to allow these PC thugs to strip our children of the genders God clearly assigned to each of us? Target Corp. is removing gender labels from most of its children s departments after customers complained about signs designating certain toys for girls.The kids bedding section will no longer feature boy and girl signage, and the toy department will be without labels and pink or blue paper on the shelves, Minneapolis-based Target said on its website Friday. Gender labels will remain in the kids clothing section because of sizing and fit differences.Retailers have been moving away from gender stereotypes, and some startups have emerged to break down the divide in kids clothing and toys. The signage that sparked the dispute at Target was for building sets, like GoldieBlox, that are targeted at girls. As guests have pointed out, in some departments like toys, home or entertainment, suggesting products by gender is unnecessary, Target said. We heard you, and we agree. Right now, our teams are working across the store to identify areas where we can phase out gender-based signage to help strike a better balance. In June, Ohio mom Abi Bechtel called out Target s gender designations in its toy aisle. She posted a photo to Twitter that showed store signs for Girls Building Sets next to regular Building Sets. The outcry was swift, with angry shoppers calling for change. It stood out to me as a good example of the way our culture tends to view boys and men as the default, normal option and girls and women as the specialized option, Bechtel told CNN at the time.Via: Bloomberg",0 " Even Staunch Republican Ben Stein Says He’d Support Sanders Or Clinton Over Trump (VIDEO)Conservatives are going to be seriously shocked about this one.Ben Stein is a conservative economist who served as a speechwriter under Presidents Nixon and Ford in the 1970s, and he s been a Republican his entire life as well as a harsh critic of President Obama.Stein has always supported the Republican nominee in every election, so one would think he would do the same in 2016, especially since President Obama s former Secretary of State is running. Not so fast.Like other Republicans, Stein is troubled by Donald Trump. And after being asked who he would support during an interview on CNN, Stein professed that he could see himself supporting Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, the two Democrats in the race, because Trump is dangerous. I went to law school with Ms. Clinton so I ve always had a kind of fondness for her, she was always a very nice young woman. I admire the fact that Bernie Sanders has a single-payer national health plan. When I worked for Mr. Nixon as a speechwriter, I wrote the message that sent up Mr. Nixon s proposal for single-payer health plan. But I would like to see it be a Republican, I ve never voted for a Democrat. But Mr. Trump, I think, is dangerously misinformed. I like him, but he s dangerously misinformed. Here s the video via YouTube:This is an explosive sign that Republicans are in a hell of a lot of trouble if Donald Trump manages to capture the GOP nomination, which he is well on track to achieving. Trump s nasty and hateful rhetoric and association with members of the KKK and other white supremacist groups is terrifying the GOP establishment because it could not only cause Republicans to lose another presidential election, it could doom their effort to keep the House and the Senate from falling into Democratic control.To underscore that point, NBC s Chuck Todd reported on Tuesday night that a sitting Republican Senator is preparing to endorse Hillary Clinton if Trump wins the nomination.Clearly, Donald Trump is ripping the Republican Party to pieces and it sounds like it s only going to get more entertaining as election season continues.Featured Image: Wikimedia",0 Angela Merkel strikes deal with German states to put brakes on green energy. Pact addresses concerns that burgeoning output from renewables is putting strain on electricity grid and pushing up prices,1 Christianity could be facing a catastrophic collapse in Britain according to official figures suggesting it is declining 50 percent faster than previously thought.,1 WHOA! RUSH LIMBAUGH RIPS Into Republicans Who Don’t Support Trump [Audio] ,0 Explosions heard near missle facility in Tehran,1 "Iran is considering imposing sanctions on U.S. officials for human rights violations, attempting to turn the tables after years of sanctions imposed by the West.",1 """So we have an Act of Parliament which expressly grants to the Treasury power to disapply ... any rule of law"" - Lord Chief Justice criticises UK's authoritarian laws",1 "U.S., Russian, Japanese crew arrive at space station(Reuters) - A trio of U.S., Japanese and Russian astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday, a NASA TV broadcast showed. Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and flight engineers Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Scott Tingle of NASA docked their Soyuz spacecraft about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth at 0839 GMT. The docking completes their two-day journey following Sunday s blast-off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Shkaplerov, Kanai and Tingle join Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA, who have been aboard the space station since September. ",1 " Trump’s ICE Thugs Stop Ambulance Taking 10-Year-Old Girl With Cerebral Palsy To SurgeryDonald Trump s patriotic deportation force just saved America from another dangerous criminal rapist and/or drug dealer a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.Rosamaria Hernandez s mother brought her across the border illegally when she was three months old because she could not afford treatments in Mexico.Obviously, this child represents a grave threat to America, so as she was being transferred from a medical center in Laredo, Texas to a hospital in Corpus Christi at around 2 a.m. Tuesday the ambulance taking her to surgery was stopped by Border Patrol agents.Trump s thugs allowed the ambulance to continue to Driscoll Children s Hospital, where they waited with guns at the ready outside her room until she was released just in case she tried to sell anyone drugs, rape someone, or go on a rampage.Wednesday, she was dumped into a facility for unaccompanied migrant children a rare move when a child already living in the United States is involved. What made this move particularly odd is that Rosamaria was not released to her cousin, a U.S. citizen who was riding in the ambulance with her. The fact that they spent so much time and resources to follow this girl, to treat her like she was the highest-priority criminal that ever walked on this earth the way they re treating her is just beyond what a 10-year-old special needs child should be treated, says Priscilla Martinez, an immigration advocate.But the fact that she has special needs might be why the Trump administration considers her such a high priority. Recently, Trump s education secretary Betsy DeVos rescinded more than 70 documents outlining rights for special needs students attacking those who need our help the most seems to be a hallmark of the Trump klan clan.Every single day, the Trump administration sinks lower and lower. Just when you think they have gone as low as possible, they unearth yet another sub-sub-sub-sub-basement.Featured image via NY Times/Getty Images(pool)",0 Putin may strip CNN of its Russian broadcasting rights,0 "Trump pushes U.S. labor board toward Republican control(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had picked an employment lawyer who has represented companies and business groups for a vacancy on the National Labor Relations Board. The selection of William Emanuel, 75, to fill one of the two vacancies at the agency brings it closer to having a Republican majority, which is expected to undo a series of recent decisions seen as favoring unions. The five-member NLRB oversees union elections and disputes between workers, unions, and employers. Emanuel, a Los Angeles-based partner at law firm Littler Mendelson, has worked with Republicans in Congress and major trade groups from an array of industries, and has for decades defended employers in cases before the board. He is a member of the conservative Federalist Society, an influential group of lawyers credited with pushing Trump to nominate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch to the high court. Emanuel said in a statement that it is an honor to be nominated. Industry groups such as the National Retail Federation and the National Restaurant Association hailed Emanuel’s nomination, saying he would help repair damage done to businesses by rulings from the NLRB during the Barack Obama administration. Trump last week said he intended to nominate fellow Republican Marvin Kaplan, a lawyer with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, to another vacancy on the board. The positions require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The NLRB has been controlled by Democrats for nearly a decade and they currently have a 2-1 majority. When it has no vacancies, the board typically includes three members from the president’s party and two from the opposing party. Under Trump, lawyers and business groups expect the board to roll back a series of policy changes adopted during the administration of former President Barack Obama. They include rules designed to speed the union election process and a 2015 decision that made it easier for companies to be held liable for legal violations by contractors, staffing agencies, and franchisees. It was not clear when the Senate could vote on Trump’s nominees but several lawyers and other experts said the process could stretch into the fall. Kaplan previously worked for Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives crafting employment-related legislation. ",1 "German Greens make stand on car emissions in coalition talksBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s Greens said on Wednesday that any coalition government they join would have to agree to make carmakers introduce mechanical changes to engine and exhaust systems to cut toxic emissions. Transport is among the policy areas being thrashed out in talks taking place between Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens, who are aiming to form a coalition by Christmas. The parties are discussing all policy areas before launching detailed negotiations. While the atmosphere has improved in recent days, there have been few actual deals, with immigration and climate change among the biggest sticking points. The Greens demand on carmakers would go further than software fixes so far agreed between politicians and German car bosses to help repair the industry s badly damaged reputation. The future of Germany s mighty car industry, the country s biggest exporter and provider of some 800,000 jobs, is a tricky area as it tries to recover from the diesel emissions testing scandal which broke at Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) two years ago. Despite public concern and planned diesel bans in countries including France and Britain in coming decades, German lawmakers have not yet dared ask the same of its carmakers, such as BMW, VW, Daimler and Porsche who have invested heavily in diesel. In August, politicians and car bosses agreed to overhaul engine software on 5.3 million diesel cars to cut pollution and avoid bans on polluting vehicles but they stopped short of committing to more expensive hardware modifications. That may have to change if the Greens share power. We won t meet our targets of getting cleaner air in city centers with software upgrades alone, Cem Ozdemir, a leader of the Greens, said as he headed into the talks. There must also be hardware solutions. Ozdemir said the auto industry was going through the biggest transformation process in its history and the car had to be reinvented to make it emission-free and more automated. Public transport must also be expanded, he added. The conservative bloc, comprising Chancellor Angela Merkel s Christian Democrats (CDU) and Bavaria s Christian Social Union (CSU), oppose any demand to ban the combustion engine from 2030. ",1 "FBI: Clinton Foundation investigation will lead to ‘Likely Indictment,’ donors funded ISIS21st Century Wire says Yesterday we learned that for more than one year the FBI s White Collar Crime Division has actually been investigating a pay-for-play activity between Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. The investigation has been going on for more than a year. According FOX anchor Bret Baier, multiple FBI sources said, indictments are likely. This could get very interesting A number of new revelations could really raise the temperature on this scandal:Last night, an RT Exclusive revealed what Julian Assange described as, the most significant email in the whole collection. Conveniently ignored by the mainstream media, WikiLeaks had previously highlighted an early 2014 email where outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is urging John Podesta, then an advisor to President Barack Obama, to bring pressure on Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL [Islamic State, IS, ISIS] and other radical Sunni groups. Yes. You read that correctly: the Clinton Foundation was accepting millions of dollars in donations from the very Gulf states she knew were funding ISIS and Al Nusra terrorists thus exposing the charade the Clinton and the Obama Administration have been playing ever since the ISIS crisis began in June 2014.Fox News Channel s Bret Baier reported on the latest details of the Clinton Foundation investigation from two sources inside the FBI. He reveals five important new pieces of information in these two short clips:1. The Clinton Foundation investigation is far more expansive than anybody has reported so far and has been going on for more than a year. 2. The laptops of Clinton aides Cherryl Mills and Heather Samuelson have not been destroyed, and agents are currently combing through them. The investigation has interviewed several people twice, and plans to interview some for a third time. 3. Agents have found emails believed to have originated on Hillary Clinton s secret server on Anthony Weiner s laptop. They say the emails are not duplicates and could potentially be classified in nature. 4. Sources within the FBI have told Baier that an indictment is likely in the case of pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation, barring some obstruction in some way from the Justice Department. 5. FBI sources say with 99% accuracy that Hillary Clinton s server has been hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, and that information has been taken from it.(Source: Real Clear Politics) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2iIr6ugheQ . Conclusion: Limbaugh took his postiion many days ago, and based on the potential gravity of Assange s recent Clinton-ISIS email revelation this looks to be a compelling smoking gun. Therefore, Limbaugh looks to be stunningly accurate in his assessment. READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Gaza landlords refusing to rent to Hamas, official says",1 Germany rejects Greek claim for World War Two reparations,0 The Australian government will establish a special $1 billion fund to protect the Great Barrier Reef from the ravages of climate change and declining water quality.,0 "Pickup truck in China tips over, 16 bodies fall out",1 "GCHQ mass internet surveillance was unlawful, rules UK's most secretive court. Access to intercepted information obtained by the NSA breached human rights laws, according to the Investigative Powers Tribunal",0 "Uganda court bans media outing people as Gay following campaign to expose gays in October alleging that gays had plans to recruit one million ""innocent kids"" by 2012.",1 "BOMBSHELL REPORT: NSA OFFERED TO GIVE HILLARY’S EMAILS To FBI…James Comey Rejected ThemThere s a lot going on in the Hillary Clinton/Donald Trump/Russia investigation that all the highfalutin newspapers that cover politics are still trying to ignore.Well, investors had better know this stuff before it bites them in the assets. So here goes.Numerous reports coming out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week said that former FBI Director James Comey made the decision not to refer Clinton for prosecution long before he even interviewed key witnesses, including Hillary.Remember, the Republicans now control this committee. So bad news isn t going to be stifled anymore.Clinton, you probably remember, lost her private emails, which she d been storing on a personal computer server. Comey chastised her harshly in a televised speech but then said there was a unanimous decision not to recommend prosecution.Clinton s emails, which were stolen by the Russians, have never been found. But as I ve mentioned numerous times, the messages are still in the possession of the National Security Agency (NSA), which offered to give them to the FBI.Comey turned down that offer, according to a source who has been very reliable.I ve also mentioned that Comey fibbed when he said his agents unanimously agreed that prosecution was unnecessary. In fact, my source says that FBI agents were irate about the decision not to go after Clinton. NYP ",0 "WATCH: PRESIDENT TRUMP’S Beautiful Video Honoring The Life Of Rosa Parks Reminds Everyone Of DISGUSTING Way President Obama Made Anniversary of Parks’ Brave Act About Him Yesterday, President Trump took to Twitter to honor the 62-year anniversary of civil rights icon, Rosa Parks. President Trump tweeted, 62 years ago this week, a brave seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama uttered one word that changed history His message was accompanied by a beautiful video narrated by the President that featured the courageous act of defiance against a bigoted bus driver who attempted to make her sit at the back of the bus, simply because she was black. President Trump s video is a beautiful tribute to a woman who, much like Donald Trump, was a fighter. She wasn t looking for someone else to fight for her, she wasn t organizing a mob to fight back against injustice, she stood alone, she fought back, and because of her, America won. (Sound familiar?)62 years ago this week, a brave seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama uttered one word that changed history pic.twitter.com/eOvCBcMIKX Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017Five years ago, President Obama also honored the legacy of Rosa Parks. Obama, however, took a much different approach. Instead of focusing on Rosa Parks, and her contribution to the civil rights movement, Barack Obama posted a narcissistic photo of himself sitting on the bus, that s parked at the Henry Ford Museum, in Dearborn, MI. Apparently, Barack Obama felt that he deserved the spotlight on the 57th and again on the 58th anniversary of Rosa Parks brave act of defiance.Here s how the former President Barack Obama honored Rosa Parks on her 57th anniversary:Today is the 57th Anniversary of the day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. Pic: President Obama on Rosa Parks bus pic.twitter.com/cFaKOYDt White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) December 1, 2012Here s how President Barack Obama honored Rosa Parks again, on her 58th anniversary:Michelle was so impressed by her husband s arrogance, that she too, tweeted a picture of her husband to honor the life of Rosa Parks:For the record, there are plenty of photos of Rosa Parks that were available for the President and First Lady to use in their tweets.But somehow, the Obama s always seemed to take a moment that should belong to someone else, and make it about them.It s not the first time Barack Obama honored himself instead of the person he claimed to be honoring. We ve posted several images of Barack Obama honoring himself instead of the activist, hero or legend he was supposed to honoring.Here are just a few examples:Although he never mentions him by name or even bothers to circle him in this photo, where Barack Obama is clearly the center of attention, this tweet was supposed to be honoring the late golf icon, Arnold Palmer:Here's to The King who was as extraordinary on the links as he was generous to others. Thanks for the memories, Arnold. pic.twitter.com/UlyfpIBOL2 President Obama (@POTUS44) September 26, 2016In this tweet, Barack Obama says, He shook up the world, and the world s a better place for it. Fortunately, he added Rest in Peace , otherwise, his social media followers would have no reason to believe that this tweet was supposed to be a tribute to the deceased boxing legend, Muhammad Ali, as once again, Obama appears to be the focus of the image with a photo of Ali in the background.He shook up the world, and the world's better for it. Rest in peace, Champ. pic.twitter.com/z1yM3sSLH3 President Obama (@POTUS44) June 4, 2016The former President honored Nelson Mandela by posting a picture of himself in the jail cell where Mandela was imprisoned:Compassion, understanding, and reconciliation on #MandelaDay, we are reminded of the promise for a better world. pic.twitter.com/vOpRlM4gwf White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) July 18, 2016And finally, on Pearl Harbor Day in Barack Obama honored the dead, by posting a picture of himself on Facebook walking down the stairs next to the Pearl Harbor Memorial.",0 'I want my son executed': Parents of man who secretly buried his 8-year-old child after allegedly torturing her to death seek capital punishment,1 "WATCH: JUAN HERNANDEZ Tells How He Was CHASED And BEATEN By Anti-Trump COWARDS Who Sucker Punch People And Run In PacksThis is what happens when you cross the Left. Sadly, this is how unions have been operating for decades. Mainstream America is about to see the ugly truth about the violent tactics of the Left. Anyone who could vote for a party who represents itself in such a manner should be ashamed. By Juan Hernandez A Hispanic Trump supporter who lives in Santa Clara, CA.Last Thursday, I left work about 5 p.m. and drove to the San Jose Convention Center to hear Donald Trump speak.I ve been voting for conservative candidates for 15 years and a registered Republican since 2015. Now that the general election is underway, I believe Trump is the best candidate to fix our country s many problems, and I believe he s going to be the next commander in chief. So I was excited to hear him, and to show my support. Walking into the rally with a friend, I was a little wary: Trump s speech to the California Republican convention in Burlingame had been disrupted by protesters, and I wasn t sure whether to expect a similar scene in San Jose. But we got to the event early, and we must have been inside already by the time a crowd of protesters gathered in the streets near the convention center.The speech really got me energized. I got a new sense of appreciation and respect for Trump after a Bernie Sanders supporter interrupted him with a sign. Trump didn t blink: Darling, there s no way he can win, but keep your sign high, he said. That is the president that I want. It was great being around so many Republicans in the Bay Area, we don t have a lot of that, so it was great to feel the camaraderie of being part of the GOP.My trouble began once the rally was over.My friend and I joined a crowd of Trump supporters who had all left the convention center around the same time. The garage where we had parked our car was right next to the building, but police were directing everyone around the block to another garage entrance instead. The farther we walked, the fewer Trump fans were with us people began peeling off to go to restaurants or bars in the area, or to other garages nearby.And suddenly, there were protesters everywhere. Some were holding Mexican flags, or burning American ones. They were yelling F Trump! at us and cornering us. Some of them started grabbing Trump supporters they were going up and slugging people, sucker-punching people, just picking random people out. As much as we wanted to help, because our fellow Republicans were getting hit, I knew any moment that could be me. So my friend and I just kept walking sometimes, we d be running. We saw police standing nearby, but they didn t do anything. That scared me, because I thought, Okay, if I m next, there s going to be no cops. About a block from the garage entrance, we turned down the street and found a line of protesters standing in our way. To get back to our car, we d have to go through them. My friend and I were wearing Make America Great Again Trump hats. We were targets, and I was terrified. I could feel it coming they would look at me and start walking up to me.Before we could make it into the garage, four or five men surrounded me, and another four surrounded my friend. They just started swinging. We swung back as best as we could. My main thing was I didn t want to fall; I didn t want to be knocked down. I m not a big guy, but I can defend myself as best I can if it s one on one but not when they have so much anger against us.One of the blows caught my nose, and blood just started pouring out. That kind of stunned them, and they backed off a quick second. My adrenaline kicked in; I felt punches on my head, and I felt the punch that hit my nose, but I was in survival mode by then, and I didn t realize until later how much it hurt. I called my friend, Okay, let s go! We ran into the parking garage, and we thought we were safe, but there were another few dozen protesters there, too. We got in our car and headed toward the exit. Some protesters jumped on the cars in front of us, but we eventually made it out. My friend drove me to the emergency room because my nose was pouring blood. I had a broken nose, and because I was covered with scratches, I had to get a tetanus shot, too. It took a lot out of me, much more than I realized at first; my headaches and soreness didn t start to go away until a week later.WATCH HERE:I still can t believe how poorly the police handled the protests. I live by Levi s Stadium, where the Super Bowl was. They had every single cop out there. Yet knowing the violence that s been breaking out near Trump rallies, San Jose wasn t prepared for it last week? So the Los Angeles chapter of Log Cabin Republicans held a news conference back in San Jose on Wednesday, to get some answers from the city s mayor, Sam Liccardo, and its police department about why they let me and other people get attacked and only made a few arrests.The whole thing made me angry. Here in Northern California, I feel like I m a unicorn: I m a gay Hispanic who s a Republican. It was much harder to come out as a Trump supporter than it was to come out as gay the minute you say you re for Trump, everyone comes at you but this has pushed me out of the closet about it completely.I should be able to vote for whom I want, and I shouldn t have to deal with violence to go hear my candidate speak. If people really want to protest at rallies, they should do it peacefully. I have a young niece and nephew, and I don t want them to think this is how politics work in the United States. We can t let our freedom of speech and our freedom of assembly be tarnished by politicians like those in San Jose who do not have our safety at heart. Follow Juan Hernandez on Twitter: @mrjuanhernandezVia: Washington Post",0 "[Video] DEM PREZ CANDIDATE BOOED OFF STAGE, FORCED TO APOLOGIZE FOR SAYING “All Lives Matter”When you have a crowd of people listening to this kind of idiotic drama, I think it s safe to say you should expect to be booed off the stage if you don t tow the line. Here r the Black Net Roots speaker s dramatic introduction for Governor O Malley: Let s be clear Every single day folks are dying! Not being able to take another breath! We are in a state of emergency! We are in a state of emergency and if you don t fill that emergency you are not human! As the Washington Examiner noted Saturday, former Maryland governor and current presidential candidate Martin O Malley was being interviewed at the annual Netroots Nation conference and was making a statement about the need for civilian police review boards. The interview was interrupted by a group of protestors chanting, Say, black lives matter! In response to a question by one of the protestors about alleged instances of police brutality against African Americans, O Malley stated, I think all of us have a responsibility to recognize the pain and grief caused by lives lost to violence. Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter. The statement is said to have drawn boos from the crowd. A minute or two later, O Malley apologized.The incident illustrated neatly illustrated the cultural divide between the left and the rest of America. Most people, without much of a thought, would agree that all lives matter, whether they belong to someone killed in an altercation with police or say a Marine gunned down by a terrorist. The crowd at Netroots Nation disagreed.More importantly, O Malley failed the Sister Souljah test by apologizing for saying something that should be axiomatic. A Sister Souljah Moment refers to an incident during the 1992 presidential campaign in which then Governor Bill Clinton condemned a rapper named Sister Souljah for racially incendiary lyrics in some of her songs. The statement caused a great deal of consternation, but Clinton received praise for taking on an extremist who was part of an important Democratic constituency. Clinton went on to be elected and then reelected four years later. Via: The Examiner",0 " Armed Men Break Into Protected Wildlife Area, Kill Rarest Fish On Earth (VIDEO)The Nye County Sheriff s Office just arrested three men who went on a drunken rampage through a protected area of Death Valley National Park in Nevada.On April 30, Steven Schwinkendorf, 29, Edgar Reyes, 35, and Trenton Sargent, 26 used a gun to shoot off gate locks meant to prevent entry into the protected area surrounding the Devils Hole geothermal pool.The Death Valley pool is the only known habitat for the rarest species of fish in the world, the Devils Hole pupfish.According to authorities, once inside the protected area the men fired the gun several more times, shooting out motion sensors and damaging sensitive scientific equipment.One of them urinated on the ground, while another decided to use the protected spot as a place to vomit.According to a statement released by the Nye County Sheriff s Office:Their unlawful visit ultimately culminated with at least one of the suspects stripping off their clothes and entering the water of Devils Hole. The suspect(s) in the water stomped around the shelf area of the critical ecosystem before swimming around the deeper water, leaving behind a pair of dirty underwear when finished.The statement goes on to say:The intrusion is believed to have resulted in the death of at least one endangered Devils Hole pupfish, and fisheries biologists are trying to ascertain the extended damage that may have been done to food sources and egg sites which could lead to more loss of a species whose numbers are now below the last count of 115 in existence.Security cameras captured footage of the rampage. The Center for Biological Diversity and the National Park Service offered a $15,000 reward for the capture of the three men, saying their actions constituted a crime against the shared natural heritage of all Americans.Now that they ve been identified and arrested, the men face up to a year in prison and fines of up to $50,000 each.Here s more on this story via Newsy on YouTube:Image credit: Video screen capture via Newsy on YouTube",0 Afghan police have rescued a teenage girl who was beaten and locked up in a toilet for over five months after she defied her in-laws who tried to force her into prostitution.,0 "Putin: Russia-U.S. ties may improve through joint fight against terrorMOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that ties with U.S. President Donald Trump s administration were not without problems, but he hoped that mutual interests of Russia and the United States in fighting terrorism would help improve Moscow s relations with Washington. Some forces are making use of Russian-American relations to resolve internal political problems in the United States, Putin told an energy forum in Moscow. I believe that such a person like Trump, with his character, will never be hostage to someone s interests. Moscow has lots of friends in the United States who genuinely want to improve relations with Russia, Putin added. ",1 While fighting against massive maiming and rape the Libyan Rebels form their own Central Bank ,1 Steel is now cheaper than cabbages in China.,1 " #FreeChrisChristie: Twitter Reacts To The ‘Hostage Situation’ At Trump’s Speech (TWEETS)Last Friday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie decided that endorsing GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump was a good idea. Since then political pundits have all been asking, What was he thinking? Well, on Tuesday night when Trump was giving his Super Tuesday victory speech, Christie seemed to come to the realization that he made a BIG mistake and that sudden awareness came as he stood behind the billionaire on stage. The governor s facial expressions as he listened to his candidate spew his usual nonsense created a Twitter storm, talks of a hostage situation and an epic hashtag: #FreeChrisChristie.Christie introduced Trump after the votes were tallied and he was declared victorious in six states. The NJ governor welcomed the next President of the United States onto the stage, stood behind him and promptly upstaged the GOP front-runner:Pop quiz: New York billionaire takes New Jersey governor hostage. What do you do. WHAT DO YOU DO? #freechrischristie pic.twitter.com/ucXKPfk7jh Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) March 2, 2016 Anyone who hasn t seen the stare of Chris Christie, described so brilliantly in the piece I just RT d, it s this. https://t.co/DktHWj2ZXO Rhodri Marsden (@rhodri) March 2, 2016On the next Arrested Development #ChrisChristie #FreeChrisChristie pic.twitter.com/YXO4rwCXTt Melanism (@Melanism) March 2, 2016 I ve made a huge mistake. #FreeChrisChristie https://t.co/VOfFLeAAuS Carissa Klarich (@theactivelife) March 2, 2016I believe we have a hostage situation on our hands @CNNPolitics https://t.co/dWcdYjcXg1 #FreeChrisChristie Vasco Sousa Cotovio (@VascoSCotovio) March 2, 2016 Send snacks. @ChrisChristie, probably #FreeChrisChristie pic.twitter.com/T6kSll1NK5 Holly Fussell (@redhairbluevote) March 2, 2016Chris Christie seems to be realizing just what he s signed on for up there. #FreeChrisChristie #SuperTuesday Burnt Orange Report (@BOR) March 2, 2016Even Trevor Noah joined the fun: There s just one question on Chris Christie s mind. #SuperTuesdaypic.twitter.com/sSDnCXgxBE The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 2, 2016Christie did look like he was Donald Trump s hostage and we don t feel bad for him at all. The governor knew what he was getting himself into, he has said what a liar and horrible president Trump would be on multiple occasions. The only reason he even endorsed him is because he loves the media attention just as much as the billionaire loudmouth does. Now, he gets to live with the consequences of endorsing a racist, egotistical fool.On a side note, Trump is going to be soooo pissed that Christie stole the show. I wouldn t be surprised if we didn t see the two of them on stage together again.Watch a mash-up of his faces below:https://www.facebook.com/Vox/videos/488810047973269/ Featured image via Twitter",0 "Episode #172 – SUNDAY WIRE: ‘Trumpe Le Monde’ with guests Trog Lodyte, Sarah Abed Episode #172 of SUNDAY WIRE SHOW resumes this February 5, 2017 as host Patrick Henningsen brings you this week s 3 HOUR special LIVE broadcast on the Alternate Current Radio Network LISTEN LIVE ON THIS PAGE AT THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULED SHOW TIMES:LIVE BROADCAST TIMING: 5pm-8pm UK Time | 12pm-3pm ET (US) | 9am-12am PT (US) This week s edition of THE SUNDAY WIRE is a very special LIVE broadcasting connecting North America and Europe this week, as host Patrick Henningsen covers the top stories in the US and internationally. In the first hour, we ll look at act one of Trump s foreign policy performance circus, as the NeoCons surround the new Don of Pennsylvania Ave, resuming Cheney & Bolton s Iran doctrine, as well as a continuation of Obama s dysfunctional Ukraine policy, and so much more. Later in hour one, we ll meet with our first guest, Syrian-American commentator Sarah Abed to discuss the shifting state of affairs in Syria and initial signs of Trump s masterplan to defeat ISIS. In the second hour, we try to channel Trump with special guest, Trog Lodyte, co-host of Liberty s Thunder every Sunday Evening on BlogTalk Radio, as we attempt to visualize the new American political landscape, and distill the essence of the country s political transformation, and what this new President means to modern politics in America. In the final hour of Overdrive, we ll tie up loose ends from this past week s break-neck news cycle, and announce 21WIRE s first annual Fake News Week marathon coming this week. Hold, it s going to be a wild ride SHOUT POLL: Is Obama s Legacy more, or less war in the world? SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TVDONATE TO 21WIRE HEREStrap yourselves in and lower the blast shield this is your brave new world *NOTE: THIS EPISODE MAY CONTAIN STRONG LANGUAGE AND MATURE THEMES*Listen to Episode #172 Sunday Wire: Trumpe Le Monde with guests Trog Lodyte, Sarah Abed on Spreaker.Download Episode #172 HERE// > Anyway, just thought I d share with you guys . >> Thanks! > > Neera >While Barack Obama was in office, radical activist, hate-monger and racial division expert Al Sharpton was a regular visitor. Obama s former AG Eric Holder was caught using taxpayer funds to pay protesters to march against George Zimmerman during the Trayvon Martin case in Sanford, FL. Upon the unbelievable discovery, the media was predictably silent.The culprit behind a shocking unprovoked attack on a female police officer had spouted anti-cop rhetoric in the past and urged people to vote for Hillary Clinton.Bonds, who the source said boasts up to six different aliases, recently spoke critically of law enforcement on Facebook. He said police in Oakland, Calif., were wrong to stop a child riding a bicycle.Authorities are trying to piece together a motive after NYPD officer and mother of three Miosotis Familia was brutally gunned down in cold blood by Alexander Bonds early Monday morning while she sat in a temporary headquarters vehicle at East 183rd Street and Morris Avenue in Fordham Heights.Bonds was subsequently killed by two other officers called to the scene while Familia died in hospital. This is absolutely an unprovoked attack, said NYPD Commissioner James P. O Neill. Police say surveillance footage shows Bonds pulling up his hoodie before purposefully walking up to the vehicle and shooting through the passenger side. Speculation as to why 34-year-old Bonds, who had previously served seven years in prison for a Syracuse robbery, gunned down Familia has begun to center on his political beliefs.Bonds Facebook page reveals that days before the presidential election, he posted a video of a woman alleging that voting machines were switching Hillary Clinton votes to Donald Trump.Watch video Bonds made below, where he tells his Facebook followers about his hate for cops. He calls police faggots and accuses them of raping children. He also says he s up and ready for the cops, using his time in jail as an example of how he got ready for them. He posted the words Mad as hill above the video.On the same day he urged people to get mad about the election and vote. When asked who he was voting for, Bonds responded that he couldn t vote (due to his felony conviction), but said people should vote for Hillary Clinton.Bonds also posted Malcolm X memes as well as videos of confrontations between black people and police officers. Previous ambush-style murders of police officers have been motivated by extremist anti-cop Black Lives Matter -style rhetoric, as well as mass shootings of police officers like the Dallas massacre, which was celebrated by BLM sympathizers. Infowars ",0 "Not again! German media bemoan grand coalition scenario after limp TV duelBERLIN (Reuters) - A mood of pre-election apathy rippled through German media on Monday, as commentators concluded Angela Merkel s rival for chancellor had blown his best chance of depriving her of fourth term in office. With three weeks to go until polling day, several national newspapers taking stock the morning after a lackluster two-way televised debate concluded that a re-run of the grand coalition of Merkel s conservatives and challenger Martin Schulz s Social Democrats (SPD) was likely. Angela Merkel and Martin Schulz barely showed any differences in their only direct face-off. Why don t we just set the grand coalition up again now? magazine Der Spiegel said on its website, adding the debate would not have changed voters existing preferences. That would be a continuation of the team that has governed Germany for the last four years. But that combination has in the past been viewed as a last resort, and surveys suggest a three-way coalition between the conservatives, Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP) as an alternative option. Polls over the past three months have consistently shown Merkel s conservatives holding a double-digit lead over the SPD - but the gap has never stretched so far as to give her CDU/CSU alliance a parliamentary majority. Polls showed Merkel was also the winner of Sunday s duel - a disappointment for Schulz, who had hoped he could use his only direct clash with her to turn his party s fortunes around. We re at risk of another grand coalition, read the headline in mass-selling Bild newspaper. It said while Schulz had tried to attack the eternal chancellor , he had done so with velvet gloves, pointing out that he often said he shared Merkel s opinion. Bild said the pair had failed to differentiate themselves. There were two professional politicians speaking and you just couldn t shake off the suspicion that both of them could work together in government without much friction, it added. Local newspaper Berliner Zeitung newspaper s front page showed a scorecard that read 0:0 - a draw for both candidates. It was supposed to be the first climax in the race for the chancellery ... But substantive accents were missing. Undecided votes were likely unconvinced by either of the candidates, it said. The rivals body language was also telling, it said, with Schulz smiling a lot while Merkel often looked as though she was witnessing something that she didn t quite like. Newspaper Handelsblatt said Schulz had not really attacked the incumbent chancellor, adding: Martin Schulz doesn t want to be chancellor in September apparently but rather Angela Merkel s office manager. But Berlin s Tagesspiegel newspaper said Schulz had scored points for taking more decisive positions on Turkey, pensions and the need to punish the German automotive industry for the diesel emissions scandal. When it came to showing hard edges, Martin Schulz was more convincing, it said, adding, this evening may have changed things. ",1 "Obama meets with national security team on Syria, Islamic StateWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met on Friday with his national security team to discuss the fight against Islamic State and the war in Syria, the White House said. Reuters had reported that in the meeting Obama and his advisers would consider military and other options in Syria as Syrian and Russian aircraft continue to pummel the city of Aleppo and other targets, U.S. officials said. U.S. officials said they considered it unlikely that Obama would order U.S. air strikes on Syrian government targets, and they stressed that he might not make any decisions at the National Security Council meeting. A readout of the meeting released by the White House noted that the United States had broken off bilateral talks with Russia on reaching a ceasefire in Syria. It said Obama directed his team to continue multilateral talks with “key nations” to seek a diplomatic resolution to the civil war. The brief summary made no mention of other U.S. options in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will return to Syria talks on Saturday, three weeks after the failure of their painstakingly drafted ceasefire. Kerry has pointedly avoided new bilateral negotiations with Lavrov, and his invitation to the Turkish, Saudi, Qatari and Iranian foreign ministers to join them for talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, will broaden the discussion to include the most powerful backers of Syria’s government and rebels. Pressure is rising for a halt to a ferocious, three-week-old Syrian government offensive to capture the rebel-held eastern zone of Aleppo, where the United Nations says 275,000 civilians still live and 8,000 rebels are holding out against Syrian, Russian and Iranian-backed forces. ",1 Friends no more? Egypts MPs declare Israel No. 1 enemy,0 Hedge fund managers pay less in taxes than nurses and truck drivers.,0 "Roman eagle found by archaeologists in City of London: the 1,800-year-old sculpture of the imperial symbol is regarded as one of the best pieces of Romano-British art ever found",0 Italian prosecutor wants jail for US spies in rendition trial,0 Bodies of WWII US Marines recovered in Pacific.,1 "Togo leader must quit now for protests to stop: opposition headDAKAR/LOME (Reuters) - The leader of Togo s main opposition alliance said on Friday that President Faure Gnassingbe must quit power immediately or protests against his family s 50-year ruling dynasty would continue. Thousands of people have taken to the streets in the past three days to demand that Gnassingbe step aside, in the most serious challenge to his family s stranglehold on power since the death of his father in 2005. Police used tear gas to disperse protesters who were burning tires in Lome s opposition stronghold of Be on Friday, a Reuters correspondent said. He has to leave now. We will not accept him staying on any longer, Jean-Pierre Fabre, head of the National Alliance for Change, told Reuters by telephone. The Togolese are tired ... We will continue to protest. It was not immediately possible to reach Gnassingbe s office. Text messages and phone calls were restricted and the internet has suffered outages. A short government statement on state TV merely acknowledged the protests and said that 10 people had been injured in them, of which eight were security forces and two protesters. But unrest was less widespread than in previous days and traffic had resumed in some areas of the seaside capital amid a heavy police and paramilitary presence. By evening there were no further reports of protests, which seemed to have died down, a Reuters witness said. The president s father Gnassingbe Eyadema seized power in a coup in 1967 and ruled for 38 years before his death. In response to protests, he introduced a 1992 constitution that brought in notional multi-party democracy and limited presidential terms to two. Ten years later, lawmakers scrapped the term limit so Eyadema could run for another term. When he died in 2005, the military installed his son instead of the national assembly head as was legally required, triggering protests in which at least 500 people were killed. Fabre, a French-educated former economics lecturer and newspaper editor, lost to Gnassingbe in disputed presidential polls in 2010 and 2015. He told Reuters that another election would not be fair unless major reforms were made. Gnassingbe s government this week sought to appease its opponents by tabling a draft bill to reform the constitution and reintroduce a two-term limit, but opposition leaders reject it because it could still enable Gnassingbe to rule until 2030. The president, who has encouraged investment to try to turn his tiny nation into a business, banking and shipping hub modeled on Singapore or Dubai, has a mandate due to expire in 2020. But Fabre said even that was too late for him to leave. We can t accept that. This is a question of liberty, he said. The resistance is now organizing itself ... We are very numerous. The U.N. Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel Mohamed Ibn Chambas urged Togo to respond to people s legitimate expectations . He also called on all parties to preserve peace and security . Chambas, who met with Gnassingbe on Thursday, has delayed his departure and is staying in Togo for further discussions, his spokesman said. I remain convinced that all parties want to move forward on the reforms ... in order to reach a consensus to respond to the legitimate expectations of the Togolese people, Chambas said in a statement. Since Gambian autocrat Yahya Jammeh was forced out after losing an election last December, West African countries have become unanimous in accepting two terms as the limit on presidential office the only exception being Togo. Security forces appear to have avoided bloodshed so far this week, but Amnesty International condemned security forces for firing tear gas at and beating peaceful protesters, and for an unjustified attack on internet freedom. ",1 "One of China's most well-known civil rights advocates has been formally arrested on charges of disrupting public order, as Beijing cracks down on grassroots efforts to build a civil society that may challenge its rule",1 "U.S. tax change proposals anger builders, realtors, charitiesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - With U.S. Congress members focused during their August recess on finding ways to lower the corporate tax rate, industry groups and other sectors of society are gearing up to fight proposed changes to the personal income tax. While tax cuts for business have garnered the most headlines, lobbyists and lawmakers have conceded that rewriting the corporate tax code will be a long slog. Tackling personal tax rates will be easier, many argue. Looking for an easier legislative win ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, most lawmakers in the Republican majority want to cut individual incomes taxes. President Donald Trump has been pushing hard for tax changes this year. Still, proposed changes to the personal tax code have already stirred opposition from realtors, home builders, mortgage lenders and charities. These groups say proposed changes will hurt home sales and cut charitable contributions. The National Association of Realtors issued an “August Recess Talking Points” circular imploring members to remind lawmakers that “Homeowners must be treated fairly in tax reform” to avoid “another housing crash.” The group cited a report it commissioned from PwC that estimated home values could quickly dive more than 10 percent if the tax plan becomes law. To simplify the tax code, Republicans have proposed eliminating nearly all tax write-offs including those for state and local taxes, then doubling the standard deduction. This would eliminate the incentive to itemize and should drastically reduce the number of taxpayers who do so. Currently, many taxpayers use itemized deductions, claiming write-offs for things like charitable contributions, interest paid on a mortgage and state and local taxes. If the standard deduction becomes larger, fewer taxpayers will need to itemize, reducing the incentive to hold a mortgage or contribute to charity. Currently, about 30 million taxpayers claim the mortgage interest deduction, with about $70 billion in total claims, according to Robert Dietz, an economist with the National Association of Homebuilders. Estimates suggest more than half of taxpayers would stop itemizing under the proposed plan, Dietz said, warning that this would create a large ripple effect through the economy. He said people in early years of a mortgage would suffer most, along with prospective home buyers. Home builders are also fighting the proposed tax code changes. “I don’t think I would call that a cakewalk,” said Jerry Howard, the head of the National Home Builders Association, saying the proposal will face fierce resistance from his group, which represents 130,000 builders. He noted that members operate in every congressional district and employ more than 7 million people. Charitable organizations are not arguing against increasing the standard deduction. But they are asking members of Congress to consider creating a “universal deduction,” so taxpayers taking the standard deduction can get additional credit for donations without itemizing. Taxpayers claim an estimated $13 billion each year in charitable deductions. Charities fear giving would plummet if the standard deduction were doubled without creating a universal deduction. Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, said reducing charitable deductions would be “devastating.” If lobbyists defeat the reform effort, Congress could try to cut rates without structural tax code changes, said Charles Boustany, a former Republican member of the tax-code writing House Ways and Means Committee who left Congress in January. “The path of least resistance becomes an old-fashioned tax cut on the individual side,” said Boustany. “The pressure is just going to be relentless as we get later in the fall.” ",1 "Connecticut cancels pay raises for managers as budget woes biteNEW YORK (Reuters) - Connecticut will cancel pay raises for managers at state agencies after the latest projections suggest the state’s fiscal situation may be much worse than previously thought, top officials said on Monday. The canceled raises are an early indication of the harm done by the state’s fiscal crisis. Many more cuts are expected this year as officials struggle with a budget deficit that could be as high as $900 million in the coming fiscal year. Although high-profile, the amounts involved are largely symbolic. The cancellations will affect 1,950 employees and represent savings of $12.74 million over two years. The figure does not include pay freezes in the judicial branch. Connecticut has had to slash its revenue forecast because the weak stock market is cutting into capital gains tax receipts, which play a large role in the budget. It also met resistance when it tried to raise taxes. General Electric moved its headquarters out of the state earlier this year. “We have a responsibility to the taxpayers of Connecticut not to move forward with managerial raises at a time when so many state programs will see reductions and while many state jobs are likely to be eliminated,” wrote Ben Barnes, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management. The letter was co-signed by Brian Durand, chief of staff to Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy. A report last week from the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Management said the deficit could be as high as $900 million in the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1. An earlier estimate from Barnes’ office put the deficit at $570 million. Most of the raises, which have already been postponed twice, would have been awarded on Friday. They will be suspended indefinitely. ",1 "Chinese Media Warns of ‘War’ with US Following Tillerson’s Remarks South China Sea 21st Century Wire says During yesterday s cabinet confirmation hearing in Washington DC, hawkish comments made by President-Elect Trump s Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson were very pleasing to pro-war Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Not so for Chinese war hawks Tillerson s remarks referred to the 3,000 acres of reclaimed land in the South China Sea in the Spratly Island chain, presumably for use by the Chinese Navy, but also as a shipping resource. China denies the new facilities will restrict freedom of movement for any international shipping.It s important to note that there is a tremendous amount of pressure being put to bear on the incoming Trump Administration by neoconservatives and perpetual war advocates like McCain, Graham, Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio and others. This relentless pressure appeared to affect Tillerson during yesterday s hearings.In response, a Chinese Communist Party publication penned a scathing OpEd in response to Tillerson s comments .Telegraphlocking Chinese access to islands in the South China Sea would require the US to wage war , an influential Chinese state-run tabloid said on Friday, after US Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson suggested the strategy on Wednesday. The media salvo from China is the latest sign of increased tensions between the countries since President-elect Donald Trump accepted a telephone call from Taiwan s leader, Tsai Ing-wen.Mr Tillerson told his confirmation hearing before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he wanted to send a signal to China that their access to islands in the disputed South China Sea is not going to be allowed . He did not elaborate.The United States would have to wage a large-scale war in the South China Sea to prevent Chinese access to the islands, the Global Times said in an English language editorial.[ ] Tillerson had better bone up on nuclear power strategies if he wants to force a big nuclear power to withdraw from its own territories, the paper added Continue this story at The TelegraphREAD MORE CHINA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire China FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 British Police Found Not Guilty in Kettling Children,0 "Romanian protesters halt building of Xmas fair at protest siteBUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian protesters clashed with riot police on Saturday when they stopped construction workers from building a Christmas fair at the site of anti-corruption demonstrations in Bucharest. Victory Square saw big street protests at the beginning of the year following attempts by the ruling Social Democrats to decriminalize some corruption offences and has been a gathering place for largely peaceful protests since. Further demonstrations have been announced on social media as parliament gears up to approve a judicial overhaul that has been criticized by thousands of magistrates, centrist President Klaus Iohannis, the European Commission and the U.S. State Department. Earlier this week Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea, a senior Social Democrat member, said she would stage a Christmas fair for most of December in the square - a decision which Social Democrat Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said was not the most inspired. On Saturday, protesters began dismantling the scaffolding and fences for the fair, waving flags and chanting We won t give Victory Square up, and Firea, don t forget, this square is not yours. Three protesters were taken to a police station, riot police spokesman Georgian Enache told state news agency Agerpres. He added one of them was accused of hitting another citizen. We are asking Bucharest city hall to abandon immediately ... the move to fence in Victory square, protest activists said in a statement on Facebook page Corruption Kills. We urge citizens to protest firmly but non-violently. We must stop this treacherous and rudimentary attempt by mayor Gabriela Firea to discourage protests at a time when they will be crucial for the future of this country. This means the beginning of anarchy, Firea said in a statement later. She said she would find another place to locate the fair. If the capital s city hall was prevented from organizing an event in a public space which belongs to everyone today, similar events could happen tomorrow at the presidential office, parliament and other public institutions. ",1 Pedophile soccer coach arrested after BURGLAR tells police about child abuse videos.,1 "EU and U.S. seek trade deal this year, knowing large hurdles remainBRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU and U.S. negotiators said on Friday that they still needed to overcome large differences for a transatlantic free trade deal to be sealed this year, and factor in the impending exit from the European Union of Britain, one of the United States’ biggest export markets. The two sides are trying to agree on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which supporters say could boost each economy by some $100 billion at a time when growth in China and emerging markets is slowing. Chief EU negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero and U.S. counterpart Dan Mullaney told a news conference after a 14th round of talks that both sides were committed to sealing a deal before U.S. President Barack Obama leaves office at the turn of the year. The partners have made progress on tariff elimination and on regulatory cooperation. However, they are stuck over EU demands including greater access to public sector tenders; Garcia Bercero described the U.S. offer as a serious cause of concern. Likewise, Washington is unhappy with the EU offer on services. “Given the importance of this sector to both of our economies ... progress here has been noticeably and painfully slow,” said Mullaney. He also said that, while the economic rationale for TTIP remained strong, Britain’s exit from the European Union would force a rethink as it was the largest market anywhere for U.S. services, and took 25 percent of U.S. exports to the EU. “Imagine if the United States said, for instance, ‘Well, maybe TTIP will not apply to California’. There is a certain reflection that the parties need to have on those kind of developments.” The two sides had previously planned to produce a single consolidated TTIP text by the end of July. Garcia Bercero said that was now more likely to come by the end of September after further meetings between U.S. trade chief Michael Froman and EU commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom. Garcia Bercero acknowledged that the political environment was becoming more challenging. The environmental group Greenpeace echoed the view of many anti-TTIP campaigners on Friday by saying that it was time to hit the ‘Stop’ button. But the EU negotiator said TTIP was instead a positive response to concerns about globalization. “If we want to have a shot at shaping globalization, we need a like-minded partner that shares largely our views,” he said. Mullaney talked of a “unique window of opportunity” to complete TTIP this year that should not be allowed to slip away. “After this year, with one political transition after another over the next few years, it could be quite a while before we pick up negotiations again.” ",1 "Governor of Santa Cruz, Bolivia was shot after attempting to stop a mugging",1 " Support For Hillary Probably Just Got This Texas Family’s Dog Killed (VIDEO)It s not surprising that Hillary Clinton signs don t last long in tomato red Richardson, Texas, but this is not a normal political year and heated rhetoric and violence have become so commonplace that a family dog might be the victim of a political disagreement.Matt Steadman and his wife are proud Hillary Clinton supporters. They ve put up yard sign after yard sign after yard sign (three) and each one disappeared almost as fast as they appeared. That didn t surprise Steadman, who said it was, no big deal. Then, things changed. It began with sign stuck under their door that said Hillary for Prison 2016. Then, their SUV was vandalized with bleach in the gas tank. The car can t be repaired. Smelled the inside of my gas tank and there was bleach, said Steadman. I ve never heard about bleach and gas tanks and cars. Source: CBS DFWThen things got even worse, much worse. The Steadman s adorable 2-year-old Shepard mix named Abby got sick. She started tremoring and she started shaking, I called Beth around 4 and said I think somethings wrong with Abby. Abby had ingested a neurotoxin and there was nothing the veterinarian could do. She started tremoring and she started shaking, I called Beth around 4 and said I think somethings wrong with Abby. Abby didn t make it.Here s the video:The Steadmans don t know for sure that the same people who targeted their signs also targeted their SUV and killed their dog, but it s a pretty logical leap. They also don t know for sure that these people are Trump supporters, but that is also a pretty logical leap.Trump rallies are turning into a page out of Lord of the Flies. At any given time, you can hear the audience, spurred on by the GOP candidate, chanting, lock her up and kill her. Trump himself hinted at Clinton s assassination when he compelled Second Amendment people to do something about Clinton. In other words, watch for violence, like that that was perpetrated against sweet Abby, to escalate before it gets better.As for the Steadmans, well, the police are dropping the ball. They aren t investigating.Featured image via video screen capture. ",0 " Man Who Tried To Dictate What Women Can Wear Gets ROYALLY OWNED In His Own HouseVery little is more infuriating for women than to have our appearances policed. Yet, police us people do, usually by criticizing what s in fashion and calling it too immodest, and crying that men can t stop staring and thus are sinning in their hearts, or saying that women over a certain age should not wear this or that. One of the latest incidents comes from Alan Sorrentino, of Rhode Island, who wrote a letter to editor for EastBayRI saying women over 20 should not be wearing yoga pants in public.Yoga pants draw a lot of ire from the supposedly pious and the supposedly weak-willed. Sorrentino s specific targeting of women in yoga pants earned him a yoga pants parade through the street in front of his house. Hundreds of people men and women participated while wearing yoga pants.Yes, there were men wearing yoga pants to stand in solidarity with women who are tired of being told what they can and cannot wear, and paraded with women in front of Sorrentino s house. Sorrentino got more than an eyeful of the struggles with physicality that he doesn t want to see anymore: To all yoga pant wearers, I struggle with my own physicality as I age. I don t want to struggle with yours. Thanks. His problem is that, as women age, we lose our beauty and our bodies, which, to people like him, necessarily restrict what we can wear. It s like he thinks that if we re not young and beautiful, we should hide ourselves in some way (oh wait, that s exactly what he thinks): Like the mini-skirt, yoga pants can be adorable on children and young women who have the benefit of nature s blessing of youth. However, on mature, adult women there is something bizarre and disturbing about the appearance they make in public. Maybe it s the unforgiving perspective they provide, inappropriate for general consumption, TMI, or the spector [sic] of someone coping poorly with their weight or advancing age that makes yoga pants so weird in public.A nice pair of tailored slacks, jeans, or anything else would be better than those stinky, tacky, ridiculous looking yoga pants. They do nothing to compliment a women over 20 years old. In fact, the look is bad. Do yourself a favor, grow up and stop wearing them in public. [emphasis mine]How disgusting. If someone is dressed or presenting an appearance we don t want to see, we can, you know, just look somewhere else. Or better yet, we can accept that there are things in this world that we personally would rather not see. Truly mature people, one of whom Sorrentino clearly isn t, recognize that it s not our place to tell other people what they can and cannot wear based on our personal comfort.Sorrentino is now claiming he wrote the letter as a joke, and the paper is defending its decision to publish it by explaining that they publish all opinions as long as they aren t attacking a person or a group: In this case, Mr. Sorrentino is not attacking any individual nor specific group. It s safe to assume that his comments target a large portion of America s female population, and that group obviously has ample firepower to respond to Mr. Sorrentino and his opinions. Telling women over 20 how they can and cannot dress isn t attacking women? Okay then. That s systemic sexism, though. Here s hoping the yoga pants parade got Sorrentino s attention, and he rethinks his position. Joke or not, it was inappropriate at best.Here s a short video from the parade:The #YogaPantsParade is underway @ABC6 pic.twitter.com/VItosLSLaA Bianca Buono (@BBuonoABC6) October 23, 2016Featured image via screen capture from embedded video",0 "China says its people have more civil, political rights than ever beforeBEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Friday that its people today enjoy the greatest level of political and civil rights ever, in a report issued just days after the European Union and United States expressed extreme concern over a deterioration in human rights in China. In the last five years, Chinese president Xi Jinping has presided over what rights groups decry as an elevated crackdown on the country s rights activists and lawyers, with dozens arrested and hundreds detained. Ahead of Human Rights Day last Sunday, the European Union and the United States released statements saying they were extremely concerned about a deterioration of human rights in China, citing measures such as internet restrictions and detentions of lawyers. Chinese citizens have never before enjoyed as ample economic, social, cultural, as well as civil and political rights, as they do today, the State Council, China s cabinet, said in an annual white paper. The paper heralded a new era where greater legal protection ensures human rights in China, citing as evidence the ruling Communist Party s recent establishment of a central leadership group to guide legal reform. Rights group says the lack of an independent judiciary to keep a check on the ruling party leads to abuse of rights. China rejects criticisms of its human rights record, saying that the critics place too much emphasis on political and civil rights, without recognizing the social and economic freedoms being provided to its citizens. Diplomats from liberal democracies say that the Chinese definition is overly broad and ignores aspects like free speech that are essential to the accepted definition of human rights used by the United Nations. China considers its human rights successes to include, for example, using law to control infringement on the health and property rights of its citizens by closing down polluting companies, according to the report. Controversial legislation on spying, counter-espionage and internet security, as well as others in a series of new laws to bolster China s national security, are also cited as helping to protect citizen s security and property. The paper further says that China is actively working to promote human rights overseas and to build a international legal system to protect them. Up to August 2017, 36,000 Chinese military peacekeepers have been sent abroad to take part in UN peacekeeping operations and now have a standing force of 8,000 troops, the paper said. ",1 SHOCKING VIDEO: Chicago Reporters Infiltrate Violent Leftist Protests Against Donald TrumpTHIS IS SHOCKING! Two reporters from Rebel Pundit infiltrate a Donald Trump protest only to find it has NOTHING to do with Trump but is a MUCH BIGGER leftist anarchist plan: ,0 UK Green Party rejects millionaire's donation because he is not a full UK taxpayer,1 Syria crisis: Child refugees reach 'one million'. 'The UN's refugee agency and Unicef say a further two million children are displaced within the country',1 North Korea's 50 Missing Submarines Have Apparently Reappeared Following Truce,1 "Russian plane to conduct observation flights over US, Canada",1 "TRUMP INSIDER REVEALS Donald’s Top Pick For VP: Wants Someone He “can live with for eight years” [VIDEO]We wholeheartedly approve Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is now the leading candidate to be tapped by Donald Trump as his running mate, a close confidante of Trump tells Newsmax.On Tuesday, Trump told the AP that he has whittled down his choices to 5 or 6 names. I have a list of people that I would like, Trump revealed in his interview Tuesday.But the name that keeps cropping up as his favorite is Gingrich, a Trump confidante tells Newsmax.Trump has tapped former presidential contender Ben Carson to help pick his running mate. Carson said Tuesday that he is stepping down from that post to focus on the Thursday meeting between Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump also announced this week that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will head his transition team.Trump is said to favor Gingrich for several reasons.First, Trump recognizes he is a Washington neophyte and sees in Gingrich someone who can school him in the legislative process and make nice with Capitol Hill.Trump admitted to the AP he wants a running mate who can help him with legislation, getting things through. As Speaker, Gingrich successfully got Bill Clinton to sign legislation abolishing welfare, while agreeing to budget constraints that led to the first balanced budgets in a generation.Trump has other reasons he is leaning toward Gingrich. He is said to personally like him. Rubio, Newsmax reported, has already been eliminated though he lobbied through surrogates for the job. Rubio has denied doing so.Trump also finds Ohio Gov. John Kasich kind of quirky and not someone he resonates with, the confidante said.Trump is apparently discarding the traditional approach of picking a running mate to provide geographic or ideological balance to his ticket. Instead he wants someone he can live with for eight years, the Trump source said.This concept of a simpatico ticket, while rare, occurred when then-Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas turned to then-Sen. Al Gore of nearby Tennessee to run with him in his successful 1992 bid for president.The Fox News commentator was an early defender of Trump in the GOP primary.Here is Newt Gingrich endorsing Donald J. Trump only yesterday: Donald values loyalty, the source said, and Gingrich has been loyal.Trump told the AP that he also is looking for a candidate who has held office and been under the public microscope. For the most part, they ve been vetted over the last 20 years, he explained to the AP.Gingrich has had such vetting, and survived a bitter, though unsuccessful run for president in 2012 against Mitt Romney.Gingrich is also considered one of the best communicators in the party, and Trump is placing great emphasis on who can go toe-to-toe against Hillary Clinton s running mate in upcoming debates.Via: NewsMax ",0 "EU executive moves to punish Poland over court reformsBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU executive launched an unprecedented process on Wednesday to suspend Poland s voting rights in the European Union after two years of dispute over judicial reforms that Brussels says undermine Polish courts independence. The European Commission, the guardian of EU law, will now ask the other EU governments to declare that Poland s changes to the judiciary constitute a clear risk of a serious breach of EU values especially the rule of law. However, it gave Warsaw, where a new prime minister took office only this month, three months to remedy the situation and said it could rescind its decision if it did so. Often referred to as the EU s nuclear option , the move carries the ultimate threat of sanctions but is in fact unlikely to result in that. The Commission has today concluded that there is a clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law in Poland, the Commission said in a statement. Judicial reforms in Poland mean that the country s judiciary is now under the political control of the ruling majority. In the absence of judicial independence, serious questions are raised about the effective application of EU law. The Commission s deputy head, First Vice President Frans Timmermans, who has conducted talks with the Polish government dominated by Law and Justice Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski for the past two years, said he was acting with a heavy heart but was obliged to take action to protect the Union as a whole. We are open for dialogue 24/7, Timmermans said, saying that if Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who took office just this month, were to change tack, he would be ready to respond. But Timmermans insisted: As guardians of the treaty, the Commission is under a strict responsibility to act ... If the application of the rule of law is left completely to the individual member states, then the whole of the EU will suffer. This decision has no merit. It is in our opinion a purely political decision, Beata Mazurek, a spokeswoman for Poland s ruling party, was quoted as saying by state news agency PAP. Stung by Britain s vote last year to leave the Union, the EU institutions are battling a rise in euroskeptic nationalism across the continent and particularly in the former Communist east, where Poland s ally Hungary has also prompted previously the Commission to threaten sanctions over the rule of law. Seeking to counter Warsaw s accusations of an anti-Polish bias in Brussels and in his own behavior, Timmermans, who once worked in the Soviet bloc as a Dutch diplomat, praised Poland s historic contribution to overcoming the Cold War divide of Europe but said Warsaw now bore a special responsibility to prevent new rifts opening up over democratic principles. I want to stand by the Polish people in this time which is very difficult for them, and for us, he said, adding that the defending a separation of powers was of existential importance not just for the Polish nation but for the EU as a whole . The next step in the process is that EU governments, meeting in the Council of the European Union, will hear Poland out and ask it to address their concerns. But if 22 out of the EU s 28 countries and the European Parliament are not satisfied in the end, the process will move on to the next stages, which may mean sanctions. The sanctions can involve the suspension of the rights deriving from the application of the Treaties to the Member State in question, including the voting rights . This formulation leaves open the possibility also of suspending EU financial transfers to Poland, now the biggest beneficiary of European funds aimed at boosting living standards in the former communist country. Sanctions can be imposed with the backing of a majority of countries representing a majority of the EU s citizens. But to get to that stage, EU governments have first to unanimously agree that what was initially just a risk of a serious breach of the rule of law has now become a reality. This is unlikely to happen, because Hungary has already declared that it would not support such a motion against Poland. But the mere threat of it underlines the sharp deterioration in ties between Warsaw and Brussels since the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party won power in late 2015. The Commission and Council of Europe legal experts, known as the Venice Commission, say Poland s judicial reforms undermine judges independence because they give the ruling party control over the sacking and the appointments of judges, as well as the option to end the terms of some Supreme Court judges early. The Council of Europe, Europe s human rights watchdog, has compared such measures to those of the Soviet system. The PiS government rejects these accusations, saying the changes are needed because courts are slow, inefficient and steeped in a communist era-mentality. Polish President Andrzej Duda has until Jan. 5 to sign them into law. ",1 he Harper government has served notice that thousands of same-sex couples who flocked to Canada from abroad since 2004 to get married are not legally wed.,1 Irans supreme leader rejects Joe Bidens offer of direct talks,0 "DOUBLE AMPUTEE VET Blasts Obama’s War Strategy…Saw Him As “Expendable”…Explains Why He Wishes He Was Fighting Under President Trump [VIDEO]War veteran Johnny Joey Jones praised President Trump for dropping the mother of all bombs on ISIS, saying the last administration failed to take appropriate action.Jones, who lost both his legs in an IED explosion, said he might still have his legs if the Obama administration wasn t concerned with public relations backlashes.He said he felt expendable because he lost his legs clearing a empty town on-the-ground, because the White House did not want to be seen in the press as dropping bombs on villages.Jones said Trump instead gave his generals the tools to make the decision best for their troops. FOX NewsHere s Jones tweet that went viral:I lost my legs because my gov't was afraid to use the tools they had and saw me as expendable. I wish I'd had this admin. Johnny (Joey) Jones (@Johnny_Joey) April 13, 2017War-hawk, anti-Trump John McCain s daughter Megan took to Twitter to invite Johnny Joey Jones to appear on Fox show Outnumbered where she is a co-host. He kindly accepted her invitation:Everyone loves you can you come on the show soon? Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) April 14, 2017Others on Twitter took the time to let him know how much they appreciate his service and his sacrifice:Real patriots don't see you as expendable. Jim (@Jim65783) April 14, 2017https://twitter.com/Lord12Almighty/status/852741550790422528thank you sir. Your service to protect me will never be forgotten. Sbeard74 (@Sbeard741) April 14, 2017Thank you, Joey. Honest to God, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service. I wish you'd had this administration, too. NyetToSeeHere (@GRRRR8est) April 13, 2017",0 "Trump Was Right: Latest Arrests Prove Threats to Jewish Centers in US Were False Flags J.R. Smith 21st Century WireFor the last two months, the US media has continued to ramp-up the alleged alarming trend of hate crimes against Jewish institutions and sites in America. On March 13th, CNN ran the headline, Jewish Center Bomb Threats Top 100; Kids Pulled from Schools. Clearly, media outlets like CNN were pushing a sensational, fear-based narrative, and propagating the idea that there is a crisis .Initially, Donald Trump expressed skepticism about the rather bizarre and completely spontaneous spike in reports of attacks and threats to Jewish facilities in the US, suggesting in late February that the threats were being done to make others look bad, inferring that this string of events might be a false flag. Predictably, Trump was roundly attacked for questioning the anti-Semitic narrative.It turns out, that Trump was very likely correct. On Thursday, a 19 yr-old US-Israeli dual citizen was arrested by Israeli police in conjunction with an ongoing FBI investigation into the supposed wave of threats made to Jewish communities and institutions in the United States, as well as in several other countries over the past few months. So far, the suspect is said to be behind the majority of the threats and used cyber-camouflage software to conceal his identity while carrying out his erroneous false flag actions. Also, according to an Israeli government official, the suspect s father has also been arrested on the same charges indicating this was a coordinated, organized effort.The Israeli father and son duo were not the only party in on this trend either. Earlier this month we learned also that the FBI had arrested a former journalist, Juan Thompson, who the bureau say was behind at least eight cases. Authorities described his menacing calls as part of his campaign to harass a woman, said the Washington Post. The Williams case was almost invisible in the US mainstream media who seems to have collectively opted not to give this, or any other related revelations, a fraction of the oxygen which it originally gave the slew of alleged hate crimes. Arrested: Andrew McClintonIf anyone should be skeptical of false flag hate crimes, it s Trump. During, and after the US election, a string of faked hate crimes were carried out and eventually exposed as fake incidents all designed to discredit Donald Trump and his supporters. The worst of these was a fake racist attack on a church in Greenville, Mississippi which was burned down, with the words Vote Trump spray-painted on the wall. Pro-Clinton news outlets all loudly ran the story without questioning its merit or its timing. The media bought it, of course, but it was later revealed that the incident was a false flag staged just days before the November election. The arsonist turned out to be an African-American and de facto Hillary Clinton supporter, Andrew McClinton of Leland, Mississippi.In addition to the fake church attack, liberal and Democratic Party supporters and media operatives also promoted astring of fake hate crimes against Muslims, including a fabricated a story in Lafayette, Louisiana, where a Muslim woman lied to police about being attacked and having her hijab ripped off, and a similar fabricated story by another Muslim woman in New York who made up a fake hate crime on subway. In both instances, the media, eager to use these dubious stories in order to inflict political damage against Trump, ran gleefully with the story.One cannot calculate the real damage done to trust between communities and faith and ethnic relations, as a result of all of these fake hate crime stunts and their initial media coverageTrump surrogate Anthony Scaramucci echoed the President s suspicion of the sudden spate of threats to Jewish sites in the US:It's not yet clear who the #JCC offenders are. Don't forget @TheDemocrats effort to incite violence at Trump rallies https://t.co/uTBFGhI0Kh Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) February 28, 2017Like the President, his former advisor Scaramucci was castigated by a number of media outlets who had adopted the Jewish alarmist narrative of events. Not surprisingly, the pro-Israel, anti-Russian and unofficial NATO mouthpiece, The Daily Beast and its writer Gideon Resnik, helped advance accusations of anti-Semitism against the US President: After a slew of bomb threats forced evacuations at Jewish community centers and schools in 11 states on Monday, President Trump reportedly suggested that the threats may have been done to make others look bad. Unfortunately, this recent denial fits in with a clear pattern that we have seen from Trump, which includes dismissing Jewish reporters asking about violence, refusing to include a reference to Jews suffering in the White House s official statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day, failing to denounce David Duke, tweeting Anti-Semitic imagery, and elevating white nationalist Steve Bannon as his top advisor, DNC spokesperson Eric Walker said.It wasn t long before the notoriously reactionary Anti-Defamation League (ADL) weighed in: Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, responded by saying: We are astonished by what the President reportedly said. It is incumbent upon the White House to immediately clarify these remarks. This talking point reached a crescendo just in time for President Donald Trump s March 14th speech to Congress, when The Lobby dispatched Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro to the White House to try and press Trump just two days after a Jewish cemetery was vandalized in Philadelphia, and a week after a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis was ransacked (in both cases, police had not made any arrests, so it is unknown who did these incidents, or why they did it).In the hysterical atmosphere created in part by the media s amplification of this alleged hate trend and under direct pressure from The Lobby, it appeared that at the last minute Trump was made to inject the Jewish alarmist talking point at the beginning of his address to the Joint Session on national TV. Trump proclaimed the recent threats against Jewish community centers acts of hate and evil, but the insertion of this talking point seemed highly awkward.Still not content with the President s clear patronage of the issue, the Anne Frank Center jumped on the anti-Semitism bandwagon, with its head Steven Goldstein stating afterwards: The president didn t say exactly what he would do to fight anti-Semitism how he could have stayed so vague? We ve endured weeks of anti-Semitic attacks across America and we didn t hear a single proposal from the president tonight to stop them, Goldstein said. All of this smacked of political opportunism by the ADL and its affiliates. But the core failure in all of these stories is the fact that no one working in any of these mainstream broadcast networks had dared question the narrative. Rather than actually doing what their job supposedly is investigating the facts and providing a healthy level of skepticism of politically motivated events and trends that supposedly spring up out of nowhere they all simply repeated what was on the memo.So after all that spinning, it turns out the Donald Trump may be correct and the media, the ADL, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anne Frank Center and every other mouthpiece for the Israeli Lobby were all wrong on this issue. Regarding this week s arrest of the 19 yr-old Israeli man, the Washington Post adds:The FBI handed over the information to the Israel police after finding these threats had originated from Israel, Haaretz reported. The investigation began in several countries simultaneously after dozens of threatening calls were received at public places, events, synagogues and community buildings that caused panic and disrupted events and activities in various organizations, the Israel police said in a statement. The result of the threats made by the suspect had caused damage to the communities and to their security and in one case when threats were made by the suspect, caused an airline to make an emergency landing. The Israel police said the suspect had used advanced camouflage technologies when contacting the institutions and making those threats. The youth s computers were seized and he was brought in for arraignment before an Israeli court.Maybe the media should be more careful before jumping to conclusions about WHO is responsible for events that suddenly appear in our news feeds. That includes jumping to conclusions about the ever popular talking point of ISIS-inspired terror attacks in the US, UK, France, and Germany. More often than not, all is not what it seems.READ MORE ISRAEL NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Israel FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 Tepco Cancels Plan To Build 2 New Reactors At Fukushima.,0 A curfew has been imposed on the city of Urumqi in western China for a second night after ethnic riots on Sunday which left 156 people dead.,0 "Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage, possibly due to mosquito-borne virus ""This is an unprecedented situation, unprecedented in world scientific research,"" Brazil's health ministry said in a statement on its website",0 "Isis sending children to die at unprecedented rate, report warns: Analysis of 89 deaths of minors finds 39% drove vehicles laden with explosives, while a third died as foot soldiers",0 "Why is Shoppers Drug Mart pulling 3,500 copies of Adbusters, my magazine, off its shelves? ""A week ago, in the National Post, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) accused Adbusters of anti-Semitism for publishing side-by-side photographs of the Gaza and Warsaw ghettos...""",1 "In a secret meeting in Russia with President Vladimir Putin, Saudi Defense Minister said that his country and Qatar stand ready to pay $300 billion to Russia to topple the Assad regime.",0 "Gunmen killed a female polio worker and injured another near the northwest city of Peshawar on Tuesday, the latest in a series of assaults on vaccination teams working to eradicate the disease in Pakistan",0 "North Korea requests that the Chinese Government take down doctored video of Kim Jong Un ""Dancing"", China unable to oblige",0 "JUST IN: SUSPECTED LEAKER and “Close Confidant” of James Comey Has Been Reassigned From His Post As TOP FBI Lawyer [VIDEO]On December 5, 2017, Circa s Sara Carter warned there would be a major shake-up at the FBI after the Inspector General s report was completed. So far, Sara Carter has been right on everything she s reported on, as it relates to the Mueller investigation. In the video below, Carter tells Sean Hannity why she believes the FBI will have a major shake-up soon there are 27 leakers that the IG is looking at! Yes, 27 leakers!Sara Carter: We re going to see parts of that report before December (end of the month). We re going to see other parts of his report coming out after January. And they re looking at Peter Strzok. They re looking at Comey. They re looking at 27 leakers. It would not surprise me if there was a shake-up at the FBI and a housecleaning.Watch:Is the FBI s former top attorney, James Baker, one of the first leaker casualties? James Baker, the FBI s leading lawyer who was a confidante of fired FBI Director James Comey, has been reassigned from his post, as the agency s top personnel are under high scrutiny.Baker told colleagues he will assume different duties for the bureau, the Washington Post reported.Baker oversees the bureau s Office of General Counsel and has received such awards as the George H.W. Bush Award for Excellence in counter-terrorism in 2006.He also was the subject of a leak investigation over the summer after Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a crackdown on leakers.The FBI had no comment when asked why Baker was being reassigned and what he would be doing.His reassignment comes at a time of increased scrutiny and pressure on the agency, following the release of private text messages between agents working in the Hillary Clinton email probe. Daily Mail Three sources, with knowledge of the investigation, told Circa that Baker is the top suspect in an ongoing leak investigation, but Circa has not been able to confirm the details of what national security information or material was allegedly leaked.A federal law enforcement official with knowledge of ongoing internal investigations in the bureau told Circa, the bureau is scouring for leakers and there s been a lot of investigations. The revelation comes as the Trump administration has ramped up efforts to contain leaks both within the White House and within its own national security apparatus.Baker is a close confidant of former FBI Director James Comey, and recent media reports suggested he was reportedly advising the then-FBI director on legal matters following private meetings the former director had in February with President Trump in the Oval Office.Baker was appointed to the FBI s general counsel by Comey in 2014 and has had a long and distinguished history within the intelligence community.",0 """If the weapon states are not prepared to rid themselves of nuclear weapons, why would other states continue to deny themselves the kind of leverage that these weapons bring?""",0 "Four reasons to believe in Brazil, according to The Economist",1 " CNN Just TORPEDOED Donald Trump With Facts To PROVE He Lied About Them AgainCNN is definitely sick and tired of Donald Trump calling them fake news. During an interview with Erin Burnett on Friday, Bernie Sanders jokingly referred to CNN as fake news to mock Donald Trump. Sanders even made sure to let Burnett know that he was just joking and Burnett acknowledged that Sanders was just joking. Soon after, a technical difficulty arose as Sanders could no longer hear Burnett. CNN then went to commercial, and Burnett apologized to the audience and to Sanders for the issue and resumed the conversation.Here s the video via CNN.Well, Fox News claimed that CNN cut off Sanders in retaliation for his fake news joke. And then Donald Trump tweeted about it several minutes later and made the same claim.While on FAKE NEWS @CNN, Bernie Sanders was cut off for using the term fake news to describe the network. They said technical difficulties! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2017That s when CNN proceeded to strongly fire back as Brian Stelter set the record straight by linking to the full video of the interview and call Trump out for lying.Untrue. Sanders was *criticizing Trump* for calling CNN fake news. You can see for yourself, all 11 minutes, here: https://t.co/qhtlb5Wo6Q https://t.co/AcwOiNHi0j Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 12, 2017Stop me if you ve heard this one before. But @FoxAndFriends covered the Bernie technical difficulties thing at 6:40. Trump tweeted at 7:14 https://t.co/AcwOiNHi0j Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 12, 2017And then CNN Communications issued a transcript of the interview as further proof that Trump is lying.@realDonaldTrump False. Transcript from @ErinBurnett intvu w @SenSanders. He was not cut off. Those are the facts. https://t.co/NzJNgdYSIX pic.twitter.com/AOFKLHUlGk CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 12, 2017Clearly, Donald Trump once again got alternative facts from Fox News and repeated them as his proof that CNN is fake news. But if he had simply taken ten minutes to watch the actual interview, he would know that Sanders was only joking, and that CNN did not cut Sanders off. It really was a technical difficulty and Sanders was able to continue the interview after the issue was fixed. But Trump didn t bother to do that, and he got his ass handed to him for it.Last week, Trump claimed that CNN host Chris Cuomo failed to ask a guest a specific question, only to get skewered by Cuomo and CNN Communications again for lying. Had Trump watched the very beginning of the interview, he wouldn t have humiliated himself.. @ChrisCuomo did address that point at the start of his interview. Those are the facts: https://t.co/JWJEAshv1y CNN Communications (@CNNPR) February 9, 2017Donald Trump won t bother to do simple research before he runs his mouth on Twitter, and that means he probably doesn t bother to do any research before making decisions as president. That s not only scary, it s stupid.Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images",0 Egyptian President's family and likely successor have fled to London.,1 "U.S. Senate support for Trump education nominee weakensWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Public refusals on Wednesday by two U.S. Senate Republicans to support Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, raised the possibility of a rare congressional rejection of a Cabinet nominee. In an ominous sign for Trump, Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski said they would not vote for DeVos, a billionaire philanthropist and charter-school advocate. They would be the first Republicans to break party ranks and vote against one of Trump’s cabinet selections. Democrats, uniformly opposed to DeVos, are expected to oppose her as a block. They would only need for three Republicans to side with them to make DeVos just the 10th cabinet nominee in U.S. history to be rejected by Congress. Collins and Murkowski also created a possible speed bump in confirming another Trump nominee, that of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General. Once Sessions, who was approved by Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, becomes the country’s top law enforcement officer, he will have to vacate his seat and can no longer cast a vote supporting DeVos. With voting margins so thin, his departure would put her nomination in peril. Soon after Collins and Murkowski staked out their opposition to DeVos, the White House said it is confident that she will ultimately be approved. Senator John Cornyn, responsible for tallying Republican votes in the chamber, was also confident DeVos would be confirmed. Nonetheless, DeVos’ opponents kicked into high gear on Wednesday to press other Republican Senators to vote no when the chamber begins considering the nomination, expected on Friday at the earliest. “I cannot support this nominee,” Murkowski said in a floor speech saying she needed to make her intentions clear to her colleagues. DeVos’ nomination barely squeaked through a Senate committee vote on Tuesday, with both Collins and Murkowski saying they voted yes only so the entire Senate could debate the matter. Trump’s early nominations, primarily for security posts, had an easier time on Capitol Hill than names now before the Senate. Republicans hold majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, but Democrats have been on a blitz to try to block the nominations, often raising concerns about conflicts of interest. On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee had to suspend its rules to advance Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin and Health Secretary nominee Tom Price to the full chamber for approval, the final step in the confirmation process. Committee Democrats on Tuesday had boycotted the vote, forcing Republicans to scrap a requirement that at least one Democrat be present for a vote. Confirmation hearings for Labor Secretary nominee Andy Puzder have been indefinitely delayed over ethics filings. Meanwhile, the Senate confirmed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state on Wednesday, filling a key national security spot despite concerns about the former Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) chief executive officer’s ties to Russia. Education Secretary nominees are rarely the focus of congressional debate or political protests. DeVos, though, has faced unusually fierce opposition since her confirmation hearing, where she appeared unfamiliar with education laws and public school issues. Old-guard Republicans including Former first ladies Barbara Bush and Laura Bush have defended her as a lifelong champion of low-income students and literacy. ",1 "Turkey detains main opposition leader's lawyer over coup linksANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey detained the main opposition leader s lawyer on Friday for alleged links to the network accused of carrying out last year s failed coup, in a widening government crackdown. Lawyer Celal Celik was a former top court judge who resigned from his post in September 2011 in protest of the rising influence of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen s network in the judiciary. However, Celik had now been detained at his home in the capital Ankara as part of operations targeting the network. Turkey accuses cleric Gulen of orchestrating the abortive putsch in July 2016. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, denies involvement. What happened today is a disgrace in the name of democracy. The detention decision concerning my lawyer is an eclipse of the mind, main opposition Republican People s Party (CHP) chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu was cited as saying by broadcaster CNN Turk. President Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party have recently adapted a harsher rhetoric against Kilicdaroglu, repeatedly accusing him and the CHP of being linked to Gulen s network and acting together with what it calls the terrorist organization . Using Erdogan s acronym for the Gulen network, Kilicdaroglu said the government was supporting the FETO under the banner of a fight against the FETO. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters after Friday prayers that Celik s detention was a legal process, and that he hoped a correct decision would come from the investigations. CHP Spokesman Bulent Tezcan said the detention was a plot against the party. Celik had resigned from his judgeship at the court of appeals to battle the FETO when it was at its most powerful. If Calik s home can be raided, then let it be known that every single person faces this threat, Tezcan said. More than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial for alleged ties to Gulen s movement and some 150,000 people, including journalists and opposition figures, have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the public and private sectors for the same reason. Rights groups and Turkey s Western allies have expressed concern about the crackdown and suspect the government has used the coup as a pretext to quash dissent. The government says the purges are necessary due to the gravity of the threats it has faced since the failed putsch, in which more than 240 people were killed. ",1 "Kenyan president, election overturned by court, attacks judiciaryNAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Saturday the country had a problem with its judiciary, which annulled his election win of last month, and we must fix it . The Law Society of Kenya said in a strongly worded statement that Kenyatta, as the head of state who under the constitution is a symbol of national unity , should refrain from derogatory comments about the judiciary. Kenyatta, speaking a day after the Supreme Court canceled his victory and ordered new polls within 60 days, repeated his message from Friday that he would respect its ruling. But, speaking on live television at the State House in Nairobi after meeting elected officials from his Jubilee party, he added Who even elected you?...We have a problem and we must fix it. He did not elaborate. The decision to annul the election was unexpected and unprecedented in Africa where governments often hold sway over judges. The president s latest comments mark the second time since Friday s ruling that he has criticized the judiciary in public. On Friday, during an impromptu rally in Nairobi, he accused the court of ignoring the will of the people and dismissed the chief justice s colleagues as wakora , or crooks. The lawyers association condemned Kenyatta s use of the Kiswahili word, saying that the judges serving in the highest court had acted professionally, with honor and dignity . They...do not deserve the disrespectful treatment they are being shown , the statement read. The president s appearances since the ruling suggest he intends to campaign rigorously for the re-run of the Aug.8 poll. He said via Twitter on Saturday: For now let us meet at the ballot. Attention now turns back to the election board. The court ruled that it had failed, neglected or refused to conduct the presidential election in a manner consistent with the dictates of the constitution . Raila Odinga, the veteran opposition leader whose coalition brought the petition against the election board to the Supreme Court, said on Friday that some officials from the commission should face criminal prosecution. The chairman of the election board said there would be personnel changes, but it was not clear if that would be enough for the opposition. Sweeping out the whole board would complicate efforts to hold a new poll within two months. Last month s election which included the presidential poll in addition to races at other levels of government was one of the most expensive ever held in Africa. Ahead of the vote Kenya s treasury said preparation and conduct of polling would cost the equivalent of around $480 million. Analysts saw the president s latest comments on the judiciary as a worrisome development. It s extremely unfortunate that Kenyatta seems to be issuing veiled threats at the judiciary, said Murithi Mutiga, a Nairobi-based senior Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group. This was a tremendous moment for Kenyan democracy, where the court upheld the rule of law. Politicians should be careful not to incite the public against the judiciary. On Friday, Chief Justice David Maraga said the Supreme Court s verdict was backed by four of the six judges and declared Kenyatta s victory invalid, null and void . Details of the ruling will be released within 21 days. Prior to last month s election Maraga spoke out to emphasize the judiciary s independence. In a statement he read out on behalf of the Judicial Service Commission less than a week before the election, he listed instances in which politicians from the ruling party and the opposition had tried to intervene in the judiciary s work. The emerging culture of public lynching of judges and judicial officers by the political class is a vile affront to the rule of law and must be fiercely resisted, the statement read. We wish to state that ... the judiciary will not cower to these intimidating tactics. Kenya s judiciary went through sweeping changes in a bid to restore confidence in the legal system after the bloodshed following the 2007 election. Experts say the constitution adopted in 2010 enshrines protections for the judiciary against interference by the executive. ",1 " John Hagee: Vote For Trump Or Face The Wrath Of God (VIDEO)It s funny how extreme right-wing Christians always think they know what their God is thinking about politics, especially since most of the candidates who say that God told them to run for president never even get the nomination, much less become president. Well, another such right-wing Christian has added his voice to this narrative: Pastor John Hagee. On the Tuesday edition of his show Hagee Hotline, the fiery preacher issued a dire warning: Vote for Donald Trump in November, or God will come for you. Hagee warned that God will not hold us harmless, and that voting is an imperative duty. He continued to rant: I m going to vote for the candidate that s going to make the U.S. military great again. I m going to vote for the party that is going to solve the immigration problem, not the one that has created the immigration problem. I m going to support the party that brings jobs back from China I m not going to vote for the party that has betrayed Israel for the past seven years. If you can read a newspaper, you know who I m talking about. No candidate is perfect, but I want you to go vote and may God give us a leader who has the courage to put America first and stand up for we the people. Now, I don t know about you, but this sounds an awful lot like a preacher putting politics into religion to me. If Hagee s ministry is tax exempt, he needs to lose that status if he can t stop the politicking. Further, no higher power if one were to actually exist would want a dangerous, racist, sexist, xenophobic narcissist as the leader of the free world.This election cycle sure has brought out the nutjobs, all thanks to the likes of Donald Trump. If that man wins, we re ALL going to need some divine intervention for sure.Watch the video of Pastor Hagee s comments, via Right Wing Watch:Featured image via video screen capture",0 """In what appears to be the first diplomatic casualty from the latest WikiLeaks revelations, the U.S. ambassador to Libya has returned to Washington and is likely to leave his post, U.S. officials said Tuesday [January 4, 2011].""",1 Japanese police practice arresting protesters to prepare for towns upcoming dolphin hunts,0 "FED’S PREVENT ‘Mother of the Year’ From Boarding Plane To Join ISIS, Planning To Leave Two Daughters Behind In PhiladelphiaThere are just way too many wannabe male and female jihadists in our homeland right now. The truth is, we have no way of knowing how many of them are planning to do harm to their fellow Americans. Congress needs to stop the State Dept. sponsored Refugee Resettlement program. It s obvious we have a problem with Muslim Americans and Muslim immigrants living in America who want to join ISIS. It s up to Congress to take meaningful action to stop this insanity. THE YOUNG LIONESSA Philadelphia mother of two, who goes by the name of YoungLioness on Twitter, was arrested by federal officials Friday and charged with trying to support ISIS with money and resources.Keonna Thomas, 30, appeared in court in full black dress with only her eyes showing, just hours after her arrest. According to the criminal complaint filed by the U.S. attorney s office, she wanted to join, fight with and die for ISIS.The only reason she didn t get on a plane last Sunday to put her plan into action, was because federal agents spooked her two days before the flight when they raided her home, federal prosecutors argued, saying Thomas was a flight risk and should be detained.The North Philly woman, who neighbors said lived quietly with her two daughters and grandmother, posted statements on Twitter accounts which led officials to believe she was intent on not only supporting the terrorist organization, but looked forward to martyrdom, federal officials allege. Read more:NBC",0 "WATCH: SEAN HANNITY FANS Make HILARIOUS Videos Showing How They Destroyed Their Keurig Coffee Makers…Sean Responds With Awesome Award For Best Video #BoycottKeurigWhen Keurig decided to side with Soros against Sean Hannity and Roy Moore s right to defend himself against serious, and shady sex allegations, they released a genie that they re not going to be able to put back in the bottle Three days ago, a Twitter user by the name of Angelo Carusone tried to shame Keurig for adverising on the Sean Hannity Show after Sean interviewed the Repbulican Alabama Senate candidate, Roy Moore, allowing him to tell his side of the story, after 4 women came forward 4 decades later to announce that he sexually abused them when they were teens. The stories of at least 2 of his accusers have been unraveling after non-mainstream media uncovered that one of the anti-Trump accusers worked for Hillary and openly promoted Moore s Democrat opponent on her Facebook page. The mother of another accuser is challenging the truth behind the Washington Post s hit story as well.Curiously, the person who sent the tweet that Keurig responded to is none other than Angelo Carusone, the president of GEORGE SOROS Media Matters of America. Here is Carusone s tweet to Keurig.Angelo, thank you for your concern and for bringing this to our attention. We worked with our media partner and FOX news to stop our ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show. Keurig (@Keurig) November 11, 2017Hannity followers were quick to defend him, while calling for a boycott against Keurig:Throwing my Keurig unit and all the coffee in the trash was the first thing I did today after getting back to London where I base. @seanhannity made it very clear he was NOT defending Moore and his exclusive interview was not to clear him BUT to interrogate him thoroughly. Jenifer Stevens (@JeniferStevens) November 12, 2017Twitter users like Kaya, slammed Keurig for thir decision to pull their advertising from the Sean Hannity show:Well good luck with the people. We don t support companies who play politics @Keurig Should have stayed neutral! @seanhannity has an army behind him. You ll see that this holiday season #BoycottKeurig https://t.co/Z0dcxupyTo KAYA (@KayaJones) November 12, 2017Even actor James Woods got into the game of helping to boycott Keurig on social media with this hilarious tweet:You re going to be so unhappy you made this decision. #BoycottKeurig https://t.co/VFHm4VVZuZ James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) November 13, 2017Watch:Join me & @AngeloJohnGage in the #KeurigSmashChallenge & learn how to crush your drives as a bonus.#BoycottKeurig#IStandWithHannity#BuyBlackRifleCoffee#MAGA pic.twitter.com/WH3unkpADI Snoop Bailey (@vol80) November 12, 2017Another conservative Twitter user, Colin Rugg posted a video of a Keurig Green Mountain coffee maker being dropped over the railing from the second story of a apratment building. The tweet was accompanied by a message asking Twitter users to retweet the video to offend a liberal . Liberals are offended by this video of a Keurig being thrown off of a building. Please retweet to offend a liberal. Liberals are offended by this video of a Keurig being thrown off of a building.Please retweet to offend a Liberal.#BoycottKeurigpic.twitter.com/0qbHlmyqcA Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 12, 2017This video is hiarious, but comes with a ***Language Warning***. Black Rifle coffee company is a company dedicated to selling coffee that s produced and sold by American veterans. Fresh roasted freedom . To order Black Rifle coffee, go HERE :#BoycottKeurig Make Coffee Great Again! #StandWithVets BUY #BlackRifleCoffee Stay woke with patriotism, guns and a double shot of humor. #SundayFunday #StandWithHannitypic.twitter.com/2hTpojmF35 gh -or- c (@NiaMAGA3X) November 12, 2017Here s another great video (Rap song accompanying video has language warning):I pulled an ""Office Space"" with my Keurig Would be a shame if everyone else joined me in the Keurig Smash Challenge #BoycottKeurig #IStandWithHannity #SundayMorning pic.twitter.com/yEADeRC006 Angelo John Gage (@AngeloJohnGage) November 12, 2017Sean Hannity loved the videos so much, that he s buying 500 Keurig coffed makers for his followers toDeplorable friends, I am buying 500 coffee makers tomorrow to give away!! Details on radio and TV. Hint; best videos!! Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) November 13, 2017Apparently, Green Mountain Coffee (Keurig) is a top corporate sponsor to Senator Bernie Sanders:Keurig is a top corporate donor to Communist Senator Bernie Sanders pic.twitter.com/nP90rRLC4K Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) November 13, 2017",0 " After Months Of Concern Trolling, Trump Proves He Really Thinks Chicago Murders Are HILARIOUSAmid one of the most racist presidential campaigns in modern history, Donald Trump spent a lot of time apparently attempting to appeal to African-Americans by telling them they live in poor, murderous hellholes called, inner cities. By and large, they don t.Trump seems particularly concerned about one city: Chicago. Now, Chicago s murder rate is on the rise, there s no question there, but it s not the most murderous city. It s not even close. So what is it about Chicago?Murder rates are up across the country. The biggest jumps in murder rates have been in cities that Trump doesn t call hellscapes. In fact, he doesn t talk about the rising murder rate in these cities at all. Not coincidentally, they are all in states that voted for Trump. Oh, and did I mention that Chicago is President Obama s home town?Among the notable rises outside of Chicago were increases of 56 percent in Memphis, 61 percent in San Antonio, 44 percent in Louisville, 36 percent in Phoenix and 31 percent in Las Vegas. Taken together, those six cities accounted for 76 percent of the overall big city murder rise in 2016.In all there were six big cities Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Anchorage, Alaska; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Durham, North Carolina; and Indianapolis that appear to have set records for highest murder counts in one year dating back to 1960.3 There were also at least 16 big cities that tied or surpassed their worst murder years since the start of 2000 in 2016.Source: FiveThirtyEightStill, Republicans insist on holding up Chicago as the perfect symbol of blacks behaving badly and they love it. In fact, on Thursday, Trump and a group of Republicans had a big hearty laugh at the expense of Chicago s dead. This, less than two days after Trump threatened to send the Feds into Chicago to deal with the carnage. 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, 2017To the group of congressional Republicans, Trump asked: What s going on in Chicago? Trump said. I said the other day, what the hell is going on? In response to Trump s question, somebody in the court yelled, Democrats! The room burst out in laughter. Trump smirked and said, There s a lot of truth to that. As of Tuesday, 37 people had been killed in the city in January alone.Oh my god. Isn t that just hilarious! There are dead black people and probably dead Democrats. Trump better get back on Twitter and pretend he cares.F Featured image via Sara D. Davis/Getty Images.",0 "Trump says he recalls little about meeting where aide spoke of RussiaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Friday he did not remember much about a meeting last year with a former campaign aide who pleaded guilty last month as part of a federal probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Asked about a meeting in which aide George Papadopoulos suggested arranging a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump told reporters: “I don’t remember much about that meeting. It was a very unimportant meeting.” According to court documents filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Papadopoulos said at the meeting of foreign policy advisers in March 2016 “that he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and President Putin.” A photograph posted on Trump’s Instagram account shows Papadopoulos sitting at the same table with Trump as well as Jeff Sessions, now Trump’s attorney general, and several others. Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents about contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials, in the first criminal charges alleging links between the Trump campaign and Moscow. His plea was made public this week. Sessions is under pressure from Senate Democrats to testify again about the Trump campaign’s Russia contacts. In testimony to the Senate Judiciary committee, Sessions has denied knowing anything about contacts between the campaign and Russians or Russian government intermediaries. The president spoke before leaving for a trip to Asia, where his domestic woes are expected to dog him. Trump denies any collusion with Russia and Moscow denies interfering in the 2016 election. Sessions is also under pressure from his boss, who has made clear he thinks the Department of Justice should look into his former presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, and her campaign’s behavior with the Democratic National Committee during the presidential primary race. Trump told reporters on Friday that many people were unhappy with the Department of Justice, including him. Those comments followed remarks he made during “The Larry O’Connor Show” on WMAL radio in which he lamented not having more say in the department’s work. “The saddest thing is, because I am the president of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department. I’m not supposed to be involved with the FBI. I’m not supposed to be doing the kind of things I would love to be doing. And I am very frustrated by that,” he said. Trump on Friday repeated his urgings that the Justice Department and FBI investigate Clinton. “Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn’t looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems,” he said on Twitter. His comments elicited criticism from several U.S. senators. “President Trump’s pressuring of the Justice Department and FBI to pursue cases against his adversaries and calling for punishment before trials take place are totally inappropriate and not only undermine our justice system but erode the American people’s confidence in our institutions,” Republican Senator Bob Corker, who has frequently sparred with Trump, said in a statement. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said: “We can’t allow ourselves to become numb to the president of the United States calling on independent law enforcement organizations to investigate his political opponents. That’s characteristic of authoritarian regimes, not democracies, and it needs to stop.” Trump has expressed frustration repeatedly over the Russia investigation, which has overshadowed his administration, at times referring to it as a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.” Federal investigators this week charged Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and another ex-aide, Rick Gates, with money laundering and other crimes. In a court filing on Friday, Mueller estimated he would need three weeks to present his case against Manafort and Gates if it went to trial. Both men pleaded not guilty. Manafort’s attorney Kevin Downing said in a filing on Friday that he would challenge what he called “evidence improperly obtained by search warrant, subpoena or otherwise.” FBI agents seized documents and other material from Manafort’s Virginia home in a July raid. (This version of the story was corrected to say that Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in October, not November in paragraph one) ",1 " The Ladies Of ‘The View’ Call Trump EXACTLY What He Is, And He’ll HATE It (VIDEO)Tuesday morning on The View, the panel discussed Donald Trump s latest Twitter rant which included saying that people who burn the American flag should face consequences, including either a loss of citizenship or time in jail.Here s the tweet:Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag if they do, there must be consequences perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016The big problem with that is the fact that, albeit burning the flag can be seen as incredibly disrespectful, citizens are free to do so. In fact, it is protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It is a form of free speech and dissent, in fact, patriotic.The ladies of The View brought up this very point, and resident lawyer Sunny Hostin brought up the fact that these comments made by Trump reek of a dictatorship.Trump needs to realize that you don t have to agree with everything a person does or says, if it is within compliance of the law, it is not illegal and thus a punishment cannot be given. The moment you start giving out punishments based on personal opinion and not the law you are getting into the very scary realm of a dictatorship.The United States was founded on freedom, and part of that freedom is the freedom to protest. Trump needs to get that into his head.Watch the panel discuss Trump here:.@Sunny says Trump s tweet about repercussions for burning the American flag reeks of a dictatorship. What s your take? pic.twitter.com/jpLQi3ijxi The View (@TheView) November 29, 2016Featured image via video screen capture",0 "LOL! WATCH HILLARY Explain Hilarious Reason She Bought House Next Door To Chappaqua Home, After She Was Sure She’d Beat Donald TrumpAmerica s biggest loser, Hillary Clinton was seen in her first televised interview on CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley since being pummeled by voters who overwhelmingly chose Donald J. Trump over her in the 2016 presidential election. Hillary, who isn t capable of letting her hair down, attempted to pretend to be forthcoming about how she dealt with the embarrassing thumping she took at the polls in an election pollsters insisted she d win.In typical Hillary fashion, she blames her loss to Donald J. Trump on Russians and Americans who elected a White Nationalist , while never once accepting responsibility for her flawed character or the enormous amount of distrust Americans have for her and for her sexual predator husband and the slush fund (the Clinton Foundation) the two of them, along with their dishonest daughter, have been operating for years.Watch Hillary tell Jane Pauley how she was so sure she was going to win the election, that she actually bought a house next to her and Bill s Chappaqua mansion in New York to house her staff servants. She also explains how painful it was to watch Trump s inauguration.lol",0 "Trump dismisses Russia controversy as 'scam' by hostile mediaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump dismissed a growing controversy about ties between his aides and Russia on Thursday as a “ruse” and “scam” perpetrated by a hostile news media, and denied any of his associates had contacts with Moscow before last year’s election. “The leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake,” Trump told a news conference, referring to media reports that his presidential campaign team had contacts with Russian intelligence officials. Trump, who frequently assailed the news media, also said he had not directed his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to talk to Russia’s ambassador about U.S. sanctions before taking office. Trump said he had asked the Justice Department to look into the leaks of “classified information that was given illegally” to journalists regarding the relationship between his aides and Russia. He also said he did not think that Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking actions that would test him early in his term in office. Trump, who took office on Jan. 20 and has voiced support for improved ties with Russia, added he personally had no business deals in that country. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that phone call records and intercepted calls showed members of Trump’s presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the Nov. 8 election in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. Pressed by reporters about whether he was aware if any member of his presidential campaign team had contacts with Russia before the election, the Republican president said: “Nobody that I know of.” Wary Democratic lawmakers challenged Republicans, who control Congress, on Thursday to conduct a credible investigation into contacts between Trump’s associates and Russia. The process could take months and might never be made public. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the election campaign as part of an effort to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor. Trump has spoken admiringly of Putin, who had a tense relationship with former President Barack Obama over Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, Russian military actions in Syria and other matters. Even fellow Republicans have expressed unease about Trump’s comments about Putin. Flynn, a close adviser to Trump during his campaign, was seen by Moscow as a leading advocate of warmer ties with Russia. Trump fired Flynn on Monday after the retired lieutenant general misled Vice President Mike Pence about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States, before Trump took office, regarding U.S. sanctions on Moscow. Flynn told FBI agents last month he had not discussed sanctions against Russia with the ambassador before Trump took office, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. Flynn’s Jan. 24 interview with the FBI could expose him to charges, since lying to the agency is a felony, but any decision to prosecute would lie with the Justice Department. U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted Flynn’s call with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak after Trump’s election, in which the two discussed sanctions, the Post reported previously. Obama imposed the new sanctions on Russia on Dec. 29 after the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion about Moscow’s interference in the election campaign. A U.S. official familiar with the transcripts of the calls with the ambassador said Flynn indicated that if Russia did not retaliate, that could smooth the way toward a broader discussion of improving U.S.-Russian relations once Trump took power. That was potentially illegal under a law barring unauthorized private citizens from interfering in disputes the United States has with other countries. Trump forcefully defended Flynn’s discussion with the Russian ambassador. “What he did wasn’t wrong,” Trump told the news conference. “Mike was doing his job. He was calling countries and his counterparts. So, it certainly would have been OK with me if he did it. ... I didn’t direct him, but I would have directed him because that’s his job,” Trump said. “No, I didn’t direct him, but I would have directed him if he didn’t do it. OK?” said Trump, who added the problem was Flynn’s having misled Pence. A wealthy new York real estate developer with global business interests, Trump also portrayed himself as having no ties to Russia. “I can tell you, speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia. I have no loans in Russia. I don’t have any deals in Russia,” Trump said. Critics of the president have called on him since the election campaign to release his tax returns, saying that would shed more light on his business dealings. Trump has said he will not do so while his tax affairs are under audit by the Internal Revenue Service. “I have nothing to do with Russia, haven’t made a phone call to Russia in years, don’t speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn’t. I just have nobody to speak to,” Trump said. ",1 "On Saturday, the last of the Japans's 50 usable nuclear reactors will be switched off, completely idling a power source that once supplied a third of the country's electricity.",0 "Lebanese president said Hariri will visit Paris on Saturday: politicianBEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Thursday that Saad al-Hariri will arrive in Paris on Saturday with his family, where he will remain for a few days before coming to Beirut, a Lebanese politician said in a statement after meeting Aoun. Hariri announced his resignation as Lebanese prime minister in a televised broadcast from Saudi Arabia on Nov. 4 and has not returned to Beirut since. Aoun has said Hariri must return and submit his resignation in person. (This version of the story corrects source in headline) ",1 Germany migrant bus surrounded by protesters,0 American atheist blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh,0 "WORLD’S MOST POPULAR Search Engine Places FICTIONAL Story At Top Of News Feed:”Melania Trump is Lonely, Racist and Obsessed With Michelle Obama”Google is the search engine the majority of people in the world go if they need to look up something. In fact, it is estimated that over 30 BILLION searches are performed on Google every month. Google now has a special feature for mobile users. When you go to search for a topic on Google, a news feed appears under the search bar, with what users expect to be the most popular current stories. But are they the most popular stories, or are they simply Google s contribution to the leftist propaganda machine? With all of the news breaking about Hillary s Uranium One deal with Russia, surely readers wouldn t expect to find some fictional story about Melania being a racist , as the top story on Google s mobile newsfeed or would they? Here s the story that appeared at the top of Google s news feed today:Newsweek: Melania Trump is lonely and obsessed with Michelle Obama. At least in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie s version of events anyway.The Nigerian author has penned a short story for the The New York Times style magazine, T, which paints the first lady referred to throughout only as Mrs T as the reluctant wife of the president who displays an unease with her political fame. And she s a little bit racist, too.Adichie s micronovel, Janelle Asked to the Bedroom, envisions a conversation between a forlorn Trump and her pilates instructor Janelle. The story was published on the Times website and on the T magazine Instagram page.In the short story, Janelle is unusually called to join Mrs T in her bedroom, rather than her home gym, and is surprised to find the first lady looking disheveled, her manner distracted. Adichie s fictional account also portrays Trump as envious of her predecessor s natural ease in the role of first lady. Mrs T shows Janelle a video she s been watching on YouTube of Michelle Obama visiting a classroom. She also reveals a folder full of pictures of Obama on her laptop. Look at this. I always look at them for the inspiration, she says.In this fictional world, Mrs T s only source of joy comes from her 11-year-old son, Barron. The first lady perks up speaking to her son, who is described as sweetly shy and polite, dependent on his mother for his sense of self. But Adichie s imagined Trump also exhibits a casual racism that her husband, President Donald Trump, is often accused of sharing.Mrs T makes a prejudicial remark when Janelle informs her that her son has been accepted to Harvard University. He got scholarship to go? she asks. How automatic, this assumption of a scholarship, and Janelle knew she meant a scholarship not of smarts but of skin, writes Adichie.Janelle Asked to the Bedroom follows an earlier, pre-election short story by Adichie, The Arrangements, also written for the Times.In that story, published in June 2016, Trump quietly doubts her husband s chances of winning the presidency. It also depicts a strained relationship between her and Donald Trump s children from previous marriages, particularly Ivanka Trump, whose close relationship with her husband she envies.Why would Google choose to put that ridiculous story of pure fiction about Melania, that claims she s a racist at the top of their newsfeed? Who, at Google is in charge of deciding which news stories will appear at the top of the feed? Let s take a look at the next two stories, following the fictional Melania smear story:The next most popular story on Google s news feed was about Hillary. The story wasn t about what is likely the biggest political scandal in American history, as a massive coverup that involves former Sec of State Hillary Clinton, Rober Mueller, Jim Comey, Barack Obama, Rod Rosenstein, Andrew McCabe and Bill Clinton, it was instead, about how the spies that Hillary helped to send back to Russia after the FBI caught them, were coming ever closer to her, while they were here in the U.S. spying. The next most popular story on Google s newsfeed was about the media s obsession with Rex Tillerson abandoning his post as Trump s Sec of State. Even though Tillerson has denied those claims, Google s third story in their line up was about who Tillerson s replacement will be:So, where s a reader to go when they re just looking for a list of top stories without the propaganda? ",0 "Deadly Somalia blast reveals flaws in intelligence effortsNAIROBI/MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The size and methods of the latest truck bombing in Mogadishu show how international and Somali government efforts to stop the killings are failing, partly because intelligence gathering to counter such attacks is so disjointed, security sources say. More than 300 people were killed in the bombing in the heart of the capital on Saturday, the deadliest attack in the history of the Horn of Africa nation. The Islamist insurgency al Shabaab was blamed for the blasts, which happened when a car bomb and a truck bomb headed for the airport detonated prematurely. Somali security services and the donor nations working with them are both to blame for disorganization in the divisions that are supposed to be working to detect and stop such attacks, said Hussein Moalim Mohamud Sheikh Ali, a former national security adviser to the president. The national security architecture is in tatters, he told Reuters. The Shabaab attacks are a symptom of the greater political dysfunction of the state. The increasing frequency and growing size of the attacks threaten the fragile security gains made in Somalia ahead of the withdrawal of African Union peacekeepers at the end of the year. They also are a concern for other countries in the region where al Shabaab is active, such as Kenya and Uganda. In 2016, 723 people died in 395 attacks in Somalia, up from 46 dead in 36 attacks in 2010, according to a confidential report produced earlier this year by Nairobi-based thinktank Sahan Research. Initial swab tests at the site of the attack showed traces of potassium nitrate, a fertilizer component, indicating al Shabaab is now manufacturing explosives as well as buying them or harvesting them from munitions, experts say. Competing programs funded by different donor nations and the lack of a centralized database are hurting efforts to analyze intelligence related to improvised explosive devices (IEDs), four Western and one Somali security source told Reuters. A letter from Somalia s minister of internal security addressed to the United States, Britain and the United Nations in May complained of competition and secrecy among agencies gathering intelligence. Multiple actors involved means this process is highly disorganized ... causing a severe problem for the governmental counter-terrorism efforts, said the letter, seen by Reuters. The pressure is building on President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who must ensure Somalia s fledgling security forces are ready to step in when the 22,000-strong AU force leaves. His government is already stalling on releasing a report into a joint U.S.-Somali raid on Bariire in August that residents say killed 10 civilians. Political disagreements threaten co-operation between Somalia s federal and regional forces. Last week the minister of defense and army chief resigned, without giving reasons. The interior ministry spokesman resigned this week. Somali police did not respond to requests for comment. HIGH-GRADE EXPLOSIVES Obtaining high-grade military explosives - the material that makes a bomb explode - involves harvesting them from captured munitions, or buying them from someone else. Making their own explosive allows the insurgents to build more and bigger bombs, according to the Sahan report and an upcoming report from a U.N. panel of experts that monitors an arms embargo on Somalia. According to the U.N. report which is due to be published next month, the U.S. Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, which is funded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has confirmed the presence of potassium nitrate in six major vehicle-borne bomb incidents since 2016. The potential use of HME (home-made explosive) by al Shabaab would allow the group to rely less on the process of harvesting explosives from munitions, which is slow and laborious allow(ing) the militant group to increase the frequency and explosive weight of its IEDs, said the report. Al Shabaab, which wants to overthrow Somalia s U.N.-backed government and impose strict Islamic law, has not yet claimed responsibility for Saturday s attack, in keeping with previous incidents in which large numbers of civilians have been killed. Mass civilian deaths have caused deep divisions among fighters, a security source with knowledge of discussions within the group said. A former top al Shabaab commander, Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, condemned the attack and was photographed by local media donating blood. Robow defected to the government in August after the U.S. government removed a $5 million bounty for his capture. Two Mogadishu-based security sources outlined the events leading up to the latest attack to Reuters. They said a car bomb and a truck bomb were deployed to hit Mogadishu International Airport, a warren of buildings ringed by barbed wire and blast walls that house contractors, diplomats and a European Union military training mission. One bomb would have breached a checkpoint, opening the way for a larger bomb, one of the Western security contractors told Reuters. They also had fighters nearby ready to come inside the base. The driver of the car bomb had been driving through checkpoints for a week ahead of the attack, paying small bribes and getting security forces used to his presence, he said. A larger truck entered the city and passed through one checkpoint, but was stopped at one known as Kilometer Five. Panicking, he tried to force his way through, but got snarled in traffic next to a fuel truck. I could see the truck speeding. I also heard few gunshots behind it. Police must have been chasing it, said Mohamed Ali, 21, who was injured in the blast. As it advanced it came to many cars in the street, then the truck driver swerved abruptly to the left lane, but its tyres got stuck in the highway divider. What followed was the blast and smoke. The fireball tore through the intersection, incinerating hundreds of civilians. Many were too badly burned to be identified and were buried in mass graves. The driver of the car bomb was detained at another checkpoint by soldiers who had taken him out for questioning before its bomb also detonated. Three security sources told Reuters he identified himself as al Shabaab. ",1 "HOW TRUMP’S LATEST MOVE COULD Give America 4 Years Of Bernie Or HillaryIn nine months, Americans will choose between a leader who will turn back the clock, and work diligently to undo the enormous amount of damage Barack Hussein Obama has done to our nation, or they will choose a candidate who will continue down the same reckless path. Until yesterday, I truly believed we had a fighting chance to restore pride, honor and dignity to the office of the President of the United States and more importantly to the people of our nation who deserve so much more. We have our favorite candidates, but in the end, there isn t a person left standing on the GOP stage who we wouldn t rather see in office than the corrupt, marxist, gun-grabbing, pro-amnesty, everyone s a victim and voters rights for everyone candidates on the Democrat Party s side.2016 GOP presidential frontrunner Donald J. Trump tells reporters here that his pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee is now void because the Republican National Committee, along with local and state GOP factions, is stacking debate audiences with donor class officials. The RNC is in default, Trump said at the press conference. Just so you understand, the RNC is in default. When somebody is in default, that means the other side can do what they have to do. The RNC is in default. Trump s point is that the RNC has defaulted through its actions against his candidacy on the pledge he signed earlier in the cycle, and his point is that because they have defaulted he can do whatever he wants. Trump is signaling he may not support the eventual GOP nominee in 2016 if that nominee is not him.The significance of this development can t be understated. The entire GOP presidential primary election has focused on this question, which was launched to the center of discussion by the first question at the first GOP debate in Cleveland, Ohio, back in August, 2015. That question, by Fox News s Bret Baier, asked all the candidates on stage to raise their hands if they would support the eventual GOP nominee. Trump was the only one who didn t raise his hand. That, and several other unseemly questions from Fox s Megyn Kelly about Trump and women, catapulted into public view a then-private war between Trump and Fox that has lasted publicly to this day.In the coming weeks, the RNC eventually negotiated it out with Trump to get him to sign a pledge to back the eventual nominee. He signed it. But Trump is now arguing that the RNC hasn t been fair, and he says that means that the RNC, in his words, has defaulted on their end. So Trump says he can do whatever he wants if he doesn t win the nomination. Of course, all of this could end up being a moot point should Trump win the nomination, as he s fairly heavily favored to do at this point. But if he does lose, a world of possibilities has now opened up. The RNC gave all the tickets to special interests that represenSen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% and Rubio, Trump said at the press conference, explaining how and why the RNC defaulted on their pledge.They walked on stage, the place went crazy. It s sort of interesting. One guy s got like very low in the polls, the other one is very low in the polls. I m very high in the polls. There s nobody there for me except my wife and my kids because I don t have donors. I don t have donors and I don t have special interests. But I think the RNC did a very poor job. We ve warned them twice, because this happened twice before, and they don t [fix it].All of this leads Trump to believe that the RNC, like his opponents, is controlled by special interests and high-dollar donors who don t have the well-being of the American public in mind. That, Trump says, is why Republicans have lost presidential elections in 2008 and 2012 and will lose in 2016 if the nominee isn t the right person. I think the RNC is controlled, Trump said. The bottom line is the RNC is controlled by the establishment and the RNC is controlled by the special interests and the donors, and that s too bad. And that s why the Republican Party has lost for president for so long. Overall, Trump added, he s very disappointed in the RNC. I m very disappointed in the RNC, Republican National Committee, Trump said.I m very disappointed in the RNC because for three debates now the room has been stacked with special interests and donors as you know, as the press knows. As an example, I gave two judges who were very conservative judges. I was met with nice applause. Bush got up and stumbled through an answer and the place went crazy. I said, What are they doing? And then I realized all of these people many of the people in that room I know, some are friends of mine. Some are waving to me and booing. They re waving like this and they re booing they re having fun. I get it. Some of them are friends of mine. They are special interests. They re lobbyists. And that shouldn t be. They have total control over the people I m running against. Total, absolute control. I bring up the drug thing because the drug companies are going to go to competitive bid. Whether we save $100 billion a year or $350 billion a year, we re going to competitive bid. These people can t say that because the drug companies give them a fortune to run for office.Via: Breitbart News If Donald Trump has what it takes to be our next Commander In Chief, he ll stay true to his word and won t run third party. If he loves his country more than his ego, he wouldn t even consider it. If Donald Trump could put his desire to have the RNC support him aside for just two seconds, he would see that he doesn t need them win. He has enough support from so many cross-sections of America that he will likely win the election in a landslide. The real irony is, the spineless RNC is the reason Trump is consistently polling so high against the traditional establishment candidates. His voters are anti-establisment and could care less if the RNC stacks the debates with Bush or Kasich supporters. In fact, the obvious favoritism the RNC has shown for candidates polling in single digits will likely backfire and will cause more people to become actively engaged in the Trump, Cruz or Carson campaigns. ",0 "Swedish court sentences Syrian asylum seeker to prison for posing with war deadSTOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish court on Monday sentenced a Syrian asylum seeker to eight months in prison after he posed for photos with dead bodies during the conflict in his home country. The man admitted to posing with dead or severely injured people while fighting for the Syrian army in 2014 and that he knew the pictures would be used for propaganda, the district court said. He denied wrongdoing, however, saying he was following orders. The man has by his actions exposed the five persons, all of whom were protected under international humanitarian law in armed conflicts, for humiliating or degrading treatment aimed at seriously violating their personal dignity, the court said. The man sought asylum in Sweden in 2015 and was detained this year after a member of the public sent the photo to the police. ",1 The U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution still in use today among nations.,1 "The millionaire socialist who may be Norway's next prime ministerOSLO (Reuters) - Norway s next prime minister could be a man born into wealth and privilege who became the unlikely leader of the Labour Party, the political home of the working class. Jonas Gahr Stoere, 57, hopes to replace Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg, 56, after a Sept. 11 parliamentary election. With the left and right neck-and-neck in the polls and many voters undecided, the race is too close to call. If he wins, it would be a victory for a millionaire, whose background was once deemed an obstacle to his ambition to lead a party rooted in the struggle for workers rights. Stoere got massive attention in the media in 2013 when he failed, apparently by accident, to raise the national flag outside his house on International Workers Day on May 1 - an important tradition in the labor movement. I have not grown up in the traditional working class and I cannot explain my background away. Like everyone else I m the sum of my experiences, he told the tabloid VG at the time. With a net worth of 64.5 million Norwegian crowns ($8.3 million), media interest in Stoere s investments has at times threatened to overshadow his campaign, leading him last week to divest stakes in a mutual fund that did not comply with the same ethical standards as the sovereign wealth fund. He served as foreign minister and health minister in the two cabinets of his friend, prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, in 2005-2013, and became Labour Party leader when Stoltenberg was named NATO Secretary General. In 2010, while foreign minister, Stoere helped broker a deal to delineate an Arctic offshore border between Norway and Russia that had been in dispute for four decades. Stoere was a very popular foreign minister, but has experienced problems as party leader, Toril Aalberg, a professor of political science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim told Reuters. While there is a greater degree of consensus in Norwegian foreign policy, there is a greater degree of disagreement in domestic policy matters. The son of a shipbroker, Stoere credits his conversion to social democracy to his move to study in France where he was confronted with starker class differences. I learnt what kind of society I wanted to live in. In France, differences between people are large, larger than in Norway between rich and poor, between those with education and those without, between city and countryside, he wrote in a column for Norway s ABC News website in June. In Norway, we have shaped a society where there are fewer differences. But we are not immune to this and this is not a given. He attended Paris prestigious Sciences Po university, became engaged in the movement to support Soviet dissidents, and traveled to the Soviet Union to provide supplies and support. He organized a protest in support of Andrei Sakharov, then held in internal exile, persuading French star Yves Montand, a long-time Communist sympathizer, to deliver a letter to the Soviet embassy in Paris calling for the Nobel laureate s freedom. When he returned to Norway, Stoere worked closely with Norway s first female prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, known as the mother of the nation in Norway, first as an adviser and later a senior civil servant under several governments between 1989 and 1997. From 1998 to 2000 he followed Brundtland to the World Health Organisation to serve as chief of staff to the new executive director. He was also Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross from 2003 to 2005. If Labour wins the Sept. 11 vote, it would spend less money from Norway s near-trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund and instead raise taxes, arguing that the growth in oil revenue spending must slow. Sound public finances are critical for welfare and critical for productivity, Stoere told Reuters in an interview in June. Stoere also said he would be careful about allowing the sovereign wealth fund into new asset classes. Political risk is clearly one issue. Spreading the focus of the fund too much is another one, he said. To govern, Labour will need the support of the Centre Party, whose main support is in rural areas, with whom it shared power between 2005 and 2013. But depending on the outcome of the vote, Stoere may be in need of the support of the far-left Red Party and would face demands from the small-but-growing Green Party about limiting the reach of Norway s oil industry. Stoere says he is adamant he would not accept the Green Party s ultimatum of shutting down the industry but his position may be more difficult to defend if he needs their support. Forming a government is going to be difficult, said Johannes Bergh, a political scientist at the Institute of Social Research in Oslo. ",1 "Republicans press U.S.-Russia uranium deal probe despite no wrongdoing findingsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers are pressing forward with an investigation into the 2010 sale of a Canadian uranium company, which owned 20 percent of U.S. uranium supplies, to a Russian government firm, despite five congressional inquiries having found no evidence of wrongdoing. Copies of letters by the heads of two U.S. House of Representatives committees released on Wednesday showed they were seeking documents and other material on the deal from the FBI, the Treasury and State Departments and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The letters set a deadline of Nov. 30. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, opened investigations on Oct. 24 into the agreement struck during the previous administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat. The committees “have questions ... about the review and approval” of the sale of Uranium One - which owned 20 percent of U.S. uranium supplies - by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, according to the letters. The committees also want to know if the FBI “had evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering,” the letters said. Although Hillary Clinton was not mentioned by name, the letters reflect unsubstantiated allegations by U.S. President Donald Trump, Republican lawmakers, and right-wing media that the 2016 Democratic nominee masterminded the approval of the sale in return for donations to the Clinton Foundation. Five committees in the U.S. House and Senate found no evidence that Clinton was behind the CFIUS’ approval of the deal, according to congressional records. In Twitter posts, Trump has called for an investigation of the sale, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Tuesday he is evaluating whether to appoint a special counsel. Democrats and other critics say the allegations are baseless, and that Trump and his supporters are fanning them to distract attention from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into whether there was any collusion between the Trump election campaign and Russia. While Clinton was Secretary of State at the time of the sale, her department has only one of nine votes on CFIUS, which is chaired by the Treasury Department and approved the sale unanimously. In addition, the State Department CFIUS seat was occupied not by her, but by Jose Fernandez, then-assistant secretary for economic, energy, and business affairs, who has said Clinton played no role in the decision. The sale also was approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Obama. In a related development, Representative Elijah Cummings, the top oversight committee Democrat, objected on Wednesday to the Republicans’ refusal to give Democrats access to an unidentified FBI informant whom Republican lawmakers say has new evidence in the case. In a letter to Gowdy, Cummings said Republican lawmaker Ron DeSantis told Fox News on Oct. 22 that he thought the informant could link the approval of the Uranium One sale to “millions of dollars” that “sources connected to Uranium One” donated to the Clinton Foundation. ",1 China says Dalai Lama has to reincarnate,0 Indian Government Spends $1.3 Million To Stop Auction Of Gandhi Letters That May Show He Was Gay,1 Palestinian president threatens to break off alliance with Hamas unless Islamic group gives up power in Gaza,0 WWII's Operation Mincemeat - The Germans did not realizeuntil it was too latethat William Martin was a fiction. The man they took to be a high-level courier was a mentally ill vagrant who had eaten rat poison; his body had been liberated from a London morgue...,1 """It's not rhetoric to draw parallels with Nazism"": Actual fascists in actual black shirts are waving swastikas and murdering ethnic minorities in Athens",0 French govt allowed to block sites featuring terrorism with no court order,0 "ARE THE ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTS Becoming The New “Ferguson” For Illegals And Democrats? [Video]A California Donald Trump Rally turned into a violent riot by mostly young Latinos. This is the result of open borders lawlessness and disregard for other people s right to free speech:Hundreds of demonstrators filled the street outside the Orange County amphitheater where Donald Trump held a rally Thursday night, stomping on cars, hurling rocks at motorists and forcefully declaring their opposition to the Republican presidential candidate.Some video I shot of a police car being smashed by a protester: pic.twitter.com/aqHm5jP9y3 Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) April 29, 2016THE ILLEGALS ARE EXPRESSING THEIR FRUSTRATION BY THROWING ROCKS AT PEOPLE AND DESTROYING COP CARS Donald Trump is worthless! There won t be no United States without Mexicans. -Juan Carlos, 16 I m protesting because I want equal rights for everybody, and I want peaceful protest, said 19-year-old Daniel Lujan, one of hundreds in a crowd that appeared to be mostly Latinos in their late teens and 20s. This just happen #CostaMesa #DonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/t0hS8EEdIU Ruben Vives (@LATvives) April 29, 2016 Video footage showed some anti-Trump demonstrators hurling debris at a passing pickup. One group of protesters carried benches and blocked the entrance to the 55 Freeway along Newport Boulevard, with some tossing rocks at motorists near the on-ramp. Costa Mesa police confirmed that a total of 17 people 10 males and 7 females were arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly. A MOTORIST GOT OUT OF HIS CAR AFTER BEING BLOCKED AND CONFRONTED THE PROTESTERS:SUV almost ran over protester. Passenger gets out and gets confronted by protesters near 55 Fwy #CostaMesa pic.twitter.com/LLA4K1rzEN Ruben Vives (@LATvives) April 29, 2016READ MORE: LA TIMES",0 "BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY: Believe In Global Warming Or It’s Jail For You [Video]This is where we re heading with the Obama administration and nut jobs like Bill Nye. Last month, DOJ s Loretta Lynch suggested that they had been looking into prosecuting skeptics of global warming (video below). I kid you not! LORETTA LYNCH DISCUSSES CIVIL ACTION FOR CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS: ",0 "It's a bird, it's a plane. No, no, it's cocaine - Spanish study shows cocaine in the air in Madrid and Barcelona.",1 Walmart Canada says it would stop accepting visa cards because of unacceptably high fees. Visa accuses Walmart of using customers as Pawns in battle over fees.,1 NHS attack by right wing MEP on US TV 'unpatriotic'; MEP rebuked by party leader,0 "6 of 10 Chinese demand Norway apologize: ""more than 75 percent of respondents had no idea who the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize was.""",0 "CNN Liberal Anchor Freaks Out At Navy SEAL When He Asks For TRUTH….You Won’t Believe The Reaction! [Video]A Navy SEAL Carl Higbie was blasted and screeched at by a CNN anchor who was shocked that Higbie asked for more evidence and truth in the Trump controversy. Yikes! She s got snowflake written all over her. It s just how the left rolls you have to march in lock-step with what they believe to be true even if it s not true. Just go with it, right? We say NOT RIGHT!Shouldn t we ask that sources be exposed? Anyone can say they know the truth but when they hide behind anonymity, they ruin their credibility. The left just expects everyone to believe the many lies they ve been telling about President Trump. We re with Carl! We re not accepting any stories against Trump until we have proof and know the source.This woman needs to seek help!",0 "Hiscox sees higher U.S. property insurance rates after Harvey, Irma(Reuters) - Lloyd s of London underwriter Hiscox Ltd said the price of insuring property in the United States would rise after the states of Texas and Florida suffered billions of dollars of losses from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. This will definitely have the impact of eliminating price reductions. I think that loss-affected areas will see price rises. The bigger ticket property area will see price rises because that was a very under-priced area beforehand, Chief Executive Bronek Masojada told Reuters. People buy programs covering all of their property wherever they are in America. So, it (price rises) will be broader than just Texas and Florida, Masojada added. Like many Lloyd s of London insurers, Hiscox offers U.S. property insurance. AIR Worldwide forecast on Monday total insured losses in the United States for Irma of between $20 billion and $40 billion. That was down from initial estimates over the weekend of as much as $65 billion. Rival risk modeling firm RMS estimates insured losses from Harvey of $25-$35 billion. Masojada said Hiscox would be announcing loss estimates in due course . ",1 "16 YR OLD GERMAN GIRL IN VIRAL VIDEO PLEADS: “you Muslims have no right to physically assault or rape us…The politicians live alone in their villas, drink their cocktails, and do nothing”This is what happens when a nation puts liberalism before their own children.The 20 minute video, apparently created by the 16 year old Facebook user Miss Wilhailm, starts with her saying that she is, so scared everywhere, for example if my family and I go out together, or if I see a movie with my friends. Usually I stay out until 6pm in winter, and it is so scary. It is just very hard to live day-to-day as a woman. The girl who some social media users report has now been banned from Facebook, though others say she has removed herself then goes on to talk about an incident that happened to her at a local supermarket saying, I ran all the way home. I was frightened for my life. There s no other way to describe it. She talks about her experiences over summer, when a group of Muslims said that her and her friends were sluts for walking outside in t-shirts. Yes, we were wearing t-shirts. It s summer! She adds: Another day, I was wearing this. My friend and I purchased it while shopping. If we feel like wearing it, we will wear it! And you Muslims have no right to physically assault or rape us for it! God willing, never in my life. You have no right to attack us because we are wearing t-shirts. You also have no right to rape .Miss Wilhailm then turns toward what she sees on social media, describing how she has seen, a 17 year old attacked, a 15 year old attacked, two 12 year olds attacked, so many, and questions, why should we, children, have to grow up in such fear? I cannot understand why they do this. But more importantly, I cannot understand why Germany is doing nothing! Why is Germany standing by, watching, and then doing nothing? Please explain, why. Men of Germany, these people are killing your children, they are killing your women. We need your protection, she goes on to say adding, The politicians live alone in their villas, drink their cocktails, and do nothing. They do nothing! I do not know what world they live in, but please, people, please help us! Please, do something! Continuing, Miss Wilhailm tells of her own personal experiences with Arab and Muslims migrants saying, One day, my friend and I were walking down the street, and a group of Arabs were protesting and demonstrating. They shouted, Allah! Allah! Allah is the one God! Kill those infidels! Allah Allah! What should I do? Should I wear a burka? Why should I have to convert to Islam? It s fine if you believe in Allah, but why do you want to make everyone else believe in Allah too? I just think it would be better if there were no religion. Stop trying to make everyone else believe in your God when they do not want to .According to the her experiences, the police are no help. She alleges, they say it is a problem and they ignore it. It is unfair. They laugh at us. They say we are dumb, and that, they don t care about our fears. This description matches many other cases where police have been afraid to be labeled as racist for taking a hard line on migrant crime and even victims of migrant crime have been accused of racism for speaking up.Free market liberal group Freiheitliche Aufklaerung or Liberal Education posted the video on their Facebook group page and made the following comment when it disappeared from Miss Wilhailm s page: How many have already noticed the video You make Germany broken! is no longer there. In this video, the 16-year-old girl said that she now is afraid to go out alone and that they can not understand the insane asylum policy of the German government. Europe and Germany are thus ruined Unfortunately, we live in a social dictatorship, in what critics of the establishment and its illiberal policies are tackled and accosted in the strongest terms. The group claims it doesn t have evidence, but says it can not rule out a censorship by Facebook 100% .Breitbart London understands from Facebook that while the matter has not been fully investigated yet, the usual reason for videos disappearing are down to the user taking them down themselves.The censorship fears come after Facebook announced last year that they would help the German government monitor for hate speech and as recently as this month Chancellor Angela Merkel s government has demanded Facebook remove posts and videos in the wake of the Cologne sex attacks. The company has not yet responded to Breitbart London s request for comment on the matter.The video ends with a stark message for German Chancellor Angela Merkel: Thank you, Angela Merkel, for killing Germany! I have no more respect for you, Merkel. I do not think you know what you have done. You do not see how our lives have changed. Open your eyes! Is this normal? Should I, a 16-year old who is almost 17, be so scared to walk outside my house? No, it is not normal. You have killed Germany! She closes: men please help your women. Help your children. I am so scared. My friends have the same fears. We are shocked that this has happened. I hope this video can convince you, and that these terrible events can stop. https://youtu.be/-BCrL8kDRdITRANSCRIPT: Hello, you can read the newspapers but this video is about the real situation in Germany. I would like to tell everyone about this on Youtube and Facebook. I am almost 16. I would like everyone to know what is going on, what I am authentically feeling at this moment.And I am so scared everywhere. For example, if my family and I go out together, or if I see a movie with my friends. Usually I stay at home, but sometimes I stay out until 6 pm in winter, and it is so scary. It is just very hard to live day-to-day life as a woman.I just want to say that I am not a racist. But one day, a terrible thing happened at the supermarket. I ran all the way home. I was so frightened for my life. There s no other way to describe it.My aunt and her friend have said you have to grow up. Why should we, children, have to grow up in such fear? It s not just me, my friends too. You can see on Facebook, a 17 year old attacked, a 15 year old attacked, two 12-year olds attacked, so many. It is really so sad that this is happening because of YOU PEOPLE. I cannot understand why they do this. But more importantly, I cannot understand why Germany is doing nothing! Why is Germany standing by, watching, and then doing nothing? Please explain, why. Men of Germany, these people are killing your children, they are killing your women. We need your protection. We are so scared, we don t want to be frightened to go to the grocery store alone after sunset. The politicians live alone in their villas, drink their cocktails, and do nothing. They do nothing! I do not know what world they live in, but please, people, please help us! Please, do something! I cannot understand why this is happening. One day, my friend and I were walking down the street, and a group of Arabs were protesting and demonstrating. They shouted, Allah! Allah! Allah is the one God! Kill those infidels! Allah Allah! What should I do? Should I wear a burka? Why should I have to convert to Islam?It s fine if you believe in Allah, but why do you want to make everyone else believe in Allah too? I just think it would be better if there were no religion. Stop trying to make everyone else believe in your God when they do not want to.Please, people of Germany. Do something!When I try to tell the authorities about what has happened, they hold their hand up towards me and they say it is a problem and then ignore it. and they laugh. It is unfair. They laugh at us. They say we are dumb. They think this not only of me, but of the entire state of Germany. They don t care about our fear. Please help us. This is an emergency! There are more and more of them.One time in summer, the Muslims said we were sluts for walking outside in a t-shirt.Yes, we were wearing t-shirts. It s summer!Another day, I was wearing this. My friend and I purchased it while shopping hehe. If we feel like wearing it, we will wear it! And you Muslims have no right to physically assault or rape us for it! God willing, never in my life. You have no right to attack us because we are wearing t-shirts. You also have no right to rape.The life of Germany has changed because these people cannot integrate. We give them so much help. We support them financially and they do not have to work. But they only want more babies and more welfare and more money. Men of Germany, please, patrol the streets and protect us. Do this for your women and your children. If you do that, I believe that we will have a chance.This sort of action would be wonderful. We would be so grateful and thankful. So many thanks, if steadily, more men would come to protect us. We are so scared.I am so upset about what Merkel has done.Thank you, Angela Merkel, for killing Germany! I have no more respect for you, Merkel. I do not think you know what you have done. You do not see how our lives have changed. Open your eyes! Is this normal? Should I, a 16-year old who is almost 17, be so scared to walk outside my house? No, it is not normal. You have killed Germany!This is the truth. We are no longer allowed to walk outside. We are no longer allowed to wear our clothes. We are no longer allowed to live the German life. This is the sad truth.I think it s about time to end this video. I believe I have given a full account from a normal person. I hope others can see this and understand.I only want to end with one message: Men, please, help your women. Help your children. I am so scared. My friends have the same fear. We are shocked that this has happened. I hope this video can convince you, and that this terrible events can stop.Via: Breitbart News",0 "WATCH: TRUMP’S NEW BRUTAL Anti-Hillary Ad Has Her Barking Like A DogJust wait until Trump starts getting serious about taking Hillary down. You haven t see anything yet This is just a warm-up folks Is this what we want for a President?A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Mar 16, 2016 at 9:15am PDTHere s the 20 second hysterical loop of Hillary barking if you can torture yourself long enough to watch:https://youtu.be/yhyt8PP1zXQ",0 "Motorbike explosion in Syrian city kills child, monitors sayBEIRUT (Reuters) - A booby-trapped motorbike exploded in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli on Monday, killing a child and wounding six other people, the monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Syrian state TV said a motorbike had exploded and reported that four people were wounded but did not immediately mention deaths. Qamishli is in an area mostly under the control of Kurdish security forces. Bomb blasts, often claimed by Islamic State, have occurred in Qamishli and nearby Hasaka city, both under Kurdish control, but have been rare in the last year. Islamic State also reported the bombing via its online Amaq news agency, saying it had targeted a vehicle belonging to Kurdish security forces. It did not explicitly claim the attack. Kurdish internal security force the Asayish, in a statement, blamed a Syrian government-allied paramilitary group for carrying out the attack. The Kurdish YPG militia is spearheading a U.S.-backed offensive to drive Islamic State out of the jihadist group s remaining strongholds in eastern Syria, including its former de facto Syrian capital, Raqqa. The YPG and Syrian government forces have mostly stayed out of each other s way in the six-year-old Syrian conflict. ",1 Top EU leader: we want Britain out as soon as possible,0 "BREAKING: WHY IS OBAMA Sending Huge Number Of Troops To Germany? [VIDEO]The largest armed U.S. military brigade to be deployed to Europe since the end of the Cold War arrived Saturday at a port in northern Germany, military officials said.The U.S. Army s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division arrived in the port of Bremerhaven on Friday and began a days-long process of deploying heavy equipment including tanks and armored vehicles. The deployment is the culmination of a promised heavier armed troop presence in eastern Europe since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.The move was meant to reassure nervous NATO allies the United States was prepared to respond in the event of further Russian aggression in the region.The arrival of the 3,500-troop heavy brigade is part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. The Army has maintained troop deployments in the region for decades, but had allowed their numbers to lapse for months at a time as troops were rotated out of Europe without being replaced. Stars and Stripes reported the Pentagon plans to maintain the full deployment and immediately replace returning soldiers after their 9-month deployments are completed.The troops will meet in Poland and eventually will be deployed there, as well as Romania, Bulgaria, Germany and across the Baltics. Once there, they will engage in training exercises with NATO host nations. UPI",0 "Nigeria's president has signed a law that bans same-sex marriage and criminalizes homosexual associations, societies and meetings, with penalties of up to 14 years in jail",1 "China, once the manual labour workshop of the world, has become the largest buyer of industrial robots",1 " WATCH: GOP-Friendly PAC Creates SICKENING Link Between Georgia Democrat And Scalise ShootingA PAC that claims to support principled conservative candidates that will lead the fight to restore constitutionally limited government, free markets, and individual liberty to our Republic, has released an ad in Georgia that appears to link Democrat Jon Ossoff to the shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and left-wing violence in general. They call themselves the Principled PAC, they re acting on behalf of Republican Karen Handel, and if they can put an ad like this together, they re anything but principled.They call the left unhinged, and claim that the left endorses and applauds shooting Republicans. Then it implies that Ossoff supports such behavior by saying: When will it stop? It won t if Jon Ossoff wins on Tuesday, because the same unhinged leftists cheering last week s shooting are all backing Jon Ossoff, and if he wins, they win. It ends with calling on people to vote for Karen Handel:This is the worst example of politicizing a tragedy there is. It s so much worse than conservatives screaming moar gunz, every single time there s a shooting. And Ossoff is sickened by this. He has already responded by saying: The man is fighting for his life. I think it s disgraceful to politicize it, and I think Secretary Handel should call for it to come down. You have a national tragedy that has united people. There are still [two] who are in critical condition. It s just got no place in an attack ad. A spokeswoman for Handel called it shameful, and said that the so-called Principled PAC should be ashamed of itself. She did not call for the ad to come down, though, as she ought to.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images ",0 City of Vancouver bans doorknobs,1 "Kidnapping for ransom is one of the most profitable and widespread criminal enterprises in Pakistan. But it is one that has, until now, been fairly well hidden.",1 "'He Stabbed Me, Darling,' Indian Techie Killed in Sydney, Told Husband on the Phone",1 "A bus carrying foreign journalists in North Korea takes a wrong turn, giving them a rare glimpse of everyday life in the secretive nation.",1 "U.S. judge to look into Giuliani, Mukasey's role in sanctions caseNEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said he will inquire further into whether former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey can represent a Turkish gold trader charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said at a hearing on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court that he will hold another hearing, likely later this month, into whether conflicts of interest prevent the two men from effectively representing the trader, Reza Zarrab. Giuliani and Mukasey will not appear in court or help prepare for Zarrab’s trial, Benjamin Brafman, another of Zarrab’s lawyers, said at the hearing. Instead, he said, they are seeking a “diplomatic solution” to the case. The two men traveled to Turkey shortly after Feb. 24 to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Giuliani, an ally of President Donald Trump, discussed the trip in advance with then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who brought the charges against Zarrab, Brafman said, while Mukasey conferred with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “No one was trying to hide their involvement,” Brafman said. Zarrab is accused of conspiring to conduct illegal transactions through U.S. banks on behalf of Iran’s government and other Iranian entities. Prosecutors said in a court filing last week that eight of those banks were clients of Giuliani or Mukasey’s firms, and that Giuliani’s firm is a registered agent of Turkey, raising potential conflicts. Brafman said in a response the issue “quite frankly is none of the Government’s business.” But Berman said at Tuesday’s hearing that it was “unquestionably the business of the court.” At the hearing, Brafman argued that Zarrab had an “absolute right” to meet with anyone he chose. If he had chosen to meet with another lawyer without telling anyone, there would be no issue, Brafman said. “He’s interviewed half the lawyers in America, so that’s not so much of a hypothetical,” Brafman joked, alluding to Zarrab’s hiring of more than a dozen lawyers at major firms. The dispute highlights the politically charged nature of the case, which expanded in scope last week with the arrest of an executive at a Turkish state-owned bank accused of conspiring with Zarrab. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticized that arrest as “political.” Zarrab, a dual national of Iran and Turkey, had previously been arrested in 2013 in a corruption probe of people tied to Erdogan, then prime minister of Turkey. ",1 "Australia tops the world for climate change denial, study finds",0 "Russia's air force killed 850 militants in Syria in last 24 hours: InterfaxMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s air force has killed about 850 militants in Syria s zone of de-escalation in Idlib in the last 24 hours, Interfax news agency quoted Russia s Defence Ministry as saying on Wednesday. ",1 " Jordanian Airline Tells Trump To F*ck Himself With Discount Airfare To New York (TWEETS)The Royal Jordanian airline is celebrating Donald Trump s recent humiliation in style. Since a federal judge recently lifted The Donald s travel ban, Royal Jordanian wants to make sure as many people visit the United States as possible. Royal Jordanian received new instructions from the US Customs and Border Protection to temporarily halt ban on travel of seven previously-barred nationals to enter the USA. The countries are: Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Somalia, the airline said on its website, noting that as always, travelers need a valid visa or Green Card.To celebrate Trump s despair, Royal Jordanian is slashing prices while the ban is lifted. On Sunday, they tweeted an ad featuring the word Ban with the a converted to an o and the word Voyage written in. Fly to the US with RJ now that you re allowed to, it reads, with heavily slashed prices to Chicago, Detroit, and Trump s home state of New York. ?? #DonaldTrump #MuslimBan pic.twitter.com/rptY3dS3Xh Royal Jordanian (@RoyalJordanian) February 5, 2017This isn t the first time RJ has hit Trump over the ban. On Election Day, the airline encouraged travelers to travel to the US while you re still allowed to you know, just in case he wins. ? #USElections pic.twitter.com/yBDVO2w3gb Royal Jordanian (@RoyalJordanian) November 8, 2016The lift of so-called President Trump s ban by a so-called judge has sent the Orange Menace into a fanatical rage as of late with Trump lashing out on Twitter, blaming the judge who denied him his success in keeping people who practice a religion he hates out of the country for any an all terrorist attacks that might or might not occur in the future.Trump should be thanking Judge Robert. As President, it is in his best interest to learn as much about our government as possible and it s clear that The Donald has never heard of checks and balances before this.If you live in one of the seven previously-banned countries, be sure to fly to New York at a discount and visit Trump Tower. We re sure he d love that.featured image via Getty Images (Pool)/screengrab",0 "Muslim veil ban urged in French universities ""France prohibits all children from wearing religious symbols such as Muslim headscarves in schools. A government agency has recommended extending the ban to universities, citing 'growing tensions'""",0 Spirit of Sixties revived as student protests at links with Israel spread - The Scotsman,1 Afghan army suffers heavy combat losses: US,0 5 banks sued for gold price manipulation,0 "Russia says satellite launch failure due to programming errorMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday the failed launch of a 2.6 billion-rouble ($44.95 million) satellite last month was due to an embarrassing programming error. Russian space agency Roscosmos said last month it had lost contact with the newly-launched weather satellite - the Meteor-M - after it blasted off from Russia s new Vostochny cosmodrome in the Far East. Eighteen smaller satellites belonging to scientific, research and commercial companies from Russia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Japan, Canada and Germany, were on board the same rocket. Speaking to Rossiya 24 state TV channel, Rogozin said the failure had been caused by human error. The rocket carrying the satellites had been programmed with the wrong coordinates, he said, saying it had been given bearings for take-off from a different cosmodrome - Baikonur - which Moscow leases from Kazakhstan. The rocket was really programmed as if it was taking off from Baikonur, said Rogozin. They didn t get the coordinates right. The Vostochny spaceport, laid out in the thick taiga forest of the Amur Region, is the first civilian rocket launch site in Russia. In April last year, after delays and massive costs overruns, Russia launched its first rocket from Vostochny, a day after a technical glitch forced an embarrassing postponement of the event in the presence of President Vladimir Putin. ",1 "Israel air force drops leaflets across Gaza City warning residents to evacuate homes ""immediately""",0 Moscow questions US allegations Russia shelling Ukraine,1 South Korea becomes 1st Asian nation to sign space pact with US,0 """If I can\'t have the internet, neither can you,\'\' while her sister cried out, ""No Kathleen, I love you, I love you, please stop\'\'.",0 "WHY THIS BLUE-COLLAR DEMOCRAT STRONGHOLD County Is Still Fighting For Trump: “He was the hope we were all waiting on, the guy riding up on the white horse” [VIDEO]AP News The regulars amble in before dawn and claim their usual table, the one next to an old box television playing the news on mute.Steven Whitt fires up the coffee pot and flips on the fluorescent sign in the window of the Frosty Freeze, his diner that looks and sounds and smells about the same as it did when it opened a half-century ago. Coffee is 50 cents a cup, refills 25 cents. The pot sits on the counter, and payment is based on the honor system.People like it that way, he thinks. It reminds them of a time before the world seemed to stray away from them, when coal was king and the values of the nation seemed the same as the values here, in God s Country, in this small county isolated in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.Everyone in town comes to his diner for nostalgia and homestyle cooking. And, recently, news reporters come from all over the world to puzzle over politics because Elliott County, a blue-collar union stronghold, voted for the Democrat in each and every presidential election for its 147-year existence.Until Donald Trump came along and promised to wind back the clock. He was the hope we were all waiting on, the guy riding up on the white horse. There was a new energy about everybody here, says Whitt. I still see it. Despite the president s dismal approval ratings and lethargic legislative achievements, he remains profoundly popular here in these mountains, a region so badly battered by the collapse of the coal industry it became the symbolic heart of Trump s white working-class base.The frenetic churn of the national news, the ceaseless Twitter taunts, the daily declarations of outrage scroll soundlessly across the bottom of the diner s television screen, rarely registering. When they do, Trump doesn t shoulder the blame because the allegiance of those here is as emotional as it is economic.It means God, guns, patriotism, saying Merry Christmas and not Happy Holidays. It means validation of their indignation about a changing nation: gay marriage and immigration and factories moving overseas. It means tearing down the political system that neglected them again and again in favor of the big cities that feel a world away.On those counts, they believe Trump has delivered, even if his promised blue-collar renaissance has not yet materialized. He s punching at all the people who let them down for so long the presidential embodiment of their own discontent. He s already done enough to get my vote again, without a doubt, no question, Wes Lewis, a retired pipefitter and one of Whitt s regulars, declares as he deals the day s first hand of cards.He thinks the mines and the factories will soon roar back to life, and if they don t, he believes they would have if Democrats and Republicans and the media all crooked as a barrel of fishhooks had gotten out of the way. What Lewis has now that he didn t have before Trump is a belief that his president is pulling for people like him. One thing I hear in here a lot is that nobody s gonna push him into a corner, says Whitt, 35. He s a fighter. I think they like the bluntness of it. He plops down at an empty table next to the card game, drops a stack of mail onto his lap and begins flipping through the envelopes. Bill, bill, bill, he reports to his wife, Chesla, who has arrived to relieve him at the restaurant they run together. He needs to run home and change of out his Frosty Freeze uniform, the first of several work ensembles he wears each day, and put on his second, a suit and tie. He also owns a local funeral home and he s the county coroner, elected as a Democrat.The Whitts, like many people here, cobble together a living with a couple jobs each sometimes working 12 or 15 hours a day because there aren t many options better than minimum wage. There s the school system, and a prison, and that s pretty much it. Outside of town, population 622, roads wind past rolling farms that used to grow tobacco before that industry crumbled too, then up into the hills of Appalachia, with its spectacular natural beauty and grinding poverty that has come to define this region in the American imagination.Whitt slides a medical bill across the table. Looks like this one is the new helmet, he says, and his wife tears the envelope open and reports the debt: $3,995. They will add it to a growing pile that s already surpassed $40,000 since their son was born nine months ago with a rare condition. His skull was shaped like an egg, the bones fused together in places they shouldn t be. Tommy, their baby boy with big blue eyes, has now outgrown three of the helmets he s been required to wear after surgery so his bones grow back together like they should.They pay $800 a month for insurance. But when they took their baby to a surgeon in Cincinnati, they learned it was out of network. In-network hospitals offered only more invasive surgeries, so they opted to pay out of pocket. At the hospital they were told that if they d been on an insurance program for the poor, it would have all been free.This represents the cracks in America s institutions that drove Whitt, a lifelong Democrat, from supporting President Barack Obama to buying a Make America Great Again cap that he still keeps on top of the hutch. Many of their welfare-dependent neighbors, he believes, stay trapped in a cycle of handouts and poverty while hardworking taxpayers like him and his wife are stuck with the tab and can t get ahead. Where s the fairness in that? he asks.But Whitt doesn t blame Trump for the failure this year to repeal the health care law and replace it with something better. He blames the brick wall in Washington, the politicians he sees as blocking everything Trump proposes while small people like them in small places like this are left again to languish.A third of people here live in poverty. Just 9 percent of adults have a college degree, but they always made up for that with backbreaking labor that workers traveled dozens of miles to neighboring counties or states to do, and those jobs have gotten harder to find.Many here blame global trade agreements and the war on coal environmental regulations designed by Obama s administration to curb carbon emissions for the decline of mining and manufacturing jobs. When Trump bemoans the American carnage of lost factories and lost faith, it feels like he s talking to the people in these Appalachian hills. When he scraps dozens of regulations to the horror of environmentalists and says it means jobs are on the way, they embrace him.Coal has ticked up since Trump took office; mining companies have added 1,200 jobs across the country since his inauguration, more than 180 of them in Kentucky. But industry analysts say that was tied largely to market forces and dismiss Trump s repeated pledges to resuscitate the coal industry as pie in the sky. Coal has been on the decline for many decades for many reasons outside of regulation: far cheaper natural gas, mechanization, thinning Appalachian seams. With the opposition he s had, I think he s pulling the plow pretty good, offers Wes Lewis from the card table. A few months ago, he says, he saw four brand-new coal rigs going through town. For the longest time, under Obama, all we saw were trucks being pulled on wreckers, because people turned belly up, they went broke. Lewis says he s heard about friends of friends being called back to work. He s noticed new trucks in people s driveways, too, which he takes as evidence that his neighbors are feeling confident about their futures. These tiny signs stack up to him as proof. Lewis fishes the tag out of the bib of his overalls: Made in Mexico, it reads. Trump s bringing them back, he says.Lewis, a registered Democrat, trusts Trump because he trusts his values. And because of that, he trusts Trump s other promises so strongly he can t think of anything that would shake that faith in him. If the factories and mines don t come back, he ll blame the opposition. If there isn t a wall on the Mexico border, he says, it won t be because Trump didn t try. If investigators find his campaign colluded with Russians, it s because so many people are so determined to bring him down.Go HERE to read entire story.",0 "ALL ABOARD THE SHARIA LAW TRAIN: Germany Announces They Will Now Have Female ONLY SectionsWell that didn t take long In the trains between Leipzig and Chemnitz the MRB is setting up some compartments for women traveling alone and mothers with children. The background for the alterations is a corresponding demand, said Kleinrensing.Since December MRB, a subsidiary of the internationally active group Transdev, has been operating on the route and in response to the wishes of female customers, it wants to improve the service in the trains correspondingly.So, in the next few weeks, all trains in the REG Regional Express line, will get two female compartments, each with 12 seats. This actions also contributes to strengthening the feeling of security of female passengers, said Kleinrensing.Via: sz-online.de S chsische Zeitung",0 Astronomers Detect Mysterious Signal 240 Million Light-Years From Earth,0 " Obama Visits Michigan, Blasts Republicans For ‘Short-Changing Basic Services’ (VIDEO)On Wednesday, President Obama took a trip to North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, but while he was there he took time out of his itinerary to talk about the water crisis in Flint and he didn t mince his words.During a speech, the president let the people of Flint know that he hears their cries: I am very proud of what I ve done as president, but the only job that s more important to me is the job of father. And I know if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself if my kids health could be at risk. That s why over the weekend I declared a federal emergency in Flint. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has identified at least twenty-seven kids with elevated levels of lead in their blood. However, that number is likely astronomically higher when you consider how long the people of Flint were drinking the contaminated water Governor Rick Snyder assuredthem was safe even when he knew it wasn t. Unlike Obama, Snyder didn t think about how terrified parents must be for their children. His main concern was balancing a budget, safety be damned.The president also blasted Republican lawmakers for short-changing the people of Flint: It is a reminder of why you can t shortchange basic services that we provide to our people and that we together provide as a government to make sure that public health and safety is preserved. The horrifying thing about all of this is that if it were up to the GOP, this would happen a helluva a lot more often. The Republican Party absolutely despises regulations that they believe are unnecessary that includes clean water and air. As a matter of fact, last week while the Flint water crisis was raging on, Republicans in the House voted to overturn provisions of the Clean Water Act that protects streams. Last June, Senate Republicans voted to repeal the very same thing.Think about that for a minute. Lawmakers on both a state and federal level have known about the crisis in Flint for more than a year, and the GOP voted to repeal laws related to clean water at least TWICE in that time. These pro-life lawmakers didn t care at all that tiny humans were literally being poisoned, the only thing that mattered was sticking it to Obama because they didn t like his new provisions for the Clean Water Act.While Republican representatives in the federal government were trying to gut the Clean Water Act, Governor Snyder was busy ignoring the crisis in Flint. He knew that people were drinking dirty and instead of fixing the problem he just allowed children to continue to ingest lead. Not only did he know it was happening, he didn t care enough to stop it!The Flint water crisis a perfect example of what happens when Republicans are left in charge of anything and it s terrifying.Watch:Featured image: video screenshot",0 "Canada bringing back Buffalo to Banff National Park, a species that once roamed the plains of Western Canada by the millions.",1 "Zimbabwe president Mnangagwa appoints Chinamasa acting finance ministerHARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday named Patrick Chinamasa acting finance minister until a new cabinet has been appointed, the chief secretary to the president and cabinet said in a statement. Chinamasa was a former finance minister under Robert Mugabe s government but was moved to a newly created ministry of cyber security during a reshuffle last month. ",1 "Anger in Costa Rica over deal to 'invite' 46 US warships Opposition leaders in Costa Rica are furious over an agreement that allows 46 US warships and 7,000 US Marines to enter the country as part of an anti-drug effort.",1 WHOA! ANGRY OBAMA Berates Black Caucus In Rant About His ‘Legacy’…WHAT LEGACY? [Video] ,0 Miss Iraq pageant held for first time in 43 years,1 " Donald Trump’s Alma Mater Just Told Him To Go F*ck HimselfDonald Trump likes to brag that he attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, but while he is proud of that, the students and faculty are embarrassed that he is an alumni.In an open letter, students and faculty both past and present condemned Trump for his hateful and bigoted rhetoric and expressed outrage that he is humiliating the school by associating it with his ignorance and intolerance and rejected his use of the school name in his campaign.Here s the full letter via Medium:At the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, students are taught to represent the highest levels of respect and integrity. We are taught to embrace humility and diversity. We can understand why, in seeking America s highest office, you have used your degree from Wharton to promote and lend legitimacy to your candidacy.As a candidate for President, and now as the presumptive GOP nominee, you have been afforded a transformative opportunity to be a leader on national and international stages and to make the Wharton community even prouder of our school and values.However, we have been deeply disappointed in your candidacy.We, proud students, alumni, and faculty of Wharton, are outraged that an affiliation with our school is being used to legitimize prejudice and intolerance. Although we do not aim to make any political endorsements with this letter, we do express our unequivocal stance against the xenophobia, sexism, racism, and other forms of bigotry that you have actively and implicitly endorsed in your campaign. The Wharton community is a diverse community. We are immigrants and children of immigrants, people of color, Muslims, Jews, women, people living with or caring for those with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ community. In other words, we represent the groups that you have repeatedly denigrated, as well as their steadfast friends, family, and allies.We recognize that we are fortunate to be educated at Wharton, and we are committed to using our opportunity to make America and the world a better place for everyone. We are dedicated to promoting inclusion not only because diversity and tolerance have been repeatedly proven to be valuable assets to any organization s performance, but also because we believe in mutual respect and human dignity as deeply held values. Your insistence on exclusion and scapegoating would be bad for business and bad for the American economy. An intolerant America is a less productive, less innovative, and less competitive America.We, the undersigned Wharton students, alumni, and faculty, unequivocally reject the use of your education at Wharton as a platform for promoting prejudice and intolerance. Your discriminatory statements are incompatible with the values that we are taught and we teach at Wharton, and we express our unwavering commitment to an open and inclusive American society.In addition, the authors of the letter spoke to NBC about their decision to write it. It was important for us to speak out against Trump because, as we have seen in many moments throughout history, silence is an act of complicity. This open letter speaks on behalf of Wharton students, alumni and faculty who wish to speak out against hate and stand in solidarity with all members of our diverse community both at Wharton and across America. In short, Donald Trump just received a giant middle finger from the school and it s a safe bet that past faculty regret that he was ever allowed to step foot in their classrooms. Because every time Trump opens his mouth he makes it hard to believe that he could have ever actually earned a degree anywhere in the first place.Featured Image: Mark Lyons/Getty Images",0 "KATIE COURIC HITS NEW CAREER LOW: Asks Perfect Strangers CRINGEWORTHY Questions: “Do You Watch Porn?”…Asks Couple,”Have You Ever Cheated On Your Spouse?” [VIDEO]Katie Couric s career has been pretty much in a free fall since she left the Today Show to accept a job as the new host of the CBS News, after the disgraced ex-host Dan Rather, retired (not surprisingly) after he was caught using manufactured evidence to support a fake hit-piece designed to harm the credibility of President George W. Bush. Shortly after Katie failed miserably at her CBS News host gig, she was caught editing a documentary on gun violence that she used to help push her radical anti-gun agenda.Katie recently left Yahoo News where she had a less than spectacular career. It now appears that the liberal hack reporter Katie Couric has now sunk to a new low. While it s impossible to imagine she could sink any lower, Couric has managed to slither under the bar with her new InStyle magazine gig.The questions Couric asked of perfect strangers weren t funny and they certainly weren t interesting. They were cringeworthy and very uncomfortable. One only needs to watch the interview to see how truly painful it was.Watch the cringeworthy interview here:",0 "Moscow tells Tehran Russia remains committed to nuclear dealMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has told Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi that Moscow remains committed to the Iran nuclear deal, Russia s Foreign Ministry said in statement on Thursday. ",1 "Japan Airlines plane makes emergency landing in TokyoTOKYO (Reuters) - A Japan Airlines (JAL) plane made an emergency landing at Tokyo s Haneda International Airport shortly after takeoff on Tuesday following an apparent bird strike, an airline spokesman said. There were no injuries among any of the 248 people on board, the spokesman said. Video footage appeared to show flames shooting from one engine of the Boeing 777 soon after takeoff. A bird strike was believed to be the cause, although it was still being investigated, the spokesman said. The plane, bound for New York, was carrying 233 passengers and 15 staff. ",1 Senior White House officials were central in discussions on using harsh interrogation techniques,1 Piracy isn't all bad. Kenya fishermen see the upside: more fish.,1 "Suspect in London Finsbury Park mosque attack pleads not guiltyLONDON (Reuters) - A 48-year-old man from Wales pleaded not guilty on Thursday to terrorism-related murder and attempted murder after he allegedly drove a van at Muslims outside a mosque in Finsbury Park, London in June, leaving one worshipper dead and 11 injured. Darren Osborne, a father of four from Cardiff, denied the charges during a hearing at the Old Bailey central criminal court. His trial will start on Jan. 22 at Woolwich Crown Court in London. ",1 "China plans to spend 2 trillion yuan, or $330 billion, on an action plan to tackle pollution of its scarce water resources, state media said on Tuesday.",0 "An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as ""religious headgear""",1 The company operating the Deepwater Horizon will shortly pay out a total of $1 Billion in dividends to share holders. That company is US company Transocean. ,1 Leaked documents reveal Tony Blair lied about Iraq,1 Hamas's political leader emerges after cease-fire to proclaim Jerusalem as the goal,0 Shock: Tony Blair apologizes for killings in Iraq,1 Israel to use drones to track West Bank hate crime perpetrators,1 The Google File System makes NSAs hack blatantly illegal and they know it,1 "Julian Assange – “Everything that he has said, he’s standing by.”21st Century Wire says Judging by Julian Assange s Twitter page activity, it appears as though he may follow through with his promise to agree to US extradition if Obama grants Manning clemency.Assange s Lawyer, Melinda Taylor, was quoted in a Wikileaks Tweet (below) that Everything that he has said, he s standing by. Assange lawyer @themtchair on Assange-Manning extradition 'deal': ""Everything that he has said he's standing by."" WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 18, 2017Anyone following the WikiLeaks Twitter account will surely remember this proposal of a deal by Assange back on January 12th where he noted that even though there is a clear unconstitutionality in the DoJ case against him that he would agree to US extradition if Obama granted Manning clemency.If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case https://t.co/MZU30SlfGK WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 12, 2017READ MORE US NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire US NewsSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@ 21WIRE.TV",0 Anonymous - Operation Payback - WikiLeaks ACTA Laws Message ,0 Providing micronutrients for 80% of the 140 million poorest children in the form of vitamin A and zinc would cost $60 million/year. This action holds benefits of more than $1 billion/year.,0 "ITALIAN CATHOLICS TOLD TO “PRAY SILENTLY” So As Not To “Offend” Muslim Refugees Living In Church [VIDEO]Italian Catholics are essentially being told to pray silently (hide their religious convictions) to avoid offending anyone, while Muslims are living free of charge in their church? I can t be the only Catholic who has a problem with this Parishioners in the Italian parish of St. Anthony in Ventimiglia, a small town in northwestern Italy about four miles from the border of France, were ordered Saturday by a Catholic aid organization volunteer to pray the Rosary silently so the Muslim migrants living in the church would not be offended.With a population of about 55,000, Ventimiglia has been overwhelmed by Muslim migrants, receiving over 50 every day, many of which are housed in Catholic churches.ANSA reports a parishioner snapped back at the volunteer, telling him to bring migrants into another church. The parish priest, Don Rito, instead took the parishioners to another church close by where they could pray out loud.Migrants have been pouring into the little town on their way to France and locals feel overwhelmed. The mayor of Ventimiglia, Enrico Ioculano, said the situation is untenable. But the Italian government and Caritas seem to do little to help the burden; already in the first five months of 2016 it has cost the town 220,000, less than half of which will be funded by the government.Caritas is also doing little to allay the town s burden. While it helps migrants who want to file for refugee status, saying they have a special channel, in March the local director said the organization can only afford to provide for a few days those who are passing through, whether they stay for a day or weeks.The Lepanto Institute describes Caritas Internationalis as a confederation of 165 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.It has been exposed by the American Life League as being part of the Marxist organization the World Social Forum, promoting communism, abortion, and homosexuality throughout the world.WATCH HERE:Via: Church Militant",0 UN: Hamas police seized food aid and blankets from needy Gazans,1 Saudi black op team behind Damascus chemical weapons attack diplomatic sources,1 "Only one in seven Catalan see dispute with Madrid ending in independence: pollMADRID (Reuters) - Just one in seven people from Catalonia believe the current standoff between Barcelona and Madrid will end in independence for the region while more than two thirds think the process has been bad for the economy, a survey showed on Monday. Spain s central government took control of the region after local leaders staged a poll on secession, slated as illegal by the Constitutional Court, and then passed a unilateral declaration of independence through the parliament. In response, Spain s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy fired the government, stripped the region of its autonomous status and called a regional election for Dec. 21. On Sunday, the first part of the GAD3 survey showed that pro-independence parties would win the election but may not gain the parliamentary majority needed to continue with secession. Fifteen percent said they believed the process would end in an independent state, according to part two of survey of 1,233 people conducted between Oct. 30 and Nov. 3 and published in La Vanguard newspaper on Monday. Optimism that a negotiated solution would be found was low, with just over a fifth thinking the crisis would lead to talks between regional authorities and Madrid. The push for independence has dragged Spain in to its worst political crisis since its return to democracy four decades ago and has deeply divided the country, fuelling anti-Spanish feelings in Catalonia and nationalist tendencies elsewhere. The uncertainty has prompted more than 2,000 companies to relocate their legal headquarters out of the region since Oct. 1, while the Bank of Spain said if the conflict persists it could lead to slower growth and job creation. According to the poll, 67 percent said they believed the process had hurt the economy and almost 40 percent said the company exodus would have a negative affect on growth in the short term. ",1 Egypt's top cleric to ban veils in schools,1 "'I'm not ranting and raving.' Trump on defensive in first solo news conferenceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The first gripe came three minutes into President Donald Trump’s first solo news conference on Thursday, when he accused reporters of ignoring a poll showing him with a 55 percent approval rating - a figure at odds with most other surveys. From there, the president’s criticism of the media went from barbed to personal in a cutting assessment of what he viewed as unfair coverage of his first few weeks in office - a period that has seen a succession of crises. On a day when he ceded a loss over a signature policy in a federal appeals court, had to replace his labor secretary pick and faced questions over the resignation of his national security adviser, Trump chose to make the media a central focus of an unusually long and combative presidential news conference. When asked by journalists of contacts between his presidential campaign and Russian operatives, he deflected the questions and put the focus instead on what he described as “illegal” government leaks and “dishonest” media coverage. “The press is out of control,” he said. “The level of dishonesty is out of control,” After weeks of disclosures in newspapers over turmoil in his administration, he told one reporter to “sit down” for a rambling question. “Tomorrow, they will say: ‘Donald Trump rants and raves at the press,’” Trump said. “I’m not ranting and raving. I’m just telling you. You know, you’re dishonest people. But I’m not ranting and raving. I love this. I’m having a good time doing it.” Trump’s message in the 77-minute session appeared aimed at the same voters who elected him president last November, a large number of whom feel Washington has left them behind and who like his image as an outsider trying to shake up the establishment. He sought to cast problems buffeting the White House as “the mess” he inherited from former Democratic President Barack Obama, and boasted about the “fine-tuned administration” he is running. In one unusual exchange near the end of the news conference, Trump called on a questioner, asking if he was “a friendly reporter.” When the journalist asked about recent threats to 48 Jewish centers across the country and signs of rising anti-Semitism, Trump appeared to take the question personally, replying: “I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life.” He added he was also the “least racist person,” told the reporter to be “quiet,” accused him of lying and then dismissed the question as “insulting.” Most opinion polls show Trump struggling with low approval numbers less than a month into his presidency. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Feb. 10 to 14 gave Trump a 46 percent approval rating. While many presidencies have started off on rocky ground, Trump’s administration has been particularly marked by controversies, fights with the media and a legal battle over an executive order to ban people temporarily from seven Muslim-majority countries. “I turn on the TV and open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos, chaos. And yet, it is the exact opposite,” Trump said. Trump waved away questions about a New York Times report that members of his campaign team had frequent contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials last year. His main complaint was that the news media had uncovered leaks about intercepted communications between Michael Flynn, ousted this week as national security adviser and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kisylak, and leaks about his own conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia. “The first thing I thought of, how does the press get this information?” he asked. ",1 Ireland is still in denial over abortion: Every year thousands of Irish women travel abroad for abortions.,1 " Republicans Offered Condolences For Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin When He DiedRepublicans need to stop whining about President Obama offering condolences for Fidel Castro s death, because they ve offered condolences for even worse monsters.After news of the longtime Cuban dictator s death, President Obama issued the following statement:At this time of Fidel Castro s passing, we extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people. We know that this moment fills Cubans in Cuba and in the United States with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him. Today, we offer condolences to Fidel Castro s family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people. In the days ahead, they will recall the past and also look to the future. As they do, the Cuban people must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America.President Obama s statement was much different from Donald Trump s, which seemed to celebrate Castro s death. Indeed, Trump s statement is the kind of dangerous reaction that could damage international relations between nations at a time when we should be seeking peace.Republicans, of course, have been attacking President Obama ever since. Marco Rubio called Obama s statement pathetic. Ted Cruz says the United States should not send anyone to represent America at the funeral.But once again, just like they did when President Obama did not attend former First Lady Nancy Reagan s funeral, Republicans are conveniently forgetting history and precedent.As it turns out, the Republicans themselves sent condolences after a brutal dictator died on two occasions. In 1953, President Eisenhower offered condolences upon learning that Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was near death.At this moment in history when multitudes of Russians are anxiously concerned because of the illness of the Soviet ruler2 the thoughts of America go out to all the people of the U.S.S.R. the men and women, the boys and girls in the villages, cities, farms and factories of their homeland.They are the children of the same God who is the Father of all peoples everywhere. And like all peoples, Russia s millions share our longing for a friendly and peaceful world.Regardless of the identity of government personalities, the prayer of us Americans continues to be that the Almighty will watch over the people of that vast country and bring them, in His wisdom, opportunity to live their lives in a world where all men and women and children dwell in peace and comradeship.That s right. Republicans sent condolences for a brutal dictator who murdered at least 10 million people and is known as one of the worst mass murderers of the 20th century.After Stalin died, Eisenhower even offered praise of Stalin and reached out to the Russian people in his Chance for Peace speech.The world knows that an era ended with the death of Joseph Stalin. The extraordinary 30-year span of his rule saw the Soviet Empire expand to reach from the Baltic Sea to the Sea of Japan, finally to dominate 800 million souls.The Soviet system shaped by Stalin and his predecessors was born of one World War. It survived with stubborn and often amazing courage a second World War. It has lived to threaten a third.Now a new leadership has assumed power in the Soviet Union. Its links to the past, however strong, cannot bind it completely. Its future is, in great part, its own to make.The United States was even represented at Stalin s funeral by U.S. Ambassador Jacob Beam.And when Mao Tse-tung died in September 1976, President Gerald Ford sent the following condolences: Mrs. Ford joins me in extending to you our deepest sympathy on the death of Chairman Mao Tse-tung. Chairman Mao had a profound impact on his era. . . . Please accept my personal condolences. So by attacking President Obama, Republicans are being total hypocrites. Yes, Fidel Castro was a terrible person. But he was still a human being and many people are mourning him in Cuba. Sending condolences is the human thing to do and it s the American way even if the foreign leader who died was our enemy. By extending our hand in friendship, we are sending a message to the Cuban people letting them know that we are with them and that we still want to work with them to make a better world for both of our nations. It s how diplomacy works. Petty statements like Trump s only do more harm than good.Featured image via Cagle",0 "Russian austerity: Putin fires 110,000 officials",0 "Senate Republican signals possible committee 'no' vote on tax billWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator Bob Corker said on Monday that he could oppose his party’s tax bill over deficit concerns in an expected Senate Budget Committee vote this week, but added that Republicans were working to resolve his concerns. “I’m not threatening anything. I’m just saying it’s very important for me to know that we’ve got this resolved,” Corker told reporters. Asked if he could vote ‘no’ on the tax bill at a committee hearing slated for Tuesday, he replied: “Very possible. Yeah. Sure.” Corker is among a group of deficit hawks who want the tax legislation to contain a backstop measure that would raise revenues in the event that expected economic growth does not materialize to compensate for nearly $1.5 trillion in deficit spending over the next decade. ",1 "BOOM! FLORIDA PAPER Makes Unprecedented Apology After “Uncomfortably Sizable Number Of Readers” Complain About Anti-Trump CoverageIs this apology too little too late? After one year of bashing Trump, and with only one week left before the election, does this apology really matter now?A central Florida newspaper has apologized to its readers for the decidedly anti-Donald Trump coverage that has been published during the election.The Daily Commercial published an editorial titled The media, the election and bias on Oct. 23 that explained the paper is reliant on wire services for much of its election coverage and those reports are weighted heavily against Trump. The Daily Commercial hasn t done enough to mitigate the anti-Trump wave in the pages of this paper, it wrote. You deserve a more balanced approach to the coverage of elections and other weighty issues. In what it described as an open letter that it described as part explanation, part reflection and part mea culpa the paper apologized to its readers.",0 Iran confirms it has forces in Syria and will take military action if pushed,0 "Pakistan, one of the most water-stressed countries in the world, is on the brink of crisis. A recent report from the Asian Development Bank states that the countrys emergency water reserve only has enough supply for 30 days.",0 "Tillerson to press NATO on defense spending: officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will press this week for NATO allies to demonstrate a “clear path” to increase defense spending, a State Department official said on Tuesday. Tillerson will hold his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on March 31. He will push allies on how they plan to meet a defense spending goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product, and press NATO to increase its role in the fight against terrorism, the official said. “It is no longer sustainable for the United States to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO’s deterrence and defense spending,” the official said in a briefing with reporters, on condition of anonymity. President Donald Trump has unsettled European allies with demands they increase defense spending and talk of establishing an alliance with Russia to counter Islamic State militants. Tillerson’s initial decision to skip his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers to attend expected talks in the United States with Chinese President Xi Jinping also reopened questions about the Trump administration’s commitment to the alliance. The State Department later said the meeting in Brussels had been rescheduled and Tillerson would attend. Five NATO members - Britain, Estonia, Greece, Poland and the United States - currently meet the 2 percent spending threshold, according to 2016 NATO figures. Members of the alliance have until 2024 to meet the targets. The Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian foreign ministers met with Tillerson at the State Department on Tuesday. The Baltic states have felt especially vulnerable since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014. Asked if they were confident in U.S. support for NATO, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius responded “No doubts about that” and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics and Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser nodded in agreement. The senior State Department official said Trump administration officials are “pushing allies to do more, faster, absolutely no apology for that.” The United States also wants allies to give a “clear path” on how they would meet the threshold, such as timelines and budgetary commitments, he said. But the official declined to state any specifics on what the United States would do if allies did not meet the targets. “Our joint security requires it, that’s the main leverage that we have,” the official said. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last month the United States might “moderate” its support for the alliance but gave no details. ",1 Hey reddit. Anyone know any good charities for those that want to help the folks in Haiti who had enough misery in their lives before getting shit on by the earthquake?,0 Ukrainian parliament recognizes militia that collaborated with Nazis - Diaspora,0 "MEDIA LIE EXPOSED: Hundreds Of Students Rally In Support Of Fired SC School Cop: Fight Back Against Cop-Hating, Race Baiting Media[VIDEO]We shared our Game Changer story with you earlier this week, after a new video emerged allowing a more clear picture of the student physically attacking the school cop assigned to removing her from class.Now in a surprising turn of events (which will certainly be a huge disappointment to the leftist media and George Soros funded Black Lives Matter terrorist organization), the students are fighting back against a manufactured media event created to promote more cop hate and racial division in America.Well, this is interesting.MT Spring Valley Walkout for fields today #bringbackfields #bringfieldsback pic.twitter.com/UamWKU6AXN Oink Trotters (@OinkTrottters) October 30, 2015Students wore T-shirts that said #BringBackFields or Free Fields. #BringBackFields pic.twitter.com/6jbmEnuSrN Mina Rena . (@_cappex) October 30, 2015 He was a great guy, student London Harrell told local WISTV. He protected us and everything. He was our school resource officer. We always could depend on him and everything. Every time I saw him, he was always joking around with people. It was never like Oh, I m about to body slam you. Principal Jeff Temoney said none of the students would be suspended if they returned to class. We ve heard your voices, okay, Temoney said according to WISTV. We appreciate you taking time to do this, but again, as you know, we always focus on teaching and learning, so let s head on back to class. pic.twitter.com/LJiGyAXDUs John Cassibry (@JCass_12) October 30, 2015Principal Temoney released a statement several hours later about the walkout, which said students and staff were safe during the protest.Fields, who is white, was recorded on cell phone video using force on an African-American student during a school discipline incident. When shared on social media, the footage caused national outrage on the use of force in schools and by school resource officers. Fields was fired on Wednesday. Via: RTHere is how the original story was presented to the public:School officer uses force against black female student, slams her on floor (VIDEO) https://t.co/0bLck097Sw pic.twitter.com/6oFt3fluFH RT America (@RT_America) October 27, 2015Here is how we responded when a student reluctantly shared their video with others which allowed the other side of the story to be told. Click HERE for the other side of the story.",0 "Russia will not deliver fighter planes or other new weapons to Syria while the situation there remains unresolved, the deputy director of a body that supervises the country's arms trade was quoted as saying on Monday.",0 " Leaked Emails Show Colin Powell Has STRONG Opinions On Donald TrumpColin Powell is NOT voting for Donald Trump, at least according to emails disclosed by a hacker group to BuzzFeed and on DCLeaks.com, who reported that the leaks came from Russia.The emails reveal that Powell thinks Trump is a national disgrace, and that his campaign is built on racism. He also has strong opinions on the birther movement, which Trump thoroughly embraced.In an Aug. 21 email from Powell to Miller, he blasted Trump for embarking on a racist movement that believes President Obama was not born in the US. Yup, the whole birther movement was racist, Powell wrote. That s what the 99% believe. When Trump couldn t keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim. Powell says that Trump has no chance at the African-American vote:The leak shows that Powell criticized Trump s lack of outreach to black voters, saying there is nothing he can say to convince black Americans to give him their votes, and criticizing the birther movement. He takes us for idiots, Powell wrote, according to CBS. He can never overcome what he tried to do to Obama with his search for the birth certificate the whole birther movement was racist. Source: Huffington PostPowell doesn t think Trump has a much better chance with women, at least not after he aligned himself with disgraced former Fox News head, Roger Ailes, who left after numerous allegations of sexual harassment. And Ailes as an advisor wont heal women, don t you think? Powell wrote.The Republican former Secretary of State isn t a Hillary Clinton fan either.The latest email leak reveals Powell also criticized Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her handling of her email scandal, saying she could have killed this two years ago by merely telling everyone honestly what she had done and not tie me to it, according to The Intercept.Documents released this month as part of the FBI s investigation into Clinton s emails showed Powell had told Clinton to be very careful if she used a Blackberry for email, warning that if her use of a BlackBerry became public knowledge, those emails could become official record[s] and subject to the law. Powell s only advice seemed to be for the media, which he accused of giving him too much attention. You guys are playing this game, you are his oxygen. A spokesman for Powell admits that the emails are legitimate and that Powell was hacked, although, if Powell s people know who did the hack, they aren t admitting it. As for Powell s advice to Clinton, well, perhaps he should have followed it as well.Featured image via Kris Connor/Getty Images.",0 "Robert Parry: Sorting Out the Russia MessConsortium News Exclusive: The U.S. mainstream media finally has its smoking gun on Russia-gate incriminating information from a junior Trump campaign adviser but a closer look reveals serious problems with the evidence, writes Robert Parry.By Robert ParryRussia-gate special prosecutor Robert Mueller has turned up the heat on President Trump with the indictment of Trump s former campaign manager for unrelated financial crimes and the disclosure of a guilty plea from a low-level foreign policy adviser for lying to the FBI.While longtime Republican fixer Paul Manafort, who helped guide Trump s campaign to the GOP nomination in summer 2016, was the big name in the news on Monday, the mainstream media focused more on court documents related to George Papadopoulos, a 30-year-old campaign aide who claims to have heard about Russia possessing Hillary Clinton s emails before they became public on the Internet, mostly via WikiLeaks.While that would seem to bolster the Russia-gate narrative that Russian intelligence hacked Democratic emails and President Vladimir Putin ordered the emails be made public to undermine Clinton s campaign the evidentiary thread that runs through Papadopoulos s account remains tenuous.That s in part because his credibility has already been undermined by his guilty plea for lying to the FBI and by the fact that he now has a motive to provide something the prosecutors might want in exchange for leniency. Plus, there is the hearsay and contested quality of Papadopoulos s supposed information, some of which already has turned out to be false.According to the court documents, Papadopoulos got to know a professor of international relations who claimed to have substantial connections with Russian government officials, with the professor identified in press reports as Joseph Mifsud, a little-known academic associated with the University of Stirling in Scotland.The first contact supposedly occurred in mid-March 2016 in Italy, with a second meeting in London on March 24 when the professor purportedly introduced Papadopoulos to a Russian woman whom the young campaign aide believed to be Putin s niece, an assertion that Mueller s investigators determined wasn t true.Trump, who then was under pressure for not having a foreign policy team, included Papadopoulos as part of a list drawn up to fill that gap, and Papadopoulos participated in a campaign meeting on March 31 in Washington at which he suggested a meeting between Trump and Putin, a prospect that other senior aides reportedly slapped down.The Email BreakfastBut Papadopoulos continued his outreach to Russia, according to the court documents, which depict the most explosive meeting as an April 26 breakfast in London with the professor (Mifsud) supposedly saying he had been in Moscow and learned that the Russians had obtained dirt on then-candidate Clinton and possessed thousands of emails. Mainstream press accounts concluded that Mifsud must have been referring to the later-released emails.However, Mifsud told The Washington Post in an email last August that he had absolutely no contact with the Russian government and described his ties to Russia as strictly in academic fields.In an interview with the U.K. Daily Telegraph after Monday s disclosures, Mifsud acknowledged meeting with Papadopoulos but disputed the contents of the conversations as cited in the court papers. Specifically, he denied knowing anything about emails containing dirt on Clinton and called the claim that he introduced Papadopoulos to a female Russian national as a laughingstock. According to the Telegraph interview, Mifsud said he tried to put Papadopoulos in touch with experts on the European Union and introduced him to the director of a Russian think tank, the Russian International Affairs Council.It was the latter contact that the court papers presumably referred to in saying that on May 4, the Russian contact with ties to the foreign ministry wrote to Papadopoulos and Mifsud, reporting that ministry officials were open for cooperation, a message that Papadopoulos forwarded to a senior campaign official, asking whether the contacts were something we want to move forward with. However, even an article in The New York Times, which has aggressively pushed the Russia-gate scandal from the beginning, noted the evidentiary holes that followed from that point.The Times Scott Shane wrote: A crucial detail is still missing: Whether and when Mr. Papadopoulos told senior Trump campaign officials about Russia s possession of hacked emails. And it appears that the young aide s quest for a deeper connection with Russian officials, while he aggressively pursued it, led nowhere. Shane added, the court documents describe in detail how Mr. Papadopoulos continued to report to senior campaign officials on his efforts to arrange meetings with Russian officials, the documents do not say explicitly whether, and to whom, he passed on his most explosive discovery that the Russians had what they considered compromising emails on Mr. Trump s opponent. J.D. Gordon, a former Pentagon official who worked for the Trump campaign as a national security adviser and helped arrange the March 31 foreign policy meeting, said he had known nothing about Mr. Papadopoulos discovery that Russia had obtained Democratic emails or of his prolonged pursuit of meetings with Russians. Reasons to DoubtIf prosecutor Mueller had direct evidence that Papadopoulos had informed the Trump campaign about the Clinton emails, you would assume that the proof would have been included in Monday s disclosures. Further, since Papadopoulos was flooding the campaign with news about his Russian outreach, you might have expected that he would say something about how helpful the Russians had been in publicizing the Democratic emails.The absence of supporting evidence that Papadopoulos conveyed his hot news on the emails to campaign officials and Mifsud s insistence that he knew nothing about the emails would normally raise serious questions about Papadopoulos s credibility on this most crucial point.At least for now, those gaps represent major holes in the storyline. But Official Washington has been so desperate for proof about the alleged Russian election meddling for so long, that professional skepticism has been unwelcome in most media outlets.There is also another side of the story that rarely gets mentioned in the U.S. mainstream media: that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has repeatedly denied that he received the two batches of purloined Democratic emails one about the Democratic National Committee and one about Clinton s campaign chairman John Podesta from the Russians. While it is surely possible that the Russians might have used cutouts to pass on the emails, Assange and associates have suggested that at least the DNC emails came from a disgruntled insider.Also, former U.S. intelligence experts have questioned whether at least one batch of disclosed emails could have come from an overseas hack because the rapid download speed is more typical of copying files locally onto a memory stick or thumb drive.What I was told by an intelligence source several months ago was that Russian intelligence did engage in hacking efforts to uncover sensitive information, much as U.S. and other nations intelligence services do, and that Democratic targets were included in the Russian effort.But the source said the more perplexing question was whether the Kremlin then ordered release of the data, something that Russian intelligence is usually loath to do and something that in this case would have risked retaliation from the expected winner of the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton.But such questions and doubts are clearly not welcome in the U.S. mainstream media, most of which has embraced Mueller s acceptance of Papadopoulos s story as the long-awaited smoking gun of Russia-gate.Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).READ MORE RUSSIA-GATE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Russia-Gate FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 "Merkel, Macron pledge to lead EU forward post-BrexitTALLINN (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron won backing from Angela Merkel for plans to reform the European Union after Brexit, founded on what the German chancellor called intense cooperation between Paris and Berlin. But many leaders remained wary of ambitious new projects, doubting the appetite of voters for giving up national control and fearing the continued strength of anti-EU sentiment that is taking Britain out of the bloc and saw the far-right win dozens of seats in the German parliament in Sunday s election. Last night s discussions showed there s a common realization of a need for a leap forward in Europe, Macron told reporters on Friday after an EU summit dinner that stretched beyond midnight in the Estonian capital Tallinn. Today we re all convinced Europe must move ahead faster and stronger, for more sovereignty, more unity and more democracy. Macron voiced satisfaction with summit chair Donald Tusk s commitment to report back to EU leaders when they meet again in three weeks with proposals for concrete steps to be taken. Tusk himself referred to a profusion of reform initiatives, such as those from Macron in a barnstorming pro-European speech at the Sorbonne on Tuesday and by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker earlier this month. But Tusk, a former Polish premier, also added a note of caution, urging a step-by-step approach to real problems . He insisted the EU needed to maintain unity in the face of conflicting views about so many new initiatives: Even though some may think it is a kind of a Eurovision contest, and perhaps it is, I am personally convinced that together, we will make good use of it, if we sing unisono. Merkel, re-elected for a fourth term on Sunday but weakened by the rise of an insurgent eurosceptic opposition, met Macron for half an hour before the dinner and, according to a French aide, welcomed his speech as visionary and a return of co-founder France as a driving force in the European Union project. But she also noted differences. Some of her potential new coalition partners, along with northern governments like the Dutch and Finns, are very dubious about his suggestions for pooling budgets with less fiscally austere states in the south. As far as the proposals were concerned, there was a high level of agreement between German and France. We must still discuss the details, but I am of the firm conviction that Europe can t just stay still but must continue to develop, she said. Merkel is happy to play what she sees as a traditional role in a partnership that has driven the Union for 60 years, German officials say, with France back on form as a creative force and Berlin building consensus and helping put ideas into practice. Macron faced a reality check of scepticism from leaders wary of his talk of ambitious horizons for the continent. The no-nonsense president of euro zone member Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, tweeted during the dinner: European horizons drawn. Important to avoid mirages in the desert on the way. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters countries needed first to reform their own economies: You re starting with the end point ... There is a discussion about a European finance minister but no one has told me what he would do. British Prime Minister Theresa May also attended the dinner, despite Britain s increasing isolation as it prepares to quit. She took the opportunity of Friday s digital summit in Tallinn to visit British troops on a NATO mission in northern Estonia and pledged post-Brexit security cooperation with European neighbors confronting Russian threats. May arrived knowing that a keynote major Brexit speech she made last Friday succeeded in unblocking talks in Brussels this week on Britain s divorce package though the leaders in Tallinn were at pains to avoid appearing to negotiate with her. The chief EU negotiator, Michel Barnier, praised on Thursday a new dynamic to Brexit negotiations created by concessions made by May, although progress was still not sufficient to allow discussions on future trade relations. That message was rammed home by Juncker, Barnier s boss, who told reporters in Tallinn that it would take miracles to have sufficient progress by next month and he did not expect that effectively ruling out EU leaders giving a green light to trade talks when they meet in Brussels on Oct. 19-20. Friday s talks on a digital agenda for Europe ranged from cross-border data flows and privacy to cybersecurity and taxing online businesses. ",1 Spain to recognize Palestinian state at UN,1 U.S. Navy warships will now accompany every U.S.-flagged commercial vessel that passes through the Strait of Hormuz due to concerns that ships from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps navy could try to seize a U.S. cargo ship.,1 "OBAMA’S LAST MOVE: Here’s How He’ll Force Suburbs To Become Less White And Less WealthyObama and HUD want to give one last freebie to the Dem voters this Fall using YOUR tax dollars! This is a last big push to make the suburbs less white and less wealthy. Stanley Kurtz has written a book on this scheme and goes into great detail on the plan by Obama to force a fundamental change in how we live. This is evil and doesn t work. It was tried in Dallas with disastrous results! Once again, Obama s agenda comes before the American people. Although HUD s demonstration project may have improved the lives of some who moved, it s ended up harming the lives of many of their new neighbors. And now Castro wants to roll it out nationwide. Soon he will give Section 8 recipients money to afford rent wherever they choose and if they don t want to move, he ll make them an offer they can t refuse. Hillary s rumored running mate, Housing Secretary Julian Castro, is cooking up a scheme to reallocate funding for Section 8 housing to punish suburbs for being too white and too wealthy.The scheme involves super-sizing vouchers to help urban poor afford higher rents in pricey areas, such as Westchester County, while assigning them government real-estate agents called mobility counselors to secure housing in the exurbs.Castro plans to launch the Section 8 reboot this fall, even though a similar program tested a few years ago in Dallas has been blamed for shifting violent crime to affluent neighborhoods.It s all part of a grand scheme to forcibly desegregate inner cities and integrate the outer suburbs.Anticipating NIMBY resistance, Castro last month threatened to sue suburban landlords for discrimination if they refuse even Section 8 tenants with criminal records. And last year, he implemented a powerful new regulation Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing that pressures all suburban counties taking federal grant money to change local zoning laws to build more low-income housing (landlords of such properties are required to accept Section 8 vouchers).Castro is expected to finalize the new regulation, known as Small-Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMR), this October, in the last days of the Obama presidency.It will set voucher rent limits by ZIP code rather than metro area, the current formula, which makes payments relatively small. For example, the fair market rent for a one-bedroom in New York City is about $1,250, which wouldn t cover rentals in leafy areas of Westchester County, such as Mamaroneck, where Castro and his social engineers seek to aggressively resettle Section 8 tenants.[The Section 8 reboot] is all part of a grand scheme to forcibly desegregate inner cities and integrate the outer suburbs. In expensive ZIP codes, Castro s plan which requires no congressional approval would more than double the standard subsidy, while also covering utilities. At the same time, he intends to reduce subsidies for those who choose to stay in housing in poor urban areas, such as Brooklyn. So Section 8 tenants won t just be pulled to the suburbs, they ll be pushed there. We want to use our housing-choice vouchers to ensure that we don t have a concentration of poverty and the aggregation of racial minorities in one part of town, the poor part of town, the HUD chief said recently, adding that he s trying to undo the result of discriminatory policies and practices in the past, and sometimes even now. A draft of the new HUD rule anticipates more than 350,000 Section 8 voucher holders will initially be resettled under the SAFMR program. Under Obama, the total number of voucher households has grown to more than 2.2 million.The document argues that larger vouchers will allow poor urban families to move into areas that potentially have better access to jobs, transportation, services and educational opportunities. In other words, offering them more money to move to more expensive neighborhoods will improve their situation.But HUD s own studies show the theory doesn t match reality. President Bill Clinton started a similar program in 1994 called Moving to Opportunity Initiative, which moved thousands of mostly African-American families from government projects to higher quality homes in safer and less racially segregated neighborhoods in several counties across the country.The 15-year experiment bombed.A 2011 study sponsored by HUD found that adults using more generous Section 8 vouchers did not get better jobs or get off welfare. In fact, more went on food stamps. And their children did not do better in their new schools.Worse, crime simply followed them to their safer neighborhoods, ruining the quality of life for existing residents. Males were arrested more often than those in the control group, primarily for property crimes, the study found.Dubuque, Iowa, for example, received an influx of voucher holders from projects in Chicago and it s had a problem with crime ever since. A recent study linked Dubuque s crime wave directly to Section 8 housing.Of course, even when reality mugs leftists, they never scrap their social theories. They just double down.The problem, they rationalized, was that the relocation wasn t aggressive enough. They concluded they could get the desired results if they placed urban poor in even more affluent areas.HUD recently tested this new theory in Dallas with disastrous results.Read more: NYP",0 Rotten state of Egypt too powerless and corrupt to act,1 "U.S., India sign military logistics agreementWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and India signed an agreement on Monday governing the use of each other’s land, air and naval bases for repair and resupply, a step toward building defense ties as they seek to counter the growing maritime assertiveness of China. The agreement, a relatively mundane one concerning day-to-day military logistics, is nonetheless a milestone in the U.S.-India defense relationship because of the outsized political importance it had taken on in India, where it had touched on domestic sensitivities, experts said. The signing of the agreement will “make the logistics of joint operations so much easier and so much more efficient,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a news briefing with Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The agreement will allow the Indian and U.S. navies to have an easier time supporting each other in joint operations and exercises and when providing humanitarian assistance, Parrikar said. Washington’s desire for deeper security cooperation with India had been complicated without the signing of the logistics agreement as well as two other pacts that would allow for secure communications and the exchange of nautical and other data. The agreements are considered routine between the United States and its other defense partners. But India has had concerns such an agreement would commit it to hosting U.S. troops at its bases, or draw it into a military alliance with the United States and undermine its traditional autonomy. Carter and Parrikar reached an agreement “in principle” in April, but had yet to finalize the details. Carter has made closer military ties with India a priority, and established a special unit within the Pentagon last year to promote cooperation with that country. Parrikar’s visit to Washington this week marks the sixth interaction between the two top defense officials. The signing of the logistics agreement indicates the priority the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi places on a closer defense relationship with the United States, said Benjamin Schwartz, until last year the India country director at the Pentagon. “For years, there has been tremendous misinformation put out into the Indian press about these agreements,” said Schwartz, now with the U.S.-India Business Council, which promotes trade ties between the two countries. “What the signing of this shows is that the Modi government is willing to take and suffer the short-term political criticism of signing these things for the longer-term benefit of building the defense relationship with the United States.” Both Carter and Parrikar went to pains on Monday to make clear that the logistics agreement did not allow for basing of U.S. troops in India. “It’s not a basing agreement of any kind,” Carter said. The debate over the logistics agreement had served as a vehicle for the distrust some of India’s political class has towards the United States, said Shane Mason, a research associate at the Stimson Center. The United States had previously imposed sanctions on India related to its 1998 nuclear test, although the sanctions were eased later. “From the U.S. perspective this was kind of a low hanging fruit,” Mason said. “We have logistic support agreements with many, many other countries and in most cases it’s a relatively uncontroversial thing.” The U.S. military has made clear it wants to do more with India, especially in countering China, which U.S. officials say is risking stoking conflict through its claims in the South China Sea, a vital trade waterway. Without naming China, both Carter and Parrikar mentioned the importance of the free flow of trade to both countries. “India and the United States have a shared interest in freedom of navigation and overflight and unimpeded commerce as part of rule-based order in (the) Indo-Pacific,” Parrikar said. China hoped cooperation between India and the United States would be “constructive and positive” for the region’s peace and stability and development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing on Tuesday. “So, we look favorably on this sort of normal relationship between India and the United States,” Hua said. ",1 "Iraqi MPs want parliament to discuss U.S. travel curbsBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers have requested that parliament discuss U.S. travel curbs imposed on the nation and six other Muslim-majority countries, an MP said on Sunday. Rinas Jano, a member of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said he made the request with several other MPs. ``We want officials from the Iraqi foreign affairs ministry to come to parliament to explain the U.S. decision and discuss the matter,’’ he told Reuters. The Iraqi government has so far declined to comment on the executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday to pause the entry of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 90 days. ",1 Traces of cocaine found in Red Bull. ,1 "Blamed for rapes, women in Egypt are speaking out",0 More than 500.000 private messages from 9 / 11 leaks at wikileaks this week,1 " Trump Is ACTIVELY Working To RIP Families Away From Military MembersA letter to the editor appeared in The New York Times yesterday about how devastating Trump s immigration policy is. It s not only going to destroy immigrant families and further harm our deteriorating relationship with Mexico; it s also going to rip apart military families. The families that keep our soldiers grounded when they re overseas in combat zones. And Trump doesn t care.David Kubat, a member of the Minnesota National Guard and also an immigration lawyer, wrote the short letter, where he said: I have personally experienced the hardship of deployments to combat zones, and know the incredible importance of family stability during that trying time. This week, this administration rescinded the Parole in Place program, harming thousands of military families across the country. This is another example of the careless excess of the administration s immigration policy. Parole in Place protects military spouses, parents and children from deportation and was put in place by President Obama. It gives servicemembers peace of mind that their families will still be here when they get home. Now they don t have that because to Trump, it seems that soldiers should have to suffer if they were dumb enough to be involved with someone who could be subject to deportation.The GOP is supposed to be the family values party, and they love claiming that they re the only party that cares about the military. It s not bad enough that they say that and then turn around and cut funding for the VA and other helpful programs. Now their standard-bearer, their leader, is actively working to destroy the very thing that keeps our military grounded.Kubat went on to say: It is unconscionable to reverse a policy that strengthens our military and our veterans. That the program was not even named in the memo demonstrates either a lack of awareness, or worse, a casual disregard of the effect that this will have on those most vulnerable members of our military. Nice job, Republicans, for allowing this shitshow to make it all the way to the White House. When we start seeing a spike in severe mental problems in our fighting men and women, we ll know exactly where to point the finger.Kubat s full letter is below:Now #Trump can deport spouses & families of US military personnel. Letter: https://t.co/F6oaGYdW3D h/t @NinaBernstein1 pic.twitter.com/pCyc9Vg7DD David Beard (@dabeard) February 23, 2017Featured image by Olivier Douliery via Getty Images",0 Canada has engineered bacteria that send a remote signal when water sources get polluted,1 " Fox Host LOSES IT, Expertly Rips Trump’s ‘Buy American’ Policy APART (VIDEO)While most of America can see right through to the flaws of Donald Trump s policies, it s always a special moment when someone from Fox News recognizes it.Earlier today, Fox host Shep Smith tore Trump s latest executive order apart, noting that it could actually ruin America s economy instead of help it. Smith, who has been a vocal critic on Trump before, expertly pointed out that Trump s announcement of a Buy American and Hire American order will actually cause the cost of goods in America to skyrocket.Trump s new plan will review the H-1B visa program for foreign workers; a program that many massive companies use. Pointing out that the program serves a purpose, Smith explained: Tech giants including Amazon, Apple, Google, and others all hire thousands and thousand of using it. Even automakers, including Ford and GM, use this program to find engineers. Executives for those companies argue they can t always find enough American workers with the skills needed for the specific jobs. They also claim the program encourages students to stay in the United States after school. Then, Smith went after Trump by pointing out that even the POTUS himself doesn t buy or hire American when it comes to his own businesses: But the White House says the companies take advantage of those visas, that they bring in large numbers of foreign workers pay them less, and drive down wages. President Trump himself has gone back and forth over this program. And as for the president s push to buy American, opponents point out the obvious, that some of the president s own products were made from workers from about a dozen other companies. And besides the price of everything at your Walmart and your local store and everywhere else goes way up for you. Smith is exactly right and brilliant for exposing Trump s own hypocrisy, and for explaining to conservatives that the man they elected is not going to help America like they thought he would.You can watch Smith take down Trump below:Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images",0 "Iran ‘Will Respond’ if US Moves to Designate Revolutionary Guard as ‘Terrorist Group’Fresh off its humiliating six-year-long debacle in Syria, and with very few viable wars within its grasp, the Pentagon, along with the Israeli Lobby-led US Congress and Senate are now trying to tighten the noose on Iran.For the last 3 weeks, hawkish Republican Senators have been pressuring President Donald Trump to decertify the Iran nuclear deal in October, and to reimpose harsh sanctions despite the fact that Iran is in full compliance with the international P5+1 brokered nuclear containment agreement.According to the terms of the deal as recognized by Congress, the President must re-certify the deal every 90 days.LITTLE MARCO: It s clear that Marco Rubio is firmly in the pocket of the Israeli Lobby.Chief among the Israeli-led Senators is Florida Senator Marco Rubio. During the Presidential campaign, Rubio was humiliated by Trump who dubbed him Little Marco. Soon after, the slighted Senator was forced to drop out of the race due to a lack of support for his campaign.SEE ALSO: Retired US General Picks Apart Sen. Cotton s Scarlet Letter to IranOn its face, Trump and the Israel First hawks policy to crush the JCPOA Nuclear Agreement makes little sense. Business Insider explains:John Glaser and Emma Ashford respond to Trump s latest attack on the nuclear deal: Iran is clearly abiding by the deal s requirements, as President Trump himself has twice formally acknowledged. But the President appears determined to ignore U.S. allies, his own intelligence community and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has affirmed eight separate times in detailed reports that Iran is in compliance with the deal.As is usually the case, the US hawks (also supported by Iran s economic and geopolitical regional rival Saudi Arabia) are hoping to trigger retaliatory rhetoric from the Iranian hawks and use those words to justify a call for escalation of tension, and a full range of new sanctions against Iran:This desire to withdraw from the JCPOA is difficult to explain. Whatever Trump s reasoning, this much is clear: All of America s options outside the JCPOA carry unacceptably high risks and threaten to exacerbate the very behavior Iran hawks hope to forestall.Desperate to fabricate their case against Iran, the US (instructed by the Israeli Lobby) are now trying to brand Iran s military as an international terrorist organisation.RT International reports Iran has vowed a firm and crushing reaction should Washington decide to include the elite wing of its army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on its list of terrorist organizations, according to the country s foreign ministry.The comments came from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi on Monday as cited by Tasnim news agency. We are hopeful that the United States does not make this strategic mistake, Qasemi stated during a news conference. If they do, Iran s reaction would be firm, decisive and crushing, he said, adding that the US would have to accept the consequences.Earlier it was reported that Washington is preparing tougher sanctions on Tehran, including the possible designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group.US President Donald Trump has taken a tough stance on the Islamic Republic, criticizing it for supporting terrorism and vowing to put an end to Iran s continued aggression and nuclear ambitions. On Sunday, IRGC chief Mohammad Ali Jafari warned that if the reports are confirmed, the military wing will treat US troops, especially in the Middle East, as they would Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists. If the news is correct about the stupidity of the American government in considering the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, then the Revolutionary Guards will consider the American Army to be like Islamic State all around the world, particularly in the Middle East, Jafari stated.Washington s reported threats have prompted France to speak against actions that could exacerbate the current crises in the face of regional instability. With this in mind, regional states have a specific role to play and must show restraint and a sense of responsibility, French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne stressed, when asked whether Paris would endorse such a step.The landmark Iranian nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed by the P5+1 group (China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, and the US) and the European Union in 2015. According to the deal, Iran is to limit its nuclear program for 15 years in exchange for easing the pre-existing sanctions.READ MORE: World will change : Trump likely to pull out of Iran nuclear deal next week German FMDuring his election campaign Trump repeatedly vowed to scrap the agreement, and during his presidency he has continued to accuse Iran of violating the spirit of the deal. This week the US leader is expected to re-certify the agreement, but there are concerns that he may decide to stick to his campaign promises.Other parties to the agreement, including Germany and the EU, have voiced concerns over the possible scuppering of the deal.READ MORE IRAN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Iran FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV ",0 "Australia bans hunting 'trophies' from lions entering or leaving the country - Lion body parts used as trophies from hunting will no longer be allowed to be imported or exported, environment minister Greg Hunt says",0 Nigeria's military has rescued 71 girls and women in firefights that killed several Boko Haram fighters,0 "The US is quietly pressing Iraq not to close a camp that holds more than 3,000 members of an Iranian opposition group that served as Saddam Hussein's shock troops.",1 "UK banks are ready for Greek exit, says Bank of England",1 China Says It's up to US to Drive Global Economy,1 "TWISTED LIBERAL KINDERGARTEN Teacher Allows Transgender Student To “REVEAL” Her “TRUE GENDER” To ClassSilly parents you don t get to decide if, or when to talk to your kids about the .03% of the population who consider themselves to be transgender. And oh yeah your kids teacher will also inform your child that the gender they re born with doesn t matter, and that they can actually choose the gender they identify with. Because liberal educators know better than you what s best for your child.The Rocklin Academy school board is facing tough questions from parents concerned over a controversial incident involving transgender discussions inside a kindergarten class. These parents feel betrayed by the school district that they were not notified, said Karen England with the Capitol Resource Institute.WATCH:The incident happened earlier this summer during the last few days of the academic school year.At Monday night s board meeting, the teacher at the center of the controversy spoke out. With emotions high, she addressed a packed house. I m so proud of my students, it was never my intent to harm any students but to help them through a difficult situation, she said.The teacher defended her actions to read two children s books about transgenderism including one titled I am Jazz. She says the books were given to her by a transgender child going through a transition. The kindergartners came home very confused, about whether or not you can pick your gender, whether or not they really were a boy or a girl, said England.And many parents say they feel betrayed and blindsided. I want her to hear from me as a parent what her gender identity means to her and our family, not from a book that may be controversial, a parent said. My daughter came home crying and shaking so afraid she could turn into a boy, another parent said.The issue was not on the agenda, so parents spoke out during public comment. It s really about the parents being informed and involved and giving us the choice and rights of what s being introduced to our kids, and at what age, said parent Chelsea McQuistan.Many teachers also spoke out in support of what transpired inside the classroom. They spoke about the importance of teaching students about diversity and having healthy dialogues.Unlike sex education, the topics of gender identity don t require prior parental notice. Sacramento CBS ",0 "90 More Pieces of Gold & Silver From Staffordshire Hoard Found - In 2009, a metal detector enthusiast found over 3,000 gold & silver Anglo-Saxon objects from 7th-8th centuries in a farmer's field. New artifacts include a helmet piece, cross & eagle-shaped mounts. ",0 "California bill to wean power sector off fossil fuels dies for this yearSACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A long-shot plan to wean California’s power sector entirely off fossil fuels by 2045 was put on hold until 2018 on Saturday, as lawmakers recessed for the year without hearing the measure. The bill was strongly opposed by the state’s investor-owned utility companies, who said it would not protect consumers from the expense of speeding up the switch to renewable and carbon neutral fuels. Assemblyman Chris Holden, who held the measure in his Utilities and Energy Committee, said he would consider it again when the legislature returns in January for the second half of its two-year session. ",1 "FLASHBACK To 2014 WaPo Headline: “Obama Should Fire John Brennan” For Lying…Only One Year After James Clapper Was Caught Lying Under OathYesterday, the leftist media spent the day wringing their hands in anticipation of finally pinning a Russian collusion story on President Trump, after General Flynn admitted to lying to the FBI about meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, during the Trump transition period. It now appears that Flynn s testimony is a big nothingburger. In fact, if the media was being honest with the American people, they would be telling them that Flynn s admission doesn t hold a candle to the lies former President Barack Obama s regime was caught telling. Barack Obama s regime lied about matters that actually were much more serious in nature. Many of their lies were about covering up for the deaths of innocent Americans. From Obama s crooked former AG, Eric Holder, who lied about the illegal gun running program Fast n Furious that was responsible for the death of US Border Agent BrianTerry, to the lies his former national security advisor, Susan Rice told, when she went on a media-blitz to knowingly lie, when she told Americans the death of 4 Americans in Benghazi, was caused by a video. It s got to be pretty bad, when a staunch Obama media ally, the Washington Post, tells him he should fire his CIA Director, John Brennan for lying. From the Washington Post:In March, at the Council on Foreign Relations, CIA Director John Brennan was asked by NBC s Andrea Mitchell whether the CIA had illegally accessed Senate Intelligence Committee staff computers to thwart an investigation by the committee into the agency s past interrogation techniques. The accusation had been made earlier that day by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said the CIA had violated the separation-of-powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution. Brennan answered:As far as the allegations of, you know, CIA hacking into, you know, Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, we wouldn t do that. I mean, that s that s just beyond the you know, the scope of reason in terms of what we would do. { }And, you know, when the facts come out on this, I think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong.Watch Brennan lie to Andrea Mitchell here:Now we know that the truth was far different. The Post s Greg Miller reports:CIA Director John O. Brennan has apologized to leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee after an agency investigation determined that its employees improperly searched computers used by committee staff to review classified files on interrogations of prisoners. { }A statement released by the CIA on Tuesday acknowledged that agency employees had searched areas of that computer network that were supposed to be accessible only to committee investigators. Agency employees were attempting to discover how congressional aides had obtained a secret CIA internal report on the interrogation program. Some employees acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding reached between the CIA and lawmakers in 2009, when the committee investigation was launched, according to the agency statement, which cited a review by the CIA s inspector general. The CIA statement was first reported by McClatchy.That committee s investigation is said to be sharply critical of the CIA, finding that it exaggerated the effectiveness of harsh interrogation measures and repeatedly misled members of Congress and the executive branch. The findings are expected to be released publicly within weeks.After briefing committee leaders, Brennan apologized to them for such actions by CIA officers as described in the [inspector general] report, the agency statement said. Brennan also ordered the creation of an internal personnel board, led by former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), to review the agency employees conduct and determine potential disciplinary measures. An apology and an internal review board might suffice if this were Brennan or intelligence leaders first offense, but the track record is far from spotless. In 2011, Brennan claimed that dozens of U.S. drone strikes on overseas targets had not killed a single civilian. This remarkable success rate was not only disputed at the time by news reports even supporters of the drone program called it absurd but as the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the New York Times both reported later, President Obama received reports from the very beginning of his presidency about drone strikes killing numerous civilians. As Obama s top counterterrorism adviser at the time, Brennan would have received these reports as well, so either Brennan knew that his claim was a lie, or he is secretly deaf. Similarly, Brennan denied snooping on Senate computers six weeks after Feinstein first made the accusation to the CIA in private, which means either that he was lying, or he had ignored a serious charge against his agency for six weeks, then spouted off about it without any real knowledge hardly the behavior expected of an agency director.And last year, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied under oath to Congress when he told Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and the Senate Intelligence Committee that the National Security Agency did not collect any kind of data on millions of Americans, a claim later disproved by documents leaked by former NSA employee Edward Snowden. Despite Clapper receiving criticism from both sides of the aisle, the damage to Clapper s and the White House s credibility on intelligence and civil liberties issues and, well, the fact that lying to Congress is a crime (though one that s difficult to prosecute), Obama has not disciplined Clapper in any way.",0 "Spain's state prosecutor asks judge to jail Catalan parliament speaker: El PaisMADRID (Reuters) - Spain s state prosecutor on Thursday asked the Spanish Supreme Court to jail the Catalan parliament s speaker and three lawmakers pending an investigation into their role in Catalonia s banned push for independence, El Pais reported. The Catalan parliament speaker, Carmen Forcadell, and five regional lawmakers testified on Thursday on charges of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds The prosecutor asked the judge to release two other regional lawmakers, according to the newspaper. It was not clear whether their release involved certain conditions. ",1 Voice of Mickey Mouse dies at 62,0 "3000 dead dolphins found north of Peru. ""...as far as enlisted experts can tell, offshore oil exploration in the region is the most likely culprit.""",0 Moving the Markets - Europe Looks to Break US Ratings Monopoly: Few doubt that US ratings agencies contributed greatly to the global financial crisis. Europe is exploring the possibility of creating its own ratings agency.,0 "ONE HEART-BEAT AWAY…JOE BIDEN: It’s ‘OK Sometimes’ to Be Uninformed Guy Who ‘Has No Idea What the Hell He’s Talking About’ [VIDEO]Does anyone else get the sense Biden was picked to be the VP just to make Obama look smart?Vice President Joe Biden remarked at a Hillary Clinton campaign event Thursday that it s OK sometimes to be an uninformed guy who has no idea what the hell he s talking about. Biden, however, was referring to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. I don t believe the guy s a bad guy. I just think he is thoroughly, totally, completely uninformed, Biden said. He has no idea what the hell he s talking about. And guess what? That s OK sometimes. That s OK sometimes. Biden went on to point out for the rally audience, for the second time in less than a month, the military aide who travels with him and holds the nuclear launch codes in case something happens to the president. WFB",0 "On Trump travel ban, China says 'reasonable concerns' must be consideredBEIJING (Reuters) - China appeared to offer mild criticism on Monday of U.S. President Donald Trump’s banning of entry of people from seven Muslim-majority countries, saying immigration policy was a sovereign right but “reasonable concerns” must be considered. Trump signed a directive on the banning on Friday. U.S. Democrats and a growing number of Republicans assailed the move and foreign leaders condemned it amid court challenges and tumult at U.S. airports. Trump says his directive is “not about religion” but keeping America safe. Trump has presented the policy as a way to protect the country from the threat of Islamist militants. China’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement sent to Reuters, said it had noted the reports of the U.S. administration’s decision. “China believes that adjusting immigration and entry and exit policy is an act within each country’s sovereignty,” the ministry said. “At the same time, relevant moves must also consider the reasonable concerns of relevant countries,” it added in a brief statement. It did not elaborate. China is in the middle of a week-long Lunar New Year holiday and government departments do not return to work until Friday. China has been trying to pay a greater diplomatic role in the Middle East, and has particularly close ties with Iran and Sudan, two of the seven countries on Trump’s list. China is home to a Muslim population of about 20 million people, including ethnic Uighur people in the far western region of Xinjiang, where the government says it is facing its own problem with Islamist militants. Rights groups and exiles says China’s repressive policies in Xinjiang, including controls on Islam, are the root cause of the unrest, which has killed hundreds in the past few years. China denies any repression and says it guarantees freedom of religion. ",1 Snowden Covered His Tracks Well; How Many Other NSA Staffers Did The Same?: 'U.S. government's efforts to determine which highly classified materials Snowden took from the National Security Agency have been frustrated by Snowden's sophisticated efforts to cover his digital trail..',0 "The Vatican backs Ireland's most senior churchman who failed to protect children from paedophile priests, even though he knew who they were, and who was abusing them..",0 """The G20 group of leading and emerging economies will take on a new role as a permanent body co-ordinating the world economy,"" a US official has said.",0 "Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters joins a campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.",0 "Republicans in tailspin, group forms to draft Ryan for U.S. presidentWASHINGTON (Reuters) - With U.S. Republicans sharply split over a front-runner they cannot unite behind, a new group is trying to push the country’s top elected Republican, Paul Ryan, into the White House race. The Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan filed papers as a Super PAC with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, adding to the groups of mainstream Republican leaders and donors with a shared goal: stopping Trump. Ryan, the House of Representatives speaker who spoke out against Trump for not quickly rejecting white supremacist support, did not appear ready to take on the role. “He is flattered, but not interested,” Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in an email on Friday. Politico first reported the formation of the draft-Ryan PAC. Mitt Romney, the Republicans’ losing presidential candidate in 2012, also said he was not interested. “There are no circumstances I can foresee where that would possibly happen,” Romney said on NBC’s “Today” show on Friday, a day after he excoriated Trump as a fraud ill-equipped for the White House. The Republican Party may need more than a hero as it grapples with its deepest divisions in decades. Those splits were on display again on Thursday night as Trump took on his two closest challengers, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz of Texas, in a debate marked by the yelling, name-calling and vulgarity that has tainted the 2016 Republican race. Trump’s rivals said they would support the ultimate nominee but it was clear on Friday that would be easier said than done. “That is the quandary I’m trying to avoid the Republican Party having to face,” Rubio said on CNN on Friday. While the anti-Trump movements proliferated, some Republicans have urged party leaders to respect the will of the voters. Trump spokesman Sam Clovis seized on that message on Friday, warning on CNN that it was dangerous for Republican leaders to “call American voters stupid” because they support Trump. “You have record turnout in every state so far. Record turnout. That doesn’t happen by accident, said Clovis, national campaign co-chairman. Trump is “tapping into what is going on in this country like no one else has in a long, long time. I haven’t seen anything like this since Ronald Reagan.” Columnist Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter, had a different lament in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. “I think we are seeing a great political party shatter before our eyes,” she said. “But we are witnessing history. Something important is ending. It is hard to believe what replaces it will be better. No one knows where this goes. The top of the party and the bottom have split.” (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Megan Cassella; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 Tokyo to Take a Tougher Line With China,1 "Iran, Russia, China, Syria to hold drill - 12 Chinese warships to sail through the Suez Canal, Russian atomic submarines / aircraft carriers to take part ",1 New hacker group (Ghost Security Group) 'Spying' on Islamic State instead of hacking them. Calling Anonymous tactics 'unsophisticated',0 (VIDEO) RAND PAUL AND CHRIS CHRISTIE GO AT IT OVER PRIVACY RIGHTS AND THE NSATHIS WAS A VERY AWKWARD MOMENT BUT THE BEST PART IS WHEN RAND PAUL CALLS OUT CHRISTIE FOR HUGGING OBAMA: ,0 "HILLARY 2016 FAN JAMES TAYLOR: “Every day that Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are in the White House is a day that I am thankful for”Time to exhale James Barack Obama supporter James Taylor doesn t just think the U.S. president is great he believes Obama is the greatest of all-time. I ve been watching politics since (Dwight) Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and Obama is my favorite, favorite president, Taylor said in an interview Wednesday. I am just thankful for every day that he s in office. I am so proud that he represents my country and I think he represents me I think he represents the America that I know. Taylor, 67, is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. The pop icon performed America the Beautiful at Obama s second inauguration in 2013. I had a really tough time during the Cheney-Bush years, I did, and I had a hard time accepting that that administration represented me because I don t think they did, Taylor said.The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer also called Obama s family precious and said he appreciates the U.S. leader because he s sane and balanced. He promised to give us a health care system, it s a work in progress, but he has put us on a road to that, Taylor said. I m so grateful for what he s done for gay rights and for the emancipation of gay people. Particularly from my point of view, I think that was so overdue and so important, and so important for America to be ahead of the curve on this. Taylor criticized Congress in Obama s defense. I ve never seen a Congress that has been so obstructive and so contrary and so committed to doing anything that will foul up this administration. I just think it s an absolute scandal that he has had so little cooperation, he said. So anyway, you hit a nerve and I ll go on forever. But I ll just say it a third time: Every day that Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are in the White House is a day that I am thankful for. Obama isn t the only politician Taylor is supporting: The singer said he s on the Hillary Rodham Clinton train, too. And aside from the fact that she s a woman running, she s the right person. The whole point black or white, male or female, gay or straight, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist it doesn t matter what these other connections are, he said. Our country needs to come together and the question is, Is this public servant someone who will bring us together? And I think she is. Taylor will release a new album, Before This World, on June 16, and will perform a concert for SiriusXM at The Apollo in New York City on the same day. He will also launch a U.S. tour in July.Via: AP News",0 "Rigged elections? Nasty woman? Trump's scorched earth tactics have little upside(Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump had one last chance at a nationally televised debate to reach out to the undecided voters he badly needs to keep his presidential campaign viable. He passed on the opportunity. Instead, he chose on Wednesday to stay with the strategy he has employed during recent weeks: Pump up his hard-core supporters and hope that’s enough to win. He suggested he might not accept the election result if his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton wins on Nov. 8, called her a “nasty woman,” and repeated hard-line conservative positions on issues such as abortion and immigration. While that kind of rhetoric was catnip to his passionate, anti-establishment base, it is unlikely to have appealed to independent voters and women who have yet to choose a candidate. “When you’re trailing in the polls, you don’t need a headline the next morning saying that you’re not going to accept the election results,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist who supports Trump. With less than three weeks left in the race, Trump is behind Clinton in most battleground states and is underperforming in almost every demographic voter group compared to the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, four years ago. Party strategists had said before the debate that he needed to use the event to draw in voters beyond his hard-core supporters. Trump didn’t listen or perhaps didn’t care. His debate was a continuation of his apparent strategy to ensure his most fervent supporters show up on Election Day, while betting that his attacks on Clinton’s character and truthfulness will discourage voting by already skeptical young and liberal Democrats. But experts who study voter behavior warned that his attacks on Clinton may backfire, saying he may instead awaken Democratic voters who have so far been uninspired by Clinton. “The risk he faces by engaging in a scorched-earth policy is that he activates people rather than turning them off,” said Michael McDonald, who runs the U.S. Election Project at the University of Florida. McDonald, who tracks early voting returns and absentee ballot requests, said he is seeing larger than expected surges of support for Clinton in southeastern states such as Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. The Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project, which uses a massive online opinion poll to project election outcomes in all 50 states, estimates that Clinton has a 95 percent chance of winning the election by about 118 votes in the Electoral College if it were held today. It is against this backdrop that Trump has apparently decided to double down on energizing his base rather than broadening it. But the poll results cast doubt on the wisdom of that strategy. If Trump’s core white, male, working class supporters vote at high rates, as expected, that likely won’t be enough to win. Trump, for example, already does well with white men who are at retirement age. Nine out of 10 of them are already expected to vote, according to the polling results, so, there is little room to squeeze out more votes. Voting rights activists have accused Trump of trying to suppress voter turnout by claiming, without evidence, that the election has been rigged against him. He has also said his supporters need to monitor polling stations to ensure a fair vote, which the activists decry as an act of intimidation. Should Trump’s comments succeed in discouraging some Democratic voters from turning out, that may also not be enough to help him secure the White House. He still loses under what could be considered a dream scenario for the Republican nominee: white men show up in greater numbers than expected, while turnout among racial minorities is lower than expected. In this scenario, the States of the Nation project estimates that Trump would win the battleground states of Ohio and North Carolina, and he would have a shot at winning Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Colorado. Even then, Clinton would still have an 82 percent chance of winning the election. There’s yet another risk to Trump’s strategy. By claiming the election is rigged, he could be unintentionally signaling to his supporters that voting no longer matters. Michael Sopko, 63, a mortgage broker from Denver and a Trump backer, said before the debate that he sees his vote as pointless. “They have already been corrupted,” he said of voting machines, speaking ahead of a Trump rally in Colorado Springs. “I think the results are already cast.” ",1 "The 'Shocking' Cost of Letting Companies Pollute for Free. This year, the report estimates, fossil fuels are being subsidized to the tune of $5.3 trillion, or 6.5 percent of global gross domestic product.",0 "People smugglers test new migrant sea route through RomaniaBUCHAREST (Reuters) - About 500 migrants from the Middle East reached Romania across the Black Sea from Turkey in about a month, coastguards said on Monday, in a sharp increase the European Union says shows smugglers are testing alternative routes into Europe. Since 2015, the EU has been struggling to bring down the number of refugees and migrants smuggled or trafficked from the Middle East and Africa to its shores. A 2016 deal with Turkey shut the route to EU state Greece and the bloc is now cracking down on arrivals from Libya to Italy. All in all, Mediterranean arrivals to the bloc fell from nearly 28,000 people in June to below 10,000 in August, according to U.N. data. But the Romanian coast guard told Reuters on Monday that 475 people reached its shores in about one month in August-September, including from Iraq and Iran. Seven people smugglers from Turkey, Bulgaria, Syria, Iraq and Cyprus had been arrested. While still low compared to thousands of migrants reaching Greek islands daily at the height of the arrivals in 2015, the figure marks a sharp increase from a total of 500 migrants who completed the same route in two years in 2013-2015, according to Romanian data. The EU s border agency Frontex has said it is monitoring the situation and that people smugglers might be looking for alternative entries to the bloc after the Mediterranean crossings were made more difficult. While it is too early to talk about the opening of a new migratory route, the recent incidents of intercepted wooden boats with migrants on the Black Sea suggest that smugglers might be looking to revive this route, said a Frontex spokesman, Krzysztof Borowski. Frontex said the Black Sea route was last active in 2014 but did not expect it to develop on a large scale due to difficult sailing conditions on the Black Sea, especially as autumn nears. On Aug. 13, the Romanian coast guard said it had rescued 101 adults and 56 children from Iraq and Iran crowded onto a small fishing boat, in distress amid strong winds. They were packed in there ... The boat could (only) safely accommodate a dozen people, a coastguard officer said. In Romania s neighbor Bulgaria, interior ministry data showed no illegal migrants had been stopped at its sea border in 2017. Both countries are still outside of the EU s Schengen zone of free travel and hope to join as soon as possible. While the bloc s executive has said it will soon recommend bringing them in, many other EU states are skeptical. How the two will manage any migratory flows would be crucial to determining whether they meet the criteria. Since joining the EU in 2007, both are also under monitoring by the EU executive arm in Brussels over justice reforms and concerns over corruption. While Ankara has cracked down on smuggling across the Mediterranean, many refugees and migrants who had made it across before are being stranded on Greek islands in poor conditions. As the bloc s relations with Turkey have grown increasingly strained since the 2016 migration deal, Brussels and EU states worry that President Tayyip Erdogan might one day walk away from the accord. Erdogan has just lifted a lid to keep pressure on the EU. It s flexing muscles, Romanian political analyst Mircea Marian said of the recent increase in arrivals from the Turkish coast across the Black Sea. ",1 "India suffering ""disease of affluence""",1 "Trump says he plans tax reform announcement on WednesdayWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, signing executive orders calling for a re-examination of some Obama-era financial regulations, said on Friday he would have a major tax reform announcement next week. “We’ll be having a big announcement on Wednesday having to do with tax reform. The process has begun long ago but the reform will begin on Wednesday,” Trump said at the U.S. Treasury Department. ",1 UN: Slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians is not genocide,1 "Trump trade adviser strikes conciliatory tone on Mexico; peso firmsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of U.S. President Donald Trump’s most protectionist trade advisers struck a more conciliatory tone with Mexico on Wednesday, saying he wanted the two countries and Canada to form a regional manufacturing “powerhouse” with stricter rules of origin. White House National Economic Council Director Peter Navarro’s comments on Bloomberg News helped boost Mexico’s peso to nearly its highest level since Trump’s election last November. The comments indicate that Navarro, a strong voice behind Trump’s calls during the campaign for steep tariffs on goods from Mexico and China to help reduce U.S. trade deficits, was now seeking to cooperate with Mexico to the benefit of both countries. Navarro said he wanted to strengthen manufacturing in the three countries through renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Navarro said the 23-year-old trade pact could be transformed into two parallel U.S. bilateral deals with Canada and Mexico, or a modernization of the current trilateral deal. “We have a tremendous opportunity, with Mexico in particular, to use higher rules of origin to develop a mutually beneficial regional powerhouse where workers and manufacturers on both sides of the border will benefit enormously,” Bloomberg quoted Navarro as saying. “It’s just as much in their interests as it is in our interests to increase the rules of origin.” In automotive products, the biggest area of manufactured goods trade between the United States and Mexico, vehicles must have 62.5 percent North American content to qualify for NAFTA’s tariff-free benefits. Navarro has said that rule allows North American manufacturers to use too many Asian parts. Both Mexican and Canadian officials say they want to renegotiate and modernize NAFTA. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he would trigger notification to Congress to start the NAFTA renegotiation process by late March, with substantive talks beginning later this year. The Mexican peso, which had fallen sharply after Trump’s election on fears that trade between the two countries would be disrupted, had strengthened to below 19.5 to the dollar at midday. With the Trump administration filling out with more voices on trade issues, it is unclear how much influence Navarro will have. Ross has been designated to take a leading role on trade issues, while U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer told senators in his confirmation hearing on Tuesday that he would have full statutory authority to negotiate trade deals. Lighthizer, a veteran trade lawyer and former USTR official in the 1980s, said he would “sort out” differences within the administration over trade. ",1 " CREEPY: Trump Promised Teenage Ivanka He’d Never Date Anyone Younger Than She Is (AUDIO)Donald Trump s relationship with his daughter Ivanka has definitely raised a few eyebrows. It s bad enough that all of his wives including his current wife, Melania have been a couple of decades younger than he is. What is more disturbing is the fact that he seems to have the hots for his daughter. Well, this troubling notion is even more eyebrow-raising when you consider an interview Trump did with radio host Howard Stern in 1999.Apparently, Trump and Stern were discussing the women they like to date, and Trump mentioned that he had promised his daughter Ivanka, who was seventeen at the time, that he would not date anyone younger than she was. Even crazier is the fact that the age of consent in the state of New York is seventeen years of age, so, essentially, all Trump, who was 53 at the time, was promising to do is not to commit rape. One could argue all day long regarding statutory rape laws and their fairness, but no 17-year-old girl is going to want to do anything like that with a 53-year-old man unless she was shamed, guilted, bullied, or forced into it. End of story.Trump said to Stern: I have a deal with her. She s 17 and doing great Ivanka. She made me promise, swear to her that I would never date a girl younger than her. So as she grows older, the field is getting very limited. Stern, who sounded taken aback, made an awkward joke in response: The nerve of her. Now you can t go out with 16-year-olds. Indeed. Needless to say, these comments simply continue the narrative that Trump has an unhealthy affinity for girls that are far too young for him, and this conversation seems to suggest that if he could get away with it, he d date and have sex with underage girls. Is this the sort of man we really want in the White House?Listen to the audio below, via the New York Daily News:[ad3media campaign= 977 ]Featured image via screen capture from Twitter",0 "Haiti ""apocalypse"": ""More doctors, fewer journalists"" man yelled angrily at a foreign media crew. Gunfire is echoing across the capital, as survivors endure a third night on the streets with little food, water or medical supplies",1 "Congress Is About To Deal A KNOCK-OUT PUNCH To Obama’s ‘Back Door’ Gun Grab…Gun Owners Are Cheering!Obama s unconstitutional government overreach was allowed to run rampant in DC for way too long. There s a new sheriff in town and under that new sheriff s leadership is a newly emboldened Congress who miraculously just found their spine Congressional lawmakers will review a final rule issued by President Obama in December that stomps on the Second Amendment rights of Social Security beneficiaries.According to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Obama s Social Security rule qualifies SSI and disability insurance recipients as mental defectives, and therefore incapable of legally owning firearms.The rule allows those affected to file a petition for restoration of their Second Amendment rights, yet tens of thousands of legal gun owners must now prove their possession of firearms would not harm public safety or the public interest, even though the government never established, or tried to establish, the contrary, NRA-ILA added.NRA-IRA executive director Chris Cox praised Congress decision in a Wednesday statement. Congress s decision to review the Obama administration s back-door gun grab is a significant step forward in restoring the fundamental constitutional rights of many law-abiding gun owners, he wrote. The NRA has been fighting this unconstitutional government overreach since it was first discussed and we look forward to swift congressional action to overturn it. Via: Daily Caller ",0 "Kenya president sworn in, rival Odinga promises own inaugurationNAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term on Tuesday, shortly before riot police teargassed the convoy of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who promised supporters he would be sworn in himself on Dec. 12. Such a move would only deepen divisions opened by the extended election season in Kenya, a Western ally in a volatile region. Months of acrimonious campaigns and sporadic clashes have already blunted growth in East Africa s richest economy. At a lavish inauguration attended by the heads of many African nations, Kenyatta did his best to paint a picture of a country moving beyond that divide. The elections are now firmly behind us ... I will devote my time and energy to build bridges, he told a rapturous crowd of around 60,000 supporters as he was sworn in for a second, five-year term in a sports stadium in the capital Nairobi. But, he warned, Kenyans needed to free ourselves from the baggage of past grievances, and ... keep to the rule of law . Such words may ring hollow to citizens accustomed to the government ignoring reports on corruption from the country s auditor-general and documentation of hundreds of extrajudicial police killings every year from human rights groups. Last year, Kenyatta angered many Kenyans by saying he wanted to tackle corruption but his hands are tied . His government has also promised to improve police accountability, but an independent watchdog has managed to convict only two officers of murder despite thousands of brutality complaints. On Tuesday, at least one Odinga supporter was killed and three others were injured, a Reuters witness said. Other witnesses said the man had been shot by the police. A statement from Odinga said five people were shot, including his daughter s driver. Television stations KTN and NTV reported that a 7-year-old boy was hit by a stray bullet while playing on the balcony of a house near the site of a planned opposition prayer meeting. When I came home, I did not know it was my child who had been killed. Police were passing by shooting, Peter Mutuku, the boy s father, was quoted saying on NTV. Police could not immediately be reached for comment. Less than an hour after Kenyatta spoke, Kenyan national television carried pictures of riot police swinging clubs at civilians with their hands up. I didn t hear him say a single word on corruption and how he s going to fight it. I didn t hear anything on justice, said prominent anti-corruption campaigner Boniface Mwangi. When he says that there s the rule of law, his actions and the actions of his government show there s no rule of law. Kenyatta won a repeat presidential election on Oct. 26 that was boycotted by Odinga, who said it would not be free and fair. The Supreme Court nullified the first presidential election, in August, over irregularities. Supporters of Kenyatta - who won the October poll with 98 percent of the vote after Odinga s boycott - want the opposition to engage in talks and move on. I m sure Uhuru will be able to bring people together and unite them so we can all work for the country, said Eunice Jerobon, a trader who traveled overnight from the Rift Valley town of Kapsabet for the inauguration. But Odinga s supporters see such talk of unity as tantamount to surrender. Many of them are drawn from poorer parts of the country, and feel angered because they say they are locked out of power and the patronage it brings. Political arguments often have ethnic undercurrents, with Odinga s supporters pointing out that three of the country s four presidents have come from one ethnic group, the Kikuyu, although the country has 44 recognized groups. Odinga accuses the ruling party of stealing the election, overseeing rampant corruption, directing abuse by the security forces and neglecting vast swathes of the country, including Odinga s heartland in the west. This election of October 26 is fake. We do not recognize it, Odinga told supporters from the rooftop of a car. On Dec. 12, we will have an assembly that will swear me in. Shortly after that, riot police teargassed his convoy and charged his supporters. The opposition had planned to hold a prayer meeting in the capital on Tuesday, saying it wanted to commemorate the lives of Odinga supporters killed during confrontations with the security forces over the election period. More than 70 people have been killed in political violence this election season, mostly by the police. Riot police sealed off the scene of the rally in the morning, and fired teargas at residents, trying to prevent a crowd from gathering, as a helicopter hovered overhead. Roads were blocked by burning tyres, rocks and uprooted billboards. In his speech, Kenyatta promised to raise living standards by increasing jobs, home ownership, electricity connections and health insurance coverage. He also said all Africans would now get visas on arrival in Kenya, and members of the East African community could own property, work and live in Kenya, adding to underscore Kenya s commitment to pan Africanism, this shall not be done on the basis of reciprocity . ",1 "Australian Prime Minister likely to be voted out at ballot tomorrow, Australia may have its first female Prime Minister",1 "The Honduran govt has granted more than 7% of its territory to the indigenous Miskito communities who live on the land, an initiative intended to help them protect their forests. It represents an acknowledgment of the rights of the most neglected citizens in one of the hemispheres poorest countries",1 "Exclusive: U.S. asks Israel to restrain response to Jerusalem move - documentWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is asking Israel to temper its response to the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as its capital because Washington expects a backlash and is weighing the potential threat to U.S. facilities and people, according to a State Department document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. While I recognize that you will publicly welcome this news, I ask that you restrain your official response, the document dated Dec. 6 said in talking points for diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to convey to Israeli officials. We expect there to be resistance to this news in the Middle East and around the world. We are still judging the impact this decision will have on U.S. facilities and personnel overseas, the document said. A second State Department document seen by Reuters, which was also dated Dec. 6, said the agency had formed an internal task force to track worldwide developments following the U.S. decision on Jerusalem. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was standard to set up a task force any time there is a concern about the safety and security of U.S. government personnel or U.S. citizens. The State Department had no immediate comment on either document. Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, imperiling Middle East peace efforts and upsetting U.S. friends and adversaries alike. The first document also laid out talking points for officials at the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, the U.S. Embassies in London, Paris, Berlin and Rome and the U.S. mission to the European Union in Brussels. In its message for the European capitals, the document asked European officials to argue that Trump s decision did not prejudge so-called final status issues that Israel and the Palestinians need to hammer out in any peace agreement. You are in a key position to influence international reaction to this announcement and we are asking you to amplify the reality that Jerusalem is still a final status issue between Israelis and Palestinians and that the parties must resolve the dimensions of Israel s sovereignty in Jerusalem during their negotiations, it said. You know that this is a unique Administration. It makes bold moves. But it is bold moves that are going to be needed if peace efforts are finally going to be successful, it said. The status of Jerusalem, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions, is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent state of their own to be in the city s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move never recognized internationally. ",1 "DINGBAT DEMOCRAT Maxine Waters Hopes Trump Won’t Serve 4 Years…Thinks Putin Invaded Korea [VIDEO]When will the Democrats realize they lost the election because America is sick of their intolerant and hateful behavior and in the case of Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi, the outright idiocy .Sorry, Maxine. You can t impeach a president because you don t like him. And, Putin didn t invade Korea. It was Crimea.Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) wants Donald Trump impeached.CNS News reported: I have not called for the impeachment (of President Donald Trump) yet, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told a news conference on Monday. He s doing it himself. On Friday, Waters said she hoped Trump would not serve for four years: And my greatest is to lead him right into impeachment. On Monday, Waters clarified: Let me just say the statement I made was a statement in response to questions and pleas that I am getting from many citizens across this country. What are we going to do?Waters also said Putin invaded Korea. Which is nonsense.Putin invaded Crimea but it s likely Waters couldn t find it on a map.Keep talking, Democrats. Keep talking.Via: Gateway Pundit",0 "Wealthy Mexicans, terrified of soaring kidnapping rates, are spending thousands of dollars to implant tiny transmitters under their skin",0 " Biden Says He’s ‘Ready’ For A Woman President (VIDEO)Vice President Joe Biden has been careful to give Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders their fair share of lauding and criticism. Like President Obama, Biden has not endorsed any candidate for the 2016 race, and has pledged to stay neutral until a nominee is decided at the convention.But in a telling interview with Mic in which his staffers tried to shut down Vice President Biden may have hurled a veiled endorsement towards Clinton s way when he said he would like to see a woman elected president. His comments, more specifically:This country s ready for a woman. There s no problem. We re gonna be able to elect a woman in this country. I would like to see a woman elected.After his staffers tried to cut the interview, Biden said he had no issues discussing the 2016 election, and reminded Mic that the president and I are not going endorse because we both, when we ran said, let the party decide.' Although he did not mention Clinton by name, there is only one woman in the running for the White House (unless Sanders picks a female VP or the Republicans do) and that s Hillary Clinton. After brushing off his staff, Biden added that both candidates are qualified, but then added, Hillary s overwhelmingly qualified to be president. Biden s comments will be an uplift to Clinton, who suffered a public humiliation after the Vice President branded her as new to the issues of income inequality, a staple of the Sanders campaign.Surprisingly, Biden told Mic that he does not believe Clinton is held to a higher standard because she is a woman, even though social psychology shows people do, in fact, hold women in politics to a different higher standard than men.Although not an official endorsement, is Biden ready for Hillary?Here s the interview, via YouTube: Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images",0 "Remains of exiled Italian king return to ItalyMILAN (Reuters) - The remains of Victor Emmanuel III, who reigned as Italy s king through two world wars and died in exile in 1947, were flown back from Egypt on Sunday for reburial at a family mausoleum near Turin. The remains of his wife, Queen Elena, also returned to Italy on Friday for reburial with those of the king at the Sanctuary of Vicoforte, near the Piedmont town of Cuneo, a spokesman for the sanctuary said. Elena died in 1959 and her remains had lain in Montpelier in France. Victor Emmanuel III s 46-year reign, which started in 1900 after the assassination of his father Umberto I, encompassed the period of fascist rule in Italy under dictator Benito Mussolini. He drew criticism for failing to prevent Mussolini s seizure of power in 1922 and for fleeing Rome in 1944 to avoid an invading German army. The monarch - known as sciaboletta , or small sabre, due to his stature - abdicated the throne in 1946 in favor of his son Umberto II in a vain effort to avert a plebiscite to decide whether Italy should remain a monarchy or become a republic. After Italians voted for a republic, Victor Emmanuel went into exile in Alexandria, Egypt, where he died the following year. Italy s post-war constitution barred male descendants of the royal House of Savoy from setting foot in Italy because of the family s support for Mussolini. The ban was lifted in 2002. The grandson of Umberto II, Emanuele Filiberto, told the Italian press recently that he believed the right place for the remains of former Italian kings was the Pantheon in Rome. ",1 "POLICE UNION Threatens 49er’s With BOYCOTT: TAKE ACTION Against Bench-Warmer Kaepernick’s “Inappropriate Behavior” Or We May Choose To “Not Work At Your Facilities”Dear San Francisco Police Union: We wanted you to know that if you decide to boycott the 49er s, America supports you 100%. If the 49er s are unable to speak out against this sickening bench-warmers anti-american,and anti-law enforcement antics, they can figure out how to protect themselves at their next home game. Maybe they could ask the Black Panthers or Black Lives Matter thugs to patrol the stadium I m sure the fans would love that idea LOL!The union for police officers who work San Francisco home games says its members may boycott policing the stadium if the 49ers don t discipline Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand during the national anthem and for his statements about law enforcement.A letter from the Santa Clara Police Officers Association sent to the 49ers was obtained Friday by KNTV-TV, the NBC affiliate in San Jose.It says that Kaepernick s protest has threatened our harmonious working relationship with the 49ers. About 70 officers from the Santa Clara Police Department patrol Levi s Stadium when the 49ers play there. If the 49ers organization fails to take action to stop this type of inappropriate behavior it could result in police officers choosing not to work at your facilities, the letter reads. The board of directors of the Santa Clara Police Officer s Association has a duty to protect its members and work to make all of their working environments free of harassing behavior. It also criticized what it called anti-police statements made by Kaepernick, calling them insulting, inaccurate and completely unsupported by any facts. ABC News",0 Interpol says Ukraine seeks wanted notice for Yanukovich arrest,1 "China has called for major strategic concessions from Europe before agreeing to rescue the eurozone, chilling hopes for immediate purchases of Italian bonds. ",1 "Western powers urge Myanmar's Suu Kyi to push for end to violenceNEW YORK (Reuters) - Britain, France and Australia urged Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday to push for an end to military violence against Rohingya Muslims, while her national security adviser said those who had fled could return but the process had to be discussed. The military response to insurgent attacks last month in the western region of Myanmar sent more than 410,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, escaping what the United Nations has branded as ethnic cleansing. The government says about 400 people have been killed in the fighting. We will make sure that everybody who left their home can return to their home but this is a process we have to discuss, Myanmar national security adviser Thaung Tun told Reuters on Monday after a ministerial meeting on the crisis hosted by Britain on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. We want to make sure that everybody who needs humanitarian assistance gets it, without discrimination. That is one of the things we agreed on, he said. Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of international criticism for not stopping the violence. She is due to speak to the nation on Tuesday about the crisis, which the United States has described as a defining moment for Myanmar. We expect from Mrs Aung Sang Suu Kyi tomorrow a strong statement in this direction, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian told reporters in New York. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hosted a ministerial meeting to discuss ways to resolve the Rohingya crisis, which included ministers from Canada, Denmark, Turkey, Australia, Indonesia, Sweden, Bangladesh, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and a representative of the European Union. What we are trying to get everyone to agree is that, number one, the killings have got to stop, and the violence has got to stop. And we look not just to the military but also to Daw Suu to show a lead on that, Johnson told Reuters before the meeting. In a statement afterwards, Johnson said that while Myanmar had made encouraging progress towards democracy in the last few years, the situation in Rakhine, the terrible human rights abuses and violence are a stain on the country s reputation. It is vital that Aung San Suu Kyi and the civilian government make clear these abuses must stop, he said. Johnson said he was encouraged by our discussion and by the participation of the senior Burmese representatives, but we now need to see action to stop the violence and open up immediate humanitarian access. China, which, like the United States has worked to forge closer ties with Myanmar, a strategically important country in Southeast Asia, will not attend, a Chinese spokesman said, citing a really packed calendar for Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Reuters ahead of the British meeting that a lasting political solution needed to be found for the Rohingya in Myanmar. About a million Rohingya lived in Rakhine State until the recent violence. Most face draconian travel restrictions and are denied citizenship in a country where many Buddhists regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told Reuters she wanted to hear Suu Kyi offer a solution to what is a tragedy of enormous proportions. She said that during the ministerial meeting in New York there was unanimity in the view that the violence must end and that there be a ceasefire. And we emphasized the need for humanitarian support to get through and also that the Rohingya must be able to return home, Bishop said. The United States urged the Myanmar government to end military operations in Rakhine state, grant humanitarian access, and commit to aiding the safe return of civilians to their homes, Haley said in a statement after the meeting. People are still at risk of being attacked or killed, humanitarian aid is not reaching the people who need it, and innocent civilians are still fleeing across the border to Bangladesh, Haley said. Washington has also called for an end to the violence and a restoration of humanitarian aid, and a deputy assistant secretary of state, Patrick Murphy, is due in Myanmar this week. We urge the (Myanmar) government to act quickly to restore the rule of law, investigate alleged human rights abuses and violations, and to hold security forces and others responsible for abuses and violations fully accountable for their actions, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department said. U.S.-Myanmar ties improved after the military began withdrawing from government in 2011, and paved the way for a 2015 election won by Suu Kyi s party. But the military retains a strong hand in government and remains responsible for security. A Trump administration official told Reuters last week the violence made it harder to build warmer ties with Myanmar, and there would likely be some easing in the short term, but he did not expect a return to sanctions. For years, the United States and Western allies imposed sanctions on Myanmar in support of Suu Kyi s campaign for democracy. Myanmar s response was to forge closer ties with China. Human Rights Watch U.N. director Louis Charbonneau called for strong U.N. action to compel Myanmar security services to end their ethnic cleansing campaign. With so many influential leaders gathered in New York, the next step should be work on a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning the abuses and a Security Council resolution to impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on the commanders leading this brutal campaign he said. However, Myanmar earlier this month said it was negotiating with China and Russia, both permanent veto wielding members of the Security Council, to block any bid to censure the country over the violence. ",1 "Colombia's congress approves peace tribunals for ex FARC rebelsBOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia s lower house of congress late on Monday backed a bill to regulate transitional justice under the nation s peace deal with Marxist FARC rebels, including special tribunals that will try guerrilla leaders for war crimes. The bill, which was approved with some modifications, is considered the cornerstone of the peace agreement signed last year between the government and the FARC, known until recently as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The special courts will mete out alternative sentences like landmine removal for ex-guerrilla leaders who are convicted of war crimes committed during the five-decade war. Under the peace deal, those convicted will not serve time in traditional jails. The lower house made changes to the text agreed this month by the Senate, so it must now go for conciliation between the two chambers. Once there is agreement on alterations the bill will go to President Juan Manuel Santos to be signed into law. With this step, we move towards peace: transitional justice guarantees the rights of the victims and establishes the basis for the reconciliation of Colombians, Santos said on Twitter. Congress had until the end of the month to approve the law using a court-approved fast-track mechanism to reduce the number of required debates in an effort to implement the peace accord as quickly as possible. The FARC, now a political party known as the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force, has argued against any changes to the original agreement, including extradition for crimes committed after demobilization. The law, which would also apply to members of the military who have been accused of atrocities, is part of the agreement that allowed more than 11,000 members of the FARC - combatants and others - to lay down their arms and enter politics. With the modifications, the FARC will be able to participate in politics, but face the risk of losing benefits if they committed sexual abuse against minors. They can be also be extradited for crimes committed after the culmination of the peace process. We have achieved an agreement with teeth, said Rodrigo Lara, president of the lower house. Any FARC member who commits a another crime will immediately leave the special regime and go to the ordinary jurisdiction. Sexual crimes will not be protected. The leader of the FARC, Rodrigo Londono, a presidential candidate for next year s election, has said any changes put at risk the implementation of the peace agreement. Under the agreement the FARC will have 10 guaranteed seats in Congress until 2026. The group has announced a slate of candidates for elections next year. ",1 "Suicide bombers attack Damascus police center: Syrian state mediaBEIRUT (Reuters) - Three men blew themselves up near the police headquarters in central Damascus on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring six others, state media said, citing the interior ministry. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the second this month. Two suicide bombers tried to storm the police center and clashed with guards before detonating explosive devices outside on Khalid bin al-Walid street, the Damascus police chief said. Police forces then chased down the third attacker, who blew himself up nearby at the entrance to a clothes market. Our investigations are ongoing to find out where they came from and how, police chief Mohammad Kheir Ismail told state TV from outside the headquarters. The issue has been controlled. An Islamic State statement said three suicide bombers had attacked the police center with machine guns and explosive belts. Islamic State also claimed responsibility earlier this month for a similar suicide bomb attack on a police station in another part of Damascus, in which 17 people were reported dead. Damascus has enjoyed relative security as Syria s six-year civil war has raged on nearby and across the country. But several such attacks have hit the capital in recent years, including a car bomb that killed 20 people in July. Islamic State and Tahrir al-Sham - led by militants formerly linked to al Qaeda - have each claimed separate suicide blasts that killed scores of people in Damascus previously. The desperate suicide attempts come as a response to the victories of the Syrian Arab Army, and the Interior Ministry is fully ready to thwart any terrorist act, state television quoted Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar as saying. With the help of Russian jets and Iran-backed militias, the Damascus government has pushed back rebels in western Syria, shoring up its rule over the main urban centers. In recent months, it has also marched eastwards against Islamic State. Syrian troops and allied forces have recaptured several suburbs of Damascus from rebel factions over the past year. The army and its allies have been fighting insurgents in the Jobar and Ain Tarma districts on the capital s eastern outskirts. ",1 "Waiting for green cards, Indian visa-holders see hope in Trump reviewSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When Gokul Gunasekaran was offered a full scholarship for a graduate program in electrical engineering at Stanford University, he saw it as the chance of a lifetime. He had grown up in Chennai, India, and had a solid job offer with a large oil company after getting his undergraduate degree. He came to America instead, got the Stanford degree and now works as an engineer at a data science startup in Silicon Valley. But for the past five years, he has been waiting for a green card that would give him full legal rights as a permanent resident. In the meantime, he is in a holding pattern on an H1-B visa, which permits him to live and work in the United States but does not allow him easily to switch jobs or start his own company. “It was a no-brainer when I came to this country, but now I’m kind of regretting taking that scholarship,” said Gunasekaran, 29, who is also vice president with a non-profit group called Immigration Voice that represents immigrants waiting for green cards. Immigration Voice estimates there are some 1.5 million H1-B visa holders in the country waiting for green cards, many of whom are from India and have been waiting for more than a decade. Many of these immigrants welcomed President Donald Trump’s executive order this week to the federal departments overseeing the program to review it, a move that may lead to H1-B visas being awarded to the highest-paying, highest-skilled jobs rather than through a random lottery. Their hope is that merit-based H1-Bs might then lead to merit-based green cards. “I think less random is great,” said Guru Hariharan, the CEO and founder of Boomerang Commerce, an e-commerce startup. Hariharan, who was previously an executive at Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc, spent 10 years waiting for his green card and started his own company as soon as he got it. Green cards can be a path to naturalization and Hariharan expects to become a U.S. citizen soon. H1-B visas are aimed at foreign nationals in occupations that generally require specialized knowledge, such as science, engineering or computer programming. The U.S. government uses a lottery to award 65,000 such visas yearly and randomly distributes another 20,000 to graduate student workers. The H1-B and the green card system are technically separate, but many immigrants from India see them as intimately connected. The number of green cards that can go to people born in each country is capped at a few percent of the total, without regard to how large or small the country’s population is. There is a big backlog of Indian-born people in the line, given the size of India’s population - 1.3 billion - and the number of its natives in the United States waiting for green cards. That leaves many of those immigrants stuck on H1-B visas while they wait, which they say makes them almost like “indentured servants,” said Gaurav Mehta, an H1-B holder who works in the financial industry. Mehta has a U.S.-born son, but he could be forced to take his family back to India at any time if he loses his job and cannot find another quickly. “He’s never been to my country,” Mehta said of his son. “But we’ll have no choice if we have to go. Nobody likes to live in constant fear.” The H1-B visa is tied to a specific employer, who must apply for the visa and sponsor the employee for a specific job laid out in the visa application. To switch employers, the visa holder must secure their paperwork from their current employer and find another employer willing to take over their visa. Some H1-B holders suspect that employers purposely seek out Indian immigrants because they know they will end up waiting for green cards and will be afraid to leave their employers. But changing the green card system away from country caps to a merit-based system would require an act of Congress. Some executives also worry that allocating H1-Bs and green cards based on salary - while it would be done to counter the argument that immigrants undercut American workers - would hurt startups that cannot afford high wages. In the meantime, H1-B holders like Nitin Pachisia, founding partner of a venture capital firm called Unshackled Ventures, are taking more practical measures. His firm specializes in taking care of the legal paperwork so that H1-B holders can start their own companies, a process that is possible but tricky. Pachisia is hopeful that changes to the H1-B visa program could revive interest in making the entire system, from H1-B visas to green cards and eventual citizenship, more merit-based and focused on immigrants who are likely to start companies and create jobs. “If the purpose of our high-skilled immigration program is to bring in the most talented people, let’s use that as a lens. From that perspective, it’s a good thing we can focus on the most talented, and I’d say most entrepreneurial, people,” he said. (This version of the story has been refiled to add missing word “startup” in paragraph two) ",1 "Armenian troops commit sabotage act on Azerbaijani territory, both sides have losses",1 "FLASHBACK: ESPN Female Reporter Still Employed After Being CAUGHT ON VIDEO Berating Garage Attendant…Curt Schilling Fired After Sharing Conservative Views On FacebookLeftist Disney owned ESPN has a strange way of determining who is and isn t the type of host they want to be the face of their network. ESPN just fired baseball great Curt Schilling for sharing an opinion that was contrary to that of leftist Disney owned ESPN when he shared this meme on his personal Facebook page:Schilling added, A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don t care what they are, who they sleep with, men s room was designed for the penis, women s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic. ESPN then fired Schilling, announcing, ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated. Asked about the controversy on local radio, Schilling explained, To be in a place where people actually believe I m a racist or I m transphobic says to me that something has gone horribly askew somewhere. This wasn t the first time Schilling felt the heat from ESPN for his political views. He got slammed for retweeting a graphic that read, It s said only 5%-10% of Muslims are extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How d that go? Schilling added, The math is staggering when you get to true # s. This was too much for ESPN, which had to step in to defend ISIS, and promptly suspended him from broadcast.Schilling made the horrible mistake of speaking truth in a place where only leftist falsehood is tolerated. ESPN has no problem firing a beloved host for speaking out against radical Islam and the LGBTQ-WXYZ Mafia. ESPN seems to have a soft spot however for female reporters like Britt McHenry (seen in video below) who berate and bully women who she considers to be less fortunate and important than her. Watch here:McHenry was given a one week suspension for her horrific and condescending behavior.ESPN host Stephen A. Smith spoke about former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice beating his then-girlfriend, and stated, We also have to make sure that we learn as much as we can about elements of provocation. Not that there s real provocation, but the elements of provocation, you got to make sure that you address them, because we ve got to do is do what we can to try to prevent the situation from happening in any way. And I don t think that s broached enough, is all I m saying. No point of blame. He was suspended for one week. Schilling suggesting that women be protected from men invading their restrooms, however, was a fireable offense.In the aftermath of the same incident, ESPN host Max Kellerman told a charming story about how when he was dating his now-wife, they were both drunk; she slapped him, and he slapped her back. That carried a short suspension. Kellerman is now back on the air regularly.None of these people committed the ultimate crime: stating that men and women are biologically different and should pee in different places. ESPN, of course, also stumps for more coverage of women s sports, which suggests a question: why not simply open up all women s sports to men, in the name of equality for people of all genders? Or wouldn t that comply with the logically incoherent leftist positional chart?To see more examples of people still working at ESPN who should ve been canned: Daily Wire",0 "Rubio picks outgoing Devon executive to oversee energy policy issuesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio has picked Devon Energy Corp co-founder Larry Nichols to help oversee his campaign’s stance on energy issues, Rubio spokesman Jahan Wilcox said on Monday. Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, made the choice as his campaign efforts move toward the next round of primary voting states, including Nevada on Tuesday and then Oklahoma and Texas on March 1, “Super Tuesday.” Nichols, who stepped down as Devon’s CEO in 2012 after more than 30 years but stayed on executive chairman, is set to fully retire this year from the Oklahoma-based oil producer. Like other powerful voices in the oil and gas industry, Nichols last year echoed calls to lift a 40-year-old federal ban on crude oil exports. Nichols is set to host a Feb. 26 fundraiser for Rubio in Oklahoma, a key U.S. energy state and home to significant horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and in December donated $50,000 to the super PAC supporting Rubio, according to Bloomberg News. Nichols, 73, is active in several industry groups, including America’s Natural Gas Alliance, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Industry Political Action Committee, and the American Petroleum Institute, according to Devon’s website. He also previously led the American Exploration & Production Council. Before his work in the energy sector, Nichols worked as a special assistant in the U.S. Department of Justice, the company’s website said. Rubio is battling to be the Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election alongside front-runner and real estate tycoon Donald Trump and fellow U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a key oil state. Ohio Governor John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson are also seeking the Republican nomination. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 The sex ed revolution ,0 This was news to me: apparently Nick Clegg speaks Dutch fluenty - Arjen van der Horst interviews Nick Clegg in Dutch [video],0 "MIGRANTS BRUTALLY GANG RAPE 3 YR OLD BOY At Asylum Center In NorwayThe world is stunned by the number of women and children who are being raped by Muslim refugees in Europe. Obama just announced today, that he would aggressively defend plans to accept refugees from Muslim majority nations. He even went so far as to say he would actually increase the number of refugees the US accepts overall this year A three-year-old migrant has allegedly been raped by multiple people at an asylum centre in the Norwegian city of Stavanger.Police are investigating the incident amid claims the boy was abused in the shared common area of the asylum centre, possibly within view of many people. We have no suspects yet, police superintendent Bj rn K re Dahl told local paper Stavanger Aftenblad. We are investigating the case as if the worst thing has happened and that we are talking about the rape of a child. He did not rule out that there may be several perpetrators: We will investigate further to find out what happened. If it is what we fear a rape then this is very serious. But we do not know for certain yet. The Local reports the boy has been taken to a rape crisis centre along with his mother and is now at the children s ward in Stavanger Hospital. He has been questioned by authorities along with several others. We also had crime technicians on the site. Material was sent to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health for analysis. There, they will look for DNA among other things, Mr Dahl added. We had many people at work, both sanitation workers and security guards, but nobody saw anything. But we immediately took the case to the police, as is the routine, and they came out. We have had a good dialogue with them throughout. A spokesman for the asylum centre said they received a phone call about the incident last Wednesday, but did not want to go into details about the conversation. We had many people at work, both sanitation workers and security guards, but nobody saw anything. But we immediately took the case to the police, as is the routine, and they came out. We have had a good dialogue with them throughout, the spokesman added.There are around 800 migrants at the asylum centre, including men, women and children. The boy was reportedly at the centre with his family. Via: Breitbart London",0 Former German chancellor: US has 'no respect',1 "Lift up your hearts, not your cell phones, pope tells priests, bishopsVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday chastised priests and bishops who take pictures with their cell phones during Masses, saying they should focus on God instead. The priest says lift up your hearts . He does not say, lift up your cell phones to take pictures, Francis told tens of thousands of people at his weekly audience in St. Peter s Square, referring to a communion prayer in the Roman Catholic Mass. In his improvised remarks, he called using cell phones during Mass a very ugly thing, adding: It makes me very sad when I celebrate (Mass) here in the piazza or in the basilica and I see so many cell phones held up. Not only by the faithful, but also by some priests and even bishops! The Mass is not a show ... so remember, no cell phones! he said, prompting laughter and applause from the crowd. Francis, the leader of the world s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, has regularly urged the faithful to be more spiritual and his priests and bishops to be more humble. Shortly after his election in 2013, he said it pained him to see priests driving flashy cars and eager to use the latest smartphone. The pope is driven around in a simple blue Ford Focus and is not known to have ever used a cell phone in public since his election. ",1 "BREAKING: VIDEO RELEASED Of Angry Leftist Mob Attacking Home Of Chicago Lawmaker With Rocks, TorchesIf this had been a Tea Party group attacking Nancy Pelosi s home, it would have been international news Angry leftists with rocks, wood chunks and torches attacked a Chicago alderman s home this weekend. Once you start throwing objects, that crosses the line, he said. He said there wasn t any major damage to the home, just debris near the windows and objects on the sidewalk.Alderman Cardenas provided a video of the attack to authorities:Three people landed behind bars Saturday night after mobbing a home owned by Ald. George Cardenas (12th) with rocks, pieces of wood and tiki torches, according to the alderman and police.The mob of more than 50 people was protesting police violence in the city, said Cardenas, who provided DNAinfo Chicago with a video clip shot outside the home, where his ex-wife, two daughters and his mother live.Police eventually arrested three protesters in the 2100 block of South Marshall.Efrain Montalvo, 23, of the 2600 block of West 22nd Place; Javier Ramos, a 29-year-old Des Plaines resident; and Billie Kincaid, a 25-year-old woman from the 1500 block of West Lunt Avenue, each stand charged with one misdemeanor count of mob action.Cardenas had been eating dinner with a friend across town when the mob rolled down 26th Street in Little Village and ended up in front of his house. Via: Gateway Pundit",0 "Obama plan to ease new U.S. visa limits faces skeptics in CongressWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s plan to loosen some requirements of a visa law spurred by the deadly attacks in Paris met with open resistance from both Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. The measure, which went into effect in late January, requires that citizens of 38 countries who previously were able to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa must now obtain one if they have visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria since March 1, 2011. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Wednesday said he wanted to add Libya to the list of countries covered by the restrictions. At a hearing of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, lawmakers voiced particular concern over exempting from the new visa clamp-down some travelers who visit Iran, including those conducting business.     “Nowhere does the law include this authority. In fact, Congress explicitly rejected the waivers requested by the White House,” Chairman Michael McCaul, a Republican, said. Lawmakers enacted the visa restrictions on fears that travelers from the mainly European countries in the Visa Waiver Program could easily travel to the United States even if they have, for example, visited countries like Syria, Iran or Iraq, where militants are active. The Nov. 13 attacks in Paris stirred fears about such travel. Some of the Islamic State attackers who killed 130 people that day held European passports that would have allowed them easy entry to the United States. Representative Bennie Thompson, the Homeland Security Committee’s top Democrat, echoed Republican concerns about Obama’s announced plan to allow visa waivers for foreign business people who travel to Iran. “I have some questions about how the (Department of Homeland Security) would go about determining the legitimacy of the business-related purposes,” he said. Administration officials countered that they wanted to shield journalists, humanitarian aid workers and employees of other international organizations, as well as business people helping economic reconstruction efforts in Iran and Iraq in particular, from the tougher requirements. Individuals must qualify for the Visa Waiver Program, with background checks against U.S. counter-terrorism and law enforcement databases. State Department counter-terrorism official Hillary Johnson told the committee there are regular reviews of those who are approved. Gil Kerlikowski, U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, told the committee an estimated 500,000 people who come into the country under the waiver program have overstayed their visas. He said he did not know how many of them might have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan. Administration officials expressed concern that if the United States fails to loosen some of the new restrictions, foreign governments might cut back on information sharing, or impose awkward new visa requirements on Americans who travel to their countries. ",1 Giant companies like Toyota will not locate in a state that has not passed a right-to-work law,0 British Army Is Deployed as Flooding Submerges Northern England,0 "Kerry urges Congress not to rush to renew Iran sanctions measureWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry urged Congress on Thursday not to rush to renew the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), a broad U.S. law imposing sanctions over Iran’s nuclear and missile programs that expires at the end of the year. “I wouldn’t advise that for a number of reasons,” Kerry told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee at a hearing on the State Department’s budget. Many lawmakers have been pushing to renew the ISA quickly, to send a message to Tehran that Congress is still taking a hard line over its nuclear program, missile development and human rights record. The effort could set up another showdown over Iran between the administration and the Republicans who control Congress. Every Republican in Congress, and several of President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats, opposed the agreement announced in July in which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. House Republicans early this month passed legislation to restrict Obama’s ability to lift sanctions under the nuclear pact. The Senate has not taken it up and Obama has threatened a veto, and lawmakers are discussing alternatives. “If the administration isn’t supportive of this renewal (of the ISA), not only are we preventing the possibility of a snapback, but from the standpoint of myself and many of the members of this committee, we’re also giving relief on missiles,” said Representative Ed Royce, the Republican committee chairman. Iran tested ballistic missile technology in October, prompting the United States to impose new sanctions in January, but many members of Congress want a stronger response. Kerry said lawmakers should allow more time to see how Iran responds to the international nuclear agreement, which went into effect only last month. He argued that sanctions can be imposed quickly if Iran is found to violate terms of the nuclear deal or other agreements. Kerry was asked about reports that Iran will enjoy a windfall of up to $150 billion from the nuclear agreement as money frozen under the sanctions regime is released. He said the total likely would be about one-third of that level, and currently is far lower. “Our estimates are it’s somewhere in the vicinity of $50 to $55 billion at some point in time but it’s way below that right now.” Kerry said. “And in fact, they are complaining about the slowness with which there has been a process of repatriation.” ",1 Syria says Russia re-establishing multipolar world,0 "Kid Rock hints online he will run for U.S. SenateDETROIT (Reuters) - Recording star Kid Rock, an outspoken supporter of Republican President Donald Trump, hinted in website and social media messages on Wednesday that he intends to run for the U.S. Senate in 2018, promising a “major announcement” to come soon. The 46-year-old Michigan native drew attention on Twitter and his Facebook page to a “Kid Rock ‘18 for U.S. Senate” website. It featured a photo of the goateed singer-songwriter wearing a leather jacket, dark glasses and white fedora, seated in a plush, star-spangled chair beside a stuffed deer above the tagline: “Are you scared?” The site also displays images of a T-shirt, baseball cap and bumper sticker emblazoned with the campaign logo, “Kid Rock for US Senate” and a box of alternating slogans, including, “In Rock We Trust,” “Party to the People” and “You Never Met a Politician Quite Like Me.” “I have a ton of emails and texts asking me if this website is real ... The answer is an absolute YES,” he said on his verified Twitter account. “Stay tuned, I will have a major announcement in the near future.” Reached by email, the musician’s spokesman, Kirt Webster, referred only to Rock’s Facebook page, which bore the same message. His music label, Warner Bros Records, also posted a website offering sales of Kid Rock for U.S. Senate merchandise. Born Robert James Ritchie in the Detroit suburb of Romeo, Michigan, he rose to fame in 1998 as his debut album “Devil Without a Cause” sold some 14 million copies. He gained additional celebrity through his courtship of actress Pamela Anderson and their brief marriage in the 2000s. While no mention was made in Wednesday’s online postings about Rock’s political affiliation or in which state he would run, he presumably would seek to challenge Michigan’s Democratic incumbent senator, Debbie Stabenow, who is up for re-election in 2018. The Capitol Hill-based newspaper Roll Call reported that Rock’s name surfaced as a possible candidate earlier this month during a state Republican Party convention in Michigan, which Trump carried in the 2016 presidential race, though no official decisions were announced. Stabenow seemed to shrug off the prospect of a political challenge from Rock, saying in a Twitter post: “I know we both share a love of music. I concede he’s better at playing guitar and I’ll keep doing what I do best: fighting for Michigan.” According to Roll Call, Rock endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for president in 2012 and initially supported Ben Carson for the Republican nomination in 2016 but switched to Trump when the former reality-TV star became the party’s nominee. Afterward, Rock released a line of pro-Trump merchandise, including a T-shirt that read “God Guns & Trump.”  In April, Kid Rock joined fellow rocker and conservative activist Ted Nugent and former Alaska Governor and onetime Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin for a White House visit and dinner with Trump. Kid Rock would not be the first showbiz figure to make a leap into politics. Besides Trump, he would follow the likes of singer Sonny Bono, who served as a U.S. congressman from California during the 1990s; pro-wrestler and actor Jesse “The Body” Ventura, elected Minnesota governor in 1998; and comedian Al Franken, now serving his second U.S. Senate term from Minnesota. ",1 Two-year-old Indian boy's heart beats in that of a Russian child - India's first paediatric heart transplant performed,1 "Will Americans Free Themselves From The Slavery Of The Democrat Party…Or Will We Wait Until It’s Too Late? WATCH: “The Peasants Are Revolting”Our good friend Joe Dan Gorman has done it again! He s put together an awesome video that explains the Brexit and the parallels between the UK s exit from the EU and our Independence from Britain. Sit back and enjoy Joe Dan s one-of-a-kind humor, as he puts the state of our political mayhem in perspective like only Joe Dan can Via: INTELLECTUAL FROGLEGSIntellectual Froglegs is 100% funded by viewer donations. Please click HERE to donate. ",0 "Islamic State terror group identified its next target, a former U.S. Army Ranger who was captured in Lebanon last year during a relief mission to help Syrian refugees.",1 "Ric O'Barry, the star of an Oscar-winning documentary that shows how dolphins are hunted in a Japanese village was deported to the U.S. on Friday after Tokyo airport officials barred his entry and he was held in detention for more than two weeks.",0 "Final Republican tax bill slashes U.S. corporate rate, voting next weekWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans on Friday unveiled the final version of their dramatic U.S. tax overhaul - debt-financed cuts for businesses, the wealthy and some middle-class Americans - and picked up crucial support from two wavering senators ahead of planned votes by lawmakers early next week. Passage of the biggest U.S. tax rewrite since 1986 would provide Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump their first major legislative victory since he took office in January. Prospects for approval soared after Republican senators Marco Rubio and Bob Corker pledged support. Three Republican senators, enough to defeat the measure in a Senate that Trump’s party controls with a slim 52-48 majority, remained uncommitted: Susan Collins, Jeff Flake and Mike Lee. The final version hammered out between Senate and House of Representatives Republicans after each chamber previously passed competing versions contained no surprises. It would cut the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, according to a summary distributed to reporters by congressional tax writers. Corporate tax lobbyists have been seeking a tax cut of this magnitude for many years. The bill, the summary showed, would create a 20-percent business income tax deduction for owners of “pass-through” businesses, such as partnerships and sole proprietorships; allow for immediate write-off by corporations of new equipment costs; and eliminate the corporate alternative minimum tax. Under a new territorial system, the bill would exempt U.S. corporations from taxes on most of their future foreign profits. It also sets a one-time tax for companies to repatriate more than $2.6 trillion now held overseas, at rates of 15.5 percent for cash and cash-equivalents and 8 percent for illiquid assets. If passed by Congress, the changes would be in effect for 2018 taxes, with tax returns for 2017 unaffected. Democrats have been unified against the measure, calling it a giveaway to corporations and the rich that would drive up the federal deficit. Bernie Sanders, a leading liberal voice in the Senate who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination last year, called the bill “a moral and economic obscenity.” “It is a gift to wealthy Republican campaign contributors and an insult to the working families of our country,” Sanders said. Republicans have said the tax cuts are needed because the economy is not expanding quickly enough. “Now the American people are closer to a plan that will deliver higher wages, lower taxes, a simpler system, and a stronger American economy,” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said. The House was expected to vote on the bill on Tuesday. Republicans have a large majority there, and passage was expected despite Democratic opposition. The bill would then go to the Senate. Republicans can afford to lose only two votes from within their own ranks and still win Senate passage. The tax bill was expected to add at least $1 trillion to the 20 trillion U.S. national debt over 10 years, making it an unusual example of deficit spending on stimulative tax cuts at a time when the economy is already expanding. For months, Trump has touted the bill as a middle-class tax cut. Studies from independent analysts and non-partisan congressional researchers have projected that corporations and the rich would benefit disproportionately. The Republican bill would maintain the existing seven individual and family income tax brackets with rates of 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35 and 37 percent. That top rate, for the highest-earning Americans, would be cut from today’s 39.6 percent. Republicans abandoned their quest to eliminate the estate tax on inherited assets, a move that would have benefited the richest Americans. But they did propose increasing the exemption for the tax to $10 million from $5 million person. The bill does not eliminate Wall Street’s so-called carried interest loophole that allows fund managers to claim a lower capital gains tax rate on profits from investments held more than a year. Getting rid of the loophole was a Trump campaign pledge. Instead, the legislation makes it harder for some fund managers to take advantage of the loopholes by requiring them to hold investments for more than three years before claiming it. Trump, who last year promised voters major tax cuts, wants a bill on his desk before the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday so he can sign it into law and finish 2017 with at least one big win in Congress before the 2018 mid-term election campaigns, when Republicans will defend their Senate and House of Representatives majorities. Since sweeping to power in Washington in January, Trump and his fellow Republicans have failed to pass major legislation including a promised healthcare overhaul, while Trump’s public approval ratings have remained low. Since last month, Republicans have lost hard-fought elections in Alabama and Virginia. Stock markets have been rallying for months in anticipation of sharply lower tax rates for corporations, wealthy financiers and business owners, all of which the bill would deliver. Wall Street’s three major stock indexes closed at record highs on Friday, driven by corporate tax rates that looked likely to pass. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.58 percent to 24,651.74, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.90 percent to 2,675.81 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 1.17 percent, to 6,936.58. As the tax package evolved, it tilted increasingly toward benefiting businesses and the wealthy. Provisions for offsetting the revenue costs of last-minute changes were troublesome for some lawmakers. Rubio said he would support the bill after its approach to the child tax credit was changed. The bill doubles the credit, meant to help reduce the costs of raising kids, to $2,000 per dependent child under the age of 17, with a refundable portion of $1,400. That refundable portion was raised from $1,100 at the last minute to win Rubio’s backing. Lee called the change to the child credit “a big win” but stopped short of endorsing the bill until he saw the details. Corker, a fiscal hawk who opposed an earlier bill that passed the Senate because of its deficit impact, said the final measure was “far from perfect” but he would support it, calling it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to help U.S. businesses. Collins has remained non-committal, in part out of concern about a provision that would repeal the fine imposed under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, on Americans who do not obtain health insurance. Flake has said he needs to see all the details before supporting the measure. The Senate vote outlook has been complicated by Republican Senator John McCain’s hospitalization for treatment for side effects of cancer therapy. His office said he “looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible.” Vice President Mike Pence has delayed a trip to the Middle East in case his vote is needed to break a Senate tie. ",1 "Possible Case of Ebola in Glasgow, Scotland",0 Leaked Russian document: Could Medvedev era tilt more pro-West?,0 "Saudi, UAE and Kuwait provide $12 bil to Egypt, delighted at army's ousting of President Mohamed Mursi",1 " Billionaire Mark Cuban Just DESTROYED Trump’s Presidency With Some Really, REALLY Bad News (TWEET)Not many people can get under Donald Trump s skin like billionaire and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban. Not only did Cuban become a massively outspoken supporter of Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign, but he s blasted Trump more times than we can count. On Sunday, Cuban was back at it again as he called Trump the Zoolander president and made an announcement that s going to have Trump s little hands shaking.In an appearance at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, Cuban admitted that he d originally liked Trump that is, until he got to know him. Then, Cuban likened the undeserving POTUS to the incompetent, self-centered movie character Zoolander. Cuban also made fun of Trump s complete lack of intelligence as he joked: Just think how efficient he could be if he learned how to use a search engine. I love the guy because he s the only human being who trolls himself and doesn t know it. Here s a video of Cuban s comments:This recent attack follows a long history of others, each one carrying a sting strong enough to make Trump retaliate and embarrass himself. Last year, Cuban challenged Trump to a four-hour interview about policy, and even offered to donate $1o million to whatever charity Trump wanted and Trump obviously didn t have the courage to take him up on that. Instead, Trump went on Twitter and said Cuban wasn t smart enough to understand what s going on. Just last month, Trump tweeted that Cuban wasn t smart enough to run for president. Given the fact that Cuban supports policies that are much more grounded in reality, many of us would disagree. Cuban believes in climate change and environmental responsibility, and he is against Trump s immigration policies and thinks all Americans should have health care.Cuban also took another jab at Trump, stating that in the next election, we will need someone who can look forward, instead of acting like it s 1975. Cuban was asked if he would run for president in the future, and he said something that will truly terrify Trump: I ve got a lot of time to decide and we ll see what happens. Trump, who is delusional enough to think he ll actually serve eight years like former President Barack Obama, is NOT going to be happy about that! Featured image via Mike Windle and Drew Angerer / Getty Images",0 "Factbox: Trump on Twitter (Dec 4) - Roy Moore, Stock MarketThe following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet! [0617 EST] - Putting Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Puppet Jones into office in Alabama would hurt our great Republican Agenda of low on taxes, tough on crime, strong on military and borders...& so much more. Look at your 401-k’s since Election. Highest Stock Market EVER! Jobs are roaring back [0700 EST] - With the great vote on Cutting Taxes, this could be a big day for the Stock Market - and YOU! [0703 EST] - A must watch: Legal Scholar Alan Dershowitz was just on @foxandfriends talking of what is going on with respect to the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. political history. Enjoy! [0735 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) ",1 "RIP Brenden Foster, the 11-year-old whose last wish was to feed the homeless.",1 " WATCH: Rand Paul Accidentally Admits We Need Nationalized HealthcareRepublican Senator Rand Paul spoke with CNN s Erin Burnett on Tuesday and accidentally spilled the beans about the kind of healthcare American really needs. While explaining his position on the latest healthcare plan drummed up by the GOP, he talked himself into a corner by describing a system of healthcare that sounds a lot like single payer.Paul was exchanging healthcare views with Erin Burnett when she realized that he accidentally made the point for nationalized healthcare, so she pressed him hard using his own words against him. We should try to give them options, he explained while making the case for individual markets. He used the example of a how a plumber could link up with additional plumbers and create one large group market that covers all cases, including things like pregnancy. You could get a way out of that individual conundrum and you could get group policies, and most of the group policies actually have things like pregnancy, Paul continued. If you work for General Motors, my guess is pregnancy is automatically in your insurance because you are a big group and you have the leverage to demand it. Burnett took the argument for a collective large group insurance and ran with it. So why not go for the biggest group of all and just have insurance for everybody? She retorted. Well, socialism s not a good idea, said Paul, using the Venezuelan health crisis as a model for socialism s failures.Burnet slammed back, But you did make a great argument for nationalized healthcare. You said the bigger the group the lower the cost, so I m taking your argument to its logical conclusion. Paul then tried to take back what he said. I was talking about voluntary groups, not the gulag. Too late, Paul. You brought up the real solution to the healthcare crisis without even realizing what you were saying. The cat is out of the bag.Watch the whole hilarious conversation via CNN here:Featured image via screen capture",0 "Melania Gets Last Laugh After Media Mocks Her “Inappropriate” Attire on Trip to Support TX Hurricane Victims [Video]President Trump and First Lady Melania traveled down to Texas today to assist with and show support for flood victims. You d think the press would point out that this is a great gesture by the First Couple but that s not the case. The press could only focus on the fact that the First Lady wore heels on her departure to Texas. They mocked her saying she wasn t quite ready to help flood victims: Melania s shoes are impressive but perhaps not what I would wear to a city submerged in floodwaters, wrote Elizabeth Bruenig, an assistant editor at the Washington Post.Those stilettos should help her stay above the flood line https://t.co/dQ89fK18N5 Ryan Teague Beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) August 29, 2017Melania is wearing stilettos to a hurricane zone: https://t.co/29WIwlipab erica orden (@eorden) August 29, 2017She had on all black with a pair of black stilettos Who cares? At least she made the trip! We can t say the same for Michelle Obama during the Louisiana floods!We checked into what Michelle Obama wore to visit the Louisiana floods Oops! She didn t go! Remember that she was on vacation with Barack and the girls but then came home and didn t make the trip with Barack.We checked to see if Michelle went to New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy Oops! She didn t go to that either!MELANIA GETS THE LAST LAUGH:Guess what Melania had on when she arrived in TEXAS? TENNIS SHOES! Is she ready enough now?First lady Melania Trump wore a baseball hat that said FLOTUS as she exited Air Force One upon landing in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday.First Lady Melania and President Trump arrive in Texas to be briefed on Harvey s devastating aftermath pic.twitter.com/Dz0IbQBRk3 Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) August 29, 2017The first lady had her hair pulled back in a ponytail under the black hat with white lettering.She also wore white sneakers, black pants, and a white button-up shirt.LOOKING GREAT!Read more: WE ",0 Ukraine crisis: T-72 tank shoots hole in Russian denial,0 "Iran Plans to Test Advanced Missiles, Intelligent Torpedoes",1 "Factbox: Trump on Twitter (Aug 24) - Debt ceiling, fake news, Mitch McConnell, hurricane HarveyThe following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - I requested that Mitch M & Paul R tie the Debt Ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. Bill (which just passed) for easy approval. They... [0819 EDT] - ...didn’t do it so now we have a big deal with Dems holding them up (as usual) on Debt Ceiling approval. Could have been so easy-now a mess! [0825 EDT] - The Fake News is now complaining about my different types of back to back speeches. Well, there was Afghanistan (somber), the big Rally..... [0907 EDT] - ..(enthusiastic, dynamic and fun) and the American Legion - V.A. (respectful and strong). Too bad the Dems have no one who can change tones! [0915 EDT] - James Clapper, who famously got caught lying to Congress, is now an authority on Donald Trump. Will he show you his beautiful letter to me? [0915 EDT] - The only problem I have with Mitch McConnell is that, after hearing Repeal & Replace for 7 years, he failed!That should NEVER have happened! [0942 EDT] - On Tuesday, I visited with the incredible men & women of @ICEgov & @DHSgov Border Patrol in Yuma, AZ. Thank you. We respect & cherish you! [1313 EDT] - As #HurricaneHarvey intensifies - remember to #PlanAhead. ☑️(link: www.hurricanes.gov) hurricanes.gov ☑️(link: www.ready.gov) ready.gov ☑️(link: www.fema.gov) fema.gov [1531 EDT] - A GREAT HONOR to spend time with our BRAVE HEROES at the @USMC Air Station Yuma. THANK YOU for your service to the United States of America! [2021 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) ",1 " Wikileaks Admits To Screwing Up IMMENSELY With Twitter Poll On Hillary’s HealthWikileaks, which is more a conspiracy enterprise than it is a whistleblowing watchdog these days, put up a poll on Twitter that asked users to tell them which health issue they thought was causing Hillary s coughing fits and unusual body movements. All four of their answers have been bandied about by conservatives everywhere, as they try and diagnose Hillary in a frantic attempt to prove she s unfit to be President.They ve since deleted the poll and put a tweet in its place that s supposed to be a sort of retraction and apology, or as close as Wikileaks will ever get to admitting they royally screwed up. However, the Internet is keeping the poll and publishing it everywhere they can. Buzzfeed s Andrew Kaczynski republished a screencap of it while needling Wikileaks about transparency, since that s what Wikileaks was supposed to be about before they turned into conspiracy theorists with a hate-on for Hillary:.@wikileaks deleted their tweet. Obviously in the nature of openness & transparency I have preserved it right here: pic.twitter.com/IdrgFlxP3A andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) September 11, 2016Wikileaks apparently didn t like the flack they were catching for that poll, though, and tweeted out their non-apology accordingly: We removed our earlier poll on what people perceive are the reasons for Clinton s medical issues as the possibilities are too speculative. WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 11, 2016They should know that poll is never going to die, though, and their non-apology is almost as insulting as the poll. They revel in this kind of thing, along with the backlash involved in fact, they have yet to remove the credit card information of DNC donors from their collection of the hacked emails, despite the outrage over that.Hillary left the 9/11 event she was attending early and appeared to collapse before being helped into a van. Her campaign later revealed that she d been diagnosed with pneumonia, and that she was overheated and dehydrated, which can happen when someone s sick and in the sun. Her doctor later said that she was recovering nicely from this episode.Seeing as how a lot of people have completely forgotten, here s a little reminder that this isn t unprecedented: In 2002, George W. Bush passed out in the White House after eating a pretzel. After eating a pretzel. Apparently, it went down wrong and stimulated a nerve that decreased his heart rate. Enough for him to faint.But Hillary momentarily succumbing to an illness while standing in the sun is some sort of scandal. Right.The medical term for what happened to Bush is vasovagal syncope, and it s actually quite common. So are run-of-the-mill respiratory infections that lead to pneumonia when left unchecked, even in presidential candidates. Hillary s schedule has been grueling, to say the least, and yet she s supposed to either be a super woman and never get sick, or admit that even the merest cold means she s too sick to run for President.The haters, however, are looking for any shred of evidence they can find that proves Hillary is unfit to serve. Wikileaks decided to take it too far.Featured image by Carl Court/Getty Images",0 "The giant Spanish wine corporation Codornu, has permits in place right now to clear-cut 154 acres of coveted California coastal redwood forest and grade the soils to construct a sprawling vineyard, roads, and reservoirs in their place",1 British PM Daivd Cameron forgets 8-year old daughter in country pub,0 Australia passes law banning anti-vax parents from childcare benefits,0 "Bezos-Owned Washington Post Running PR for Bezos-Owned Amazon ‘HQ2’21st Century Wire says When the news broke in 2013 that Amazon.com founder and Bilderberg member Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, we started asking the same question many others were asking at the time: what does it mean for the paper and what will happen next? As the media whips up a public frenzy over which city will go to what extreme lengths to prove their worthiness of hosting the online retailer s next company headquarters replete with an odd reality TV like competition backdrop we now see further signs of exactly what the plan was all along.SEE ALSO: Washington Post Sloppy Journalism Blames Russia for Fake News Crisis and Trump s Win, While Pushing Neo-McCarthyismAccording to Adam Johnson, contributing analyst for FAIR.org, the Washington Post has been caught reposting Amazon press releases in their coverage of the HQ2 story. This amounts to essentially copy and paste PR by the Bezos-owned newspaper on behalf of Bezos-owned Amazon with no regard for citation or explanation of the projected economic benefits a host city could expect to receive. If only quality control of shipping their news at the Amazon Washington Post was as tight as shipping their retail.Continue reading about this story at FAIR.org READ MORE MEDIA CRITIQUE AT: 21st Century Wire Media Cog FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Kerry focuses blame on Israel for collapse of talks - ""The prisoners were not released by Israel on the day they were supposed to be released and then another day passed and another day, and then 700 units were approved in Jerusalem and then poof that was sort of the moment, Kerry said",1 "Reform On The Range: Cubans Heed The Call To Farm - ""Having this land, you realize how productive it can be,"" Pena says. ""When you're growing your own food, you have independence, and that gives you a sense of security.""",1 "Boiler Room #93 – The Outgoing Head of HydraTune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Patrick Henningsen host of the Sunday Wire, Andy Nowicki host of The Nameless Podcast, Jay Dyer Jay s Analysis, Stewart Howe and ACR regulars FunkS0ul, InfidelPharaoh & MilesOfTruth for the 93rd episode of BOILER ROOM. Water the kids, put the plants to bed and get your favorite mead horn ready so you can drop deep into the Boiler Room with the ACR brain-trust.Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!Listen to Boiler Room #93 The Outgoing Head of Hydra on Spreaker.Reference Links:",0 "Nearly half of China's wealthiest citizens are considering emigrating, with the United States and Canada the most popular destinations, according to a new report from the authors of China's rich list.",0 "Proposed Budget Deal Is MUCH WORSE On U.S. Border Security Than We Originally ThoughtOnly a few days after his inauguration, President Donald Trump moved aggressively to tighten the nation s immigration policies Wednesday, signing executive actions to jumpstart construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and block federal grants from immigrant-protecting sanctuary cities. Beginning today the United States of America gets back control of its borders, Trump declared during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security. We are going to save lives on both sides of the border. Trump cast his actions as fulfillment of a campaign pledge to enact hard-line immigration measures, including construction of a wall paid for by Mexico. With the families of Americans killed by people living in the U.S. illegally sitting in the audience, Trump said, When it comes to public safety, there is no place for politics. Trump cast his actions as fulfillment of a campaign pledge to enact hard-line immigration measures, including construction of a wall paid for by Mexico. With the families of Americans killed by people living in the U.S. illegally sitting in the audience, Trump said, When it comes to public safety, there is no place for politics. PBSAlthough the source of funding for a border wall was never really clear, most Americans believed with a Republican majority in both the House and Senate, funding for a secure border wall, as part of our national security was a no-brainer. Conservative Review The proposed budget deal before the House of Representatives is playing out like a bad replay of the latter Obama era: A Republican-controlled Congress given the power of the purse by the American people giving away the farm to Democrat demands.But the capitulation is far worse than one may realize. It s not just the lack of new funding for a southern border wall; this omnibus, which funds countless liberal priorities, prohibits existing funds from being used on any sort of border wall as well.According to a Congressional Research Service report from January, the Department of Homeland Security could have taken non-obligated funds and used them to put structures along areas of the border already spelled out in the Secure Fence Act of 2006 mandating a double-layered fence. Indeed, nothing in current law would appear to bar DHS from installing hundreds of miles of additional physical barriers, it contends, at least so long as this action was determined appropriate to deter illegal crossings in areas of high illegal entry or was deemed warranted to achieve operational control of the southern border. It s important to remember that the requirement to construct no less than 700 miles of border fencing (originally 850 miles) has been the law on the books for over a decade. Obama used waiver authority and very loose discretion (thanks to the weakening of the law in 2008) to skirt the requirement.Now that Trump wants to fulfill the existing mandate, Congress really has a moral obligation to honor the existing statutory authorization with sufficient appropriations. This is not some Trump boondoggle; this is a law passed with major bipartisan support in 2006.What the current proposal does is not only not fund a border wall, but it s so specifically worded as to prohibit any of the currently allocated funds from going to construction on the project. The bill actually rescinds $21 million in unobligated funds for border fencing.This means that even previous resources cannot be used on new construction as well, thereby tying the administration s hands and essentially weakening current law. Without this language, Trump could theoretically begin entering into contracts so that by the time the September funding bill is signed, he can hit the ground running with new funding (not that he will fight then, either). So, rather than take what money exists and use that to start negotiating contracts, run studies, and do whatever else is conceivable on physical border security between now and when Congress revisits this never-ending budget circus in September, nothing except for maintenance on the current, insufficient structure will be permitted.Meanwhile, the current budget retains provisions either providing funds specifically for, or predicating them upon, border security in countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Libya, Ethiopia, and other countries affected by extremism. That is not to say that the security of these borders against the likes of jihadists aren t our concern, or that these provisions ought not to exist. Assisting in physically stopping the flow of terrorist arms and personnel across borders is but one basic tool to be employed in the global fight against Sharia supremacism. But the juxtaposition of these is telling.A Republican Congress is willing to pass a bill that realizes border security is necessary for countries across the ocean, but will sacrifice not only a symbol of our own sovereignty, but a physical means of protecting it (the only effective way of tackling the policy and political problems with open borders). ",0 US-South Korea military exercises begin: All eyes are on Pyongyang as the US leads maneuvers in the Sea of Japan.,1 "HILLARY CLINTON ‘Insulted’ And ‘Embarrassed’ Ambassadors By Refusing to Follow DecorumA former member of Hillary Clinton s security detail while she was serving as secretary of state said she frequently and blatantly disregarded security and diplomatic protocol during her tenure.An interview with the ex-agent was part of the FBI s newest document release pertaining to the investigation into Clinton s private email server she used while working at the State Department.The source, formerly a member of the State Department s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, explained how the secretary was to ride in an armored limousine with the local U.S. ambassador while traveling abroad, but Clinton refused to do so, the agent said, instead choosing to be accompanied in the limousine by her [deputy] Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin. This frequently resulted in complaints by ambassadors who were insulted and embarrassed by this breach of protocol, the security official told the FBI.Read more: Daily Mail ",0 Mystery of Brit soldiers on Auschwitz list,0 "U.S., China soften tone, say to work together on North KoreaBEIJING (Reuters) - The United States and China will work together to get nuclear-armed North Korea take “a different course”, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday, softening previous criticism of Beijing after talks with his Chinese counterpart. China has been irritated at being repeatedly told by Washington to rein in North Korea’s surging nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, one of a series of hurdles in ties between the world’s two largest economies. But Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the talks with Tillerson as “candid, pragmatic and productive”. The two sides appeared to have made some progress or put aside differences on difficult issues, at least in advance of a planned summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump. On Friday, Tillerson issued the Trump administration’s starkest warning yet to North Korea, saying in Seoul that a military response would be “on the table” if Pyongyang took action to threaten South Korean and U.S. forces. Tillerson took a softer line after the meeting with Wang. He told reporters both China and the United States noted efforts over the last two decades had not succeeded in curbing the threat posed by North Korea’s weapons programmes. “We share a common view and a sense that tensions on the peninsula are quite high right now and that things have reached a rather dangerous level, and we’ve committed ourselves to doing everything we can to prevent any type of conflict from breaking out,” Tillerson said. He said Wang and he agreed to work together to persuade North Korea “make a course correction and move away from the development of their nuclear weapons.” Wang said U.N. resolutions on North Korea both mapped out sanctions and called for efforts to resume efforts for a negotiated settlement. “No matter what happens, we have to stay committed to diplomatic means as a way to seek peaceful settlement,” he said. Wang said he and Tillerson “both hope to find ways to restart the talks”. “Neither of us are ready to give up the hope for peace,” he said. Tillerson had said on Friday that any talks on North Korea could only take place after it began the process of unwinding its weapons programmes. A U.S. official had told Reuters in Washington earlier this week that Tillerson may raise the prospect of imposing “secondary sanctions” on Chinese banks and other firms doing business with North Korea in defiance of U.N. sanctions. Trump said in a tweet on Friday that North Korea was “behaving very badly” and accused China, Pyongyang’s neighbour and only major ally, of doing little to resolve the crisis. XI-TRUMP SUMMIT However, the two sides appear to have toned down differences as they work on finalising a trip by Xi to the United States, possibly next month, for his first summit with Trump. Wang said the two countries were in “close communication” on arranging the meeting, but gave no details. The state-run Chinese tabloid the Global Times said on Saturday that it was in China’s interests to stop North Korea’s nuclear ambitions but to suggest China cut the country off completely was ridiculous as it would be fraught with danger. “Once there is chaos in North Korea, it would first bring disaster to China. I’m sorry, but the United States and South Korea don’t have the right to demand this of China,” it said in an editorial. A former oil executive with no prior diplomatic experience, Tillerson will meet Xi on Sunday. North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches since the beginning of last year. Last week, it launched four more ballistic missiles and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States. Washington has been pressing Beijing to do more to stop North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes. China has called for a dual track approach, urging North Korea to suspend its tests and the United States and South Korea to suspend military drills, so both sides can return to talks. China has also been infuriated by the deployment of the THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, missile defence system in South Korea, which it says will both harm China’s own security and do nothing to ease tensions. China says the system’s powerful radar will extend into the country’s northeast and potentially track Chinese missile launches, and maybe even intercept them. Russia also opposes THAAD, for the same reasons. There are other tricky issues too, including the self-ruled island of Taiwan which China claims as its own. The Trump administration is crafting a big new arms package for Taiwan that could include advanced rocket systems and anti-ship missiles to defend against China, U.S. officials said, a deal sure to anger Beijing. Wang said Saturday’s talks included discussions on THAAD and Taiwan but did not give details. ",1 Snowden granted 3-yr residence permit,0 U.S. Supersizes Afghan Mega-Base as Withdrawal Date Looms ,1 SOPA-like law to be unveiled in the next 10 days in Ireland,0 "Adidas shoe manufacture returns to Germany, fully automated instead of relying on human labour in Asia",1 "BREAKING NEWS: Man With Laptop On American Airlines Flight To Honolulu Subdued After Attempting To Break Down Cockpit Door [VIDEO]Tick tock. America will now wait until conservative news sources release his motive.UPDATE: The man who attempted to breach the cockpit has been identified as a Turkish man. Flight attendants, an off-duty Los Angeles police officer and other passengers were able to stop the man and secure him in a seat. It was all kind of surreal, said Penny Lorenzen, a passenger on the flight.Her husband was among those who got up to try to stop the man. It took seconds, said Lee Lorenzen, of Orange County, Calif. He was pushing against the cart and a bunch of guys grabbed him. They found some duct tape. There were pillows and blankets. And they taped him to his chair. Hawaii News Now A man was subdued after he tried to breach the cockpit of an American Airlines flight to Honolulu, a source familiar with the situation told ABC News.American Airlines said in a statement that law enforcement met the plane upon landing in Honolulu following a disturbance on the flight. The plane was escorted by two F-22 fighter jets for the duration of the flight following the disturbance, U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement. ABC NewsA source at the TSA told ABC News that the man was waiting for the bathroom near the cockpit when a flight attendant asked him to sit down. He had a laptop with him and appeared to try the cockpit door before he was subdued, the source said.The man, whose identity was not immediately available, was escorted off American Airlines Flight 31, after it landed safely at 11:35 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time, according to a statement from the airline.A government source confirmed that he had been loitering near the restroom and was carrying a laptop. Flight attendants asked him to return to his seat and he refused.He then seemed to lunge towards the cockpit door. That s when several passengers subdued him.He was arrested on the ground by the FBI.The flight, which originated from Los Angeles, was to arrive in Honolulu about noon. The flight departed from Los Angeles International Airport at 8:34 a.m. local time. NBC Los AngelesLATEST: 2 F-22 fighter jets escorted American Airlines Flight 31 to Honolulu Int l Airport due to disturbance on board, Pacific Command says pic.twitter.com/Ee8zTg4PN3 ABC News (@ABC) May 19, 2017",0 Syria: the capital of Syrias revolution surrenders to Assad,1 "Syria's Assad meets once dissident footballers in DamascusBEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met two former dissident footballers who returned to the national team for its World Cup qualifying campaign after years in exile, photographs posted by his office showed on Monday. Syria s football team outdid expectations in its campaign to qualify for the World Cup finals, reaching a play-off against Australia on Oct. 10 that they lost 2-1. The photographs published on the presidency s social media feed showed him apparently in amicable conversation with Firas al-Khatib and Omar al-Soma, players who were both pictured with the Syrian opposition flag early in the conflict. Other photographs showed Assad posing with the whole team and signing a player s jacket. Syria s war, which began with demonstrations against Assad in 2011, has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and left more than half the population homeless. The army has gained momentum over the past two years, with military support from Russia and Iran. The government says its policy is to pardon any Syrians who joined the opposition unless they have blood on their hands . However, many exiles have said they fear arrest if they return. The football team s unexpectedly strong performance in the qualifiers was hailed by many government supporters as a unifying moment for the country. But some opposition supporters identified the team with Assad s government, and declined to back it. ",1 "ROSIE O’DONNELL, BROADWAY STARS Host Concert ‘Celebrating’ Hillary But Bash TrumpThe biggest stars on Broadway are apparently still having trouble coping with Hillary Clinton s loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.Tony and Grammy Award-winners convened Sunday evening for a special concert called Double Standards at the Town Hall Theater in New York City, with the event focused on celebrating Hillary Clinton and women s empowerment, reports InStyle.All proceeds from the concert tickets were donated to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and the Breast Cancer Coalition.The brainchild of actress and singer Laura Bell Bundy, who portrayed the original Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray, the concert was produced through a partnership between Bundy and iS CLINICAL skincare. We have been fighting as women for rights that men are just born with, which is crazy, Bundy told InStyle. We have to stay on top of that, and we have to mobilize, and we can t just go to one march and think it s going to happen. We have to march and benefit and hashtag and call our representatives and get out there and create groups, so this is a part of the Broadway community essentially having a town hall meeting, except when we have a town hall meeting, we sing our faces off, she added. This is how we raise our voices, at Town Hall. In addition to featuring Broadway stars singing spins of famous tunes from classical musicals, the event saw comedian Rosie O Donnell continuing to mourn Clinton s loss as she injected her political viewpoint into the mix:I ve felt bad since last November, I ve been laying in bed for a couple of months. I figured out how to get Entenmann s crumb cake into an IV tube. It wasn t easy, it was miserable, but then you know what happened: Bob Mueller ladies and gentlemen. Bob Mueller I m getting a Bob Mueller tattoo right over my heart as soon as that orange piece of s is in jail.Wow! Rosie is bitter woman seek help!",0 North Carolina has one of the fastest growing populations as well as the fastest growing economy in the country.,1 Are the assassinations of Iranian scientists an act of terrorism?,0 " Big Banks Fleeced The Working Poor Out Of $11.16 Billion In 2015If you are or ever have been a member of the working poor, you have probably been screwed over by your bank. Maybe you were out of gas or milk or needed medicine and you didn t have enough money in your account, but you really, really needed something so you swiped your debit card and were hit with an overdraft fee you are not alone. Millions of Americans are charged these fees, usually about $35 (in my experience). So many people are hit with these fees that they are very profitable for big banks. A new report has found that financial institutions made more than eleven billion dollars from these fees in 2015, alone.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) established by Senator Elizabeth Warren in 2010 issued the report and found that 594 banks (worth more than $1 billion) fleeced the American people out of $11.16 billion last year.Some of the highlights the CFPB reported about overdraft and nonsufficient funds fees:Overdraft fees are one of the most predatory practices of big banks. Many of you have probably been hit by a bunch of overdraft fees at once. Say you go to the store and you buy that gallon of milk, but other transactions haven t cleared in your account yet. That gallon of milk may cause you to incur multiple overdraft fees because the banks use fee-harvesting software that reorganizes your transactions so that they can charge you multiple times.These shady practices are one of the reasons banks are now required to disclose their overdraft fee profits. Elizabeth Warren had a big role in these new rules because of her crusade to save the middle class and the working poor from Wall Street s love of exorbitant consumer fees. In 2012 Warren said: People enroll in overdraft programs to avoid bouncing checks, but too many of them get stuck owing hundreds of dollars in unexpected fees for services they never wanted and didn t know they had, said Warren, one of the nation s experts on bankruptcy and consumer credit. The new consumer agency is heading in the right direction to make sure that people have the tools and information they need to avoid these traps. The establishment of the CFPB has helped, in 2012 banks made three times as much ($32 billion) in fees from customers. But for the working class families who are struggling to survive, it s still not enough. We need real reform and banks because it is a huge problem when Wall Street s business model is rob as many families as we possibly can. Featured image via Flickr",0 """China's President Xi Jinping has assumed a new U.S.-style joint role as commander in chief of the military, state media and analysts said Thursday, signaling the buildup of his authority as the country's most powerful leader in decades.""",0 "A working hospital in central China was demolished by force this morning, doctors and patients inside were nearly buried.",0 Palestinian Astrophysicist in US Recounts How His 11-Year-Old Son Died When Israeli Warplanes Bombed His Familys House,1 (Norway)Planned military activities with Russia suspended,0 "Russia Below The Surface - At last, an unflinching account of corruption in Russia. Drawn from Wikileaks cables, in which diplomats say privately what no reputable source would say publicly. The crooks are the government. And vice-versa",1 Tunisia bloodied: 53 dead in clashes near Libyan border,1 "Trump administration touts plans to reduce regulationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday touted its effort to roll back federal regulations by targeting a range of government rules ranging from a “paperwork burden on outdoor enthusiasts” to plans to regulate oil and gas development on Indian reservations. The White House Office of Management and Budget plans to release a fuller update about its de-regulation plans on Thursday. In a preview released on Wednesday, it said the Department of Interior planned to cut down on paperwork required for using federal lands by people who enjoy the outdoors, “sport fish restoration programs,” and Native American tribes. It also said the Environmental Protection Agency would stop pursuing a “costly and premature” plan to regulate oil and gas development in the Uintah and Ouray Indian reservations. ",1 "In the ancient Bahraini village of Aali, where some graves date to 2000 B.C., a mosque had stood for more than 400 years - one of the handsomest Shiite Muslim mosques in this small island nation. Today, only bulldozer tracks remain",1 Thailands Military Government Thinks John Oliver Is a Threat to Its Monarchy,0 Brazil Built The World's Second-Most Expensive Soccer Stadium In A City With No Pro Team,1 "Saudi minister says beheading, lashings 'cannot be changed'",0 "BREAKING AUDIO RELEASED: Paul Ryan Caught On Tape: “I am not going to defend Donald Trump…not now, not in the future”On a never-before-released private October conference call with House Republican members, House Speaker Paul Ryan told his members in the U.S. House of Representatives he was abandoning then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump forever and would never defend him ever again. In the Oct. 10, 2016 call, from right after the Access Hollywood tape of Trump was leaked in the weeks leading up to the election, Ryan does not specify that he will never defend Trump on just the Access Hollywood tape he says clearly he is done with Trump altogether. I am not going to defend Donald Trump not now, not in the future, Ryan says in the audio, obtained by Breitbart News and published here for the first time ever.Now, Ryan still the Speaker has pushed now President Donald Trump to believe his healthcare legislation the American Health Care Act would repeal and replace Obamacare when it does not repeal Obamacare. Ryan has also, according to Trump ally Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), misled President Trump into believing that Ryan s bill can pass Congress. Paul and others believe the bill is dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate since a number of GOP senators have come out against it, and there are serious questions about whether it can pass the House. This is the first major initiative that Trump has worked on with Ryan and the fact it is going so poorly calls into question whether Speaker Ryan, the GOP s failed 2012 vice presidential nominee who barely supported Trump at all in 2016, really understands how Trump won and how to win in general.The October conference call apparently was intended only for House Republican members. It s unclear which or how many House Republicans took part in the call, whether the participants knew it was being recorded, who made the recording, or whether a recording exists of the entire call. The remarks on the portion provided to Breitbart News certainly sound like they were coming from Speaker Ryan, who seemed to be abandoning his party s presidential nominee altogether just weeks before the election. He says not only will he not defend the Access Hollywood comments, but he will not campaign with Trump at all between this call on Oct. 10, 2016, and the general election for the presidency on Nov. 8 and that Ryan would not defend Trump on anything generally. For entire story- Matthew Boyle, Breitbart NewsLISTEN:",0 "White House calls Senate override of veto of September 11 bill 'embarrassing'ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday slammed the Senate’s nearly unanimous vote to reject President Barack Obama’s veto of legislation allowing relatives of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to sue Saudi Arabia’s government. “This is the single most embarrassing thing this United States’ Senate has done possibly since 1983,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing, referring to the last time when the chamber so overwhelmingly overrode a president’s veto. Earnest said some lawmakers had only recently been informed about potential drawbacks to approving the legislation. “For those senators to then move forward in overriding the president’s veto that would prevent those negative consequences is an abdication of their basic responsibilities as elected representatives of the American people,” he said. ",1 " Russia Sends Another Naval Ship to Syria - No reason given, but Russian diplomats say Moscow is preparing to evacuate thousands of Russians from Syria if necessary.",1 "WATCH: TREY GOWDY FURIOUS OVER LAWLESS Loretta Lynch During Clinton Email Hearing: “It was a total WASTE of time…The facts are embarrassing for her presidential candidate [Hillary]”The lawless and in-your-face behavior that this President and his regime have been able to get away with is simply breathtaking She [Lynch] could have answered every one of those questions, she just chose not to. It s really not that complicated. You take the facts as Director Comey gave em to us, and as he found, and you apply the law, which it s public and everybody knows what it is. But the facts are embarrassing for her presidential candidate. So, discussing the facts necessarily leads to more questions like, Well, if you had all those good facts, why didn t you indict her?' ",0 "Climate to inspire exodus from Middle East, North Africa in coming decades.Temperature and sea level aren't the only things expected to rise as a result of climate change. As heat becomes more extreme in some parts of the world, scientists expect a significant rise in the number of climate refugees.",0 "FOUL-MOUTHED MODEL Chrissy Teigen Blames President Trump For Mental And Physical Breakdown…Makes Hilarious Demands Of Him [VIDEO]The 31-year old model, new mother and wife of Trump- hater, singer John Legend has been trashing President Trump on Twitter for quite some time. She reached a new low yesterday when she blamed him for her mental state and suggested he should be held financially responsible for her looks falling apart so fucking tired of this manically insane, incompetent president and this dumpster fire administration I'm gonna have to go on another med christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017that is not a joke. I think I need to either up my dosage or talk to my doctor to ""see what works for me"" when the world explodes. christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017Teigen blames Trump for having a tooth shaved down due to grinding of her teeth. Today I had a tooth shaved down because crippling anxiety makes me grind and rock my teeth on one side. I blame trump. christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017Who knew Hollywood Trump haters would suddenly need Botox injected into their faces because of Trump. The best part is that Teigen not only blames Trump for Botox injections, but would also like him to pay for them.I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017Watch Chrissy Teigen and her husband singer John Legend trash Donald Trump and brag about how long she s hated him:",0 "Pope Franciss enemies inside the church leaked false story that he had a brain tumour, enraged Vatican says",1 "Russia's Lavrov says U.S. anti-missile shield worries Russia, ChinaMOSCOW (Reuters) - The anti-missile shield being built by Washington on foreign soil is a key problem for Russia and China, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. Addressing an international non-proliferation conference in Moscow, Lavrov also said the U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in Europe should be returned to U.S. territory. ",1 """To the world's military leaders, the debate over climate change is long over. They are preparing for a new kind of Cold War in the Arctic, anticipating that rising temperatures there will open up a treasure trove of resources, long-dreamed-of sea lanes and a slew of potential conflicts.""",1 "U.S. will work with Britain, EU for a smooth transition post-Brexit: BlinkenWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will work closely and carefully with Britain and the European Union to ensure a smooth transition after Britain voted to leave the European Union, the State Department’s No. 2 official said on Friday. “We will work very closely, carefully with both the UK and with the EU to do what we can to make sure the process ... goes smoothly as possible,” Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a conference in Washington. “It will not affect the special relationship with Britain.” ",1 Elvis Costello and Santana cancel show in Israel supporting an academic and cultural boycott to protest its occupation of Palestinian territory,0 "George Monbiot: ""Copenhagen was not about saving the biosphere: it was just a matter of saving face. A clearer and less destructive treaty than the text that emerged would be a sheaf of blank paper, which every negotiating party solemnly sits down to sign.""",0 "Hospitals regularly save money by ""medical repatriation"" of undocumented workers, whereby an unconscious patient is flown to their home country without their consent.",1 "Saudi King to visit Russia: RIA cites KremlinMOSCOW (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s King Salman bin Abdulaziz is expected to visit Russia, the RIA news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Thursday. The agency earlier cited a source saying the Saudi King s trip to Russia is planned for Oct 4-7. ",1 "MINNESOTA: MOB OF SOMALIS RAGE Through Upscale Neighborhood Threatening To “Kidnap” And “Rape” Homeowners [VIDEO]Of course, you won t see this story on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC or any of the other liberal news stations. Because gangs of Muslim refugees threatening innocent people inside their homes isn t news, but House Democrat losers staying up all night and noshing on take-out in phony gun-control publicity stunt was on the news 24-7.A mob of up to 30 young Somali men paraded through one of Minneapolis more upscale neighborhoods last week, yelling disparaging comments and threats against homeowners.A female resident of the neighborhood, obviously shaken in a TV interview, related how she was screamed at by a Somali man who threatened to kidnap and rape her. They were screaming at the house that they were going to kidnap you and they were going to rape you, one Minneapolis resident told KSTP TV. It was a very traumatizing experience. Somalis living in Minneapolis are almost all Sunni Muslims, and residents of the Lake Calhoun area say this isn t the first time a group of Somali men has made an intimidating march through their neighborhood, which is filled with million-dollar homes.No hate-crime charges are apparently being considered by either the Minnesota authorities or the Obama Justice Department headed by Loretta Lynch.Police were called to the scene on June 28 about 9:30 a.m. and are investigating the incident as a potential case of terroristic threats. No arrests have been made, and the Minneapolis media appear to be largely uninterested in reporting on the mob threats.According to a Minneapolis police report, between 20 and 30 young Somali men showed up in front of a woman s house about 9:30 in the morning and started shouting insults. The comments turned to threats, the report said.Watch local TV report of horrific threats made by a mob of young Somali men in Minneapolis:Via: WND",0 A complete ban on digitally distributed pornography is being considered by the South African government.,0 "After Nevada, Sanders faces struggle to broaden appealWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bernie Sanders’ high-flying Democratic presidential campaign fell back to Earth on Saturday in Nevada. If the Vermont senator cannot quickly find a way to broaden his appeal to minorities and union members, last week’s 22-point rout of Clinton in New Hampshire could prove to be his campaign highlight. The race moves next week to South Carolina, where blacks make up more than half of the Democratic electorate, and on March 1 to a string of southern states with big blocs of African-Americans, who strongly support Clinton and have been slow to warm to Sanders. The rush of March contests in big, diverse states — Democrats in nearly two dozen states will vote between March 1 and March 15 — could leave Sanders grasping for political life. “This was a bad day for Sanders,” said David Woodard, a political scientist at Clemson University in South Carolina. “He needs to find a way to cut into Clinton’s base, and I don’t think he is going to find it here.” Although Clinton’s 5-point win was relatively narrow, it was enough to blunt Sanders’ momentum. Recent voter surveys had shown a tight race in Nevada, raising the prospect of another damaging setback for Clinton. Entrance polls in Nevada showed Clinton trounced Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, by 3-to-1 among black voters, and also beat him in union households by 11 percentage points. The enthusiasm of younger and liberal voters who rallied around Sanders’ calls for reining in Wall Street and reducing income equality was not enough in Nevada to counter Clinton’s union and organizational clout, allowing her to reclaim front-runner status as the race shifts to more friendly turf. After the New Hampshire setback, Clinton’s campaign was banking that Sanders would be unable to breach a so-called “firewall” of Hispanic and African-American support for the former Secretary of State in southern and western states. Nevada’s result appeared to support that view. “He’s running a strong campaign, but being close is overrated if you can’t make the sale,” said Mo Elleithee, a Clinton aide in her 2008 campaign and now the executive director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. The Sanders campaign said it was heartened in Nevada by entrance polls showing he beat Clinton among Hispanics by about eight points. “What we learned today is Hillary Clinton’s firewall with Latino voters is a myth,” Arturo Carmona, deputy political director for Bernie 2016, said in a statement. But the Clinton campaign questioned those numbers, saying that at one point she had won 60 percent of the delegates in 22 Latino-majority precincts. Clinton’s convincing showing in Nevada could reduce the chances of a late run by an independent candidate such as former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who would likely scoop up moderate voters turned off by a socialist nominee. In a sense, Sanders was a victim in Nevada of his own success. His ability to close the gap on Clinton in Iowa and rout her in New Hampshire, nearly all-white states, raised expectations that he could ride to another upset in Nevada. “Nevada put out the Bern,” said Ken Tietjen, a Clinton supporter who stood outside her Las Vegas victory rally at Caesar’s Palace. “Hillary has all the momentum going forward.” But Sanders’ strong showings in the first three contests, along with his formidable fundraising, suggest staying power. That could help extend the Democratic race beyond the cluster of early March contests and into April and May, when a string of contests in whiter and more liberal states could help him. Sanders has money for the long haul, although Clinton had more on hand at the end of January. Federal election reports filed as the Nevada results were announced showed Sanders had raised $21.3 million in January and had $14.7 million on hand. In January, Hillary raised $13.2 million from individual donors and had $32.9 million on hand. Some black voters said on Saturday they did not see a reason to switch their loyalty away from Clinton, a fondness that dates back to her husband Bill Clinton’s presidency but which was strained by her bitter primary battle with Barack Obama in 2008. Asked who he was backing, Thomas Anderson, an African-American in Columbia, South Carolina, said on Saturday: “Hillary, of course.” “She’s got more experience. She knows what the country needs,” he said, adding “Bernie’s a cool guy. I’m down with Bernie too.” Clinton’s embrace of Obama’s presidential legacy, and her argument that Sanders would begin to unravel some of Obama’s policies on healthcare and other issues, also has made an impression. Darien Gambrell, 23, said she heard Clinton planned to continue a number of Obama’s policies. “I think that’s a good thing. I liked some of his ideas, even the ones that didn’t seem to work at first,” she said, adding she would not want a candidate who would reverse Obama’s work. (Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez and Jane Ross in Nevada, Emily Flitter and Steve Holland in South Carolina, Michelle Conlin in New York, Amanda Becker in Washington; Editing by Stuart Grudgings) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 India Sets Aside $1.6 Billion Fund For Startups,1 "Russian Submarine Fire Last Year Almost Resulted In Nuclear 'Catastrophe' - Vlaast magazine has a story, unfortunately not online, that says that the ship was at the time carrying 16 missiles, each full of fuel, with 4 nuclear warheads on each missile.",0 " CNN Found The Perfect Way To Troll Trump’s Live Announcement Today (IMAGE)Donald Trump may have been guilty in intentionally scheduled his first overseas trip to temporarily escape his Russia scandal just as things started really heating up. Unfortunately for Trump, now that he is back in the States, the investigation is once again catching up to him.One thing Trump will regret during this whole Russia investigation is his volatile, tense relationship with the press. Thanks to his own abrasive personality, Trump has made many enemies with major networks, one of the main ones being CNN. Earlier today, CNN sent a pretty direct message to Trump, one that should scare him for the remainder of the investigation.While CNN was covering Trump s live White House event, where the POTUS was speaking about the Air Traffic Control Reform Initiative , CNN found the perfect opportunity to troll Trump. Using an on-air chyron, CNN promoted the explosive testimony of former FBI Director James Comey, which is only three days away. This graphic appeared throughout Trump s announcement, as a reminder that Trump s troubles are just beginning. You can see the chyron below:CNN likely had a ball thinking of ways the network could troll Trump before settling on this. The Comey investigation was a perfect choice, though without a doubt, Trump is practically sh*tting his pants over this, judging by the pattern of erratic tweets that have recently been sent out, as they always are whenever poor Donnie is stressed out about something.It won t be long before Trump finds out what CNN did during his event and lashes out in response. But no matter how much he attacks CNN and the media as a whole, it won t help him in the Russia investigation, or make Comey s testimony go away. Trump will finally have to face the music, and most of us cannot wait.Featured image via Mark Wilson / Getty Images",0 "MEDIA IGNORES TRUMP’S FIRST Record-Breaking Christmas Season…Retail Sales Of $600 BILLION: “This is literally the best season since before the recession”The Stock Market is setting record after record and unemployment is at a 17 year low. So many things accomplished by the Trump Administration, perhaps more than any other President in first year. Sadly, will never be reported correctly by the Fake News Media! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017CBS News reported on the retailer s record-breaking holiday season without ever mentioning President Trump:Total retail sales this holiday season added up to a record $598 billion dollars up $33 billion from last year.Not surprisingly, the AP also failed to mention President Trump: Experts have issued rosy forecasts for the season. Shoppers seemed to be in the mood with unemployment at a 17-year low and consumer sentiment at its highest level since 2000. Shoppers have been spending at a pace not seen since the Great Recession, says Craig Johnson, president of retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners. The Wall Street Journal reported sales were up for retailers like Macy s and Wal-Mart. The Wall Street Journal even mentioned that spending was up in all income categories, as shoppers were encouraged by rising wages and low unemployment, but failed to attribute any of the retailer s success to President mention Trump:Retailers are enjoying some extra Christmas cheer.Fueled by high consumer confidence and a robust job market, U.S. retail sales in the holiday period rose at their best pace since 2011, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending.Sales, excluding automobiles, rose 4.9% from Nov. 1 through Christmas, compared with a 3.7% gain in the same period last year, according to the Mastercard Inc. unit, which tracks all forms of payment. E-commerce continued to drive the gains, rising 18.1%. Overall, this year was a big win for retail, Ms. Quinlan said.That newfound buoyancy is a relief to retailers from department-store giants like Macy s Inc. to mall favorites like Gap Inc. that struggled through a difficult year of store closures, declining foot traffic and bankruptcies by chains including the Sports Authority, Toys R Us and Payless Shoes.Investors, who have abandoned many retail stocks even as the broader stock market surged, have started to return. Shares of Macy s and Gap, for example, have jumped 24% and 18%, respectively, in the past month, compared with a 3% gain in the S&P 500. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has rallied 40% on the year and, like online nemesis Amazon.com Inc., is trading near all-time highs. Unlike in past years, when spending was driven by high-income shoppers, this holiday season a broader swath of the population opened their wallets, encouraged by rising wages and low unemployment, analysts and economists said. Fewer people are living paycheck to paycheck, said Chris Christopher, executive director of economic-research firm IHS Markit. There is a lot more spending from the lower- and middle-income groups, while the upper-income groups are splurging. Fox Business News reported the amazing Christmas season sales, but neglected to mention President Trump s positive effect on the economy:Retailers are finally enjoying some Christmas cheer.Fueled by high consumer confidence and a robust job market, U.S. retail sales in the holiday period rose at their best pace since 2011, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending.Sales, excluding automobiles, rose 4.9% from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve, compared with a 3.7% gain in the same period last year, according to the Mastercard Inc. unit, which tracks all forms of payment. E-commerce continued to drive the gains, rising 18.1%. It started with a bang in the week leading up to Black Friday, said Sarah Quinlan, a senior vice president of marketing insights at Mastercard. She added that retailers benefited this year from Christmas Day falling on a Monday, giving shoppers a full weekend to scoop up last-minute purchases. Dec. 23 ranked next to Black Friday in terms of spending, according to Mastercard.Via: Gateway Pundit",0 North Korea's nuclear chief arrested for 'passing secrets to a foreign power',1 "The death toll from a suspected air strike on a wedding party in Yemen on Monday has risen to at least 131, the United Nations and local medics say.",1 "Cambodia's opposition gives up posts after banPHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Elected officials of Cambodia s banned opposition party have begun handing over their duties after a court ordered the party dissolved, the government said on Monday. The Supreme Court outlawed the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) last week at the request of authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen s government in a move that prompted the United States to cut election funding and threaten more punitive steps. The party was banned after its leader, Kem Sokha, was arrested for alleged treason. The government says he sought to take power with American help. He rejects that allegation as politically motivated, to allow Hun Sen to extend his more than three decades in power in next year s general election. Among those told to give up their positions were councillors elected to communes in June, when the CNRP gained control of 40 percent of local councils, showing the electoral threat it posed to Hun Sen. The implementation has been going smoothly, the Interior Ministry s spokesman, Khieu Sopheak, told Reuters on Monday, adding that he did not know how long handover completion would take. The ruling Cambodian People s Party (CPP) will take over nearly all of the communes won by the opposition. The CNRP s 55 seats in the 123-member parliament will be shared among six minor parties, the National Election Committee (NEC) said. It had been unable to contact one of the parties entitled to a seat because its headquarters was shut, it added. Three NEC members submitted a letter of resignation from the electoral body in protest at their party s dissolution, saying the redistribution of seats to other parties was unconstitutional and against voters will . The court has also banned 118 CNRP party members from politics for five years. Mu Sochua, a senior CNRP member who moved abroad shortly before the ban, said party officials met over the weekend outside Cambodia to put together an action plan for the immediate future. We reject the decision of the court, she said, adding that Kem Sokha remained president and the party s former leader, Sam Rainsy, had rejoined it. Sam Rainsy had resigned in February, saying he feared the party would be banned if he did not, because of defamation convictions that he calls politically motivated and which pushed him to flee Cambodia in 2015. Across Cambodia, police took down CNRP signs outside party offices and on the streets. The interior ministry spokesman said the CNRP had helped by taking down its Phnom Penh headquarters sign itself. Rejecting the criticism from the United States over the dissolution of the opposition party and a crackdown on local rights groups and independent media, Hun Sen said on Sunday that Washington should cut off all aid for Cambodia. ",1 "RADICAL NYC MAYOR Skips NYPD Swearing In Ceremony To Join Violent G-20 Protesters In Germany…GOP Mayoral Candidate Slams Him On Social MediaMayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday skipped an NYPD swearing-in ceremony made somber by this week s assassination of a cop then hours later revealed he was busy preparing to jet off on a surprise trip to join leftist protesters at the G-20 summit in Germany.Hizzoner s overseas jaunt was kept under wraps until just 90 minutes before he took off from Newark Airport. A last-minute announcement said he will attend several events surrounding the G-20 Summit, including Saturday s Hamburg Zeigt Haltung rally. De Blasio will be the keynote speaker, organizers of the demonstration Hamburg Shows Attitude tweeted. The mayor also made sure the free trip will include a visit with his son, Dante, a Yale University student who s spending the summer on an internship in Berlin, a City Hall spokesman said.Presumptive Republican challenger Nicole Malliotakis accused de Blasio of abandoning pressing issues in the Big Apple to pursue his progressive agenda in Europe. Unbelievable. Instead of jet-setting around the world, he should be here doing his job, said the Staten Island assemblywoman. A police officer was murdered, street homelessness has skyrocketed and people continue to get delayed on the trains. Malliotakis who later tweeted a doctored image showing de Blasio in an Alpine hat and lederhosen, grinning behind a plate of bratwurst, wienerschnitzel and Pilsner glasses also blasted him for blowing off the NYPD ceremony at the Police Academy in Queens.Malliotakis jabs de Blasio with Photoshopped tweet over Germany trip https://t.co/DtTRaAQBXD via @nypmetro carl campanile (@ccampy) July 7, 2017 The mayor should be embarrassed by the way he has treated the men and women of our police department, she said.He is off gallivanting & I'm here pointing out problems w/ garbage collection, the most basic of city services https://t.co/yW4MZ02u3O Nicole Malliotakis (@NMalliotakis) July 7, 2017New Jersey Transit tweeted about a schedule change after a train was derailed yesterday while entering Penn Station in NYC, causing delays in transit for commuters:All Midtown DIRECT trains are being diverted into Hoboken Terminal. NJT is cross-honoring w/ PATH, & NJ TRANSIT & Private bus carriers. NJ TRANSIT (@NJTRANSIT) July 7, 2017GOP Mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis retweeted NJ Transit s message to keep New Yorker s apprised of the change, in the absence of the protesting NYC Mayor DeBlasio:I'm retweeting this to keep #NYC residents informed since our mayor is in Germany where it is 4:57a.m. https://t.co/qV1nXSGHHM Nicole Malliotakis (@NMalliotakis) July 7, 2017I m so old, I remember when mayors stayed in their city to do their job rather than try to make themselves ideological symbols. https://t.co/deDbXzWU3g John Avlon (@JohnAvlon) July 7, 2017The head of the NYPD sergeants union also attacked de Blasio. As the city mourns, its leader flees, Ed Mullins said. And then he wonders why he has a problem with the police. A real leader stays with the city in this time of hardship. NYP",0 Indian Police Silence Survivors Of Mass Rape - Women were dragged out of their vehicles and allegedly raped in fields near National Highway,1 "BOILER ROOM – EP #47 – Establishment Hitmen & Media HacksTune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6 PM PST | 9 PM EST every Wednesday. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Daniel Spaulding of Soul of the East, Andy Nowicki from Alt Right Blogspot, Patrick Henningsen of 21stcenturywire & ACR/21Wire contributor Randy J. In this broadcast listeners will be hearing us go around the BOILER ROOM on the typically unexpected variations of conversation including what we ve deemed Pre-Trump-Matic Stress Disorder, voting machine and facial hacking, Hollywood celebs who think Trump is Hitler, Beck getting away with threats of multiple stab wounds, the Orwellian use of the term establishment, our analysis of mainstream media behaving as disinformation operatives, Syria, Yemen, Libya and the Boiler Room break-down on the new bombshell video showing the LaVoy Finicum assassination in Oregon. Is the Federal narrative of Tinicum s death up against the ropes?! If you want to participate, bring something interesting to throw into the boiler Join us in the ALTERNATE CURRENT RADIO chat room.BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE RECORDING IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY! ",0 "Factbox: Critics lament Trump climate move, supporters seek new deal(Reuters) - World leaders, Democratic members of Congress and others deplored U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision on Thursday to pull out of the Paris climate accord, while supporters said the United States needed a more advantageous deal. Following are reactions to Trump’s announcement: “We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies.” - Joint statement from Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron “The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack. But even in the absence of American leadership, even as this administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future, I’m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got.” - Former U.S. President Barack Obama, who was in office when the accord took effect in November, in a statement “I tell you firmly tonight: We will not renegotiate a less ambitious accord. There is no way. ... Tonight the United States has turned its back on the world, but France will not turn its back on Americans. ... Wherever we live, wherever we are we all share the same responsibility - make our planet great again.” - Macron in an address with a variation on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan “That deal imposes little responsibility on the world’s largest emitters, while costing the U.S. economy $3 trillion in reduced output, 6 million industrial jobs and 3 million manufacturing jobs. That amount of economic carnage is unjustified and so we welcome this long overdue action in defense of the American people.” - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a statement “Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.” - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, who had been on a White House advisory council, in a tweet “As a matter of principle, I’ve resigned from the President’s Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal.” - Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger on Twitter “Trump is betraying the country, in the service of Breitbart fake news, the shameless fossil fuel industry, and the Koch brothers’ climate denial operation. It’s sad.” - Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Environment Committee, in a statement “As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future ... Fact: Hillary Clinton received 80% of the vote in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh stands with the world & will follow Paris Agreement.” - Tweet from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto in response to Trump saying: “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” “This was not a good deal for the United States. As the president said, we’ve been one of the leaders in reducing carbon, we’ve been reducing our emissions, we’ve been one of the best countries for the environment, and the president is committed to renegotiating the deal but a deal that’s fair for us.” - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in a Fox News interview “Removing the United States from the Paris Agreement is a reckless and indefensible action. It undermines America’s standing in the world and threatens to damage humanity’s ability to solve the climate crisis in time. But make no mistake: if President Trump won’t lead, the American people will.” - Al Gore, former U.S. vice president turned environmental activist, in a statement “Today’s decision is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.’s leadership position in the world.” - Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in his first post from a Twitter account he started in 2011 “President Trump acted in America’s best interest, moving away from a flawed agreement ... and opening the door to a new agreement that reaches the right balance. America will remain a leader in environmental protection. But we will not jeopardize our economy in order to please other counties that don’t come anywhere near our environmental standards.” - Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in a statement “The White House’s reckless decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement has devastating repercussions not only for the United States but for our planet. The administration is abdicating its leadership and taking a backseat to other countries in the global fight against climate change.” - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in a statement joining California Governor Jerry Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee in announcing the formation of an alliance of states committed to upholding the Paris agreement “This great leap backward is another bow to anti-science know-nothingism. Pandering to a handful of billionaires and special interests would impose huge harm upon our generation, upon future generations, and upon our fragile planet.” - Statement from Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy “President Trump’s decision to withdraw from #ParisAgreement is a catastrophic mistake. We don’t have time to bury our heads in the sand. @POTUS is putting his friends in the fossil fuel industry ahead of the safety and security of American people and the future of our planet.” - Democratic Senator Al Franken in a tweet “We are deeply disappointed that the United States federal government has decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement ... While the U.S. decision is disheartening, we remain inspired by the growing momentum around the world to combat climate change and transition to clean growth economies.” - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a statement “Without question, America is a nation committed to environmental leadership ... But the Paris Climate Accord is another bad deal negotiated by the Obama administration and America should applaud President Trump’s decision to exit.” - Energy mogul-financier T. Boone Pickens “Though flawed, the climate accord can be fixed ... It’s now up to the administration to deliver a better deal.” - Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce in a statement “This is the day when the United States did a lot to forfeit its claim to be a leader among nations. ... We’re going to be poorer because we took this step. ... I never thought I would say these words but the president of the United States is a clear and present danger to an orderly global system.” - Lawrence Summers, former Obama economic adviser and World Bank official, in CNN interview “This decision is an immoral assault on the public health, safety and security of everyone on this planet ... I am committing to honor the goals of the Paris agreement with an executive order in the coming days, so our city can remain a home for generations to come.” - Statement from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio “Disappointed with today’s decision on the Paris Agreement. Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government.” - General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt on Twitter ",1 Germany introduces health care services catering specifically to aging homosexuals,1 More Children in Greece Start to Go Hungry,0 "JUSTICE? Yahoo Settles E-mail Privacy Class-action: $4M for Lawyers, $0 for Users21st Century Wire says It s a familiar theme. Whenever there is a dispute or a change of law, and two tribes go to war, there is normally only one real winner after the tribulation the lawyers. Ars TechnicaIn late 2013, Yahoo was hit with six lawsuits over its practice of using automated scans of e-mail to produce targeted ads. The cases, which were consolidated in federal court, all argued that the privacy rights of non-Yahoo users, who did not consent to Yahoo s interception and scanning of their emails, were being violated by a multi-billion dollar company.Now, lawyers representing the plaintiffs are singing a different tune. Last week, they asked US District Judge Lucy Koh to accept a proposed settlement (PDF). Under the proposal, the massive class of non-Yahoo users won t get any payment, but the class lawyers at Girard Gibbs and Kaplan Fox intend to ask for up to $4 million in fees. (The ultimate amount of fees will be up to the judge, but Yahoo has agreed not to oppose any fee request up to $4 million.)While users won t get any payment, Yahoo will change how it handles user e-mails but it isn t the change that the plaintiffs attorneys were originally asking for. Yahoo won t stop scanning e-mails. Instead, the company has agreed to make a technical change to when it scans e-mails. In the settlement (PDF), Yahoo has agreed that e-mail content will be only sent to servers for analysis for advertising purposes after a Yahoo Mail user can access the email in his or her inbox. The settlement deal looks pretty similar to what Yahoo had argued it did in the first place Continue this story at Ars TechnicaREAD MORE NSA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire NSA Files",0 "DEMOCRATS ARE AFRAID That Trump Will Beat Hillary…And Here’s The Proof [VIDEO]Don t let Hillary s cheerleaders in the mainstream media convince you that she can beat Trump. Trump has proven himself to be a formidable opponent and don t forget that Hillary was beaten by an amateur Jr. Senator in 2008. I ve consistently said throughout the analysis of this race that I would not want to run against Donald Trump because I think he s the most dangerous candidate. Give me Ted Cruz, give me John Kasich, give me any of the vanquished they re traditional politicians, easy to beat. And, Ted Cruz, in particular, way outside the mainstream, she said. Donald Trump, when you look from what he said the other day about the gender bill and using the bathrooms, it proves that point because he knows how to appeal to not only Libertarians but to Independents who support that, too. So he will be a very, very tough candidate to face in a general election. I think it will be one of the closest elections we see since 2000. https://youtu.be/ZqtKc1aPiA4",0 "Gaza children set new kite flying world record: 7,202 children fly as many kites to enter Guinness Book of World Records as part of UN-run summer camp",0 "U.S. cities push for local laws to oversee police surveillanceSEATTLE (Reuters) - A number of U.S. cities are introducing proposals to mandate community oversight of police use of digital surveillance technology as evidence mounts that black or poor neighborhoods are being more heavily scrutinized than others, civil rights activists said on Wednesday. The legislative measures are being introduced by lawmakers in 11 cities from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and are backed by a coalition of 17 groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “(We need) to build the legislative power of local communities to prevent high-tech racial profiling and policing from turning our neighborhoods into open-air prisons,” Malkia Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice, told reporters on a conference call during which the proposals were announced on Wednesday. The coalition said the proposals stemmed from the growing use by departments across the country of high-tech equipment or software, some of which was developed for battlefields, to surreptitiously monitor poor or predominately black neighborhoods, Muslims, or the street-level movements of activists within the Black Lives Matter movement. The proposed bills would mandate city council approval of the use and purchase of surveillance equipment, and input and oversight from communities on how it is used. “We want to give municipalities the ability to say ‘no,’” Cyril said. Proposals were introduced on Wednesday in Miami Beach and Pensacola, Florida, and others were expected in the coming weeks in New York City, Milwaukee, Muskegon, Michigan, and other localities, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said. Palo Alto, California, will vote on its proposal later in September, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is introducing legislation in October, the ACLU said. Police departments across the United States are facing intense scrutiny over the use of excessive force especially against black people, accountability and accusations of racial bias. Police officials have said digital surveillance tools are needed for crime prevention and pointed to reduced crime in some areas where they are used. The coalition said blacks have been disproportionately targeted by automatic license plate readers in Oakland, California, closed-circuit television surveillance in Lansing, Michigan, a ‘stingray’ that mimics cell phone towers to track a phone user’s location in Baltimore, Maryland, and social media monitoring software.",1 "Europe, global environment mean Germany needs stable government, Merkel saysBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany needs a stable government as soon as possible in order to respond to proposals for reforming the European Union and to deal with an uncertain global environment, Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference on Monday. Speaking after a meeting of her Christian Democrat (CDU) party s leadership, she said she would hold meetings with the Social Democrats (SPD), leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), who have agreed under pressure to enter coalition talks with Merkel s camp after first refusing to do so. There are European elections in 2019 ... so there is a big expectations that we take positions, she said, referring to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker s and French President Emmanuel Macron s proposals on the future governance of the currency and economic union. She also mentioned conflict in the Middle East, tensions with Russia and relations with the U.S. as factors that meant Germany needed to be capable of acting . ",1 "Germany, France warn citizens in Jerusalem amid planned U.S. recognitionBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is concerned that violent clashes could erupt in the Middle East following reports that U.S. President Donald Trump would recognise Jerusalem as Israel s capital, its Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. France s Foreign Ministry also warned on its website that demonstrations were expected and that its nationals should avoid them and any large crowds in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. In an update of its travel advice for Israel and the Palestinian territories, the German ministry in Berlin said: From December 6, 2017, there may be demonstrations in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Violent clashes can not be ruled out. It advised its travellers in Jerusalem to closely monitor the situation via local media and avoid the affected areas. Senior U.S. officials said on Tuesday that Trump will recognise Jerusalem as Israel s capital on Wednesday and set in motion the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to the city. ",1 Russia and China have vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution referring the Syrian crisis to the International Criminal Court for investigation of possible war crimes.,1 "HOLLYWOOD HYPOCRITES MATT DAMON and RUSSELL CROWE Reportedly Helped Kill NYT’s Story That Could Have Exposed Harvey Weinstein 13 Years AgoThe hypocrisy of the Hollywood elites who would hide the truth about a sexual predator is beyond the pale If I had a bucket list, I d say raising my four girls to be strong, good women would be number one. -Matt Damon, 2010 interviewReally Matt? What about the chance that you allegedly had in 2004 to save untold numbers of women from being victims of the disgusting Hollywood kingpin and billionaire Harvey Weinstein?Though the New York Times has been widely celebrated for its article exposing decades of sexual-harassment accusations against Harvey Weinstein, one journalist claims the paper sat on an earlier article detailing the producer s misconduct. Sharon Waxman, founder of the Wrap, writes that her own investigate reporting, which took her on an international trip to uncover rumors of Weinstein s sexual misconduct, was cut from the Times in 2004 under pressure from several Hollywood elites. Waxman alleges in the Wrap that Matt Damon and Russell Crowe called her directly to dispel the reports she was following about Miramax s Italian head Fabrizio Lombardo, who was allegedly hired to take care of Weinstein s women needs. She says that because of their influence, and interference from Weinstein, whose company was a big advertiser in the Times, the article was edited to remove the more salacious details. Damon and Crowe had previously worked with Weinstein on pictures like Good Will Hunting, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and Cinderella Man.Waxman claims that the gutted story could have exposed Weinstein much earlier. I had people on the record telling me Lombardo knew nothing about film, and others citing evenings he organized with Russian escorts, Waxman said. She also alleges that she tracked down an intern in London who had been paid off in a settlement with Weinstein. I was devastated after traveling to two countries and overcoming immense challenges to confirm at least part of the story that wound up running last week, more than a decade later, she writes. Vulture",0 Grand Ayatollah Issues Decree Calling Muslims to Defend Iraq's Christians,0 Greenpeace took samples from nine well-known tea companies in China. Twelve of the 18 samples contained at pesticides.,0 "A former CIA station chief has been arrested in Panama, and faces extradition to Italy where he has already been sentenced to 9 years in prison for his involvement in the extraordinary rendition of a terror suspect.",0 "In a suburb of Vancouver, anti-war activists are protesting that George W. Bush not be allowed in the city for an upcoming summit, calling him a mass murderer.",1 "Thousands Sing Song Hated by Norway Killer - Facing terror with music, tens of thousands have gathered in squares across Norway to sing a children's song that gunman Anders Breivik claims is being used to brainwash young Norwegians",1 KILLING AMERICAN WORKERS By Replacing With Foreign Workers…Michelle Malkin Speaks To Abbott Lab’s Replaced Workers [Video]The replacement of workers by big corporations is staggering! Michelle Malkin speaks about the Abbott Lab workers laid off for foreign workers. ,0 "BREAKING NEWS: OBAMA’S AG Loretta Lynch Ordered Manafort’s Phone Tapped During Meeting With Russian LawyerIs anyone really shocked that another fake Trump-Russian collusion story points to Obama and his crooked administration?Today, Fusion GPS employee Rinat Akhmetshin today confirmed his attendance at a meeting with Donald Trump Jr, Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner along with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.Accusations have arisen that the meeting was part of a wider setup to achieve a FISA warrant to wiretap phones of the Trump campaign during 2016. President Trump himself has accused the FBI under Loretta Lynch of wiretapping his campaign. Now, a former Trump campaign official reports that Paul Manafort s phone was subject to FISA wiretap during the infamous meeting.If true, this FISA warrant would have been carried out under Loretta Lynch, Attorney General to Barack Obama. Former FBI Director James Comey has testified under oath to instances of collusion between AG Lynch and the Clinton campaign during 2016, as well as obstruction of justice in the Clinton investigation. Yesterday, multiple news agencies and President Trump all stated that Veselnitskaya was granted special permission to enter the US by Attorney General Lynch after her visa had been initially blocked.FISA transcripts of the meeting in June 2016 may have also served the basis of the FBI s investigation into the Trump campaign s ties to Russia, now headed by Bob Mueller.Other senior members of the Trump campaign may have participated in the meeting via conference call. Update: This would have been illegal, as FISA court denied Obama s June 2016 request.For entire story: Jack Posobiac, The Medium",0 "Government costs could rise $2.3 billion without Obamacare payments: studyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government’s costs could increase by $2.3 billion in 2018 if Congress and President Donald Trump decide not to fund Obamacare-related payments to health insurers, according to a study released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The payments amount to about $7 billion in fiscal year 2017 and help cover out-of-pocket medical costs for low-income Americans who purchase insurance on the individual insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare. Trump has threatened to withhold the payments to force Democrats to the negotiating table on a healthcare bill to replace Obamacare. He has also said he will fund the subsidies if Democrats agree to funding for his proposed border wall with Mexico as part of efforts to pass a government funding bill this week and avert a shutdown. Democrats have rejected the conditional offer. If no deal is made, parts of the federal government will shut down at 12:01 am on Saturday. The payments are the subject of a pending Republican lawsuit that was appealed by the Obama administration and put on hold when Trump took office. The government could save $10 billion by revoking the payments, Kaiser said. But insurers that remain in the market would have to hike premiums nearly 20 percent to cover their losses, Kaiser found, so the government would have to spend $12.3 billion on tax credits to help pay for Americans’ premium costs - a net increase of 23 percent on federal spending on marketplace subsidies. The projection assumes that insurers remain in the marketplace next year. Health policy experts have said without the payments, many insurers could not afford to stay in the market and will likely exit, which would leave some U.S. counties without an insurer. Aetna (AET.N), UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N) and Humana (HUM.N) have already exited most state exchanges for 2017 and said they will do so next year as well. ",1 "Abuse victims' fury as Cardinal Sean Brady, head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, refuses to quit for his part in a secret canonical tribunal in 1975 at which two minors were made to swear oaths of silence about their allegations against the paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth",0 "Obama says Trump's comments on women disqualifyingGREENSBORO, N.C. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s comments on a 2005 videotape about groping women would disqualify him from even a job at a convenience store. Speaking at a campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Obama said the choice was clear in the Nov. 8 election even before the tape was leaked last week showing Trump speaking crudely about women. “Now you find a situation in which the guy says stuff that nobody would find tolerable if they were applying for a job at 7-Eleven,” Obama told the crowd, referring to the convenience store chain. Trump said during Sunday night’s presidential debate he was embarrassed by the video, but dismissed it as “locker room talk.” Obama also criticized some Republicans who have condemned the remarks but are still backing the New York businessman. “The fact that now you’ve got people saying: ‘We strongly disagree, we really disapprove ... but we’re still endorsing him.’ They still think he should be president, that doesn’t make sense to me,” Obama said. Earlier on Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the remarks in the recording amounted to sexual assault. Obama also took aim at Trump’s business credentials, referring to a New York Times report that showed he claimed a nearly billion dollar loss in one year on his taxes in the 1990s. “They say the house always wins,” Obama quipped about Trump, who was a casino developer at the time. “I don’t know how that happens.” ",1 "U.S. says Cubans' favorable immigration status to stay in placeWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday that Washington has no plans to change a Cold War-era law granting special immigration benefits to Cubans, despite President Barack Obama’s moves toward normalized relations with the island country. “There continues to be a large migration flow out of Cuba. It reflects the difficult economic and human rights conditions in the country,” Francisco Palmieri, principal deputy assistant secretary in State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, told a Senate subcommittee hearing. “We have no plans to change the Cuban Adjustment Act at this time,” Palmieri said. The Cuban Adjustment Act provides Cubans with benefits granted to migrants from no other country. Once they enter the United States and ask for asylum, virtually all are granted the right to stay, can apply for work permits and, later, green cards, which convey lawful permanent residency. Some U.S. lawmakers have been demanding a fresh look at Cuban immigration policy since the surprise December 2014 announcement from Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro that the two countries would move toward ending decades of estrangement. They argue that most of the Cubans coming to the United States are coming for economic reasons and are not refugees from its Communist government. Fear of an end to their benefits has fueled a surge in departures from Cuba, many via third countries, which has left large groups of Cubans stranded in Central America. Earlier this year, thousands were airlifted from Panama and Costa Rica to northern Mexico, where they crossed the border into the United States. Senator Marco Rubio, the subcommittee chairman, asked Palmieri about reports that Panama might be planning to send more Cuban migrants north. “We have not told them not to do their airlift,” Palmieri said. ",1 "JUST IN: WASHINGTON POST Gets DESTROYED When Reporter Admits Truth About How They Cover President Trump In New Undercover VideosJames O Keefe of Project Veritas has used his incredible talents to go undercover and expose crooked organizations like ACORN and Planned Parenthood. During the 2016 election, O Keefe was able to expose the corrupt underbelly of the Democrat Party who used paid plants to incite violence at Trump rallies. O Keefe was also able to tie Barack Obama directly to their chief organizer. Of course, every major #FakeNews outlet completely ignored these horrific coordinated acts of violence against innocent Americans.Over the past several months, O Keefe has been releasing undercover videos he s used to expose the bias and unprofessional tactics used by news publications like the New York Times and now, the Washington Post.Today, the Washington Post attempted to embarrass O Keefe for allegedly setting a trap for them with a woman posing as a Roy Moore sexual assault accuser.After seeing the woman entering Project Veritas, The Post made the unusual decision to report her previous off-the-record comments. https://t.co/W05qDKlhl8 pic.twitter.com/Q0uJ9iaBoo Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 27, 2017Here s a video the Washington Post released on Twitter, of reporters from WaPo ambushing O Keefe at his Project Veritas office.The @washingtonpost attempts to ambush @Project_Veritas anticipating an imminent video release pic.twitter.com/6UV2tOeiAS James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 27, 2017Many Twitter users wondered if the Washington Post was trying to cover up a bombshell that O Keefe was about to drop on the publication owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos?O Keefe tweeted a response to the Washington Post s videotaped ambush, warning everyone to fasten their seatbelts. Hitting export on hidden camera footage into Washington Post shortly. Project Veritas vs Bezos 100mm monopoly. Fasten your seatbelts. Hitting export on hidden camera footage into Washington Post shortly. Project Veritas vs Bezos 100mm monopoly. Fasten your seatbelts. James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 27, 2017Josh Caplan suggests that WaPo reporters who hounded O Keefe were panicked. Was the ambush on O Keefe by WaPo reporters over his alleged use of a plant disguised as a Roy Moore accuser , simply a way to discredit O Keefe in advance of his expose on them?Panicked Reporters Stalk Project Veritas HQ As Rumors Swirl @JamesOKeefeIII Is Set To Expose Washington Posthttps://t.co/BV66enlqbq Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) November 27, 2017BREAKING: Undercover video inside @washingtonpost shows National Security Correspondent @danlamothe and Director of Product @josephjames discussing WaPo's hidden agenda #AmericanPravda #ProjectVeritas Full: https://t.co/2002erd3ub pic.twitter.com/o4qi8DQyAz James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 27, 2017This video allegedly shows Amazon founder Jeff Bezos direct influence in the Washington Post s newsroom:.@josephjames, who works closely with the Jeff Bezos at the Post, sheds light on Bezos's influence in the newsroom. pic.twitter.com/KJcUSCqO5F James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 28, 2017Washington Post s Dan LaMonthe calls out the New York Times and CNN for their bias in this video:Looks like @DanLamothe is a fan of our #AmericanPravda series. Here he is attacking #CNN and #NYT for their extreme bias against @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/PHv7HPFhkQ @washingtonpost pic.twitter.com/p79fzIOc1T Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) November 28, 2017Here s another Dan LaMonthe video where he explains how the Washington Post works together to take down Trump following his tweets:WATCH: @washingtonpost reporter: ""I can't tell you how many times we get an email at work: 'Oh did you see what (Trump) just tweeted? What are we gonna do about it?"" Full video: https://t.co/2002erd3ub pic.twitter.com/OOOjE3kOx5 James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) November 28, 2017Finally, Grant J. Kidney claims that Project Veritas just vindicated President Trump and his attack on the Amazon Washington Post. Project Veritas just vindicated President Trump in his calling of the Washington Post, the Amazon Washington Post . pic.twitter.com/FNNhNFNaRg GRANT J. KIDNEY (@GrantJKidney) November 28, 2017",0 Greek police caught photoshopping suspects' mugshots after beating them,1 " Hilarious Political Cartoon Mocks Trump PERFECTLY Over His Alleged ‘Sacrifices’Donald Trump has gotten himself in a world of trouble over his slams of Gold Star families, particularly the Khan family. He whined and cried that Khizr Khan, whose son died in Iraq, had attacked him at the DNC and he s just been defending himself, this whole time. He s brought up all the sacrifices he has made, because everything he does is totally the same thing as someone giving their life for their country.What were those sacrifices? They re listed below as part of this David Granlund cartoon that makes all of life in the spotlight very awkward if you re Trump:#NeverTrump #GoldStarFamilyDonald Trump hasn t tweeted in over 2 hours pic.twitter.com/aKkMYtdpst TrumpHasn tTweetedIn (@HeHasntTweeted) August 2, 2016Just to recap, Trump has sacrificed:Let s see the disaster that was his Atlantic City properties is enough evidence to call most of this true. Of course, he doesn t see it that way at all. He s a raving success for his entire life, and his failures are just lies made up by the evil, liberal, mainstream media.Trump University is more evidence of the above because he scammed thousands of students out of thousands of dollars each. He s done all kinds of weaseling about that, but the fact remains that Trump U. was a scam and students were left on the hook for their money and without learning anything useful, like Trump s path to riches and glory.A few days ago, Trump was asked specifically what he gave up for his country that was in any way comparable to a soldier giving up his life. He seriously thinks that he gave up as much as Captain Khan and every other soldier who s ever died, and their families, in creating those thousands of jobs he likes to brag about.He also thinks that donations are this huge sacrifice, and actually said he works very, very hard, bragged about his tremendous success, and talked up the fact that he thinks he s done a lot here. The truth is, General Draft Dodger McSmallhands created all those jobs, built all those structures, and made all those donations to enrich himself. Whatever benefits there were to society are side deals to him.And if people are hurt when his deals go south? Too bad for them, it seems.As for the future of the GOP, well, he s sounded their death knell. They re too cowardly to stand up to him and his gross insults of Gold Star families, and most of America is outraged over both Trump s statements and the GOP s lack of meaningful censure.So those are the sacrifices that Trump has really made oh wait. There are two more. He sacrificed two marriages in order to build his empire. Be still our beating hearts.Featured image by Alex Wong/Getty Images",0 "Since 2000, 7,454 people killed as a result of the Israel-palestine conflict: 6,371 Palestinians and 1,083 Israelis",1 " After Being Handed Yet Another Court Loss, Trump Threatens Revenge In Pure Dictator StyleDonald Trump hates losing. Not because it s a loss to his agenda, or a perceived loss to the American people. Trump hates losing because it hurt his paper thin ego and when he does lose, there s hell to pay (or at least threatened hell to pay). Trump suffered another major loss in court after a 9th Circuit Court judge ruled against his attempt at defundng sanctuary cities. Now, like a true dictator, Trump wants to break up the 9th Circuit.In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Trump said about breaking up the court: Absolutely, I have, Trump said of considering 9th Circuit breakup proposals during a far-ranging interview with the Washington Examiner at the White House. There are many people that want to break up the 9th Circuit. It s outrageous. He then accused liberal plaintiffs of court shopping for a more sympathetic body. Everybody immediately runs to the 9th Circuit. And we have a big country. We have lots of other locations. But they immediately run to the 9th Circuit. Because they know that s like, semi-automatic, Trump said.The 9th Circuit, which covers nine western states and Guam, is based in San Francisco. San Francisco is, of course, one of the sanctuary cities, so plaintiffs didn t have go far to land on their docket.While the 9th has had some liberal rulings:Covering a huge swath of territory nine western states plus Guam the San Francisco-based court handles far more cases than any other federal appeals court, including some rulings that have invoked furor from conservatives over the years. Among them: finding that the phrase under God in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional, that the don t ask, don t tell policy on gays in the military was problematic long before President Barack Obama s administration ended it, and that states can force pharmacies to dispense emergency contraceptives.Source: Mercury NewsThey are far more balanced than right-wingers would let on.But some legal scholars say the 9th Circuit s liberal reputation is overblown and that the court has moved to the middle as some of President Jimmy Carter s appointees who were considered extremely liberal have taken semi-retired senior status or passed away. A Democratic Congress nearly doubled the number of judges on the court during Carter s tenure, and his appointees faced easy confirmation in the Senate.President George W. Bush appointed six of the court s 25 active judges, but 18 have been appointed by Democrats, though the seven appointed by President Barack Obama are generally considered moderate, said University of Richmond Law School Professor Carl Tobias.Still, conservatives, and especially Trump, would like nothing more than to make California even less relevant in national politics (a vote in California is worth less than 1/3 of a vote in Wyoming).The bigger picture behind Trump s threat is far more disturbing. We have three (supposedly) co-equal branches of government. Trump is trying to use his executive powers to shut down any dissenting views, even from another branch. Even if you are a Trump voter, you should find this very disconcerting.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images.",0 "Obama, in shift, says he will keep 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan until 2017WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, calling Afghanistan’s security situation precarious, said on Wednesday he will keep U.S. troop levels there at 8,400 through the end of his administration rather than reducing them to 5,500 by year’s end as previously planned. Obama, in a statement at the White House, said the role of U.S. forces in Afghanistan will remain unchanged: training and advising Afghan police and troops, and supporting counterterrorism missions against the Taliban and other groups. Obama’s presidency ends in January. Obama’s plan still calls for a reduction in U.S. troop levels from the current roughly 9,800, but not as much as previously planned. Obama, who took office in 2009 pledging to wind down the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he had ended America’s combat mission in Afghanistan. But he acknowledged that security concerns persist. “The security situation in Afghanistan remains precarious,” Obama said. “The Taliban remains a threat. They’ve gained ground in some places.” Taliban forces now hold more territory in Afghanistan than at any time since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, according to recent United Nations estimates. The Islamic State group has also established a small presence in Afghanistan. Obama’s decision, which came after a review submitted last month by the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army General John Nicholson, drew some criticism inside and outside his administration. Some Pentagon officials said that it does nothing to address the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. “It’s disappointing that the administration thinks that troop numbers are a substitute for a more comprehensive strategy,” said a U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This is neither the reduction that the White House seems to have wanted nor the current numbers that don’t seem to be sufficient to deal with the security problem.” Mac Thornberry, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, criticized what he said was a new cap on U.S. troop levels. “It is time that the president level with the American people about what it will really take to achieve our goals in Afghanistan, and how much it will cost,” Thornberry said in a statement. Obama spoke in advance of a NATO summit on Friday and Saturday in Warsaw, Poland, where alliance members are expected to confirm their support for the Kabul government. In addition to the U.S. forces, there are about 3,000 other international troops in Afghanistan. U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion launched by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, that toppled the Taliban leaders who harbored the al Qaeda organization responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people. It is America’s longest war. During his announcement at the White House, Obama was flanked by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the top U.S. military officer, General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. ",1 Parliament in Greenland unanimously approves same-sex marriage,1 "BOILER ROOM – EP #48 – Agenda 2030 and Beyond with Branko Malić, Patrick Henningsen & Mike RobinsonTune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6 PM PST | 9 PM EST every Wednesday. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Branko Mali of Kali Tribune, Mike Robinson from UK Column and Patrick Henningsen of 21stcenturywire. In this broadcast listeners will be hearing us go around the BOILER ROOM on the encroaching UN Agenda 2030, the European migrant crisis, the US political climate and a variety of other topics on this special edition of THE BOILER ROOM. If you want to participate, bring something interesting to throw into the boiler Join us in the ALTERNATE CURRENT RADIO chat room.BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY! REFERENCE LINKS:",0 "FOX NEWS Host EXPOSES Jimmy Kimmel HYPOCRISY After His Paid “Goon” Disrupts AL Church Service Where Roy Moore SpokeIf anyone thought the man who s been attacked by the left for most of his adult life, was going to roll over and play dead, as the Democrats and their allies in the entertainment industry come at him with a coordinated character assassination attempt, they were sadly mistaken.Breitbart The U.S. Senate campaign of Judge Roy Moore is firing back at Jimmy Kimmel and his paid trickster Rich Barbieri also known as Jake Byrd for disrupting a worship service at which Moore spoke here on Wednesday night. Jimmy Kimmel and the Hollywood elite cross the line when they invade our Churches under a disguise and attempt to make a mockery of our worship services, Drew Messer, a senior adviser to Moore, told Breitbart News on Thursday morning after the incident at the church on Wednesday night.On Wednesday evening, after the pastor of Magnolia Springs Baptist Church here in Theodore, Alabama, just outside Mobile warned attendees of a worship service at which Moore was speaking multiple times that it was against the law in Alabama to disrupt worship services, Barbieri proceeded to interrupt the worship service during Moore s speech.The pastor had earlier in the evening also warned event-goers against disrupting the worship service, so this constituted his second warning. But that did not stop Barbieri whose character on Kimmel s show is Jake Byrd from disrupting the event and being escorted out by police. Breitbart Watch:Turns out tonight's Roy Moore superfan is a comedian named Tony Barbieri, part of Jimmy Kimmel's gang. pic.twitter.com/ykeGKVDdkS Ben H. Raines (@BenHRaines) November 30, 2017Upon discovering that the man who disrupted the worship service was a paid comedian on the Jimmy Kimmel show, Roy Moore tweeted to the despicable leftist comedian/ activist to come down to Alabama and mock their Christian values face to face ..@jimmykimmel If you want to mock our Christian values, come down here to Alabama and do it man to man. #ALSen https://t.co/E7oQB9D83P Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) November 30, 2017So Little @jimmykimmel sent one of his goons to Alabama to disrupt a church service where Roy Moore was speaking. I doubt Kimmel would ever disrupt a service at a mosque toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) November 30, 2017Roy Moore also responded to the leftist comedian, whose ratings are in the toilet, over his despicable comedian s stunt:Despite D.C. and Hollywood Elites' bigotry towards southerners, Jimmy, we'll save you a seat on the front pew. https://t.co/z7n6uaeyCj Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) November 30, 2017 Was the Kimmel comedian s stunt about embarrassing Roy Moore, or was it more about jumping on the left s Hate Trump s All (or as the left falsely calls it: Love Trumps Hate ) campaign? Based on the most recent ratings of late-night shows, the only thing keeping the higher rated late-night shows on the air is their unabated criticism of President Trump, that s used as fuel to keep their hate-filled, leftist audience fed. Observer While Donald Trump has been a huge boon for late-night TV ratings, one host who isn t enjoying an upswing is Jimmy Fallon. The good-natured nice guy persona Fallon has crafted on NBC s The Tonight Show is great for producing viral videos, but not so great for navigating a politically tumultuous era. As Stephen Colbert s The Late Show and Jimmy Kimmel s Jimmy Kimmel Live have continued to hone in on the Trump administration, and seen viewership rise as a result, Fallon has largely stayed out of the fray and is suffering because of it.According to the New York Times, Fallon has lost 21 percent of his audience year over year since the fall season began on September 25. Since February, Colbert leads late night in total viewers by a wide margin and Kimmel has been gaining ground over the last several months as well. NBC s top brass have combated these trends by noting that Fallon still leads the field in viewers in the advertiser-friendly 18 to 49 demographic, but the New York Times points out that even that gap is closing.Breitbart Fellow senior Moore adviser Brett Doster bashed Kimmel for enabling Hollywood s culture of preying on women as seen by the recent downfalls of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. Last night, Jimmy Kimmel sent one of his goons to disrupt an Alabama worship service as a comedy prop, Doster said in an email to Breitbart News. For years, Kimmel hosted a show that exploited women and encouraged sexual impropriety. He and the rest of the entertainment industry look down their noses at our evangelical values while using their own pulpit to encourage the very behavior purveyed by monsters like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. It remains to be seen whether Kimmel will have the guts to face Moore s team head-on in Alabama, and own up to the actions of his staff. A Kimmel publicist has not responded to Breitbart News when asked via email whether Kimmel or Barbieri would be willing to defend themselves in an interview.",0 "A leading evangelical Christian pastor has been arrested in a Rio suburb for the alleged rape of six women, including three minors, police said",0 " Coolest Mom Ever: Adele Lets Her Son Dress As Anna From ‘Frozen’ At Disneyland (IMAGES)Coming off from her latest record-breaking album and a performance at the GRAMMYs, singer/songwriter extraordinaire Adele decided to take some downtime and enjoy Disneyland with her partner Simon Konecki and son Angelo.Her security detail must have been fierce, and day guided by Disney s wonderful cast members, but as you can see in the picture below, she and her little family seemed to have the time of their lives strolling through the park and clearly buying up a lot of the merchandise.Something else was noticed in the photos, too. Adele s son appears to be enjoying his fun-filled day at the park dressed as Anna from Disney s mega-hit Frozen, complete with dress and ballet flats. It seems as if the singer is allowing her son to completely be himself and choose what he wants to like and enjoy.1. Adele let her son dress up as Anna from Frozen. Amazing. 2. Peter is smiling cuz Disneyland pic.twitter.com/NwWb4BSN8C Marc (@MarcMonster) February 16, 2016This, of course, isn t the first time the superstar made it known that she s supportive of her son no matter what. Back in 2012 she told TIME magazine that she ll always accept him. He makes me so proud of myself, and he makes me like myself so much. I ve never not liked myself. I don t have hangups like that. But I m so proud of myself that I made him in my belly I can t wait to know who his best friends are going to be, who his girlfriend or his boyfriend is going to be or what movies he likes Whatever my kid wants to do or be I will always support him no matter what. And she s clearly holding true to her word.Adele s son Angelo isn t the only little guy who enjoys the amazing fashion of Frozen. Just last fall, another parent made news on Facebook when he posted a picture of his son in his Halloween costume of choice as Elsa. Here s the thing about childhood. It s important to let your kids be kids and have fun, and Adele seems to perfectly be doing just that.Featured image: DailyMail",0 "Spain's King condemns Catalan leaders as thousands take to streetsBARCELONA (Reuters) - Spain s King Felipe VI on Tuesday accused Catalan secessionist leaders of shattering democratic principles and dividing Catalan society, as thousands took to the streets to protest against a violent police crackdown against the banned independence referendum held on Sunday. The televised speech, a rare intervention by the 49-year-old monarch who is normally silent on politics, was a sign of how deeply Spain has been shaken by the Catalan vote and a police crackdown that injured 900 people. On Tuesday tens of thousands of Catalans demonstrated in the streets of the northeastern region against action by the police who tried to disrupt Sunday s vote by firing rubber bullets and charging into crowds with truncheons. Tuesday s protests shut down road traffic, public transport and businesses. The referendum and its aftermath have plunged Spain into its worst constitutional crisis in decades, and are a political test for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a conservative who has taken a hard line stance on the issue. Late Tuesday Catalonia s leader, Carles Puigdemont, told the BBC that the region will declare independence in a matter of days. Pro-independence parties who control the regional government staged Sunday s referendum in defiance of the Constitutional Court, which had ruled that the vote violated Spain s 1978 constitution which states the country is indivisible. Catalonia, Spain s richest region, has its own language and culture and a political movement for secession that has strengthened in recent years. Those who participated in Sunday s ballot voted overwhelmingly for independence, a result that was expected since residents who favor remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the referendum. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has said the result is valid and must be implemented. Outside of Catalonia, Spaniards mostly hold strong views against its independence drive. In his televised address, the king said the irresponsible behavior of the Catalan leaders had undermined social harmony in the region. Today Catalan society is fractured and in conflict, he said. They (the Catalan leaders) have infringed the system of legally approved rules with their decisions, showing an unacceptable disloyalty towards the powers of the state. The king said the crown was strongly committed to the Spanish constitution and to democracy, and underlined his commitment to the unity and permanence of Spain. He had earlier met Rajoy to discuss the situation in Catalonia. Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggested a minority of around 40 percent of residents in the region backed independence. But a majority wanted a referendum to be held, and the violent police crackdown angered Catalans across the divide. I m not in favor of independence, but I m against repression, said Erwin, a 25-year-old pilot at one demonstration, wearing a Spanish flag. One of his companions was wearing the red-and-yellow striped Catalan flag. Several demonstrations unfolded across Catalonia on Tuesday. To the north of Barcelona, a line of tractors moved down a road blocked to traffic, accompanied by protesters chanting Independence! and The streets will always be ours! FC Barcelona, the city s football club, joined the strike, saying it would close for the day and none of its teams would train. Carmaker SEAT (VOWG_p.DE) was forced temporarily to shut a production line when a road closure cut supplies. Crowds gathered outside the local headquarters of Spain s ruling People s Party (PP) and the Spanish national police headquarters in Barcelona, whistling and waving the red-and-yellow regional flag. What happened on Oct. 1 has fired up independence feeling that will never die, said 18-year-old student Monica Ventinc, who attended a protest on Tuesday. On financial markets, Spain s 10-year borrowing costs hit their highest level in nearly three months as tensions between Madrid and Catalonia spilled on to the streets. ",1 Canada's new PM Justin Trudeau appointed the most diverse and gender-equal cabinet in history,0 Morocco to vote on King Mohammed's reforms: Moroccans are preparing to head to the polls to vote on a series of constitutional amendments and reforms.,1 "Britain, EU agree on divorce bill, Northern Ireland, citizens' rights: joint reportBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union have agreed on the three key divorce issues of a financial settlement, citizens rights and how to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Britain leaves the EU, a joint report said. The report did not specify a sum that Britain would owe the EU as a result of its exit from the bloc in 2019, but said: Both Parties have agreed a methodology for the financial settlement. On Northern Ireland, the report said that unless otherwise agreed, Britain would keep laws in Northern Ireland aligned with those of the European Union s internal market and customs union to avoid the need for a border. In the absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement, the report said. ",1 "House Speaker Paul Ryan renominated to top House postWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives nominated Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday for re-election to his post next year, as lawmakers giddy with election success smoothed over their differences and pledged to unite behind Republican President-elect Donald Trump. Ryan, who faced no challengers from Republican ranks, was nominated in a unanimous voice vote in a closed-door meeting of all Republican lawmakers in the House. He will face an election in January, when all members of the new House, both majority Republicans and minority Democrats, vote on a new speaker. While January’s outcome is not guaranteed, Republicans who had been feuding with each other and Trump before the election said Tuesday they thought Ryan was in a solid position to be re-elected speaker now that intra-party tensions have dramatically lessened with the Republican election victory. “Politics is politics, but this is as unified as I’ve ever seen it,” said New York Republican Representative Peter King, who has been in Congress since 1993. Republicans kept their majorities in both the House and Senate in the Nov. 8 elections in which voters elected Trump to the White House over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Ryan, 46, had criticized Trump numerous times during the campaign, which angered some of Trump’s supporters in the Republican caucus. Had Trump lost the election, these Republicans and some conservatives who already had doubts about Ryan might have sought to blame him and block his re-election. But lawmakers said Trump’s election, along with a stronger-than-expected performance at the polls by House Republicans, changed the outlook. “To suggest that President-elect Trump’s victory didn’t weigh as a factor in terms of the speaker’s race would be disingenuous” said Representative Mark Meadows, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus. However, one conservative lawmaker, Representative Raul Labrador, continued to express skepticism about Ryan ahead of Tuesday’s vote, and said he would not consider Tuesday’s outcome binding on his vote in January. “I haven’t heard from him what he wants to change — what’s going to be different the next two years than the last two years?” Labrador asked reporters. Ryan, for his part, said House Republicans would be working “hand in glove” with Trump. “We’re going to do everything we can to help him be as successful as he can,” Ryan told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s vote. Republicans also re-elected three other lawmakers to leadership positions: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, and the chairwoman of the Republican conference, Cathy McMorris Rodgers. ",1 "Spain has opened its airspace to Bolivian president Evo Morales' plane, after it was diverted to Austria amid suspicions Edward Snowden was on board",1 "Austrian Chancellor's party sues Foreign Minister ahead of electionVIENNA (Reuters) - Austria s ruling Social Democratic Party (SPO) is suing Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, the chairman of its junior coalition partner, after he accused Chancellor Christian Kern s party of secretly accepting a 100,000 euro ($119,120) donation. The lawsuit marks a new low in the already strained relationship between the coalition partners, who have engaged in public squabbles for years. Polls for parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 15 show Kurz s conservative People s Party (OVP) ahead of the SPO. The lawsuit relates to an interview shown on public broadcaster ORF on Monday in which Kurz said industrialist Hans-Peter Haselsteiner, a vocal supporter of the pro-business Neos party, donated 100,000 euros to the SPO via opaque channels. The lawsuit filed at Vienna s commercial court on Friday said the SPO s good reputation, economic progress and honor was damaged by Kurz s comments as it implied dishonesty. The SPO wants party donations to be capped at 20,000 euros. With a view to the upcoming parliamentary elections, there is a very concrete danger that the (SPO) will achieve a worse result because of this accusation, the lawsuit, seen by Reuters, said. The SPO said it has not been offered or received any donations from Haselsteiner, who is a key shareholder of construction group Strabag. Haselsteiner denied Kurz s accusations in newspaper Der Standard. The SPO wants Kurz to publicly retract his comments. In an emailed statement, the General Secretary of Kurz s OVP said Haselsteiner had donated money to an association that is critical of the OVP and hence indirectly supports the SPO. She said the SPO should make all its donations public. Kurz s spokesman was not immediately available for comment. ",1 Chinese hackers are stealing our secrets - US Admiral,1 "BREAKING: FINALLY! New Wikileaks Email…”We are going to have to dump all those emails”This latest Wikileaks email is evidence of more than just smoke where Hillary s concerned it places her in the middle of the fire. Will the FBI finally take the appropriate actions and give Hillary the same treatment every other American would receive, if they were caught in a major cover-up and the destruction of evidence while under subpoena? With her hacker-friendly private email servers that appear to have been penetrated by foreign intelligence agencies, Clinton is now in the company of Aaron Burr, Bradley Manning, and Edward Snowden all of whom betrayed the public trust. The failure to hold her accountable is yet more proof that the Clintons are above the law. No matter what they do the legal system always treats them with kid gloves. FrontpageIn today s, 25th, Wikileaks release of hacked Podesta emails, one of the notable highlights is a March 2, 2015 exchange between John Podesta and Clinton aide Cheryl Mills in which the Clinton Campaign Chair says On another matter .and not to sound like Lanny, but we are going to have to dump all those emails. The email, which may indicate intent, was sent just days before the NYT story revealing the existence of Hillary s email server, and Hillary s press conference addressing what was at the time, the stunning revelation that she had a personal email account, and server, in her home.Mills response: Think you just got your new nick name. It is unclear which Lanny is referred to: the infamous former DOJ staffer Lanny Breuer who quit in January 2013 after telling Frontline that some banks are too big to fail, or, more likely Lanny Davis, special counsel to President Bill Clinton, and spokesperson for the President and the White House on matters concerning campaign-finance investigations and other legal issues.Lanny Davis is the former special counsel for the Clinton White House and one of Clinton s most dogged public defenders. He also referred to the former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina as nasty. (So Trump apparently doesn t have the market on that word.) When Clinton s team turned down an April invite from Fox News Sunday to defend her from allegations in Peter Schweitzer s book Clinton Cash, Davis stepped up to the plate, unflinching in his devoted defense of his old boss and his old boss s wife. He also took a co-starring role in the emails from her private server that the State Department has released, regularly offering obsequious praise and imploring her for favors.It is also unclear for now which emails Podesta is referring to in the thread, but Podesta adds: better to do so sooner than later. We can hope that a subsequent response, yet to be leaked by Wikileaks, will provide more color.This is the first time that particular exchange has emerged among the Podesta emails.The fact that Mrs. Clinton destroyed email evidence evidence subject to a congressional subpoena, no less is already evidence in itself that she obstructed justice through spoliation of evidence. Spoliation means you can take as evidence the fact that evidence has been destroyed. Courts are entitled to draw spoliation inferences and convict an accused person on that basis alone.And in a separate email sent out just days later by Clinton campaign communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, we get yet another confirmation that the president actively mislead the public when he said he didn t know Hillary was using a private email address:Suggest Philippe talk to Josh or Eric. They know POTUS and HRC emailed. Josh has been asked about that. Standard practice is not to confirm anything about his email, so his answer to press was that he would not comment/confirm. I recollect that Josh was also asked if POTUS ever noticed her personal email account and he said something like POTUS likely had better things to do than focus on his Cabinet s email addresses.Perhaps while the DOJ/FBI is taking a second look into Huma Abedin s emails, it can also take a repeat look at some of these, especially the ones involving POTUS.Via Zero Hedge",0 World Cup leaves Brazil with bus depots and empty stadiums,1 " Trump Just Threatened To Murder 25 Million People Because Words Offended HimOn Saturday night, Donald Trump once again casually threatened nuclear war against the country of North Korea. The last time he did that, he came back with an arguably weak package of sanctions, which penalized only individuals doing business with the dictatorship. This time, Snowflake Trump was triggered by North Korea s Foreign Minister speaking at the UN.Ri Yong Ho told the assembly that the week s exchange of insults between Trump and his apparent arch-nemesis Kim Jong Un made our rocket s visit to the entire US mainland inevitable all the more, apparently threatening to aim North Korean missiles directly at the United States. The isolated peninsular nation, by all accounts, is years away from developing technology that will actually reach us.Trump fired back:Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017Trump has now added an adjective to his new nickname for Kim, further Trumpifying Rocket Man into what he surely believes is a dagger through the heart of the 33-year-old dictator. They won t be around, of course, includes the 25 million inhabitants of North Korea, as even the smallest of our nuclear weapons would cause inconceivable damage to the geographically insignificant country.Trump is undoubtedly attempting to deflect some attention away from his weekend misadventures in Alabama, which earned him the scorn of every sports fan in America over his racist call for NFL owners to fire players who kneel during the national anthem. Unpatriotic, he calls it. I don t think Donald Trump knows what patriotism is.It certainly isn t making America look like a global bully that takes offense at the most meaningless of statements from a hostile foreign minister.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images",0 iiNET wins court case against Hollywood heavyweights,0 "Highlight: The Trump presidency on January 24(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump met with auto executives on Tuesday and gave the energy industry a boost with action on pipelines. Highlights of the day follow: Trump signs orders smoothing the path for the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, aiming to expand energy infrastructure and roll back key Obama administration environmental actions. Trump is expected to sign executive orders starting on Wednesday that include a temporary ban on most refugees and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries, according to several congressional aides and immigration experts briefed on the matter. Trump urges the chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to build more cars in the country. Trump signs an executive order directing that the permitting process and regulatory burden for domestic manufacturers should be streamlined to reduce what he calls an “incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible” system. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Agriculture Department will hold off on some rules as part of a freeze on regulations imposed by the Trump administration, trade groups say. Trump’s administration has moved since last week to curb the flow of information from several government agencies whose mandate affects environmental issues, in actions that appear designed to tighten control and discourage dissenting views. {nL1N1FE5FE] Trump, poised to restore the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, says he will announce his choice next week to fill the seat left vacant since the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia more than 11 months ago, with three federal appeals court judges among those under close consideration. Trump intends to retain FBI Director James Comey amid reports that law enforcement and intelligence agencies are scrutinizing Trump associates over their ties to Russia. The U.S. Senate votes overwhelmingly to confirm South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as ambassador to the United Nations. Representative Tom Price, Trump’s nominee for health secretary, tells a Senate panel he wants to ensure people with pre-existing conditions have access to insurance and he does not support Medicare privatization. Mexico could pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement if a renegotiation of terms does not benefit the country, its economy minister says. The White House says Trump stands by his belief that millions of people voted illegally in the presidential election but offered no evidence to support the contention. ",1 "5 KEY THINGS To Know About Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee…One Is A BIG Deal Breaker!The Senate had better stick to their guns on this! They say they will not bring up Merrick Garland for a vote as a Supreme Court Nominee but will wait for the new administration. McConnell is done if he goes back on his word. He spoke on the Senate floor today to say that the Senate will not take up this vote. SIX REPUBLICAN SENATORS HAVE ALREADY SAID THEY LL MEET WITH GARLAND:Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)One of the five things below is a BIG deal breaker Judge Garland is anti-Second Amendment 1. Garland is considered anti-Second Amendment. As the National Review noted last week: Back in 2007, Judge Garland voted to undo a D.C. Circuit court decision striking down one of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation and voted to uphold an illegal Clinton-era regulation that created an improvised gun registration requirement. Obama will use his pick to pursue a gun control agenda.2. Garland has favored environmental regulations. As SCOTUSblog noted in 2010: On environmental law, Judge Garland has in a number of cases favored contested EPA regulations and actions when challenged by industry, and in other cases he has accepted challenges brought by environmental groups. That could be very important, with Obama s Clean Power Plan in the balance.3. Garland s positions on abortion and social issues are murky. Some liberals are worried that Garland may not be unambiguously pro-choice. Richard Wolf of USA Today writes: During 19 years at the D.C. Circuit, Garland has managed to keep a low profile. The court s largely administrative docket has left him without known positions on issues such as abortion or the death penalty. 4. Garland would maintain the Court s demographic profile. He is the second Chicagoan Obama has nominated. He is no wise Latina, and is the first man Obama has chosen. But Garland, like Scalia, is a graduate of Harvard Law, keeping the number of Crimson justices at five. If confirmed, he would also be the fourth Jew on the Court, preserving the odd exclusion of evangelical Protestants.5. Republicans have supported Garland in the past. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in particular has been outspoken in his support for Garland as the best Republicans could expect from the Clinton administration. More recently, he suggested he would welcome Garland s nomination but predicted that Obama would make a more ideological pick. That makes Garland harder for the GOP to oppose.Via: Breitbart",0 The FBI has completed of review of the in-home flight simulator that belonged to the captain of the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet and found nothing suspicious whatsoever.,0 Russia has warned North Korea that threats to deliver preventive nuclear strikes could create a legal basis for the use of military force against the country,0 Argentinian opposition politicians have accused the countrys president of being completely out of touch with reality after she gave a rambling televised address in which she claimed the US may be behind a plot to overthrow her government and possibly even assassinate her.,0 "COWARDLY CHAIN MIGRATION TERRORIST Who Entered US During Obama’s Second Term, Mocked President Trump Just Before Failing To Blow Himself UpYesterday, a cowardly recipient of America s generosity, via a broken chain migration policy, walked through the busy subway terminal near the Port Authority Transit hub, where he planned to use a homemade bomb strapped to his body as a weapon to terrorize as many people as possible. The chain migration terrorist claims he chose the Port Authority site because the poor little radicalized Muslim who America welcomed with open arms, was triggered by the Christmas posters that hung in the hallways of the terminal. The chain migration terrorist, who was inspired by ISIS, failed miserably.The media will show their true colors when they ignore the ease with which radical Muslims from hotbed terror nations have been allowed to enter the United States, and will instead, will focus on Ullah s statement about wanting to punish President Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The media will also ignore the fact that we wouldn t even be having this conversation if Ullah was not allowed to enter the United States during Obama s presidency. It was actually during Barack Hussein Obama s second term in 2014, that Ullah began to explore ways to commit acts of terror against Americans, as a way to show his allegiance to the cowardly terror group, ISIS. (See paragraph f. )Port Authority bomber Akayed Ullah wanted to send a message straight to the White House: Trump you failed to protect your nation. Here is a screenshot of the complaint filed by Assistant United States Attorneys:That s what the 27-year-old ISIS adherent wrote on his Facebook page while on his way to blow himself up at the bustling transit hub Monday morning, according to the federal complaint filed Tuesday.He had also written in his passport: O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE. The charges also reveal that the 27-year-old Bangeldesh-born cabbie s online radicalization began in 2014, and he began researching how to build bombs a year ago although he only constructed his crude explosive device at his Brooklyn home a week ago.Ullah built the bomb for maximum damage, federal prosecutors charge filling it with metal screws and performed the bombing on a workday because he believed that there would be more people. NYP ",0 " Right-Wing Columnist Is Now Officially Begging Democrats To Kiss And Make Up With Out Of Control RepublicansNew York Times conservative columnist David Brooks is absolutely amazing. After years of sitting by while Republicans waged a scorched earth campaign against Democrats, the Constitution and basic human decency, he suddenly laments the toxic level of discourse in America. Why? Because Democrats are ascendant and Republicans are teetering on total collapse. Now, he says, we should work together and it would be bad for America if we don t!Brooks sets the stage by describing how we got here. He calls it anti-politics and he s VERY upset about it: Over the past generation we have seen the rise of a group of people who are against politics. These groups best exemplified by the Tea Party but not exclusive to the right want to elect people who have no political experience. They want outsiders. They delegitimize compromise and deal-making. They re willing to trample the customs and rules that give legitimacy to legislative decision-making if it helps them gain power. I m guessing he s referring to Bernie Sanders supporters as being the left-wing version because I can t think of any other group on the left that even remotely fits the description. But Bernie has been in Washington for 30 something years. He s hardly an inexperienced outsider. His followers may like his rebel cred but they don t want him to get into office for the sole purpose of bringing the government to a grinding halt. This is Brooks creating a false equivalency in order to absolve himself of his responsibility in creating antipolitics.He goes on to describe the antipolitics people as being extremists that cannot compromise and increasingly damage the process of governing. Essentially what the GOP has been doing for years while Brooks gave them ideological cover to wreck the country. Brooks is especially put off by Trump despite having enabled his rise in the first place.So far, the column is the usual right wing shifting of blame. They are patently incapable of accepting responsibility for their actions. But then we get to this, the plaintive wail for sanity: The answer to Trump is politics. It s acknowledging other people exist. It s taking pleasure in that difference and hammering out workable arrangements. As Harold Laski put it, We shall make the basis of our state consent to disagreement. Therein shall we ensure its deepest harmony.' It sure does sound reasonable but the timing of this sudden epiphany is not coincidental. You see, Republicans have spent the last 30+ years polarizing the country to the point where the two sides cannot work together. While Republicans controlled the White House, both chambers of Congress AND the Supreme Court, this was exactly what they wanted. They spent 6 years of ignoring the Democrats and doing whatever they wanted. Then they spent all of Obama s presidency breaking the system so they could stop his agenda. They became the party of antipolitics.But in November, Republicans are going to be crushed at the ballot box. Trump is going to going to lose so badly, he s going to cost Republicans the Senate by a comfortable margin, not a small number of House seats, a few governorships and control of several state legislatures. Oh, and the Supreme Court is going to tilt left for the next 30 years, which will put the final nail in the coffin of the Republican voter suppression schemes that are the only thing keeping Republicans in power in many parts of the country.So after decades of I hate you! I hope you die! Burn in hell! Compromise is surrender! Burn it all down unless we get 100% of what we want! , we should stop playing by their rules of winner takes all? Now that they re on the edge of losing everything, Republicans want to play nice again? Noooooope, fuck that. Republicans don t get to kick sand in our faces and then demand we share our ice cream because they dropped theirs.So sorry, Mr. Brooks. You had your chance and you blew it. You sat by and let your party turn American politics into a polarized blood sport. It s not our fault you lost and we re in no mood to give you the time of day much less any concessions. We re going to put you in a little box and undo all of the damage your policies have wrought since the 80s. Unions are going to grow in strength again. The minimum wage will become a living wage. Workers will have their rights restored. Women will have their rights restored. So will minorities and the victims of the Drug War (most of whom are minorities anyway). Wall Street will still make billions but they won t be able to crash the economy again. All of your voter suppression laws will be repealed and extreme gerrymandering will end. All of this will happen without no input from you because you have painted yourselves into a corner where working with a Democrat is grounds for being primaried from the far right. It won t happen in 4 years. Or even 8. Decades of damage will take decades to clean up. But it s going to happen and there s nothing you can do to stop it.Karl Rove once boasted of a permanent Republican majority in which Democrats would be utterly powerless. While I m not so bold as to claim a permanent Democratic majority, Republicans will grow weaker and weaker until they can stop appealing only to white racists. In the meantime, we re gonna take it all while you, Mr. Brooks, sit and scream in impotent rage at how mean and unfair the left has become. Ha. Ha. Ha. Fuck you.Featured image via diginpix.ina.fr",0 The UK patent on Viagra runs out today making it cheaper than a cup of coffee... Happy Friday Chaps.,1 Former S Korea President Kim dies at 83,1 "EBRD urges Poland to revive privatizationsWARSAW (Reuters) - Poland should lower its surprising level of state control over the economy, particularly in the banking and energy sectors, and speed up privatizations, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development s president said on Tuesday. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, which won the 2015 parliamentary election, has called a halt to privatizations and questioned the rationale and pricing of the previous centrist government s sales. Instead, state-run financial firms and utilities have taken over some smaller rivals from foreign investors, helping the government increase the share of domestic capital in the banking and energy sectors. It s quite surprising, given Poland s leadership in the whole transition race, that so much of the economy is still in state hands, Suma Chakrabarti told Reuters during a visit to Warsaw. Since Poland overthrew communism in 1989 and started its transition to a market economy, the number of companies controlled by the state has shrunk to several hundred from more than 8,000. But Chakrabarti said the PiS government, which argues the state can better serve Poland s economic interests than foreign corporations, should do more. Poland has pockets of poverty and it s important for the state to act, he said. But, what I m not in general a supporter (of) ... is when states become ... the prime economic actor in major sectors. There is at least one state-owned enterprise in 39 out of 43 sectors in Poland, and 12 of the 20 biggest listed companies are controlled by the state, representing 77 percent of (blue chip index) WIG20. That s quite high, he said. Since PiS came to power, Polish insurer PZU and a state-fund PFR bought a 33-percent stake in bank Pekao from Italy s UniCredit, while Poland s biggest power firm PGE has offered to buy power assets owned by France s EDF. The process of transition toward a more market economy is actually not as fast as it was in early days, in the 90s. That has slowed down. We would love to see more privatizations in Poland, Chakrabarti said. The EBRD has invested 8.6 billion euro ($10.28 billion) in Poland, mostly in the private sector, since the early 1990s. The EBRD head also warned that Poland s overhaul of the judiciary and the rule of law, which raised concerns in the European Commission, are an issue for investors. [nL5N1KK08Q] [nL8N1LH28P] Every time one talks about the EU, Brexit is one thing people always mention but the other is obviously the issues about Poland, Chakrabarti said. Poland is still not achieving its ... potential. And policies matter ... I think Poland could achieve a higher level of private sector investment and foreign direct investment with the right policies , he said. The EBRD sees its investment in Poland falling to about 600-650 million euros this year from 776 million in 2016. The bank will likely invest similar amounts in the coming years as the economy is growing, Chakrabarti said, but will narrow the financing to fewer areas. Rather than invest in renewable sources of energy, which are subject to a number of unexpected legal changes, it would help private companies tap foreign markets, the president said. For many investors the more boring a country, the better. Poland is not boring and that is the problem, Chakrabarti said. ",1 "BREITBART’S JOEL POLLACK Brilliantly Shuts Down “The View” Lunatics [Video]Watch Joy Behar as she hilariously attempts to tie anti-semitism to Breitbart News while interviewing their senior editor who happens to be an orthodox Jew. When Behar s attempt to prove that Breitbart is an anti-semitic news site, her leftist co-host Sunny Holstein attempts to pin racism and anti-semitism on Breitbart s former boss Steve Bannon. When that didn t work, Joy Behar attempts to say that it doesn t look like Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus get along because of the their body language. When Pollack dispels their ridiculous attempts to convince their viewers that Trump s top officials in his administration don t get along, Behar just resorts to the behavior one would expect from a 3 year old and calls President Trump a liar .You almost have to feel sorry for these unhinged rabidly leftist hags almost.",0 "2.6 terabyte leak of Panamanian shell company data reveals ""how a global industry led by major banks, legal firms, and asset management companies secretly manages the estates of politicians, Fifa officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, celebrities and professional athletes.""",0 "TUCKER CARLSON: How The Left Ruined My Alma Mater [Video]Tucker Carlson and Jesse Waters both went to Trinity College Who knew! Carlson discussed the downfall of his college from a good college to a leftist indoctrination center Unreal! Please see our latest report on the professor who said let them f*cking die THE PROFESSOR WHO S BEEN A TRINITY FOR 20 YEARS SPEWING HATE SPEECH A Connecticut college professor has created a firestorm for calling white people inhuman a-holes who need to die following last week s shooting attack on congressional Republicans. Professor Johnny Eric Williams is a sociology professor! Who wants to send their child to Trinity College at $61,000 a year to have this jackwagon teach them? This is exactly how college kids are indoctrinated into hating their own race. This is sick and twisted!Trinity College s Johnny Eric Williams social media feed (his twitter feed is now set on private) after the June 14 shooting of Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise included racial tirades and commentary calling on minorities to confront white people and end this now, a reference to an alleged system of white supremacy. It is past time for the racially oppressed to do what people who believe themselves to be white will not do, put end to the vectors of their destructive mythology of whiteness and their white supremacy system. #LetThemF ingDie, the associate professor of sociology said June 18 in a series of Facebook posts. The time is now to confront these inhuman assholes and end this now. The educational watchdog Campus Reform and The Blaze both reached out to the professor for comment Tuesday to no avail. Trinity College offered no statement regarding the professor s action. Instead, the Hartford institution reiterated its right on Facebook to remove comments that are deemed inappropriate, profane, defamatory, or disrespectful to users of the page and/or members of the greater Trinity College community. Mr. Williams Facebook page also featured an anonymous article on Medium accusing Mr. Scalise of being a racist and one of the most anti-LGBTQ politicians in Washington. If you see [white people] drowning. If you see them in a burning building. If they are bleeding out in an emergency room. If the ground is crumbling beneath them. If they are in a park and they turn their weapons on each other: do nothing, a June 16 article by Son of Baldwin says. Let. Them. F-ing. Die. And smile a bit when you do. We included the link to Mr. Willians Facebook page but it appears as though he s set his page on private. He is in groups like Black Lives Matter on Facebook we re not surprised by that!Read more: Campus Reform",0 "Newly found emails in FBI probe not on Clinton server: U.S. sourceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly discovered emails related to an investigation into a private email server used by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton were found on a separate device during an unrelated probe, a U.S. government source said on Friday. The FBI said on Friday it will investigate the additional emails that have surfaced, in a new twist to the U.S. presidential campaign with 11 days to go before Election Day. ",1 "VIDEO: US Elections: More Voter Fraud EmergesEstablishment pundits were horrified when Donald Trump claimed that the system is rigged, and panicked when he wouldn t say whether or or he would respect the elections results if he lost. Like or not, the evidence shows that Trump is right. That s right: there is actual rampant voter fraud and election rigging in the United States.Watch this report by FOX News: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 Israel settlement surge draws Rice criticism,1 "Stung by a damning U.N. report alleging war \r\ncrimes in Gaza, Israel is trying to dodge overseas \r\nprosecution.",0 Gang rapes SEVEN girls during violent night time attack on church youth camp in Mexico City,0 Damning report reveals Church of England's failure to act on abuse,1 "OBAMA WILL SEND REPRESENTATIVE To Alton Sterling Funeral…Couldn’t Be Bothered With Supreme Court Justice Scalia’s FuneralIt s almost like our Community Agitator in Chief purposefully won t acknowledge anyone who isn t in lock-step with his radical agenda Hope Change Division and Hate The Obama White House sent three officials to robber Michael Brown s funeral in Ferguson. Obama sent more officials to Brown s funeral than to Margaret Thatcher s funeral.Obama sent three White House officials to criminal Freddie Gray s funeral.The White House sent no one to NYPD Officer Brian Moore s funeral.Obama skipped Antonin Scalia s funeral and went golfing instead.The Obama White House will send a representative to Alton Sterling s funeral on Thursday. GPThe Advocate reported:Gary Chambers, spokesman for the Sterling family, confirmed Thursday that both Civil Rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson and a White House representative would be attending the funeral of Alton Sterling on Friday. Jackson will be a speaker at the event along with the Rev. Al Sharpton and Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond.The family of Alton Sterling is inviting the community to mourn with them on Friday at a public funeral held at Southern University.Chambers said both Richmond and Sharpton immediately reached out to the Sterling family in the wake of Alton Sterling s death and offered to help in any way. ",0 "Hariri says his Saudi stay was to discuss Lebanon's futureBEIRUT (Reuters) - Saad al-Hariri, who resigned from his post as Lebanon s prime minister two weeks ago from Saudi Arabia, said on Friday he has been in Saudi for discussions on the future of the situation in Lebanon and its relations with the surrounding Arab region . Writing on Twitter, Hariri also said information which has been circulating about his stay, his departure and his family are just rumors . ",1 "Clinton, Sanders race takes on angrier tone after Nevada(Reuters) - The race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination - once a civil affair - has taken a sour turn, with mud-slinging from both camps over the former secretary of state’s win in the Nevada caucuses. Sanders’ supporters are alleging that foul play by casino managers helped Clinton out in Saturday’s contest, while Clinton’s camp has blasted - in at times vulgar terms - the Vermont senator’s assertion he took the state’s Latino vote. The tensions reflect the tight battle between the two heading into next Saturday’s South Carolina primary. Sanders, who had surged in recent months to challenge front-runner Clinton, is trying to maintain momentum against her in a part of the United States where she wields an advantage among minority voters. The angrier tone also marks a turn from what has been a mostly civil race on the Democratic side, in contrast with the noisy insult-hurling that has characterized much of the Republican race. . While Sanders and the former first lady have publicly clashed on their approaches to healthcare and regulating Wall Street, they have frequently emphasized their common ground on social issues. Sanders has also refused so far to join in Republican attacks on Clinton’s record as secretary of state. “Let’s talk about the real issues facing America,” he said during one televised debate. The tone soured after Nevada. Officials with National Nurses United, which endorsed Sanders, have said there were irregularities at casino caucus sites - such as casino managers wearing Clinton paraphernalia - which they said amounted to intimidation of casino employee voters. “From what nurses observed in Nevada Sanders campaign should call for UN observers to protect democracy,” the union said in one Twitter post on Sunday. Neither Clinton nor Sanders’ campaigns immediately responded to requests for comment on the allegations. Meanwhile, both campaigns have argued about what the polling from the Nevada caucuses show. One set of entrance and exit poll results conducted by CBS News showed Sanders took 53 percent of Latino votes in the state. This is a critical group for Sanders as he seeks to broaden his support base after his early results - a very narrow loss and a decisive win - in Iowa and New Hampshire, which have overwhelmingly white voter populations. “I don’t typically like to swear on Twitter, but by all accounts so far this is complete and utter bullshit,” Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill wrote on Twitter, referring to a Sanders’ campaign press release asserting he took the Latino bloc in Nevada. Clinton has been expected to find easier territory as contests move into the south in the state-by-state battles to pick a party presidential nominee for the November general election. Her backers say minority voters are her “firewall” against Sanders’ popularity among young voters who dislike establishment politics and are attracted by his vows to take on Wall Street excesses and high college fees. She won Nevada, which is nearly a quarter Latino, by just over 5 points. Sanders’ camp, meanwhile, has disputed Clinton camp assertions that she drew the lion’s share of the union votes in the Nevada contest, accusing her campaign of inventing figures. “They do have a tendency to make stuff up,” Sanders’ spokesman Michael Briggs said in an email. The American Federation of Teachers issued a press release on Monday listing 23 unions that back Clinton. (Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Frances Kerry) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 "Aid workers to return to Yemen at weekend but no aid yet: U.N.GENEVA (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has given the United Nations permission to resume flights of aid workers to the Houthi-controlled capital on Saturday, but not to dock ships loaded with wheat and medical supplies, a U.N. spokesman said. The coalition fighting the armed Houthi movement in Yemen said on Wednesday it would allow aid in through the Red Sea ports of Hodeidah and Salif, as well as U.N. flights to Sanaa, more than two weeks after blockading the country. About 7 million people face famine in Yemen and their survival is dependent on international assistance. The coalition has given clearance for U.N. flights in and out of Sanaa from Amman on Saturday, involving the regular rotation of aid workers, said Jens Laerke, spokesman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). We re of course encouraged by the clearance of this flight which may be followed soon by clearances of flights from Djibouti to Sanaa, Laerke told a news briefing on Friday. But no green light have been received for U.N. requests to bring humanitarian supply ships to Hodeidah and Salif ports, he said. We are particularly talking about one ship which is offshore Hodeidah with wheat from WFP (the U.N. World Food Programme) and another boat which is waiting in Djibouti with cholera supplies and that is also destined for Hodeidah, he said. We stress the critical importance of resuming also commercial imports, in particular fuel supplies for our humanitarian response - transportation and so on - and for water pumping, Laerke said. The largest fuel importing companies in Yemen have indicated they will no longer be able to supply the consumer market at the end of this week, OCHA said in a report dated Nov. 23. UNICEF is also waiting to send vaccines, aid sources said. The charity Save the Children said an estimated 20,000 Yemeni children under the age of five were joining the ranks of the severely malnourished every month, an average of 27 children every hour . The commercial blockade is aggravating the food crisis, leading to a significant increase in child deaths from acute malnutrition and preventable diseases , it said in a statement. The U.S.-backed coalition closed air, land and sea access on Nov. 6, in a move it said was to stop the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran. The action came after Saudi Arabia intercepted a missile fired toward Riyadh. Iran has denied supplying weapons. Jan Egeland, a former U.N. aid chief who heads the Norwegian Refugee Council, speaking to Reuters in Geneva on Thursday, said of the blockade: In my view this is illegal collective punishment. After more than two weeks of blockade of these ports, there are various kinds of supplies essential for fighting famine, for fighting cholera and other types of humanitarian threats that millions of people are facing in Yemen today, Laerke said. ",1 Indian tiger park 'has no tigers',1 "(NYT) Snowden, Through the Eyes of a Spy Novelist: ""in the last week both he and his former employers have misplayed their hands... (He) did not start out as a spy, and calling him one bends the term past recognition. Spies dont give their secrets to journalists for free.""",1 All three matadors gored in opening of San Isidro festival. Event cancelled.,1 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti Wednesday morning.,1 "NO TOILET PAPER?! SOCIALISM IS IN ITS FINAL STAGES FOR VENEZUELA SO BYOTPSocialism doesn t work but I guess Venezuela didn t get the memo. No toilet paper? No food? Yes, it s come to that in this socialist hellhole Venezuela s product shortages have become so severe that some hotels in that country are asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap, a local tourism industry spokesman said on Wednesday . It s an extreme situation, says Xinia Camacho, owner of a 20-room boutique hotel in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada national park. For over a year we haven t had toilet paper, soap, any kind of milk, coffee or sugar. So we have to tell our guests to come prepared. Montilla says bigger hotels can circumvent product shortages by buying toilet paper and other basic supplies from black market smugglers who charge up to 6-times the regular price. But smaller, family-run hotels can t always afford to pay such steep prices, which means that sometimes they have to make do without. Camacho says she refuses to buy toilet paper from the black market on principle. In the black market you have to pay 110 bolivares [$0.50] for a roll of toilet paper that usually costs 17 bolivares [$ 0.08] in the supermarket, Camacho told Fusion. We don t want to participate in the corruption of the black market, and I don t have four hours a day to line up for toilet paper at a supermarket . Recently, Venezuelan officials have been stopping people from transporting essential goods across the country in an effort to stem the flow of contraband. So now Camacho s guests could potentially have their toilet paper confiscated before they even make it to the hotel. Shortages, queues, black markets, and official theft. And blaming the CIA. Yes, Venezuela has truly achieved socialism.But what I never understood is this: Why toilet paper? How hard is it to make toilet paper? I can understand a socialist economy having trouble producing decent cars or computers. But toilet paper? And soap? And matches?Sure, it s been said that if you tried communism in the Sahara, you d get a shortage of sand. Still, a shortage of paper seems like a real achievement.Read more: CATO",0 SHERIFF CLARKE Rips Into Hillary For Pandering To Gangs…How Low Can You Go? [Video] Joining a gang is like having a family it s feeling like you re part of something bigger than yourself we re going to have positive gangs. HRC ,0 "UN Report says half of the food sent to Somalia is diverted to corrupt contractors, UN workers and militants",1 " Actress Emmy Rossum Fires Back At Trump Fans Over DISGUSTING Anti-Semitic Threats (TWEETS)Donald Trump s hateful, divisive rhetoric brought out the worst in Americans during his presidential campaign and now that the reality television star and scammy business mogul has been elected as President of the Unites States, his supporters are letting their true colors shine freely.America s future leader spent over a year normalizing bigotry, discrimination, and violence, and now we re seeing a massive increase in hate crimes and attacks across America. And it turns out, not even the country s most well-known and respected individuals are safe. Recently, Golden Globe-nominated actress Emmy Rossum spoke out about the recent anti-Semitic attacks she s been getting from Trump supporters since the election, and it s enough to make your stomach turn. If anyone is still trying to convince you that Trump isn t the modern-day Adolf Hitler, you need to show them what Rossum endured at the hands of these monsters.On Sunday, Rossum fought back and called out Trump and his supporters for their hate speech:TwitterTwitterTwitterTwitter No matter WHO you voted for, I don t care, THIS is not okay. You will be seeing a train shortly pic.twitter.com/cvQP6Fegz4 Emmy Rossum (@emmyrossum) November 14, 2016The particular person who was harassing Rossum has since been suspended by Twitter, but there are several more Americans who echo his opinions. It is hard to believe that this is the country that was once considered progressive and accepting of all individuals. It s clear that Trump is making good on his promise to return our country to earlier times in history, where white people ruled everyone else.Rossum pointed out this sad phenomenon perfectly when she remarked that perhaps America was naive about how far we d come, and maybe this brand of hatred had been there all along, just waiting to be awakened by the right kind of dictator. It is terrifying and upsetting to come to terms with the fact that the America we ve been living in is such a divisive, unwelcoming place now.TwitterFeatured image via Alberto E. Rodriguez and Zach Gibson/Getty Images",0 " New Analysis Shows Black Neighborhoods Excluded From Amazon Same Day DeliveryA Bloomberg analysis of Amazon s same-day delivery service locations shows that Black neighborhoods are routinely excluded from access to the service.Although all customers pay the same $99 fee for the Amazon Prime membership, which includes same-day delivery service in covered areas, Black customers are significantly less likely to have access to that service.According to the Bloomberg study, Black customers who live in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Washington DC are 50 percent less likely to have access to same-day delivery.Bloomberg further reports:In New York City, same-day delivery is available throughout Manhattan, Staten Island, and Brooklyn, but not in the Bronx and some majority-black neighborhoods in Queens. In some cities, Amazon same-day delivery extends many miles into the surrounding suburbs but isn t available in some ZIP codes within the city limits.Out of all the places where Amazon same-day delivery services are available to Amazon Prime members, the analysis shows the greatest disparity in the city of Boston.According to the Bloomberg analysis: Three ZIP codes encompassing the primarily black neighborhood of Roxbury are excluded from same-day service, while the neighborhoods that surround it on all sides are eligible. In many cases this means that Black customers have no access to same-day delivery, while white customers, living just a few blocks away, do have access.Here s what the delivery zones look like in some of the most populated urban areas.Image credit: Screen capture Bloomberg.comAccording to Amazon vice president for global communications, Craig Berman, the company did not intentionally create a service area which excludes Black neighborhood.Berman says that service areas were determined by data and algorithms.As Tech Insider reports here, Amazon PR Director Scott Stanzel described the criteria the company used to generate the algorithm.According to Stanzel, that included distance to the nearest fulfillment center, local demand in an area, numbers of Prime members in an area, as well as the ability of our various carrier partners to deliver up to 9:00 pm every single day, even Sunday. So how does a computer program which doesn t include race as a factor, generate a service area that excludes Black neighborhoods?Tech Insider sums it up best, by explaining:Racism, as researchers have documented in countless studies and reports, is the systemic marginalization of minority communities. It s the aggregate of small and large effects that make it harder for people to find housing, accumulate wealth, avoid the criminal justice system, and succeed in school if they aren t white. Data and algorithms selected in deliberate ignorance of racism can pick up and reinforce that systemic problem.So basically the algorithm reflects the racism that is already present in a service area. As described by Tech Insider, it reflects ongoing economic disparities and segregation between white and black communities created by decades of redlining. That appears to be exactly what happened in the case of Amazon s same-day delivery service area coverage.Amazon says the company has plans to fill in the gaps in service coverage over time. That doesn t seem like a good enough answer when the data shows that many Black customers are being denied equal service under the company s current model.Mistakes can happen, yes, but now that the problems have clearly been exposed, Amazon should take immediate steps to correct them.It s one thing to unknowingly generate an algorithm that excludes Black neighborhoods. It s another thing altogether to look the other way once you re aware of the issue. Image credit: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images",0 British Right-Wing party (UKIP) calls to strip Islamic State militants of their British citizenship,1 LHC confirms Higgs boson identification,1 Iran reissues death sentence against webdev who had been accused of running a porn-site!,0 Scandal knocks at No. 10 Downing Street: A prime minister's aide is intimately linked to the furor over high-profile phone tappings,1 "Xi says China will oppose any behaviors that try to separate the countryBEIJING (Reuters) - China will safeguard its sovereignty and security and oppose any behaviors that try to separate the country, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday in a speech at the opening of a key Communist Party congress. Beijing considers self-ruled Taiwan a wayward province to be brought under its control by force if necessary, and says that separatists are seeking to split the western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang from the rest of the country. ",1 The Troubles of Koreas Influential Economic Pundit,0 "Japan passes new military bill, Scuffling ensues.",0 "Explosion at Power Plant in Novokuznetsk, Russia, video in link.",0 EPIC CONSERVATIVE Take Down After CNN Ambush Of Radio Host [Video] ,0 "Jared Kushner NEVER Registered To Vote As A “Female”…Media Lie BACKFIRES…Shines Bright Light On How Easily Voter Fraud Can OccurMeanwhile, as President Trump continues to meet resistance from blue states in his effort to clean up voter fraud, one of his most vocal opponents is none other than the Democrat governor of New York, the same state where the board of elections made the mistake of changing Kushner s identity to a female AFTER he registered as a male . It seems like this may be just the high-profile screw-up the White House has been waiting for in order to revisit the legitimacy of voter rolls in New York.NY refuses to perpetuate the myth voter fraud played a role in our election. We will not comply with this request.https://t.co/eQC6ORV0v1 Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 30, 2017Kushner, President Trump s son-in-law, and senior adviser did in fact list himself as a male in his New York voter registration but an elections database error led to him getting listed as a female.Kushner s supposed registration as a woman, which made headlines Wednesday, is actually a data entry error that the New York Board of Elections corrected only after it became public.A Wired story first reported that Kushner whose father-in-law has been waging a fact-challenged war on voter fraud was registered as a woman on his publicly accessible New York State voter information. NYDaily NewsThe Wired story that was written by Ashley Feinberg suggests one of the reasons Kushner registered to vote as a female may be attributed to him committing voter fraud, which according to Feinberg, would, of course, would be interesting, considering that Trump s White House has been fixated on allegations that rampant voter fraud took place during the 2016 election. The Huffington Post used the fake news story to prove that Jared Kushner is not capable of brokering peace in the Middle East. Here is their headline for an article written by Amanda Terkel:From the Huffington Post article:If people weren t already skeptical that Kushner a man who inherited his father s real estate empire and has no policy experience in the Middle East or elsewhere could achieve the impossible, recent developments may give further pause.He registered to vote as a woman.Radical leftist and (sometimes) comedian Jimmy Kimmel did an entire skit on Jared Kushner registering to vote as a female. We ll wait for his apology #VeryFakeNewsCNN quickly jumped on the story without verifying why Jared Kushner was registered as a female. Given the incompetence of our government agencies, one would think CNN would give Kushner the benefit of the doubt, but alas, giving anyone close to President Donald J. Trump the benefit of the doubt would be counter-productive to the Trump-hating network who only has one goal, and that is to destroy Donald Trump and anyone who dares to stand with him. CNN has changed the story that was originally attached to this tweet to reflect their update, but their headline that attempts to paint Kushner as either a liar or a cheat stands on Twitter.Jared Kushner is registered to vote as a female https://t.co/MtWq9uHTC7 pic.twitter.com/1ub2dS6OFM CNN (@CNN) September 27, 2017Another loudmouth liberal who goes by the name of Ring of Fire on Youtube and has over 130K followers, has completely embarrassed himself by using Kushner s inability to fill out a simple form or who is so careless, or reckless, or downright stupid that he cannot fill out a form .",0 Police beating peaceful protesters on a lovely Amsterdam day,1 "India agrees to hold talks on Afghanistan with U.S., KabulNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has agreed to hold talks on Afghanistan with the United States and Kabul, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in New Delhi. Swaraj said she also discussed deepening economic ties with the United States. ",1 "OBAMA’S “HATEFUL RHETORIC” All In One Video: “They cling to their guns…”When you hear the left screaming about hateful rhetoric coming from the right, just play this video for them: ",0 "NSA chief on Russia-U.S. cyber unit: Now is 'not the best time'ASPEN, Colo. (Reuters) - National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers on Saturday rebuffed the prospect for a U.S.-Russia cyber unit, a proposal which has been greeted with incredulity by several senior U.S. lawmakers and which President Donald Trump himself appeared to back down from after initially indicating interest. U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by hacking Democrats’ emails and distributing online propaganda to help Trump win the election over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Moscow has denied any interference, and Trump has said that his campaign did not collude with Russia. A Russian presidential envoy said this week that Moscow and Washington were in talks to create a joint cyber security working group. Asked whether it was a good idea to set up a cyber security cell with the Russians, Rogers told the annual Aspen Security Forum: “I’m not a policy guy here. .... I would argue now is probably not the best time to be doing this.” Trump said earlier this month that he had discussed the idea of creating such a group with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg. Senior Republicans criticized the idea, saying Moscow could not be trusted, and Trump later appeared to back away, saying in a post on Twitter: “The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t.” Widespread concern and confusion about the possible cyber working group reflects the Trump administration’s struggles to articulate a clear approach to international cyber security issues amid inconsistent statements by the president and ongoing personnel changes. Rogers said such a unit was “something that you might want to build over time were we to see changes in (Russia’s) behavior.” (Story refiled to amend dateline) ",1 "WATCH OUT! PUTIN FILLS THE LEADERSHIP VACUUM LEFT BY OBAMA IN THE MIDDLE EASTWatch out America! Our President isn t looking out for America s best interests. Leaving a leadership vacuum in the middle east has allowed Putin to swoop in and fill it. President Obama has created an intentional leadership vacuum in the middle east.Intentional by design.The two most stable forces within the region, Egypt and Jordan, have been ignored by President Obama for several years. President Obama willingly allowing Turkey s Recep Erdogan free reign on what takes place inside Syria, while Erdogan simultaneously provides a safe-haven for the Muslim Brotherhood. The current events are not disconnected from this empirical truth.WASHINGTON Russia has sent a military advance team to Syria and is taking other steps the United States fears may signal that President Vladimir V. Putin is planning to vastly expand his military support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, administration officials said Friday.The Russian moves, including the recent transport of prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield and the delivery of a portable air traffic control station there, are another complicating factor in Secretary of State John Kerry s repeated efforts to enlist Mr. Putin s support for a diplomatic solution to the bloody conflict in Syria.The Russians have also filed military overflight requests with neighboring countries through September.American officials acknowledge that they are not certain of Russia s intentions, but some say the temporary housing suggests that Russia could deploy as many as 1,000 advisers or other military personnel to the airfield near the Assad family s ancestral home. The airfield serves Latakia, Syria s principal port city.American intelligence analysts are also looking at ship loadings in Russia to determine what might be bound for Syria, and one official speculated that the Russian deployment might eventually grow to 2,000 to 3,000 personnel. There are some worrisome movements logistical, preparatory types of things, said an administration official, who added that there was no confirmation that large numbers of Russian soldiers, aircraft or heavy weapons had yet arrived. Officials asked for anonymity because they were discussing classified intelligence reports.Syria is one of Russia s major arms clients, and is also host to a Russian naval base at the port city Tartus. But the new concerns from intelligence analysts, as well as news and social media reports in the Middle East, led to warnings this week from the State Department and White House about Mr. Putin s intentions. We have regularly and repeatedly expressed our concern about Russian military support for the Assad regime, said John Kirby, the State Department spokesman. But we re also watching their actions very carefully. If these reports are borne out, it would represent a very serious shift in the trajectory of the Syria conflict and call into question any Russian commitment to a peaceful settlement. Mr. Kerry flew to Sochi, Russia, in May to meet with Mr. Putin to explore whether the two sides could cooperate on Syria. In August, Mr. Kerry followed up with an unusual three-way meeting in Qatar on the Syria crisis with Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and their Saudi counterpart, Adel al-Jubeir.Stepped-up Russian military support for the Syrian government could pose a problem for the United States in several ways. If Mr. Putin s intention is to support not just the Syrian government but also Mr. Assad, that could undercut Mr. Kerry s contention that the Syrian president needs to leave power as part of any political solution to the conflict.And if Russian pilots carried out airstrikes, administration officials say, the choice of targets might further aggravate the growing chaos. Russian strikes on Islamic State militants could interfere with, or at least complicate, the air operations that the United States-led coalition is already conducting in Syria against the group. But if Russia targets rebel groups that are opposed to Mr. Assad, they might be striking some of the moderate Syrian fighters who have been trained by the C.I.A. and the Pentagon.Another possibility is that Russia is taking these steps to secure its own interests in the event that the Assad government collapses, reaches a power-sharing agreement with the opposition or is replaced. By expanding its military influence in Syria, Russia might be in a stronger position to shape the political outcome as the Assad government s military position weakens by encouraging it to share power with opposition members Moscow supports.READ MORE: NYTVIA: CONSERVATIVE TREEHOUSE",0 People 'more negative about Russia': People's views of Russia have strongly deteriorated since last year,1 "Trump: military solutions 'locked and loaded' against North Korea threatWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump issued another warning to North Korea on Friday with a reference to American weapons as being “locked and loaded.” “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!” Trump wrote on Twitter, a day after his defense secretary said the United States was ready to counter any threat from Pyongyang. ",1 "Japanese PM: ""You're the only ones [to deal with this problem]. Retreating [from the power plant and its problems] is simply not an option. Be ready for anything. If you pull out now, that'll be the end of TEPCO, period.""",0 "Norway's integration minister: We can't be like Sweden - A tight immigration policy and tougher requirements for those who come to Norway are important tools for avoiding radicalisation and parallel societies, Integration Minister Sylvi Listhaug said on Wednesday.",0 "India approved 'Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill 2011', which would make sexual contact with a girl below the age of 18 a criminal offence, even if it is consensual.",1 Former MIT Student now a Terrorism Suspect is Not Mentally Competent and Unfit for Trial.,0 "WHITE WASHED? Trump Claims Classified JFK Files Will Be Released, Reigniting Conspiracy SuspicionsShawn Helton 21st Century Wire JFK FILES Conspiracy still shrouds the JFK assassination. (Photo Illustration Shawn Helton)The assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, is one of the most infamous crimes of the 20th century. Like the enigmatic attacks of 9/11, it was an act that will forever be shrouded in conspiracy, intrigue and mystery despite the lone gunman theory implicating Lee Harvey Oswald.New reports indicate that classified documents pertaining to the assassination of the 35th US President will be allowed to be released by US President Donald Trump.The NY Times reports: The release of the information being held in secret at the National Archives including several thousand never-before-seen documents was mandated to occur by Oct. 26 under a 1992 law that sought to quell conspiracy theories about the assassination.Mr. Trump has the power to block the release of the documents, and intelligence agencies have pressured him to do so for at least some of them. The agencies are concerned that information contained in some of the documents could damage national security interests.In a statement to reporters, the White House left open the possibility that Mr. Trump might halt the release of some documents. While word of a possible release of never-before-seen JFK files has spread like wildfire throughout mainstream media and alternative media alike, one should remain skeptical and cautious, as the likelihood of the military industrial complex, the CIA and other clandestine agencies releasing any conclusive inter-agency conspiracy related details about the JFK assassination is next to zero.The globalist Deep State machine that has ruled the US and the world since WWII would have too much to lose if anything larger came out of America s most infamous conspiracy. It would be like opening Pandora s box. (Image Source: circololettori.it)Here s one theory in the mystery surrounding JFK s assassination that includes some uncanny historical and Hollywood associations that we are not likely to hear about In 1980, after a six-hour suicidal standoff with police, a contract killer linked to organized crime named Charles Harrelson, admitted to killing US District Judge John H Wood, and in the process, while apparently high on cocaine also claimed to have been involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.The father of Hollywood star Woody Harrelson was convicted in the murder of a grain dealer named Sam Degelia Jr in 1968 and in 1981, Charles received two life sentences for the murder of John Wood.Throughout 1981, more questions materialized regarding the assassination of Judge Wood in a UPI article: Defense lawyers maintained [Charles] Harrelson was framed by police and the informant. Charles an ex-felon, said a friend, Hampton Robinson III, who failed to show up to testify, had driven the car. He suggested someone, possibly federal agents, had planted the guns so he could be arrested. He denied telling [Department of Public Safety agent] Pagel he carried a gun. THREE TRAMPS Charles Harrelson (ID d by forensic experts on the left) is believed to be one of three arrested in Dealey Plaza after JFK s assassination in 1963. (Image Source: jfkmurdersolved)When considering the Harrelson-Kennedy connection, the 1989 book Crossfire comes to mind.Crossfire, written by the recently deceased well-known researcher Jim Marrs, was also adapted for the highly controversial and successful Oliver Stone film JFK. Below is a passage from Crossfire, as it relates to the apparent Harrelson-Kennedy link: Aside from being twice convicted of murder for hire, Harrelson the father of actor Woody Harrelson had a long history of involvement with Dallas underworld characters linked directly to Jack Ruby. Continuing, the Crossfire also stated: The late Fort Worth graphics expert Jack White, who testified before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, already had noticed the resemblance of Harrelson to the youngest tramp. In a 1981 interview with Chuck Cook, Harrelson claimed to have the biggest story the reporter would ever have, when questioned about Kennedy s death. Additionally, Jo Ann Harrelson noted the similarities between the tramp photos and her husband. All this coupled with the fact Diane Lou Oswald (the mother of Woody Harrelson), who had also been married to Charles Harrelson in Midland, Texas, made for a strange background concerning the JFK saga.In a KDFW-TV interview in 1982 below, Charles Harrelson back tracks somewhat on his claims of killing Kennedy but does point directly to a larger conspiracy concerning the US government s involvement in the death of Kennedy as well as their alleged link to drug trade in America.The interview is a startling revelation, adding to the enigmatic JFK mystery and in the process provides another strange backdrop to a captivating case . 21st Century Wire says Today, President Donald Trump announced he plans to release the tens of thousands of classified documents on the assassination of President John F Kennedy held at the National Archives and Records Administration. The president believes that these documents should be made available in the interests of full transparency unless agencies provide a compelling and clear national security or law enforcement justification otherwise, a White House official told Reuters. Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened, Trump tweeted on Saturday.Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2017Days before Trump s announcement, The Washington Post claim that their National Security Council source told deep state media oracle that federal government agencies have warned the president not to release some of the documents for fear they could somehow comprise national security , although this rationale is hard to justify as the event took place nearly 55 years ago unless of course, some legacy parties still in power today were implicated in the remaining documents.It s difficult to know if Trump is referring to all of the remaining CIA and FBI documents, or just some of them, or whether or not these documents will be redacted (presumably to protect any important names involved in the JFK murder, or possible cover-up). However, Trump appears to have left open the possibility that if government agencies feel the documents should not to released, then he would heed their advice. Trump added that his decision was subject to the receipt of further information. According to Phil Shenon, a professional researcher and author on the Warren Commission: It s great news that the president is focused on this and that he s trying to demonstrate transparency. But the question remains whether he will open the library in full every word in every document, as the law requires, Shenon said. And my understanding is that he won t without infuriating people at the CIA and elsewhere who are determined to keep at least some of the information secret, especially in documents created in the 1990s. The scheduled date of the release is meant to be on October 26, 2017.STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATESREAD MORE JFK NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire JFK FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 U.N. May Recommend Decriminalizing Drug Use. The U.N.s Office on Drugs and Crime would recommend decriminalizing drug use as well as possession of all drugs for personal consumption.,0 Holocaust 'greatest' love story a hoax,0 Israel seizes Palestinian family's land by secretly altering documents,0 "Nato expansion unlikely before late 2015, Finland and Sweden could walk in within a week",1 Russia requesting to fly reconnaissance aircraft over the US using Open Skies Treaty,1 Researchers discover mass graves near US-Mexico border containing bodies of migrants in body bags,0 Two sentenced to death in Iran for killing demonstrators in custody,0 " Battleground State To Move Forward With UNPRECEDENTED Statewide General Election RecountPerhaps the Green Party isn t so useless after all. Jill Stein s push for recounts in some battleground states is gaining momentum. Stein raised $5 million to cover the costs of recounts over the Thanksgiving holiday, and as soon as the Green Party pays its fee, the Wisconsin Elections Board is prepared to go forward with a statewide recount.The elections board has already put an internal team together, they ve been working with their county clerks, and they ve arranged for the necessary legal counsel from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Michael Haas, the election board s administrator, said: We plan to hold a teleconference meeting for county clerks next week and anticipate the recount will begin late in the week after the Stein campaign has paid the recount fee, which we are still calculating. This is unlike the Florida recounts in 2000, where the vote was so close it automatically triggered a machine recount. From there, well, we all remember how it spiraled out of control. Al Gore won the popular vote that year, but not nearly to the degree that Hillary has won this year s popular vote.Also, Wisconsin does not have an automatic recount trigger a candidate has to request a recount no matter how close the vote is.A battleground state recount isn t going to help Jill Stein any, and she knows that, so what s her game here? She says she s worried that foreign hackers skewed our votes and elected Trump for us. The Green Party is actually asking Wisconsin for a reconciliation of paper records, which goes a step beyond a simple vote recount it s an audit of paper ballots and paper trails from electronic voting machines. They re focusing on the substantial increase of absentee ballots in Wisconsin, along with the electronic voting systems that have been under scrutiny since we began seeing massive cyberattacks from parties interested in influencing our election results.Stein s fundraising website makes it clear that they know there s no guarantee any states in which the Greens are petitioning will actually move on to a recount, and she does admit that they don t have a smoking gun that proves Trump s win is illegitimate.In fact, Wisconsin actually doesn t believe a recount will change anything, despite the fact that some major vote discrepancies have already been found. Howver, provided all paperwork is filed properly, they will generally proceed with their recounts regardless.Hillary is now leading the national popular vote by 2.1 million, and is approaching a 2 percent margin. That s a greater margin than John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Grover Cleveland, James A. Garfield, and James K. Polk had when they were elected. If her lead continues to grow, she could approach Jimmy Carter s margin, and perhaps George W. Bush s margin of victory in 2004.Hillary and her campaign have stayed quietly out of the recount debate thus far. Stein and the Green Party are pushing for recounts in both Michigan and Pennsylvania as well, but it s not yet known whether those two states will actually do it. It s also not clear whether this could flip the election. What Wisconsin does in the coming days could set an interesting tone.Photo of Donald Trump by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images. Photo of Hillary Clinton by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 "SAY WHAT? #BlackLivesMatter TEXTBOOKS TO BE USED AS PART OF COMMON CORE CURRICULUM IN GRADES 6-12 [Video]When will American citizens stop being afraid to stand up and SPEAK OUT against the politically correct thugs of the left?A new Black Lives Matter textbook will soon be available to middle school and high school classrooms.According to the publisher s description, Black Lives Matter covers the shootings that touched off passionate protests, the work of activists to bring about a more just legal system, and the tensions in U.S. society that these events have brought to light. ABDO Publishing specifies that the book was written for sixth graders through high school students, and says the textbook is aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Until now, no authoritative text designed to teach non-black children about historical-structural inequalities productive of anti-black violence in U.S. law and society has been made available for commercial consumption, reads a review in The Feminist Wire. Parents as well as teachers eager to teach middle and/or high school students about the routine vulnerability and terror generative of the rejoined, Black Lives Matter, will find an invaluable resource in this special report. Conservative radio commentator Larry Elder weighed in on Fox and Friends over the weekend. [The textbook] is indoctrinating young kids, teaching them black people are victims, Elder said.He argued that the movement would be better off addressing black-on-black crime. If the Black Lives Matter people are really concerned, they ought to say something about the fact that last year 6,000 blacks shot other blacks, and far and away the number one cause of preventable death for young black men is homicide, he added. The textbook was co-authored by Missouri journalist Sue Bradford Edwards and Duchess Harris, a professor of American Studies at Macalester College in Minnesota. Harris is also the author of Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Obama and a co-editor of Racially Writing the Republic: Racists, Race Rebels, and Transformations of American Identity. Black Lives Matter is part of ABDO Publishing s Special Report series of books that aim to help readers develop an essential understanding of current events and encourage them to form their own opinions. There are a total of eight titles in the Special Report series, including Ebola Outbreak, ISIS, and Transgender Rights and Issues. Via: Red Alert Politics ",0 "Ugandan Gay Rights Group Sues Scott Lively, a U.S. Evangelist - NYTimes.com",1 U.S. Releases Satellite Imagery That Shows Russians Shelling Eastern Ukraine,1 "Macron scores diplomatic coup on Lebanon but balancing act under testPARIS (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron s initiative in bringing Lebanon s Saad al-Hariri to Paris puts France at the center of a power struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran and will test a policy of neutrality that critics doubt can be sustained. While the move eased regional tensions that spiked after the prime minister s resignation on Nov. 4, it also exposed the difficulty of Macron s stated position of taking no sides in the Middle East. Macron has put his neck out on Lebanon, said a European diplomat who didn t want to be named talking about an ally s policies. It s a bit like his moment of truth. Hariri, a Saudi ally, arrived in France on Saturday days after announcing his resignation while in Riyadh, accusing Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of creating strife. Many Lebanese believe the Saudis made him quit. President Michel Aoun has not accepted the resignation and Hariri is expected to return to Beirut on Wednesday, when Lebanon celebrates the end of France s colonial mandate in 1943. Macron s maneuver, which came after a visit to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and a flurry of calls, appears to have taken the foreign ministry by surprise, an example of his penchant for bypassing state organs to show he s in charge, much like former leader Nicolas Sarkozy. So far it s a symbolic victory for French diplomacy that has enabled a reduction in tensions, said Stephane Malsagne, a lecturer at Sciences Po University in Paris, adding it was a risky gamble that could antagonize all sides. Macron set out his foreign policy objectives for the region in his first speech to the diplomatic corps in August, saying he wanted France to maintain a balanced position. We will achieve our goal of fighting terrorism only if we do not make the mistake that would impose a choice between Shi ites and Sunnis, and in a sense, force us to lock ourselves in one camp, he said at the time. Some French diplomats say Macron will find it difficult to appease everyone, however. Lebanon maintains a delicate sectarian balance after Sunnis, Shi ites, Christians and Druze fought a civil war between 1975 and 1990, with factions often backed by regional rivals. Hariri is Sunni Muslim and President Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, is Christian. Hariri s government, a power-sharing coalition formed last year, includes Shi ite Hezbollah. This mediation is an introduction for a new French political role in Lebanon ... (and) a French attempt to find a foothold starting from Lebanon into the region, said a senior Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity. But in the shadow of big players (U.S., Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia) in the region, the French will face difficulties. Since Hariri announced his resignation, Saudi Arabia has accused Lebanon of declaring war on it, citing Hezbollah s role in fighting in other Arab countries. France has a long history of commercial, political and social links with Iran that even saw Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei exiled near Paris in 1979, but it was arguably the most demanding of the six powers negotiating the 2015 nuclear accord. Under Presidents Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, who aligned themselves with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, respectively, there was a hawkish shift toward Tehran. Since the deal, Paris has been quick to restore trade ties, with planemaker Airbus, oil major Total and automobile manufacturers Peugeot and Renault all signing deals. That rapprochement annoyed Riyadh, which has been moving closer to the United States under President Donald Trump. We had to reassure the Saudis ... and rebalance things. Prince Salman has gone into overdrive and that s dangerous for everyone so he needs some love from us, said one French diplomat, who asked not to be identified. Tehran is now chafing in turn over France s warming Saudi ties and what appears to be a good relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due in Paris on Dec. 10 for the second time since Macron took office in May. Recent rhetoric has reflected the tensions. At a news conference on Friday, Macron said Iran should clarify what is going on with its ballistic missile program which seems to be uncontrolled . That followed a news conference in Riyadh on Thursday at which Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denounced Tehran s hegemonic temptations . On Saturday Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran s supreme leader, told Macron to stay out of its affairs. Le Drian has pushed back a planned visit to Tehran and talk that Macron may visit next year has become more muted. Speaking to all sides is noble, but this policy in the region will come tumbling down if Le Drian and Macron do not go to Tehran. Our credibility depends on it, said a second French diplomat. Some hardline politicians in Iran have criticized President Hassan Rouhani for trying to strengthen ties with Paris, saying Europeans will not endanger their interests in the face of U.S. pressure. A senior Iranian official said Macron s policy of balance ultimately just offered mixed signals. He talks about curbing Iran s defensive missile work and criticizes Iran s regional policy and then he wants to build closer ties? the official said. France should clearly announce which side Paris is taking.... we like to expand our relations but Paris sends mixed signals and cannot be trusted. ",1 "The Chinese sturgeon, thought to have existed for more than 140 million years, is now on the brink of extinction. No wild sturgeon reproduced naturally last year in the Yangtze river, according to local media. It was the first time since researchers began recording levels 32 years ago.",1 "U.N. chief urges communication with North Korea to avoid escalationUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Friday it was time to immediately re-establish and strengthen communication channels with North Korea, including inter-Korean and military to military channels, to reduce the risk of a misunderstanding escalating into conflict. While all concerned seek to avoid an accidental escalation leading to conflict, the risk is being multiplied by misplaced over-confidence, dangerous narratives and rhetoric, and the lack of communication channels, Guterres told the U.N. Security Council. ",1 "Sacked Catalonia leader calls for opposition to Madrid's ruleMADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Sacked Catalonian president Carles Puigdemont on Saturday called for peaceful democratic opposition to the central government s takeover of the region following its unilateral declaration of independence from Spain. Puigdemont, whose regional government was dismissed by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday, accused Madrid of premeditated aggression against the will of the Catalans. Rajoy removed Puigdemont, took over the administration of the autonomous region and called a new election after Catalonia s parliament declared itself an independent nation on Friday. The bold if to all appearances futile action marked a potentially dangerous escalation of Spain s worst political crisis in the four decades since its return to democracy. It s very clear that the best form of defending the gains made up until now is democratic opposition to Article 155, Puigdemont said in a brief statement he read out in the Catalan city of Girona, referring to the legal trigger for the takeover. But he was vague on precisely what steps the secessionists would take as the national authorities are already moving into Barcelona and other parts of Catalonia to enforce control. Spanish government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said it would welcome Puigdemont s participation in the regional elections it has called for Dec. 21. I m quite sure that if Puigdemont takes part in these elections, he can exercise this democratic opposition, Mendez de Vigo told Reuters TV in an interview. European countries, the United States and Mexico have rejected the Catalan declaration and expressed support for Spain s unity. Puigdemont signed the statement as President of Catalonia, demonstrating he did not accept his ousting. We continue persevering in the only attitude that can make us winners. Without violence, without insults... and also respecting the protests of the Catalans who do not agree with what the parliamentary majority has decided, he said. The secessionists say a referendum on Oct. 1 gave them a mandate for independence. However, less than half of eligible voters turned out for the ballot, which Madrid declared illegal and tried to stop. Opinion polls show that more than half of the 5.3 million people eligible to vote in the wealthy northeastern region, which is already autonomous, do not want to break from Spain. But emotions are running high and the next few days will be tricky for Madrid as it embarks on enforcing direct rule. Calling a new regional election is something of a gamble by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as it could increase the numbers of pro-independence supporters in a new parliament. But Mendez de Vigo said it would give Catalans the final say about how they felt. Asked what would happen if Puigdemont had to face prosecution, Mendez de Vigo said judicial and political powers were separate in Spain and that no one is above the law. He did not comment further. Catalonia s police force told its officers to stay neutral, a step towards averting possible conflict following doubts over how the Mossos d Esquadra, as they are called, would respond if ordered to evict Puigdemont and his government. The force is riven by distrust between those for and against independence and also estranged from Spain s national police forces, Mossos and national officers have told Reuters. Some Catalan officers stood between national police and those trying to vote during the referendum. Given that there is it is likely to be an increase in gatherings and rallies of citizens... and that there are people of different thoughts, we must remember that it is our responsibility to guarantee the security of all and help these to take place without incident, an internal memo said. Government buildings, the headquarters of national political parties, ports, airports, courts, and the Bank of Spain were being guarded, the Interior Ministry said. Units of the regional force could be replaced if events made that necessary, it said. The Madrid government also sacked the Mossos chief, Josep Lluis Trapero, who became a hero to the secessionists after his force took a much softer stance than national police in enforcing the referendum ban. Spain s High Court barred Trapero from leaving the country and seized his passport as part of an investigation for alleged sedition, although it has not ordered his arrest. In Barcelona, thousands of independence supporters packed the Sant Jaume Square in front of the regional headquarters on Friday night, waving Catalan flags and singing traditional songs in the Catalan language as bands played. But there was no trouble overnight and the streets were quiet on Saturday. The main secessionist group, the Catalan National Assembly, has urged civil servants not to follow orders from the Spanish government and to mount peaceful resistance while a pro-independence trade union, the CSC, called a strike. The government said it would ensure a minimum service. About 1,000 people took part in a pro-unity rally in Madrid on Saturday and others turned out in the northern city of Valladolid an indication of the resentment the independence drive has caused in the rest of Spain. Aitor Sanchez, a 30-year-old worker, said he was saddened the government had taken control of Catalonia but it had no choice. These are delicate moments in our country. But I believe we must respect the law. The chaos has prompted an exodus of businesses from Catalonia, which contributes about a fifth of Spain s economy, the fourth-largest in the euro zone. Tourism in hugely popular Barcelona has been hit, and markets have shown signs of concern. European leaders have also denounced the push, fearing it could fan separatist sentiment around the continent. ",1 " BUSTED: The IRS Finally Just Yanked A Trump-Supporting Nazi Group’s Non-Profit StatusIt s time for the IRS to end non-profit status for all conservative organizations.But at least they did the right thing by taking away the non-profit status of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist organization run by obnoxious Trump Nazi Richard Spencer.For years, the Nazi organization got away with being classified as a non-profit. You know, because the IRS apparently doesn t vet these organizations to make sure they legitimately should get such status.That s why conservatives have created a ton of non-profits over the years. It s a Trump-like scam designed to fleece people of their money and not pay taxes on it.But Spencer s little scheme got busted for failing to file tax returns for more the three years starting after 2012.According to the Los Angeles Times,The IRS had apparently misclassified the National Policy Institute and publicly listed the group as not being required to file such forms. The IRS fixed the error in February, and on Monday it updated its records to say that the National Policy Institute s tax-exempt status had been stripped retroactively as of May 15, 2016, when the group s 2015 tax return would have been due.Of course, Spencer is trying to pin the blame on the IRS instead of taking personal responsibility.On Monday, Spencer said an IRS error led him to believe his group was not required to file federal tax returns, and said he would appeal the loss of his tax-exempt status. I don t know what to say. I don t want to make a comment because I don t understand this stuff, Spencer said in a telephone interview. It s a bit embarrassing, but it s not good. We ll figure it out. Tax experts, however, countered Spencer s bullshit by pointing out that ignorance of the tax code is not an acceptable excuse.They should have known that they should have been filing, said Philip T. Hackney, a law professor at Louisiana State University who formerly worked for the IRS, specializing in nonprofits. It s very clear under the law that if you don t file for three years, you lose your status. Chuck McLean, a senior research fellow at Guidestar, a site that monitors and publishes records of nonprofits, agreed. Ignorance is no excuse, McLean said.But the National Policy Institute should also lose non-profit status because the organization openly endorsed Donald Trump. Non-profits are barred by federal law from supporting political candidates.At one event held in November, Spencer received Nazi salutes after telling the crowd Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory! If anything, Nazis should be punched in the United States, not given non-profit status so they can spread their evil agenda.Featured Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images",0 Vatican defends its handling of abuse before a U.N. panel on torture,0 S Ossetia 'will become Russian',0 "I revealed myself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as l Shaddi, but was NOT known to them by my name Yahweh.",0 "'The Kremlin's Central Control Is the Real Disaster' - Moscow is engulfed in smog, 500 fires are still blazing across Russia and the deadly wildfires could pose a nuclear threat. The German press on Friday says the overcentralization of power is partly to blame for the disaster.",0 "UN OFFICIAL TIED TO CLINTONS Set To Face Trial, Found With Throat CRUSHED By Barbell…UN Claims Heart Attack Is Cause Of DeathVince Foster Part II?The death by barbell of disgraced UN official John Ashe could become a bigger obsession for conspiracy theorists than Vince Foster s 1993 suicide.Ashe who was facing trial for tax fraud died Wednesday afternoon in his house in Westchester County. The UN said he d had a heart attack. But the local Dobbs Ferry police said Thursday that his throat had been crushed, presumably by a barbell he dropped while pumping iron.Ashe was due in court Monday with his Chinese businessman co-defendant Ng Lap Seng, who is charged with smuggling $4.5 million into the US since 2013 and lying that it was to buy art and casino chips.Ng was identified in a 1998 Senate report as the source of hundreds of thousands of dollars illegally funneled through an Arkansas restaurant owner, Charlie Trie, to the Democratic National Committee during the Clinton administration. (Ng was not charged with any crime.)Ng and Trie had visited the White House several times for Democratic fund-raising events and were photographed with then-President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton.One source told me, During the trial, the prosecutors would have linked Ashe to the Clinton bagman Ng. It would have been very embarrassing. His death was conveniently timed. Via: NYP",0 "CLINTON GAVE Special Appointment To Estee Lauder Exec After Multi-Million Dollar Donation…Pay To Play!If you need more proof that the Clinton Foundation was a pay to play operation here it is! Executives from Estee Lauder got face time with Clinton once they donated millions to the Clinton Foundation. The left is trying to say that you can t prove a connection but anyone with half a brain would be able to put two and two together. The Prince of Bahrain tried repeatedly to meet with Hillary Clinton but only after donating $32 million to the Clinton Foundation did he get a meeting.Est e Lauder executive Nancy Mahon was appointed to a government council and received special government employee status after donating to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.Executives at Est e Lauder were among those who got face time with Secretary Clinton after they donated to the Clinton Foundation, according to an AP report. However, Nancy Mahon not only met with Clinton, she also was appointed to a government position after a fund she helped run pledged millions to the Foundation in 2008.Mahon is a senior vice president at Est e Lauder and the global executive director of the MAC AIDS Fund, the cosmetics company s charitable arm. Through the fund, she pledged a commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2008. The MAC AIDS Fund ultimately donated between $1 and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation.Mahon was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and elevated to chairperson in December 2011, after launching a public-private partnership with the State Department in June.Clinton thanked all our friends at MAC when announcing the partnership to combat gender-based violence in South Africa on June 2, 2011. Soon we will expand this work through a new partnership with the MAC AIDS Foundation, Clinton said. This is a foundation that is well known to me. I ve had the privilege of working with it in the past. Mahon was sworn in as the chairperson of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, or PACHA, on Dec. 2, 2011.Read more: WFB",0 "More recordings of Irish bankers, One heard laughing as deposits come in from Germany as a result of a Bank Guarantee",1 "Trump on North Korea, Wall Street regulation, tech stocksNEW YORK - Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday that he would be willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear program. He also called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord and said he would dismantle most of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations if he is elected president. Here are excerpts of the interview. On speaking to Kim Jong Un: “I would speak to him. I would have no problem speaking to him. At the same time, I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China. People don’t realize that. They are extracting vast billions of dollars out of our country. Billions. And we have tremendous power over China. China can solve that problem with one meeting or one phone call.” On breaking up big banks: “The big banks aren’t big banks compared to other big banks. In other words if you look at the big banks in Germany or if you look at the big banks in China, I have the biggest bank in the world right downstairs four or five floors below us. ... If we make our big banks too much not big, they won’t be able to compete with the banks from China and the banks from Germany and other big banks.” On repealing Dodd-Frank: “I’m going to be making a statement about this in approximately two weeks having to do with Dodd-Frank. Much of it is very bad. Much of it gives so much power to the regulators that the bankers are unable to function.” “Dodd Frank has made it impossible for bankers to function. ... It makes it very hard for bankers to loan money for people to create jobs, for people with businesses to create jobs. And that has to stop. And will there be bad loans made? Yes, but there are bad loans made now with Dodd-Frank, OK, I mean all you have to do is take a look.” “The rules and regulations of Dodd Frank have made it so impossible to carry out business and to, especially with respect to lending to businesses who are going to employ a lot of people. So I’m going to make a statement about it. But Dodd-Frank – I mean there are some things in Dodd-Frank that can stay but overall Dodd-Frank has been very bad.” On tech stocks: “You have a stock market that is very strange. Could be a little bit similar to, would you say it’s nine years ago now? I guess it’s sort of nine years ago. But you know, you look at some of these tech stocks that are so, so weak as a concept and a company and they’re selling for so much money. And I would have said can that ever happen again? I think that could happen again.” “I’m talking about companies that have never made any money, that have a bad concept and that are valued at billions of dollars. So here we go again.” On auditing the Fed: “I think number one, the Federal Reserve should be audited. You know, they’re not auditing it. And so far not too many people have been able to tell me why. I’m not one that says we should get rid of the Federal Reserve because I think the Federal Reserve has an important function, but it should certainly be audited and ... we should at least watch what they’re doing from the dollar standpoint.” On timing for audit-the-Fed legislation: “It’s not my highest priority. I have other priorities like rebuild our military. ... It’s not my number one priority. But certainly it’s one of the things that we’ll be doing.” On replacing Fed Chair Janet Yellen: “I’m not a person that thinks Janet Yellen is doing a bad job. I happen to be a low interest rate person, unless inflation rears its ugly head, which could happen at some point. It doesn’t seem like it’s happening any time soon. I don’t think I want to at this point - I mean, number one, she’s got time left.” “I would rather have a Republican in the position, but I am not the enemy of Janet Yellen. ... Look, if interest rates were raised and if the dollar went up more, we’d be doing no business. We’re being killed by other countries devaluing their currencies.” On the Paris accords: “Not a big fan. No. Not a big fan because other countries don’t adhere to it and China doesn’t adhere to it, and China’s spewing into the atmosphere.” “Take a look at China with certain agreements where they have to do it within 30 years, and we have to do it almost immediately. You understand what I mean by that? The agreements are not fair agreements, number one. And I would say that I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum, I will be renegotiating those agreements. At a minimum. Ok? And at a maximum, I may do something else. But those agreements are one-sided agreements, and they’re bad for the United States.” On devaluation of the yuan: “China was in big trouble a year ago, now all of a sudden they cut their currency. They’re taking more business out of the United States. ... China, whenever they have a problem, they devalue their currency. And they take more money out of the United States. Jobs, money, product.” Trade: “We cannot allow China and other countries to rip the soul out of our country. And they will understand that.” South China Sea: “They’re building a massive fortress in the South China Sea. They’re not supposed to be doing that.” On Russian presence in Ukraine: “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.” On Russian President Vladimir Putin: “Putin made very nice statements about me. Very strong, very nice statements. I think that’s not a bad thing, that’s a good thing. I think I’ll have a good relationship with Russia, and I may not. And the fact that he’s said good things about me doesn’t mean that, you know, it’s going to help him in a negotiation. It won’t help him at all. And I’ll know pretty soon in whether or not I’ll have a good relationship with Russia. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if we actually did have a good relationship with foreign countries as opposed to the way they’re treating us now?” “Everyone knows. You know on Nov. 1, they’re going to announce new - the numbers are going to come out for Obamacare. They are going to be catastrophic.” “It’s beyond terrible healthcare. And Obamacare in ‘17 collapses. Don’t forget, Obama pushed everything to ‘17 because he’ll be out on the golf course. He’ll be playing a nice round of golf someplace. Obamacare is part of the bubble problem. Now, we’re going to terminate Obamacare, and we’re going to replace it with something much better and much less expensive.” “Well, the lines are very important. The lines meaning the state borders. These people are protected from competition. And you go to these states and they have - it’s almost like a monopoly in many of the states. You have to get rid of the lines. And they almost did it with Obamacare. It almost worked out. “ “I think that Medicaid should be sent to the states. Ok? Let them work it.” “It’s very important that we protect Social Security and our Medicare without cuts. And I’m the only Republican that says that.” “I think he was inappropriate. I think he was totally inappropriate. He’s got plenty of problems, and I think he was inappropriate. So that’s fine... I’m sure I’ll have a good relationship with him.” ",1 "Iraqi army helicopter crash kills seven, military saysBAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi army helicopter crashed during a routine flight on Sunday, killing all seven people on board, a military statement and Iraqi air force officers said. The Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter went down near the southern province of Kut, the statement said. Two pilots and five army officers were killed, Iraqi air force officers told Reuters. A technical malfunction caused the crash, the military statement said. Iraq is slowly rebuilding its air force, once one of the world s largest, after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. ",1 Kim Jong Il names successor,1 "CLASSLESS 53-YR OLD MICHELLE OBAMA Goes Solo On Yacht In Spain: Flashes Photographers In High Slit Skirt…Seamlessly Goes From Straw Hat and Braless Look To “Gangsta”With all of the attention on Melania and the grace, elegance, and class she s brought back to the White House, you d almost think Michelle Obama was intentionally looking for attention, after seeing some of the get ups she s been photographed in since the Obama s vacated the White House in January. The former First Lady, 53, shielded herself from the sun with shades and a black hood to enjoy a hike around the island on Thursday.She was surrounded by members of her staff tagging along for the sweat session, with members of her security team flanking her.Michelle is in Mallorca to visit American diplomat James Costos and his partner, Michael Smith.Her husband, former President Barack Obama, does not appear to have accompanied her on the international trip.The day after her hike, Michelle boarded a yacht, wearing a white crop top and a stylish wrap skirt with a bird pattern.It appears as though Mooch has a little exhibitionist in her, as she flashes more than just a little leg for the camera:Michelle was seen aboard the yacht later in the evening on Friday, enjoying time with a group of friends.The braless First Lady was seen stopping at a local restaurant during her stay on the White House designer s yacht:At one point on Friday, she changed into different clothes, and was spotted wearing a black outfit and a hat while leaving a restaurant.Both she and her husband will have a Secret Service detail for the rest of their lives, Barack having restored lifetime protection for former presidents in 2013.Costos and Smith are longtime friends of the Obamas, and have previously hosted the family several times at their residence in Palm Springs, California.Barack and Michelle jetted off to the glamorous home during their first trip out of Washington, DC on the day of President Donald Trump s inauguration in January.Smith, a designer, previously redecorated the Oval Office and the Obamas private quarters during their time at the White House. Daily Mail ",0 "Georgia Teachers Fired for Pro-Trump CommentsThe DeKalb County Georgia School Superintendent, Stephen Green, has issued a warning to all teachers against making statements in support of President Donald Trump or his policies. Since the warning was given, two teachers have already been forced to tender their resignation.Via World Net Daily: Green is now taking it a step further, warning teachers not to inject their personal beliefs into the classroom if they line up with those of the president of the United States.Green told a local newspaper, the Champion, that his Jan. 30 statement sought to grant students assurance that DeKalb County Schools officials remain committed to being culturally responsive, diverse and supportive of DeKalb County s immigrant population. Our schools will be safe places for learning and teaching, he wrote in the statement. We will not tolerate any form of bullying or discrimination on or off district property that interferes with learning or the rights of others. Apparently teaching jobs in some Georgia public schools now include furthering the superintendent s personal political views.(Source: The Gateway Pundit)",0 "No. 2 Senate Republican voices unease over Trump candidacy: CNNWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The No. 2 Republican in the Senate said on Monday he was worried that Donald Trump could be an “albatross” for Republicans running in other races if he were to win the party’s nomination for president, CNN reported. “We can’t have a nominee be an albatross around the down-ballot races,” John Cornyn, the Senate majority whip, said when asked if he had concerns about the possibility Trump could win the nomination, according to CNN. “That’s a concern of mine.” “I think he certainly is a controversial figure,” the Texas senator told CNN. “I think we need someone who can unify the party, as opposed to divide the party.” (Reporting by Timothy Ahmann; Editing by Eric Walsh) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 " Leaked Footage Of Johnny Depp Shows How Aggressive He Was To Amber Heard (VIDEO)Shortly after Amber Heard revealed that she suffered abuse from a partner, who happened to be famed actor Johnny Depp, many people quickly decided to claim that she was lying. They didn t want to dare believe that such a beloved actor and character on film could be so abusive in real life.Many even said that seeing Heard out with friends and smiling days after she reported the abuse was proof of her lying. As if she s supposed to stay in hiding and never smile again. God forbid she go out with friends and be happy away from a destructive relationship.Well, it seems Heard most definitely wasn t lying as TMZ just released footage that she secretly took of Depp being intoxicated, slamming around, kicking doors, drinking heavily in the morning with very distressing and reactive behavior towards her. Then, when he notices she s recording, getting increasingly angry, grabbing the camera, and then that s when it goes dark.Of course, TMZ stated: Sources connected with Johnny tell TMZ the video is heavily edited and there are portions where Amber is seen smiling and egging him on. The sources add the video was a complete set up by Amber. However, here s the thing, the video was shot in one shot, there doesn t seem to be anywhere it could be edited.It s important to remember to not make a villain of a victim as it is what seems to be happening with Heard because the alleged abuser is a beloved actor. We need to listen to her, especially before this happens to anyone else.Here s the video via TMZ.Video evidence just surfaced of Johnny Depp being extremely aggressive towards Amber Heard, smashes wine glass pic.twitter.com/JgkNDXLUY6 Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 13, 2016Featured image via video screen capture",0 "Canada tries to cut cost of US drug, gets sued",1 "No reason to believe Trump is target of any investigation: White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - There is no reason to believe that U.S. President Donald Trump is the target of any investigation, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Wednesday. “There is no reason that we have to think that the president is the target of any investigation whatsoever,” Spicer said at a news briefing. Trump, without offering evidence, said in tweets on Saturday that he had been wiretapped by then-President Barack Obama during the 2016 presidential campaign. ",1 "Activists to appeal new South African nuclear plant decisionCAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Greenpeace Africa and other NGOs intend to appeal against South Africa s decision to grant an environmental permit for a new 4,000 megawatt nuclear plant close to Cape Town, the activists said on Monday. Last month South Africa s department of environmental affairs granted authorization to state-owned power utility Eskom to build the new plant at Duynefontein, close to the continent s only existing nuclear site Koeberg. South Africa s nuclear regulator said in October that an installation site license for the plant would likely be granted in June, despite the finance minister saying construction of a new plant was unaffordable in a stagnant economy facing further credit downgrades. If this project goes ahead, it will infringe the environmental rights of both present and future generations. This authorization can and must be challenged, Penny-Jane Cooke, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Africa, said in a statement. South Africa s nuclear plans are shrouded in controversy and uncertainty, with local activists and the media raising concerns about transparency and costs as well as safety and environmental risks at a time when Pretoria is trying to reduce the economy s heavy reliance on coal power. Nuclear reactor makers including Rosatom, South Korea s Kepco, France s EDF and Areva, Toshiba-owned Westinghouse and China s CGN are eyeing the South African project, which could be worth tens of billions of dollars. ",1 Hello Wikileaks? Huge UK Bank gags newspaper from revealing multi-million pound tax rort.,0 "VAN JONES Guarantees 8 Years Of President Trump: “That Was One Of The Most Extraordinary Moments In American Politics You Have Ever Seen…Period” [VIDEO]Van Jones praised President Trump for honoring the widow of a Navy SEAL killed during a raid in Yemen, saying he became president of the United States in that moment. Period. There are a lot of people who have a lot of reason to be frustrated with him, to be fearful of him, to be mad of him, but that was one of the most extraordinary moments you have ever seen in American politics period, Jones said on CNN.Jones, a liberal commentator who frequently criticizes Trump, said the president did something extraordinary. Watch:.@VanJones68 on Trump's emotional moment: If he finds a way to keep doing that, ""he's going to be there for 8 years"" https://t.co/sWVszYjiuj CNN (@CNN) March 1, 2017During his address Tuesday night to Congress, Trump said the nation will never forget the sacrifice of Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William Ryan Owens. Ryan s legacy is etched into eternity, Trump said, to another standing ovation during which Carryn Owens, the widow of the SEAL, also stood to applaud.The applause break was one of the longest and most bipartisan of the night, and prompted Trump to ad-lib: Ryan is looking down right now, and he s very happy because I think he just broke a record. The Hill ",0 "US ambassador and 3 staff members killed in an attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya",1 "In abrupt shift, Trump warms to China and NATO, sours on RussiaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - After less than three months in office, President Donald Trump has abruptly shifted his stance on an array of foreign policy issues from the U.S. relationship with Russia and China to the value of the NATO alliance. Trump, who ran for the White House on a pledge to shake up the status quo in Washington, repeatedly lashed out at China during the campaign, accusing Beijing of being a “grand champion” of currency manipulation. Candidate Trump also dismissed the NATO military alliance as obsolete and said he hoped to build warmer ties with Russia. But at a White House news conference and in a newspaper interview on Wednesday, he offered starkly different views on those issues, saying his relationship with Moscow was souring while ties with Beijing were improving. He also lavished praise on NATO, saying it was adapting to changing global threats. “I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete,” Trump said as he stood at a news conference alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in the White House East Room on Wednesday. The reversals on Russia and NATO could reassure U.S. allies in Europe who were rattled by Trump’s overtures toward Moscow during the campaign. But the president’s talk of “bonding” with Chinese President Xi Jinping could sow confusion in Asia, where U.S. allies are fearful of a rising China. Trump’s apparent shifts toward a more conventional foreign policy came amid infighting within his administration that has lately seen a decline in the influence of political operatives, mainly his chief strategist, Steve Bannon. Six months ago, candidate Trump suggested he was eager for an alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “If he says great things about me, I’m going to say great things about him,” Trump said last September. “ALL-TIME LOW” On Wednesday, however, Trump said he had growing concerns about Russia’s support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “We may be at an all-time low in terms of a relationship with Russia,” said Trump, who ordered the firing of U.S. cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield last week to punish Assad for suspected use of poison gas in Syria’s civil war. While criticizing Russia on Wednesday, Trump said he and Xi had bonded during the Chinese president’s visit to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where they dined together with their wives and held talks. Ahead of that visit, Trump had predicted “difficult” discussions on trade. The improving ties with Beijing were underscored when Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview on Wednesday that he would not declare China a currency manipulator as he had pledged to do on his first day in office. Trump, a former real estate developer, took office in January as a government novice whose foreign policy mantra during was a vow to keep America safe and build up the U.S. military. Christine Wormuth, former undersecretary of defense in the Obama administration, said Trump had a “steep learning curve” on foreign policy when he came into office but that it was beginning to even out. “He’s starting to have a more nuanced and deeper understanding of a lot of issues,” said Wormuth, now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The evolving Trump foreign policy appears to reflect less of the influence of his campaign team and more the views of Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, all of whom are deeply skeptical of Russia. Trump’ former national security adviser, retired General Michael Flynn, was forced to resign on Feb. 13 for contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States before Trump took office. The new tone on foreign policy comes as Trump has been trying to settle the palace intrigue inside the White House, where Bannon, former chief of the conservative Breitbart News organization, has been at odds with the more mainstream Jared Kushner, the senior White House adviser who is Trump’s son-in-law. In an interview with the New York Post on Tuesday, Trump offered only lukewarm support for Bannon. “I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. ",1 "Argentines are now allowed to know the real rate of inflation, thanks to their courts",1 "US-Funded Hospital in Afghanistan Has 3 Light Bulbs, Forces Staff to Wash Newborns in River Water",1 "WHEW! AMB JOHN BOLTON Will Make Your Day With Just Two Words: “He’s History” [Video].@AmbJohnBolton on Obama legacy: He s history. We re just waiting for the calendar to turn. Any exec order he signs can be reversed #Dobbs pic.twitter.com/UOBwUS5K96 Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) January 4, 2017",0 "A Germans Video Likens Mao to Hitler, and China Wants Him Punished",0 "No threat to Qatar's right to host: Fifa will announce Qatar faces no threat to its right to host the 2022 World Cup despite proven bribery, slave labor, extreme heat, and strict Islamist laws",1 Calais 'Jungle' migrants ordered to vacate by Tuesday or face being forcibly removed,0 More Internet Censorship coming up in Europe?!,1 "China slams Indian minister's visit to disputed border regionBEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday criticized a visit by India s defense minister to the remote state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims, saying it would complicate efforts by both sides to maintain peace along the disputed border region. The latest row over Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas that China claims as southern Tibet suggests the neighbors remain far apart, despite recent attempts to defuse tension. On Sunday, Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took stock of defense preparedness in Arunachal Pradesh along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto, but disputed, border between the two countries. Sitharaman also tweeted pictures of her visit, including her meeting with Indian army officers. China lashed back on Monday. An Indian official going to a disputed region on the China- India border will perhaps make the issue even more complex, and is not beneficial to efforts by both parties to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. India s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, New Delhi has reacted strongly to any attempts challenging its sovereignty over Arunachal. China and India have tried to develop two-ways ties in recent years but there is still deep distrust over the border dispute. In April, China slammed India s decision to host Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in the region, saying it could cause serious damage to relations. China hoped India could meet it half-way to resolve their differences, Hua said. We hope India can work with China to continue to use talks to appropriately resolve the border issue via negotiation and create good conditions and atmosphere, she added. ",1 " Chuck Schumer Has A BRILLIANT Response To Trump Calling Him A ‘Clown’Donald Trump is set to take office as President of the United States in just 15 days, and one would think he d be making the final appointments to his cabinet and trying to make sure he is prepared to work for the American people on day one. However, this is Trump we re talking about here, so of course he isn t. What is he doing instead? Why, he s busy calling Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) a clown. Well, Schumer is clearly a lot smarter than Trump, and in the wake of the president-elect tweeting insults at him, Schumer decided to hit back in a much classier way.The newly elected Minority Leader was speaking with the press (something Trump has refused to do since July) regarding the GOP s ill-advised and partisan plan to immediately repeal the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, with nothing to replace it, when he addressed Trump s insults. Schumer said: I d say to president-elect that this is serious, serious stuff. People s health is at stake, people s lives are at stake. Now, we understand that President-elect Trump is in a difficult spot, that Republicans are in a difficult spot. They want to repeal the ACA, and they have no idea how to replace it. As for the insults, Schumer continued: Instead of calling names, [the] president-elect should roll up his sleeves and show us a replacement plan that will cover the 20 million Americans who gained coverage, that will cover students or post-college students, 21 to 26, who want to stay on their parents plan, that will show how we cover people with pre-existing conditions. So I d say to the president-elect and the Republicans that this is not a time for calling names. It s time for them to step up if they want to repeal, and show us what they replace it with. Indeed. The GOP clearly has no plan to replace Obamacare, though they ve had six years to come up with one. Instead, the incoming president-elect continues to spend his transition time insulting lawmakers, private citizens, and intelligence community instead of doing his damn job.Good luck, Congress. You ve gotta work with a nutcase now. Hope you have a mental ward somewhere up there on Capitol Hill. You ll be needing it with this guy.Featured image via Aaron P. Bernstein via Getty Images",0 "Russian police say they have arrested a man who hacked a video billboard to show a porn movie, bringing traffic to a standstill on a busy Moscow road.",1 How the secretly negotiated TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) will gut environmental protection,0 "Trump, declining to provide evidence, says thinks Obama adviser Rice committed crime: NYT ((This story published on April 5th corrects typographical error in paragraph 8)) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he thinks Susan Rice, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama, committed a crime by seeking the identities of Trump associates mentioned in intercepted communications, but he declined requests for evidence, the New York Times reported. In an interview, Trump declined to tell the New York Times whether he had reviewed intelligence to bolster his claim about Rice but said he would explain himself “at the right time.” Rice said she had no immediate comment on the president’s remarks when contacted by Reuters. Later on Wednesday, Erin Pelton, a spokesman for Rice, said in an email to Reuters: “I’m not going to dignify the President’s ludicrous charge with a comment.” Trump and his allies have focused on unsubstantiated reports that Rice, who served as Obama’s national security adviser, disclosed the names of Trump aides swept up in U.S. surveillance of foreign targets. Rice dismissed the reports as “absolutely false” in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday. According to five U.S. intelligence officials, Rice followed standard procedure in requesting the National Security Agency to reveal to her the names of American citizens who had been in contact with Russians whose communications were monitored by U.S. intelligence. It is unlikely she would have known that any unidentified American had a connection to Trump, the officials said. As White House national security adviser, Rice could not order the NSA to reveal the identities of any Americans. Instead, she could only request it to do so. Such requests, which a number of senior officials are authorized to make, trigger a legal and intelligence review by the agency to determine whether revealing the name has potential intelligence value and could expose a security threat to the United States, said one of the officials, who is familiar with the process and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal intelligence procedures. There is nothing unusual, much less suspicious, about any request by Rice, said another intelligence official, especially since it could have revealed Russian intelligence contacts or agents operating in the United States. This official and two other intelligence officials said the NSA often receives dozens of such requests in a month. John Culhane, a professor at Widener University Delaware Law School, said he thought Rice could have a credible libel lawsuit against Trump. Though public figures like Rice face a higher standard in bringing such claims, Culhane said she could contend Trump demonstrated a “reckless disregard” for the truth. But the president typically enjoys immunity from civil lawsuits over official acts, Culhane noted, and a court could find that Trump’s interview with the newspaper was within the scope of his official duties. ",1 "Clinton gets Sanders endorsement in show of party unityPORTSMOUTH, N.H. (Reuters) - Democrat Bernie Sanders endorsed former rival Hillary Clinton for president in a display of party unity on Tuesday, describing her as the best candidate to fix the United States’ problems and beat Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election. With Clinton nodding in agreement beside him, Sanders put aside their bitter campaign for the Democratic nomination and said she would take up the fight to ease economic inequality, make college more affordable and expand healthcare coverage for all Americans. “This campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face, and there is no doubt in my mind that, as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that,” he told a raucous crowd in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, that included plenty of vocal Sanders supporters. “I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States,” the U.S. senator from Vermont said. His endorsement, five weeks after Clinton became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, brought the most prominent holdout in the party’s liberal wing into her camp. Sanders threw Clinton his support less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where she is to be formally nominated. “I can’t help but reflect on how much more enjoyable this election will be now that we are on the same side,” Clinton said of Sanders. “Thank you, Bernie, for your endorsement, but more than that, thank you for your lifetime of fighting injustice.” Trump ridiculed the move in a series of Twitter posts, saying Sanders had abandoned the supporters who flocked to his insurgent campaign to rein in Wall Street and get big money out of politics. “Bernie Sanders endorsing Crooked Hillary Clinton is like Occupy Wall Street endorsing Goldman Sachs,” Trump said on Twitter. In a statement, the Trump campaign said Sanders was now officially part of the rigged system the senator had criticized during his long primary battle with Clinton. “Bernie’s endorsement becomes Exhibit A in our rigged system - the Democrat Party is disenfranchising its voters to benefit the select and privileged few,” said Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser to Trump. In a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday, Clinton extended her lead over Trump to 13 percentage points, up from 10 points at the end of last week. The former U.S. secretary of state hopes the Portsmouth appearance with Sanders will help her win over his supporters, some of whom held Sanders signs at the rally and chanted his name. In recent Reuters/Ipsos polling, only about 40 percent of Sanders backers said they would back Clinton, and the crowd at Tuesday’s rally made it clear she still had work to do. “I am absolutely certain I will not vote for Hillary Clinton,” said Gale Bailey, a Sanders supporter and an unemployed graphic designer from Rochester, New Hampshire, who attended the rally in a Sanders T-shirt. “She’s a crook, and I’m not going to vote for a crook,” Bailey said, adding that she would write in Sanders’ name on the November ballot. The joint appearance concluded weeks of negotiations between the two camps as Sanders pressed for concessions from Clinton on his liberal policy agenda. It came after Clinton last week adopted elements of Sanders’ plans for free in-state college tuition and expanded affordable healthcare coverage. Sanders also successfully pushed to include an array of liberal policy positions in the Democratic platform, which a committee approved on Saturday. Sanders did not win all of his policy fights, most notably failing to win support for blocking a congressional vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. But he told the Portsmouth rally that “our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratically controlled Senate, a Democratically controlled House and a Hillary Clinton presidency – and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen.” In an email to supporters after the rally, Sanders said he would still push for changes to the party’s nominating process to make it more inclusive. In the months ahead, he will campaign around the country for progressive congressional candidates, he said. Also on Tuesday, a source with knowledge of the process said the Clinton campaign is vetting James Stavridis, a retired four-star Navy admiral, as a potential vice presidential running mate. Stavridis, who served as supreme allied commander at NATO, is currently dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Top Democrats, including President Barack Obama and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a favorite of the party’s liberal wing, have already announced their support for Clinton, leaving Sanders at risk of being left behind in the Democratic battle against Trump. “I think all signs point to the fact that we’re going to have a very united party going into Philadelphia,” Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said on CNN earlier on Tuesday, “and when you compare it to the Republicans, we’re going to be miles ahead of them.” Trump has struggled to unify the Republican Party after alienating many establishment figures with his stances on immigration, Muslims and women. A number of prominent Republicans are skipping the party’s convention in Cleveland next week. ",1 Modern Iranian Culture for Dummies,0 "BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: BLACK REPUBLICAN Fired From Radio Station After Spending Time With Trump In DetroitFor just a little over four months, Wayne Bradley could be heard spreading the conservative message on Detroit s 910AM Superstation. Then GOP nominee Donald Trump came to town, and things changed drastically.We ve known soft-spoken conservative, Wayne Bradley for several years. He s never been afraid of controversy and has always stood up for his conservative beliefs.On Friday, Bradley told us in an exclusive interview that local media had reached out to him when Trump came due to his position as State Director of African American Engagement for the Republican National Committee. Bradley who was unpaid during his time at the station didn t mention his affiliation with 910AM, which, he said, he generally doesn t do when discussing political issues with the media.He also met Trump and posted a photo of him with the candidate. When asked, Bradley said he had nothing to do with Trump s visit and was at at the rally with a pastor.The station, which was well aware of his work with the GOP, informed him by email that he was on hiatus that Friday, leading him to believe he would be back on the air shortly. But that wasn t the case.He received clarification on Monday that the show was canceled for good.It s not clear why station management decided to cancel the show.A station representative told 100 Percent FED UP, It was a business decision on the back-end. We contacted 910AM and spoke to an administrative assistant who refused to provide her name. According to the person we spoke to, no one at the station was available for comment because they were, very, very busy with meetings about Bradley s dismissal.The unnamed assistant told us that a statement would be released, but she was unsure when that might happen.But that s not what station owner Kevin Adell told the Detroit News. According to that report, Bradley was allegedly fired for violating corporate policy. He violated corporate policy, that s why he got fired. He was let go for insubordination. But it s not clear what policy Bradley allegedly violated. Bradley suggested it may have been due to the fact he didn t plug the station during interviews with the press.Regardless of the reason, Bradley said he appreciated the opportunity to have a dialogue with the community and was very grateful to have the air time.Moreover, he said that he understands the left-wing political climate in Detroit and respects the owner s decision.While he respects the decision, he told us he was disappointed with management for silencing the dialogue. Others weren t happy with the decision and made their feelings known on the station s Facebook page. 910AM where blacks are kept on the Gov ment PLANTATION and other views of them PROSPERING on their own merits is not allowed, one person said. Your way or the hiway-not the station I want to listen to-I m out!!! another person added. I would like to know where Wayne Bradley is at? Why is he not on the air? Shameless, commented a third critic.Bradley, who has been in radio off and on for about six years, says he s not worried and knows that something better will come along.And, he added, he appreciates the support of the listeners who reached out to the station.Meanwhile, the Oakland County Republican Party has offered their support for Wayne Bradley and asked fellow Republicans to call Superstation 910AM at:Station Phone: (248) 278-0910 Fax: (248) 350-3422 Studio Phone: (313) 209-9000Attention: Kevin Adell, Owner of 910 AM Dody Johnson, Station ManagerIn the meantime, Bradley said he ll continue his daily outreach efforts something he s been doing since September 2013. It s a different battle in Detroit, he told us. The key, he added, is to stay positive. As for the incident with 910AM, Bradley said he views it as a minor speed bump. ",0 "Ontarios ombudsman: The G20 summit regulation that expanded police search powers entrapped legitimate protesters and ""likely"" violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. ""Here in 2010 is the province of Ontario conferring wartime powers on police officers in peacetime.""",1 "Aeromexico places $11 billion order with Boeing | Reuters",1 "Trump to hold town hall meeting with about 50 business leadersWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump plans to hold a town hall meeting with about 50 business leaders on Tuesday at the White House to talk about ways of improving the business climate, his administration said on Monday. The meeting, which will include the chief executives of Citigroup Inc, Blackstone Group LP, JetBlue Airways Corp, Mastercard Inc and the New York Stock Exchange, will involve discussions on infrastructure, modernizing government, workforce development and creating a pro-business climate. It comes as the administration is shifting its focus to tax reform and possibly a major investment in infrastructure after suffering a major setback when a Trump-backed healthcare reform package failed to win enough support to pass the House of Representatives. The town hall is an “opportunity to discuss policies to create a pro-business climate with top Partnership CEOs from all industries,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said Trump has held a series of meetings with chief executives and other business leaders since taking office in January as he has prodded companies to add U.S. jobs and asked how government could reduce regulations to boost economic growth. The town hall is scheduled to last an hour and 45 minutes and include banking, private equity and hedge funds, insurance companies and others. Also taking part will be Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and a senior adviser. Among the business leaders attending are senior executives from General Electric, Hearst, HSBC Bank USA, Interpublic Group, Vornado Realty Trust, Centerbridge Partners and Paulson & Co. Trump, who was a real estate mogul before entering the White House, has pledged to use his business acumen to revitalize the American economy and create millions of jobs. While the Republican president has begun the process of rolling back some labor and environmental regulations that he said were harming businesses, the administration has yet to secure a significant legislative victory to support his efforts to boost the economy. Trump has also proposed sweeping cuts in government regulations and signed an executive order to roll back some energy rules. Last week, the White House said Trump had named his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, already a White House senior adviser, to take on the additional task of overseeing an effort to overhaul the federal government. ",1 "LOL! PHOTOS Show EMPTY or Nearly EMPTY #NFL Stadiums In Week #6 of National Anthem ProtestersThe owners of teams where NFL players continue to kneel during the national anthem are about to get a very real wake up call as ticket sales and TV viewership continues to tank.Images from NFL stadiums across America have been posted on Twitter, as evidence of how well the player s anti-cop movement is working out for the owners bottom line.More fans attend a local high school football game than the #4 ranked Cleveland Browns vs. the #1 ranked Tennessee Titans game, that was played in the Cleveland stadium:And we are underway #Browns #Titans pic.twitter.com/dcrirhjo6r Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) October 22, 2017The number of empty seats at the Miami vs. the New York Jets game was almost as bad as the half empty Cleveland stadium. by a Miami scribe #NYJvsMIA RT @ArmandoSalguero: Swaths of empty seats here post kickoff. pic.twitter.com/q4Mmdv5UU3 Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) October 22, 2017An article in the Chicago Tribune justified how the underperforming Chicago Bears are consistently able to get away with the mind-boggling rising ticket prices. The Chicago Bears play in the second largest market in the NFL and in the league s smallest stadium. The law of supply and demand dictates that when a relatively small number of seats is available for the most popular sport and team in town, then ticket prices will increase. Thanks to the NFL players decision to kneel during our national anthem, the Bears may not be able to afford to raise the ticket prices, since fans have decided to something more productive with their time than watching a bunch of snowflake football players disrespecting our flag, as a way to support an anti-cop movement that was started by Black Lives Matter.Here s a look at the usually sold out Chicago Bears stadium today:(2/X) RT @lauriekor: Look at all the empty seats #Bears #nfl #emptyseats #chi #CARvsCHI #unreal pic.twitter.com/C5CwhfDx9X Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) October 22, 2017The Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indiana Colts (the team that Vice President Pence famously walked away from, after the players disrespected our flag during the anthem) game was far from capacity:#NFL #JAXvsIND RT @kimklika: Tons of empty seats at kickoff not surprising pic.twitter.com/65AYCSo3NK Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) October 22, 2017There was a sea of blue (empty blue seats) at the New York Jets Vs. Miami Dolphins game in Miami:#NFL #NYJvsMIA RT @nsbbcom: Nobody cares about jet or dolphins @[me] pic.twitter.com/k6wPSlIRJG Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) October 22, 2017This guy, who goes by the Twitter name Fistful of Doom said it best when he said, You know who isn t winning? The NFL.You know who isn't winning? The NFL. This was kickoff time in Jacksonville. Look at those empty seats! pic.twitter.com/fd7CwOuHk4 Fistful of Doom (@fistfulofdoom) October 15, 2017 ",0 "Honduras vote count shows president Hernandez edging aheadTEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez on Wednesday edged ahead of his TV star rival in a contentious vote count that has dragged on for three days. With 81.77 percent of the ballot boxes counted, the election tribunal said both Hernandez and opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla had won 42.17 percent of the vote, though the incumbent had an advantage of 40 votes. ",1 China raises concern to North Korea about rocket launch,0 "BOOM! TRUMP Holds “DISHONEST MEDIA” Accountable : NBC Cuts 9 Minutes From Kellyanne Conway Interview…Trump EXPOSES Them On Twitter [VIDEO]Kellyanne Conway met with NBC s Meet The Press to discuss the findings by US intelligence agencies about Russia and their alleged hacking into the DNC and John Podesta emails. Throughout his interview, crybaby host Chuck Todd tries without success to pin this alleged hacking by Russia on Trump. He also tried to convince his viewers that Hillary lost the election because of the emails that exposed the dirty dealings and the hate the Democrat Party and Democrat operatives have for everyday Americans. Kellyanne Conway won t allow him to distort the truth and control the narrative however, and Todd becomes visibly agitated with her, which likely is the reason they wouldn t air the entire interview. After all, why would they want to have their viewers witness the meltdown of their premier Sunday morning host.In a brilliant move, Trump called out NBC this morning for editing her interview on Meet The Press on Twitter:Kellyanne Conway went to @MeetThePress this morning for an interview with @chucktodd. Dishonest media cut out 9 of her 10 minutes. Terrible! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2017Although NBC aired the edited version of the interview to their viewers, they have posted the full version on their website. The interview in its entirety can be seen here:NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd has a wife who s active in Democratic Party strategic communications, and sometimes donates to Democrats. In 2012, Kristian Denny Todd contributed $2,500 to Sen. Tim Kaine. Todd never felt any need to disclose this during his three recent Kaine interviews on NBC (August 7, September 18, and October 23). Newsbusters",0 "Founder of German anti-Islamization movement Pegida under fire over alleged posing as Adolf Hitler, describing immigrants as cattle and garbage, posting KKK picture along with quote Three Ks A Day Keeps Minorities Away",1 "Costa Rica is now running completely on renewable energy: Costa Rica is running without having to burn a single fossil fuel, and its been doing so for 75 straight days.",0 "The NSA has hacked telecommunications firm Belgacom, targeting information concerning the principal organs of the EU in Brussels",1 "Ireland tortured its children, says Amnesty - The abuse of thousands of innocent children in state- and church-run institutions in Ireland amounted to torture, a scathing report from Amnesty has found.",1 "Spain wont have enough tanks: Catalonia to vote on independence, defy Madrid",1 "Senate parliamentarian rules against tax bill provisions: SandersWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate parliamentarian has ruled against three provision of the Republican tax bill, forcing the House of Representatives to hold a second vote on the legislation, Senator Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday. Sanders, an independent on the Senate Budget Committee, said the ruling could mean that provisions related to educational savings accounts for home schooling and private university endowments could be struck from the measure unless 60 members of the Senate vote to uphold them. ",1 Poll Says Around 60 Percent Russians not in Favor of Military Interference in Ukraine,0 " BUSTED: Trump’s Education Nominee Plagiarized, Which Students Are Taught Not To DoHow can we expect our kids to do their homework when the nominee for the top education post in the nation won t even bother doing her own homework?A Senate questionnaire is not exactly difficult to fill out. You provide your own answers to the questions asked and then your answers are evaluated by the committee tasked with considering your nomination.It s easy for anyone who is intelligent and hard-working.But rather than present her own work, Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos chose to just copy and paste her answers verbatim from other sources without citations.According to the Washington Post,In answering a set of questions from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on how she would address bullying of LGBT students, DeVos wrote: Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment where they can learn, thrive, and grow. That sentence is almost identical to language used by Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department s civil rights division under President Barack Obama, in a news release announcing the administration s controversial guidance to schools on how to accommodate transgender students. Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment that allows them to thrive and grow, Gupta said in the May 2016 release.Oh, and that s not all. DeVos also copied directly from the the department she wants to destroy.In one response, to a question about whether she would continue the practice of publishing a list of schools under Title IX civil rights investigations, DeVos said, Opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has made a determination about the merits of the complaint. That language mirrors an Education Department website: Opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination with regard to the merits of the complaint. DeVos committed plagiarism throughout the 62-page questionnaire. Apparently, she was too lazy to make a real effort. It s either that or she s just not smart enough to answer easy questions. Either way, plagiarism is something students are taught not to do in school and when they get caught they get punished for it by getting a failing grade on the assignment or even expulsion.But DeVos is not a student in school. She s an adult who is up for the top education post in the country. And frankly, that makes her plagiarism much worse and more embarrassing.She should immediately withdraw her name from the nomination or the Senate should reject her. It would be entirely inappropriate for the Secretary of Education to be someone who refuses to do their own homework in their own words. Surely, we want our Secretary of Education to be someone with integrity and real intelligence. Betsy DeVos has neither.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images ",0 Cameron reaffirms there will be no safe spaces from UK government snooping,1 ISIS losing ground to Kurds -- Fears for 150 Christians abducted by the group grow as an ISIS supply line cut,0 " Heidi Cruz Is Not Doing Her Husband Any Favors By What She Just Said On CameraWhile she has come out and defended her husband against the very serious allegations that he is, in fact, the Zodiac Killer, Heidi Cruz may have said something more damaging at a campaign stop in Indiana.The Cruz campaign misspoke, but some say it was a Freudian slip when Heidi Cruz said, on camera: Do you know that Ted has been winning the millennial vote in state after state. He s been winning the women s vote in state after state. Ted is an immigrant. He is Hispanic. We can unify this party. Heidi Cruz: #LyinTed is an Immigrant, not eligible to be President Video:#TrumpTrain#Trump2016#MAGA#INPrimary pic.twitter.com/cvyx9MbC6M The Loud Majority (@TheLoudMajority) May 2, 2016The campaign says she meant to say he is the son of an immigrant (who played a part in the JFK assassination, according to Donald Trump). Cruz just gave all the ammo in the world to the Trump campaign with that statement. Considering the fact they encompass a group of xenophobic bigots, there is no way in hell they ll consider voting for an immigrant and a Hispanic now, especially after the alliance between Cruz and Kasich.And of course Trump pounced on Heidi s comments, saying: Heidi Cruz nice woman. She said this one: My husband s an immigrant! He s an immigrant! That s what I ve been trying to say She was maybe trying to put a Latin turn on it. He was born in Canada, folks.I wonder when Republicans are going to accuse the Cruz campaign of playing the race card. While Fiorina accuses the Clinton campaign of playing up gender for support, maybe she should paying attention to what her running mate s wife is saying.Coupled with his basketball ring comment and now Heidi s he s an immigrant comment, Cruz s chances of winning in Indiana have plummeted. And if that s not bad enough, with an Indiana loss, there goes his chances of getting enough delegates to challenge Trump.The Cruz s comments are now synonymous with the Howard Dean scream and Mitt Romney s 47 percent. Featured image via John Lamparski/Getty Images",0 " Documents Show Clinton Lobbied Congress For Trade Agreements She Publicly And Personally OpposedOn February 19, the State Department released another batch of emails from Hillary Clinton s years as Secretary of State.Among the documents released are emails showing that Clinton lobbied Congress in support of three U.S. trade agreements in October of 2011.The emails show that Clinton personally contacted members of Congress, urging them to vote in favor of the Columbia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA), which was bitterly opposed by organized labor, in both the United States and Colombia, as well as human rights organizations around the world.At the same time, Clinton also lobbied Congress in support of free trade agreements with Korea and Panama.During her 2008 presidential campaign, Clinton publicly decried the trade agreements, calling the agreement with Korea inherently unfair, and saying I will do everything I can to urge the Congress to reject the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. But the newly published emails show that, as Secretary of State, Clinton phoned members of Congress, specifically asking them to vote in favor of the agreements.On October 8, 2011, Clinton received the following email from her aide, Huma Abedin.Image credit: video screen capture via foia.state.govIn response, Clinton stated that she had contacted members of Congress to urge them to support the trade agreements.image credit: screen capture foia.state.govimage credit: screen capture foia.state.govAs Secretary of State, Clinton would have been bound to follow the directives of the president and support the policies of the Obama administration, regardless of personal beliefs regarding those policies.However, as Secretary of State, she also played a very important role in developing and informing the White House on foreign policy issues, including trade agreements.In order to better understand the role of the U.S. Secretary of State, according to state.gov, among other things, the person appointed to this position:While there could be a number of reasonable explanations as to why Secretary Clinton changed her positions regarding the trade agreements with Korea and Colombia, the newly released emails are likely to work against her, when it comes to garnering support from organized labor.As reported by International Business Times here, Bill Clinton s partnership with Canadian financier Frank Giustra, and a subsequent joint venture launched by Giustra and former President Clinton in Colombia, are likely to become major issues for the Clinton campaign in the coming months.Clinton s rival for the democratic party s nomination, Bernie Sanders, voted against both the Columbia and Panama free trade agreements. The record shows that Senator Sanders did not vote on the trade agreement with Korea.As voters weigh their options ahead of the 2016 election, Secretary Clinton is likely to face tough questions regarding her support for the Korean and Colombian trade agreements.How she answers those questions will play a major role in whether or not she can win the support of organized labor.Featured image credit from US Embassy Canada via Flickr",0 "Russian police officer video message to Putin; talks about police brutality, issues and corruption",1 U.S.-funded Afghan hospital project paid $500-a-gallon for gas instead of market-rate of $5 and is still 23 months behind schedule,1 "Bring back the brothel, says female French MP ",1 Dalai Lama Refuses to be Reborn If Tibet Is Not Free,0 A 13 year old Chinese girl was handcuffed and paraded in streets for 20 mins for spilling drink on a govt. vehicle,0 Spain 'to take Gibraltar dispute to UN',0 "Cameroonian journalist to be freed after terrorism charges droppedYAOUNDE (Reuters) - A Cameroonian journalist jailed for over two years for contact with Islamist militant group Boko Haram is set to be freed after a court on Thursday shortened his sentence, his lawyer said. Radio France Internationale reporter Ahmed Abba was arrested in July 2015 and sentenced in April this year to 10 years on terrorism charges that rights groups denounced as a sham. Authorities said they found evidence on Abba s computer of attacks planned by Boko Haram, whose Islamist insurgency in Nigeria, Cameroon and neighboring countries has cost the lives of at least 20,000 people since 2009. Abba has denied knowledge of attacks and protested his innocence. The sentence was reduced to two years on Thursday when an appeals court dropped the terrorism charges but upheld less serious charges of non-denunciation of terrorism. Technically, Mr. Ahmed can be outside today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, given that he has already been in jail for over two years, his lawyer Charles Tchoungang told Reuters. Abba s forthcoming release comes amid a crackdown on dissent by President Paul Biya who is seeking to extend his 35-year rule in elections next year. The government is confronting a growing separatist insurgency in the country s Anglophone regions as well as the threat from Boko Haram. Patrice Nganang, a prize-winning Cameroonian author who lives in New York, was arrested during a visit to Cameroon this month for writing a Facebook post critical of Biya. Nganang is being held in jail until court proceedings next month. Rights Groups and RFI welcomed Thursday s ruling. This ruling is a victory for Ahmed Abba who has been detained for more than two years simply for doing his job as a journalist, said Amnesty International researcher Ilaria Allegrozzi. ",1 Ireland's High Court refuses to grant arrest warrant for Snowden - The Irish Times,1 "Why 2,000 passengers just rioted at an airport in China - more than 2,000 delayed passengers stormed check-in counters at an airport in Henan province, smashing computers and equipment, in response to the airports five-hour long shutdown because of snow.",1 """They will not require the permission of a judge or a magistrate to obtain the information"". Britons: Big Brother is watching.",1 Official: Egypt's Mubarak will not seek re-election,1 "Record numbers of young Japanese do not have boyfriends or girlfriends, and many do not want one.",1 "Britain's Prince William and wife Kate expecting third childLONDON (Reuters) - Britain s Prince William and his wife Kate are expecting their third child, their office said on Monday after the Duchess was forced to cancel an engagement due to severe morning sickness. Britain s monarchy has ridden a wave of public support in recent years due to the popularity of William, Kate, and William s brother Harry, and the news was soon making headlines around the world. Queen Elizabeth, who is 91, said she was delighted. The baby will be fifth in line to the British throne, after grandfather Prince Charles, father William and elder siblings George, 4, and Charlotte, 2. The popular Harry becomes sixth in line to the throne. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting their third child, Kensington Palace said. The Queen and members of both families are delighted with the news. The couple did not say when the baby was due. Kate and William married in a lavish ceremony in 2011 watched by about two billion people around the world. Two years later the international camera crews and photographers camped outside a London hospital to record the birth of George, and returned two years later for his sister Charlotte. George and Charlotte have since appeared on the front covers of magazines around the world and traveled on official royal tours of Poland and Germany with their parents. George will attend his first day of primary school later this week. This is fantastic news, British Prime Minister Theresa May said. Many congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. William and Harry have been in the headlines in recent weeks as they led the efforts to remember their mother Princess Diana who died in a car crash in Paris 20 years ago last Thursday. In a sign of how the young royals have helped to modernize the House of Windsor, the princes have spoken about the trauma of her death and its lasting emotional impact. Harry was in Manchester visiting a center supporting people affected by a bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in May when he gave his reaction. Fantastic, great, very very happy for them, he said. Kate last appeared with the princes on Wednesday when they visited a public garden at Kensington Palace dedicated to Diana but the palace said she would not attend an engagement at a children s center on Monday due to ill health. As with her previous two pregnancies, The Duchess is suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum...., the palace said. The Duchess is being cared for at Kensington Palace. Hyperemesis gravidarum can cause severe nausea and vomiting and requires supplementary hydration and nutrients. The condition forced Kate to be admitted to hospital in the early months of her first pregnancy with George. The couple have returned to live in Kensington Palace after an earlier spell in Norfolk, eastern England, enabling them to dedicate more time to their royal duties on behalf of William s grandmother, the queen. William has also given up his job as an air ambulance helicopter pilot. One of three herself, Kate had prompted speculation earlier this year that she wanted a third child when she was presented with a cuddly toy designed for newborns during a trip, telling William: We will just have to have more babies. ",1 "FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP Just Set Alec Baldwin Straight On His Lie About HerMELANIA TRUMP never hesitates to call someone on the carpet for lying about her Alec Baldwin knows now that he can t mess with the First Lady!A spokesperson for the first lady fired back at the actor after he claimed that she loves my impersonation of President Donald Trump. That is not true, which is why Mr. Baldwin has no actual names to go with his bizarre assertion, the spokeswoman told The Hill on Monday.The Saturday Night Live star had made the remarks on WYNC s The Brian Lehrer Show Monday.The 59 year-old actor claimed the first lady told this person, very high up in the White House brass there, that, That s exactly what he s like. Baldwin has been doing his impersonation of Trump for well over a year now on NBC s late-night sketch comedy show and won an Emmy Award in September for his portrayal of Trump.The president is not a fan, however, tweeting last year that the impression just can t get any worse and calling the show unwatchable. in a tweet from December of last year:Just tried watching Saturday Night Live unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse. Sad Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2016THE BIG LIE FROM BALDWIN: Apparently, Trump is horrified and beside himself that his wife actually thinks it s funny, Baldwin claimed Monday.The 30 Rock star was promoting his new book, You Can t Spell America Without Me: The Really Tremendous Inside Story of my Fantastic First Year as President Donald J. Trump. (A So-Called Parody). READ MORE: BPR",0 "NYTimes: ""Newly available accounts raise questions about the accuracy and honesty of Georgias insistence that it acted defensively against Russian aggression.""",0 "Republican Collins' call for Garland hearings spurnedWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A moderate Republican senator heaped praise on President Barack Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee on Tuesday, bucking Senate Republican leaders who promptly dismissed her call for confirmation hearings. Susan Collins of Maine became only the second Republican senator to meet with Merrick Garland since Obama nominated the centrist appellate judge last month to fill the court vacancy left by the Feb. 13 death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The hourlong meeting came as Republican senators face mounting pressure from conservative activists to go along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to block any nominee chosen by Obama. “The meeting left me more convinced than ever that the process should proceed. The next step, in my view, should be public hearings before the Judiciary Committee,” Collins told reporters. About two hours later, McConnell told reporters: “It’s safe to say there will not be hearings or votes” on Garland. McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley have said Obama’s successor, who will be elected on Nov. 8 and take office on Jan. 20, should fill Scalia’s vacancy. The court is now split 4-4 between conservatives and liberals, meaning Scalia’s successor could influence its ideological direction for years to come. Collins called Garland “well-informed, thoughtful, impressive, extraordinarily bright and with a sensitivity” toward the roles assigned under the Constitution to the government’s executive, legislative and judicial branches. The White House said Garland would meet next week with Republican Senators Kelly Ayotte, Rob Portman, Lisa Murkowski and Jeff Flake for “courtesy visits.” Garland met last week with Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, who called fellow Republicans “closed-minded” for refusing to consider the nomination. Grassley has invited Garland to a breakfast meeting to explain why he will not hold hearings, a Grassley spokeswoman said on Monday. Democrats kept up their attack on Republicans for blocking Garland. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, said if McConnell stood firm, Garland would be “the first presidential nominee to the Supreme Court in history to be denied a hearing.” Flake said if a Democrat wins the presidential election, Garland should be confirmed by the Senate “in a heartbeat” during a post-election legislative session. Some Republicans are concerned that Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, would select a more liberal nominee than Garland. Flake’s fellow Republican Judiciary Committee member Lindsey Graham dismissed the idea of a “lame-duck” session to confirm Garland. Graham said Garland would not be confirmed, adding: “What’s the purpose of a hearing, just to beat him up?” ",1 "Cruz says consumer choice, health savings accounts in Senate billWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on Thursday his proposal for allowing insurance companies to offer policies with less coverage than under Obamacare – if they also offer the higher-quality coverage – will be included in the new Senate healthcare bill. “It is also very significant that the bill includes my amendment to allow individuals to use health savings accounts to pay for premiums. It’s a big deal for lowering premiums, as is the consumer freedom amendment,” Cruz told reporters before closed meeting of Senate Republicans. Several other Republican senators entered the meeting saying they did not yet know what would be included in the retooled bill. ",1 "North Korean state media reported that Kim Jong-il's body will be preserved to ""look the same as when he was alive"" and put on public display.",0 Israeli settlements expanded faster in 2008,1 Children sacrificed to bring luck in Uganda elections,0 "OBAMA Defends Black Lives Matter But Does He Really Want To Support What’s In This Video?But he s pointing the finger at the wrong aspect of violence and death in the black community. If he would focus on the REAL problem of black on black crime he d get somewhere. How can anyone take Obama seriously when he skips over this HUGE issue? Once again, it s all about politics and division with this president. Pitiful! #NYC: #PeoplesMonday on the streets chanting #FTP! #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/KRRrRaHGHs Ash J (@AshAgony) October 20, 2015Meanwhile, in St. Louis, police escorted a gaggle of BLM protesters and some of the demonstrators tried to justify President Obama s faith in them by screaming Pigs in a blanket. Fry em like bacon at their protectors: ",0 "Three skydivers die after suspected mid-air collision in AustraliaSYDNEY (Reuters) - Three skydivers were killed in Australia on Friday after what authorities believe was a mid-air collision. Two men aged in their 30s and a woman in her 50s are believed to have collided while skydiving near Cairns in northeastern Australia, police said. Their bodies were found about a mile from the designated landing site. ",1 Dutch fighter jets intercept 2 Russian bombers in its airspace,0 "Clinton happily yields national spotlight to Trump, avoids its glareWASHINGTON (Reuters) - If you haven’t heard a lot about what Hillary Clinton thinks of a string of controversial comments by Donald Trump that have generated round-the-clock coverage on cable news broadcasts, there is a reason – it’s by design. Since becoming the Democratic nominee last month, Clinton has been touring toy manufacturers, visiting tie makers and dropping in on public health clinics, where if she mentions Trump at all, it is usually to contrast their policies. Her swift condemnation at a Wednesday campaign rally of Trump’s remark that gun rights activists could stop her from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices was a rare instance where she has directly engaged her Republican rival in the 2016 race for the White House. Aides say Clinton’s strategy is simple: let Trump be Trump. Trump has suffered a series of missteps over the past two weeks that go beyond his remarks on gun rights activists, which he later accused the media of deliberately misinterpreting. He has tangled with party leaders, clashed with the parents of a fallen Muslim American Army captain and this week accused Clinton, a former secretary of state, and President Barack Obama of “founding” the Islamic State militant group. On Friday, he said he was just being sarcastic when he made that remark. “There is an adage in politics: Don’t get in the way of a train wreck,” said Democratic strategist Bob Shrum, a top campaign aide to presidential candidates Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Clinton’s advisers say they see little benefit in her going toe-to-toe with Trump over every personal accusation, generating sound bites that would dominate cable news broadcasts. Rather, they are happy for him to be embroiled in controversy while Clinton focuses on policy. Trump’s campaign declined to comment for this story, but the New York real estate developer has accused the national media of bias toward Clinton. He re-posted a supporter’s Tweet on Friday that said the “corrupt media” was deliberately exaggerating his remarks to favor his Democratic opponent. Trump has slipped in opinion polls, and worried Republican Party leaders have urged him to stop making off-the-cuff inflammatory statements that generate blanket, often negative, media coverage and distract from efforts to highlight what they see as Clinton’s many shortcomings. “He’s sucking all the oxygen out of the room to his own detriment,” said Republican strategist and Trump supporter Ford O’Connell. It’s not enough to dominate media coverage, he needs to “win” it, O’Connell said. Trump has boasted that the news coverage he generates means he does not have to spend as much on campaign ads, but political veterans say he is squandering the attention and missing opportunities to win over undecided voters. For example, Trump gave an economic speech on Monday that was meant to help his campaign regain momentum, but it was quickly eclipsed by the fallout over his remarks on gun rights activists. Clinton, meanwhile, has been busy courting local media in must-win states. Her national press pool, which seldom gets to question the candidate, often waits as she conducts interviews with local news outlets. She has granted few recent interviews to national outlets and rarely holds press conferences, a strategy her critics say is calculated to avoid questions about her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state, and the relationship between her family’s global charity, the Clinton Foundation, and the State Department. Clinton, who has said she is one of the most transparent presidential candidates in history, has acknowledged her use of the private email server was a mistake but said she properly handled all classified information. She has denied any improper links between the foundation and the State Department. In interviews with local outlets, Clinton is more likely to face questions about job creation, public health and raising wages - all parts of her platform that she is keen to discuss. In Florida, a crucial battleground state, Republican lobbyist Gus Corbella says the contrast between the local coverage of Clinton’s campaign stops there and Trump’s events has been stark. “Clinton’s campaign seems to have the more disciplined approach,” Corbella said. “The rollout that day is on a specific event she’s attending, a message she’s trying to deliver. Whereas on the Trump side, it’s what crazy thing did he say today and the response to that.” After Clinton’s visit last week to a tie maker in Colorado, the lead story on the front page of the Denver Post was “Clinton pledges millions of jobs.” Trump also featured on the front page, but in a smaller story about “damage control” in his troubled campaign. ",1 "Nobel laureate Satyarthi says up to 500,000 child soldiers worldwide ""When I read that a five-year-old child is given a gun to kill an opponent of a militia group in Iraq... and the child could not handle that gun, he was buried alive... That makes me angry. I think this should make you all angry,""",0 "Hamas has been holding an Israeli citizen captive, against his will, in Gaza for nearly a year",1 India: The government cracks down on sex-selective abortions and proposes a cash-incentive plan to encourage families to have girls,0 "The World Has Gotten More Peaceful, Except the Middle East",1 Too-Big-to-Fail Banks Face New Limits Under EU,1 "Lion populations have fallen by 68% in just 50 years from 100,000 to 35,000 today. ",1 Stephen Hawking joins academic boycott of Israel,1 Cocaine worth $1bn seized in The Gambia - headed for Europe.,1 "U.S. farm lobby turns up heat on Trump team as NAFTA talks near WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With talks to renegotiate the NAFTA trade pact just weeks away, U.S. farm groups and lawmakers from rural states are intensifying lobbying of President Donald Trump’s administration with one central message: leave farming out of it. Trump blames the North American Free Trade Agreement - the “worst trade deal ever” in his words - for millions of lost manufacturing jobs and promises to tilt it in America’s favor. But for U.S. farmers the 23-year old pact secures access to stable, lucrative markets in Mexico and Canada that now account for over a quarter of U.S. farm exports.  Now they fear this access could become a bargaining chip in efforts to get a better deal for U.S. manufacturers. “Perhaps some other sectors of our economy are given better terms and in exchange for that agriculture tariffs would be reintroduced,” said Joe Schuele, a spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation in Denver, Colorado. Another concern is that the mere uncertainty of open-ended trade talks could drive Mexico to alternative suppliers of grains, dairy products, beef and pork. Mexico became even more crucial after Trump’s pullout from a vast Pacific Rim trade pact negotiated under Barack Obama dashed farmers’ hopes of free access to more markets. Next week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is due to outline the administration’s goals for the NAFTA talks to Congress and the farm lobby has turned up the heat in the past weeks to ensure that its interests will make Lighthizer’s list. Operating under the umbrella of the U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade, more than 130 commodity groups and agribusiness giants since Trump’s inauguration have been bombarding the new administration with phone calls and letters, public comments to USTR and face-to-face meetings with top officials who have Trump’s ear. “Our first ask is to do no harm,” said Cassandra Kuball, the head of the umbrella group. Lobbyists said that Lighthizer, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross have been receptive, but the wild card is how Trump ultimately will come down on the talks. They also wonder what concessions Mexico will seek from Washington in the talks due to start in mid-August. Among the groups involved are the American Soybean Association, Corn Refiners Association and National Grain and Feed Association and firms such as Land O’Lakes, Inc., Tyson Foods(TSN.N), Inc., Louis Dreyfus Company North America, Archer Daniels Midland Co. and others. For example, U.S. cotton producers, marketers and shippers in mid-June warned the Trump administration that any weakening of NAFTA “would threaten the health of the U.S. industry and the jobs of the 125,000 Americans employed by it.” Annual U.S. farm exports to Mexico have grown from about $4 billion in 1994, when NAFTA began, to an estimated $18.5 billion this year. With Canada included, that number is forecast to reach $40 billion, quadrupling under NAFTA. Republican lawmakers from rural states that have backed Trump in the 2016 election have sought to leverage their political clout to press farmers’ case at a time when they struggle with low crop prices. Pat Roberts, Republican senator from Kansas, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he used an unexpected invitation for a private White House meeting with Trump to plug in agriculture’s cause in NAFTA and beyond. “He (Trump) wanted to know what was happening in farmland,” Roberts said. “I told him we went through a very rough patch and if we did not have a strong, robust, predictable trade policy, it’s going to make life much more difficult in farm country,” Roberts said of the 45-minute meeting in late June. In May, 18 Republican senators, mainly from pro-Trump farming states, wrote the administration about the “tremendous growth” in U.S. trade with Mexico and Canada as a result of NAFTA. “Efforts to abandon the agreement or impose unnecessary restrictions on trade with our North American partners will have devastating economic consequences,” they warned. Trump’s pledges to crack down on immigration and calls for a wall along the border with Mexico also vex farm state lawmakers. “What I really need is a good, solid immigration system,” South Dakota Republican Senator Mike Rounds said. Given his state’s low unemployment rate of just around 2.8 percent, farmers and ranchers need better access to legal foreign labor, he said. Agriculture Secretary Perdue got a taste of farmers’ angst when met cattle ranchers in Nebraska on May 20. The event was held shortly after Washington agreed with China to resume beef exports, but some 60 ranchers who gathered at U.S. Senator Deb Fischer’s Sunny Slope Ranch quickly turned to NAFTA. “If the president wants to renegotiate that agreement with our neighbors and partners in Mexico and Canada please leave the ag portion of that discussion out,” said Pete McClymont, executive vice president of Nebraska Cattlemen, summarizing the discussion. While lobbying in Washington, some Republican lawmakers have also met with Mexico’s ambassador and U.S. farming representatives traveled south to assure their partners unsettled by Trump’s “America First” mantra. “The common comment is: ‘why are you here? The problem is not with us. The problem is in Washington. Why are you talking to us?’” said Tom Sleight, president and CEO of the U.S. Grains Council. “The new normal is that feed buyers, millers, grain buyers are actively looking at alternative sources,” he said. It will take months to find out how effective the lobbying was. Meantime, some are willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt. Daryl Haack, a corn and soybean farmer from Primghar in northwest Iowa, like others fears retaliation from either Canada or Mexico, but is optimistic it will not come to that. “I think President Trump is a negotiator,” he said. “I think he runs bluffs. A lot of negotiators will do that.” ",1 "BP Admits It Lobbied British for Libyan ""Pan Am Flight 103 bomber"" Transfer, While seeking a billion dollar oil exploration deal with Libya",0 "'Torture was not essential to find bin Laden, US Senate report will find",1 Afghan women jailed for 'running away',1 Brutal Crackdown in Belarus,1 Britain to send military advisers to aid Libyan rebels,1 US Working To Kill UN Privacy Resolutions,1 U.N. urged to freeze climate geo-engineering projects,1 "Meanwhile, in the UK, Lesley Douglas, BBC Radio 2 controller, resigns over the Brand/Ross prank call 'scandal'",0 " GOP Sent Armed Agents To Harass Clinton Aide And Used Your Tax Dollars To Do ItRepublicans in Congress used tax dollars to send armed agents to harass a former aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton as part of the never-ending fishing expedition into Clinton s emails.Bryan Pagliano was a tech aide who helped to set up the server for Clinton s emails, and has made top Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee angry because he is asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refuses to testify.It is unclear why they need his testimony. The FBI and Department of Justice have already determined that Clinton s use of the email server does not warrant prosecution.But Republicans on the committee decided to flex their muscle anyways:But when the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed Pagliano last week, his lawyers said he would again assert his Fifth Amendment rights. They added that he was willing to meet with the committee in private to make that assertion, but was unwilling to do so under the glare of television cameras in a public event.That prompted Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) to dispatch the armed marshals with a fresh subpoena last Friday, Chaffetz revealed in Thursday s hearing. To clear up any ambiguity created by Mr. Pagliano s six lawyers about whether they would confirm service of the prior subpoenas which they refused to do we had the U.S. marshals personally serve him, Chaffetz said.The political stunt was slammed by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) who said, This served no purpose but to harass and intimidate Mr. Pagliano. The chairman ordered this action in secret, without even notifying Democratic committee members of his plan. No consultation, no debate, no vote. Republicans have sought to use their control of congress as a government funded super PAC to attack Clinton. In addition to her emails, Republicans have created multiple committees investigating the attack on U.S. personnel in Benghazi. All of these committees have cleared Clinton and President Obama of wrongdoing, but the GOP leadership insists on wasting more and more money on these cases.And it is all financed by taxpayers.Featured image via Flickr",0 Germany is investing heavily in renewables and it's one of the few economies thriving in Europe,1 " Comey Refuses To Say If FBI Is Investigating Trump/Putin And Gets SLAUGHTERED By Democratic SenatorIf you had any doubt left about whether FBI Director James Comey intentionally helped Trump during the time leading up to the election, you can consider that doubt removed. On Tuesday, Comey came under fire from a Democratic senator for refusing to say if the agency is investigating Donald Trump s campaign connection to the hacking operation spearheaded by Vladimir Putin. As you know, the Russian foreign minister was quoted in various news reports saying that the Russians had had contacts with people associated with the Trump campaign, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden said during Comey s appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Now that may or may not be true My question to Director Comey is: Has the FBI investigated these reported relationships and, if so, what are the agencies finding? I would never comment on investigation whether we have one or not in an open forum like this, Comey replied. I really can t answer one way or another. Unless you have a very short memory, you are probably aware that Comey broke Justice Department protocol when he sent a letter to Republicans last year indicating that the FBI had discovered emails pertinent to an investigation of Hillary Clinton s private email server. After right-wing media and Donald Trump used Comey s controversial letter to create a false narrative that evidence had been uncovered of some sort of wrongdoing, Comey was forced to admit that Clinton committed no criminal wrongdoing. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. Will you provide an unclassified response to these questions and release it to the American people prior to January 20? Wyden asked. Sir, I will answer any question you ask, but the answer will likely be the same as I just gave you. I can t talk about it, Comey told the Senator, who had finally had enough of the suddenly evasive Comey a man who only a little over a month ago was willing to break protocol in what was clearly an attempt to hurt Hillary Clinton: I will tell you that I think the American people have a right to know this. And if there is delay in declassifying this information and relaying it to the American people, releasing it to the American people. That doesn t happen before January 20, I m not sure it s going to happen. If information is not released before January 20, it is likely that Senator Wyden is correct that it may never happen and Comey s evasiveness only lends to the fairly concrete theory that he knowingly interfered with the election by helping Trump build his propaganda campaign.Watch it happen below:Featured image via screengrab",0 "Republican Party backs embattled Senate candidate Moore: official(Reuters) - The Republican Party will resume funding the embattled U.S. Senate campaign of Roy Moore after President Donald Trump endorsed the Alabama Republican, who is accused of sexual misconduct against teenage girls. The Republican National Committee will return to the Alabama race to support Moore, an official said on Tuesday. “We are the political arm of the president and we stand with the president,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The RNC cut ties with Moore last month after several women accused the former Alabama judge of sexual assault or misconduct when they were teenagers and Moore was in his early 30s. Moore, 70, has denied the accusations. Reuters has not independently verified the reports. On Monday, the White House said Trump had called Moore to give him his support. In a tweet that acknowledged the president’s endorsement, Moore quoted Trump as saying, “Go get ‘em, Roy!” In a sign of the deep divide within the Republican Party around the allegations facing Moore, former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney voiced strong opposition to Trump’s endorsement. “Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation,” Romney wrote on Twitter. “Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last month said he believed Moore’s accusers and joined other senators in urging him to quit the race. But on Sunday, the Republican McConnell said it was up to Alabama voters to decide whether to send Moore to Washington. Moore will face off with Democratic candidate and former U.S. attorney Doug Jones in a special election on Dec. 12. Trump’s former White House strategist Steve Bannon will campaign with Moore in Alabama on Tuesday, Breitbart News reported. ",1 "17,000 Form Human Chain At U.S. Base In Japan",0 Wow... Amazing pics of Colorful India..,0 The poverty rate amongst women is the worst its been in 17 years and the extreme poverty rate is the worst its ever been.,1 Israel halts 'dialogue' with UK over war crimes law,1 " Gabby Giffords Shames GOP Rep. For Using Her Shooting As An Excuse To Hide From Town HallsRepublicans across the country have been doing all they can to avoid town hall meetings where angry constituents are waiting. But Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) should win some type of award for his despicable excuse.Earlier this week, Gohmert claimed that he hadn t scheduled a town hall meeting to discuss important issues with the people he represents because with all the angry protesters around he s afraid of a shooting like the one that involved Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. But don t worry. This isn t because he s a coward. It s just that he wants to keep his constituents safe. Unfortunately, at this time there are groups from the more violent strains of the leftist ideology, some even being paid, who are preying on public town halls to wreak havoc and threaten public safety. Threats are nothing new to me and I have gotten my share as a felony judge. However, the House Sergeant at Arms advised us after former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot at a public appearance, that civilian attendees at Congressional public events stand the most chance of being harmed or killed just as happened there. In a scathing statement, Giffords slammed Gohmert for his cowardly comments and basically told him to grow a pair. She pointed out that her offices were open after her shooting. Giffords added that the representative who took her place during that difficult time also continued to hold town halls rather than hide from the people. Her statement ended by shaming Gohmert and telling him, point blank, to have some courage. I was shot on a Saturday morning. By Monday morning my offices were open to the public. Ron Barber at my side that Saturday, who was shot multiple times, then elected to Congress in my stead held town halls. It s what the people deserve in a representative. In the past year, campaigning for gun safety, I have held over 50 public events. To the politicians who have abandoned their civic obligations, I say this: Have some courage. Face your constituents. Hold town halls. Giffords followed her statement up with a tweet that shared the same message.To the politicians who have abandoned their civic obligations, I say this: Have some courage. Face your constituents. Hold town halls. Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) February 23, 2017It is also worth noting that Republicans aren t willing to pass legislation that might help control the massive gun problem clutching the United States. They d prefer to continue playing the puppet for the NRA and then hide from the people they re supposed to represent because they re scared that they might get shot. Unbelievable.Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images",0 " House Intelligence Committee: Trump Lied About Obama, Absolutely Zero Evidence Of Wiretapping (VIDEO)Less than 24 hours after Trump s press secretary Sean Spicer said the president was extremely confident that his accusations against Obama for wiretapping Trump Tower would be proven correct, the House Intelligence Committee scheduled a press conference to say they found zero evidence that this happened. Absolutely zero.House Intel Chair Devin Nunes has been a strong Trump supporter and has repeatedly flirted with launching a full-fledged investigation into Trump s claims that Obama spied on him. Instead, after a week of complete nonsense, Nunes said he and his committee are confident there was not an actual tap of Trump Tower. This directly contradicts Trump s unfounded accusation:How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Despite repeated calls to provide evidence, Trump has not done so. Nunes said in light of the lack of evidence, he isn t buying it.GOP House Intel Chair on Trump's claim: We don t have any evidence that took place I don t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower pic.twitter.com/Ojco3ZFJ1f Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 15, 2017Trump has failed to provide any details about the allegations he made against Obama. According to a timeline of events and also staffers within the White House, Trump got his information which would implicate Obama in a major felony from a story run on white nationalist website Breitbart, which, in turn, had lifted the conspiracy theory almost verbatim from a conservative radio host named Mark Levin. Neither Breitbart nor Levin bothered to offer any proof for these allegations. (In fairness, neither probably expected that their Obama hit job pieces would find their way into the president s early morning tweetstorms and their regular readers, eager to hate Obama, don t typically require evidence for their outrageous claims.)So it s painfully obvious that Trump is a unrepentant liar, but being a Republican hack meant Nunes couldn t let it go at that. He had to try to paint Obama as sinister in other ways. Rather than admit his president is a liar who made these allegations without a shred of proof, Nunes expanded his definition of spying to include the incidental collection of Americans that were possibly tied to Trump s campaign. He hoped this would mean Americans would see that as an intrusion of Trump s privacy.Which is extremely weird because that only goes to show the uncomfortable relationships between Trump and the Russians during the campaign. The very fact that their were incidental collections of information on Trump s staffers was because those staffers (think Michael Flynn) were communicating with Russian operatives who were under surveillance. This would be like having a chat with an ISIS leader then being mad that the CIA listened in.Ironically, that makes Trump and his goons look much worse than either Obama or the CIA.So how does Nunes sleep at night knowing he s supporting a president who is at best a pathological liar? He said he s not sure Trump was being literal when he accused Obama of the worst political crime since Watergate:House Intel Chair Devin Nunes: Are you going to take the tweets literally? And if you are, then clearly the president is wrong. via @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/6inD1Nd89J Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 15, 2017Featured image via Twitter",0 Egypt's army threatens to march with protesters and take over government if demands aren't met by tomorrow.,1 "Britain to limit acid sales after steep rise in assaultsMANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Britain will limit sales of sulphuric acid and outlaw the sale of such corrosive substances to children after a spate of assaults and its possible use to make bombs, interior minister Amber Rudd said on Tuesday. Much to public alarm, the number of incidents where assailants have used acid has risen sharply, with police figures suggesting there had been more than 400 corrosive substance attacks in the six months to April this year. Many victims were left with serious, life-changing injuries as a result. The proposed new laws will make it illegal to sell the most harmful corrosive substances to under-18s while the carrying of acid in public without good reason will be banned. Acid attacks are absolutely revolting, Home Secretary Rudd told party activists at the Conservative Party Conference in the northern English city of Manchester. You have all seen the pictures of victims that never fully recover; endless surgeries, lives ruined. Rudd said she also intended to drastically limit the public sale of sulphuric acid because of its use in making the highly volatile triacetone triperoxide (TATP), known as mother of Satan , which is often used as a detonator in home-made explosives. Police say TATP was used in an attempted bombing on a packed London underground train last month which injured 30 people. The bomb engulfed a carriage in flames but failed to explode fully. At the moment, businesses that sell sulphuric acid have to tell the police of any theft or loss, but the new law would mean anyone wanting to buy it above a certain concentration would have to have a Home Office license. Rudd also announced plans to further restrict the online sale of knives to under-18s following a significant increase in the number of stabbings. ",1 " ‘Family Values’ GOP Governor Caught In ‘Inappropriate’ Situation With Woman (VIDEO)Alabama governor Robert Bentley admitted today that he made inappropriate statements over a period of time with his aide, Rebekah Mason. In a press conference, Bentley denied he had done anything illegal while also denying that he had a physical affair or sexual activity with his aide.Gov. Robert Bentley denies ""physical affair."" #alpolitics pic.twitter.com/YURnodcVD4 Tim Lockette (@TLockette_Star) March 23, 2016The revelation comes after Spencer Collier, the former Secretary of Alabama Law Enforcement, claimed that the governor was involved in an extramarital affair.Spencer Collier, who was fired Tuesday, has come forward with claims that he heard a recording that indicates the governor had an improper personal relationship with political adviser Rebekah Mason, and that Bentley refused to end the relationship even though it cost him his marriage to Dianne Bentley.Collier also claimed that, according to a New York Times report, he had cautioned the governor about the risk of illegal conduct if any state resources were used to facilitate an affair A local news website, Al.com, has heard the tape in question.AL.com has heard the recording though not from Collier in which a man who sounds like Bentley speaks to a woman he calls Rebekah. On it he describes how he likes to approach her from behind and put his hands on her.At other times he says he loves her, and that he should re-arrange his office to make it more private.Like many other conservative Republicans caught in these situations, Bentley identified himself with the family values movement on the conservative right.The 72-year-old Bentley, a Republican serving in his second term, repeatedly has touted his Christian faith and conservative family values to attract voters. He long has served as a deacon at First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa. Bentley made national headlines in 2011 when, shortly after his inauguration, he said, Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I m telling you, you re not my brother and you re not my sister. And I want to be your brother. It s only matter of time before all of the family values GOP politicians are caught in some kind of sexual scandal or another.Featured image via Flickr",0 "Anti-vaccination group encourages parents in Australia to join fake church to avoid ""no jab, no play"" childcare laws",0 Japan shuts down another nuclear reactor; all could be off line by May ,1 "Palestinians who throw rocks from hundreds of meters away as a symbolic protest are shot at by the IDF, Israeli 'settler' fires on group of Palestinian and Israeli protesters and the IDF join in.",0 Facebook to Die on Novemeber 5th? Anonymous says,0 "Senator Grassley could be persuaded to hold hearing on GarlandWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley opened the door to holding a hearing on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland if a majority of senators wish to do so after the Nov. 8 election, in comments posted online Tuesday. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, vowed months ago that the Senate Judiciary Committee he chairs would not act this year to consider Garland’s nomination, saying the Republican-majority Senate should not act on a Court nominee until after the new president takes office early next year. But in a town hall meeting Monday in Cherokee, Iowa, Grassley indicated he could be persuaded by a large number of senators to take action in a “lame duck” session between the Nov. 8 election and the inauguration of the new president in January. “If we have the election, and there was a majority of the Senate changed their mind about doing it in the lame duck, as opposed to January 20, I don’t feel that I could stand in the way of that. But I don’t think I can promote that idea,” he said in a video of his remarks posted online by the American Bridge 21st Century website, which says it is committed to “holding Republicans accountable.” Grassley made a similar point at the Sioux City Iowa Rotary Club, Iowa’s Globe Gazette reported. Garland, a federal appeals court judge, was nominated by Obama, a Democrat, on March 16 to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans insist that the next president should fill the vacancy, hoping a Republican will win the White House and choose a conservative rather than the centrist Garland. But such an outcome is not assured, with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton currently leading Republican candidate Donald Trump in public opinion polls. A spokeswoman for Grassley, Beth Levine, denied he was shifting his position. She said that in Sioux City Grassley reiterated his stance “that a Supreme Court nominee wouldn’t be considered until after the next president is sworn in so the American people have an opportunity to weigh in on this important issue.” Senate Republican leaders have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote on any Supreme Court nominee put forward by Obama. “The Leader has been clear: the next president will make this nomination,” Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said in an email Tuesday. ",1 The presidency of U.N.s Conference on Disarmament is now held by North Korea,1 NASA Releases First-Ever Global Topographic Model Of Mercury,0 Turkish F-16 fighter jet crashes near Syrian border,0 BBC News - Falklands referendum: Islanders vote to remain British,1 "ALARM TURNED OFF: Shocking Details on WHITE HOUSE Fence Jumper: “It was even worse than I thought”Secret Service personnel removed the alarm sensors along an area of fence line when the agency raised its height in response to previous fence-jumping incidents as a way to make it harder to scale. Ironically, the very effort to prevent fence jumping appears to have permitted a particularly egregious intrusion.One source said superiors in the Uniformed Division told Secret Service personnel to remove the sensors and piece them together for use elsewhere. They were never replaced.There are at least 10 to 12 officers and agents, including supervisors from the Presidential Protective Division, monitoring these sensors at any given time. They do so from the Joint Operations Command Center or JOCC, which is located outside of the White House complex.Some agents and officers also are questioning why Secret Service never released the K-9 unit to try to find an intruder after the alarms on the first fence the intruder scaled went off.Rep. Jason Chaffetz weighs in below on details of what the intruder did in those 17 minutes: The White House fence jumper who lingered on the ground unnoticed for 17 minutes was literally just hanging out in plain view with alarms blaring, and the Secret Service had no clue.Congressman Jason Chaffetz tells TMZ he met with the Director of Homeland Security and the Acting Director of the Secret Service for an hour and a half Tuesday, and his conclusion It was even worse than I thought. Chaffetz says the surveillance video is shocking the intruder was not darting around. Rather, he was lingering, hanging out on the grounds. At one point he took the time to bend down and tie his shoes.The intruder at times peered through windows of the building, where Trump was inside. As we previously reported, he also jiggled a doorknob.Chaffetz says some of the alarms failed but some went off, yet the intruder was not detected.Secret Service agents did check the grounds, but not with any urgency. Alarms frequently go off for various reasons, and this time it was met with an inadequate response.And Chaffetz says the video shows agents were simply lackadaisical. As he put it, Everything went wrong. The congressman says he was promised there would be big changes, adding, There better be. Via: tmz",0 "Activist Steyer expands agenda in bid to defeat 'dangerous' TrumpPHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer is expanding his political agenda beyond climate change to embrace issues ranging from immigration to income inequality, which he expects will be critical to mustering votes for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November presidential election. Steyer, who four years ago left the hedge fund firm he co-founded in order to devote himself full-time to environmental activism, said he hoped the broader agenda for his NextGen Climate organization would help undermine Republican nominee Donald Trump. He derided the New York real estate magnate’s policies as “dangerous” and “delusional.” Steyer has directed NextGen, his main advocacy arm, to delve into immigration, racial justice, wealth inequality and education instead of just environmentalism to better drive youth and minority voter turnout for the Nov. 8 election. “We’re talking about a broader group of connected issues, and we don’t think any of them stand without the others,” Steyer told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, explaining the shift. NextGen has already produced ads in California attacking Trump on immigration and his temperament. In one, a group of young people are filmed listening to Trump describe Mexicans as rapists and drug dealers and promising to wall off the border. In another, women look into the camera as Trump’s voice is heard calling women fat, disgusting, and ugly. Steyer said he hoped the broader agenda for NextGen would help undermine Trump. “I show him no respect,” Steyer said. A Trump spokesperson was not immediately available to comment. NextGen’s shift into new issues began a few months ago, Steyer said, and was inspired by his work on California’s progressive Fair Shake commission, launched last year by a group of high-profile activists, academics and former politicians focused on wealth inequality in the state. “That was the genesis to some extent. It allowed us to look deeply at all the related issues,” he said. NextGen has spent about $20 million so far on the U.S. election, and is likely to spend at least another $55 million by election day. Steyer, who has earned a reputation as America’s most influential environmental advocate, has had mixed results in his crusade on climate change, despite the money he has poured into mobilizing voters around the issue. Steyer has battled large-scale oil industry infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, which was rejected by the administration of President Barack Obama last year, and has sought to bolster climate-friendly politicians. In 2014, NextGen pumped around $75 million into efforts to support six climate-friendly Democratic candidates in mid-term elections, but only two of whom won their contests. In the current presidential contest, NextGen has fallen short of its aim make climate change a critical issue, eclipsed by voter rage over issues including immigration, the economy and national security. Reuters/Ipsos polling shows only about 25 percent of likely American voters will make a choice on the basis of a candidate’s views on climate change, although most agree that the United States should act to combat it. Steyer endorsed Clinton last month after she clinched the Democratic nomination following a heated battle against Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Clinton has said she would seek to advance renewable energy use, boost regulation and reduce U.S. consumption of oil and coal if elected. “I can take them at their word that they are going to prioritize this,” Steyer said. Trump has called climate change a hoax and has vowed to cut U.S. environmental regulation to expand U.S. drilling and coal mining, part of his bid to win over blue collar voters. Steyer called that position dangerous. “It would be funny if it weren’t so serious,” he said. ",1 "Baby rape a cure for AIDS - How can this be sick belief be common in a developed country? over 1500 new infections daily, over 20,000 rapes a year",1 "Castro resigns as head of Cuban Communist party, allows Cubans to buy and sell property for first time since 1959",1 "Mayor Jokes About Rape, Brags About Death Squads, Gets Elected President of the Philippines",0 " Jimmy Kimmel Lets A Little Girl Adorably Mock Sarah Palin On Her 52nd Birthday (VIDEO)This is cute and hilarious.During his show on Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel pointed out to his audience that it was Sarah Palin s birthday. The half-wit former governor of Alaska is now 52-years-old and continues to defend her status as America s Village Idiot.Kimmel didn t break out into a rendition of Happy Birthday, even though the copyright claim on the song has been vanquished by a federal judge. Instead he let a little girl on stage to deliver a birthday message to Palin dressed as a birthday card.Third-grader Lindsey then stepped through the curtain dressed as Palin with an American flag as the background and gave the audience the most adorable mocking of Sarah Palin ever witnessed. Hi everybody, I m Sarah Palin! she began. Is today my birthday? You betcha! I m 29-years-old, but the lame-stream media says I m 52. I support Donald Trump, because we need a straight shooter in the White House. I know straight shooters because I once shooted a whole zoo from my helicopter. Well, I gotta go make my husband Todd a moose pie. Obama s the Anti-Christ! Bye-bye! Here s the video via YouTube:As you may all nightmarishly recall, Palin jumped to reappear in the spotlight in order to endorse Donald Trump last month in a bizarre rant that made everyone think of the Yosemite Sam character in the Looney Tunes cartoons. How bout the rest of us? Right wingin , bitter clingin , proud clingers of our guns, our god, and our religions, and our Constitution, Palin said during her endorsement speech. Tell us that we re not red enough? Yeah, coming from the establishment. Right. Here s the perfect Palin/Yosemite Sam mashup via YouTube: ",0 "France's Macron accepts invite to visit Russia: RIAMOSCOW (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron has accepted an invitation to visit Russia and may fly in next year for an economic forum, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, the RIA news agency reported. RIA cited Lavrov as saying Macron might attend the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum. ",1 " Trump Property Already Made Over $400K From The PresidencyDonald Trump rang in the New Year by already making a profit from the public office of the presidency, and he still has over two weeks until he is officially sworn in to the office. Trump made the money on New Years Eve night through a party at his Florida estate/hotel, the very gaudily designed Mar-a-Lago.Unlike pretty much every other elected official, Trump s property charged admission to their event, and the incoming president was dangled like a shiny object in front of the patrons who pulled out their checkbooks to attend this event.According to Politico, Donald Trump s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida charged a reported minimum of $525 per person for a New Year s Eve celebration that Trump and his family were set to attend. On Friday, Trump s incoming White House press secretary told reporters that the party was sold out, with over 800 guests expected at the event. That s more than $420,000 made off of dinner, dancing, and access to the incoming President of the United States.Incoming White House Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks attempted to dismiss concern that the Mar-a-Lago s pricy New Year s Eve Party comprised yet another conflict of interest issue for Trump. The transition is not concerned about the appearance of a conflict, she told Politico. This is an annual celebratory event at the private club, like others that have continued to occur since the election. Additionally, the president cannot and does not have a conflict. So far, the mainstream media has simply allowed Trump and his team the leeway to say there is no conflict of interest, in a manner that has more in common with Obi-wan Kenobi s Jedi mind trick from Star Wars than a truly responsive political team. But very few people outside of die-hard Trump supporters and his tight inner circle actually believe that this is a credible response to a serious inquiry.Trump and his squad will have to come up with more credible excuses or, heaven forbid, stop being so crass and unethical for inquiries to come from Democrats (most of them at least) and the media (maybe). It s probably a safe bet, though, to assume that his fellow Republicans are perfectly fine with rubber-stamping his behavior as long as he has an (R) behind his name.Trump s behavior on this topic also calls into question his repeated assertion that he is a billionaire ten times over. He infamously refused to reveal his tax returns, and now he says and does anything to scrounge up a few hundred or thousand dollars seemingly everywhere he can. That isn t the behavior of a man with billions at his disposal at the drop of a hat. Is his quest for cash simply another area of vulnerability that will be exploited by either his own party, or by a foreign entity? We won t know, at least not in the immediate future.Featured image via Flickr",0 "12th Day of Protests In Greece, Asking ""Where Did Our Money Go?""",0 "South African appeals court more than doubles Pistorius sentenceJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s Supreme Court more than doubled Oscar Pistorius murder sentence on Friday, accepting prosecutors argument that the original jail term of six years for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shockingly lenient . The gold medal-winning athlete, a double amputee known as the Blade Runner for his carbon-fibre prosthetics, was not in court to hear the new sentence of 13 years and five months handed down. Steenkamp s family were also absent but welcomed the revised term the minimum 15 years prescribed for murder, minus the time Pistorius has already served and said it showed justice could prevail in South Africa. This is an emotional thing for them. They just feel that their trust in the justice system has been confirmed this morning, Tania Koen, a family spokeswoman, told Reuters. Rights groups in a country beset by high levels of violent crime against women say Pistorius, 31, received preferential treatment compared to non-whites and those without his wealth or celebrity status. Barry Steenkamp, the father of the slain model, told SABC television the family could now get on with their lives. I always, from the beginning, said justice had not been served, now it has, he said. In the same interview, her mother June Steenkamp said: We felt that we didn t have justice for Reeva by that too-lenient sentence but now we have justice for her. Pistorius elder brother Carl wrote on Twitter: Shattered. Heartbroken. Gutted. The athlete s lawyers could not be reached for comment. The athlete was jailed in July last year after being found guilty on appeal of murdering model and law graduate Steenkamp on Valentine s Day 2013 by firing four shots through a locked bathroom door. The case attracted worldwide interest. He had originally been found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in jail. That conviction was increased to murder by the Supreme Court in December 2015 and his sentence extended to six years by trial judge Thokozile Masipa in July last year. Masipa said in court that while the Steenkamps had suffered a great loss, fallen hero Pistorius life and career were also in ruins, and that a long prison term would not serve justice . Pistorius appearance during the trial without his prostheses had drawn gasps from the courtroom. In a scathing criticism, the appeals court said Masipa s ruling had erred in deviating from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment for murder. The sentence of six years imprisonment is shockingly lenient, to a point where it has the effect of trivializing this serious offence, said Judge Willie Seriti, who read out the unanimous court decision. I am of the view that there are no substantial and compelling circumstances which can justify the departure from the prescribed minimum sentence. Seriti also censured Pistorius, saying his apology to the deceased s family during the hearing did not demonstrate any genuine remorse on his part and that he does not appreciate the gravity of his actions . State prosecutors led by advocate Andrea Johnson had told the appeals hearing this month that there were no mitigating circumstances to justify Pistorius six-year sentence. Defense lawyer Barry Roux argued that Pistorius did not deliberately kill Steenkamp and the appeal should be thrown out. Roux had said during the July 2016 trial that Pistorius disability and mental distress following the killing should be considered as reasons to reduce his sentence. Pistorius reached the semi-finals of the 400 meters at the London Olympics in 2012 and took two golds in the Paralympics. Even in prison, he has been in the news. In August, he was allowed out to attend his maternal grandmother s funeral and spent a night in hospital for what local media reports said was a suspected heart attack. In August 2016, the athlete denied trying to kill himself after he was treated in hospital for wrist injuries. On Pistorius birthday on Wednesday, his father Henke told local YOU magazine that although he was behind bars, it was still a special day for his family, full of love and tears . Legal analysts said Pistorius could still appeal to the Constitutional Court, South Africa s topmost legal authority but saw his chances of success as slim. I don t think it s over. He has one more option, said lawyer Ulrich Roux, who is not linked to the Pistorius defense. All the same there are few grounds of success in this venture, to be honest. Lawyer Zola Majavu said the Constitutional Court was unlikely to agree to hear the case. In my view, that will be a very tall order. It is pretty much the end of the road for Pistorius. ",1 "Dolphin killing town from The Cove is to open a marine park, where you can swim with dolphins, then eat them",1 "Pepper ... kicked off a jock tax, imposing a levy on the sports and entertainment industry.",1 "Trump Jr.'s Russia emails could trigger probe under election lawNEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who had incriminating information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton that could help his father’s presidential campaign could lead investigators to probe whether he violated U.S. election law, experts said. Trump Jr. met the woman, lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, on June 9, 2016, after an email exchange with an intermediary. The emails, tweeted by Trump Jr. on Tuesday, could provide material for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election. In one of the emails dated June 3, 2016, Trump Jr. wrote: “If it’s what you say I love it.” He released the tweets after the New York Times said it planned to write about their contents and sought his comment. Trump Jr. said in his tweets that nothing came of the meeting. Veselnitskaya told NBC News early on Tuesday she was not affiliated with the Russian government and had passed no information. “In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently,” Trump Jr. said in an interview on Fox News. “For me, this was opposition research.” Collusion itself is not an actual crime under the U.S. criminal code, so prosecutors would look to see if Trump Jr.’s conduct ran afoul of a specific law, legal experts said. Moscow has denied interference in the U.S. election, and President Donald Trump has said his campaign did not collude with Russia. Alan Futerfas, Trump Jr.’s lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. One law that might come into play is the Federal Election Campaign Act, which makes it illegal for a foreign national to contribute to a U.S. political campaign. The campaign is also prohibited from soliciting such contributions. A contribution does not have to be monetary in nature, according to Paul S. Ryan, an attorney with watchdog group Common Cause. He said incriminating information about Clinton could be considered a contribution under the act. Ryan said Trump Jr.’s “enthusiastic response” to the offer for information and particularly his proposal in his email to have a follow-up call the next week constituted “solicitation.” “That to me is an indication, a concession by Donald Trump Jr. that he wants and is requesting this information,” Ryan said. Joshua Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law, said Trump Jr.’s emails made it “more plausible” that there could be a criminal case against him. James Gardner, an election law expert at the University of Buffalo Law School, said the election law was intended to target donations of cash or goods and services. He said he did not believe Trump Jr. would have violated the law if he solicited damaging information about Clinton. A federal law known as the general conspiracy statute that makes it illegal to conspire to commit a crime against or defraud the United States could also come into play if, for example, Trump Jr. tried to help Russians hack into U.S. computer networks. There was no indication that Trump Jr. did such a thing. Andrew Wright, a professor at Savannah Law School who was associate counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office under former Democratic President Barack Obama, said he thought Trump Jr.’s agreeing to meet with someone to discuss an illegal act would be enough to trigger a conspiracy charge. “It’s a very powerful tool,” he said. ",1 " Donald Trump Accuses Pope Francis And Mexico Of Plotting The Takeover Of America (VIDEO)Donald Trump used a recent television interview to detail an elaborate conspiracy involving Pope Francis, the Mexican government, and immigration.During an interview with Stuart Varney on Fox Business, Trump explained how he believes the leader of the Catholic faith is in cahoots with the Mexican government to lead a some kind of immigrant takeover of America. As he puts it: So I think the pope is a very political person and I think that he doesn t understand the problems our country has. I don t think he understands the danger of the open border we have with Mexico. And I think Mexico got him to do it because Mexico wants to keep the border just the way it is because they re making a fortune and we re losing. So to be clear, the Pope may be an unwitting collaborator in the Mexican government s evil plan to send their drug dealers and rapists across the border to kill Americans. but Trump believes that during his visit this week, those crafty Mexicans are going to get him on their side for the takeover of America.Barney s other guest, a pastor from Dallas, then essentially backs Trump up in his absurd conspiracy theory. Not only the Pope, but evangelical pastors who argue for a lenient immigration policy are really basing their views not on biblical truth, but on personal opinion. But apparently, pastors who are anti-immigration are speaking the word of God?Hold up a minute. Perhaps the Pastor missed a few pages of the Bible, because there are a whole host of biblical references to the importance of helping those in need, wherever they come from.From the The Parable of the Good Samaritan: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind [a]; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. [b] From Deuteronomy 27:19: Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner (visitor/immigrant), the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. From Hebrews 13:2: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. From Exodus 23:9: You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. The list goes on and on. The Bible is absolutely full of references of the need for generosity and compassion to one s neighbor, newcomers, and anyone who finds themselves in need.In fact, there is also a pretty clear instruction in the Bible against the attitudes that so-called Christian conservatives have towards immigrants, and those in need. Greed, vanity, envy, wrath, pride, gluttony all of these appear in the seven deadly sins. For billionaires like Donald Trump hoard their wealth, splurging it on vanity projects and eating themselves fat, while raging against some of the most vulnerable people on the planet THAT is the very definition of basing their views not on biblical truth but on personal opinion. In this case, a personal opinion that contradicts the core values of the faith these extremists purport to serve.Featured image from Flickr Creative Commons/Screengrab",0 Grand Imam of Egypt's top Islamic Institution has called for a radical reform of religious teaching to tackle the spread of islamic extremism.,0 Split deepens between Iranian reformist and conservative clerics,0 "“COMEDIAN” CHRIS ROCK WAS A RACIST BEFORE IT WAS COOL: “You can’t beat white people at anything…nothing. But you can knock ’em out.” [VIDEO]To watch a black comedian with a net worth of $70 million in a country with a majority white population whine about his victimhood is just pathetic. And for anyone who thinks it s okay for Rock to spew this kind of hatred for whites in a video because he s a comedian, you may want to watch this video (especially starting at the 3:10 mark) because there s nothing funny about anything he has to say: My dad used to say: You can t beat white people at anything nothing. But you can knock em out.' In my neighborhood, there s like 3- 4 black people in my neighborhood in Alpine. It s me, Gary Sheffield, Mary Jane Blige, Patrick Ewing. Hall of Famer, Hall of Famer, greatest R & B singer of our time. Who lives next to me? What s the white man next to me? He s a dentist. He didn t invent anything, he s just a dentist. That s what America is.(So, going to college and becoming a successful dentist is something that was given to him?) Tell the third generation white coal miner about his white privilege Chris. Tell the white single mom flipping burgers by day and cleaning hotel rooms by night about her white privilege Chris. Maybe, just maybe, if you took off your racist goggles for 5 minutes, you might see that blacks don t have the market on victimhood. And if you think anything has changed since victim Chris Rock made this racist video, here is a video he made about the Confederate flag 3 years ago. Watch as he attempts to mock every white person (or cracker as he calls them). The best line is when he calls Al Sharpton Martin Luther King with a perm : ",0 "Qatar flexes financial muscle with 12 billion euros of French dealsDOHA (Reuters) - Qatar will buy fighter jets and armored vehicles as part of 12 billion euros worth of commercial contracts it agreed with France on Thursday, bolstering its military capability and its international ties as it faces a boycott by other Arab states. The latest contracts underscored how Doha can use the wealth it has accumulated as the world s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas to defy some of the largest and wealthiest Arab countries. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade relations with the emirate almost six months ago. They accuse the Qataris of backing terrorism, which Qatar denies. Our position on this blockade was very clear. Qatar s position was very clear - to resolve this problem, if we saw problems between us and our neighbors - we should be at a table and speak honestly, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said at a news conference alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron, who has tried to play a mediation role between the sides, was in Doha to discuss how to combat the financing of terrorism at a time when the Middle East is locked in a regional power struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran. Restoring stability to the Gulf is a priority for us because we have a lot of friends here, Macron said. Our wish is that we find a quick resolution to today s situation. Paris has strong commercial and political ties with Qatar. It has promoted deeper business interests in the country and encouraged Qatari investment in France, where the Gulf state already has assets of about $10 billion. Macron said some 12 billion euros ($14.13 billion) worth of deals were agreed on Thursday. They included Qatar s taking up an option from 2015 to buy 12 more Dassault Aviation-made Rafale fighters, and saying it could purchase a further 36. It has already bought 24 planes for about 6 billion euros, including missiles. It also committed to buying 490 armored vehicles from defense firm Nexter. Doha has repeatedly called for dialogue with its neighbors, although it has strengthened its military as relations with them have deteriorated. It has secured this year alone military equipment deals with the United States, Russia and Britain. In total, it amounts to nearly 12 billion euros which was signed today and which underlines the closeness of our economic cooperation, Macron said. Among other deals signed, Suez SEVI.PA will dredge and clean Qatar s lagoon and a rail consortium of RATP and SNCF will build and operate a metro system in the Qatari capital. Qatar Airways also placed a new order for Airbus A321neo civilian aircraft to replace an earlier A320neo order. The new deal for larger planes is worth an extra $930 million at current list prices for Airbus and involves a switch of engine supplier to a French-American venture co-owned by Safran (SAF.PA)< and General Electric (GE.N). ",1 "A Photo Essay on Vietnam's Forest Pygmies: Only discovered in the 1980s, this is Vietnam's Smallest Indigenous Minority (in both senses of the word)",0 Corrupt Bank Officials Get Death Sentence in Vietnam,0 "OBAMA TO BRITAIN On His Legacy: I Saved The World Economy, Made Deal With Iran, Stopped EbolaHey Barry you forgot to mention that time you parted the seas oh wait, that wasn t you. Why not tell Britain the truth? Tell them how you created the most hostile atmosphere towards law enforcement that this nation has ever seen. How your real legacy will be that of the worst racial division since the civil rights era. You also neglected to mention that you destroyed our relationship with Israel (our only true ally in the Middle East), while making friends with communist regimes and cutting lopsided deals with radical Islamic nations who openly advertise their hate for America for all the world to see. Don t kid yourself Barry. Your legacy will be that of the worst President to ever occupy the White House. President Barack Obama boasted of his legacy during a town hall in Britain, asserting that he single- handedly saved the world during his presidency. Saving the world economy from a Great Depression that was pretty good, Obama bragged when asked by a student in London what he wanted his legacy to be.He recalled that when he visited London in 2009, the world economy was in a freefall because of irresponsible behavior of financial institutions around the world. For us to be able to mobilize the world s community, to take rapid action, to stabilize the financial markets, and then in the United States to pass Wall Streets reforms that make it much less likely that a crisis like that can happen again, I m proud of that, he said.Here s your real legacy Barry...Obama also touted his Iran nuclear deal as something I m very proud of asserting that he successfully stopped their nuclear weapons program without going to war.He griped that everybody forgot about his efforts in stopping the Ebola crisis, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. I think that I have been true to myself during this process, Obama said, insisting that the things he said while running for office matched up with his presidency. I ll look at a scorecard in the end, he concluded. Change takes time. Oftentimes what you start has then to be picked up by your successors or the next generation. He added that the fight for change was like a relay race and that he was prepared to pass the baton to his successor.Enter Hillary Hopefully they re running in the right direction, he joked.Via: Breitbart News ",0 "There is no Nazi gold train, Polish scientists say: Scientists reject claim by amateur treasure hunters that a train laden with gold, jewels, weapons and stolen art is hidden in railway embankment.",1 "With less pollution, Beijing's Olympic babies born heavier, says study. Women in the Chinese capital in the final stage of pregnancy during the 2008 Beijing Olympics when officials strictly controlled air pollution gave birth to heavier babies than in years when the city was smoggier",0 "RUSH LIMBAUGH ASKS: “What Would America Be Like Today If President Obama Had Told the Truth About What Happened in Ferguson?”Rush Limbaugh is spot on with his analysis of Barack Obama and how he has intentionally torn our nation apart, and more importantly, how Republican leadership has allowed him to do it. This is a great read for anyone who would like to understand exactly how this war on cops and war on White America started RUSH: This is so predictable to me. You know, I didn t have a chance to really listen to it or study Obama s speech in Dallas yesterday because it happened while the program was on, so I had to bone up on it later in the day. And it was predictable. The reaction to it was predictable. The Drive-Bys just thought it was the greatest speech ever. It was just over the top great. I mean, it was so timely, and it was so presidential.Even some in the conservative media found it necessary to praise Obama s speech. And we know why this happens. It is because some in the conservative media don t want to be seen as constantly pestering the guy, so it s thought that it ll add to their credibility if they can acknowledge that the president did something well, did something good, presidential, even if it was only a portion of the speech.But my take on it was entirely different. I think the first half of his speech yesterday seemed to be high-minded and unifying, but he blows it all to smithereens because I think what the first half of the speech was was a setup for the political hackery that was to come. It wasn t as if the speech suddenly and unexpectedly veered off course. Obama knew that he had to give the impression he was a healer and a unifier before he could pivot to what he really wanted to say.And I took it, you know, I m sitting there watching it like everybody else did, and I m absorbing it, and I felt like it was a political sucker punch. The second half of the speech is what Obama really wanted to say but couldn t unless he preceded it with the so-called unifying remarks beforehand.But here s the thing I was wondering as I m watching Obama, and we hear people on the left in the Drive-By Media talking about how Obama tries to unify and bring everybody together. What a great effort! Ah, it was just stupendous. Then why draw a moral equivalence? Here he was at a memorial service for five slain Dallas police officers. Why draw any kind of a more ? Why do you mention Alton Sterling and what went on in Minnesota? Why? You can mention it, but this effort to draw some kind of moral equivalence as though there is one and we can understand all of it happening? This inability to look at something and proclaim it wrong (interruption)Well, yeah, okay. So he knew he d get grief from the left. I don t think he cares he get grief from the left. I think the guy s got his agenda and he s full-speed marching it down the path. I m just When this year began, I warned everybody. I said, Folks, this year coming up with the Republicans having given Obama a clear road signaling they re not gonna oppose anything, not even his policies You know, Mitch McConnell and Ryan announced they weren t gonna oppose Obama.They didn t want to appear to be opposing or creating any negatives for the Republican presidential nominee. So Obama knows he s got a free road. So why does he care that the left might come at him and say he wasn t left-wing enough or he wasn t pro-Black Lives Matter enough? I don t think there s any doubt where Obama stands with people on the left. I want you to stop and think about something. I want to set it up by acknowledging something that we all know. Obama knows it; everybody knows it.The entire narrative of Ferguson, Missouri, is a lie. Hands up, don t shoot is a lie. The story that a racist cop went hunting and found an innocent Gentle Giant walking down the street when he should have been on the sidewalk contemplating excitedly This is part of the story: He was eagerly anticipating his freshman year at college, was Michael Brown, and this racist cop went hunting, and he found a guy breaking the law, walking in the street!And he got up in his face and he all bullied him and so forth, and Brown was immediately deferential and put his hands up and said, Don t shoot! Don t shoot! and the cop shot anyway. That is the story that came out of there, and that story fed entire narrative of Black Lives Matter and whatever they re trying to do to create controversy and division. And it fed the New Black Panthers. It was a lie. It was a total lie.Everything about that Ferguson story as repeated by the media and prominent Democrats and civil rights activists was a lie. What if ? I want you to think about it. What if, in the aftermath of Ferguson, Missouri, Barack Obama, as president of the United States meaning president of the whole country, meaning president of everybody here had scheduled a national address from the Oval Office, an address to the people of America and told them the truth about what happened in Ferguson?After the grand jury investigation was complete, after it was inarguably so after we learned exactly what happened, that the Gentle Giant had robbed a convenience store, that he was looking for a mechanism to spoke some dope. He had bullied the clerk in the 7-Eleven, the convenience store, whatever. He was walking down the street. He had attempted to overtake the cop in his car. He had defied the requests and the orders of the cop. He had taken action which resulted in the cop shooting.Everything about that story was not true.What if Obama had gone on TV and simply told people? For the sake of national unity, for the sake of understanding, for the sake of promoting and acknowledged truth, what if Obama had been on TV and acknowledged what really happened and had told everybody that what they think happened in Ferguson didn t happen? What do you think the aftermath might have been?This is what we expect of presidents, is the point. We don t expect presidents to further and promulgate lies and misinformation for the express purpose of creating and fomenting deadly anger. Presidents try to quell these situations. They try to get a handle on em and ratchet down the tension. Such an opportunity exists here because the truth was the truth, and the truth was not part of the narrative. Now, if that had happened and I can t predict in the alternative future, but I have to think that the aftermath of that incident the lie would have been short-lived.And the anger would have subdued. Maybe it would have been redirected toward Obama; I don t know. But, remember: It fed Baltimore, it fed Freddie Gray, it fed the situation in New York with the Eric Garner who also died of a heart attack, not a chokehold. That s another lie that was told. This guy was selling knock-off cigarettes on the street of New York. He s telling Because New York City taxes it so high that the guy could make a living selling black market cigarettes, selling black market cigarettes.For some reason, he came to the attention of the cop. They ended up applying a restraining hold on the guy, but he had a heart attack. It was not The chokehold didn t kill. The cops did not kill the guy. But that s not the story. There are so many lies that have been created and then, if not promoted, they have not been quelled by the White House, which makes me question motive. Why not? Of course, I know the answer to this, and you do, too.You know the answer lies in the president s agenda and is rapidly becoming the Democrat Party agenda. I was looking at the Democrat Party platform. You wouldn t believe, folks. The Democrat Party has been totally now taken over by the radicals. I mean, just insane lunatic radicals are now the mainstream of the Democrat Party. You look at the Democrat Party platform in 08 and look at it in 2012. They acknowledge the legitimacy of the Second Amendment, these platforms.Platforms don t matter much in terms of future governing. I mean, they re not binding on presidents if they win the election to implement the platform, whatever. What the platform basically does is tell you what the base of the party thinks about things, cause the base of the party dominates in primaries and they end up on the committee that writes the platform, so the platform gives you an indication where the base of both parties are. The Democrat Party is Not only is it not John F. Kennedy s Democrat Party. It isn t Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton s Democrat Party. Hillary Clinton is a Well, I don t want to She s a radical in and of her own right, but she tempers her radicalness with enough proclamations or statements that make her to be mainstream in enough areas. But there isn t any mainstream anything in the Democrat Party platform. And I m telling you: It s what happens when there s no opposition.When there s no opposition, when there no guardrails, when there s nothing to stop people from descending to their extreme worst, that s exactly what s gonna happen. And I m here to tell you: The extremism in America could be found almost exclusively on the Democrat side, and that extremism has been documented in their platform, and it was speaking in Dallas yesterday. This idea of finding a moral equivalence, and taking the occasion of a memorial service at a funeral for one of the cops to say it?It was a funeral for one of the cops yesterday. To take the occasion and use it to amplify ? That statement, It s easier to get a Glock than to get a computer or gun? Come on! What in the world can that possibly represent, that kind of statement? There s nothing unifying about that. It s not even true. And he knows it isn t true. So that s nothing but a provocative statement designed to illustrate an actual opinion held by Barack Obama, and he turned that whole thing yesterday into yet another attempt at gun control.I think it s the Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there s a chapter. If you haven t heard this, buckle up. It s a chapter of the NAALCP, the National Association for the Advancement of Liberal Colored People. And somebody in some chapter prominently has now claimed that the death of Micah X. Johnson was nothing more than a modern day lynching. Yeah. The guy who assassinated five Dallas police officers and injured 11 or 12 others.So the police rally, and they use their explosive robot bomb to kill the guy, and now the NAALCP is running around accusing that action of being a lynching. Innocent people were lynched. The NAALCP says, We don t know if the guy was a shooter! We don t know if the guy did it. We re just taking their word for it? We don t take their word for it! We don t trust them; we don t to believe em. They re making it up! We don t have any evidence the guy was the shooter. We don t have any evidence blew him up with a robot bomb. It s a lynching. Hey, here s to unity.For entire article: Rushlimbaugh.com",0 " NBC Host SLAMS Rubio’s Ignorance On SCOTUS: ‘Do Presidential Terms End After 3 Years?’ (VIDEO)It looks as though Republicans are hellbent on obstructing President Obama from doing his constitutional responsibility of nominating a new Justice to the Supreme Court to replace the recently departed Justice Antonin Scalia. They keep touting the line that we should wait until the next president is elected, that way the people can weigh in on who they d like as a replacement, not quite realizing the people did weigh in (twice) when they elected and reelected President Obama. However, they know that Justice Scalia was the most conservative voice on the Court and knowing that Obama has the chance to nominate a liberal terrifies them to no end.No greater example of this fear was demonstrated than by Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio while on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd. Rubio said: We have an obligation to do it, but not now. This term of the Supreme Court, they just started it. But it s not all year long. The court can function with eight justices, it does it all the time, especially when justices have to recuse themselves. For example, Kagan had to recuse herself early in her term because she had just left the administration.We re going to have an election in November where this vacancy is going to be an item of debate and voters are going to get their weigh in. So I just don t think it s wise. And there s precedent for this, for a president nearing the last few months of his administration, to put someone on the court that may be there for 30 years. If you squint, you ll be able to see Rubio reach down his pants to pull that statement out of his ass. And knowing that line is absolute poppycock, and listening to Rubio try to justify himself, Chuck Todd snaps back: Do presidential terms end after three years? That s what I don t understand, is why not go through the advice and consent? You don t have to approve it. You can reject it. That s what happened in 68. But why not go through this process? And BOOM goes the dynamite. Todd was quite visibly perplexed and couldn t quite seem to be able to wrap his head around the fact that Rubio was actually saying the words that were coming out of his mouth.However, Rubio wasn t done. Squirming in his Underoos after that question, he said: There comes a point in the last year of the president, especially in their second term, where you stop nominating. You basically say, at this point, with a few months left in your term, no accountability from the ballot box on the appointment you re going to make on a lifetime appointment. But Todd interrupts this malarkey: We re Eleven months .! Declaring the amount of time left in Obama s term as Commander-in-Chief, and insinuating the president has every right to nominate someone new.Squirming some more, Rubio keeps denying the fact that Obama has every right to nominate a new Justice, because he thinks that he s going to be president and he wants to nominate a conservative just like Scalia.What Rubio needs to understand is, President Obama can, should and will nominate someone to replace Scalia. Republicans are showing their fear and it s ugly. They are proving they are constitutionalists until they actually have to abide by the constitution, as per usual.Let s hope Obama nominates someone amazing, and nominates them soon.Watch the interaction here: Video: NBC Featured image: Screen Capture",0 ARROGANT ILLEGAL ALIEN Who Voted 5 Times In 2016 Election Gets 8 Years…Lawyers Call Sentence “Harsh”…Blame Trump…LOL! [VIDEO]Watch:,0 " Trump Just Went Full Hypocrite On National Parks And He’s Getting TRASHED For ItDonald Trump is a hypocrite and even conservative outdoor groups know it.America s greatest and most enduring treasure is its National Parks. Conservation of these lands started under Republican President Theodore Roosevelt and has continued to this day as every president has created new National Parks to preserve natural wonders for future generations to enjoy and appreciate.But Donald Trump is on a mission to destroy everything that is good in this country and one of his targets are the very National Parks that millions of Americans visit every year.Trump s 2018 budget slashes funding for the Interior Department, which includes the National Park Service, by $2 billion and he has signed an executive order making it easier for mining and drilling to occur in and around the parks.In short, Trump doesn t want to give the National Park Service the money to protect the parks and he wants to let oil companies pollute them.Despite these facts, Trump had the gall to pretend that he loves our National Parks and that he wants to protect them.In a proclamation issued on Friday, Trump declared that protecting America s national parks is important to him and his administration. It is a priority of my Administration to protect these magnificent lands, and to ensure all Americans have access to our national parks, as well as to other National Park Service sites, throughout the next century It is my hope that we will pass down these natural and historic sites to our children and grandchildren. Again, Trump s budget would hurt our National Parks and mining and drilling would do lasting damage to lands that are supposed to remain pristine for future generations to come.In response to Trump s proclamation, conservation organizations trashed his hypocrisy. We re really surprised and disappointed to see the administration come after national parks this way, senior manager for the National Park Conservation Association Nicholas Lund said. With all that s going on in the world, drilling in our national parks should just not be a priority. Even the conservative-leaning Sierra Club had strong words for Trump. If he actually cared about protecting our parks, he would have never proposed a budget that slashes their funding to historically low levels at a time when investments are needed to maintain America s best idea, executive director Michael Brune said. Our parks and the people and economies they support need real commitments, not empty gestures. Indeed, our National Parks directly benefit the communities around them because of tourists, campers, hunters, photographers, and a multitude of people who desire to see America s natural wonders, the same natural wonders that their ancestors saw years earlier.That s what is at stake here. The National Parks belong to the people and they should be protected for all time, not exploited.Featured Image: Mark Wilson/Getty Images",0 Mining Director Busted for Elephant Poisonings - Getting to the bottom of gruesome elephant killings in Zimbabwe.,0 "Child labor rises sharply in Gaza: In the past five years, the number of working children between the ages of 10 and 17 has doubled.",1 "An umbrella for shade: Rohingya refugee boy works to support familyCOX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Twelve-year-old Nur Hafes would rather be in school or playing football with friends at home in Myanmar. Instead, he waits by the road in Palong Khali refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, looking for visitors who might give him money for his family. Sole breadwinner for seven younger siblings and his mother since they arrived at the camp in Cox s Bazar two months ago, Nur spends his days watching for Muslim clerics who distribute money collected at mosques for the refugees. Opening a brown umbrella, Nur offers to shade the visitors from the blazing sun, which can bring in a little extra cash for food and supplies. (Click reut.rs/2AtT2uy for photo essay on Nur Hafes and his family.) Sometimes I get 50 or 100 taka and some days I come back empty-handed, Nur said, holding up a 50-taka ($0.60) note he received from a donor. Nur and his family are among the more than 600,000 Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh since August to escape a counter-insurgency operation by the Myanmar military after attacks on security posts by Rohingya militants. United Nations officials have described the military s actions in Myanmar s northern Rakhine state as ethnic cleansing , an accusation the Southeast Asian nation denies. The family left their home in Tharay Kone Yoe Dan village in Rakhine s Maungdaw township when the violence started. The Myanmar army burnt the houses with the people inside, said Nur s mother, Rabia Khatun. I saw many people with gunshot wounds and heard the crackle of houses burning. She gathered a few belongings - a blanket to protect her children from rain, identity papers and a couple of old photos - and the family fled to her parents village, Zaw Mat Tat, south of Maungdaw. The next day, the army showed up there, too. Her husband became upset and suddenly left. Rabia has not seen him since. Left with eight children, six of them younger than 10, she kept going. That evening, the family took a three-hour boat journey to Shah Porir Dwip, on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River. Now the family relies on Nur for support. He was a huge help in Myanmar, reselling produce in their village market that his father had bought wholesale. Nur and his mother said they hope he can eventually do something similar in Bangladesh, although Nur also still talks about school and football. With Nur s family huddled under a tarpaulin tent and his mother needing help to feed his siblings, the youngest two of whom suffer malnourishment, a normal child s life is not in his immediate future. I know he is young, but he understands his responsibilities. He doesn t behave like a child anymore, Nur s mother said. ",1 Theres almost 1 million Texans who are unemployed and thats an all-time record number in our state.,1 " Deal struck to stop poor nations becoming West's toxic waste dump - UN accelerates global ban on export of hazardous waste, including old electronics, discarded computers, & mobile phones, from developed to developing countries",1 NEW VIDEO: NICE TERROR ATTACK…What The Media’s NOT Telling YouSHARE this video everywhere. We cannot allow the leftist media to control this narrative. Our freedom and our way of life is on the line ,0 "Leading Republican Corker says Trump immigration order 'poorly implemented'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee, said on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s executive order on refugees and immigration had been “poorly implemented,” particularly for green card holders. “We all share a desire to protect the American people, but this executive order has been poorly implemented, especially with respect to green card holders,” Corker said in a statement. “The administration should immediately make appropriate revisions, and it is my hope that following a thorough review and implementation of security enhancements that many of these programs will be improved and reinstated,” he said. ",1 "BOXING LEGEND GEORGE FOREMAN Reveals How Trump Saved Him When He Was “Broke…Bankrupt”…BLASTS Athletes Like Kaepernick and Durant For Disrespecting Our NationYou can t be black and support President Trump. The intolerant left simply won t allow it Boxing legend George Foreman has had about enough of the disrespect of the United States he s seeing in some professional athletes, particularly Colin Kaepernick and Kevin Durant.In an interview on the Offended America Podcast on Monday, the 68-year-old former world heavyweight boxing champion blasted the national anthem protests and shunning of the White House by the likes of Kaepernick and Durant, suggesting they were born out of ignorance about just how privileged we are to live in this great country.As for Durant s announcement that he would not attend the White House if his Golden State Warriors are invited because he doesn t respect who s in office right now, Foreman said he and the others protesting Trump were just sore losers. In the interview, Foreman also praised Donald Trump, who played a pivotal role in his personal comeback at age 42, helping to fund and promote his match with another boxing great, Evander Holyfield. Before the fight, Foreman said he was broke bankrupt. But Trump, he said, helped save him financially. He s part of writing those checks so I could be back on the wealthy side again, said Foreman. -Daily WireFox and Friends Shortly after his inauguration, George Foreman offered some wise words of advice for his friend Donald J. Trump: The two-time world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman sounded off on President Trump, saying he has to keep fighting in order to continue his winning streak.Foreman compared Trump s battles with the many opposition groups to the numerous boxing matches he participated in over the years. When you re in something like this, you just have to fight, he said.Watch:He advised Trump not to listen to his detractors and stay on message, saying that while in the ring he would not listen to the boos from the crowd until he was home watching the match on tape. ",0 "Poor in India Starve as Politicians Steal $14.5 Billion of Food -- ""The theft blunted the countrys only weapon against widespread starvation -- a five-decade-old public distribution system that has failed to deliver record harvests to the plates of Indias hungriest.""",1 Canadians investigating sex abuse charges against \r\ndoctor who used electroshock therapy on gays,1 "The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has apologised for the killing of more than 13,000 Kurds by the Turkish military in the late 1930s. ",0 "Humans damaging the environment faster than it can recover, UN finds - Radical action is needed to combat increasing rate of environmental damage to water sources, land, biodiversity & marine life, report shows",1 Real IRA 'will carry out attacks on mainland Britain',0 "Parched Jordan to Start Pumping from 300,000-Yr-Old Aquifer - Problem is, 2008 study by Duke University shows the water has 20 times more radiation than is safe, with radium content that could trigger cancers. But the govt has brushed aside those concerns.",1 Nearly 300 Elephants Slain in Cameroon - There is a Serious Poaching Problem,1 "DISNEY SELLS Disgusting New Book Teaching “Liberal and Progressive” Thought…Targets 0-2 Yr Old BabiesIs Disney officially admitting they re in the business of indoctrinating our children to become good little progressives? For anyone who says this book has nothing to do with Disney or their philosophy, Disney Publishing Worldwide s company overview claims to publish books that are in support of the franchises :Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc. publishes children s books, comics, and magazines. The company publishes titles in support of the franchises.Disney is selling a new Feminist Baby children s book so parents can teach their toddlers to grow up to be progressive thinkers who smash the patriarchy and believe gender is a social construct.Loryn Brantz, the author and illustrator behind Feminist Baby, told TIME that her 22-page children s book aims to make children liberal and progressive thinkers. Here s an example of Brantz s liberal propaganda: They re not going to take away all the nuances and important parts of feminism necessarily, but it s important just to have it be in their vocabulary and part of their life rather than discovering it when they re older, Brantz explained. It s so that they re aware of feminism and see it as a good thing and not a bad thing. They need to grow up with feminism and not be scared of it, and not think that it means they re going to be overpowered by women someday, Brantz said. It just means wanting equality for everyone. It s not something they think they need to fight when they re older. Huffington Post In the comics, Feminist Baby serves as an underage heroine bent on smashing the patriarchy and subverting tired traditions like the gender reveal. The panels provide both political commentary (she punches Steve Bannon who is dressed as a Nazi) and silly comic relief. But while they re aimed at different audiences, both the comics and the book express the same basic message. Feminism is for everyone including babies! Brantz says. Here are some examples of Brantz s feminist baby cartoons: The publisher for the book is Disney Publishing Worldwide. Disney s website claims the book is targeted for children the 0-2 age range.Disney s description for the book states the Feminist Baby likes pink and blue. Sometimes she ll throw up on you! Feminist Baby chooses what to wear and if you don t like it she doesn t care! The book hit online stores and bookshelves on April 11. According to the Amazon listing for the book, as of the 13th, the book is No. 7 in best sellers for children s books new baby.For entire story: MRCTV",0 Greece has finally become the country with worst credit rating,1 " Trump Has NEVER Looked So Incompetent; His China Adviser Was Literally Found On Amazon (DETAILS)With every new detail revealing itself about Donald Trump s administration, the humiliation that America is enduring is getting harder and harder to stomach. We have never seen an administration fail so hard from the start, and just when it seems it can get no worse, Trump sets a new precedent. The latest detail in Trump s White House will have Americans more disappointed than ever before.Apparently, the morons in the Trump administration are so incompetent and lazy, they aren t even able to choose top officials correctly. Vanity Fair just reported a VERY disturbing detail about Trump s China adviser, who was sought out by the POTUS son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Kushner chose this adviser not by interviewing experts, like a normal person Kushner found Trump s China adviser by searching Amazon. Vanity Fair wrote:At one point during the campaign, when Trump wanted to speak more substantively about China, he gave Kushner a summary of his views and then asked him to do some research. Kushner simply went on Amazon, where he was struck by the title of one book, Death by China, co-authored by Peter Navarro. He cold-called Navarro, a well-known trade-deficit hawk, who agreed to join the team as an economic adviser. (When he joined, Navarro was in fact the campaign s only economic adviser.) Kushner operated in much the same way when it came to crafting Trump s tax plan calling up someone for help out of the blue. Given the initial absence of pros who could do the job properly, he also tried his hand at writing speeches. Responding to criticism from the boss ( Jared, this is terrible! ), Kushner said, according to a person familiar with the episode, I m not a fucking speechwriter. I am a real-estate guy. The idiocy being displayed here is mind boggling. Kushner, who at least has the sense to admit that he s way out of his league and he s just a real-estate guy , is the person Trump has put in charge of basically everything. The same man that s looking for advisers on Amazon.Let s not forget that this idiot is the man in charge of bringing peace to the Middle East. With this amount of incompetency in the White House, it will be a miracle if the United States can get through Trump s presidency without a major crisis, although we re already getting pretty close to one after Trump s attack on Syria and Afghanistan, and his inflammatory comments toward China and North Korea.If anyone thought that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were going to being the check and balance for Trump, this report certainly crushes that hope. Even the most level headed people in Trump s administration are dangerously ill-equipped.Featured image via Scott Olson / Getty Images",0 "A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs in the years after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks concludes that it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture and that the nations highest officials bore ultimate responsibility for it.",1 "In the last 10 days, Israeli settlers have launched a ""massive building campaign"" in the occupied Palestinian territories. Construction has begun for over 350 brand new buildings exclusively for Jewish settlers.",1 U.S. Furious With Israel After Sale of Advanced Military Technology to China,1 News International ordered mass deletion of emails nine times ,0 Journalist aboard the Gaza aid boat asserts that the Israelis opened fire as they were boarding which provoked an angry reaction and an attack on the commandos,0 "U.S. State Department disputes FBI view that it has lax security cultureWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it disagreed with FBI Director James Comey’s assessment that the department as a whole has a lax attitude toward security compared to other U.S. government agencies. “We don’t share the broad assessment made of our institution that there’s a lax culture here when it comes to protecting classified information. We take it very, very seriously,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing. His comments came after Comey announced some of the results of the FBI’s yearlong investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was in office. Comey said the FBI found evidence of a general lack of care for classified information at the State Department. ",1 "BREAKING LIVE FEED: POLICE FORM LARGE BARRICADE In Atlanta To Keep LARGE Crowd Of Black Lives Matter Protesters Off Major Highway…Protesters Launch Water Bottles At TruckerA large group of Black Lives Matter protesters marched through downtown Atlanta in an attempt to shut down a major highway. Police have formed a large barricade, preventing them from disrupting traffic. The protests are in response to recent police shootings.No protests have been scheduled to bring attention to the multiple murders of young black youth by young black youths in Obama s hometown of Chicago. Black lives ONLY matter when they are killed by white people or cops (especially white cops).The march began at Centennial Olympic Park at 6 p.m. and organizers expected more than 1,000 people to show up. Groups started gathering hours earlier.NAACP march organizers in Atlanta said they expect other groups, like Black Lives Matter, to merge with Friday s march. The organization said it will not tolerate any violence.MINUTE BY MINUTE:10:50 p.m.Channel 2 Action News spoke to the driver of the truck that protesters climbed on top of.Chris Golden said he was on his normal route when he got stuck. He said he was not scared when the protesters started to climb up.Protesters block tow truck from getting to truck stuck on Williams St. for hours. #atlmarch https://t.co/S7bpyd80pH pic.twitter.com/ZDu27UlSVV WSB-TV (@wsbtv) July 9, 2016Protesters are launching water bottles at a tow truck on William Street. WATCH: https://t.co/Hb26W0IR6R pic.twitter.com/yS0LbA1ZRi WSB-TV (@wsbtv) July 9, 201610:45 p.m.A group of protesters are yelling at police police on Peachtree Street near the Westin hotel.The crowd is dispersing at Williams Street.Police are setting up another blockade on Williams Street.These protestors in front of the downtown connector say they have no intention of leaving. pic.twitter.com/iJk9emiwYc Matt Johnson (@MJohnsonWSB) July 9, 2016Via: WSBTV ",0 " Watch Joy Behar And Trump Supporting Audience Member Go Head To Head (VIDEO)While many in the United States have come to the logical decision that Donald Trump is stark raving mad, there are still those who apparently have made him their choice for president. One of those people was just in the audience for a taping of ABC s The View and was questioned by host Joy Behar after the show.When the woman who supports Trump (yes, woman) is asked why, she refuses to say why which if I may add is very Trumpian, because Trump always makes claims with nothing to back it up either he then explains that she voted for President Obama, but said that it was the biggest mistake of her life. Then she said she works in a hospital and hates Obamacare, even though moments later she said she s been unemployed for a year. She somehow thinks that Trump would actually be better for healthcare and the unemployed. When asked if maybe she should support Bernie Sanders, who wants to provided single payer and a better safety net, she adamantly refused.Now, not to speak ill of a woman who clearly doesn t understand how the parties operate and who stands for what, but it seems she wants to go back to a system that will harm her more than help her. And I think a lot of the blame for her misunderstanding comes down to misinformation and even lack of information being spread by not only candidates, but the media.This woman wants change. Sure. That s great. However, what she wants she s not going to find in Trump.Watch the back and forth here: Watch what happens when @JoyVBehar questions an audience member s support for Donald Trump: https://t.co/kQ9dGmHJ1O The View (@TheView) May 12, 2016Featured image via video screen capture",0 "It took awhile, but Mubarak Bala, the 29 year-old engineer hospitalized against his will in Nigeria for being an atheist, is beginning to receive some attention by the news media",1 "U.S. communications agency to unveil reform to business data services marketWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is expected to unveil proposed reforms on Thursday to the $45 billion business data services market just four months after his Democratic predecessor abandoned a reform plan. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is set to announce reforms but will not propose completely deregulating the market, two officials briefed on the plan said. The proposal is set to be discussed at the FCC’s April meeting. An FCC spokesman declined to comment. Small businesses, schools, libraries and others rely on business data services, or special-access lines, to transmit large amounts of data quickly, for instance connecting banks to ATM machines or gasoline pump credit card readers. Special-access lines are used by offices, retailers, banks, manufacturers, schools and hospitals to move large amounts of data, and wireless carriers rely on them for the backhaul of mobile traffic. Major telecommunications and cable companies have met with FCC staff in recent weeks to talk about the issue, according to FCC records. Under President Barack Obama, then-FCC chairman Tom Wheeler in April 2016 proposed a sweeping reform plan for business data services that aimed to reduce prices paid for services. Wheeler abandoned the proposal in November after Donald Trump was elected president. The data services market is an important business for AT&T Inc, CenturyLink Inc (CTL.N), Frontier Communications Corp and Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), while Sprint Corp and other companies that use the lines say they are being overcharged. Wheeler had proposed maintaining and lowering lower price caps using legacy data systems with a one-time 11 percent reduction in prices phased in over three years. The proposal came under criticism from AT&T and the Communications Workers of America union. Sprint, which backed Wheeler’s proposal, told the FCC in a March 22 letter that “thousands of large and small businesses across the country are paying far too much for broadband because of inadequate competition.” Sprint argued “a small handful of companies are overcharging the very investors and employers that are critical to our economic growth and are using anticompetitive tactics to ensure that these businesses never have access to competitive alternatives.” AT&T argued Wheeler’s plan was “little more than a wealth transfer to companies that have chosen not to invest in last mile fiber infrastructure.” In a March 13 letter, AT&T suggested the FCC largely deregulate the market but leave rules in place where there is no competition. CenturyLink and Frontier in a March 20 filing urged the FCC to completely deregulate the market. ",1 Newfoundland and Labrador eliminates student loans,0 "Trump meets Japan, Australia leaders over trade, North Korea threatMANILA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump raised North Korea s missile tests during talks on Monday with the prime ministers of Japan and Australia, and said a lot of progress had been made in negotiations on trade. On the sidelines of a summit of East and Southeast Asian leaders in Manila, Trump met with Japan s Shinzo Abe and Australia s Malcolm Turnbull, and said discussions at the meeting would include tensions on the Korean Peninsula and trade. In brief remarks prior to news media being ushered out of the meeting, Turnbull said North Korea s recklessness needed to be stopped, while Abe said the most immediate challenge was to ensure regional peace and stability. Following the meeting, the White House said the three leaders reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining maximum pressure on North Korea in the effort to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. They also discussed expanded security cooperation for enhanced deterrence and defense against North Korean aggression, the White House said in a statement. The three men also discussed the need for free and open trade in the Indo-Pacific region and the need to pursue fair and reciprocal trade, the White House added. Trump, who campaigned heavily on U.S. trade issues, made pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Asian trade deal one of his first acts in office. His administration has instead pledged to reach bilateral pacts with individual nations. Countries remaining in the pact have said the deal is advancing without the United States. ",1 "Santilli Freed Under Plea Pact as Vegas Shooting Casts Shadow on Bundy Trial LONG SHADOW: The wake of the recent mass tragedy in Las Vegas has overtaken various current events, including the Bundy Trial (Image: Mandalay Bay Hotel & Resort) By Mark Anderson The TRUTH HOUNDLAS VEGAS Although the ongoing Bundy trial in the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada has had its share of dramatic changes, that s especially true lately.A major twist is that internet-radio personality Pete Santilli one of seven defendants in the trial that had been set to begin with jury selection on Oct. 10th before it was delayed again plead guilty (on Friday, Oct. 6) and was released pending sentencing, confirmed his attorney, Chris Rasmussen of Las Vegas.Rancher Cliven Bundy held without trial for over 18 months.In that highly anticipated trial, with Santilli now excluded due to his plea, the federal government is trying elder rancher Cliven Bundy (image, left), his sons Ammon and Ryan, and militia leader Ryan Payne. Two other defendants, O. Scott Drexler and Eric Parker, who are being retried for a third time from earlier proceedings will join the others in this second of three planned trials.Another development affecting the trial is concern that the Oct. 1st mass shooting at Mandalay Bay Hotel might prevent the defendants from getting a fair shake. According to Ryan Payne s attorney, the Vegas shooting has the potential to bias jurors, and has asked that the trial be moved to Nevada s second largest city, Reno, located seven hours north of Las Vegas.But while moving the proceedings 450 miles away to Reno s federal court appears unlikely as of this writing, the Las Vegas federal court issued yet another delay in this complicated trial. Therefore, the previously announced Oct. 10 date for jury selection for the second trial will be changed to on, or around, Oct. 30th.And even that could be subject to change again, given the already bumpy track record of this multiple-defendant case in which the federal government has had a hard time making its allegations stick.Only Gregory Burleson, who s wheelchair-bound and reportedly has developed blindness, has been sentenced to 68 years, no less. He was convicted in the first trial that began in early February. A co-defendant in that trial, Todd Engel, is expected to be sentenced Dec. 22, though several other defendants have been cleared of numerous charges.SANTILLI S JOURNEYSantilli, who shot extended livestream video footage at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building near Burns, Oregon, was held on remand for his role in that latter-2015, early-2016 affair.The controversial internet radio personality has had his share of critics, both in and out of the court room. Some critics alleged that his some of the journalistic coverage shot in Oregon enabled the government to more closely monitor the Bundys and their supporters who had peacefully occupied the abandoned building to protest onerous federal land controls and the unlawful arrest of the Hammonds, local ranchers who had fallen foul of federal agents from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Others, however, felt his coverage would have provided a helpful account of events had federal agents decided to take the building by force. During the Oregon hearings, his defense attorney argued that much footage which he had broadcast on his YouTube channel should be considered as protected speech under the First Amendment.On the eve of last September s Oregon trial Santilli had all charges dismissed against him.Although later cleared of Oregon-related charges, Santilli remained in federal custody and was transferred to Nevada to stand trial for his role in the famous spring 2014 standoff at Bundy Ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada an event that saw Cliven Bundy, his sons and other supporters gather to protest the policies of the BLM and other agencies.Federal agents unsuccessfully attempted to confiscate Cliven s cattle over alleged claims that he owed significant federal grazing fees, and concerning a EPA court order over a contested environmental mitigation policy concerned the relocation of the Desert Tortoise. From the onset of the controversy, Cliven Bundy has maintained the federal government lacks jurisdiction in that part of southern Nevada and that the fees don t apply, citing legal and historical matters.Santilli: released before the trial.In Nevada, Santilli pleaded guilty to Count 2 a single felony count of obstruction of justice, based on the government s claim that he used his own vehicle to impede the movement of an approaching BLM convoy during the attempted cattle impoundment. Interestingly, during that incident, after the convoy stopped, federal agents and their guard dogs were then confronted by members of the Bundy family and their supporters. Santilli then filmed the altercation including federal agents tasering Ammon Bundy, and posted it on YouTube, which went instantly viral, garnering nearly 1.5 million views in just a few days. The video was then syndicated on FOX News and other national outlets. Many had credited Santilli s original video entitled, Ranch Riot as one of the key catalysts for the one thousand or so supporters and militia who then arrived at Bundy Ranch over the following 72 hours before the standoff on April 12, 2014.Like all the other defendants, he was initially charged with all 16 counts contained in the original federal complaint which carried a potential maximum sentence of life in prison, upon conviction for all or most of those counts.Interestingly, Santilli s attorney, Mr. Rasmussen, motioned in court, and later told this writer, that the government may consider the prison time that Santilli has already served behind bars since Jan. 26, 2016 as either sufficient punishment for that felony charge in a best-case scenario, or the court may at least consider giving him credit for that time served, even if he s given a longer sentence at his expected sentencing hearing on Jan. 11, 2018 at 8 a.m.PLEA BARGAIN DETAILSA reading of the plea agreement shows that the government reserves the right to impose a longer prison term, possibly six years, on Santilli.Also, Rasmussen noted that residing Judge Gloria Navarro is not bound by the agreement s recommendations, meaning she could choose to alter them when she sentences Santilli.Meanwhile, two pending defense motions one to exclude Oregon-related evidence in the government s Nevada case against Santilli, and another to challenge the government s claim that Santilli could not excuse his Nevada actions because of his journalistic background have become moot due to this plea bargain, Rasmussen added.The agreement s terms may raise the question of whether the other defendants actions will be seen in a more negative light, given the fact that Santilli s guilty plea to the felony-obstruction charge requires under penalty of perjury that he accept the following government-sourced narrative as true and correct. The maximum penalty for Conspiracy to Impede or Injure a Federal Officer, as this count against Santilli is formally named under 18 U.S.C. 372, is six years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or both.But in the shifting sands of these proceedings, the understanding at this juncture is that Santilli will owe neither a fine nor restitution, nor will there be forfeiture of his assets provided he meets the terms of his release until he s sentenced. Although according to Rasmussen, Santilli will not be electronically monitored, despite speculation that he would be tagged.RETURNING TO INTERNET RADIONotably, Santilli, who is expected to return to his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, during the week starting Monday Oct. 16, will reportedly be allowed, at least for the time being, to resume broadcasting his news content.Asked if Santilli would be able to comment on the Bundy trial itself, Rasmussen replied in writing: He can do whatever he wants as long as he s not committing crimes. The First Amendment allows him to comment on anything unless it is threatening or inciting violence. Furthermore, attorney Rasmussen said that Santilli is under a self-imposed gag order, not a government-imposed one, meaning he has chosen not to talk to reporters.Also, Santilli will not testify against the other defendants and will not have to turn over his journalistic work products, but only raw discovery information from court proceedings. And the plea bargain stresses he must remain crime-free regarding federal, state and local laws and among other things must avoid any known association with anyone who s breaking any law. The plea agreement also restricts him from significant travel initially only between southern Nevada and Cincinnati, Ohio.Nor can Santilli possess a gun or any other item deemed by the government as a weapon. Just failing to show up for a hearing or some other procedural matter, let alone larger infractions, could result in this deal being dissolved.STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATESREAD MORE BUNDY RANCH NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Bundy Ranch FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 TEPCO clean-up boss says Fukushima's radioactive water will be dumped into Pacific Ocean,1 "House Republicans push for contempt charges against CFPB directorWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing to hold Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray in contempt of Congress for refusing to respond sufficiently to congressional subpoenas. A report released on Friday by Republican staff of the House Financial Services Committee argued there was “ample evidence” to hold Cordray in contempt because of his alleged failure to fully comply with subpoena requests. Republicans on the panel have been fiercely critical of the CFPB’s regulatory work. The report marked the most direct threat yet to pursue legal action against Cordray, who was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama after the agency was created under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The subpoenas sought records tied to the CFPB’s successful efforts to ban mandatory arbitration clauses from financial contracts, including communications between CFPB staff and meetings with outside groups. The ban, hailed by consumer advocates, was finalized in July but Republicans in Congress are working to overturn it. Republicans demanded the documents as part of a probe into rulemaking, and whether the rules regarding mandatory arbitration clauses were written in a proper fashion. Mandatory arbitration clauses require consumers to resolve any disputes through arbitration instead of joining together in class-action lawsuits. Republican staff on the House banking panel had suggested in June that Cordray could face contempt charges for insufficient responses to congressional queries, but Friday’s report took the conflict to new heights. A committee spokesman, Jeff Emerson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the panel would actually seek contempt charges. In response to the report, CFPB spokeswoman Jen Howard said the agency had already produced “thousands of pages” in response to the requests and was endeavoring to do more. “We will continue our efforts to understand how we can respond to the committee in a satisfactory manner,” she said in a statement to Reuters. In the past, Cordray has criticized similar panel subpoenas as overly broad and confusing. Representative Jeb Hensarling, who chairs the committee, has been one of Cordray’s outspoken critics, and demanded in the past that Republican President Donald Trump fire him as director. Democrats have rallied behind Cordray and the agency since its creation. “The Republican attacks on Director Cordray and the Consumer Bureau are entirely baseless, and there are no grounds at all for them to hold the Director in contempt,” Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on Hensarling’s panel, said in a statement to Reuters. ",1 Fareed Zakaria: The Israeli Prime Minister says his nation's security is his top priority. Too bad he's undermining it.,0 "‘Classified’ Emails from Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin found on Anthony Weiner’s LaptopLooking back on the 2016 Presidential election, there was a non-stop chorus on denials by Hillary Clinton, her campaign surrogates, and the mainstream media that had not allowed any classified emails to float around her home-brew server, or onto the family of her close aids.As it turns out, Hillary Clinton was lying. A new batch of emails released by the US State Department clearly show that Anthony Weiner, convicted sex criminal and husband of Clinton s chief aid Huma Abedin, had kept classified emails pertaining to official US State Department business during Hillary Clinton s tenure as Secretary of State kept on the same laptop which Weiner used to target an underage girl and where he also kept child pornography.Among the released emails were exchanges which clearly show Hillary Clinton conspiracy with authoritarian Saudi Arabia to stop Wikileaks. The reopening of this old Clinton gaping wound is another devastating blow for the mainstream media and the Democratic Party s resistance movement, whose mission is to remove Donald Trump for office.RT International reports At least five of the 2,800 emails stored on a laptop belonging to former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner were marked confidential and involved delicate talks with Middle Eastern leaders and Hillary Clinton s top aide.On Friday, the State Department released a batch of around 2,800 work-related documents from the email account of Huma Abedin, who served as the deputy chief of staff to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.At least five of the emails found on Abedin s ex-husband s laptop were heavily redacted and marked classified and at confidential level, the third more sensitive class the US government uses below secret and top secret. The State Department applies the confidential classification level to information that the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security, according to the Government Publishing Office.While the documents were not marked as classified before they were released, some of the information recovered in the emails was considered classified. It is illegal for civilians to posses or read classified documents without a security clearance.The confidential emails, which date from 2010 to 2012, concern discussions with Middle Eastern leaders.Dishonest: despite being caught multiple times, Hillary Clinton is still in denial about mishandling classified material.One of the emails has the subject Egyptian MFA on Hamas-PLO talks, referring to the Palestine Liberation Organization. The email is mostly redacted, only mentioning that it is a further update on Hamas-PA talks, referring to the Palestinian Authority.Another four-page email contains a completely redacted call sheet to prepare Clinton for an upcoming call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.A call sheet in another 2010 email includes notes to guide Clinton through a call she would make to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. The purpose of the call was to inform Saud about an impending WikiLeaks disclosure. This appears to be the result of an illegal act in which a fully cleared intelligence officer stole information and gave it to a website. The person responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, the call sheet instructed Clinton to say.Clinton was warning the Saudis the leak could contain information related to private conversations with your government on Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, and asked the Saudi s to help the US prevent WikiLeaks from undermining our mutual interests. During a congressional hearing in 2016, former FBI Director James Comey said Abedin regularly forwarded emails to Weiner for him to print out for her so she could deliver them to the secretary of state. The emails were released in response to a 2015 lawsuit filed by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch against the State Department after it failed to respond to a Freedom of Information request (FOIA) seeking: All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non- state.gov email address. In a statement issued Friday, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton called the release a major victory, adding that it was no surprise there were classified documents on Weiner s computer. It will be in keeping with our past experience that Abedin s emails on Weiner s laptop will include classified and other sensitive materials, Fitton said in a statement. That these government docs were on Anthony Weiner s laptop dramatically illustrates the need for the Justice Department to finally do a serious investigation of Hillary Clinton s and Huma Abedin s obvious violations of law. The emails were discovered on Weiner s laptop during an FBI investigation into allegations that he engaged in sexting with a 15-year-old girl. In September, Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to sending obscene material to a minor.The discovery of the emails led Comey to announce that the FBI was reopening an investigation into Clinton s use of a private email server 11 days before the 2016 presidential election. Clinton said the announcement contributed to her loss to Donald Trump See more at RTLast year, in effort to shore-up Clinton s crumbling reputation for being truthful to the public, her campaign published a bizarre 4,000-word fact sheet on the Clinton campaign website.As it turned out, Clinton s fact sheet was riddled with numerous false statements and other half-truths, including a lie that the FBI was conducting a security review when it was in fact conducting an investigation, and that she never sent or received classified information on her email account.This latest Weiner revelation is just another devastating blow to an already damaged political brand.Could Clinton mount a 2020 run?It s highly unlikely.READ MORE HILLARY NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Clinton FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 Pope says birth control ban doesn't mean breed 'like rabbits',1 "Czech ex-minister Rath faces hearing over box of cash - A week ago police detained Mr Rath as he was carrying a wine box containing 7m koruna (224,000). He is accused of diverting money from an EU project.",1 "The moment Ben Affleck realized that ‘Batman V Superman’ was a $400 million flop21st Century Wire says Does Hollywood do anything other than comic book remakes any more? The latest over-budget chimera, Batman V Superman, cost around $410 million to make. You d think they could squeeze a decent film out of that. You d think. He hasn t felt this low since Gigli , said the Huff Post. Movie star Ben Affleck may have just beaten Chris Christie for this year s most vacant stare. Watch: READ MORE HOLLYWOOD NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Hollywood Files",0 NATO Airstrike Kills Gadhafi's Son,1 "Congress will raise debt ceiling, has many options: RyanWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress will pass legislation to raise the federal debt ceiling and lawmakers have a number of options for avoiding default, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday. “We will pass legislation to make sure we pay our debts and we will not hit the debt ceiling. We’ll do this before the debt ceiling,” Ryan said during a tax reform event at a Boeing plant in Washington state. “There are many different options in front of us on how we achieve that,” he added. “We pay our debts in this country. We will continue to do so.” Later, in an interview with CNBC, Ryan said he had considered the option of attaching legislation raising the debt ceiling to a measure Congress passed recently extending money to veterans’ programs. The comments came after President Donald Trump said on Twitter that Congress could have avoided a “mess” if Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had taken his advice to link the debt ceiling and veterans’ funding measure. “That’s an option we were looking at but the VA deadline came up and we weren’t able to do that then,” Ryan told CNBC. Congress passed the veterans’ measure in early August and Trump signed it August 12. “I’m really not that worried about this, we have plenty of options ahead of us” to raise the debt ceiling, Ryan said, adding that he did not interpret Trump’s tweets as “going after me.” The speaker sidestepped a question as to whether the options included a “clean” hike of the debt ceiling, saying he did not want to “negotiate to the media.” House conservative Republicans have been pushing for a variety of add-ons to a debt limit bill, such as deep spending cuts or the sale of government assets. The government bumped up against its statutory limit on borrowing at just under $20 trillion in March. Since then, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has had to take “extraordinary” measures to stave off a default until Congress agrees to raise the Treasury’s borrowing capability. The Trump administration had been hoping Congress would pass a debt limit bill before embarking on a long summer recess. ",1 " Bernie Supporters Shower Hillary’s Motorcade With Actual Money At Clooney Fundraiser (VIDEO)An unfortunate part of modern-day politics is the fact that money is far too involved in our elections. Yet, until Citizens United and big money is no longer allowed in elections, it s a necessary evil. Even President Obama held and still holds fundraisers. Another such fundraiser was thrown for Hillary Clinton by George Clooney and his wife Amal, and even Clooney himself said the price of attending, alongside the practice itself, is obscene. Clinton s rival in the Democratic race, Sen. Bernie Sanders, has definitely shown that it may not be necessary to hold such big money fundraisers so long as you have enough grassroots support behind you. So, whether or not he wins the nomination, his legacy will be an example of things to come in the future, and how elections should be conducted as far as raising funds. But until Citizens United is overturned, and until we can get big money out of elections, there will be fundraisers. It is what it is. It s the nature of the beast.However, with this latest fundraiser thrown by the Clooneys came a counter-fundraiser thrown by Clooney s neighbor Howard Gold, whose family founded the 99 Cents Only chain of stores. Part of the fundraiser/protest was a moment when the crowd threw money at Hillary s motorcade as it passed by.And it was very real money that, according to Dan Merica of CNN, was $1000 withdrawn by Howard Gold himself.The money was real. And was withdrawn from a bank today by Howard Gold, the Sanders counter fundraiser host. https://t.co/CMRGr7RBJQ Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) April 17, 2016It seems, however, that these protesters didn t throw the money on Clinton, but rather her Secret Service agents:Funny part about this: The car that was showered the most was full of Secret Service agents, not Clinton. https://t.co/CMRGr7RBJQ Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) April 17, 2016Yet, the point was still clearly made.The Clooneys have every right to hold fundraisers for their candidate of choice, just as the protesters have every right to speak up in dissent of big money fundraisers. And as so long as they are invited, as they were by Gold, and not trespassing on private property, more of these protests are bound to pop up as the election heats up towards a potential Democratic nominee.This has definitely been an entertaining election cycle to say the least. Watch the video here of the money being thrown:Sanders supporters outside Clinton s Clooney fundraiser in LA shower her motorcade in $1,000. pic.twitter.com/ivbu024IcG Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) April 17, 2016Featured image via video screen capture",0 " Trump INFURIATES Intelligence Community, Puts National Security At Risk Before He Even Takes OfficeDonald Trump is easily the least qualified candidate to run for (and eventually win) the White House. The most dangerous aspect of the fact that he has no government or military experience isn t necessarily the lack of experience itself, but rather his refusal to listen to the people who do have that experience and allow them to guide the ship of state in this dangerous and complicated world until he can be adequately brought up to speed. Case in point his refusal to receive daily national intelligence briefings since his victory.According to The Hill, Trump has been given the green light by the Obama Administration to receive daily intelligence briefings prior to taking office the same ones that President Obama himself gets. Instead, Trump has received just two of those briefings since he clinched the electoral victory and thus the presidency, because he is refusing to listen to intelligence officials.These briefings include the rapidly changing scope of national security threats on the world stage, something Trump is definitely woefully ignorant of. However, being the egotistical scumbag that he is, Trump of course seems to believe himself to be above such petty concerns. I never thought I d be saying this, but it seems that Trump s vice presidential-elect, Mike Pence, is showing himself to be the reasonable one here, and has taken to receiving the briefings himself, since Trump won t. You know we re in deep shit when the likes of the climate and evolution denying, anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ religious nut that is Mike Pence can be described as the reasonable voice in the room, but here we are.Of course, the sycophants who regularly make the rounds on all of the political talks shows to excuse away Trump s dangerous nonsense are pushing back on the idea that he is out of his element and needs all the help he can get in this area before taking the oath of office. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) insisted in an interview with the Washington Post, which first broke this alarming development, that the security of America and her people is Trump s No. 1 priority, going on to say that he thinks Trump is taking it very seriously. Ever more defensive, Nunes continued: Look how many leaders he s met with, how many phone calls he s done, positions he s filled. People who are being critical need to get a life. No, we, the citizens of this great country have every right to push back on bizarre and dangerous irregularities like this, Rep. Nunes. Here we have a man who knows nothing about the world attempting to lead it on the most potentially lethal ego trip the world has ever seen and who refuses to take the advice of those who have the potential to save us all. A top security official has already said that Trump, quote, has a lot of catching up to do, in this arena, and yet he is refusing to get the help he needs.Actions speak louder than words, and Trump s actions say that he is more interested in parading candidates for his cabinet for the cameras in some kind of dangerous and bizarre real world reality show, using his new position to wheel and deal in his own business interests, and flying around the country in his jet rather than actually, you know, trying to learn how to run the nation and lead the free world.Be very afraid, America. Be very, very afraid of what we have gotten ourselves into.Featured image via Zach Gibson/Getty Images",0 Bosnia and Serbia emergency after 'worst ever' floods,1 "Beijing effectively bans Tibetans and other ethnic minorities from obtaining passports, Human Rights Watch said Monday, amid a surge in Chinese tourists travelling abroad",1 "UK lawmakers back government's proposed timetable for debate of EU withdrawal billLONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers on Tuesday voted in favor of the government s proposed timetable for debating legislation designed to sever political, financial and legal ties with the European Union. Many had complained that the eight days set out by the government for line-by-line scrutiny of the EU withdrawal bill was not long enough for such an important piece of legislation. But lawmakers voted by 318 to 301 to support the so-called program motion, which sets out the timetable for the remaining stages of the bill s progress through parliament s lower House of Commons. ",1 "Saudi businessman in debt dispute released from detention: sourcesDUBAI (Reuters) - A Saudi Arabian businessman whose family s commercial empire is involved in a multi-billion dollar debt dispute has been released from detention in the kingdom s Eastern Province, according to sources familiar with the matter. Abdulaziz al-Sanea s release comes as the government steps up efforts to find a company to run a struggling 750-bed hospital owned by his family, a search that has turned the spotlight on the kingdom s effort to bring overseas investors into the healthcare sector. Al-Sanea was freed late last week after being detained in October for unpaid debts, related at least in part to the hospital, according to the sources. An arrest warrant, issued in October for his brother Mishal for the same reason, was also lifted, according to the same sources. At the same time, the authorities approved a plan intended to restart operations at Saad Specialist Hospital in the city of Khobar in Eastern Province, which has been closed in recent weeks after being unable to pay staff and contractors, according to the sources. A special committee, formed by the government to find solutions for the hospital s future, concluded that the facility should be operated under the guidance of the Ministry of Health for seven years, the sources said. The revenue would be deposited into the account of the court handling the liquidation of Saad Group, the family s company that owns the hospital, the sources added. The Ministry of Justice did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. London-listed NMC Healthcare is among companies in talks with the government to take over the running of the hospital, one of the top cancer treatment facilities in the Gulf, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Maan al-Sanea, the owner of Saad Group and the father of Abdulaziz and Mishal, is still in a civil detention center in Khobar, according to the sources. He was also detained by authorities in October for unpaid debts. Saad Group, which at its height employed about 12,000 staff and has interests in sectors spanning banking to healthcare, ran into difficulties in 2009 because of heavy debts, unleashing a series of long-running legal battles and a Saudi court-enforced liquidation of the company. Reemas Group, a financial consultancy hired by Saad Group, last month outlined a proposed settlement covering $4 billion in debt under a plan to repay part of the money owed to creditors. The legal action against the family is believed to be separate from a crackdown on corruption by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in which dozens of Saudi princes and businessmen are being held. The kingdom has released 23 of the 200-or-so powerful individuals detained since November on corruption charges after they reached deals with the government, Okaz newspaper reported on Tuesday. ",1 "EU braces for Brexit talks collapse as May faltersBRUSSELS (Reuters) - As in-fighting consumes the British government, Europeans have stepped up quiet preparations for a possible collapse of Brexit talks that could see Britain crash out of the EU without a deal 18 months from now. Prime Minister Theresa May s EU counterparts still see the no-deal scenario she threatened them with as most unlikely, as they think it would hurt Britain much more than the continent. But after her faltering party conference this week and ahead of important meetings in Brussels over the next fortnight, diplomats and officials there and in big member states said they have been putting renewed focus on contingency planning for a legal limbo in March 2019 and urging businesses to do the same. German officials say that in recent months they have been spending just as much energy on how to handle that as on preparing for a negotiated solution. The BDI industry federation in the biggest EU economy warned German firms on Thursday that it would be naive not to be ready for a a very hard exit . Like May, who on Friday rejected calls from some lawmakers to resign, Michel Barnier, the European Union negotiator, says his aim is an orderly exit. But he repeatedly cautions that he also has a mandate from EU leaders to help prepare for failure and regularly tells businesses to be sure to plan for the worst. We want to be ready for all eventualities, including no deal , he told business and labor representatives after the negotiations began in July. Deal or no deal is the fundamental question , he said, after talks made little progress in August. This is the growing feeling, absolutely, a senior EU official said of concerns that talks could collapse, not because Britain saw economic advantage in that, as May has warned, but because British politics could end up in domestic stalemate that could mean missing reasonable deadlines for a withdrawal treaty. For many, talk of a breakdown in talks remains part of the bluff and counter-bluff of negotiations. But what May s problems inside her own government indicate to many across the Channel is that the country is so divided it may be unable to reach a deal. You need to factor in that it s not a rational process, the senior EU official said, repeating a common view that voting for Brexit made no economic sense in the first place. So it s not unlikely that they again shy away from what are the economic imperatives and we end up cliff-edging by political default. People close to Barnier s negotiating team draw attention to new legislation last month aimed at protecting the EU carbon market from a disorderly British departure and moves to force euro-denominated securities clearing from London to the continent as examples of Brussels contingency planning. It s the responsible approach. And the more it goes on like this, said one EU official of the lack of clear breakthroughs in the talks, the more we ll see of these steps. Another senior official said: There s every reason to be worried and European industry should take this more seriously. May s Brexit minister, David Davis, is expected back in Brussels on Monday for a fifth round of negotiations with Barnier. But expectations among EU officials are low to nil for a breakthrough on key divorce issues that would allow EU leaders to tell May when they meet her the following week that they are willing to open talks on a future free trade accord. Aside from uncertainty over how a new EU border with Ireland will work and differences over rights for expatriates after Brexit, a standoff over tens of billions of euros that Brussels argues Britain will owe on departure seems far from resolution. Describing as unbelievable arrogance British offers to pay just 20 billion euros ($23 billion) of a Brexit bill which the EU estimates at perhaps 60 billion euros, a senior diplomat from a country Britain generally views as an ally in EU affairs said May would have to face down hardliners who reject such payments. Few of Britain s negotiating partners see any benefit in a change of prime minister now. That would cost more time that neither side has, since the chances of London or Brussels agreeing to extend the Brexit deadline seem limited. With Boris Johnson as prime minister, the negotiations would be easier, one EU diplomat said of the foreign secretary, who has sniped at May s push for a deal that could see Britain stay bound by some EU rules, at least for a transition period. We could save ourselves all this analyzing, the diplomat said, As he d just drive the talks straight off the cliff. For many, ending with a legal void remains far-fetched. But though British ministers talk of a bespoke deal to exit EU rules while retaining market access, EU officials warn that time is running out for London to find any option other than to agree to something like the status of Norway being in the EU market and accepting rules on which is has no vote. Pretty soon, said one, It will be Norway or nothing. ",1 "Russian communists drop veteran, select surprise candidate to challenge PutinMOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Communist Party on Saturday unexpectedly dropped its veteran leader Gennady Zyuganov as its presidential candidate to challenge President Vladimir Putin next year, choosing instead a largely unknown businessman with links to the farm sector. Zyuganov, 73, an evergreen of the post-Soviet political scene, had been widely expected to contest his sixth consecutive presidential election next March. But instead the party picked Pavel Grudinin, 57, a mechanical engineer who has run a farm on the outskirts of Moscow since the mid-1990s, as its candidate to take on Putin in an election which the 65-year-old Kremlin leader is expected to win comfortably. Zyuganov congratulated Grudinin on his nomination at an annual gathering of the party on Saturday, the Communist Party said on its website. By ditching one of the communist old guard as candidate and choosing someone from a new generation, the party appeared to be attempting to widen its political appeal. Its main support base has been from an age group that is fast disappearing. Speaking at the meeting where Grudinin was nominated, Zyuganov said voter apathy, which many independent analysts say is on the rise, was now Russia s biggest misfortune . The communists came second after the ruling party United Russia, which backs Putin, in parliamentary elections in 2016 - but winning only 19.2 percent of the vote. Separately on Saturday, United Russia pledged its full support for Putin in what is expected to be a one-sided presidential contest. ",1 "BREAKING NEWS: PRESIDENT TRUMP SPEAKS Out On #Charlottesville Tragedy, After Car Plows Through Protesters…1 DEAD…19 Injured…”We Are All Americans First”To his credit, President Donald Trump almost immediately responded to the violence in Charlottesville, VA after a White Nationalists obtained a permit to march and were met with violence by counter-protesters, many of whom were Antifa thugs who ve made a practice of using violence to shut down free speech in America and around the world.There was more hate in Charlottesville, VA today than America has seen in quite some time. Barack Obama created a racial divide like we haven t seen since the civil rights movement. We must pray that President Trump will have the ability to heal the wounds Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton and Loretta Lynch opened in an effort to divide America for votes. We must also pray that the American people will come together and stop listening to so-called leaders who would like to divide us.Charlottesville, VA At least one person was killed and 19 others were injured Saturday when a car rammed into a group of counter-protesters during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va.Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer tweeted that he was heartbroken that a life has been lost here and urged all people of good will [to] go home. The person driving the car has been arrested, but his identity has not yet been released. Via: Fox News",0 "Trump won with lowest minority vote in decades, fueling divisionsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency with less support from black and Hispanic voters than any president in at least 40 years, a Reuters review of polling data shows, highlighting deep national divisions that have fueled incidents of racial and political confrontation. Trump was elected with 8 percent of the black vote, 28 percent of the Hispanic vote and 27 percent of the Asian-American vote, according to the Reuters/Ipsos Election Day poll. Among black voters, his showing was comparable to the 9 percent captured by George W. Bush in 2000 and Ronald Reagan in 1984. But Bush and Reagan both did far better with Hispanic voters, capturing 35 percent and 34 percent, respectively, according to exit polling data compiled by the non-partisan Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. And Trump’s performance among Asian-Americans was the worst of any winning presidential candidate since tracking of that demographic began in 1992. The racial polarization behind Trump’s victory has helped set the stage for tensions that have surfaced repeatedly since the election, in white supremacist victory celebrations, in anti-Trump protests and civil rights rallies, and in hundreds of racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic hate crimes documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which tracks extremist movements. The SPLC reports there were 701 incidents of “hateful harassment and intimidation” between the day following the Nov. 8 election and Nov. 16, with a spike in such incidents in the immediate wake of the vote.   Signs point to an ongoing atmosphere of confrontation.   The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a white separatist group that vilifies African-Americans, Jews and other minorities, plans an unusual Dec. 3 rally in North Carolina to celebrate Trump’s victory. Left-wing and anarchist groups have called for organized protests to disrupt the president-elect’s Jan. 20 inauguration. And a “Women’s March on Washington,” scheduled for the following day, is expected to draw hundreds of thousands to protest Trump’s presidency.   American politics became increasingly racialized through President Barack Obama’s two terms, “but there was an attempt across the board, across the parties, to keep those tensions under the surface,” says Jamila Michener, an assistant professor of government at Cornell University. Trump’s anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric “brought those divisions to the fore; it activated people on the right, who felt empowered, and it activated people on the left, who saw it as a threat,” she added.   That dynamic was evident last week.   When Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended the Broadway musical “Hamilton” in New York on Friday, the multi-ethnic cast closed with a statement expressing fears of a Trump presidency. A far different view was on display the next day as a crowd of about 275 people cheered Trump’s election at a Washington conference of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist group with a strong anti-Semitic beliefs.   “We willed Donald Trump into office; we made this dream our reality,” NPI President Richard Spencer said. After outlining a vision of America as “a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity,” he closed with, “Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!” Though Trump’s election victory was driven by white voters, his performance even among that group was not as strong as some of his predecessors. Reagan and George H.W. Bush both won the presidency with higher shares of the white vote than the 55 percent that Trump achieved.   The historical voting patterns reflect decades of polarization in American politics, but the division surrounding Trump appears more profound, says Cas Mudde, an associate professor specializing in political extremism at the University of Georgia. These days, he adds, “people say they don’t want their children even to date someone from the other party.”   Indeed, voters’ opinions of those on the opposite side of the partisan divide have reached historic lows. Surveys by the Pew Research Center showed this year that majorities of both parties held “very unfavorable” views of the other party – a first since the center first measured such sentiment in 1992. And the lion’s share of those people believe the opposing party’s policies “are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being,” the center found.   That level of division has spurred activists on both sides of the political divide to take their activism in a more confrontational direction.   In the wake of Trump’s victory, protesters on the left took to the streets by the thousands in cities across the country, in some cases causing property damage. Much of the agitation was motivated by a belief that Trump’s administration will foster racism and push the courts and other political institutions to disenfranchise minority voters, says James Anderson, editor of ItsGoingDown.Org, an anarchist website that has promoted mass demonstrations against Trump’s presidency, including a call to disrupt his inauguration.   Many on the left have come to distrust government institutions, embracing a breed of activism aimed at directly confronting what they see as condemnable political forces, Anderson says. “The answer now is to organize, build power and autonomy and fight back.”   On the opposite end of the political spectrum, Trump’s election is bringing new hope for right-wing activists who felt abandoned by the major parties.   John Roberts, a top officer in the Ku Klux Klan affiliate planning the December rally to celebrate Trump’s election, says the group is committed to non-violent demonstrations, but he sees Trump’s election as likely to bring a new era of political conflict. And much of the strife, he says, will be centered around racial divisions.   “Once Trump officially takes office, there is going to be a boiling over at some point in time,” Roberts says. “Who knows when that’s going to be, but it’s not going to be pretty.” ",1 "Dog lover Putin gets top breed pup as gift from Turkmen leaderSOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, a dog lover, received a top breed puppy as a belated birthday gift on Wednesday from Turkmenistan s president who is keen to recover lost Russian markets for Turkmen gas. We have a common friend - this is the world s unique alabai dog. And today I brought this little alabai with me, President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said before talks with Putin, pulling the pup out from a portable cage and holding it up by the scruff of its neck. Putin, who marked his 65th birthday on Oct. 7, took the puppy, called Verny which means faithful in Russian, and kissed it in its forehead. The alabai is a home-bred Turkmen variety of the Central Asian shepherd dog. Along with the handmade carpets and the ancient Akhal Teke breed of race horses, it is officially listed as part of Turkmenistan s national heritage. Plush and cuddly when they are young, alabai dogs grow into fierce shepherd dogs, fearless in warding off wolves but also in dealing with human strangers. Berdymukhamedov, a flamboyant former dentist whose interests range from sport cars to noble horses, enjoys a personality cult and autocratic powers in his desert nation which sits on the world s fourth-largest natural gas reserves. The two men held talks at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, on the sidelines of a summit of ex-Soviet states, with the Turkmen side keen to see a possible resumption of natural gas exports to Russia. Russia, once the main buyer of Turkmen gas, stopped buying the fuel last year due to a price dispute. China, with its growing appetite for energy, is now the main market for Turkmen gas. Some other foreign leaders including those of Japan and Bulgaria have also given Putin puppies of rare breeds as gifts. ",1 Russia says France must fulfil Mistral contract or return money - agency,1 "EPA waives requirements on sale, production of gasoline due to storms(Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued waivers on certain federal requirements for the sale, production and blending of gasoline to avoid supply shortfalls in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey and as Hurricane Irma approaches Florida, the agency said Thursday. The EPA said winter-grade gasoline will be allowed to be sold through September 15 in most states in the country other than those on the West Coast and in the Rocky Mountains. It also temporarily waived federal requirements covering the production and blending of winter gasoline through September 26, it said. ",1 USA: Sends Investment Defrauder Bernie Madoff to Jail. China: Executes Investment Defrauders.,1 " Hustler Owner Is So Fed Up With Trump That He Is Offering $10 Mill For Dirt To Get Him ImpeachedDonald Trump is a danger to the nation and the world. Even outgoing GOP Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) has repeatedly questioned Trump s stability and fitness for office even going so far as to call Trump s White House an adult daycare center. Of course, Senator Corker isn t the only one who is deeply concerned about Trump. Well, one person is actually willing to put his money where his mouth is in order to get The Donald removed literally.Hustler Magazine owner Larry Flynt has taken out an advertisement on Twitter offering up $10 million dollars for the goods on Trump particularly those bits of information that would unequivocally be evidence that he must removed from the White House. Here is an image:3:30p FBN EXCLSV: @washingtonpost will run a Sun.Hustler Mag's @ImLarryFlynt offers $10m 4 info on @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/6SgK1khFDi Liz Claman (@LizClaman) October 13, 2017In the lengthy advertisement, Flynt goes into deep detail about the many things Trump has done that prove to any sane person that he is unfit to lead America and the free world, including Trump s unconscionable defense of the KKK and neo-Nazis after the Charlottesville riots and the fact that Trump might trigger a nuclear war at any moment. Flynt goes on to say: Impeachment would be a messy, contentious affair, but the alternative three more years of destabilizing dysfunction is worse. Both good Democrats and good Republicans who put country over party did it before with Watergate. Flynt is offering this kind of cash that would leave the recipient set for life because he reminds us all that getting rid of Trump would mean unimpeachable evidence needs to be revealed to the Congress and to the public.Someone out there knows the dirt on Trump. Take it to Larry Flynt, take your reward, and do the patriotic thing and save the nation from that orange madman.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 Church of England announces plans to force money lenders out of business - by offering a superior service through credit unions,1 "Israeli Ambassador to Australia Says Will ""Deal With"" Iran\'s Nuclear Program Within a Month [vid]",0 "Liberal, conservative lawmakers offer opposing U.S. healthcare ideasWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators unveiled two opposing visions of a healthcare system in the United States on Wednesday - leading liberals advocating government insurance for all and several Republicans proposing an eleventh-hour repeal of Obamacare to replace it with programs run by the states. Neither plan was thought likely to succeed in a Congress exhausted with fighting over the issue, raising questions over whether lawmakers would instead prop up the health benefits offered under former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, a 2016 Democratic Party presidential candidate, held a campaign-style gathering at which enthusiasts applauded as he proposed extending the federal Medicare health insurance program for seniors to include everyone. “The American people want to know what we are going to do to fix a dysfunctional healthcare system which costs us twice as much per person as any other country and yet leaves 28 million people uninsured, and even more underinsured,” Sanders declared. Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of 16 Democratic co-sponsors for Sanders’ proposal, told the gathering it was time to go a step beyond Obamacare, the 2010 law officially called the Affordable Care Act that expanded health coverage to 20 million Americans. “We will say that in this country everyone gets a basic right to healthcare,” Warren said. But in an office building nearby, Republican senators announced they were offering a “last chance” to repeal Obamacare, before a parliamentary procedure allowing them to pass it with a simple majority, instead of a three-fifths majority like most Senate legislation, expires at the end of September. They proposed replacing the law with a program that would give states money in the form of block grants to run their own healthcare programs. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the plan’s authors, said he was not ready to give up the long-held Republican goal of repealing Obamacare despite a stunning failure to muster enough votes within the party this summer to kill the law. “The idea that the Republican party has done its best to repeal and replace Obamacare is a joke,” said Graham, who was joined by fellow Republican Bill Cassidy in the effort. A system of U.S. government-run healthcare for all is anathema to many Republicans, who think the hybrid Obamacare system in which government subsidizes private health insurance already was a step too far. Republicans’ last attempt in July to overturn Obamacare fell one vote short in the Senate in a humiliating defeat for President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In addition to the Sanders and Graham-Cassidy proposals, a bipartisan effort is under way in the Senate health committee to repair Obamacare without repealing it, by protecting subsidies that are paid to insurance companies to help offset discounts under the program. McConnell this week declined to comment on either the Cassidy-Graham bill or the bipartisan health committee effort, saying the way forward was not clear. The Republican leader is not expected to bring Sanders’ proposal to the Senate floor for a vote. Trump applauded Graham and Cassidy, saying he hoped the senators “have found a way to address the Obamacare crisis.” Trump has frequently complained that Obamacare is in crisis. Democrats dispute this but many admit there is room for improvement. A greater than expected mixture of sick and healthy customers hampered Obamacare from the start, leading to large premium increases and many counties have just one insurer. ",1 Watch this: Israeli TV Footage of Settlers Attacking \r\nPeace Now Activists and TV Crew,0 "LONDON’S FIRST MUSLIM MAYOR BANS “Sexy Women” On AdvertisementsNo word yet on when every female London resident will be asked to wear a hijab in public, so as not to offend the exploding Muslim population Sadiq Khan, London s first Muslim mayor, announced Monday that body shaming advertisements will no longer be allowed in London s public transport. As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies. It is high time it came to an end, Khan said.No one's confidence or body image should be undermined by ads on our transport system. I've strengthened @TfL policy https://t.co/AJ7qYDQW0T Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) June 13, 2016Here are just a few Twitter (not G-rated) responses that the Mayor got to his tweet above:The mayor added, Nobody should feel pressurised, while they travel on the Tube or bus, into unrealistic expectations surrounding their bodies and I want to send a clear message to the advertising industry about this. Khan was not clear in what would determine which ads would be banned, as it doesn t include all images of people in underwear or swimming clothes. Most underwear and bikini models though can be assumed to have non-average bodies. Via: Daily Caller",0 "Rome's 5-Star mayor launches bid to save ailing city transport firmROME (Reuters) - Rome s mayor on Friday launched an attempt to save the city s ailing public transport company from bankruptcy, asking creditors to support a restructuring of its 1.3 billion euros ($1.54 billion) of debt. Virginia Raggi, a prominent face of Italy s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, said she would ask magistrates to approve the plan for a total renewal of the company to keep it operating as a public body. Atac s workforce, of around 12,000 people, has been criticized as bloated and its fleet of buses, trams and metros as old and badly maintained. Calls have grown for it to be privatized. Raggi, who was elected in June last year, rejects this solution and on Friday the company s board approved the restructuring plan, which will require the backing of her city government and its suppliers. Atac must remain public, Raggi wrote in a Facebook post. We are beginning a revolution that will transform the biggest public transport company in Europe into an efficient one. Several city transport unions, fearing lay-offs, immediately announced they would hold a one-day strike this month. Turning Atac around is a daunting task. Its former chief quit in July after just three months in the job, saying he was unable to salvage the firm and feared possible legal action tied to any eventual collapse. Raggi has had a torrid time since becoming Rome s first ever woman mayor. She has lost several close aides due to political infighting or legal scandals and has so far made little tangible progress in fixing the heavily-indebted city s chronic problems, from road maintenance to refuse collection. Despite her difficulties, 5-Star remains Italy s most popular party, according to many opinion polls, and Raggi s fortunes in attempting to clean up Atac could have significant repercussions nationally. With a general election due by May next year, 5-Star can ill afford the bad publicity of extended strikes and legal disputes over the capital s transport company. ",1 Father blows up daughter's boyfriend.,0 " Comrade Trump Pushes Conspiracy Theory From Russian Propaganda SiteThe ties between Donald Trump s presidential campaign and the regime of Russian leader Vladimir Putin have been extensive and troubling as they ve been revealed over the course of the campaign. Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, despite his invasion of Ukraine and his belligerent attitude on the international stage, including his support of Syrian dictator Assad.In exchange, Putin has also had nice words for Trump, and it is believed that Russia is backing hackers who have attacked Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.Now Trump has escalated the back and forth by promoting a delusional conspiracy theory that began on Russian propaganda websites. From CNN:Trump didn t cite a source to back up his claim, but the most recent report alleging this came from Sputnik News, a Russian state-owned news agency. Google search engine was suppressing the bad news about Hillary Clinton, Trump said, apparently referring to Google searches during the first presidential debate on Monday night.Trump s remarks Wednesday night came two weeks after Sputnik News, a Russian government-controlled news agency, published a report claiming that Google search results are biased in Clinton s favor. Conservative news outlets, including Breitbart News, whose chairman became Trump s campaign CEO last month, linked to the report.Trump has surrounded his campaign with conspiracy theorists, including radio host Alex Jones, who is an ardent Trump supporter and who believes that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job executed by the U.S. government. Jones also believes that the children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary were crisis actors. There is no truth to Trump s claim about Google, and it is very possible he got the information from Jones, who has alleged that he is in phone contact with Trump.Trump s supporters ate up the claim, as a majority of them visit and believe the same propaganda false stories as their leader does.Featured image via Wikimedia Commons",0 " Republicans Sue Federal Government For ‘Right To Discriminate’The North Carolina bathroom law is heading to federal court because the state s governor is suing the government for the right to discriminate against the transgender community.On Monday, Governor Pat Bigot McCrory filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) and has asked the court to rule that HB2 is not discriminatory. The governors complaint cites letters sent from the Department of Justice last week threatening to sue the state for violating the Civil Rights Act. McCrory s complaint is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the United States of America the DOJ and Attorney General Loretta Lynch because of: their radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964 which would prevent plaintiffs from protecting the bodily privacy rights of state employees while accommodating the needs of transgendered state employees. Apparently, protecting the bodily privacy rights of their employees can only be done if they deny those same rights from the transgender community. I m not sure if McCrory has any idea what a woman s restroom looks like, but it s not a bunch of open stalls where we are all holding hands and peeing. Each person has an individual and private stall to do their business our bodily privacy is already protected.The complaint goes on to claim that the by protecting all of its citizens from discriminatory laws like the one in North Carolina is baseless and blatant overreach : This is an attempt to unilaterally rewrite long-established federal civil rights laws in a manner that is wholly inconsistent with the intent of Congress and disregards of statutory interpretation by the Courts. McCrory is claiming that the Civil Rights Act doesn t protect the transgender community, but it absolutely does. It says that he is not allowed to discriminate against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion. Sexual identity falls into the category of sex, therefore, McCory is not legally allowed to pass a law that discriminates against his employees based on their sex. It s not a radical interpretation unless he considers using common sense radical, but then again we are talking about a Republican so .What this all boils down to is bigotry and hate. Republicans fight tooth and nail against protecting any class of people who are not white, straight, Christian males. The transgender community is just their latest target. Unfortunately for them, it is 2016 and President Obama s DOJ doesn t not put up with that kind of bullshit.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images ",0 The Bush administration this month is quietly cutting off birth control supplies to some of the worlds poorest women in Africa.,0 "TRUMP TAPS Anti-Iran Deal Congressman To Head CIA…The Left Goes Ballistic!The main stream media wasted no time in trashing Congressman Pompeo and his supposed anti-Islamic rhetoric :Pompeo, of Wichita, met with the president-elect s transition team in New York s Trump Tower earlier this week. He is a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and has been an ardent supporter of the Patriot Act and the National Security Agency s collection of bulk data.Pompeo was a vocal critic of President Obama s nuclear deal with Iran and has come under fire for what his critics have called anti-Islamic rhetoric. Via: FOX News ",0 " Mark Cuban RIPS Fox Host For Judging Clinton Speaking Fees – Reagan Was Paid MORE (VIDEO)Billionaire Mark Cuban had previously been rooting for Donald Trump, but made the switch over to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton with a powerful public endorsement several weeks ago after wisely deciding that Trump was batsh*t crazy. Since then, he has fiercely defended the Clintons and he continued to do so on Monday, when Fox News Neil Cavuto complained about Hillary s email scandal and the fees former President Bill Clinton charges for speaking events.Cavuto brought up the fact that Bill Clinton had gotten $250,000 for a speech and Cuban wasted no time in dismantling his criticism. Cuban completely ripped Cavuto apart as he educated the Fox Business News host about what ex-presidents actually make for speaking, and threw in some conservative shame when he mentioned Reagan: Look. You have to ask yourself what s the market for a former president giving a speech, right? So first of all, Ronald Reagan was paid more than a million dollars for speeches in 1989. He went to Japan and gave two speeches. Second of all, Bill Clinton made, I think it was $250K give or take, for a lot of speeches. I ve made $250K for a bunch of speeches. For the most part, he gets paid a little more than I do, but the point is he was right inside the market. He wasn t getting paid more or less than the market. But Cavuto wasn t ready to give up slamming the Clintons that quickly. He made the foolish decision to continue bashing Clinton, whining that the money had gone to the Clinton Foundation in a pay for play scheme. Cuban was ready to handle those accusations as well. He shut it down: In order to determine if there is any quid pro quo, there s got to be some money destined for the trade-off. Cavuto tried to say it looked suspicious, but Cuban countered, they ve been investigated more than anybody. You can watch Cuban viciously defend the Clintons below, with the bit about Bill Clinton starting at 6:20:Featured image via Paul Zimmerman / Getty Images",0 China bans television ads for bling to douse growing frustration in wealth disparity,0 Hamas claims responsibility for the rocket strike on central Israel. They claim they used a Fajr-5 rocket.,1 YOUNG GIRL KICKED OUT Of Women’s March For Wearing Trump Hat [VIDEO] ,0 "Trump heaps praise on 'very special' Xi in China visitBEIJING (Reuters) - If Chinese President Xi Jinping was trying to impress U.S. President Donald Trump with lavish treatment during his visit to Beijing, it appears to have worked. Trump was effusive in his praise of Xi and China, even speaking admiringly of Beijing s ability to run up a huge trade surplus at U.S. expense, which Trump blamed on his predecessors. He described as tremendous his meetings with Xi on topics including trade, North Korea and controlling opioids, despite the lack of major breakthroughs on easing access to China for U.S. companies or further pressuring North Korea to halt its pursuit of nuclear weapons. My feeling toward you is an incredibly warm one, Trump said, standing beside Xi. The two had spent the previous afternoon and evening with their wives, touring the Forbidden City and dining there, a privilege rarely extended to visiting leaders. As we said, there s great chemistry, and I think we re going to do tremendous things, both for China and the United States, Trump said. That chemistry took shape in April, when the two first met at Trump s Mar-a-Lago resort, softening the edges on sharp differences over trade and North Korea, and concern in the West over an increasingly prosperous China s growing assertiveness. While Trump enjoys a chummy, golfing-buddy relationship with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, he has shown admiration for autocratic leaders such as Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. Stylistically, the leaders of the world s two largest economies are opposites: Xi is scripted and cautious, cultivating a down-to-earth image; Trump, a developer and reality TV star before his upset election win a year ago, is known for his off-the-cuff style, freewheeling tweets, and rhetorical hyperbole, both negative and positive. The two also face different political realities at home: Xi has never been more powerful, solidifying his grip at a twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress last month; Trump is saddled with low public approval ratings and dogged by investigations into Russian links to his election campaign, though he and his aides claim credit for the U.S. stock market s record highs. But Trump appears to recognize the clout that China - and by extension, Xi - wields as a rising power, recently likening Xi to a king - and is convinced he needs Beijing s leverage with North Korea to deal with his biggest global security challenge. The transactional currying of favor cuts both ways: China is eager to deflect U.S. pressure to do more on North Korea, and to avoid an escalation in trade tensions that seemed inevitable after Trump, during his presidential campaign, accused China of raping the United States with its trade practices. China attaches great importance to guanxi (personal relationships) and it s especially important, given you have a top-down approach to leadership in China, to see Xi get on so well with a foreign leader, said Wang Huiyao, head of the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank. It s much easier to tackle structural problems with a good atmosphere, he said. Some of their more personal exchanges won prominent play in Chinese social media, including the video of Trump s granddaughter singing to Grandpa Xi and Grandma Peng . An exchange between the two leaders in the Forbidden City when Xi explained to Trump that China has the longest unbroken cultural history of any current nation was especially popular. We are called the descendants of dragons, Xi tells Trump. That s great, Trump replies and laughs. Trump went so far as to call Xi a very special man in a joint briefing on Thursday, and seemed so enthusiastic that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was asked if Trump had been too deferential. I didn t detect that at all, Tillerson said. However, the White House yielded to Beijing s wish that the two leaders not take questions during a joint press statement. Xi did not openly reciprocate Trump s personal praise, maintaining his usual stern demeanor, although he grinned when Trump said he did not blame China for the trade gap and again when he said Xi was someone who got things done. I don t blame China, Trump said of the trade deficit. Who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit of their citizens? I give China great credit. ",1 "Six Giant Banks Made $51bil last year; The other 980 Lost Money; the proprietary trading operations of an oligopoly of banks, saved from disaster by Uncle Sam and subsidized with cheap money from the central bank, was the single driving force behind the renewed surge in their stock.",0 Odds of Qatar Hosting the World Cup Slashed After Blatter's Resignation,1 "Rural Canadians Want the Govt to Fix Their Shitty Internet, Survey Says",1 "Once poster child of crisis, Iceland recovers",1 China warns Obama not to meet Dalai Lama,1 "Michel Chossudovsky, who's from an independent Canadian policy research group, believes that what Iran says hardly matters, because the U.S. is planning for war... [video]",1 "From Bangkok to Berlin, Hard Times Hit the Sex Trade",1 "G20 countries pay over $1,000 per citizen in fossil fuel subsidies, say IMF Worlds leading economies still paying trillions in subsidies despite pledges to phase them out, new figures show",0 "The Nerve! Clinton Claims The VA Scandal Was No Big DealHillary Clinton has some nerve claiming that the VA scandal was not widespread. What does she know? She obviously doesn t know what she s talking about and has offended veterans once again is she calling them liars? If it s the Republican right wing conspiracy then why is this a bipartisan cause that s using FACTS instead of sweeping criticisms? This woman has some nerve to make this claim after Dems blocked any help for our military or veterans.The VA scandal that left thousands of veterans on long waiting lists for care while officials received bonuses wasn t a really bid deal according to Hillary Clinton. She said on MSNBC that it wasn t as widespread as it has been made out to be, and then she went on to blame Republicans for failing to provide the VA with proper funding. It s all part of some plot to call for privatization.She said the problem is real, but cautioned that it s not been as widespread as it has been made out to be on MSNBC s Rachel Maddow Show on Friday.The former first lady blamed Republicans for using the issue as part of an ideological agenda and said they want the VA to fail. Now nobody would believe that from the coverage you see, and the constant berating of the VA that comes from the Republicans, in in part in pursuit of this ideological agenda that they have, Clinton said. They try to create a downward spiral, don t fund it to the extent that it needs to be funded, because they want it to fail, so then we can argue for privatization. Senate Democrats blocked a bill to fund the VA earlier this month in order to negotiate a larger budget deal. I m sure she left out the part about her party blocking VA funding so they could spend money on other things. Never mind that, or how President Obama is holding up a defense bill. President Obama is engaged in similar hostage taking, having just vetoed bipartisan defense legislation that, among other things, would pay the troops.Via: The Lonely Conservative",0 "Japan earthquake: Japan warned over nuclear plants, WikiLeaks cables show - Japan was warned more than two years ago by the international nuclear watchdog that its nuclear power plants were not capable of withstanding powerful earthquakes, leaked diplomatic cables reveal.",0 " Fox Guests ATTACK Each Other After Someone Calls Hillary A ‘Bigot’ (VIDEO)Fox News host Eric Bolling had recently been filling in for his colleague Bill O Reilly on The O Reilly Factor, and he was in no way prepared for the chaos that erupted when one of his guests called Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton a bigot. The discussion began by bringing up Donald Trump s recent comments about Clinton s polices being bigoted and it immediately set off Bolling s guests, who spent the majority of the segment at each other s throats despite Bolling s attempts to restore a calm discussion.Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell had hit the nail right on the head when he commented that Trump had no business calling someone else s policies bigoted. He said: Eric, Donald Trump doesn t know the definition of the word bigot . You don t hear Republicans on Capitol Hill supporting Donald Trump s definition of the term bigoted as it applies to Hillary Clinton. It doesn t make sense, it s inexplicable. Terrell also defended Clinton, stating that when she d called out Trump s racism in a speech, her argument had been fact-based and that s when conservative Horace Cooper lost it and countered that Clinton s speech had been a litany of lies. What happened next was insanity. Cooper, an African American legal commentator, said that the black community would be much better off under racist Trump. He said, It s good that someone is finally telling the truth! Somebody needed to stand up and explain that the policies that the left and progressives have been pushing are bigoted because they don t assume there is any possibility for improvement for blacks. Terrell couldn t believe his ears and told Cooper, You should be ashamed of yourself. Then he asked Cooper again to answer Bolling s question, Is Hillary Clinton a bigot? Cooper said, absolutely, and the two men exchanged heated words as Bolling tried to intervene. Shortly after the men got into a shouting match over Trump s popularity with the racist alt-right and support from the KKK, Terrell repeatedly told Cooper that he should be ashamed for his pro-Trump views.You can watch this chaotic discussion below: Featured image via screen capture",0 "Before election, Putin proposes writing off part of Russians' debtsMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is running for re-election in March, has proposed writing off some of the tax debts accumulated by Russian individuals and small businesses. A total of about 80 billion roubles ($1.4 billion) would be written off under Putin s proposal, a high-ranking official told Reuters. Speaking at his annual news conference, Putin said that some of the debt accumulated because of flaws in Russia s tax system. I think that people should be freed from these payments, and it should be done in the most de-bureaucratic way, without the need to apply to a tax inspection, he added. He estimated that debts of 42 million people worth 41 billion roubles should be written off. The high-ranking official told Reuters that Putin was speaking about debts for property tax and penalties accrued before 2015 that the tax service recognizes as uncollectible. The debts of 2.9 million self-employed entrepreneurs worth more than 15 billion roubles should also be written off, Putin said. He also proposed writing off profit tax, accumulated by some Russian citizens on their so-called waived debts. According to the high-ranking official, the latter would mean writing off 22 billion roubles. ($1 = 58.8600 roubles) ",1 Mexico City to punish tweets on police checkpoints,1 " The Absolutely Cringeworthy Moment Trump Tried Flirting With An Irish Reporter (VIDEO)Donald Trump was in a room full of Irish reporters while placing a call to their newly elected Irish leader Leo Varadkar when Irish reporter Caitriona Perry seems to have caught his eye. What followed was awkward for everybody in the room, especially the deeply confused reporter.Despite being married to his third wife and at that very moment awaiting a phone call with world leader, Trump decided it would be a good time to flirt with Perry. First, picking her out of the sea of reporters, he tells her to come closer. Then he asks what outlet she works for, and while she answers, he talks over her saying we have beautiful Irish press. When the moment descends into awkward silence, Trump tells her she has a nice smile. Perry laughs uncomfortably. The rest of us cringe.On Twitter, Perry herself posted the video, describing it as a bizarre moment. Video of the bizarre moment when President @realDonaldTrump called me over during his call with Taoiseach @campaignforLeo Varadkar. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/TMl2SFQaji Caitriona Perry (@CaitrionaPerry) June 27, 2017Sadly, for Americans, the moment is painfully real. Trump, by his own admission, boasted that he likes exploiting his celebrity status to come on to women even if they say no. Shortly before the election, over a dozen women came forward to describe times he inappropriately touched or harassed them.Trump has also been known to target reporters with sexual advances. During the election, People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff documented the time she says Trump assaulted her while his wife was in the house.Since the election, many of the people who voted for him despite the allegations justified doing so by saying his alleged victims were making it all up. But his continued behavior is troubling. To watch Trump come on to Perry so brazenly only seems to reinforce the idea that he has crossed the line with other women. The cameras were rolling, there was a room full of people, and this is how he behaves?Featured image via Twitter",0 Christian Association of Nigeria and Nigerian Muslims' spiritual leader make a joint statement condemning politicians for inciting religious violence,1 "House opposes carbon and oil taxes in symbolic votesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted largely along party lines on Friday to reject any new taxes on carbon emissions and oil production. The two non-binding actions were intended to get Republicans on the record opposing higher taxes on fossil fuels amid industry concerns that they could become part of a new tax reform debate in 2017, according to aides and lobbyists. One resolution opposing a carbon tax as detrimental to the U.S. economy, which was led by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and backed by the privately owned Koch Industries Inc, drew support from 237 lawmakers, including 231 Republicans and six Democrats, while 163 Democrats voted against the measure. Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups favor a carbon tax as a way to control emissions. Republican leaders and their industry allies have worried that support for a carbon tax among big oil companies could encourage some Republicans to back such a measure. A separate resolution against President Barack Obama’s proposed $10-a-barrel oil tax won support from 253 lawmakers, including 230 Republicans and 23 Democrats. One Republican and 143 Democrats voted against the measure. “These taxes would harm businesses and hardworking American families who (are) already struggling with stagnant wages,” Representative Bill Flores, a Texas Republican and former energy industry executive, said in a statement. ",1 "Palestinian envoy says U.S. recognition of Jerusalem is 'declaring war'LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump would effectively be making a declaration of war if he recognizes Jerusalem as Israel s capital, the Palestinians chief representative to Britain said on Wednesday. If he says what he is intending to say about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, it means a kiss of death to the two state solution, Manuel Hassassian said in a BBC radio interview. He is declaring war in the Middle East, he is declaring war against 1.5 billion Muslims (and) hundreds of millions of Christians that are not going to accept the holy shrines to be totally under the hegemony of Israel, Hassassian added. Senior U.S. officials said on Tuesday that Trump will recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital on Wednesday and set in motion the relocation of the U.S. embassy to the city. ",1 "Strikes cripple Greece, shaken by riots",0 "Tennessee law to allow counselors to deny service based on beliefs (This version of the April 27 story, corrects paragraph 10 to read North Carolina, not South Carolina) By Alex Dobuzinskis (Reuters) - Tennessee’s Republican governor on Wednesday signed a law allowing mental health counselors to refuse service to patients on “sincerely held principles,” the latest in a string of U.S. state measures criticized as discriminatory against the gay community. Governor Bill Haslam signed the bill into law three weeks after it was approved by the legislature. It goes into effect immediately. “The substance of this bill doesn’t address a group, issue or belief system,” Haslam said in a statement. “Rather, it allows counselors – just as we allow other professionals like doctors and lawyers – to refer a client to another counselor when the goals or behaviors would violate a sincerely held principle.” An earlier version of the bill had allowed counselors to refuse service to patients on religious grounds, but it was amended to remove any direct reference to religion. The law protects therapists and counselors from legal action when they cite their personal principles in refusing service, despite a provision in the American Counseling Association’s code of ethics barring members from such denials of service. “This measure is rooted in the dangerous misconception that religion can be used as a free pass to discriminate,” Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said in a statement. Weinberg called the bill one in a series of “attacks” on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community following last year’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down state bans on gay marriage. Haslam had previously told Nashville Public Radio he was considering the effect the legislation may have on Tennessee and its citizens, as laws criticized as discriminatory against the LGBT community has drawn increased scrutiny in several states. In North Carolina, a number of companies including PayPal Holdings and Deutsche Bank have canceled plans to add jobs in the state after it passed a law requiring people to use bathrooms or locker rooms in schools and other public facilities that match the gender on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. Haslam said he decided to sign the counseling bill in part because it forbids denial of service to patients in danger of harming themselves or others. Earlier this month, Haslam disappointed some Christians in the state when he vetoed legislation that would have made the Bible Tennessee’s official book. The governor said that violated the U.S. Constitution. ",1 Labour MP Tom Watson: News Corp operated like 'shadow state',0 Pakistani pols who refused airport body scans hailed as heroes in Pakistan,1 "Trump fights release of video testimony in fraud caseNEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday filed court papers opposing the release of video showing him being questioned under oath about his Trump University series of real estate seminars. They argued that making public the videos, for which written transcripts are already available, would prejudice Trump’s case. The video is “unnecessary, irrelevant and unjustified,” lawyers for Trump wrote in court papers filed in federal court in San Diego. In legal proceedings, evidence is considered prejudicial if it may interfere with a judge or jury’s objective consideration of the facts. Such evidence can still be presented if it is considered highly relevant to the case. The Republican candidate has already claimed the federal judge overseeing the case is biased against him because of the judge’s Mexican heritage. Trump may also have concerns about the impact the videos could have outside the courtroom. On Friday, CNN, CBS, the New York Times, and other media outlets asked for the complete deposition transcripts and videotapes to be made available. If released, the videos could provide fodder for campaign commercials against Trump. In lawsuits in California and New York, Trump has been accused of bilking students who paid as much as $35,000 for an opportunity to learn the businessman’s real estate investment strategies. Former Trump University students suing the billionaire claim that they learned little and that their instructors, supposedly hand-picked by Trump, had few qualifications. During deposition, Trump has admitted that he did not select instructors. His lawyers have argued the “hand-picked” claim amounted to mere sales “puffery” rather than fraud. In court papers arguing for the videos’ release, lawyers for the students argued the images presented nuances not available in the transcripts. “Trump’s tone, facial expressions, gestures and body language... speak volumes to... Trump’s complete and utter unfamiliarity with the instructors and ‘instruction’ that student-victims received,” they said. Trump has said the claims over Trump University are baseless and that students highly rated the programs. The case is Art Cohen v Donald J. Trump, 13-cv-2519, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California. ",1 Deadly Clashes in Afghanistan: German Soldiers Fired Deliberately at Protesters,0 "EU's Mogherini: U.S. says will fully implement Iran nuclear dealWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said on Friday she was reassured during meetings with President Donald Trump’s administration that it was committed to full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal. In her first visit to Washington since Trump took power, Mogherini came to present the European Union as a valuable friend to the United States with common priorities. In a nod to Trump’s preferred style of diplomacy, she said that the European Union could adopt a more formal “transactional approach” on some issues to appeal to the new administration. Mogherini, who met this week with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Trump’s advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner and members of Congress, said her main intention in Washington was to discuss the nuclear accord, which granted Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program. Her visit suggests concern among European and other countries, including Russia and China, that the Trump administration may withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. There have been increasing concerns since the White House put Iran “on notice” for test-firing a ballistic missile. Days later, Washington tightened sanctions against Iran by imposing measures against 25 individuals and entities for the missile test. “I was reassured by what I heard in the meetings on the intention to stick to the full implementation of the agreement,” Mogherini told reporters. Mogherini said she won assurances from members of the Trump administration that they believe Russia should abide by the terms of the 2015 Minsk agreement to end fighting in eastern Ukraine. Mogherini said she and Tillerson discussed how the Minsk agreement might be fully implemented. But Mogherini also signaled doubt about Trump’s commitment to U.S. policy towards Russia. Republicans and Democrats in Congress have expressed concern that Trump will be too conciliatory towards Moscow, perhaps by granting Russia relief from sanctions on its energy, defense and finance industries. “We agreed that as long as the Minsk agreements are not fully implemented, sanctions would remain in place,” Mogherini said later on Friday at a Washington think tank. “But I don’t know if this is going to be the consolidated policy ... I was not in the Oval Office when President Trump called President (Vladimir) Putin.” Mogherini avoided directly criticizing Trump, but said European history showed that blocking the movement of people is doomed to fail. Trump has vowed to build a wall along the U.S. southern border to block illegal immigration from Mexico. He has also issued an executive order barring people from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days, except refugees from Syria, who are banned indefinitely. “We tend to celebrate when walls come down,” Mogherini said. “America has always been great because it has been made up of many people coming from different places.” ",1 " Jason Chaffetz Runs Away Like A Coward After Americans MASSACRE Him At Town Hall (VIDEO)Things got very uncomfortable for Jason Chaffetz as he attended a town hall in Utah Thursday night.Chaffetz, the lead Hillary Clinton Benghazi witch hunter who is currently ignoring the actions of the Trump administration particularly with regard to The Donald s Yemen raid, which killed 30 civilians (including an American girl) and left a Navy SEAL dead found himself met with a chorus of boos from his capacity audience at Brighton High School in a Salt Lake suburb, especially when he mentioned the name of the orange buffoon in the White House.Boy, was it a sh*tshow! The Huffington Post reports:The House Oversight Committee chairman was challenged on Donald Trump s threat to eliminate Obamacare, his vow to slash support for women s health by cutting Planned Parenthood funds, a push to sell public lands and the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as education secretary. At one point, Chaffetz promised the voters that they would be happy with the bill to abolish the Department of Education. The crowd was not amused.Thousands of others who were not allowed in the auditorium because of police concerns about crowd control remained outside brandishing protest signs and chanting, Chaffetz is a coward! KUTV Channel 2 reported, and Do your job! and Your last term! One young girl asked Chaffetz what he was was going to do to protect the environment. Do you believe in science? Because I do, she said to loud cheers. I don t pretend to have all the answers, he responded. There are good people on both sides of the aisle, he added to resounding boos.To add to his humiliation, a teacher stood up and humiliated Chaffetz, likening the Trump administration to her students and demanding to know where Chaffets draws his line in the sand with regard to the Trump family s conflicts of interest. His answer was shameful: Everyone has to comply with the law, Chaffetz responded. You re really not going to like this part, again to boos. The president, under the law, is exempt from the conflict-of-interest laws. Watch this teacher lay it out clearly at #ChaffetzTownHall #resist #TheResistance pic.twitter.com/9lW7N0nzCq David Rosenthal (@DavidRosenthal_) February 10, 2017To all politicians Where ever u appear, We the people will b there, showing u what democracy looks like #TheResistance #ChaffetzTownHall pic.twitter.com/0ny2jrOOY7 Penny K ? (@feastorafamine) February 10, 2017Again, #Chaffetz says he wants Trump to release his tax returns, ""but it is not required by law."" Reaction: pic.twitter.com/KF6rX8Ei3J Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017#Chaffetz says he wants to eliminate Edu Dept. ""I want to get rid of Betsy DeVos!""Man: ""We want to get rid of you!""Right vid this time: pic.twitter.com/VItRuX9d8A Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) February 10, 2017Cancer survivor who relies on Planned Parenthood for care asks Chaffetz: Why are you trying to take [it] away? pic.twitter.com/yexjMZ7wz6 Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) February 10, 2017@feastorafamine @leafysunshine What was happening outside the #chaffetztownhall pic.twitter.com/FFv51D235U Barbara Jones Brown (@bjonesbrown) February 10, 2017""We want a leader, not a creepy tweeter!"" lol #chaffetztownhall pic.twitter.com/Cq8DX8bBXA Scott Wessman (@scottew) February 10, 2017Chaffetz turned tail and fled 40 minutes before his town hall was scheduled to end. Many, of course, noticed that while Hillary Clinton could handle 11 hours of Chaffetz s ridiculous Benghazi witch hunt, he couldn t hack being confronted by voters for the length of one town hall:@jasoninthehouse can't break Hillary in 11 hours of hearings, but he breaks down and leaves his voters 40 mins early? ??? #ChaffetzTownHall SjT (@sjtruog) February 10, 2017Not a single smiley face on @jasoninthehouse's town hall webcast #ChaffetzTownHall pic.twitter.com/bhsHjNhOYT Ben Friedman (@BenFriedman) February 10, 2017Utah to Jason Chaffetz: #ChaffetzTownHall pic.twitter.com/8yBMWBaCYG Clare Fantastic ?? (@SayWhatSugar) February 10, 2017Reminder that Chaffetz voted against embassy security funding and yet helped launch a witch hunt blaming HRC for Benghazi. #ChaffetzTownHall ike ? (@JasperJay40) February 10, 2017Chaffetz is getting booed by my mother in the auditorium of my old high school. Sometimes, life is beautiful. #ChaffetzTownHall Sasha Smith (@SashaPSmith) February 10, 2017So apparently the people in Utah are taking this ""drain the swamp"" stuff seriously and are starting at home. #ChaffetzTownHall SC HS Football (@SC_HS_FB) February 10, 2017This was the text exchange between me and my mom while I was at #chaffetztownhall My mom rules. pic.twitter.com/FoBTon9YcS Zina Bennion (@ZinaBennion) February 10, 2017Chaffetz fled after being told to do his job. Poor little snowflake. #ChaffetzTownHall Iconoclast (@PaulChatlain) February 10, 2017Operator: 911, what's your emergency?Caller: I'd like to report a massacre.Operator: What is your location?Caller: #ChaffetzTownHall Mr. Jameson Neat (@MrJamesonNeat) February 10, 2017Tonight was incredible. Utah doesn't get angry. Utah doesn't yell. Utah doesn't protest.Well, I guess we do now. #ChaffetzTownHall Jennifer (@WeTheLiving) February 10, 2017This is exactly what we need to see every time any Republican makes a public appearance. It is time they learned that most of America wholeheartedly rejects their poison, and that we are not going to take it any more!Featured image via Daily Herald",0 " Racist Trump Supporter LOSES IT On The Subway, Attacks Woman For Being Black (VIDEO)Donald Trump has created nothing but division in our country, and amplified every racists fear that they might lose all their white privileges if minorities are actually given equal opportunities and treated with respect. This couldn t have been more apparent than in a shocking video that was taken on Brooklyn s L train over the weekend.In the video below, a man in a white suit and top hat yells profanities at an African American woman, calling her C*nt over and over again, as well as fat. What did she do to deserve this disgusting, misogynistic attack? Nothing, except sit down on the last seat on the train.But this man wasn t just a misogynist, the attack also became racially motivated, as he continues to yell the C-word and eventually says put that back in the f*** fields where they belong. This behavior makes it completely predictable that he would stop attacking this woman for a second to yell at the top of his lungs, DONALD TRUMP 2016! As soon as this childish passenger reveals that he s a Trump supporter, the black woman he d been attacking understands that she s not dealing with a sane human being and says reveal exactly who you are. Which of course only makes this man-child more furious as he yells, among several other things: Calm for me b***, you sitting down there b***. At one point, a woman who seemed to know the rabid racist was embarrassed by him and tried to calm him down by saying, Les! That s enough. All the black woman could do in response to this attack was wonder what everyone else on the train was probably thinking: Are you five years old? This encounter finally ended when the Trump supporter got off the train at Jefferson St. station.The video is only 2 minutes long, but it s more than enough to get the sense that Trump supporters are likely the most dangerous, illogical people on the planet right now. You can watch this disgusting Trump lover attack a woman for basically doing nothing below (warning: graphic language):Featured image is a screenshot",0 Robert Fisk: How can you trust the cowardly BBC?,1 Sherpa Who Scaled Mt. Everest 19 Times Is Feared Dead After Hit by Avalanche | Updates as of 10/26/2010,1 Elite Canadian Soldier pleads guilty to 88 charges ranging from stealing women's and girls' lingerie to sexual assault and murder,1 "Senate intelligence panel chief: Comey firing may slow Russia probeWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey could temporarily delay the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, its chairman said on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters, committee chairman Senator Richard Burr said he hoped to get the same level of cooperation from acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, but “an interruption in any of the access we have to documents and personnel would be harmful to our investigation. It wouldn’t ... preclude us from coming to a conclusion, but it might delay us.” ",1 The French parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a law allowing terminally ill patients to cease treatment and enter a deep sleep until they die.,0 "GOVERNMENT SANTA CANDIDATE Gets Another Huge Endorsement… Just In Time For ChristmasThe USPS is drowning in debt, has lost every one of its life-lines and has mismanaged its funds for decades. No worries though, the US Postal Union is quite certain Socialist Santa Claus will fix everything Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won the endorsement of the American Postal Workers Union on Thursday, giving the self-described democratic socialist a boost as he seeks more support from organized labor in the Democratic primary.APWU represents 200,000 U.S. Postal Service employees and retirees. It s the second major national union and member of the AFL-CIO labor federation to endorse Sanders over rival and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.Sanders stands above all others as a true champion of postal workers and other workers throughout the country, said Mark Dimondstein, the union s president, in a statement. The endorsement came from the union s 13-member executive board.The United States Postal Service (USPS) lost $5.5 billion last year. That is the eighth annual loss in a row and the third-highest ever. The only silver lining is that the loss was below the red-ink tsunami of $15.9 billion in 2012.Why does the federal government deliver the mail? Why does it have a monopoly over delivering the mail?Admittedly, the Postal Service is one of the few government programs with actual constitutional warrant. The Constitution authorizes Congress to establish post offices. And early American politicians rushed to take advantage of their opportunity, creating the Post Office Department in 1792.With politics rather than service as the post office s priority, Congress took the next step and approved the Private Express Statutes, which prevented anyone from competing with the government in delivering first-class mail. And Uncle Sam enforced his monopoly, fining would-be competitors, including celebrated libertarian author Lysander Spooner.The feds continue to prosecute anyone with the temerity to compete with the USPS, even threatening the Cub Scouts for once offering to deliver Christmas cards.Believing that Americans existed to serve the USPS left the system ill-equipped to adapt to changing circumstances. In 1971, Congress turned the Post Office Department into the semi-independent USPS. That removed its direct role in politics, but the USPS still is exempt from taxes and regulations, including local parking restrictions. Congress retained its control over postal policies and, of course, preserved the system s delivery monopoly.But banning competition could not preserve the postal market. The number of pieces of mail peaked in 2001 and continues to fall despite a rising population. Mail pieces dropped from 213 billion in 2006 to 155 billion last year, and the number is expected to decline to 130 billion by 2020. The USPS s last profitable year was 2006. Since then, losses have run between $2.8 billion and $15.9 billion. The Postal Service has maxed out its borrowing from Uncle Sam and missed four retiree program payments. With characteristic understatement, the Government Accountability Office observed, Given its financial problems and outlook, USPS cannot support its current level of service and operations. The postal unions insist that nothing is wrong at least, nothing that a federal bailout wouldn t solve. They reserve particular ire for the requirement that the USPS prefund workers retirement. Had this rule not been in place, noted former postmaster general Patrick Donahoe, the Postal Service would have earned money last year.But prefunding protects taxpayers. Washington s unfunded (government) retirement liability is about $800 billion and growing every year. That no other agency is required to prefund is unfair to taxpayers, not the Postal Service, since every agency should have to set aside sufficient money to fulfill its financial promises. With the Postal Service earning too little to pay and with nothing left of its federal credit line, the USPS has defaulted four times over the last three years on its mandated contributions.Sanders has long been a vocal backer of a robust postal service, particularly during the postal reform debate of recent years. APWU views itself as fighting a battle against postal service privatization, and it counts the Vermont senator as perhaps its leading defender.As the postal service bleeds millions in losses mostly due to unique funding mandates placed upon it by Congress Sanders has staunchly opposed the closure of postal facilities and cuts in postal service, such as Saturday delivery. He is also a leading proponent of the concept of postal banking, which would allow post offices to provide small loans and compete with payday lenders. Postal banking is a top issue for APWU, and Sanders has sought to make it a campaign issue.In his statement, Dimondstein noted Sanders long history of standing with workers on picket lines, as well as his support for a national $15 per hour minimum wage. Sanders spoke at a protest against Verizon last month that was held by the Communications Workers of America union, and he joined a Fight for $15 rally outside the U.S. Capitol building earlier this week.Via: Huffington Post ",0 "Trump warns he could end NATO guarantee, scrap NAFTACLEVELAND (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he might abandon NATO’s guarantee of mutual defense and would renegotiate or scrap the NAFTA trade deal if he is elected, drawing fire from some senior Republicans and his Democratic rival. In response to a question about potential Russian aggression against the Baltic states, Trump told the New York Times that Washington would help defend other NATO members only if they had “fulfilled their obligations to us.” All three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are former Soviet republics and now NATO members. Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort did not dispute the quotes, saying they were consistent with the candidate’s desire to modernize the United States’ international treaties. But national security officials and some Republicans said abandoning NATO’s mutual defense guarantee, enshrined in Article 5 of the treaty, would abandon 66 years of U.S. foreign policy and threaten the world’s most powerful military alliance. Also weighing in was the campaign for Democrat Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and Trump’s likely opponent in the Nov. 8 election. “Trump has apparently decided that America lacks the moral authority to advance our interests and values around the world,” Clinton’s senior foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in a statement. Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN he disagreed “totally” with Trump’s comments on NATO. “It’s the most important military alliance in world history. It remains relevant today. Many Americans don’t know that the operation in Afghanistan is a NATO operation,” McConnell said, adding: “I want to reassure our NATO allies that we will come to the defense of any member that is threatened.” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a former presidential rival of Trump, said Trump’s remarks made the world more dangerous and the United States less safe. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday he would not interfere in the U.S. election campaign but that allied solidarity was a key value for the group. “This is good for European security and good for U.S. security,” the NATO head said in a statement. “The United States has always stood by its European allies.” Trump previously said he would force allies to shoulder more of the defense costs that the United States has borne for decades, cancel long-standing treaties he considers unfavorable, and redefine what it means to be a partner of the United States.Stoltenberg said defense spending among European allies and Canada rose last year for the first time in many years. In 2016, he said, he expected a further 3 percent increase, or $8 billion. TRADE DISPUTESTrump has railed against the NAFTA trade deal with Canada and Mexico as a U.S. job killer and was quoted as saying in the New York Times interview that he would be prepared to scrap it if he could not negotiate much better terms for the United States. The North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994 during the administration of President Bill Clinton, the husband of Hillary Clinton. Unlike the NATO treaty, U.S. laws appear to give presidents significant authority to renegotiate foreign trade deals without consulting Congress, trade experts said.     “Trump as president would have an enormous amount of discretion,” said Barry Bosworth, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former White House staffer.     If elected, Trump could unilaterally terminate NAFTA or any other free trade deal, although a court would likely have to decide if the president had that authority, said Gary Hufbauer, a former deputy assistant secretary for trade at the Treasury Department.    NAFTA was enacted by a law passed by Congress, but Article 2205 of the agreement allows any party to withdraw from the deal with six months’ notice, and Hufbauer said U.S. courts would likely allow Trump to make that decision.    “The president has a lot more power than is generally recognized,” said Hufbauer, currently at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank.    ",1 "Trump's tougher stance could backfire by boosting Iran's GuardsANKARA/LONDON (Reuters) - Iran s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a military force with political clout and an industrial empire, stands to benefit from heightened tension between Washington and Tehran, officials and analysts said. President Donald Trump broke ranks with other major powers earlier this month by disavowing Iran s compliance with a 2015 multinational nuclear deal, complicating life for foreign investors nervous of possible new U.S. sanctions. The IRGC, which reports directly to Iran s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, began rapidly expanding its commercial interests a decade ago, before U.S. and EU sanctions were imposed on Iran s oil and finance sectors in 2012 over the country s nuclear program. It controls businesses ranging from ports management to telecommunications and has made the most of both cooling and warming ties with the West. When Western oil companies vacated energy projects in Iran after 2012, the Guards took them on; after the penalties were lifted in 2016, the IRGC, through front companies, served as a conduit for foreign business flowing into Iran. If investors are put off again, the IRGC is ready to step in, said an official from Khamenei s camp. We want foreign investors to stay, but if they leave because of (U.S.) pressure, the Guards can easily replace them. There is no better alternative, the official said, declining to be named because he was not authorized to speak to media. Under sanctions, Iran s clerical rulers rewarded the Guards by showering them with contracts for skirting the restrictions as well as for suppressing dissent at home and helping Tehran s regional allies from Iraq to Lebanon. The IRGC s lack of technical expertise and concern over the viability of its economic ventures under sanctions meant it later welcomed pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani s deal that eased sanctions in return for curbs on the nuclear program. Khamenei, a hardliner who holds ultimate authority on matters of state in Iran, guardedly endorsed the nuclear accord but has said Rouhani s economic follow-through has fallen short. To bypass existing unilateral U.S. sanctions, which bar any business with the Guards and its affiliated firms, many of the IRGC s front companies are not even formally owned by the Guards, but by individuals and firms linked to it. Rouhani has tried to encourage reluctant major European firms and banks to return to Iran by seeking to curb the Guards involvement in the economy, which led to the IRGC transferring ownership of some companies to the state. In recent months, the IRGC, which sees itself as a bulwark against Western influence, has responded by criticizing Rouhani for viewing foreign countries as the key to economic growth. The IRGC will be the main beneficiary of the tension with Washington ... In order to protect its economic dominance, the IRGC prefers only limited opening to the West, said a Western diplomat who follows Iran closely. While backing the nuclear deal, Europeans share Washington s concern over Iran s ballistic missile program and destabilizing regional behavior. The IRGC has vowed to accelerate the disputed missile program and Iran s Shi ite militia proxies have made big military gains in recent months in Syria and Iraq, part of a decades-old tussle for influence in the Middle East with Sunni powers. Tehran emphasizes its role in battling Islamic State. Many foreign firms remain hesitant to invest in Iran for reasons including lingering unilateral U.S. sanctions imposed over human rights violations and alleged Iranian links to terrorism, and the dominant role of the IRGC in the Middle East s second largest economy. Among European firms that have announced big deals in Iran since last year are planemaker Airbus AIR.PA, French energy group Total TOTF.PA, and Germany s Siemens SIEGn.DE. Planemaker Boeing is the only U.S. company that has been granted direct access to the Iranian market with a deal to sell 110 plans to two Iranian carriers. But Trump s hawkish new approach towards Tehran, coupled with banking worries and domestic political turbulence in both countries, are causing growing uncertainty over Iran s plane deals. Iranian officials have acknowledged publicly that major international companies are still wary of providing finance for Iran-related business, fearing potential fines resulting from existing U.S. sanctions, which include a ban on dollar related trade with the country. Iran needs the equivalent of billions of dollars in investment to revitalize industries including oil and gas and develop sectors held back by a lack of Western financing and the wide economic influence of the IRGC. These factors have all added to the difficulties faced by foreign investors looking to tap Iran s market. The commercial issue is the turbulence that Trump creates, Andreas Schweitzer, managing director with London-based M&A and investment advisory firm Arjan Capital Ltd, which has been investing in Iran since 2009. He said transactions were nevertheless still taking place, including in the automotive, energy and industrial sectors, in the one hundred million to two hundred million euros sphere. Merger and acquisition deals were among them, he said. We keep the same mindset as of 2009 we assume the worst case, including that the Revolutionary Guards could be sanctioned, although we don t deal with them and if sanctioned parties are involved somewhere we won t touch the transaction or the company. We are and remain very cautious and so far we never have had a problem. Following Trump s speech, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he planned to impose new sanctions on the Guards and would work with international counterparts on the issue. Charles Blackmore, chief executive of London-based due diligence specialists Audere International, which is active in Iran, said the policy shift by Washington would have an adverse effect upon the more risk adverse investor . For those who are already invested and know the country well, this will not make a blind bit of difference, he said. There are enough issues at the moment making people aware of how much of the economy is controlled by shadow shareholdings and opaque structures of the IRGC. The survival of the nuclear deal is up to the U.S. Congress, which has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose broad sanctions on Iran. The U.S. administration has said Washington will not stand in the way of European trade and business transactions with Iran. Matthew Oresman, counsel with law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, who advises companies on Iran compliance issues, said Washington had considerable power and leverage to disrupt trade with Iran if that served its national security interests. But the European governments have ways to dampen this and protect their businesses if they so desire, he said. (This story has been refiled to correct typo in acronym IRGC) ",1 " WATCH: Bill O’Reilly Just Said The Women’s Marches Were Just Like Totalitarian RegimesBill O Reilly can always be trusted to be a total ass, especially when it comes to anything that runs counter to his myopic worldview. The Women s Marches, which took place all over the world and included three million women here at home, seem to be his latest target. In a conversation with Charles Krauthammer, O Reilly went completely off the rails and actually compared the marches to totalitarianism.As Krauthammer talked about the real people who showed up to the Women s March on Washington, he obviously touched a nerve with O Reilly, who thinks women don t do anything unless they re told to: Don t you feel they showed up because they were told to show up? If you look at the totalitarian governments in the 20th century- Krauthammer, despite having his own bizarre view of the marches, seemed incredulous. He tried to interrupt with, You re told to show up? Who tells anybody to show up in this country? It s important to note that Krauthammer is not exactly the most liberal of pundits, yet O Reilly really floored him with this. Krauthammer did bring up a good point: When people do what they re told, it s because there will be negative consequences if they don t. O Reilly decided to try and explain what the consequences are, and he fell flat on his face: Well, they have to go they don t have to go through a negative, they have to go to be with her brothers and sisters, and to show their solidarity and that they are good people and fight the fascist racists. I mean, it s a whip up, and if you study history, all the totalitarian regimes were fueled by whip-ups, okay? Really? It s not possible that anybody went because they had something to say? Nobody went because they were told to or because they were afraid of bad things should they not go. Women went because they had something to say.And if anybody s totalitarian here, it s the massive Cheeto living in the White House now. O Reilly is being just as stupid as ever with this and Krauthammer can t really believe it. Watch below:Featured image via screen capture",0 Israel gag order lifted: Israeli reporter is revealed to be accused of espionage for giving Haaretz newspaper top-secret information,1 "Suspected of graft, Indonesian parliament speaker under guard in hospitalJAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian anti-graft investigators have put the speaker of parliament, who they have identified as a suspect in a $170 million corruption case, under armed guard in hospital after he was involved in a car accident, his lawyer said on Friday. Officers from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) tried to arrest Setya Novanto, the chairman of Golkar, Indonesia s second-largest party and partner in the ruling coalition, at his house in Jakarta late on Wednesday. But the investigators, watched by television cameras, failed to find him, sparking speculation that he had gone into hiding. The KPK is investigating state losses amounting to about $170 million linked to a national electronic identity card scheme after allegations that sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million - generated by marking up procurement costs - were divided up among politicians in parliament. Novanto was named a suspect in the case again last week after he had used a controversial legal maneuver, a pre-trial motion, to get earlier charges dropped last month. He has denied wrongdoing but has repeatedly missed summonses from the KPK for questioning in recent months, saying he was ill and needed to undergo heart surgery. Late on Thursday, reports emerged that Novanto was involved in a car accident while on his way to turn himself in at KPK headquarters. Novanto s lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, said a journalist was driving the vehicle and interviewing his client at the time of the accident. (The driver) was looking back and looking to the side, so he wasn t concentrating on what was in front of him, Yunadi said. Novanto was now very ill with head and hand injuries, Yunadi said. He can t even get up yet. He can t talk yet, it s just his eyes when he opens his eyes the ceiling swirls in circles. The lawyer said armed KPK officers were guarding Novanto and had ignored requests to leave. Novanto was taken to a second hospital on Friday for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, media reported. Novanto gained a measure of international fame in September 2015 when then U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump hailed the Indonesian politician as a great man during a news conference. Do they like me in Indonesia? Trump asked after introducing Novanto to reporters at Trump Tower. Yes, highly, Novanto replied. Indonesian newspapers splashed pictures across their front pages of a black sport utility vehicle that Novanto was said to have been traveling in. It was resting against an electricity pole, and appeared to have suffered only minor damage to the front fender. Febri Diansyah, a KPK spokesman, said on Thursday the crash happened shortly after the agency had asked the national police chief and Interpol to place Novanto on a wanted list. The KPK would liaise with doctors to see if Novanto was fit to stand trial and would continue its investigation, Febri told Inews TV. Yunadi has said a request for another pre-trial motion had been filed on behalf of his client. President Joko Widodo on Friday urged Novanto, a political ally, to follow the legal process . Previously, Widodo has backed the KPK against efforts by some members of parliament to weaken the independent agency s powers. Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is also a Golkar member, told reporters on Thursday Novanto should be ready to face any legal process if called upon. Indonesians widely perceive parliament as one of their country s most corrupt institutions, Transparency International says. ",1 " Trump Calls For A Boycott Of Apple, But Forgets He’s Tweeting On An iPhoneDonald Trump decided he was anti-capitalism on Friday when he called for his supporters to boycott Apple products. Would he be joining in the boycott he called for? Probably not because he s still using his iPhone to tweet dozens of times a day. Oops.Trump has taken the side of the federal government over Apple in the fight between combating terrorism and consumer privacy. The Justice Department has repeatedly demanded that Apple break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists. The tech company has declined, citing the need to protect the privacy of its customers.Hilariously, Trump s call for an Apple boycott comes on a day where he has been busy tweeting, and many users noticed that Trump s tweets come with a signature Twitter for iPhone description on the bottom.lol pic.twitter.com/PSnvAUEDgr Colin Jones (@colinjones) February 19, 2016can't stop, won't stop pic.twitter.com/CmjksXMS2Z Colin Jones (@colinjones) February 19, 2016Trump may have been under the impression that no one would notice what kind of device he was using because for Twitter users going directly to the website or ones using the Twitter app on their phones, this description doesn t always appear. For users of the Twitter organizational app called Tweetdeck.The Republican front-runner made the comments at a campaign rally in South Carolina where he is expected to win the primary by a massive margin.Trump s attack on Apple is an odd choice for the man who frequently cites his shrewd business sense as his main (some might say only ) presidential qualifier. It s certainly not about ethics. Trump routinely brags that his companies have declared bankruptcy to exploit the government and make the taxpayers give him more money. Instead, it might just be out of professional jealousy. After all, Trump may be a billionaire, but none of his assets hold a candle to Apple s profitability.Recently, Apple s value surpassed $700 billion, the largest company in the United States by a massive margin. It s unlikely that Trump, or his fans, will have any discernible impact on the company s profits. In the past several years, Republicans have threatened to boycott everything from Starbucks to Cheerios. The half-baked protests have worked exactly zero times. Trump may have the Republican Party under his thumb, but most of America still hates his guts.Feature image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr",0 Iranian dissident blows the whistle on former militia colleagues who committed violent acts against protesters in recent weeks,1 "Google enlisted members of the US congress, whose election campaigns it had funded, to pressure the European Union to drop a 6bn antitrust case which threatens to decimate the US tech firms business in Europe.",0 " Trump’s Logo Failed So Miserably He Removed All Trace Of It After Only One Day Of MockeryDonald Trump announced Indiana governor Mike Pence as his vice presidential pick via Twitter on Friday and unveiled his campaign s new logo. To say the least, it didn t go over well, at all. Twitter erupted in brutal mockery of the Trump/Pence logo almost immediately. For reference, here is the image. It may well go down in history as the worst logo ever created.People were quick to point out that TP stands for toilet paper, which is remarkably appropriate when you consider all the crap that spills from Trump s mouth every time he opens it. And of course, they had to drag poor Beavis into it.Others were more taken aback by the way the T penetrates the P. An angle that Samantha Bee from Full Frontal had quite a bit of fun with, posting the following GIF with the caption Breaking the Mattress of America. Breaking the mattress of America. pic.twitter.com/M4Cq62YS2c Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) July 15, 2016Apparently, the heat got a little too hot for the presumptive Republican nominee, because by Saturday morning the logo had completely vanished. Trump and his conservative minions had scrubbed the image. Trump s website no longer features the logo or even a picture of his new running mate, instead going with just a picture of the bigoted billionaire himself and his trademark slogan Make America great again. The logo is also missing in action from Republican the National Committee s website.If Trump and his new best buddy Pence thought it would be that easy to erase the existence of their disastrous logo failure, they clearly don t have a full understanding of how this whole internet works. This pitiful blunder will live on, if only for our amusement. In the future, Trump s campaign would be well advised to use a different design company when it comes to creating their logos. Honestly, you have to wonder if the logo s creator was really so clueless that the obvious shortcomings of the design just happened to slip under their radar, or if the image was just a very public trolling. Either way, Trump is trying really hard to pretend it didn t happen.Featured image via Real Time Politics and Twitter screen capture",0 " Short Film Envisions Effect Global Warming Will Have On New York With Terrifying Accuracy (VIDEO)The world was stunned when Donald Trump pulled the USA out of the Paris Climate Accord, claiming that the deal was very unfair to the United States. For those that have been living in a bubble, which might be all of us in the near future, the Paris Climate Accord is a deal to keep the global temperature rise only two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for this century.Before Trump decided to hastily back out of the deal, there were 195 countries involved in the agreement, the only two not included being Syria, mainly because they have enough on their plate at the moment, and Nicaragua, who thought the plan wasn t stringent enough!Donald Trump has always called New York City home so two film artists who go by both Claire&Max and Menilmonde have decided to put together a short visual representation to explain what impact an increase of 2 C will have on New York, mainly because we know the president doesn t really read anything. Simply titled Two C, the four-minute film shows the frightening effect of climate change on New York City landmarks if the whole world follows in Trump s footsteps and throws caution to the wind on the issue of climate change.The French pair spoke to indy100 to discuss the two steps involved in completing the project, one that took several months to finish. We needed to delete all the people in the streets and the human life, then we added the water. It s the result of 3D simulation, they told the online publication. The place of man in our society is one of the main themes of our work, with the theme of emptiness and abandonment, convinced of the atrophic impact on the environment. We traveled a lot and [were] convinced, too, that our planet is very fragile, but people forget too fast or do not pay attention, still today. Worse, some do not believe in climate warming. They also mentioned that they received a lot of comments telling them that they should ve also included a flooded Trump Tower to really hammer the point home, however, they just hope that Trump s withdrawal will raise more awareness of the Paris climate deal. We thought that Macron had a good reaction with his Make the planet great again . Communication on climate change must go on and on. Featured image via Menilmonde",0 "U.S. appeals court denies request to restore Trump's immigration ban(Reuters) - A U.S. appeal court late on Saturday denied an emergency appeal from the U.S. Department of Justice to restore an immigration order from President Donald Trump barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees. “Appellants’ request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied,” the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said. It said a reply from the Department in support of the emergency appeal was due on Monday. The Department filed the appeal a day after a federal judge in Seattle ordered Trump’s travel ban to be lifted. The president’s Jan. 27 order had barred admission of citizens from the seven nations for 90 days. ",1 "Stung by reputation, Taiwan looks to turn corner on money launderingTAIPEI (Reuters) - After Taiwan s state-run Mega Financial Holding Co was fined $180 million by U.S. authorities for lax enforcement of anti-money-laundering rules at its New York branch, the bank started a rigorous training program for its staff. Now, like Mega Financial, companies across Taiwan are working to get staff and systems up to speed after the island passed laws to meet international standards on combating money laundering and was taken off a watchlist by the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG). Unfortunately, Taiwan has earned a name for itself as a paradise for money laundering, Deputy Justice Minister Tsai Pi-chung told Reuters. Money laundering and cybercrime connections to Taiwan, which is also in the process of pushing through a cyber security bill, have grabbed global headlines. U.S. authorities fined Mega Financial $180 million last year for lax enforcement of anti-money-laundering rules at its New York branch. Some money from the $170 million cyber heist of India s Union Bank of India was transferred through Taiwan s Bank SinoPac. An international crime ring used malware to steal $2.6 million from the ATMs of Taiwan s First Bank. Taiwan was one of the six most targeted countries of the Wannacry ransomware attack earlier this year, according to security company Avast. Since 2011, 800 people from China and Taiwan have been deported from Cambodia on suspicion of telecoms fraud. Following its U.S. fine, Mega Financial said cleaning up its act is a top priority. U.S. authorities had said the Mega branch had been indifferent to the risks associated with transactions involving Panama, a high-risk area for money laundering. What happened at our New York branch was just terrible, said Robert Tsai, a senior executive vice president, referring to the fine and ensuing scandal. Half of our 6,000 clerks have been certified with anti-money laundering training. How each of our branches implements the rules and ensures proper training is the top priority for our business. To gain international confidence in its anti-money laundering measures, Taiwan will have to demonstrate it is putting the laws into practice. The APG will review Taiwan in 2018. The visit will focus on how effectively Taiwan will have actually implemented the anti-money laundering rules, said Liang Hung-lieh, partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Taiwan. The APG s on-site review will be new to most of the assessed, including banks, non-bank financial institutions and in particular non-financial institutions such as lawyers, public certified accountants and other professional service providers. Under the anti-money laundering laws, these financial professionals will be required to report suspicious transactions, including bank transfers exceeding T$500,000 (US$16,500). They will have to determine where the money came from, provide details about the client and report that to Taiwan s newly established Anti-Money Laundering Office. These are similar to regulations that countries that have signed up to global anti-money laundering rules overseen by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have adopted. The cost to companies of implementing the new rules may be significant as they put processes, workers and data systems in place. There s a lot of extra work for them to do now, such as determining the identities of their clients beneficiaries, said an official with the Financial Supervisory Commission, the island s financial regulator. He declined to be identified in the absence of permission to speak to the media. They don t yet know exactly what they have to do, and to what extent, to be considered compliant with the new regulations. They re going to need some time to digest all of these new rules, he said. The potential costs and increased difficulty of getting transactions done under the new rules worry those in the property market, said Wong Jui-chi, the spokesman for Taiwan s Chinese Association of Real Estate brokers, while emphasizing that his industry intends to fully comply with the regulations. The property market is already in a bad shape and these new rules will make things worse by making the process of real estate transactions more complicated. More or less everyone in our industry is complaining about it, he said. ",1 Israel forces tourist to pledge to avoid pro-Palestinian activities as condition for entry.,1 "Afghan children are dying: The government told them it was finally safe to come back - even built them a clinic, a school, a playground. But what good's a playground when you have nothing to eat?",1 Misrata has come under attack by Libyan government forces attempting to retake the besieged city.,1 "German FDP reject Macron's call to create joint euro zone budgetBERLIN (Reuters) - A senior member of Germany s pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), a potential coalition partner for Chancellor Angela Merkel, generally welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron s European Union speech but criticized his proposal to create a joint euro zone budget. This was a courageous speech by President Macron, even if not all of his proposals meet approval of the FDP, said Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, FDP leader in the EU legislature. While Lambsdorff welcomed Macron s call to strengthen military cooperation in the EU and seize the opportunities of digitization, he rejected the idea of a join euro zone budget. The problem in Europe is not a lack of public funds, but the lack of reform. A euro zone budget would set exactly the wrong incentives, he said. ",1 "In this sewer, we reptiles of British journalism hold our heads high: As WikiLeaks has shown, power loathes truth revealed. Disclosure is all we have when politicians are cowed, lawyers fall silent and audit is polluted... the press is the last best hope when democratic oversight fails",0 "Serious Ebola Outbreak in West Africa, Rumored to be Airborne.",0 "Message to President Trump from Syria’s Assad: ‘You Also Need Our Help to Defeat Terrorism’21st Century Wire says The following interview is the first western media appearance by Syrian President Bashar al Assad since Donald Trump took office in the US. In an exclusive interview with Yahoo News at the president s office in Damascus, Assad said President Trump s freeze on refugees into his country part of an executive order that has drawn widespread protests and is being challenged in federal court is an American issue on which he would not take sides. But asked if some of those who fled are aligned with terrorists, Assad quickly replied, Definitely. What is clear from this interview is that the President Assad has a much deeper and more realistic understanding of the real threat of terrorism, and the causes of terrorism far and away beyond the shallow, childish rhetoric we hear on a daily basis from those US officials still openly supporting radical Islamist terrorists in Syria like US Senators like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Bob Corker and other who are still clinging to the fictional narrative of the moderate rebel in Syria. It is also clear that Assad has a much more intelligent handle on the concept of safe zones than the Trump Administration so far, as well as a better understanding of the totality of refugee issue, who Assad said is partly fuelled by the crippling sanctions imposed by the US. Watch: ",0 "Top Palestinian Negotiator: ""Israel is lighting matches in hopes of igniting a big fire""",1 "Putting the full blame for Palestinian situation on Hamas, Saudi foreign minister calls for Arab nations to strengthen ties with Israel",1 A Female President Demands Equal Rights for Africa's Gays,1 "Gordon Brown\'s terror claims for ID cards are ""bunkum"" says GCHQ expert",1 "After North Korea missile, Britain and Japan agree closer security tiesTOKYO (Reuters) - Britain and Japan said on Thursday they would cooperate in countering the threat posed by North Korea, two days after it fired a missile over northern Japan, and will call on China to exert its leverage. Prime Minister Theresa May, looking to strengthen relations with one of her closest allies ahead of Brexit, is visiting Japan as it responds to an increasing military threat. Terming North Korea s missile program a global threat , Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a news conference that Japan and Britain would cooperate. It is very meaningful that Prime Minister May and I agreed to further strengthen pressure on North Korea and to call on China to play a larger role, he added. May agreed, noting that China, North Korea s lone major ally, had been involved in U.N. Security Council debate earlier this week. China does have a particular position in this, they have leverage on North Korea and I believe we should be encouraging China to exercise that leverage to do what we all want - which is to ensure that North Korea is not conducting these illegal acts. May toured Japan s flagship Izumo helicopter carrier for a military briefing with Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera before attending a national security meeting. May and Abe agreed on a joint declaration on security cooperation, including plans for British soldiers to take part in military exercises on Japanese soil and for collaboration to address the threat of cyber and militant attacks when Japan hosts the Olympics in 2020. North Korea featured heavily in the talks after it launched a ballistic missile on Tuesday that passed over Japanese territory, prompting international condemnation. May s office had said the two leaders were expected to discuss the possibility of further sanctions on North Korea, but neither Abe nor May touched on the issue at the news conference. The Global Times, a publication of the official People s Daily of China s ruling Communist Party, criticized an earlier comment of May s comment calling for more pressure from China. Beijing does not need London to teach it how to deal with North Korea, the newspaper said. Asked about the United States, Japan and Britain looking to impose new sanctions on North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the situation could only be resolved peacefully through dialogue. We think it is regrettable that some countries selectively overlook the relevant Security Council resolutions demand to advance dialogue, and stubbornly emphasize pressure and sanctions, she told a daily news briefing. OUTWARD-LOOKING Apart from security, May s trip has focused on trade and investment. She is keen to convince nervy investors that Britain s exit from the European Union will not make it a less attractive business partner. Both May and Abe addressed a delegation of British business leaders and senior representatives from major Japanese investors in Britain, such as carmakers Nissan, Toyota and conglomerate Hitachi. Abe told the gathering that May had assured him Britain s negotiations on leaving the European Union would be transparent. May said Japanese investment after Britain s vote to leave the EU was a vote of confidence and she pledged to build close trade ties with Japan. I very much welcome the commitment from Japanese companies such as Nissan, Toyota, Softbank and Hitachi, May said. I am determined that we will seize the opportunity to become an ever more outward-looking global Britain, deepening our trade relations with old friends and new allies. During a two-hour train ride between Kyoto and Tokyo late on Wednesday, the two leaders discussed Brexit, with May talking Abe through the details of a series of papers published in recent weeks setting out her negotiating position. May said on Wednesday Japan s upcoming trade deal with the EU could offer a template for a future Japan-Britain trade agreement, the latest attempt to show investors that Brexit will not lead to an overnight change in business conditions. Japan has been unusually open about its concerns over Brexit, worrying that 40 billion pounds ($51.68 billion) of Japanese investment in the British economy could suffer if trading conditions change abruptly when Britain leaves the bloc. ",1 "ACTIVE DUTY SOLDIER’S Riveting Case Against Bringing Syrian Refugees To U.S. Goes ViralThis soldier s story is shocking and heartbreaking, but serves as a serious warning about what we, as a nation are getting ourselves into if we bring hundreds of thousands of people to our country whose beliefs are diametrically opposed to ours. These are also people who have no intention of assimilating in our country, as their actions are justified as part of their faith I don t typically go on rants or express my political beliefs here (Facebook), but I just have to get this off my mind.As some of you know, I m active duty Army. Aside from that, I am a medic. I ve spent 3 years of my life overseas in both Afghanistan and Iraq. I ve seen some pretty atrocious sites caused by war, from both sides. I ve picked up blown up body parts of friends and I ve saved the lives of guys who were trying to kill me and my guys right before I was keeping them from their 72 virgins or whatever they believe awaits them on the other side.Here is an unbiased truthful view to the Syrian refugee situation.My first deployment to Iraq, in 2006, my unit voluntarily ran a childrens burn clinic outside of the FOB. It was a constant target for attacks. You would think that people wouldn t shoot mortars or rockets at their own children, but you would be wrong. We saw hundreds of children, from infants to 18 year olds. The overwhelming majority of the kids we saw (90% or better) were clear cases of abuse. These parents were literally dunking their kids in boiling water, or throwing hot chai at their kids faces Yes, we re talking about babies, toddlers, kids not even old enough to understand why their parents would do these things to them. HUNDREDS of kids We saw quite a few of these kids that were sexually abused, both girls and boys. Their parents acted if nothing was wrong with this, even when confronted by our doctors.This is the mentality of their society, not the viewpoint of a few individuals these beliefs have been accepted to the vast majority of these people. Many were educated, well dressed, well spoken men, but yet, they still raped their own children, and kept chai boys (if you don t know what that means, google it.)During that deployment, we also captured the 3rd largest EFP cache that had ever been captured. There were hundreds of copper plates, homemade explosives, fake curbs to house the EFP s, hundreds of mortars and rockets and howitzer rounds, even an anti-aircraft gun. All of these things came from one place, Syria. Almost every single IED or EFP we found or hit could be traced back to Syria A lot of the terrorists we captured were from SYRIA Imagine that.Fast forward a couple years, and I find myself in Helmand Province, in Afghanistan We had a group of Afghani s that were paid to help guard our little mud hut in the middle of an Afghan village (I wasn t on a fob) These guys also kept a chai boy A boy, about 11 years old, who was there to serve these guys sexually. We heard him being sexually assaulted many times, but there was nothing we could do about it. We asked the police, the Afghan Army, and we were told the same thing every time . it s their culture, and accepted as the norm .Once again, we captured Syrian made explosives, weapons, and other items We found Syrian passports during raids And people out there want us to let these people into the US, with our kids, and near our wives. Near our schools, near our churches, synogogues, malls. Places where we should never have to fear being blown up, shot, kidnapped and tortured Don t forget what they did to the Egyptian Coptic Christians, or the Jordanian pilot Don t forget about what they do to rape victims! They stone these women to death for being raped! They behead their own people. Do you think they will show mercy to you?Look at the rape statistics in Denmark, Sweden, Belgium. Facts don t lie 97% of rapes committed in Sweden were committed by Muslim immigrants And you want 10,000 of these people here? Even if just 1% of these so called refugees were ISIS supporters or active ISIS terrorists, would that be acceptable to you?Chew on it think about it. Take a good look at your kids or your wife and decide if the risk is worth taking. Feel free to share this if you want.-Christopher Allard, Facebook post Nov. 16, 2015Christopher Allard posted this plea (below) for donations to the Scania Burn Clinic on Nov. 18, 2015, as a follow up to his Facebook commentary (which has since been removed). If you re so inclined, he would appreciate your donations.A little follow-up for you guys and gals. First, let me thank you guys for sharing my story. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the support. Second. I forgot about this, but there is a video on Youtube of the burn clinic that I mentioned. It s an old video and the quality isn t great but here it is. You can see me throughout the video: ",0 "Tunisia rescues 140 migrants off its coastTUNIS (Reuters) - The Tunisian navy rescued 98 Tunisians fleeing to Europe when their boat started to sink off Kerkenah on the southeast coast late on Saturday, the national guard said. Separately, the army said it had arrested 43 illegal migrants rescued from four boats off Zarzis, also on the southeast coast. Tunisia has been praised for its democratic progress after a 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali but successive governments have failed to create jobs for young people, some of whom head illegally to Europe to seek work. Tunisia arrested about 550 Tunisian and African migrants trying to sail to Europe in September, against only 170 in August, official data showed on Thursday. Human traffickers increasingly use Tunisia as a launch pad for migrants heading for Europe as Libya s coast guard, aided by armed groups, has tightened controls. The water leaked to a boat carrying 98 migrants, when it was sinking, but the naval guard rescued them off the coast of Kerkenah, Colonel Major Khelifa Chibani of Tunisia s national guard said. ",1 "Bulgarians use 'speed dating' to get know migrantsSOFIA (Reuters) - Couples lining up to face each other are given 30 seconds to chat before moving on - in a version of speed dating that, rather than sparking romance, aims to promote understanding and integration for new immigrants. At a social center in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, the locals stand on one side, the immigrants - many refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and other war-torn countries - face them. The quick-fire conversations - in which participants have just seconds to share their dreams and stories of love, pain and family - are aimed at starting a dialogue between two communities that in normal daily life rarely speak to each other on an equal footing. It s so good to have an event like this, especially for refugees, said Rodi Naamo, a 26-year-old Syrian Kurd who arrived in Bulgaria in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of migrants passed through the Balkans en route to Germany and northern Europe. Bulgarians also appreciated the speedy encounters, as well as the Middle Eastern food and traditional Afghan dances afterwards. I really enjoyed it, it helped me overcome prejudices, said Milka Bocheva, a Bulgarian who runs an online business. They (the refugees) are just people like us, we gave such similar answers. Bulgaria stands out in the region for its significant Muslim minority, some 12 percent among 7.1 million mainly Orthodox Christians - a legacy of its history as part of the Ottoman Empire. Despite that, large parts of the population are concerned about the influx of asylum-seekers and migrants. Naamo, who returned to Bulgaria after a short spell in Germany, to work in a call center, believes opinions are starting to change. I decided to stay here, this is my country. I ll bring my family here, he said. ",1 "ANTI-TRUMP TEACHER Wears “Tuck Frump” Jacket During Classes…Student’s Snap Goes ViralA disrespectful teacher at Sherman Jr Senior High School in West Virginia wore a Tuck Frump jacket during classes. A student s picture went viral.We re just wondering why this teacher wasn t fired on the spot! She s promoting her political beliefs in school and disrespecting our president with a twist on profanity. Not funny and not cute no matter how short the time was that she wore the jacket her excuse doesn t fly.What say you?BOONE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) Boone County Schools is investigating after a picture of a teacher is circulating on social media and getting major attention. The picture shows a teacher inside her classroom wearing a jacket with an anti-Trump patch on the back of it.The snapshot was of Sherman Junior High and High School teacher Cheryl Judy who is an art teacher at the school.The picture shows Judy sporting a jean jacket with a play on words, disrespecting President Trump.Judy confirmed that she is the one in the photo, but says it does not show the whole story. She says she wore the jacket to school without the anti-Trump patch and pinned it on during school hours, trying it on for just two minutes to make sure the patch was on straight. She says in the short period of time she had the jacket on inside the classroom, a like-minded student snapped a picture and posted it to social media.A community member re-posted the picture, and it has since been shared several thousand times on multiple platforms.Judy says she did not flaunt the jacket at school and although she is liberal, would never force her liberalism on others. Although Huffman cannot comment specifically on personnel matters, he says a full investigation will begin once spring break is over, at the end of the week: We expect professionalism with both conduct and appearance It seems to have caused great a bit, a great amount of concern from around the area and around the nation, as we ve received multiple phone calls today. Community reactions were mixed, on Facebook and in the neighborhood nearby the school, some expressing concern, others outrage and some saying the picture is being taken out of context and being made into a bigger deal than it is. Nobody thought it would blow up like that, said Braxton Harless, who is a junior at the high school. Some are upset. Some just really don t care about it. Some parents are calling for Judy s resignation, while others like Lori Selbe say she may not have made the right decision is putting on the jacket but says everyone makes mistakes.Via: wsaz",0 " Trump STRANDED As Longtime Pal BAILS On Performing At His Inauguration (DETAILS)President-elect Donald Trump loves bragging about two things: things he doesn t deserve and things that aren t true. He kills two birds with one stone when he boasts about his landslide win, which is technically a loss when you consider that Hillary Clinton beat him by millions of votes.Despite how much Trump feels he deserves the presidency, many Americans disagree and we re seeing direct proof of this resistance as Trump is finding it impossible to get people to perform at his inauguration in January. With only a few weeks to go and no A-list entertainers up for the task, Trump had hoped he could turn to his longtime pal, opera singer Andrea Bocelli. It was reported: Trump has a long-standing relationship with Bocelli, and wants to ask him in person to perform. The plan is to have acts at the inauguration that are meaningful for Trump, and he s a huge fan of Bocelli. But unfortunately for Trump, this too is falling apart. Despite being friends with Trump for years, Bocelli has chosen to bail on him due to the intense backlash the singer faced on social media. Some threatened to Boycott Bocelli , while other fans warned him, You will lose millions of fans. According to another close source: Bocelli said there was no way he d take the gig . . . he was getting too much heat and he said no. As time runs out, so are Trump s options. He s already faced multiple rejections from artists such as John Legend, Adam Lambert, and Elton John. Trump became so desperate that he started to offer U.S. ambassadorships to talent agents if they could find him someone to perform, but that hasn t worked either.But Trump still has one more option. Considering that Trump ditched a critical press conference to have a meeting with artist Kanye West last week, perhaps Trump might consider asking him. It would only make sense to have an artist just as egotistical and narcissistic as Trump perform at his inauguration.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images",0 "OBAMA-APPOINTED FED JUDGE Clears Those In Limbo At Airports Due To Trump’s Immigration Order…The Left Has A Hissy Fit! The judge did not rule on the legality of the executive order, nor did she say that others who have not yet arrived in the U.S. can be allowed to proceed. Watch for major hissy fits to be played out in main stream media in an attempt to change public opinion on refugees . The propaganda machine from the left is working overtime on this.On another note, does the ACLU even work for legal Americans anymore? They jumped into this and proudly proclaimed they had stopped Trump After a day of chaos at airports around the world, a federal judge in Brooklyn on Saturday night stayed deportations under President Trump s executive order barring citizens of some Muslim countries from entering the United States.U.S. District Judge Ann M. Donnelly ordered a halt to any removal of refugees or others who hold valid visas to enter the United States meaning those who have arrived at U.S. airports from the seven predominantly Muslim countries named under the President s executive order can remain, for now.The judge did not rule on the legality of the executive order, nor did she say that others who have not yet arrived in the U.S. can be allowed to proceed.The ruling came in response to a petition filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two Iraqis detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport: Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who was a translator for the U.S. military, and Haider Alshawi, who was on his way to join his wife, who had worked for a U.S. contractor in Iraq.ACLU attorneys argued that returning either petitioner could cause irreparable harm by exposing them and their families to retaliation from extremists.The two lead plaintiffs were held by authorities and threatened with deportation, even though both assert a fear of returning to their countries, and if they are not admitted pursuant to their valid entry documents, [they] seek an opportunity to pursue asylum, the lawyers argued in the emergency petition. This ruling preserves the status quo and ensures that people who have been granted permission to be in this country are not illegally removed off U.S. soil, said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU s Immigrants Rights Project, who argued the case.The order appears to affect the 100 to 200 people who have been detained in transit to the United States. While the order will prevent them from being sent home, it is less clear whether they will have to remain in detention while their asylum cases are being decided.Via: LAT",0 " Christian School Board Member Orders Atheists To ‘Go Back In Their Hellhole’ If They Hate ‘Christmas Break’Right-wing Christian extremism is a cancer that is infecting American society at all levels, and the worst of it is that it has infected our school systems at an alarming level. Case in point a school board member in Omaha, Nebraska, who literally told atheists to crawl back in their hellhole all over changing the school calendar to read winter break instead of Christmas break. Paul Meyer, who sits on the Millard Public School Board, is your typical Christian extremist, hellbent on injecting his personal religious beliefs into government and ignoring the United States Constitution. Meyer insists that he is a little bit tired of a minute minority in this country that keeps pushing Christmas out, keep pushing God out, keep pushing Christ out, when the majority is still a Judeo-Christian country. Meyer went on to say: I would like to make a motion that we rename this period Christmas break, and those atheists who don t like it can crawl back into their hellhole, because I, for one, will not put my Lord, my God, aside for a few atheists. And if they don t like it, the ACLU doesn t like it, the heck with them. Aside for this, another example is the fact that Meyer was on the wrong side when a State Board of Education member Pat MacPherson wrote racist opinions about President Obama. Regarding the school calendar issue, no one seconded Meyer s move to rename the winter break Christmas break, and now his religious intolerance has rendered the break nameless. Meyer went on to say: The responsibility of this board is to set a good example for the kids of this state. But what you show these kids is that the First Amendment is null and void, and does not apply to anyone if the speech Nazis disagree. So in other words, this guy sincerely believes that a good example is the idea that America is a Christian nation and no one else should get a voice, that Christian values should be everywhere, the Constitution be damned.This man needs to be kicked off the school board, as he has no business having any influence whatsoever over school children.Featured image via Omaha.com",0 "TRUMP COMES BACK ROARING: Calls Out “Alt-Left” and “Fake News” [Video]President Donald Trump ripped the media today and it was great to see. He said he didn t want to comment on the events over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va., until he knew the all of the facts. He said, you still don t know all of the facts Well done Mr. President!Trump spoke in Trump Tower today trying to discuss the infrastructure plan for America. Questions from reporters were instead about Charlottesville and his reaction to the violence there. The press kept asking why he didn t respond to the events faster POTUS: It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don t know the facts, and it s a very, very important process to me. THE BEST PART -He pulled out the statement from Saturday:To clarify what he said on Saturday, Trump pulled out his remarks from that night and read them over for the press. He said, Before I make a statement, I need the facts. So I don t want to rush into a statement, so making the statement when I made it was excellent. TRUMP TAKES A SWIPE AT THE MEDIA CLASSIC! There was no way of making a correct statement that early. I had to see the facts unlike a lot of reporters. Frankly, people still don t know all of the facts. He hit back at the salivating press with such great force GREAT JOB PRESIDENT TRUMP!",0 BBC News - Iran woman escapes stoning death for adultery,1 "The BNP want national service and a gun in every home . Refuse conscription and lose the right to vote , education and training . See page 52 ( google html version , it's that or a PDF)",1 Why Pakistan is winning ITS war against the Taliban?,1 "BUSTED! CALIFORNIA MAN Dressed As Woman Arrested After Women Noticed Something Strange In The Bathroom StallHere we go again! We just reported on a man who was caught in Walmart videotaping women and using a mirror to look into stalls:IT BEGINS: Man Dressed As Woman Arrested In Women s Bathroom You Won t Believe What He Was Doing!This guy was caught at Macy s with a video camera in his purse containing hours of video of women using the bathroom. Women noticed the camera light from the video camera and reported it to police. This guy is just one of so many we ve reported on who will have even more rights to enter the women s bathroom or locker room and women will have no right to say a word. A Palmdale, California, man wearing women s clothing was arrested in a Lancaster Macy s store after he was seen in a women s bathroom. The man was allegedly videotaping women in the bathroom.Jason Pomare, 33, was arrested over the weekend after mall security officers learned he had been hanging out in a Macy s department store women s bathroom. The security guards contacted a Los Angeles County Sheriff s Department (LASD) deputy who found the cross-dressing man in a mall storage area, NBC Los Angeles reported.When Pomare was contacted, he was wearing a wig and women s clothing, including a bra, a statement from the LASD revealed. The deputy noticed he was wearing a wig and appeared to have breasts, LASD Sergeant Brian Hudson told the Los Angeles news outlet.While searching the suspect, the deputy discovered a video camera in his purse. The camera allegedly contained hours of women using the bathroom inside the store.Witnesses told police that Pomare would conceal the camera in bathroom stalls. The woman who contacted store security noticed the recording light on the camera. It appears Pomare was in the bathroom for around two hours, Hudson told the reporter.Read more: Breitbart",0 Germany TV displays Ukrainian soldiers bearing Nazi insignia,0 "Poland drought: Jewish tombstones and fighter plane uncovered as rivers run dry. Prolonged drought has seen rivers fall to record lows, throwing up archaeological remnants and relics of Polands wartime past",1 France to ban vaginal exams without consent,0 "Germanys Largest Utility Ditches 2 Long-Term Contracts for Coal Power - The move could signal yet another shift in Germany's power mix, as renewables boom & expected electricity prices for 2014 drop.",1 "As climate change debate heats up, UN experts warn we are running out of time We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and our weather is becoming more extreme due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General said",1 "For the first time, the UN is allowing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to use the head-of-state chair",1 Australia May Take in African Rhinos to Prevent Extinction,0 Twelve officers charged over Turkey coup plot\n,0 "Peru's business community sours on Kuczynski: surveyPARACAS, Peru (Reuters) - Support from business leaders for Peru s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has plummeted, a survey showed, as he spars with an opposition-controlled Congress and struggles to revive economic growth. The survey by Ipsos Peru, taken at a business forum in Paracas to the south of Lima last week and released late on Friday, showed participants approval for Kuczynski fell to 37 percent from 89 percent a year earlier at a similar event. Kuczynski took office in July 2016 promising to modernize Peru and strengthen its economy with solid backing from Lima s business elite after a tight runoff election against right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori. But the 79-year-old former investment banker s first year in power was hampered by Congress, which is dominated by Fujimori s Popular Force Party and voted to oust his Cabinet in September. Meanwhile economic growth in what was once one of Latin America s fastest growing economies slowed after heavy flooding and a corruption scandal involving Brazilian builder Odebrecht stalled investment in public works projects. The economy and politics cannot continue on separate lines, their progress is interdependent and deficiencies in politics and institutions can block the path of our development, the president of the business forum, Drago Kisic, told reporters. Peru s Central Bank President Julio Velarde also warned during the event that the clashes between the government and Congress could hinder growth in the future, saying the finance ministry had lost influence over the legislature. It is absolutely necessary in the long term that there be a better consensus among political forces in terms of agreeing on the essential elements to underpin growth, he said. Finance Minister Claudia Cooper said on Friday Peru s economy could grow more than 4 percent in 2018, up from 2.8 percent expected in 2017, if private investment in the metals exporting nation recovered. The Ipsos survey showed that among hundreds attending Peru s best known business forum, disapproval with Kuczynski had risen to 63 percent from 11 percent a year earlier. Closing the conference on Friday, Kuczynski defended his government and called on attendees and Congress to unite in a fight against populism. I want to ask you to speak out more clearly about the challenges that we are facing politically, this is a determined government, not a confrontational one, he said. ",1 Yemen: Saudi airstrike hit school,0 Iran to Cut Mineral Exports to Sanction Supporters,1 "Ford says 4,000 to lose jobs in Belgium ",1 "Senator McCain suggests subpoena to make White House cyber aide testifyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator John McCain suggested on Thursday that the Senate Armed Services Committee, the powerful congressional panel he chairs, may consider issuing a subpoena to make the White House’s top cyber security official testify. White House cyber security coordinator Rob Joyce did not appear before the committee on Thursday, as requested, to discuss cyber threats facing the United States. His vacant seat drew frustration from lawmakers in both parties. Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat on the panel, urged McCain to consider a subpoena to compel Joyce to appear. “I think that needs to be discussed in committee,” McCain said. In a statement, a White House spokesman said it has been “longstanding practice” of presidents of both parties to not make White House advisers available for congressional testimony. “This practice is rooted in the separation of powers and in the confidentiality interests of the executive branch,” the spokesman said. “Officials from relevant departments and agencies are available to accommodate the committee’s legitimate oversight needs without violating the confidentiality interests that attach to White House staff.” McCain countered, however, that the absence was a “misinterpretation” of the president’s executive authority to have private counsel. Several other senators expressed frustration at Joyce’s absence. “The empty chair is outrageous,” Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said. “I am disgusted there is not a representative here.” ",1 "Loyal Hope Hicks is Officially Trump’s Replacement for Scaramucci: ‘She started off with us right from day one’Connecticut native, Hope Hicks, who had been serving as the interim White House communications director, is getting the job full-time, Bloomberg first reported Tuesday.Of course, the left immediately bombarded twitter with negative comments. They failed to note that this is the first time the communications team at the White House is two women. Nope, no mention of Hicks and Huckabee Sanders as a dynamic duo for President Trump. They re just taking bets on how long she lasts. What they failed to note is that Hicks has been with the campaign since day one .Her twitter bio :At age 28, Hicks will be the youngest person to hold the job, and it will mark the first time women have concurrently held the positions of communications director and White House press secretary, with Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the latter.Hicks replaces Trump s campaign donor Anthony Scaramucci, who held onto the job for just 10 days, and the low key Mike Dubke, the administration s first communications director, who left the White House in May.Hicks was one of Trump s originals, when his campaign was just a rag tag team of aides.Hicks is a Southern Methodist University graduate. She had been working for the first daughter, doing public relations for Ivanka Trump s brand, when the businessman brought her in to handle press requests for his young presidential campaign. She started off with us right from day one, President Trump told supporters at a rally last year, beckoning Hicks to come onstage. She used to be in my real estate company, he explained. I said, What do you know about politics? She said, Absolutely nothing, Trump said. With that, Hicks was hired.Read more: Daily Mail",0 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui has claimed that Saudi Embassy officials were involved in a plot to shoot down Air Force One to assassinate Bill Clinton and/or Hillary Clinton during a trip to the United Kingdom.,1 "The White Womans Burden | Disarmingly candid account of what it\'s like to be a white woman, married to an Indian, in India. ""My husband is neither loudspoken, nor imposing. As a result, he often gets mistaken as my guide""",0 "HILARIOUS MUST WATCH VIDEO: Hollywood Actor, Trump-Hater Just Got BURNED, Outsmarted…BIG-TIME By Trump SupportersHILARIOUS!!!Hollywood actor and liberal freak Shia LaBeouf just got trolled by Trump supporters who outsmarted him in the best possible way.In November after Trump won the election, intolerant snowflakes across America started to show their true colors and in the case of Shia LaBeouf, things got pretty ugly. Tolerant Hollywood liberal actor Shia LaBeouf was caught on camera screaming over and over again in a young Trump supporters face: He Will Not Divide Us! WARNING: It s pretty hard to watch the insanely angry actor screaming in this innocent looking young boy s face. The young boy stands his ground and appears to be trying to ignore him, which doesn t stop Labeouf from bullying him.LaBeouf set up a camera outside of the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC, inviting other Trump haters to join him as they shout down Trump supporters. Eventually Labeouf was forced to move his idiotic display. But that didn t stop him or his ignorant shenanigans showing just how intolerant liberal actors really are. Unfortunately for Labeouf, he was no match for Trump supporters who pulled the ultimate capture the flag on him WATCH here:Shia LaBeouf moved his anti-Trump protest to an ""undisclosed location"" and trolls accepted the challenge https://t.co/pwTj7U0ahP pic.twitter.com/ABHeZBB3fs New York Post (@nypost) March 10, 2017Shia LaBeouf moves his flag to an undisclosed location. But the trolls found it. The video of the skullduggery was put to epic music below, and I m sorry but I just cannot stop laughing.They put the flag capture to German patriotic folk music. Oh man. I just cannot stop laughing. h/t-Conservative TreehouseWATCH:",0 "“ON DAY OF #NiceAttack Hillary Announces AMNESTY For Anyone Who Stealthily Evades Our Border Patrol”Lawless, Crooked Hillary promises to continue with Obama s arrogant, lawless push to flood America with people who have illegally entered our nation Democrat voters. Our nation and our nation s security won t survive another four years of Obama h/t to the brilliant Jon Feere, Legal Policy Analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies. The CIS is one of the best sources in America for keeping up with our immigration crisis in America. From Hillary s website:Hillary will:Enact comprehensive immigration reform to create a pathway to citizenship, keep families together, and enable millions of workers to come out of the shadows.Defend President Obama s executive actions to provide deportation relief for DREAMers and parents of Americans and lawful residents, and extend those actions to additional persons with sympathetic cases if Congress refuses to act.Promote naturalization and support immigrant integration. End family detention and close private immigrant detention centers.Hillary s not just advocating for making lawbreakers legal citizens of the United States, she s also planning to bring millions of Muslims from countries who hate us to America, and fast-track them to citizenship:If elected president, Hillary Clinton could permanently resettle close to one million Muslim migrants during the first term of her presidency alone, according to the latest available data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).Between 2001 and 2013, the U.S. permanently resettled 1.5 million Muslim migrants on green cards. However, under Hillary Clinton s stated proposals, Muslim immigration would grow substantially faster, adding nearly one million Muslim migrants to the U.S. during her first term alone.Based on the most recent available DHS data, the U.S. permanently resettled roughly 149,000 migrants from predominantly Muslim countries on green cards in 2014. Yet Clinton has said that, as President, she would expand Muslim migration by importing an additional 65,000 Syrian refugees into the United States during the course of a single fiscal year. Clinton has made no indication that she would limit her proposed Syrian refugee program to one year.Clinton s Syrian refugees would come on top of the tens of thousands of refugees the U.S. already admits from Muslim countries.Adding Clinton s 65,000 Syrian refugees to the approximately 149,000 Muslim migrants the U.S. resettled on green cards in the course of one year, means that Clinton could permanently resettle roughly 214,000 Muslim migrants in her first year as President. If Clinton were to continue her Syrian refugee program throughout her Presidency, she could potentially resettle as many as 856,000 during her first term alone.Analysis from the Senate Immigration Subcommittee found that Clinton s plan to expand refugee resettlement could cost U.S. taxpayers over $400 billion.Additionally, once Clinton s Syrian refugees are in the U.S. as green card holders, they will have the ability to bring over their family members through chain migration.With regards to Middle Eastern migration, Clinton s 65,000 Syrian refugees would be added on top of the roughly 96,000 Middle Eastern migrants the U.S. resettled on green cards in a single year. Based on the minimum numbers Clinton has put forth thus far, as President, she could potentially resettle approximately 644,000 Middle Eastern migrants during her first term alone.According to a September 2015 Rasmussen survey, women voters oppose Clinton s Middle Eastern refugee plan by a remarkable 21-to-1 margin. Democrat voters oppose Clinton s refugee plan by a 17-to-1 margin. Most remarkably, 85 percent of black voters oppose Clinton s refugee agenda with less than one percent of black voters supporting her plan.Yet Clinton s expansion to Muslim migration would be in addition to her expansion for immigration overall.U.S. Census data shows that if a President Hillary Clinton were successful in passing a Gang of Eight-style immigration expansion bill, the U.S. could permanently resettle roughly 9.4 million migrants throughout the nation during her first term alone. This figure does not include the additional 11 million illegal immigrants already here to whom Clinton has promised amnesty and U.S. citizenship.Clinton s desire to expand immigration is shared by GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan, who leads the pro-Islamic migration wing of the Republican Party. Breitbart",0 "U.S. lawmakers probe Fed cyber breaches, cite 'serious concerns'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional committee has launched an investigation into the Federal Reserve’s cyber security practices after a Reuters report revealed more than 50 cyber breaches at the U.S. central bank between 2011 and 2015. The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology on Friday sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to express “serious concerns” over the central bank’s ability to protect sensitive financial information. The letter cited the Reuters report, which was based on heavily redacted internal Fed records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The redacted records did not say who hacked the bank’s systems or whether they accessed sensitive information or stole money. “These reports raise serious concerns about the Federal Reserve’s cyber security posture, including its ability to prevent threats from compromising highly sensitive financial information housed on the agency’s systems,” said the letter, signed by House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, and Barry Loudermilk, a Georgia Republican and chairman of the panel’s oversight subcommittee. A Fed spokesperson said the central bank had received the panel’s letter and “will respond to it.” The panel asked the Fed’s national cyber security team - the National Incident Response Team - to turn over all cyber incident reports in unredacted form from Jan. 1, 2009, to the present. It also asked for incident reports from the Fed’s local incident response teams. Global policymakers, regulators and financial institutions have become increasingly concerned about the security of the international banking system after a string of cyber attacks against banks in Bangladesh, Vietnam and elsewhere linked to fraudulent transaction messages sent across the global financial platform SWIFT. The probe into the Fed’s security practices followed a separate inquiry by the same committee into the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s handling of the cyber theft of $81 million from one of its accounts held by the central bank of Bangladesh. The committee said it has jurisdiction over the Fed’s cyber security because the panel is tasked with oversight of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency responsible for developing federal cyber security standards and guidelines, under a 2014 federal information technology law. The panel also requested a “detailed description of all confirmed cyber security incidents” from 2009 to the present, all documents and communications referring or relating to “higher impact cases” handled by the Fed’s NIRT team, all documents and communications with the Fed’s Office of Inspector General related to confirmed cyber incidents, and an organizational chart detailing the Fed’s top cyber security personnel. The committee requested a response to its inquiry by June 17. (Click here to read the letter: tmsnrt.rs/1VBXvSz) The Fed’s computer systems hold confidential information on discussions about monetary policy that drives financial markets. The central bank’s staff suspected hackers or spies were behind many of the breaches, the records obtained by Reuters show. The Fed had declined to comment on the records, which represent only a slice of all cyber attacks on the central bank because they include only cases involving the Washington-based Board of Governors, a federal agency that is subject to public records laws. (For a graphic on the Fed security breaches, see: tmsnrt.rs/1TxSu8R) ",1 "One-fifth of the worlds biggest banks may be broken up or sold as part of a radical course correction to boost shareholder returns, according to McKinsey & Co..",0 "The German chancellor's office has fallen victim to a hacking attack, according to a German newspaper. The Regin malware in question has been linked to British and US spy agencies.",0 Man in Joker Mask Vows to Kill 'One Arab a Week' Across Quebec,1 "From Wall Street to Wisconsin, brokers cheer Trump's orderNEW YORK (Reuters) - With a swipe of his pen, U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday started killing off a retirement advice rule that wealth managers from Wall Street to Wisconsin have spent the last six years lobbying against. A landmark policy from the Obama era, the so-called fiduciary rule requires brokers and financial advisers to act in the best interest of retirement savers. This restricts their ability to earn commissions and to sell some higher-fee products. Wall Street has argued it would harm consumers because it would raise compliance costs and therefore fees, and force them to get rid of Main Street clients and small businesses that offer 401(k) plans. Trump’s executive order asks the Labor Department to review whether the rule needs to be changed or dumped. Both supporters and opponents are girding to argue their case. But the industry has the edge, with Trump officials stating they were planning on rolling back regulation generally and criticizing the fiduciary rule in particular. The Chamber of Commerce, one of a number of trade groups which have filed lawsuits to kill the rule, cheered Trump’s order. “We look forward to swift action from the Department of Labor in putting this delay into effect and reevaluating matters of policy and law,” the Chamber said in a statement. Shares of banks with large wealth management divisions jumped on Friday with Bank of America (BAC.N) up 2.5 percent, Morgan Stanley (MS.N) 5.5 percent stronger and Wells Fargo (WFC.N) over 2 percent higher. Insurers, whose sales of annuity products were at risk from the rule, also rose, with shares of Prudential (PRU.N) up 1.9 percent and Metlife (MET.N) 1 percent stronger. “Everyone will be pleased that DOL’s rush to get it done before the administration change is set back,” said Judi Carsrud, director of government relations for the National Association of Insurance Financial Advisors (NAIFA), which has been fighting the rule for years. NAIFA plans to pursue a “very straightforward” fix such as a “legislative approach” that directs retirement account advisers to act in clients’ best interest – a standard that Carsrud believes the group’s members already meet. The Obama administration had said conflicted advice costs American families $17 billion a year but the industry has said that figure was inflated. No-one disputes the high cost that firms would have to pay to comply with the new rule, an amount the Labor Department estimates at as much as $31 billion over the next decade. Banks have already started changing things with Bank of America saying this week it would more clearly disclose the fees it charges clients of its Merrill Lynch wealth management business. Bank of America Corp had already started cutting back on “transactional” accounts that charge clients a commission for every trade, rather than a flat fee based on assets. Morgan Stanley (MS.N) has decided to keep such accounts but is making changes that will allow advisers to work within the rule’s confines by creating new contracts, re-training advisors and updating supervisory software. Swiss bank UBS UBSN.VX welcomed Trump’s order and said it supported the creation of a fiduciary rule under the Securities and Exchange Commission, which could apply to all advisers not just retirement advisers. Wells Fargo said it would continue to work with regulators to ensure higher standards of care for investment clients. Other banks either declined to comment or were not immediately available to comment. Implementing changes was particularly tough for small-time financial advisers. Along with two colleagues, Juli McNeely, who runs McNeely Financial Services in Spencer, Wisconsin has spent between 45 and 60 hours each week since December preparing for the rule. Their work has focused largely on figuring out which clients from their rural community should now pay a flat fee for financial advice, instead of commissions, and creating new templates for paperwork. “Now we have a little breathing room to make sure we do this right and not quickly to meet a deadline,” said McNeely, who voted for Trump, in part because of his pro-business stance. One person who has yet to comment on the retirement rule review is the person who will be at the center of it — Trump’s choice to head the Labor Department, Andy Puzder. Puzder, chief executive of fastfood group CKE Restaurants, has been a vocal opponent of what he has called “overregulation” during the Obama administration. The 401(k) plans he offers his own employees are less generous than some rivals, suggesting a more industry-friendly approach. While the Labor Secretary cannot unilaterally repeal a rule, his agency can rewrite and change a rule substantially or scrap it. William Galvin, the top securities regulator in Massachusetts, described Trump’s order as “reckless”. “My office will continue to protect small investors when those in Washington cave to big business.” Not all proponents of the rule were as pessimistic. “There’s no question that in the minds of industry lobbyist, delay is just a step toward repeal,” said Barbara Roper, investor protection director for the Consumer Federation of America (CFA). “If the Department of Labor follows an honest process and considers the impact on retirement savers, we have a winning argument.” ",1 "Enraged by a NATO cross-border air attack that killed 24 soldiers, Pakistan is considering withdrawing its support for the U.S.-led war on terror if its sovereignty is violated again",0 "Under China anthem cloud, rare interest in Hong Kong vs Bahrain soccer friendlyHONG KONG (Reuters) - Some activists in Hong Kong say they plan to defy a Chinese law against disrespecting the national anthem, by jeering it at international soccer fixtures against Bahrain and Lebanon in the next few days. The controversy is another instance of recent tensions in the former British colony between pro-democracy advocates and China s Communist Party leaders, who have been criticized for tightening their grip on Hong Kong s affairs. Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 under a one country, two systems arrangement that guarantees a high degree of autonomy, including an independent judiciary and the freedom of expression. In recent years, some Hong Kong fans have booed the national anthem at soccer matches, with some parallels to protests in the United States where American football players have knelt during the national anthem, a protest denounced by U.S. President Donald Trump. China s parliament on Saturday passed an amendment to its criminal law that extends punishments for publicly desecrating the national flag and emblem to disrespecting the national anthem. Offenders can be jailed for up to three years, Xinhua reported. Hong Kong, as part of China, is now obliged to put its own set of laws related to the national anthem to the local legislature, but details including jail terms and the scope of enforcement have yet to be set. For now, though, some fans say they won t change their behavior when Hong Kong play Bahrain in a friendly match on Thursday and Lebanon in an Asian Cup qualifier next Tuesday. It s something we ve always done, said one fan who has attended games for the past few years, including two World Cup qualifiers between Hong Kong and China in 2015 that drew jeers from the crowd. It s a kind of resentment toward China that comes through ... There are several hundred of us and it s become a tradition now. We ll keep doing it. The Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) was warned by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recently over the conduct of fans who booed the Chinese anthem, and said a repeat violation may result in more severe punishment . Asked for comment, the AFC didn t specifically address a question on whether they d been pressed by China to punish Hong Kong, but said a review of video evidence found fans guilty of improper conduct under the AFC s disciplinary and ethics code. Hong Kong s leader, Carrie Lam, has suggested the law would be enacted in the current legislative year, and not be applied retrospectively - which would mean fans who jeer before it becomes law locally shouldn t face prosecution. People should not excessively worry about unwittingly committing an offense. These worries are unnecessary, Lam told reporters. I don t see this as having any connection to ... freedom of expression. But this has highlighted a recent trend in Hong Kong that whenever there is anything related to Hong Kong and Chinese affairs ... some people cause panic and unnecessary fear. ",1 " WATCH: Khizr Khan DESTROYS Trump During Interview For Attacking His FamilyDonald Trump has received a massive backlash over his comments directed at the Khizr Khan and his family. Khan spoke out against Trump at the Democratic National Convention, lambasting the Republican presidential candidate to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. During Kahn s speech, his wife, Ghazala Khan, stood beside him. Trump later said that she did not speak during the event because she was not allowed to speak. Although she did, later in a response to Trump that published in the Washington Post.On Sunday morning, Khan delivered a blistering response to Trump s attacks against his family during an interview on CNN s State of the Union. During the interview, Khan said that Trump is a black soul. For this candidate for presidency to not be aware of the respect of a gold star mother standing there, and he had to take that shot at her, this is height of ignorance. This is why I showed him that constitution. Had he read that, he would know what status a gold star mother holds in that nation. This country holds such a person in the highest regard. And he has no knowledge, no awareness. That is height of his ignorance. She is ill. She had high blood pressure. People that know her, looked at her face, and she said, I may fall off the stage. And I told her that, you have to assemble yourself and stand for the beauty of this tribute that is being paid. This person is totally incapable of empathy. I want his family to counsel him, teach him some empathy. He will be a better person if he could become but he is a black soul. Trump s attacks against the Khan family are despicable but they are nothing new. The vile remarks he has been making against Muslims, in general, have always been attacks against the Khan family. They are attacks against Muslim families all over the world who have done nothing wrong. Trump is now learning the hard way that his words do, in fact, have consequences. Those consequences are going to bite him hard during the rest of the general election.You can watch the interview below, in full.Featured image via video screen capture",0 " Man Who Pulled Glock On Portland Protesters Was Armed With Five Magazines Of Ammo (VIDEO)Michael Strickland, 36, was arrested after pulling a handgun on Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland, Oregon, Thursday night. Video of the incident shows Strickland pulling what appears to be a Glock 26 on protesters who were demonstrating against the recent fatal shootings of black men by police officers. It was revealed that the gun owner had a round in the chamber and five other magazines of ammunition of him while aiming the gun at the anti-police brutality group, according to court records.Strickland is accused of two counts of unlawful use of a firearm, menacing and second- degree disorderly conduct, according to The Oregonian.Multnomah County deputy district attorney Kate Molina Friday successfully argued for Strickland s bail to be set at $250,000 after two felony counts of unlawful use of a firearm were added to misdemeanor allegations of menacing and second-degree disorderly conduct.Strickland had an extended clip in his firearm that he swept at chest level multiple times in front of the demonstrators. The gun owner also waved it in front of a plain-clothed Portland police officer.Portland Officer Branden L. Combs was in Chapman Square during the protest and heard people running by him yelling, Gun! Gun! and He s got a gun, according to a probable cause affidavit.Police were told by one of the protesters that Strickland has tried to incite or instigate others at different demonstrations.Officer Combs witnessed the incident. He was standing just about 20 to 25 yards away from Strickland when he went all Second Amendment on the protestestors, sweeping the crowd with his firearm.After the arrest, police found an extended clip in Strickland s handgun, a round in the chamber of the gun, plus two magazines of ammunition in a belt pouch, two magazines in one of his pants pockets and one magazine in the other, Molina said. In addition, he also had a pocket knife in his right front pants pocket.According to Strickland s attorney Chris Trotter, his client was a journalist who has a concealed carry permit, adding that he has every right to protect himself. Trotter alleged that the District Attorney s office was making an example of Strickland.Molina responded, saying that Given that Mr. Strickland pulled a gun on a crowd of people in front of the steps of the Justice Center and has a past police report alleging possibly race-based threats against an attendee at a Portland vigil for the victims of last month s Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, his client s bail set at $250,000 is justified.From the video, it looks like Strickland aimed his Glock at a man who is armed with only a camera.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvV3BQ-RoJw]In a separate incident, a white male showed up at a memorial for Alton Sterling, the black Louisiana man who was fatally shot by police officers.Hey guys, you re doing the Second Amendment wrong.Image via screen capture. ",0 G20 police authorised to use force minutes before \r\nIan Tomlinson died,0 "BUSTED! LAWYER FOR FBI WITNESS Tells How He Ties Obama To Uranium One Scandal [VIDEO]Will this be the nail in the coffin for the Obama/Clinton crime families? They ve been able to skate through so many scandals and lawless deeds but this seems so different. Last night, Washington DC Lawyer Victoria Toensing told how the FBI witness ties Obama to the uranium one scandal:Obama knew of the criminality involved with the Russia Uranium One deal because he got daily briefings on it! How is it that Obama knew of this yet he approved the sale of American uranium to the Russians anyway?!The informant is an American businessman who worked undercover as an FBI confidential witness. He was silenced via gag order from exposing what he witnessed.John Solomon: Just a little bit ago before we came on Victoria and I talked and she was able to confirm to me that her client has information that Director Mueller and President Obama and other officials were briefed on this investigation in real time as it was going on Attorney Victoria Toensing: My client was told this information, now maybe the bureau is bluffing but I don t think so because they were very specific. They said that the briefing made it into President Obama s daily briefing papers. So I don t think they made that up.BOOM! LET THIS MAN SPEAK!",0 "BREAKING NEWS: NYPD Cracking Down On Anti-Trump Terror Groups…WATCH Police ARREST Antifa Terrorists For Wearing Masks, Burning Flags [VIDEO]Antifa terrorists have gathered in major cities across the world today to protest in solidarity against capitalism and free speech. In Paris, police officers were just lit on fire after being hit with petrol bombs by Antifa terrrorists. In LA, Antifa protesters were outnumbered by Trump supporters who showed up to rally on behalf of our president. In DC, Antifa thugs disrupted the streets with threats of violence. https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/859159780233015297Paris is like a war-zone!France needs #LEPEN @TEN_GOPBREAKING: Paris is in total chaos again, looks like a war zone. #MayDay2017 IS CHAOSpic.twitter.com/J35tuhUZ20 @THETRUMPBUREAU (@THETRUMPBUREAU) May 1, 2017In New York City, police are doing their best to get the situation under control while Antifa terrorists ignore their commands: #MayDay2017 protesters (ANTIFA) are disobeying lawful commands by the NYPD. They are being arrested en masse. pic.twitter.com/h51va4sOdm Based Monitored (@BasedMonitored) May 1, 2017NYPD officers are demanding that cowardly Antifa terrorists unmask themselves or face being arrested:The NYPD is telling ANTIFA to unmask themselves or be subject to arrest. #MayDay2017 pic.twitter.com/iwn5smNpWq Based Monitored (@BasedMonitored) May 1, 2017More arrests were taking place on the streets of NYC after Antifa and communist protesters were unlawfully disrupting the safe flow of traffic . They were warned by the police on a loudspeaker, but continued to block pedestrians from moving safely along the sidewalk. This is potentially a very dangerous and threatening situation for visitors to NYC and residents trying to get to and from work in the city.https://twitter.com/Pamela_Moore13/status/859165166092656642NYPD show these Antifa terrorists they re not messing around in this video, as they arrest an Antifa coward burning an American flag. The Antifa terror group becomes angered after the arrest and start to close in on the officers. The police handle the situation perfectly and should be commended for addressing these terrorists in such a professional manner. OOPS! It looks like someone s going to be getting a little break from their parent s basement tonight: https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/859177599435776000",0 "Germany, citing own history, urges work to bridge Gulf divisionsBERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel offered his Qatari counterpart a small piece of the Berlin Wall on Tuesday, saying Germany s post-war history was proof it was possible to overcome deep divisions such as those now plaguing the Gulf region. Gabriel said Germany had a keen interest in maintaining good relations with all the Gulf countries and working for peace in the region, even if those countries were sometimes in conflict. Especially in politically troubled times in which dialogue has sometimes slipped into the background, it is all the more important to build bridges, to emphasize the things that unite us and to help remove walls, Gabriel said at the opening of a new Qatar-funded Arabic cultural center in Berlin. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he hoped the new center, erected in a neo-classical villa in the southern part of Berlin, could showcase Arab culture and help battle stereotypes of Arabs in Europe. Sheikh Mohammed last week blamed what he called reckless leadership in the Gulf for a rift with Qatar and the current crisis in Lebanon, taking apparent aim at Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt this summer cut diplomatic, transport and trade ties with Qatar, accusing it of financing terrorism. Doha denies the charges. Gabriel did not refer to the Gulf dispute directly, but lauded Germany s World War Two enemies for building bridges and welcoming Germany back into the world community despite the devastation and horrors of the Nazi regime. After 70 years, we saw that it s possible, even after a world war, to be partners in a first step and friends in a second, he said. Tearing down walls is exhausting but worth it. Gabriel said a full segment of the Wall that once divided East and West Germany would be delivered to a museum in Doha, fulfilling a promise he had made to the sister of Qatar s ruler. Because as a politician, particularly in these days in Germany, we ought to fulfill our promises, he said. That is a hot topic in my country at the moment. Gabriel, a former leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), declined to comment further on Chancellor Angela Merkel s failure to forge a new coalition government with the pro-business Free Democrats and environmental Greens. Merkel is pressing the SPD to reconsider its refusal to join another grand coalition with the conservatives - a move that would stave off new elections that now loom. ",1 " WATCH: People Interviewed Explain Why Affordable Care Act Is Better Than ObamacareYou ve seen the tweets and Facebook comments from conservatives who prefer the Affordable Care Act Over Obamacare which are totally the same thing. What conservatives really want is for President Obama s name to not be attached to his signature legislation. Trump is discussing Insurance for everyone which sounds a lot like Single Payer, something we might have had except that conservatives kept yelling for the gubbermint to keep their socialist hands off their Medicare. Whatever. So, we ended up with a watered down version of health care.Late night host Jimmy Kimmel again used his Man on the street segment to interview (mock) those who do not know there is no difference between Obamacare and the ACA. It s a straight-up partisan issue with supporters of the President who preferred Obamacare and Trump fans who preferred the Affordable Care Act.Kimmel wanted to see if people had learned anything since the time he did a similar segment three years ago. We decided to ask this question again to see if Americans had learned everything over the last three years, Kimmel said. And unfortunately, nothing has changed.A woman the interviewer approached said she doesn t support Obama so I don t support the Obama-things he s got going on. So, you don t like anything Obama does and you prefer the Affordable Care Act? he asked the woman. She said, Absolutely. One man said he supports the Affordable Care Act because his girlfriend is a Trump supporter.Another man said the difference between the two is that one you pay and the other Obama pays for you. I believe with Obamacare the premiums are too high, so I believe in the Affordable Care Act, another man who was interviewed said. So, the Affordable Care Act is more affordable than Obamacare? the interviewer asked. Correct, the man said. Which is obvious because it s in the name. The interviewer told one woman who admitted she doesn t like Obama, What if I told you Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act are the same thing? She just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights.One guy was just too stoned to grasp the question.Watch:This is why we can t have nice things.Image via screen capture",0 "Putin-Trump meeting not yet planned for Asia summit: KremlinMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin s diary does not at the moment feature a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at an APEC summit in Vietnam next month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. However, Putin s timetable of bilateral meetings at the summit is still being finalised, Peskov told a regular conference call with reporters. ",1 Suicide Blast Kills 89 in Afghanistan,1 Itaip dam fails and puts Brazil under massive blackout. So Paulo and Rio with no electricity for more than 3 hours.,1 "Manhattan U.S. attorney adds to probes of ex-Trump aide Manafort: reportsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is investigating Paul Manafort for potential money laundering, according to media reports, adding to other federal and state probes targeting President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York launched the probe in conjunction with federal special counsel Robert Mueller, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Tuesday. Bloomberg separately reported that subpoenas had been issued in the case. Representatives for Manafort did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports. The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, led by acting U.S. attorney Joon Kim, had no comment. The probe marks the latest investigation of Manafort that comes amid the ongoing larger examination of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race and possible collusion by the Trump campaign and associates. Separate investigations into Manafort’s financial transactions have been launched by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, including scrutiny of Manafort’s real estate deals. U.S. investigators examining Manafort’s financial transactions are seeking to push him into cooperating with their probe into the possible collusion, two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation have said. Manafort, who headed the Trump campaign for several months before resigning, has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Mueller’s team and congressional investigators are also probing Manafort, whose Virginia apartment was raided by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in July. Russia has denied any meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign and has condemned the investigation as a political witch hunt. Reports of the latest probe come as Trump is poised to appoint dozens of new U.S. attorneys across the United States, including in New York after seeking mass resignations earlier this year. Kim took over as the Manhattan U.S. attorney when Trump fired Preet Bharara as part of the wave of resignations in March. Earlier this month, Politico reported that Trump personally interviewed at least two candidates for the positions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, an unusual move that raised some questions given Trump’s business roots in New York. The Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office is examining Kushner Cos, the company owned by the family of Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner, according to the Journal. The White House and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions have defended Trump’s right to talk with potential nominees, Politico said. The U.S. Senate must approve whomever Trump nominates, a move that could be complicated by the Manafort and other probes. ",1 Rumors flurry about Ahmadinejad's health following event cancellations.,0 "Pope to see a Medellin that has put drug wars in its pastMEDELLIN, Colombia (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Saturday travels to Medellin, once notorious as the stomping grounds of drug lord Pablo Escobar, to find a city transformed since his predecessor Pope John Paul visited in 1986. Violence between cartels, paramilitary groups and guerrillas raged in the poor comuna neighborhoods on its outskirts and the late pontiff was moved to decry drug violence. Instead, Francis is expected to honor the commitment and sacrifice of those who dedicate themselves to religious vocations when he says mass for a crowd expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people near an airport. He also visits a home for children who were victims of violence and addresses priests, nuns, seminarians and their families at the La Macarena bullring. In the 1980s and early 1990s, violence between cartels, paramilitary groups and guerrillas raged in the poor comuna neighborhoods on its outskirts and the visiting pontiff was moved to decry drug violence. The city is now heralded as a model of urban development. It has installed cable cars up the steep Andean slopes that surround it to save working-class residents a punishing climb home and built libraries in neighborhoods once host to gun battles. Feared drug trafficker Escobar, Medellin s most infamous resident, was gunned down in the city in a U.S.-backed operation in 1993. He was recently resurrected as a character in the popular Netflix series Narcos. During his visit to the city, Francis will highlight those who choose the habit and the cassock over secular careers, as the number of new entrants to vocations in the Roman Catholic Church has slumped. At the La Macarena meeting, Francis will also pray before the relics of Mother Laura Montoya, a nun who was the first female Colombian saint. Montoya was a teacher and prolific author who hosted classes in her own home when the 1895 civil war forced schools to close. The leader of the world s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics has brought a message of national reconciliation as the country tries to heal the wounds left by the conflict and bitter disagreements over a peace deal with guerrillas agreed last year. On Friday in the tropical city of Villavicencio, he urged Colombians skeptical of a the deal with the FARC guerrillas to be open to reconciliation with those who have repented, speaking hours after a top rebel leader asked the pontiff for forgiveness.. He visits the city of Cartagena on Sunday before leaving for Rome that night. ",1 Egypt's leaders label female protesters 'prostitutes',0 "Syria lets U.N. inspect gas attack site, Washington says too late",0 "Trade critic Trump visits Boeing Co's backyardEVERETT, Washington/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump, who has made his criticism of a pending Pacific trade agreement central to his campaign, on Tuesday visited a Seattle suburb home to a large Boeing Co plane manufacturing facility that depends heavily on Asian sales. Trump vowed at his rally that he would win Washington state, even though the state tends to support Democrats and that party’s nominee, Hillary Clinton, leads by large margins in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election. The Republican nominee, however, presents a conundrum for the unions that represent workers at Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company. He has courted manufacturing workers with vows to tear up trade agreements and scrap the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership. “The destruction that NAFTA started will be finished off if the Trans-Pacific Partnership is approved,” Trump said on Tuesday, referring to a separate deal with Canada and Mexico reached in the 1990s. He also has vowed to renegotiate that agreement. Supporters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) point to Boeing’s aircraft sales to Asia to tout the benefits of the agreement. Secretary of State John Kerry visited a nearby plant earlier this year to rally support for the pact. Manufacturing unions agree with Trump on his opposition to TPP and the export of jobs overseas, but officials said they find his track record unconvincing. “The fact is that Trump has had the opportunity to bring jobs to Americans, and he’s chosen to outsource them,” said Larry Brown, legislative and political director for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District Lodge 751, which represents about 32,000 workers in the state, mostly at Boeing. Boeing produces some of its largest planes only miles from where Trump spoke Tuesday night. As they are assembled, the painted tails of the planes show the airlines that ordered them, and many are Asian. Major components of each plane come from overseas: South Korea, China and Europe. Over the next 20 years, Boeing projects that Asian customers will account for 40 percent of the total global jetliner’s market, the company said in a recent report. “Trade is a huge part of the success of manufacturing in Washington,” said Linda Dempsey, vice president of international economic affairs for the National Association of Manufacturers, which Boeing belongs to. “They are exporting $73 billion in manufactured goods.” But Trump offers a more dire outlook, arguing that only he can keep Boeing from moving those high-paying manufacturing jobs from Washington to China. “They’ll start taking your business away, and you won’t have much of Boeing,” Trump told Seattle’s KIRO radio on Monday. Trump has broken with the Republican Party’s traditional embrace of free trade. He has vowed to rip up the TPP and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, an existing deal with Canada and Mexico which he blames for the loss of U.S. jobs. The Republican Party’s support for free trade has put it in sync with large business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. Tony Fratto, a former official in the administration of Republican George W. Bush, criticized Trump as out of step with the party. “Trump’s policies in this area are really dumb generally, but are particularly dumb for a major exporting company,” said Fratto, who worked on behalf of a coalition of large companies, including Boeing, that were pushing for renewal of the Export-Import Bank. Some voters in Washington state remain divided. Kirk Hoeppner, 53, a business analyst at Boeing who lives in Granite Falls, Washington, said he will vote for Trump and he agrees with his business views. But he was not sure closer ties to other countries would hurt jobs there. “Even if we ally with other countries, we’re still going to sell more airplanes,” Hoeppner said. Corey McNally, 40, of Whidbey Island, Washington, has not decided whom he will vote for. “The union members love Hillary just because they’re supposed to because she’s a liberal,” said McNally. And Trump, whom he called “just kind of a big show,” may be too late to change anything. “This company’s been outsourcing jobs for years,” he said of Boeing. ",1 "Iran sticks to key limits of nuclear deal: U.N. watchdog reportVIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has remained within the main limits on its nuclear activity set by its 2015 deal with six world powers, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in its first report since U.S. President Donald Trump decertified Iranian compliance with the terms. Iran undertook to curb its uranium enrichment program in return for relief from international sanctions that crippled its economy, and U.N. nuclear inspectors have repeatedly verified Tehran s adherence to the key aspects of the accord. Trump has called the agreement between Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union the worst deal ever and he disavowed Iran s compliance last month. His decision did not constitute a U.S. exit from the accord but raised concern about its staying power. Trump s move, at odds with the commitment of the other parties to the deal, meant the U.S. Congress must decide by mid-December whether to reimpose economic sanctions lifted under the accord, reached under his predecessor Barack Obama. If Congress reimposes the sanctions, the United States would in effect be in violation of the deal and it would likely fall apart. If lawmakers do nothing, the deal remains in place. In response, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Tehran will stick to the nuclear accord as long as the other signatories respected it, but would shred the deal if Washington pulled out. If the deal unravels, it would strengthen hardline opponents of Hassan Rouhani, Iran s pragmatist president who opened up diplomatic channels to Western powers to enable nuclear diplomacy after years of worsening confrontation. Iran s stock of low-enriched uranium as of Nov. 5 was 96.7 kg (213.2 pounds), well below a 202.8-kg limit set by the deal, and the level of enrichment did not exceed a maximum 3.67 percent cap, said the confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report sent to IAEA member states and seen by Reuters. Iran s stock of so-called heavy water, a moderator used in a type of reactor that can produce plutonium, a potential nuclear bomb fuel, stood at 114.4 metric tonnes, below a 130-tonne limit agreed by the parties to the deal. The 3.67 percent enrichment and 202-kg stockpile limit on uranium, and the 130-tonne cap on heavy water, aim to ensure that Iran does not amass enough material of sufficient fissile purity to produce a nuclear bomb. Such a device requires uranium to be refined to around 90 percent purity. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told Reuters in September he would welcome clarification from the powers on how the agency should monitor Iran s implementation of the so-called Section T of the nuclear pact that deals with certain technologies that could be used to develop an atom bomb. Russia had been critical of the agency s monitoring of Section T provisions, but Monday s report said the IAEA had verified Iran s commitment to the section. ",1 SOPA Ireland Signed Into Law: Ireland has passed new legislation that allows copyright holders to force Internet providers to block pirate websites,1 " Watch NBC’s Andrea Mitchell Get BULLIED Out Of The State Dept. For Asking About Russia (VIDEO)If one thing has become abundantly clear, it s that Donald Trump and his administration don t like to answer questions, especially questions surrounding Russia.Trump seems to have set a clear standard for those who work with him that the press is not to be trusted. From his abusive and unconstitutional fake news attacks to the clear ignoring of questions that the American people want to know the answers to.Ignoring questions and treating the press like dirt has seemingly also spread to the State Department, and on Tuesday morning, NBC s Andrea Mitchell alongside several others from the press were herded up and bullied out, all the while no questions were answered.Mitchell tried to get a few pressing answers from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. She asked: Can you respond to the threats from China? Can you be sure the Trump administration will be strong against Vladimir Putin? Can you assure us that Russia will not be able to move further in Ukraine? You can then see Mitchell grabbed by the arms and escorted out while saying: We haven t had any time in here. This all begs the question, why doesn t the Trump administration want to answer any questions? What are they hiding?The more they remain elusive from the press, the more people will assume they are up to no good, so one would think they would want to remain transparent and respect the right of a free press.What this shows is that our press are disrespected, but it also shows that press, especially those like Andrea Mitchell, aren t about to be bullied around so easily and will still report the story.Good.Watch the confrontation here:You guys. This happened today.This is why we Andrea @mitchellreports. There is nobody more dogged, more tenacious. The best. pic.twitter.com/uINDWmOYEM Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 7, 2017Featured image via video screen capture ",0 Peace Recedes as Israeli Settlements Expand,1 "Mongolia bids to keep city cool with 'ice shield' experiment - Geoengineering trial aims to 'store' winter temperatures in a giant block of ice that will cool & water Ulan Bator in summer ",1 "British police wants DNA database of everyone who has been arrested, but not convicted of a crime. They argue that innocent people who have been arrested are as likely to commit crimes in the future as guilty people...WTF!?",0 Israeli Soldier Holds Hunger Strike in Solidarity With Palestinians in Detention,0 "Key House Republican says progress seen on healthcare sticking pointWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Mark Walker said after a meeting of House Republicans on a revamped healthcare bill on Tuesday night that they made good progress on the issue of high-risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions. Walker, who is chairman of the Republican Study Committee, told reporters more discussions on other sticking points in the legislation would be held on Wednesday. ",1 "California lawmaker aims to reduce eating disorders among fashion modelsSACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Fashion models who want to work in California would need a doctor to attest that they are of healthy weight and not suffering from an eating disorder under a proposal announced by a state lawmaker on Monday. The bill proposed by California state Assembly member Marc Levine follows efforts in several countries to fight anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders among models, who are relentlessly pressured to lose weight or lose work. “The evidence of eating disorders in the modeling industry is alarming,” Levine, a Democrat who represents the Marin County suburbs of San Francisco, said in a statement on Monday. Under his bill, which was introduced Feb. 19, modeling agencies would have to be licensed by the California Labor Commissioner, and could be fined if they hire models who do not have a physician certifying that they are healthy. The bill, if passed, directs the state’s Department of Public Health and the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to adopt rules for the health of fashion models that would include periodic health checkups, nutrition consultations and medical testing. Levine said the measure, which must pass numerous committees, both houses of the legislature and be signed by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown before it could take effect, would also help girls and women, who see impossibly thin models in magazines and aim to be like them. “As a former fashion model and an eating disorder survivor, I know that this legislation is critically needed,” Nikki DuBose, a former model turned advocate, said in a statement. Last spring, France banned excessive thinness in models, partly in response to the death in 2010 of Isabelle Caro, a 28-year-old former French fashion model who died from anorexia after posing for a photographic campaign to raise awareness about the illness. Israel enacted a similar measure in 2013, while other countries, like Italy and Spain, rely on voluntary codes of conduct to protect models. As many as 40 percent of fashion models may suffer from eating disorders, Levine said. These include anorexia nervosa, which leads sufferers to starve themselves; bulimia nervosa, which involves binge-eating followed by purges such as forced vomiting, consumption of laxatives or excessive exercise; and binge-eating disorder. ",1 "SECRET SERVICE PROTECTS OBAMA’S DAUGHTERS While These Illegal Alien Pedophiles Threaten Our ChildrenThe children were nestled all snug in their beds when OOPS! an illegal alien pedophile slipped through their window. These worst of the worst criminals are crossing our borders every day as our US Border Agents are given the stand down order by a man so hell-bent on a one-party system that he will risk the safety and security of our children and grandchildren. Barack Obama s kids will never have to worry about safety, because We The Taxpayer will ensure that for the rest of their lives, they will be protected from the massive number of unchecked pedophiles and violent sexual offenders flowing across our open borders. This is an outrage! Yet the political pundits on the Left seem to be baffled by Donald Trump s popularity with the American voter Go figure McAllen, Texas Illegal aliens with previous convictions for sexual crimes continue to be a regular sight for U.S. Border Patrol agents working in this border region.On Wednesday, the Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV) of the U.S. Border Patrol confirmed to Breitbart Texas that they had arrested five criminal aliens with a history of sexual offenses including a Guatemalan man who is considered a sexually violent predator. On Sunday, agents caught a group of seven illegal aliens near the river and when they took them to the station for processing learned that one of them identified as Walter Leonel Vasquez Zacarias was a violent sexual predator, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.Court records revealed that Vasquez Zacarias had been convicted of aggravated sexual battery victim under 13 years of age in March 20, 2009. For that offense, Vasquez was initially arrested on June 16, 2008 in Augusta County, Virginia and after his conviction was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but for unknown reasons, eight years from his sentence were suspended and he was deported in March 30, 2010 through Houston.Vasquez continues to be listed in various search engines as a violent sexual predator.In recent days, agents arrested four other criminal aliens with a sexually based criminal history, information provided to Breitbart Texas by Border Patrol revealed. One of the aliens was from Guatemala and he had a previous conviction for aggravated sexual battery of a victim under the age of 13. Another of the aliens was also from Guatemala and he had a conviction for aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Two other aliens from Mexico had convictions for indecent liberties with a child and the other for sexual assault. Border Patrol agents remain vigilant in their efforts to protect this nation from all threats including predators and convicted criminals attempting to illegally enter the country, said Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr. in a prepared statement. Thanks to the hard work of Border Patrol agents, these dangerous criminals were unable to make it into our communities. Via: Breitbart News",0 WOW! DEMOCRAT DENNIS KUCUNICH WARNS: Deep State Is Trying to Take Down The President – It Needs to StopDeep State Is Trying to Take Down a President It Needs to Stop Dennis Kucinich goes there and tells Sean Hannity that the deep state is trying to destroy America as we know it. This man is a Democrat who is brave enough to speak out! You have a politicization of the agencies. That is resulting in leaks from anonymous unknown people and the intention is to take down a president.This is very dangerous to America.It is a threat to our republic. It constitutes a clear and present danger to our way of life.What is the motive of these people? Who s putting these leaks out? Why isn t somebody coming forward to make that charge and put their name and their reputation behind it instead of attacking through the media and not substantiating their position? ,0 'We are seriously dying here. It is really war': Residents of Homs say the Syrian army is carrying out a ferocious bombardment against helpless civilians,1 Syria rebels using caged captives as 'human shields': monitor,1 "U.S. top court declines to revive North Dakota abortion limitsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected North Dakota’s bid to revive a restrictive Republican-backed law struck down by a lower court that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks after conception. The court turned away the state’s appeal, leaving in place a July 2015 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked the 2013 law. North Dakota’s law was among the strictest of a series of statutes passed at the state level imposing limits on abortion. The law was challenged by North Dakota’s only abortion clinic, the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo. In a separate case, the high court is due to hear arguments on March 2 in a challenge by abortion providers to parts of a restrictive, Republican-backed Texas law they contend are aimed at shutting clinics that perform the procedure. It will be the court’s first abortion case since 2007. In the North Dakota case, the appeals court had said it was bound in its ruling by U.S. Supreme Court precedent on abortion, which holds that states may not prohibit abortions before a fetus reaches viability. But the appeals court said “good reasons exist” for the high court to re-evaluate its past abortion decisions in light of medical and scientific advances that show the concept of viability is subject to change. Republican backers of the North Dakota law had said 40 years of medical advancements should not be ignored. Opponents said a ban at six weeks would mean abortion would be outlawed at a gestation time when many women do not yet even know they are pregnant. On Jan. 19, the high court refused to hear a similar case in which Arkansas sought to revive a Republican-backed law also blocked by lower courts that would ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The high court legalized abortion in 1973, but abortion remains a contentious issue among Americans. Some states, particularly those governed by Republicans, have sought to chip away at a woman’s right to end a pregnancy by passing laws imposing a number of restrictions. Viability, according to medical experts, occurs around 23 to 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Lawmakers in North Dakota, Arkansas and other conservative states have sought to ban abortions at an earlier stage, citing among other things hotly debated medical research suggesting a fetus feels pain starting at 20 weeks of gestation. The North Dakota case was 15-627, Stenehjem v. MKB Management, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 15-627. ",1 "With the war over, Sri Lanka\'s government could have claimed the moral high ground. Instead it has clamped down hard. Around 300,000 civilians remain interned without trial in ""welfare centres"" that are concentration camps in all but name.",1 "“TRAITOR IN CHIEF” WARNS CONGRESS…Shut Down Prison With Muslim Terrorists Or I’ll Stop Funding Military [VIDEO]Name one time this reckless Commander in Chief has put our men and women in uniform before the war on terror Just one.On Monday, the Obama administration announced that President Obama would veto a defense authorization bill if it did not close down Guantanamo Bay. White House press secretary Josh Earnest explained that the House funding bill would be vetoed principally because of the irresponsible way that it funds our national defense priorities, but also because of the efforts to prevent the closure [of] the prison at Guantanamo Bay. He added that Democrats would sustain Obama s veto, and defense authorization would die.Obama s strong stand on Gitmo underscores two vital points. First, President Obama does not fear defunding America s national security. Second, Obama does not fear Republicans in Congress.The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has been authorized for five decades running. The current NDAA fully funds the military through a workaround measure, thanks to President Obama s demands that a huge chunk of sequestration cuts come from defense funding. Now Democrats complain that the workaround measure isn t good enough: Republicans should bust open the bank again.But that s not Obama s main criticism of the NDAA. He has long had a bug in his ear with regard to Gitmo, which he feels has strengthened terrorists feelings about the evils of the United States. Given his recent moves to parlay with the Cuban dictatorship as well, Obama may want to hand Gitmo in totality back to the Cuban government. The fact that Obama would be willing to dramatically cut America s military funding, even as Russia takes over Ukraine and Syria, as Iran gears up for a big regional military push, as China continues its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, demonstrates Obama s top priority is doing leftist work, not protecting the United States.In fact, Obama s choice to prioritize Gitmo above national security isn t a choice at all: Obama wants America s military slashed, and he wants Gitmo closed. Senator Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) agrees with Obama that Gitmo should be closed, but even he says that Obama has manipulated the process to create an impasse. According to Roll Call, McCain has said the White House promised him a plan to close the prison, but has yet to present one. Without that, he has said he wouldn t be able to find the votes to do what the White House wants. Now, normally, Obama s nasty priorities would pose little threat to military funding: after all, Obama would be stymied by Republicans in Congress. And Obama has threatened to veto the NDAA before over Guantanamo; each time, Congress has called Obama s bluff, and he has signed the bill into law.But this time, the feeling is that Obama could be more serious. After all, with the legacy of Republicans folding on executive amnesty, the Iran deal, and funding for Planned Parenthood, among others, Obama probably feels he can leverage Gitmo out of existence. He believes that Republicans fear defense defunding more than he must their constituents will hold them accountable, while he s in pure f*** it list mode. He also thinks that Republicans are unwilling to undergo a head-to-head matchup with him under almost any circumstances.And Obama is right. In his entire tenure as Commander-in-Chief, Obama has had to issue a grand total of four vetoes. Four. That s less than every president since Chester A. Arthur, who filled out James Garfield s term, serving less than four years. Obama has had a fully Republican Congress this year, and a Republican House since 2010. He has issued just two vetoes this year, one with regard to Keystone XL Pipeline, and the other with regard to a bill related to the National Labor Relations Board. All of his other major policy priorities have been guarded zealously by a Democratic minority or an unwilling Republican majority.So why wouldn t Obama try to hold Republicans feet to the fire on defense authorization?Obama s mastery of Congress is unprecedented in American history; the only other candidates for that title either held Congressional dominance within their own party (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) or ruled a Congressional rump (Abraham Lincoln). Shutting down America s defense funding would be a crowning achievement for a president who cares more about weakening America s role in the world than defending her citizens.Via: Breitbart News",0 20% of all Spanish Homes Currently Sit Empty,1 More than $1bn deposited in Malaysian prime minister's account report | World news,0 "Most House members sign letter backing Israel at U.N.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 90 percent of the U.S. House of Representatives has signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to use U.S. veto power to block any United Nations resolutions seen as biased against Israel, one of the letter’s lead sponsors said on Friday. U.S. Representative Nita Lowey said 394 members of the 435-member House signed the letter that was sent to Obama on Thursday. It was written as the Palestinian Authority renewed its drive to persuade the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The United States vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council five years ago. With U.S. efforts to broker a two-state solution in tatters since 2014, France has been lobbying countries to commit to a conference that would get Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiations to end their conflict. The congressional letter backed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but insisted that negotiations between the two sides are the only path to peace, not United Nations action or an international conference. “The only way you can get there is if the two parties can be brought together and really go over all the issues,” Lowey said in a telephone interview. Lowey is the top Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid. Republican Representative Kay Granger, who chairs the subcommittee, also sponsored the letter. Lowey said she had not yet had a response to the letter, but she hoped administration officials were carefully reading it. Support for Israel is one of the few issues that has the support of Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress. ",1 A law that demands consent to internet cookies has been approved and will be in force across the EU within 18 months,1 "U.S. top court rejects challenge to political ad disclosure rules(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld federal disclosure rules for political advertising, rejecting an appeal by a Denver-based libertarian think tank that wanted to run an ad without being forced to divulge its major donors. The Denver-based Independence Institute sued the Federal Election Commission, arguing the law requiring such disclosure violated its free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. The Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s ruling last year in favor of the commission. It was the latest in a decade-long series of cases brought by conservatives aiming to roll back federal campaign finance restrictions. The Independence Institute was supported in the case by influential Republican and conservative voices including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Judicial Watch legal activist group as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business group. The institute, ahead of the 2014 congressional elections, had sought to run a radio advertisement about increasing prison costs, telling listeners to urge their Colorado U.S. senators to support sentencing reform. Because the ad mentioned a senator by name in the lead up to an election, it triggered a provision in the 2002 campaign finance statute known as the McCain-Feingold law requiring the institute to file with the election commission and disclose any donors supporting the ad. The law was enacted to combat an explosion of what is known as “soft money” in campaigns through so-called sham issue advertisements, which cloaked partisan advocacy in discussions of public policy. Though the Supreme Court allowed unlimited campaign spending by corporations and unions in its landmark 2010 decision in the Citizens United v Federal Election Commission case, the court also upheld disclosure requirements for campaign ads. The Federal Election Commission said that for more than a century federal law has required organizations that influence elections to disclose information about their funding sources, a principle upheld in the Citizens United ruling. The Independence Institute sued in federal court in Washington in a bid to keep the names of its donors secret, arguing that its proposed ad focused on the sentencing reforms that senators were considering, not any senator’s re-election campaign. Last October, a three-judge panel of the federal court ruled against the group, saying it would be impossible to distinguish genuine issue ads that reference candidates from campaign-style ads that openly promote or disparage a candidate.  ",1 "Egyptians approve constitutional changes, paving way to new elections ",1 "Ex-pat prisoners in Dubai have gone on hunger strike against the United Arab Emirates' arbitrary bounced-check laws. One man is serving a 6-year sentence because a government-owned entity failed to pay him for work he had done, and a check he wrote subsequently bounced.",0 "Email surveillance could reveal journalists' sources, expert claims. Phil Zimmermann, inventor of PGP encryption, urges shift away from consumer email",0 "YOU’RE FIRED! TRUMP Makes Stunning Move To Defeat ‘Crooked Hillary’The New York Times and all other news outlets are reporting with glee that Donald Trump s campaign manager was fired. The truth is that Corey Lewandowski had never run a national campaign before now so it s time to bring in experienced campaign workers to get the job done. This is not to say that Lewandowski was the perfect campaign manager he wasn t. The New York Times brings up dirt on Corey but it s more likely that Trump was concerned he wasn t getting the job done soooo .YOU RE FIRED!FYI: REAGAN FIRED HIS CAMPAIGN MANAGER TOO!Donald J. Trump has fired his contentious campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, a move that comes as the presumptive Republican nominee faces challenges as he heads into the general election.Mr. Lewandowski could not immediately be reached for comment about his departure, which was announced by the campaign. The Donald J. Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign, the campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said in a statement: The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future. Mr. Trump had faced increasing concerns from allies and donors, as well as his children, about the next phase of the campaign as he pivots toward the November election.Two people briefed on the move, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Lewandowski was fired.The campaign manager was seen as having a hostile relationship with many members of the national press corps who cover Mr. Trump, and many officials at the Republican National Committee had strained relationships with him.And Mr. Lewandowski was often at odds with Mr. Trump s chief strategist, Paul Manafort, who was brought on in March when the candidate seemed poised for a lengthy fight over delegates.Mr. Lewandowski was said to have resisted certain moves that would have increased the staff, at times blocking Mr. Manafort from making hires or later undoing them.But the people briefed on Mr. Lewandowski s departure said that the circumstances went well beyond any particular incident or any particular relationship.One person stressed that the move had been in the works for many weeks, particularly since it became clear that Mr. Trump would be the nominee. The person added said that the campaign is now focusing on bringing the party together, including hiring new staff members and adjusting to the race against Hillary Clinton. And there had been a desire for many weeks to make changes ahead of the Republican National Convention, July 18-21 in Cleveland.No one inside the campaign was given any advance warning about the dismissal of Mr. Lewandowski, who was on the campaign s daily 8:30 a.m. conference call on Monday, according to a person briefed on the developments.Read more: NYT",0 Exclusive: US bankrolled anti-Morsi activists,0 Oldest DNA taken from Neanderthal who fell into well,0 "INDIANA: “BLACK MALE” FIRES Several SHOTS At Truck With Make America Great Again, USA Flags…HELP Police Find HimIndiana State Police say shots were fired at a truck carrying a Make America Great Again flag and an American flag on eastbound I-465 Tuesday.Officers believe the shots were fired from a newer white 4-door Chevrolet Malibu with a Louisiana plate near Emerson Avenue around 4 p.m.The victim and a witness informed police that the Malibu pulled up next to the pickup truck, a passenger held a handgun out of the window and then a male fired several shots.Police say no one was in injured in the incident.The driver of the Malibu was described as a black male around the age of 23. The passenger was described as a light skinned black male with a sleeve tattoo on his right arm.Via: FOX 59",0 "Australians protest against unfolding 'emergency' in offshore detention campSYDNEY (Reuters) - More than 1,000 people protested in Australia on Saturday against the treatment of hundreds of asylum seekers in an offshore detention center that the United Nations has described as an unfolding humanitarian emergency . About 600 men have barricaded themselves inside the camp on remote Manus island in Papua New Guinea, defying efforts by Australia and PNG to shut it. Food, running water and medical services were cut off by Australia four days ago. Australian authorities want the men moved to a transit center elsewhere on the island at the start of a process the asylum seekers fear will result in them being resettled in PNG or another developing nation. The men also fear violent reprisals from the local community. These people have committed no crime other than to do what every single one of us would do if we thought our lives, or our family s lives, were at risk, Federal Greens lawmaker Adam Bandt told the crowd in Melbourne, Australia s second-largest city. Another smaller protest was staged in Sydney. The Manus island center, and one on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru, have been key parts of Australia s disputed Sovereign Borders immigration policy, under which it refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach its shores. Australia s offshore detention policies have been heavily criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups but are backed the center-right government and the Labor opposition. U.N. rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news conference in Geneva on Friday about the unfolding humanitarian emergency in the Manus island center, where asylum seekers have been reported digging wells to try to find water. The Australian government has not responded to Colville s comments. It frequently does not comment on issues concerning the offshore centers, citing operational reasons. The relocation of the men is designed as a temporary measure, allowing the United States time to complete vetting of asylum seekers as part of a refugee swap deal, agreed on last year, under which Australia will accept refugees from Central America. Labor leader Bill Shorten has called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to consider New Zealand s offer to take 150 refugees from the camps on Manus and Nauru. ",1 " Suckers! Sarah Palin Bought This Mansion With The Money Conservatives Gave Her (PHOTOS)It pays well to be a failed right-wing candidate. Sarah Palin, who served a half term as Alaska s governor and made a halfhearted attempt to become vice president next to John McCain, has profited quite nicely from her place in the conservative universe.After losing the 2008 election, Palin quickly quit being governor of Alaska and became a pundit on Fox News Channel. She signed a book deal and pumped out several tomes (her most recent book is Sweet Freedom: A Devotional), likely ghostwritten by writers who will be forever anonymous, and set up a political action committee, SarahPAC, that went to work buying thousands of her own books helping to send them up the bestseller charts.While her deal with Fox was ended by the network (after they built her a custom studio at her Alaska home, she rarely appeared on the network outside of goofy appearances on Sean Hannity s program), she ran an online subscription TV service for a while before that abruptly ended, and now appears on the fringe One America News Network. That network has promoted itself as the conservative alternative to Fox News, but does not have mainstream satelitte or cable tv coverage.In 2011 Palin purchased a mansion in Arizona for $1.695 million, and is now selling the property for $2.499 million. She ll make a profit on the home, thanks in part to the Obama agenda she opposed improving the economy and the real estate market.While Palin styles herself as just a hockey mom who loves her country, the 8,000 square foot home is not exactly a humble home on the range.The nearly 8,000-square-foot home was built in 2001. Some of its features include high ceilings, chandeliers and wrought-iron railings.The home also boasts a media room/theater, a wine cellar, six bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms. One of the two master suites includes a rooftop deck.The outdoor area features a built-in grill station, a fire pit, a pool, a spa, a water-saving synthetic lawn and a lighted sports court complete the more than four-acre equestrian-zoned grounds. There s also a six-car garage.The home is inside a gated community, so not just anyone can come inside to pal around with the Palins.Here s how the realtor sells the property to prospective buyers:This pristine gated estate is sure to impress as you enter from a wraparound drive to access the private gated entrance. Masterfully designed & built this 7971 sqft home showcases 6 bedrooms, 6.5 baths, a 6 car garage & breathtaking mountain views from virtually every room! Quality & care echoes throughout, with beautiful finishes, fixtures, fireplaces, chandeliers, soaring ceilings, media theater, wine cellar & more. Craftsmanship extends to the resort themed backyard with fireplaces off the covered patio, veranda & rooftop deck off of the master suite. Luxury abounds with a built-in grill station, fire-pit, sparkling blue pool, spa, synthetic grass & a lighted sports court. This 4.9 acre equestrian estate offers opulence at it s finest.Here are some photos of Palin s mansion, are you in the market? Featured image via Wikimedia CommonsPhotos via Keller Williams Realty",0 "Baltimore primary results decertified, irregularities cited(Reuters) - Results of Baltimore’s primary election were ordered decertified on Thursday by the Maryland elections board, which cited irregularities in the April 26 vote that may have influenced a tight mayoral race. The state panel will begin a precinct-by-precinct review of voting in the overwhelming Democratic city. The Baltimore elections board will pull its certification this evening, state board administrator Linda Lamone said. The state review could cast doubt on the narrow victory by state Senator Catherine Pugh in the mayoral primary, where she defeated former Mayor Sheila Dixon. Pugh had backed law enforcement reform as Baltimore recovers from April 2015 rioting sparked by a black man’s death from an injury in police custody. Three City Council races were determined by a few hundred votes. Lamone said officials had found 80 provisional ballots that had not been checked to see whether they were cast in the right precinct or the voters were registered. Unusually high numbers of voters also checked in at polling places but never cast ballots, she said. That issue was not cleared up when the city board certified the election this week. “There were enough discrepancies in that reconciliation (on the number of voters) that made me determine we need to review everything more,” Lamone said. A group of activists has questioned the fairness of the election. Victory in the Democratic primary means an almost certain win in the November general election. ",1 THE CHALKENING: Political Chalk Drawing Bandit Terrorizing Liberals Across America [Video]The social justice warriors are being terrorized by the chalk bandit Bahahaha! ,0 " WATCH: Sean Spicer In December STRONGLY Opposed Exactly What He Did TodayIn a shocking move, White House press secretary Sean Spicer banned major news organizations such The New York Times, CNN, BBC, LA Times, Politico and BuzzFeed from attending a press briefing. That move resulted in the Associated Press and Time magazine boycotting the briefing. In addition, the White House Correspondents Association also protested the move. Meanwhile, Spicer hand picked right-leaning outlets to attend the briefing. Breitbart.com, of course, was one of them.Politico senior writer and co-author of Playbook Jake Sherman recalled an interview in December with Spicer. Stick with me on this one, Sherman tweeted. We had @PressSec at a Playbook Live event in December where he addressed this issue directly. Here s what he said. Stick with me on this one. We had @PressSec at a Playbook Live event in December where he addressed this issue directly. Here s what he said Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) February 24, 2017This is what Spicer said during the interview, We have a respect for the press when it comes to the govt. That is something you can t ban an entity from. Conservative liberal or otherwise. We have a respect for the press when it comes to the govt. That is something you can t ban an entity from. Conservative liberal or otherwise Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) February 24, 2017 This is @presssec in December but the real amazing quote is this: That s what makes a democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship, he tweeted, tagging Spicer.This is @presssec in December but the real amazing quote is this: That s what makes a democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) February 24, 2017Watch: To reiterate, Spicer called banning the media a dictatorship in December, then a couple of months later, he did just that. This move by the Trump administration is likely in retaliation to the damning report published yesterday stating that the FBI refused the White House s request to publicly knock down media reports regarding communications between Donald Trump s associates and Russians known to U.S. intelligence during the 2016 presidential campaign.Even weirder, Spicer had that conversation with a reporter from Politico, an established media source he has now just banned. Conservatives will suck the freedom out of you every single time.Image via screen capture",0 "Manga about Fukushima cleanup operation becomes hit in Japan: Kazuto Tatsuta, who worked on cleanup at nuclear plant, hopes his work 'tells people about things that the media never see'",1 "SLAM DUNK! YOU’LL LOVE CHARLES BARKLEY’S Take On #ConfederateStatues [Video]This is awesome! Basketball great Charles Barkley spoke up on the Confederate Statues controversy and called out the people who are focussing on the statues and not their ability to help themselves, their community and country.#ConfederateStatues A unique take from #CharlesBarkley pic.twitter.com/l9Dz43sLp3 Rick Karle (@RickKarle) August 17, 2017Social media gave Barkley a high five for his take on the controversy:But Barkley is sure to get backlash in 3,2,1 BARKLEY PREVIOUSLY SPOKE OUT ON THE BLACK COMMUNITY:NBA legend and all around awesome person, Charles Barkley, was recently interviewed by a local Philadelphia radio station about the current racial issues plaguing America. During the interview, Barkley stated that unintelligent, brainwashed African-Americans are the ones keeping successful ones down, not white people, or cops.What prompted Charles Barkley s response was a question posed to him on the radio show, Afternoons with Anthony Gargano and Rob Ellis; he was asked about a rumor that Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was being accused by his fellow teammates of not being black enough. Colin Kaepernick s and Chris Brown s most recent debacles are prefect examples of Charles logic.Charles Barkley finished out his interview by stating:Via: Blue Lives Matter We think it s time for other high profile people to speak up on this topic Your thoughts?",0 "President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, has 90 percent public approval rating, which puts him first in a survey regarding two dozen leaders of the region",0 School shooting in finland,0 " Hillary Just Joined #TheResistance In BRILLIANT Video Without Even Mentioning TrumpIt s no secret that Hillary Clinton is deeply concerned about what Donald Trump is doing to America. However, as a former major party presidential candidate, she cannot openly and directly criticize him or his administration without looking like a sore loser. That, however, has not stopped the former Democratic presidential nominee from openly signalling that she is opposed to Trump and his policies. In fact, in a recent video, Hillary championed women more loudly than before, praised the Women s Marches around the nation and world. She also made a bold and direct declaration: The Future is Female. The video was made for the 2017 Makers Conference. Hillary said in her videotaped speech: We need strong women to step up and speak out. Just look at the amazing energy we saw last month as women organised a march that galvanized millions of people in our country and across the world. Now more than ever we need to stay focused on the theme of this year s conference: Be Bold. She ended with an uplifting and inspiring message for women and girls everywhere, as well as other vulnerable communities, who may be worried about their futures under the tyranny of the Trump White House: So please, set an example for every women and girl out there who s worried about what the future holds and wonders whether our rights, opportunities and values will endure. And remember, you are the heroes and history makers, the glass ceiling breakers on the future. Hillary is right. This is why #TheResistance is so important. Trump is a threat to our future, but it is the responsibility of the people to be the guardians of our own democracy. Listen to Hillary we are the future. Trump is one man, and he doesn t represent us.Watch the brilliant video below: Yes, the future is female. @HillaryClinton. The 2017 #MAKERS Conference is LIVE now!: https://t.co/zzSG90pbF6 #BEBOLD pic.twitter.com/w9xYU1B302 MAKERS (@MAKERSwomen) February 7, 2017Read more:Featured image via Mark Makela/Getty Images",0 Russian to become mandatory in Syrian schools,1 "LOL! Most Arrested Soros Protesters Didn’t Even Vote…Listen To Hilarious Reason They’re Protesting [VIDEO]When asked why they re protesting, these foolish young rioters responded with, Because it s a community kind of thing. and Right now is how you gotta show your support for someone else. These young lawless radicals and others just like them across the United States, with no direction or understanding of who they re harming with their violent behavior, helped to convince Americans why it was so important to vote for a President who promised to restore law and order in America.More than 70 percent of the 112 protesters arrested in Portland last week didn t vote in Oregon, according to state election records. The other approximately 30 percent did cast a ballot in Oregon or in another state.At least seventy-nine demonstrators either didn t turn in a ballot or weren t registered to vote in the state.Following Tuesday s presidential election of Donald Trump, thousands of people took to the streets in downtown Portland for five straight notes. The activity included at least one night that the police declared to be a riot, with more than $1 million in property damage. The bulk of the arrests happened on Friday and Saturday evenings as protesters faced off against police. KGW8",0 "GREEN PARTY DOLT Struggles To Explain Wisconsin Election Recount [Video]IAN JACKSON: People have been slightly concerned about the trail and as your last guest pointed out it s very decentralized.ED HENRYY: Uh-huh. When you say slightly concerned, that doesn t sound to me like there s widespread allegations or more importantly evidence of some sort of fraud. So is this giving Jill Stein supporters some sort of false hope?JACKSON: Well, I [pause] there s we re [pause] trying to find what the count is and [pause] I m not sure it s false hope. It s trying to find the truth behind the numbers. There has been these allegations by computer scientists but as your last guest pointed out, it was using different systems and using that, being engineers, um, I m a software engineer and we like our little [pause] models, but unless you actually count and check it, you don t know whether it s just a thoughy well, they used something different or if there s something to it.And you mentioned your show is all about finding truth.HENRY: Let s find that truth. My next question is, our last guest, who you cited several times, Craig Gilbert, also said, accurately, that in 2000 and 2004 the margin was even closer in the presidential race and there was no recount. So what s your case tonight?JACKSON: [pause] Well, the case [pause] tonight, you can see that there that was [pause] a real contentious election [pause], and, based on that there are people that have expressed concerns. So, it s best to find the truth and go through the process. And obviously people have been willing to put up millions of dollars [pause] to find out and count the ballots again.HENRY: Okay, so final question: if you really want to get at the truth can we get at another truth which is that it appears that Jill Stein has raised about $5 million for a recount that may or may not happen for fraud that may or may not have happened. If there s nothing found here and if there s not even a recount will you pledge tonight that you and others in the Green Party believe that that money should be refunded, so this is not just money being raised on false hope?JACKSON: Well, we re exploring that I m only treasurer for the Green-Rainbow party. We re certainly going if it doesn t get used, we re certainly going to discuss with our donors what their desire is for that money. ",0 "Gruesome Uganda murders put police role in the public dockKAMPALA (Reuters) - A spate of unsolved murders of young women in Uganda is putting rare public pressure on a police force long accused by opposition politicians of spending more time suppressing political dissent than tackling crime. Widespread media coverage of the appearance of 20 corpses beside roadsides south of the capital since May reflects public anger with police for repeatedly saying they have arrested the perpetrators, only for another body to be discovered. It s terrifying, Susan Kabul, 29, told Reuters, standing near the garbage-littered bank of a drainage channel where the latest murder victim was discovered. The police need to tell us who is slaughtering people like this. The government has defended the police, and police say they have arrested 30 suspects and charged 13 of them, listing possible motives ranging from domestic rows through sexual abuse to ritual murder linked to human sacrifice. Ritual killing is one of the motives that we suspect, we also think there might be cases of jilted lovers, police spokesman Asan Kasingye said by telephone. Other theories might come up as investigations progress. There have been occasional individual cases of alleged ritual murder in the east African nation, but this is the first time there has been such a large number of people killed in similar circumstances in the same area. In a nod to the public outrage, lawmakers stopped work for two days this week after the 20th body was found, saying ministers had failed to appear before the legislature over the killings in three districts on the outer edge of Kampala. Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo accused them of populism. They spoke as if the government is doing nothing, he said. They should leave police to work without pressure. The legislature is dominated by supporters of longstanding President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986. The constitution was changed in 2005 to remove a two-term limit, allowing him to extend his rule, and parliament is discussing removing an age cap. His son is a major general and powerful presidential adviser. Opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who contends that Museveni stole his victory in last year s election, has been charged with treason. Police often break up opposition rallies with teargas, beatings or detentions. The opposition and rights activists have long accused security forces of neglecting crime to focus on political control. Police can t secure women in a small area - all the attention is on politics, on who is criticizing Museveni, said Sarah Birete of the Centre for Constitutional Governance. Government spokesman Opondo said police were doing a good job. Some people start disguised as political activists and degenerate to criminals, I think they are unhappy that the police is on their back, he said. The police is right to focus on all forms of crime that can cause insecurity. Uganda is ranked among the world s most corrupt countries by watchdog Transparency International. The Ugandan government s inspector general said in a 2014 report that the police force was the most corrupt public institution in the country and noted crimes were rarely investigated. In Wakiso, the district south of Kampala where most of the victims have been found, few residents have faith that the killings will stop. I have stopped moving about at night. He could be a serial killer. I don t know where he will strike next, said Deo Busulwa, who lives a stone s throw from the canalside bank location of the latest grisly discovery, of mother-of-two Maria Nabilawa. Many residents suspect the victims are killed elsewhere and the bodies dumped. Kasingye said they had arrested Nabilawa s husband in connection with her killing. (Story refiles to add dropped word in fifth paragraph.) ",1 "Maine Senate leaders will not seek special session to chide LePageBOSTON (Reuters) - (Editor’s note: This story contains language in the second paragraph that may offend readers) The president of Maine’s state Senate on Friday said he would not pursue a special session to censure Governor Paul LePage for leaving a profanity-laden voicemail message for a lawmaker amid a dispute about the governor’s comments on race and drug dealing. Senator Michael Thibodeau, who like LePage is a Republican, earlier in the week had said he was interested in a one-day special session to officially reprimand the two-term governor for calling a Democratic state legislator a “little son-of-a-bitch, socialist cocksucker.” But on Friday he said he would not follow the lead of state House Speaker Mark Eves, who began polling lawmakers in his chamber as to whether they were ready to call a special session “to take action regarding the Governor’s conduct.” “He is unfit to serve as Governor and must resign or be removed from office,” Eves said of LePage in a statement on Friday. That query, Thibodeau said, went further than Senate Republicans were willing to go, adding that his party had been ready to vote for a one-day session to vote on an official censure of LePage, whose current term extends through 2018. “We’re not interested in coming back for impeachment,” Thibodeau told reporters. The state House and Senate both adjourned in April and are not due to meet again until after the November elections. LePage has faced a flurry of criticism over the past week for saying that members of minority groups from out of state were responsible for the lion’s share of the heroin trade in Maine. He drew further criticism after leaving a profane and widely circulated voicemail for a lawmaker that he believed had called him a racist. Earlier in the week he mused during a 15-minute radio interview about the idea of not finishing out his term, only to come back a day later to say that he would not resign. Earlier this year a group of lawmakers started an effort to impeach him, contending the governor overstepped his authority by threatening to withhold funds from a nonprofit group that hired a political rival, but that effort collapsed before making it to the full House. Under Maine’s constitution, Thibodeau would have been first in line to succeed LePage if he stepped down or was removed from office. ",1 "Obama says more must be done to address U.S. police shootingsWARSAW, Poland (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday made an impassioned plea for the nation to do more to address the combative relationship between local police forces and the black and Hispanic communities they serve, after the shootings of two black men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana in two days. “When incidents like this occur, there’s a big chunk of our fellow citizenry that feels as if because of the color of their skin they are not being treated the same,” Obama said shortly after landing early Friday morning in Warsaw, Poland, for a NATO summit. “And that should trouble all of us. This is not just a black issue. It’s not just a Hispanic issue. This is an American issue that we should all care about,” he said. The deaths of Philando Castile at a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and Alton Sterling outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were the latest in a string of shootings that have led to calls for a revamp in the way police interact with the black community. Citing statistics that show that blacks are more likely to be killed by police officers and receive harsher sentences than their white counterparts, Obama said it is “incumbent on all of us to say we can do better than this.” A White House task force on better policing tactics issued recommendations last year on how to improve community relations with law enforcement. Obama encouraged local police forces to adopt the practices outlined by the task force, saying that less distrust of police would help to keep officers safe and lead to less deadly shootings by authorities. Critics of the push to reform local police tactics have charged that Obama has not shown enough concern about police officers who are shot in the line of duty. Obama repeatedly stressed that he believes that most police officers do their jobs without bias and that addressing complaints about police brutality would not undermine law enforcement. “When people say black lives matter, that doesn’t mean blue lives don’t matter. It just means that all lives matter, but right now the big concern is the fact that data shows black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of attacks,” he said. Earlier on Thursday, Obama issued a Facebook post urging the nation to address the “appearance or reality of racial bias” in policing. ",1 US homegrown terrorist attempts to build a dirty bomb. Investigations reveal he is not Muslim. Everyone relieved. ,0 "Florida insurers shares tumble as Hurricane Irma looms(Reuters) - Shares of Florida home insurers, including Heritage Insurance Holdings, tumbled on Tuesday and many extended losses later in the day as Hurricane Irma appeared set to hit Florida on Saturday, causing investors to brace for losses. HCI Group shares posted their biggest-ever one-day percentage drop, falling 20.0 percent at $30.94 and hitting the lowest level since November. Trading volume was 11.6 times the stock s 10-day moving average. Heritage shares hit record lows and closed down 17.0 percent at $9.35 with trading volume 7.0 times the stock s 10-day moving average. Universal Insurance Holdings Inc shares tumbled 14.6 percent in the biggest one-day percentage drop since November 2015. Irma strengthened to a highly dangerous Category 5 storm, with winds of 185 mph, as it barreled toward the Caribbean and the southern United States, threatening deadly winds, storm surges and flooding. If Irma continues its current path it will create significant insured damage, said Sandler O Neill analyst Paul Newsome. It s quite easy for them to wipe out all their earnings for the year. Shares of United Insurance Holdings fell 7.2 percent, hitting their lowest point since February. Trading volume was 8.1 times the 10-day moving average. Larger insurance companies with a broader geographic exposure were also lower after tumbling last week on expectations of massive losses from Hurricane Harvey, which devastated parts of Texas and Louisiana. Travelers Co was down 3.7 percent after a 5 percent drop last week, and Progressive Corp was down 3.4 percent after falling 5.7 percent last week. Chubb Ltd fell 2.6 percent. Another big hurricane in the same year adds another level of financial losses even for the big companies with enormous capital bases, Newsome said. A second hurricane strains the system as insurers will have a harder time getting enough people to do loss adjustments in order to settle claims as quickly as possible, he said. ",1 Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher. ,1 "Approval rating for Brazil's Temer plummets: pollSAO PAULO (Reuters) - Approval for Brazilian President Michel Temer s government has plummeted, according to a poll published on Tuesday, as the scandal-plagued leader faces new corruption charges and struggles to push his economic reform agenda through Congress. Polling firm MDA said that 3.4 percent of those surveyed thought the Temer government was doing a great or good job - down from 10.3 percent in MDA s last such poll in February. Temer took over a year ago from impeached leftist Dilma Rousseff and has said he does not care about popularity and only wants to push through an austerity package before his term ends in Jan. 2019. Yet his ability to do so has been hamstrung by charges of taking bribes, racketeering and obstruction of justice. The charges against Temer are based on the plea-bargain testimony of the owners of the world s largest meatpacker, JBS SA. They accuse Temer of taking bribes in return for political favors and of conspiring to buy the silence of a witness who could implicate the leader. Temer has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The MDA poll was commissioned by the national transport lobby CNT and surveyed 2,002 people across Brazil from Sept. 13-16. The poll has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points. ",1 U.S. weighs expanded covert war in Pakistan,1 Cyberattacks hit 19 Japan websites amid Chinese protests,1 Brazil's Tough New Drunken-Driving Law -- Blow a .02 and lose your license for a year,0 "WATCH: DID JOHNNY DEPP Just Make A Career-Ending Joke About Assassinating President Trump?Introducing his 2004 film The Libertine, about a 17th-century poet who notoriously drank himself to an early death, the 54-year-old chose to discuss American politics. I think [Donald] Trump needs help, he said. There are a lot of dark places he could go. I just woke up and you were so sweet and nice, were not even fighting this morning. All I did was say sorry. However, things go from bad to worse with Johnny appearing to threaten the 30-year-old star. You wanna see crazy? he says. I ll give you f***ing crazy. Daily Star In the wake of shocking leaked footage and pictures, Eric Schiffer, CEO of ReputationManagementConsultants.com, explained that Johnny would have to play his cards carefully if he wanted to emerge with any semblance of a career. When you look at Johnny s audience, the damage to credibility is catastrophic. This is a legendary movie star who has fallen into complete madness and everyone can see it, he told Daily Star Online, exclusively. As for the videos this is insane asylum behaviour, he is clearly extremely ill and needs help. Did Johnny Depp really think making a joke about assassinating our President would help his lackluster career? ",0 Antibiotic-resistant diseases pose 'apocalyptic' threat.,1 "Trump, Clinton tension seeps into jokes at annual charity dinnerNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. presidential campaign tensions seeped into a high-profile charity dinner on Thursday as Donald Trump joked about sending Hillary Clinton to prison and she alluded to Trump’s statements about women by estimating how he might rate the Statue of Liberty’s attractiveness a four, maybe a five. The candidates shared the stage at a formal dinner in New York City named for the state’s former governor, Alfred E. Smith, less than 24 hours after finishing their third and final presidential debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The annual event, which raises money for needy children, typically offers presidential hopefuls a respite from the tension of the campaign trail. But Trump and Clinton opted to instead trade sharpened barbs that reflected the acrimony of the 2016 White House campaign. Trump spoke first and set the room on edge with bitter jabs at his rival, with his label of Clinton as “corrupt” drawing boos. “With all of the heated back and forth between my opponent and me at the debate last night, we have proven that we can actually be civil to each other,” Trump said. “In fact just before taking the dais, Hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said, ‘Pardon me.’” “And I very politely replied, ‘Let me talk to you about that after I get into office,’” said Trump, a Republican whose supporters chant “lock her up” at rallies. Clinton, whose remarks elicited both polite applause and derision, riffed off Trump’s derogatory remarks about women’s appearances, such as joking in a 2002 radio interview that they become less attractive after age 35. “Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a four, maybe a five if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair,” Clinton said of the New York City landmark. “Come to think of it, you know what would be a good number for a woman? 45,” Clinton said. The president elected on Nov. 8 will be the 45th in U.S. history. Trump and Clinton sat just a seat apart on the dais, separated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York. At the event’s conclusion, they shook hands – a gesture they avoided at Wednesday’s debate. But the tone of both candidates’ remarks was a departure from the past, when political figures and presidential candidates have stuck to a largely self-deprecating and good-natured brand of humor. At one point at the event, which raised $6 million for Catholic charities supporting children, Trump said Clinton was “pretending not to hate Catholics.” Trump was referring to the apparently hacked personal emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, published by Wikileaks, which show Clinton staffers criticizing high-profile figures for embracing Catholicism as the most “politically acceptable” of socially conservative religions. Alfred Smith IV, the evening’s host, perhaps best reflected the tension in the room, and the campaign, in his introductory remarks: “This has been a campaign for the history books,” he said. “It has also been a campaign for the psychiatry books.” ",1 Japan's Sony more than doubles net loss forecast to $6.4 billion,0 Its a girl: The three deadliest words in the world,1 """I must tell you the individuals who say this deal provides a pathway for Iran to a bomb are being wholly disingenuous..."", says CIA director John Brennan",1 "Google is the Engine of Censorship21st Century Wire says Late last year, search engine giant Google announced its plans to protect users from the horrors of fake news by changing the way it presents search results. According to corporate officials, they hope to shelter readers by limiting access to what the company deems as low-quality information while promoting what it calls established mainstream sources. Critics believe that the company, which now has a virtual monopoly on internet traffic, is now playing god over the info-sphere. While its known that Eric Schmidt, the head of Google s parent company, Alphabet Inc, is regular attendee at the annual secretive Bilderberg meeting which charters the globalist agenda, not much is known about new Google CEO Sundar Pichai and what his personal ideology is, or whether he personally believes that Google s role is to control what the public think about any given issue by fixing the search results on the world s number one search engine. Judging by the culture of conformity at Google, it s not likely that Pichai would be allowed to express any dissenting views if he had them.As 21WIRE pointed out last week regarding the controversy over the recent Google Memo and the firm dismissing employees who are seen to divert from the company s prescribed group think, this same repressive political culture at Google is reflected in its broad new automated censorship program administered by algorithms on its Google search engine a bold move which effectively disappears political views and articles it does not like, and wishes to bury.Watch this segment from RT America, with guest Andre Damon, editor of the World Socialist Web Site, to explain why he believes his site and other alternative sources are being unfairly targeted in Google s new reordering of visible information through its portal. Watch: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 "China's plan to cut meat consumption by 50% cheered by climate campaigners: New dietary guidelines could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1bn tonnes by 2030, and could lessen countrys problems with obesity and diabetes",1 Latin American countries to U.S.: The war on drugs is not working,0 "Canada, a resource economy, is the only G7 country in a recession",0 Mali crisis: militants killed as French fighter jets pound rebel camps,1 "Iraqi PM's office says Turkey agrees to deal only with Baghdad on oil exportsBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Turkey told Iraq it would deal only with the Iraqi government on crude oil exports, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday. In a phone call with Abadi, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the support of his country to all decisions taken or sought by the Iraqi government after the independence referendum held in Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday, Abadi s office said in a statement. Among these measures, the statement mentioned restricting oil export (operations) to the Iraqi government. It didn t give more details or say how Ankara would deal with current crude exports from Iraqi Kurdistan. ",1 "Germany's Syrian refugees celebrate Merkel win but fear rise of far-rightBERLIN (Reuters) - Syrian refugees rejoiced on Sunday at the news that Angela Merkel had secured a fourth term as German chancellor, but said they were alarmed by the rise of the far-right AfD party, which they feared could push her to tighten asylum rules. We prayed that Merkel would win, said Fatima al-Haidar, a mother of two from Damascus. Allah answered our prayers. To us she represents wisdom and humanity. While Merkel s conservative bloc won most seats in parliament, the result was its worst since 1949 as voters turned en masse to smaller parties. The conservatives bled support to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which entered parliament for the first time as the third-biggest party, cashing in on anger at Merkel s decision to welcome more than 1.3 million refugees. Merkel put her career on the line to help us, said Haidar s 55-year-old husband Ayman. We want to learn German and contribute to the success of this country through work, simply to prove that she was right and her opponents were wrong. Fatima and Ayman found out the election results from their 14-year-old son Zayd, who tuned in to the public broadcaster ZDF on his mobile phone to break the news to his parents and their friends as exit polls came in. When Zayd told us Merkel had won we did a zalghouta, said Roula Mohammad, referring to a tongue trill that Arab women perform during weddings. We need a wise woman like her in Syria to end the war. The Syrian refugees were having dinner at Al Dimashqi, a popular Arab restaurant on Sonnenallee, a long boulevard in Berlin s poor neighborhood of Neukoelln that refugees call Arab Street for its abundance of Arabic shop signs. The AfD s campaign appealed unashamedly to voters who feel that the influx of mainly Muslim migrants will undermine German culture, asserting that Islamic customs have no place in Germany. Merkel s conservatives and their Social Democrat coalition partners in the outgoing government quietly introduced stricter asylum rules last year after losing support to the AfD in regional elections. Refugees fear that the AfD s stunning showing of more than 13 percent of the vote on Sunday could spell even tougher immigration rules under the next Merkel-led government. She is less popular because of us, said Nabil Zainaldin, 32, from Aleppo. We totally understand that Germans are worried. All we can do to reassure them is to be law-abiding citizens. But we are also worried: what will the asylum policy of the new government be? ",1 "Clinton leads Trump by eight points: Reuters/Ipsos pollNEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Republican rival Donald Trump by 8 percentage points among likely voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday. The Aug. 14-18 survey showed 42 percent of Americans supported Clinton ahead of the Nov. 8 general election. That compares with 34 percent support for Trump. Another 23 percent of likely voters would not pick either candidate. Clinton has led Trump in the poll throughout most of the 2016 campaign, and has maintained her advantage following last month’s Republican and Democratic conventions. Since late July, support for the former secretary of state has ranged between 41 percent and 44 percent of likely voters, while Trump’s support has varied between 33 percent and 39 percent. The race was tighter at this point in the 2012 election, with Democratic President Barack Obama ahead of Republican nominee Mitt Romney by less than 2 percentage points. Clinton also led a separate Reuters/Ipsos poll that asked people to choose between Clinton, Trump, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party. Some 41 percent supported Clinton and 34 percent supported Trump. Among alternative-party candidates, Johnson came in third with 7 percent and about 2 percent supported Stein. Clinton and Trump have both struggled to inspire American voters this year. According to the poll, neither candidate is regarded favorably by most Americans, and two-thirds of U.S. adults believe the country is on the wrong track. Clinton continues to face questions about her handling of classified emails while serving as Obama’s secretary of state, while Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks about immigrants, women and Muslims have rankled members of his own party. Republican leaders, including former members of Congress, have called for the Republican National Committee to stop helping Trump and refocus its resources on helping candidates win down-ballot races for the House of Representatives and the Senate. Earlier this week, Trump reshuffled his campaign leadership while his campaign chief, Paul Manafort, faced increased scrutiny over his work with pro-Russian political groups in the Ukraine. Manafort resigned on Friday. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It surveyed samples of 1,119 and 1,118 likely voters, respectively, and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points. ",1 "Watchdog says Gulf rift taking toll on ordinary citizensDUBAI (Reuters) - Families are being torn apart by the rift between Qatar and three other Gulf Arab states which began six months ago, Amnesty International said on Thursday, despite measures to ease the impact of the crisis on ordinary citizens. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with Egypt, imposed travel, economic and diplomatic sanctions on Qatar in June over allegations of supporting terrorism. Doha denies the charge. The human rights group, citing interviews with individuals and Qatari officials, said thousands of people had been affected by the rift, which has split families, raised food prices for foreign workers and made visits to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia more difficult. Officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain could not immediately be reached to comment on the report. But the three U.S.-allied countries had announced measures in June to ease the impact of the dispute on mixed families, including setting up hotlines to deal with humanitarian issues. Saudi Arabia has also said it was allowing visits to holy sites and opened its doors to Muslims in Qatar to perform the annual Muslim haj pilgrimage. Diplomatic efforts led by Kuwait to resolve the dispute have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough. The report was based on interviews with 44 affected individuals conducted in late November in Qatar as well as meetings with Qatari officials. Despite measures to allow families in mixed marriages to visit, many were finding it difficult to comply with procedures required to apply for a laissez-passer that allows residents of Qatar to travel to see loves ones in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain or the UAE, the report said. It said that there was scant, or no, information about the application process on official UAE and Saudi ministry websites, while travel to Bahrain had become more difficult since Manama imposed an entry visa requirement for Qatari nationals and residents at a time when the embassy in Doha is closed. Affected families told Amnesty International that hotlines announced by the Bahrain, Saudi Arabian and UAE governments were difficult to access, the rights watchdog said. Lynn Maalouf, Director of Research for the Middle East at Amnesty International, said that by imposing travel restrictions on ordinary people, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have violated the right to family life, education and freedom of expression . Since this dispute began in June, our fears about its potential to rip families apart have been cruelly and emphatically realized, Maalouf said in a statement. ",1 "Anti-Trump demonstrators set fires, break windows in CaliforniaOAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Protests against Donald Trump broke out in California’s Bay Area late on Tuesday after the Republican candidate won the U.S. presidential election, a Reuters witness and local media reported. Demonstrators set fire to a likeness of Trump, smashed store front windows and set garbage and tires on fire in downtown Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco. A few miles away, University of California, Berkeley students protested on campus. A demonstration also unfolded at the University of California, Davis where students blocked streets as they marched and chanted anti-Trump slogans and “You are not America, we are America,” according to Twitter posts. One protester in Oakland was struck by a vehicle after blocking a highway, local media reported. ",1 "Mexico says paying for Trump wall 'not part of our vision'MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday the country’s government would not pay for a wall along the U.S. border promised by president-elect Donald Trump. “Paying for a wall is not part of our vision,” foreign minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu told local television. As part of his campaign, Trump vowed that he would build a massive border wall and make Mexico pay for it. Ruiz Massieu said that the government had maintained communication with Trump’s campaign team ever since his visit to Mexico in August. “There has been a fluid, daily communication with different members of the campaign,” she said. ",1 "Turkey to do whatever necessary if banking sector affected by U.S. trial: SimsekISTANBUL (Reuters) - Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Wednesday Turkey will do whatever is necessary if its banking sector is affected by the U.S. trial of a Turkish bank executive in a case regarding a conspiracy to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran. Speaking at a conference in Istanbul, Simsek said Turkey s banking sector has a great capacity to deal with shocks. ",1 "'Reality' of 9/11 report less damaging than rumors: U.S. DemocratWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee called on Wednesday for the release of part of a government report on the Sept. 11 attacks, saying this would diminish speculation that the 28 pages contained proof of Saudi involvement. “The release of these pages will not end debate over the issue, but it will quiet rumors over their contents,” Representative Adam Schiff, the intelligence panel’s ranking Democrat, said in a statement. “As is often the case, the reality is less damaging than the uncertainty.” The still-classified section of the official report on the 2001 attacks is central to a dispute over whether Americans should be able to sue the Saudi Arabian government for damages. The Office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence is reviewing the material to see whether it can be declassified. Congressional aides said members of the House intelligence committee had seen the report. President Barack Obama, who was visiting Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, said he would not sign legislation making its way through Congress that would allow such lawsuits, if the Saudis were found to have any responsibility. Schiff has repeatedly called for the declassification of the 28-page report section. In his statement on Wednesday, he suggested the release of a redacted version to help address speculation that they contained proof of official Saudi government or senior Saudi officials’ involvement in the attacks. The 9/11 commission investigated those claims and never found sufficient evidence to support them, Schiff said. ",1 """Riot police are taking dozens of protesters into their cars and they are taking them away.""",1 NASA: Planetary Defense Office Set Up to Save Earth,0 "Ryan hopes to combine DACA, border security in immigration bill: NYT interviewWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday he hoped to see compromise immigration reform that combines border security measures with protections for immigrants who were brought illegally to the United States as children. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ended a program for so-called Dreamers and gave Congress six months to find a legislative fix. In a New York Times interview on Thursday, Ryan was asked if he would put the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to a vote. “I’m going to put a consensus plan on the floor, because I want members of Congress in both parties to talk to each other and find consensus on this issue.” Ryan said the DACA issue was a symptom of failure of security at U.S. borders. “It is only reasonable that while fixing this serious real problem, we also try to address the root cause of that problem. And that is border security,” he said. “That is where I think the consensus lies.” ",1 Report on Syria conflict finds 11.5% of population killed or injured,0 "BREAKING: PETER W. SMITH, GOP Operative Who Sought Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails FOUND DEAD In Hotel RoomThe plot thickens Republican donor and operative from Chicago s North Shore who said he had tried to obtain Hillary Clinton s missing emails from Russian hackers killed himself in a Minnesota hotel room days after talking to The Wall Street Journal about his efforts, public records show.In a room at a Rochester hotel used almost exclusively by Mayo Clinic patients and relatives, Peter W. Smith, 81, left a carefully prepared file of documents, which includes a statement police called a suicide note in which he said he was in ill health and a life insurance policy was expiring.Days earlier, the financier from suburban Lake Forest gave an interview to the Journal about his quest, and it published stories about his efforts beginning in late June. The Journal also reported it had seen emails written by Smith showing his team considered retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, then a top adviser to Republican Donald Trump s campaign, as an ally. Flynn briefly was President Trump s national security adviser and resigned after it was determined he had failed to disclose contacts with Russia.At the time, the newspaper reported Smith s May 14 death came about 10 days after he granted the interview. Mystery shrouded how and where he had died, but the lead reporter on the stories said on a podcast he had no reason to believe the death was the result of foul play and that Smith likely had died of natural causes.The Journal stories said it was on Labor Day weekend in 2016 that Smith had assembled a team to acquire emails the team theorized might have been stolen from the private server Clinton had used while secretary of state. Smith s focus was the more than 30,000 emails Clinton said she deleted because they related to personal matters. A huge cache of other Clinton emails were made public.Smith told the Journal he believed the missing emails might have had been obtained by Russian hackers. He also said he thought the correspondence related to Clinton s official duties. He told the Journal he worked independently and was not part of the Trump campaign. He also told the Journal he and his team found five groups of hackers two of them Russian groups who claimed to have Clinton s missing emails.Smith had a history of doing opposition research, the formal term for unflattering information that political operatives dig up about rival candidates.For years, Democratic President Bill Clinton was Smith s target. The wealthy businessman had a hand in exposing the Troopergate allegations about Bill Clinton s sex life. And he discussed financing a probe of a 1969 trip Bill Clinton had taken while in college to the Soviet Union, according to Salon magazine.Smith s death occurred at the Aspen Suites in Rochester, records show. They list the cause of death as asphyxiation due to displacement of oxygen in confined space with helium. Rochester Police Chief Roger Peterson on Wednesday called his manner of death unusual, but a funeral home worker said he d seen it before.An employee with Rochester Cremation Services, the funeral home that responded to the hotel, said he helped remove Smith s body from his room and recalled seeing a tank.However, the Chicago Tribune obtained a Minnesota state death record filed in Olmsted County that says Smith committed suicide in a hotel near the Mayo Clinic at 1:17 p.m. on Sunday, May 14. He was found with a bag over his head with a source of helium attached. A medical examiner s report gives the same account, without specifying the time, and a report from Rochester police further details his suicide.In the note recovered by police, Smith apologized to authorities and said that NO FOUL PLAY WHATSOEVER was involved in his death. He wrote that he was taking his own life because of a RECENT BAD TURN IN HEALTH SINCE JANUARY, 2017 and timing related TO LIFE INSURANCE OF $5 MILLION EXPIRING. One of Smith s former employees told the Tribune he thought the elderly man had gone to the famed clinic to be treated for a heart condition. Mayo spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo said Thursday she could not confirm Smith had been a patient, citing medical privacy laws.Peter Smith wrote two blog posts dated the day before he was found dead. One challenged U.S. intelligence agency findings that Russia interfered with the 2016 election. Another post predicted: As attention turns to international affairs, as it will shortly, the Russian interference story will die of its own weight. Chicago Tribune h/t Gary Klug @garyinlv01 Peter W. Smith tweeted an interesting article on January 16, 2017. The article says Russian hackers did not hack the DNC emails and that the person who hacked them is a Russian named Dmitri Alperovitch who also worked for Barack Obama.Russian ex-national guards U.S. nuclear codes for Obama https://t.co/j0vz8h1Cmx Peter W. Smith (@PTRSIH) January 16, 2017State of The Nation 2012 Russians did not hack the DNC system, a Russian named Dmitri Alperovitch is the hacker and he works for President Obama. In the last five years the Obama administration has turned exclusively to one Russian to solve every major cyber-attack in America, whether the attack was on the U.S. government or a corporation. Only one super-hero cyber-warrior seems to have the codes to figure out if a system was hacked and by whom. Dmitri s company, CrowdStrike has been called in by Obama to solve mysterious attacks on many high level government agencies and American corporations, including: German Bundestag, Democratic National Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the White House, the State Department, SONY, and many others.CrowdStrike s philosophy is: You don t have a malware problem; you have an adversary problem. CrowdStrike has played a critical role in the development of America s cyber-defense policy. Dmitri Alperovitch and George Kurtz, a former head of the FBI cyberwarfare unit founded CrowdStrike. Shawn Henry, former executive assistant director at the FBI is now CrowdStrike s president of services. The company is crawling with former U.S. intelligence agents.Before Alperovitch founded CrowdStrike in 2011, he was working in Atlanta as the chief threat officer at the antivirus software firm McAfee, owned by Intel (a DARPA company). During that time, he discovered the Chinese had compromised at least seventy-one companies and organizations, including thirteen defense contractors, three electronics firms, and the International Olympic Committee. He was the only person to notice the biggest cyberattack in history! Nothing suspicious about that.Alperovitch and the DNCAfter CrowdStrike was hired as an independent vendor by the DNC to investigate a possible cyberattack on their system, Alperovitch sent the DNC a proprietary software package called Falcon that monitors the networks of its clients in real time. According to Alperovitch, Falcon lit up, within ten seconds of being installed at the DNC. Alperovitch had his proof in TEN SECONDS that Russia was in the network. This alleged evidence of Russian hacking has yet to be shared with anyone.As Donald Trump has pointed out, the FBI, the agency that should have been immediately involved in hacking that effects National Security, has yet to even examine the DNC system to begin an investigation. Instead, the FBI and 16 other U.S. intelligence agencies simply agree with Obama s most trusted cyberwarfare expert Dmitri Alperovitch s TEN SECOND assessment that produced no evidence to support the claim.Also remember that it is only Alperovitch and CrowdStrike that claim to have evidence that it was Russian hackers. In fact, only two hackers were found to have been in the system and were both identified by Alperovitch as Russian FSB (CIA) and the Russian GRU (DoD). It is only Alperovitch who claims that he knows that it is Putin behind these two hackers.Alperovitch failed to mention in his conclusive TEN SECOND assessment that Guccifer 2.0 had already hacked the DNC and made available to the public the documents he hacked before Alperovitch did his ten second assessment. Alperovitch reported that no other hackers were found, ignoring the fact that Guccifer 2.0 had already hacked and released DNC documents to the public. Alperovitch s assessment also goes directly against Julian Assange s repeated statements that the DNC leaks did not come from the Russians.The ridiculously fake cyber-attack assessment done by Alperovitch and CrowdStrike na vely flies in the face of the fact that a DNC insider admitted that he had released the DNC documents. Julian Assange implied in an interview that the murdered Democratic National Committee staffer, Seth Rich, was the source of a trove of damaging emails the website posted just days before the party s convention. Seth was on his way to testify about the DNC leaks to the FBI when he was shot dead in the street.It is also absurd to hear Alperovitch state that the Russian FSB (equivalent to the CIA) had been monitoring the DNC site for over a year and had done nothing. No attack, no theft, and no harm was done to the system by this false-flag cyber-attack on the DNC or at least, Alperovitch reported there was an attack. The second hacker, the supposed Russian military (GRU like the U.S. DoD) hacker, had just entered the system two weeks before and also had done nothing but observe.It is only Alperovitch s word that reports that the Russian FSB was looking for files on Donald Trump. It is only this false claim that spuriously ties Trump to the alleged attack. It is also only Alperovitch who believes that this hack that was supposedly looking for Trump files was an attempt to influence the election. No files were found about Trump by the second hacker, as we know from Wikileaks and Guccifer 2.0 s leaks. To confabulate that Russian s hacked the DNC to influence the elections is the claim of one well-known Russian spy. Then, 17 U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously confirm that Alperovitch is correct even though there is no evidence and no investigation was ever conducted.How does Dmitri Alperovitch have such power? Why did Obama again and again use Alperovitch s company, CrowdStrike, when they have miserably failed to stop further cyber-attacks on the systems they were hired to protect? Why should anyone believe CrowdStrikes false-flag report?After documents from the DNC continued to leak, and Guccifer 2.0 and Wikileaks made CrowdStrike s report look foolish, Alperovitch decided the situation was far worse than he had reported. He single-handedly concluded that the Russians were conducting an influence operation to help win the election for Trump. This false assertion had absolutely no evidence to back it up.On July 22, three days before the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, WikiLeaks dumped a massive cache of emails that had been stolen (not hacked) from the DNC. Reporters soon found emails suggesting that the DNC leadership had favored Hillary Clinton in her primary race against Bernie Sanders, which led Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC chair, along with three other officials, to resign.Just days later, it was discovered that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) had been hacked. CrowdStrike was called in again and once again, Alperovitch immediately believed that Russia was responsible. A lawyer for the DCCC gave Alperovitch permission to confirm the leak and to name Russia as the suspected author. Two weeks later, files from the DCCC began to appear on Guccifer 2.0 s website. This time Guccifer released information about Democratic congressional candidates who were running close races in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. On August 12, Guccifer went further, publishing a spreadsheet that included the personal email addresses and phone numbers of nearly two hundred Democratic members of Congress.Once again, Guccifer 2.0 proved Alperovitch and CrowdStrike s claims to be grossly incorrect about the hack originating from Russia, with Putin masterminding it all. Nancy Pelosi offered members of Congress Alperovitch s suggestion of installing Falcon, the system that failed to stop cyberattacks at the DNC, on all congressional laptops.Key Point: Once Falcon was installed on the computers of members of the U.S. Congress, CrowdStrike had even further full access into U.S. government accounts.Obama No Friend of AmericaObama is no friend of America in the war against cyber-attacks. The very agencies and departments being defended by Michael Alperovitch s singular and most brilliant ability to write encryption codes have all been successfully attacked and compromised since Michael set up the codes. But we shouldn t worry, because if there is a cyberattack in the Obama administration, Michael s son Dmitri is called in to prove that it isn t the fault of his father s codes. It was the damn Russians , or even Putin himself who attacked American networks.Not one of the 17 U.S. intelligence agencies is capable of figuring out a successful cyberattack against America without Michael and Dmitri s help. Those same 17 U.S. intelligence agencies were not able to effectively launch a successful cyberattack against Russia. It seems like the Russian s have strong codes and America has weak codes. We can thank Michael and Dmitri Alperovitch for that.It is clear that there was no DNC hack beyond Guccifer 2.0. Dmitri Alperovitch is a frontman for his father s encryption espionage mission.Is it any wonder that Trump says that he has his own people to deliver his intelligence to him that is outside of the infiltrated U.S. government intelligence agencies and the Obama administration? Isn t any wonder that citizens have to go anywhere BUT the MSM to find real news or that the new administration has to go to independent news to get good intel?It is hard to say anything more damnable than to again quote Dmitri on these very issues: If someone steals your keys to encrypt the data, it doesn t matter how secure the algorithms are. Dmitri Alperovitch, founder of CrowdStrikeFor entire story: The State of The Nation 2012",0 "In another life, she might be a university student or a farm girl. Here, she is a prostitute servicing Chinese men in a drug-riddled city on the China-Myanmar border.",0 "NAFTA talks must include discussion on fintech: Mexican negotiatorWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) must include a discussion of new financial services, a Mexican negotiator said on Wednesday, singling out so-called fintech companies rapidly gaining ground in the region. Created 23 years ago, NAFTA includes Canada, Mexico and the United States and is being renegotiated at the behest of U.S. President Donald Trump who made a campaign promise to get a better deal for U.S. workers. Vanessa Rubio, an undersecretary at Mexico’s finance ministry who is taking part in the NAFTA negotiations that began in Washington on Wednesday, said discussions on financial services had found common ground between the three countries. “We are not yet sure what will end up in the text of the new agreement, but we are sure that we need to have a discussion about new services, above all about the fintech industry,” Rubio told Reuters in an interview. Rubio said her U.S. counterparts were focused on transparency in new regulations, while she pushed the need to standardize rules. To modernize the deal, the three sides are looking at how to include e-commerce and other technological developments that did not exist when NAFTA was first negotiated. ",1 "Japan's Abe agrees with Putin North Korea nuclear test threatens peaceTOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that he agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin that North Korea s latest nuclear test is a serious threat to regional peace and a challenge to global nuclear non-proliferation regime. Abe made the comments after holding talks with Putin on the sidelines of an economic forum in Russia s eastern port city of Vladivostok. We completely agreed that North Korea s nuclear test is a serious threat to the peace and stability of Korean peninsula as well as the region, and a grave challenge to the global non-proliferation regime, Abe told reporters. ",1 "US Delta Force Begins Targeting ISIS in Iraq, Threatens ‘Unilateral Operations in Syria’21st Century Wire says While you were watching the presidential reality show, the Pentagon was busy putting boots back on the ground in Iraq and threatening to invade Syria.Watch a video of this report here: CNN reports that the unit has been setting up safe houses, establishing informant networks and coordinating operations with Iraqi and Peshmerga units in the past few weeks.Defence Secretary Ash Carter said: The only thing I ll say is the Expeditionary Targeting Force (Delta) is in position, it is having an effect and operating, and I expect it to be a very effective part of our acceleration campaign, Carter explained that the deployment of special forces was to make ISIS fear that anywhere, anytime, it may be struck. Delta Force is 200-men strong in Iraq, and will be carrying out raids on targets, recovering hostages, eliminating terrorist commanders and gathering intelligence from enemy locations.Carter also said: This force will also be in a position to conduct unilateral operations in Syria. What Carter is really saying is that Delta Force may be used illegally in Syria, as they have no mandate from the sovereign Syrian government, or the UN for that matter, to conduct any operations at all on Syrian territory.Some might even say this is an American threat to invade Syria.Russian actions, on the other hand, are absolutely legal under international law, as they are fully sanctioned by the Syrian government.Earlier this week we learned that the Russian special forces unit Spetznaz was infiltrating ISIS with undercover operatives, which enabled airstrikes to hit within just three meters of their targets.Do you think Delta Force will have a real effect on the fight against ISIS?GET THE FULL STORY ON THE SYRIAN CRISIS: 21st Century Wire Syria Files",0 "Factbox: Trump controversies: Michael Flynn, the travel ban and others(Reuters) - National security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation under fire was just the latest in a series of controversies that have embroiled the Trump administration since it took office on Jan. 20. Here are several of the tempests that have swirled around the new White House: Flynn quit on Monday after misleading the White House about his contacts with Russia before taking office and President Donald Trump lost trust in him, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. U.S. lawmakers, including some leading Republicans, called for an investigation. NATIONAL SECURITY AT MAR-A-LAGO Private guests at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida snapped photos of the president and visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe conferring and looking at documents while surrounded by aides following a weekend missile launch by North Korea. One guest posted to his Facebook page a picture with a man described to be the holder of the “nuclear football,” or weapons codes. The incidents prompted concerns about national security, and a Republican representative asked the White House for details. Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 27 temporarily banning U.S. entry by travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all refugees, citing the need to protect Americans. The ban triggered protests across the United States, confusion at U.S. and overseas airports and multiple legal challenges. A federal judge in Seattle on Feb. 3 suspended the ban in an order upheld by a federal appeals court in San Francisco. The Seattle judge’s order drew fire from Trump on Twitter, who criticized the jurist and the court system. The Republican president’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, said last week that the Twitter attacks were “demoralizing” and “disheartening,” according to a spokesman. Trump said Gorsuch’s comments had been misrepresented. Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway urged Americans last week to buy his daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing and jewelry products during an appearance on a national television program after department store chain Nordstrom Inc said it was dropping them due to a decline in sales. Conway’s endorsement, which followed a Twitter attack by Trump on Nordstrom, prompted criticism from Democrats and Republicans. On Tuesday, the Office of Government Ethics said the White House should investigate whether Conway violated ethics rules. Trump’s nominee to head the Labor Department, fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, admitted on Feb. 7 he employed an illegal immigrant as a house cleaner. Puzder, who already faced strong opposition from Senate Democrats and progressive groups because of his views on labor issues, said he and his wife had employed the housekeeper for a few years without knowing she was not legally permitted to work in the country. He said that when he learned of her status, he and his wife ended her employment and offered her help in getting legal status. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto scrapped plans to meet his counterpart in Washington during the second week of Trump’s presidency after Trump tweeted that Mexico should cancel the meeting if it was not prepared to pay for his proposed border wall. Trump abruptly ended a phone call in late January with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, telling the leader of one of the United States’ closest allies that it was the “worst call by far” he had had with a foreign leader, according to the Washington Post. Trump said a deal between the United States and Australia on refugee resettlement was “dumb” and accused Turnbull’s country of trying to export the “next Boston bombers” under the agreement, the Post said. ",1 "Labor Dept Throws Football Tailgate Party… Bans This Team’s Football JerseyWe ve been over and over the reasons why the Washington Redskins name is not offensive. Even the American Indians who had everything to do with the name are saying it s a name to be proud of. Our most recent article on this topic:JUDGE ORDERS CANCELLATION OF REDSKINS TRADEMARK REGISTRATION WASHINGTON REDSKIN S NEW STADIUM CONSTRUCTION HELD HOSTAGE BY PETTY OBAMA ADMINISTRATIONWhen the U.S. Labor Department s Center for Civil Rights wanted to celebrate its accomplishments last week, its managers threw the staff a football-themed tailgate party in the office parking lot.The invite, distributed across the agency s official email system, had all the rah-rah of a playoff game. Celebrate a championship year! it declared.Even the regular office dress policy was relaxed. Show your team spirit and wear your favorite sports or club theme gear and come and enjoy tailgating favorites like dips, chili, chicken wings, nachos and more game-day grub, the invite said.There was only stipulation: no Washington Redskins jerseys, paraphernalia or memorabilia. It has been respectfully requested that employees voluntarily refrain from wearing clothing or other sports memorabilia that promote Washington D.C. s professional football team, the Redskins, or other teams that use names, characters, etc. that may portray American Indians or other cultures in a derogatory manner, an asterisk-marked note at the bottom of the invitation reader.An email from an office manager went into greater detail about the ban, while forwarding the invite. While I recognize the varying opinions surrounding the name of the Washington D.C. football team, as a civil rights office, I ask us all to be particularly sensitive to names, symbols, etc., that may be considered offensive based on race, ethnicity, sex, etc., the email read. Please join me in promoting an inclusive environment for all employees and be conscientious about how we represent our values as a civil rights office. The email included links to statements opposing the Redskins logo from the Society of American Indian Government Employees (SAIGE) and Blacks in Government (BIG).The two federal worker groups have asked the Office of Personnel Management to ban the use of the Redskins name or paraphernalia at government activities and to conduct training to educate federal workers on why the team name is racially offensive. Read more: Washington Times",0 "BREAKING HIDDEN VIDEO Exposes Racist Dems Comparing Black Republicans To Jews Who Helped Nazis [Video]A longtime Clinton ally and donor has a theory about black Republicans: They re like the Jewish guards in concentration camps who tried to save their own skins by helping the Nazis kill Jews. In a hidden-camera video released Wednesday by Project Veritas Action, author and academic Benjamin R. Barber compared black Republicans to the Sonderkommandos during a Sept. 19 fundraiser for North Carolina Senate candidate Deborah Ross. He described the Sonderkommandos as Jewish guards who in effect helped murder Jews in the camps so they could live a little longer. So there were even Jews who were helping the Nazis murder Jews. So blacks who are helping the other side are seriously f***ed in the head, said Mr. Barber in undercover footage. Mr. Barber, a Rutgers University professor emeritus and City University of New York senior research scholar, isn t some fringe figure: He served as an informal consultant on civic affairs to President Bill Clinton, wrote a book about the Clinton administration, and donated to Hillary Clinton s presidential bids in 2008 and 2016.Read more: WT",0 Norwegian women allowed to have abortions in Sweden based on gender of baby,0 "UK should begin decriminalising drugs, say Richard Branson and Nick Clegg",0 LGBT hate speech to be outlawed in Poland for the first time,1 Turkish warplanes bomb Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq,0 Child abuse scandal is war 'between church and world',1 Dog wet nurse saves panda cubs in China ,1 "Firms must pay their fair share of tax this is war: A report by UK MPs on the tax dodges employed by multinationals is incendiary and ought to unite politicians to act ",0 "Married Olympic couple cant room together, claim discrimination for being a heterosexual couple.",1 HILLARY CLINTON’S Super Detailed Counterterrorism Strategy…LOLAnd the left says Trump hasn t given details about what he ll do when president? Hillary couldn t be more clueless and vague in her Twitter statement. If she had a clue about terrorism she d know that there s no such thing as a lone wolf . All jihadists are interconnected and fighting together for the caliphate. She s a joke! ,0 "REPORT: NJ GOV Chris Christie’s BIG ‘Mistake’ That Cost Him WH JobChris Christie knows how to create awkward political moments that s for sure! (*SEE PHOTO GAFFE GALLERY BELOW) Remember the game hug? The VERY awkward moment behind candidate Trump where he just stood there with a blank stare? His latest and most awkward political moment has to be Beachgate where he was captured lounging with his family on a NJ beach after closing it to the public. Ouch! We re just happy he wasn t hired by President Trump but was let go by Jared Kushner. Wheeew!In previous reports, we ve also discussed the election night gaffe of a bold Chris Christie shoving his way into photos with newly elected President Trump (see photo above). The word was that the president wasn t too happy about this and that this behavior cost Christie a position with the new Trump administration. The Christie Bridgegate scandal was another factor that s been reported. The newest revelation exposes the ultimate mistake from Christie:Chris Christie made his ultimate mistake with Donald Trump when he bragged about talking to President Obama on election night and offered to let Trump an infamous germaphobe use Christie s cellphone to talk to Obama. If you win, he s going to call my phone, and I ll pass it over to you, Christie said, according to excerpts of a new book obtained by the Daily Mail.A visibly angry Trump snapped at his top campaign aide: Hey Chris, you know my f king phone number. Just give it to the president. I don t want your f king phone, Trump fumed.Christie, who never received a role in the White House despite his steadfast support for the president, wouldn t recover from the phone debacle, the report said.Christie made yet another critical mistake when he pushed himself into photos with Trump on election night.Trump s son-in-law Jared Kushner whose father was prosecuted by Christie, then a US attorney in New Jersey gave the Garden State governor the ax right after Trump s victory.We have to say that after the latest Chris Christie gaffe of Beachgate where he closed the NJ beach to the public BUT opened it to only his family has us convinced that Trump and Kushner did the right thing! MAN HUG AWKWARD!STANDING BY TRUMP WITH BLANK STARE:CAUGHT ON THE BEACH WITH FAMILY AFTER CLOSING BEACH:Via: NYP",0 Should Israel Be Boycotted?,1 "Senate passes budget blueprint, key to Trump tax effortWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s drive to overhaul the U.S. tax code cleared a critical hurdle on Thursday when the Senate approved a budget blueprint for the 2018 fiscal year that will pave the way for Republicans to pursue a tax-cut package without Democratic support. By a 51-to-49 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate approved the budget measure, which would add up to $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade in order to pay for proposed tax cuts. “With this budget, we’re on a path to deliver much-needed relief to American individuals and families who have borne the burden of an unfair tax code,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after it passed. “Great news on the 2018 budget @SenateMajLdr McConnell - first step toward delivering MASSIVE tax cuts for the American people!,” Trump tweeted early on Friday. But Democrats are likely to oppose the Trump administration’s tax plan, which promises to deliver up to $6 trillion in tax cuts to businesses and individuals. “This is not a bad budget bill, it is a horrific budget bill,” Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who ran for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, said before the vote. “At a time of massive income inequality, this budget provides $1.9 trillion in tax breaks for the top 1 percent.” The resolution has to be reconciled with a markedly different version passed by the House of Representatives, where Republicans say negotiations on a unified measure could take up to two weeks. The House budget resolution calls for a revenue-neutral tax bill and would combine tax cuts in the same legislation as $203 billion in spending cuts to mandatory programs including food assistance for the poor. The Senate version instructs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to save at least $1 billion over the next decade. It also contains a legislative tool called reconciliation, which would enable Republicans, who control the 100-seat Senate by a 52-48 margin, to move tax legislation through the Senate on a simple majority vote. Otherwise, tax reform would need 60 votes and would likely fail. After failing to approve Trump-backed legislation to overturn Obamacare, Senate Republicans are under intense pressure to succeed on tax reform. Although Democratic votes will likely not be needed to pass tax legislation, Trump sought the support of six Senate Democrats at a Wednesday meeting with Finance Committee members from both parties. Five of the six Democrats, whom the White House described as open to working with Trump on taxes, are up for reelection next year in states that Trump carried in the 2016 election. The White House contends that the Republicans’ plan to slash the corporate income tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent would create jobs and boost wages for blue-collar workers. But Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the tax-writing Finance Committee, who attended the White House meeting, said he made clear to Trump that Democrats believed his plan would benefit the wealthy, raise taxes on some middle-class Americans and increase the federal deficit. ",1 The polio virus has been detected in sewage in Brazil; it's the first time the disease has been identified in the country since 1994,0 Israeli air strike kills Hamas govt employees in Gaza,1 "U.S. securities regulator says 'disappointed' by retirement advice ruleWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The sole Republican member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Michael Piwowar, expressed deep skepticism about a retirement advice rule that the Labor Department released on Wednesday, a sign of potential conflict over the long-awaited regulation. “I am disappointed that the rule announced today seems to ignore the chorus of voices that questioned whether it will restrict middle-class families’ and minority communities’ access to professional financial advice by making retirement advice unaffordable,” Piwowar, an SEC commissioner, said in a statement.  “I am fearful that those concerns, which were widely and bipartisanly held, will prove to be true once the rule becomes effective.”    The SEC, the country’s chief securities regulator has been crafting its own rule on retirement advice for years. Some lawmakers and industry members had said that the Labor Department, which oversees retirement laws, should hold off until that rule was finalized. Under the Labor rule that takes full effect Jan. 1, 2018, brokers would have to follow a fiduciary standard, acting in clients’ best interests when advising about retirement accounts. It aims to end potential conflicts of interest by brokers who advise on individual retirement accounts, and to protect consumers from buying unnecessary investment products. But after a draft was released last year, members of both political parties, along with financial services firms, expressed concern that the rule would drive up costs and put professional advice out of reach for middle and lower-income people. ",1 "Palestinians pressured not to seek international probe into Arafat's death: ""The United States has put pressure on the Palestinian leadership not to seek such an investigation because it can lead to some negative consequences on the Middle East peace process""",0 "U.S. House Democrats will introduce new version of Senate Russia billWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee plan to introduce in the House on Wednesday a Russia sanctions bill identical to one that passed the Senate last month but has not come up for a vote in the House. “It’s identical to the Senate-passed bill,” a Democratic committee aide said, but since it will be labeled as a House bill it would avoid a procedural issue that prompted House Republican leaders to send the measure back to the Senate. ",1 "Jihadists launch big attack on Syrian government near HamaBEIRUT (Reuters) - Jihadists launched an offensive against government-held parts of northwestern Syria near Hama on Tuesday in their biggest attack there since March, triggering heavy air strikes on rebel territory, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said air strikes hit three hospitals, a medical center and premises used by a rescue service in rebel-held Idlib. A Syrian military source denied the report, saying only insurgent convoys and positions had been hit. The insurgent attack north of Hama revived hostilities in the northwestern region near the Turkish border that has been relatively calm in recent months as Russian-led diplomacy seeks to shore up ceasefires in western Syria. Islamist militants who hold sway in Idlib reject the diplomacy, including a tripartite deal struck last week by Moscow, Tehran and Ankara to deploy an observer force on the edge of an Idlib de-escalation zone . A Syrian army source cited by state media said the attack launched on several fronts was being repelled, and the insurgents had suffered losses. The clashes are continuing and the air force and artillery are targeting the headquarters and movements of the terrorist convoys in the area, said the source. An insurgent source told Reuters that rebels were making advances in the northern Hama countryside, in an area where President Bashar al-Assad and his allies have been steadily rolling back rebel gains over the last two years. The Observatory said insurgents taking part in the assault included Tahrir al-Sham, the jihadist Turkistan Islamic Party, and rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army. They had captured four villages, it said. The ex-Nusra Front, which cut ties with al Qaeda and rebranded last year, spearheads the Tahrir al-Sham alliance of Islamist groups. A media outlet run by the Damascus-allied Lebanese group Hezbollah said Syrian army air strikes were targeting insurgents in the northern Hama and southern Idlib area. Insurgents advanced to within a few km (miles) of government-held Hama city earlier this year, before the Syrian army and its allies retook the territory in April. Ceasefire deals in western Syria - for years the main theater of the war - have helped the Syrian army and its allies advance against Islamic State in the east, where government forces are battling IS in Deir al-Zor. A U.S.-backed militia force, the Syrian Democratic Forces, is waging a separate offensive against Islamic State in Deir al-Zor province, focusing on areas on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. The rival forces have generally stayed out of each other s way, with the river often acting as a dividing line. Syrian government forces and their allies have however crossed into the SDF s area of operations on the eastern bank of in recent days. The Hezbollah-run media unit said on Tuesday that government forces and their allies captured a village and parts of the nearby town of Khasham on the eastern bank. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Syrian soldiers, with Russian air power, continued to expand the captured area in recent days. Despite the persistent resistance of ISIS (Islamic State) fighters, Syrian troops managed to free more than 60 square kilometers of terrorists on the left bank of the Euphrates, he said. ",1 Millions in Europe sink into unemployment and poverty,1 "FLASHBACK: VULGAR OBAMA EXPOSES Erection To Female Reporters On Campaign Plane [VIDEO]What a funny guy! I m sure every woman on that campaign plane that he violated with his repulsive, narcissistic, denigrating behavior was really impressed. Thank God Trump didn t do that. It would have been career ending. For Obama however, it was just all fun and games, and apparently not even worth CNN s time to release the tape until his two terms were up As Donald Trump weathers a storm of controversy over randy comments he made to TV celebrity reporter Billy Bush in 2005, new video to emerge from the 2008 presidential campaign shows now-President Obama appearing to behave just as salaciously. Aboard a campaign flight, then-Senator Obama is talking on a cellphone as he arises from his seat; nearby a female reporter catches a glance of something that makes her uncomfortable, sending her skirmishing to the back of the plane.Obama, rather than downplay the awkward display, instead plays it up, positioning himself so the gathered reporters have little choice but to take in his chauvinistic performance.Meanwhile, a female voice can be heard ordering everyone to sit down, ostensibly so they can get a better look. The gathered female reporters laugh at the scene, further encouraging Obama s bawdy behavior.The video, originally shot by CNN cameras, emerged Tuesday onTwitter, where it spread quickly.Via: Grabian ",0 "$100,000 dinosaur robot stolen from Mexico exhibition",1 "SHOCKING VIDEO CONNECTS BEYONCÉ And OBAMA TO DALLAS COP KILLERBecause Bob Price at Breitbart News had the courage to attend and film an unbelievable Black Panther rally aimed at threatening cops in Houston last year, America was able to see just exactly how hateful and dangerous this group really is. Obama s celebrity bestie, Beyonc promoted the Black Panthers to a staggering 114.4 MILLION viewers in her anti-cop, anti-white performance during her Super Bowl 2016 halftime act. Her over-the-top performance included Black Panther clad dancers who proudly displayed the divisive black power fist.The mainstream media ignored her hateful performance. Impressionable young Americans who ve been watching Obama s race war unfold didn t. Beyonc wasn t promoting the Girl Scouts of America, she was promoting a HATE group who openly vocalizes their desire to KILL COPS! Thanks to Bob Price, we now know the Dallas cop killer was part of that group.Only hours before the Dallas cop killer took the lives of 5 innocent American law enforcement officers, Beyonc posted this rant to her website:Dallas cop killer Micah X. Johnson was a member of the radical, violent Black Panthers, the same group that Beyonce promoted at the 2016 Super Bowl. Our current President marched with them in 2007. Obama s AG, Eric Holder gave them a pass, after they were caught in the act of blatantly intimidating voters during the 2008 election. Micah X. Johnson was a member of the Houston New Black Panther Party for a short period of time. He was reported to be a member for about six months a few years ago.Quanell X told reporters at KPRC NBC2 in Houston that Johnson was a member of the Houston Chapter of the New Black Panther Party for a short time a few years ago. He said he parted ways with Johnson after about six months because Johnson would not follow the chain of command.During negotiations with the Dallas Police Department Friday morning during the ambush shooting that left five officers dead and seven other people shot, Johnson said he was not part of any group. He stated he wanted to kill white people and white police officers.WATCH this shocking video showing the Black Panthers (including Dallas cop murderer) openly calling for the killing of cops: Breitbart Texas was present at an armed march carried out by the Houston New Black Panther Party in Waller County last summer. This writer took photos and video of the armed marchers at that time. One of the members holding an AR-15 style rifle appears to be Micah Xavier Johnson.During the march, the armed members of the New Black Panther Party stood off against Harris County Sheriff s Deputies who came to Waller County responding to a request for assistance from Sheriff Glenn Smith.This writer stood between the protesters and the deputies to take these photos and video. Via: Bob Price, Breitbart NewsNot surprisingly, Barack Obama also has a history with the vile, racist Black Panther group. Obama appeared and marched with members of the New Black Panther Party as he campaigned for president in Selma, Ala., in March 2007.BigGovernment.com posted the photographs, reporting the images were captured from a Flickr photo-sharing account before they were scrubbed.Among the people visible in the pictures with Obama is NBPP Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz, a defendant in the voter intimidation case that Attorney General Eric Holder dismissed in 2009.Shabazz himself has given scores of speeches condemning white men and Jews.The NBPP s official platform states white man has kept us deaf, dumb and blind, refers to the white racist government of America, demands black people be exempt from military service and uses the word Jew repeatedly in quotation marks. WNDIt should come as no surprise to anyone that Beyonc has endorsed the pandering Hillary Clinton. Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton paid a surprise visit to Beyonc during last week s fundraising trip to Los Angeles. Hillary praised Beyonc while speaking to a crowd at a town hall in Iowa City, Iowa in December. I want to be as good a president as Beyonce is a performer, Hillary responded after she was asked if she would rather be Beyonc or president. Breitbart NewsThis hateful movement promoted by our President and supported by celebrities and hate groups across America is growing. America needs to wake up to this hate and division and stop supporting those who are working behind the scenes to promote it. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.",0 "Obama: the US now recognizes Syrian opposition coalition as ""legitimate representative"" of the Syrian people",0 Japan Government Declares 12-Mile Area Around Plant A No-Go Zone,1 Gunmen kidnapped an Iranian diplomat in Pakistan after killing his guard ,0 "Hong Kong protesters given Thursday deadline to clear sites, building up to a final showdown between pro-democracy activists and authorities backed by Beijing",0 " Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines Unleashes HILARIOUS Twitter Tirade Against Trump (TWEETS)With this presidential election being as absolutely bizarre as it is, sometimes it s incredibly important to keep our sense of humor about us. One person who seems to being doing this very well is none other than Dixie Chicks Natalie Maines.As a woman who s never shied away from letting her opinion be known about politicians, Maines began by taking to Twitter to make a joke about her apparent issues with airline travel saying that she ll vote for whoever makes the airline industry decent again. Although, she had one quick addendum to that statement: But only if it s a Clinton. At this point I might vote for whichever candidate promises to make the airline industry decent again.But only if it's Clinton?. Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) September 22, 2016Then Maines went on to joke about the fact that not even George H.W. Bush can vote for Trump for president. Which for a Bush not to vote for a bad president to be in office is just utter irony.Even Bush won't vote for Trump!Which honestly has kind of turned my world around and forced me to rethink everything.#skiddin Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) September 22, 2016She didn t stop there, however, in reply after reply, the jokes kept coming:@giannaL Oh no! Not at all! It's totally natural.For an Umpa Lumpa. Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) September 22, 2016@DCXn24Fan OMG! That's even a better visual than him in a tanning bed. So presidential! Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) September 22, 2016@mysheltieestate @hochalicious Actually it's also hands. And he has little ones. Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) September 22, 2016@DarthPug Let's hope they forget to register. Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) September 22, 2016And those are just a few of the replies.Maines was clearly on Twitter and ready to strike back at anyone or anything (if we re talking about Trump supporters) that decided to reply to her tweets against him. And honestly, we re all a little better for her wit and wisdom during this most troubling time.Featured image via Mike Windle/Getty Images for SiriusXM",0 "Russia calls on U.S., South Korea not to hold military drills in DecemberUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called on North Korea on Wednesday to stop its missile and nuclear tests and for the United States and South Korea not to hold military drills in December as it would inflame an already explosive situation. We strongly call on all concerned parties to stop this spiral of tension, he told the U.N. Security Council. It is essential to take a step back and weigh the consequences of each move. ",1 "WATCH: CHEROKEE PEOPLE Express Disgust Over “Lying” Elizabeth Warren Faking “Native American Heritage” To Get Prestigious Law Professor JobOh look Hillary s considering a lying, opportunist, Democrat politician with a vagina as her running mate. It all makes perfect sense if you consider that Hillary s thinking ahead, and that if anything happened to her she wants to make sure she has someone with the same morals and ethics to fill her corrupt shoes In Warren s book A Fighting Chance, Massachusetts Democratic senator and potential vice presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren attempts to rewrite history regarding the controversy surrounding her Native American ancestry that emerged in the 2012 Senate campaign. What s remarkable is that, at least in the initial book reviews, the press largely allows her to get away with it. In fact, it s virtually ignored that to this day Warren still refuses to release any law school records that may shed light on this controversy.To be fair, most reviews note that Warren has never substantiated her claims of Native American heritage, which is true. The larger and unaddressed issue, however, is whether or not Warren falsely claimed minority status in order to gain an unfair advantage in her academic career. This was a question that was unresolved at the end of the 2012 campaign and it remains unresolved with the publication of Warren s book.Watch Cherokee people from ND tell how they feel about Lying Elizabeth using phony Native American status to gain an advantage in obtaining a job:First, what s perhaps most notable about Warren s book is that she even includes a section called Native American, in which she reportedly writes, Everyone on our mother s side aunts, uncles, and grandparents talked openly about their Native American ancestry. My brothers and I grew up on stories about our grandfather building one-room schoolhouses and about our grandparents courtship and their early lives together in Indian Territory. This is ironic because, until the Boston Herald first broke the news in April 2012 that Harvard Law School had repeatedly promoted Warren as a Native American faculty member, Warren never once mentioned these stories of her upbringing in a single press interview, speech, class lecture or testimony at any point, ever, in her decades-long career. What s more, Warren was not listed as a minority on her transcript from George Washington University where she began her undergraduate education, nor did she list herself as a minority when applying to Rutgers University Law School in 1973.In fact, it was not until she was in her 30s and focused on climbing the highly competitive ladder of law school academia that Warren apparently rediscovered her Native American heritage. It s important to note that entrance and advancement in the law school profession is governed by the Association of American Law Schools, which requires registrants interested in teaching at law schools to fill out a questionnaire detailing their education, experience, bar passage and, yes, ethnicity. This information is then disseminated to law schools around the country that, as Warren surely knew, are always on the lookout to add to the diversity of their faculty.A copy of Warren s questionnaire currently resides in the Association of American Law Schools archives at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. However, only Warren herself has the authority to release the complete copy of her questionnaire and to date, she has refused to do so.Watch Warren stonewalling the press over her phony Native American status and double down on her refusal to clear the record and release the copy of her questionnaire: Her opposition to such transparency can perhaps be understood in the documented fact that in the years thereafter, starting in 1986, Warren began self-reporting herself as a minority professor in the Association of American Law Schools staff directory that lists all law school professors around the country. As the former association chairman told the Boston Herald, the directory once served a tip sheet for law school administrators, in the pre-Internet days, who were looking to identify and recruit minority professors.Remarkably, Warren s explanation to the Boston Herald was that she listed herself as a minority in the hopes that she would be invited to a luncheon so she could meet people who are like I am and she stopped checking the box when that didn t happen. Perhaps it didn t happen because at no point, at any of the schools she attended or worked at, is there any evidence that Warren ever joined any Native American organizations on campus or in any way interacted with anyone in the Native American community.That did not however, stop Warren from continuing to self-report as a Native American minority. The New York Times reported in May 2012 that Warren was listed as a minority recipient of a teaching award years earlier at the University of Pennsylvania where she had advanced after teaching at several non-Ivy League law schools. Notably, Penn declined to explain to the Times why Warren was listed as a minority.From Penn, Warren moved on to Harvard Law School, where her Native American heritage was touted in multiple articles, including a Fordham Law Review piece that lauded her as Harvard Law s first woman of color. Even as recently as 2011, it appears Warren was listed as the lone Native American faculty member on the school s 2011 diversity report, though like Penn, Harvard also refused to comment.Yet, when the Herald first broke the story in April 2012, Warren claimed she had no idea that Harvard had touted her Native American status and claimed she did not recall ever citing her Native American heritage when applying for a job. In the months afterward, Warren ducked, dodged and stonewalled subsequent questions, eventually wearing-out the press, and succeeded in winning an election without ever releasing any records that might substantiate those claims.Whether Warren falsely claimed to be a minority in order to game the system and advance her career is a question that goes to the heart of her honesty and integrity. It s also a question that will confront her if she ever seeks higher office. Via: US News",0 Over 500 Indian workers sue US firm for human trafficking,0 " Top Trump Delegate Calls For America’s Current Leaders To Be ‘Killed’Donald Trump has already proven to America that he attracts the energy that he puts out. This has been especially true for his loyal supporters, as his racism and xenophobia have attracted white supremacists, fascists and neo-Nazis from all over the country. However, his fear mongering tactics don t just appeal to his fans. It turns out, some of the presumptive Republican nominee s delegates are just as racist and hateful, and it s creating a movement that is becoming more of a threat to America s safety with every passing day.A recent example of just how deadly Trump s supporters are can be shown with the recent words of David Riden, a top delegate to Trump who will be attending the Republican National Convention. In an interview with Mother Jones, Riden had some terrifying words for how he would like to correct our government, which he claims is way off away from the Constitution right now. His solution would be to slaughter America s current leaders (aka President Barack Obama) for not satisfying his highly inaccurate interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. And in case you felt that might have just been an exaggeration, Riden was kind enough to clarify what he meant so there s no room for interpretation. He said: The polite word is eliminated. The harsh word is killed. Riden continued to say that these certain leaders should be killed by American citizens with weapons. And if people have tanks, assault weapons, if they have bombs they need to have the weaponry necessary to be able to overthrow the federal government. In Riden s perfect world, America looks like this: (P)eople have the right to assemble, bear arms, go to Washington, DC, or wherever necessary, and go into military battle against the government and replace those in government with individuals that will uphold the Constitution. It s no surprise that Riden is supporting Trump. Riden is a former nuclear engineer and is a member of the sovereign citizen movement, which believes that the government is conspiring to take away their guns, human rights and land. He was also an attendee of the Continental Congress of 2009, which is a huge gathering of white supremacist and right-wing hate groups. It s been noted that these groups have grown at a feverish pace during Obama s presidency, and Trump has expertly tapped into that racism and hate like no candidate before. When it comes to people like Riden, Trump just keeps adding fuel to the fire.Featured image via Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images",0 Drug violence traumatizes Mexico's children.,1 Canada halts parliament amid row,1 "Egypt kills 3 more protestors, bringing the death toll for four days of clashes to 14",0 " Damning New Evidence Shows Cop Who Murdered Unarmed St. Louis Man Likely Planted GunIn 2011, St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley shot and killed Anthony Lamar Smith, a drug suspect that he was trying to arrest. At the time, Stockley claimed that he saw Smith reaching for a gun, which is why he fired his. Self-defense, that s all it ever is, isn t it? The problem is Smith was unarmed and now there s not just evidence of that, but there s also evidence that Stockley may have done worse than lie.There is a strong possibility that he planted the gun in Smith s car after murdering him to cover his own ass.Smith did flee the scene of a possible drug deal and a high-speed chase ensued. Stockley was carrying a personally-owned AK-47 that Smith, in escaping, almost knocked out of his hands. Stockley was not authorized to carry that weapon while on duty, which goes a long way towards demonstrating Stockley as an unethical officer at the very least. He was also recorded as saying that he was going to kill Smith.Stockley s partner, Brian Bianchi, said that he warned Stockley about a revolver on the seat of Smith s car, and Stockley himself said he feared Smith was about to pull the revolver when he approached: Before striking me [with his car], I observed, in plain view in the subject s hand while resting on the passenger seat, a silver handgun. The handgun was pointing up and towards me Because of the presence of a weapon and because I felt my personal safety was in jeopardy, as was the safety of P.O. Bianchi, and bystanders, I fired several shots at the subject. It s apparently hard to see in the videos whether Stockley handled the revolver; however, it s damned telling that only his DNA was on the gun. Something of Smith would definitely have been there if he d been handling the gun, as Stockley alleged.The St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners did pay a $900,000 settlement to Smith s family in 2013, but Stockley himself was not charged with murder. That is, until this year, when this new evidence came to light.Stockley is now charged with first-degree murder, but is free on a $1 million bond. He left the St. Louis Police Department in 2013. Watch below for more background on this story:Featured image via screen capture from embedded video",0 "Routine torture, including electric shocks and sexual abuse, was inflicted on detainees held in a secret prison in Baghdad",1 "Turkey should follow West's lead on rights: author Orhan Pamuk(Reuters) - Turkey under President Tayyip Erdogan needs more Westernization, and not less, to bolster dwindling free speech rights and a wobbly democracy, Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk said on Tuesday. Pamuk, 65, also said in an online chat in the Reuters Global Markets Forum that he laments much modernization and saw his stories, including his 10th novel published last year, The Red-Haired Woman as focused on the personal costs people pay for discarding traditions in the rush to adapt to the ways of 21st century. The following are edited excerpts: Question: Is Turkey, often described as a bridge between West and East, becoming too Westernized? Answer: The lack of free speech is so grave that we definitely need to be more friendly with the West and Europe. I am not worried about too much Westernization, especially in these days when government is trying to push us away from Western values. Q: Do you see gentrification in Istanbul and other Western influence in Turkey as threats or positives to Turkey s identity? A: I actually do not want to bring East and West together. I essentially want to write poetic, literary observations about the lives of the people in and around Istanbul. And since Istanbul is made up of things from the West, and modernity, and also things that come from traditional cultures, and East, readers think my intention is to bridge them. Actually, there are things from East and West that are already harmoniously together in Istanbul. All I do is invent stories about them. Q: How is that theme in The Red Haired Woman ? A: My main character carries the weight of having an idealist political father, while he is more busy with making money. I have many friends like that ... They are troubled by moral issues like the ones I discussed in this book. Individuality versus belonging to community ... Or economic development and comforts of modernity versus preserving the past than the old architecture and culture. My books are always about how to be modern without losing your identity. Q: It is Nobel award season. How did your win in 2006 affect you? A: My books were already translated to 46 languages before I won the Nobel prize. Now my books are translated into 63 languages. The prize may have helped. It definitely brought me new readers and some diplomatic responsibility of representing my country. ",1 The Taliban released a video of a Canadian man captured this year in a volatile province of central Afghanistan and said he would be put on trial for spying unless Canada's government accepted unspecified demands for his release.,1 " Watch As GOP Sen. Tim Scott Emotionally Details Being Unfairly Targeted By Police As A Black ManSouth Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only African-American Republican in the U.S. Senate, emotionally detailed his own experiences of being unfairly targeted by the police.During a speech on the Senate floor this Wednesday, Scott revealed that in his first year serving as a senator, he had been stopped by police seven times.In the course of one year, I ve been stopped seven times by law enforcement, Scott said. Not four, not five, not six, but seven times in one year as an elected official.The speech was the second of three that the senator is delivering this week following the fatal police shootings of two black men and the slaughter of five police officers in Dallas. Scott said that this speech was by far the most difficult because it is the most personal. Watch Sen. Tim Scott here:Featured image via video screen capture",0 "BAGHDAD Demonstrations turned violent across Iraq on Friday, as protesters burned buildings and security forces fired on the crowds.",1 "MUSLIM MIGRANT WOMAN CAUGHT SPITTING On Angry Germans Swarming Around Bus At Asylum Center [VIDEO]It won t be long before the Muslims outnumber the Germans. That s when the real fireworks are going to start flying Dramatic footage shows a refugee woman spitting at a horde of anti-migrant protesters who swarmed around their bus in the tiny German village where they are to be housed.German police, who came under fire for violently removing refugees from the bus, have pointed to the video as proof that the new arrivals provoked the already frenzied mob.The 20 refugees on the bus were the first to be homed in Clausnitz, home to just 800 people, where an asylum home has been set up for them.The German government condemned the cold hearted and cowardly mob that tried to stop them from taking shelter in the asylum centre, calling the episode deeply shameful .Now police and eyewitnesses have claimed the asylum seekers deliberately enraged the mob as they alighted to their new home. The refugees are said to have made cut throat gestures by drawing their fingers across their own throats and one woman wearing an Islamic head scarf was filmed spitting at protesters. Clausnitz mayor Michael Funke defended the protesters, saying many had turned up to see who was arriving to occupy the new asylum centre.He said the police were forced to act when some children on the bus scared of the 100 strong mob outside refused to leave. Some of the refugees appeared to be weeping as they voluntarily disembarked.One video showed a policeman grabbing a young boy and aggressively shunting him from the coach.Local police defended the his actions, saying they needed to get them inside the hostel as quickly as possible as the situation became more tense.They also claimed the youngster grabbed in the video was one of the troublemakers who provoked the crowd by giving them the middle finger from inside. Via: UK Daily Mail ",0 Singapore lifts ban on HIV-positive visitors: Foreigners with HIV will be able to visit for up to three months but will still be prevented from staying long term or working in the city-state.,0 "An Obama, not the president, brings down the house at Democratic conventionPHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democrats divided over the future of their party agreed on at least one thing at their national convention in Philadelphia on Monday night: Michelle Obama was a star. The first lady gave a speech in support of a former first lady, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, and described America as “the greatest country on earth”, clashing with Republican Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan and bringing an arena crowd riven by a fierce fight for the nomination to its feet. “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters - two beautiful, intelligent, black young women – playing with their dogs on the White House lawn,” Michelle Obama said. Obama’s husband, President Barack Obama, for years has drawn praise for his oratorical skills. But Monday night belonged to her. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on earth,” she said. The speech triggered wild applause among delegates in the Wells Fargo Center, where anger over Senator Bernie Sanders’ loss in the primary elections against Clinton had taken the form of jeers during speeches earlier in the day. Some Sanders supporters had called out at some points early in Obama’s speech, but were shushed. Garry Mauro, head of the Clinton delegation for Texas, called Michelle Obama’s speech “stunningly good.” Several Twitter users said the speech brought them to tears, while others marveled at its positive tone in an election year marked by blunt exchanges.  “Mrs. Obama deconstructed Trump’s entire campaign without using a single pejorative word,” Twitter user @weddady said in a post after the speech. “Mrs Obama’s speech also disassembled Trump’s entire narrative without ever mentioning his name.” Michelle Obama became the top searched speaker of the night on Google. On Twitter, about 40 tweets mentioning the first lady were posted every second, according to social media analytics firm Zoomph. The president lauded her performance. “Incredible speech by an incredible woman. Couldn’t be more proud & our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS. I love you, Michelle,” he wrote in a Twitter post, using an acronym for first lady of the United States. His tweet became the most re-tweeted post of the night. Michelle Obama, a lawyer who has advocated for military families and working women during her seven-and-a-half years as first lady, has earned a reputation for inspirational speeches. Last week, during the Republican National Convention, Trump’s wife Melania delivered a speech that appeared to borrow phrases from Michelle Obama’s convention speech in 2008, drawing accusations of plagiarism. A Trump Organization staff writer accepted responsibility for the similarities. “One can completely understand why people plagiarize Michelle Obama,” actress Mia Farrow said in a Twitter post after the first lady’s speech. ",1 "Ex-U.S. Attorney Bharara signs book deal after firing by Trump(Reuters) - Former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who earned a reputation for fighting crime on Wall Street and public corruption before President Donald Trump fired him in March, has signed a book deal with Alfred A. Knopf. The book, as yet untitled, is about “the search for justice, not just in criminal cases but in life and society in general,” Knopf said in a statement on Thursday. Publication is expected in January 2019. Bharara said his book would be about the law, “integrity, leadership, decision making, and moral reasoning.” “It addresses what it means to do the right thing, how to avoid doing the wrong thing, and the role of thoughtfulness in making the best choice,” Bharara said in a statement. In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Bharara to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which includes Manhattan. During seven and a half years as the chief federal prosecutor in that region, Bharara oversaw several notable corruption and white-collar criminal cases, as well as prosecutions of terrorism suspects. “Preet Bharara’s life experience, coupled with his standing as a U.S. Attorney and the cases he tried as prosecutor, makes him uniquely qualified to write this book,” said Sonny Mehta, editor-in-chief for Knopf, which is a division of Penguin Random House. Bharara, now a distinguished scholar in residence at New York University’s law school, was unexpectedly fired by Trump on March 11 after refusing to step down. He had been among 46 U.S. attorneys who were told a day earlier to submit their resignations. In November, Bharara met with Trump at Trump Tower in New York City, three weeks after the presidential election, and said at the time that they had a “good meeting” and he agreed to remain in his post as a federal prosecutor.” He was fired a few months later. This month, Bharara told ABC News in an interview that he received “unusual” phone calls from Trump after the election that made him uncomfortable. He said he was fired after declining to take the third call. Bharara said he believed Trump’s calls to him violated the usual boundaries between the executive branch and independent criminal investigators. Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards said on Thursday that Bharara “addresses the circumstances of his firing in the book proposal.” Whether the book itself goes into the details of Bharara’s firing “remains an open question,” Bogaards said. ",1 "ACTOR JAMES WOODS DESTROYS Leftist TIME For Article Suggesting U.S. LIED About N. Korea Torturing Otto Warmbier Who Died After Returning In A ComaYesterday, the parents of the now deceased American student from a Cincinnati, OH, suburb, Otto Warmbier, spoke out for the first time about the brutal condition of their son s body, who was returned from North Korea to the US in a coma. Otto was on a group tour of North Korea when he was accused of trying to steal a propaganda poster. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. After negotiations with the US State Department, Warmbier was returned from North Korea and died less than one week later.Fred and Cindy Warmbier told Fox and Friends about the harrowing moment they saw their 22-year-old son Otto on the plane after his return from 17 months in captivity. When we got halfway up the steps, we heard this howling, Fred Warmbier said. We looked in and Otto was on the stretcher across in the plane and he was jerking violently, making these inhuman sounds. Otto s father Fred Warmbier painted a horrific picture of the condition in which they found their son upon his return to the U.S.: Otto had a shaved head. He had a feeding tube coming out of his mouth. He was blind, he was deaf. As we looked at him and tried to comfort him, it looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth. Today, the leftist Time magazine joined other liberal publications who appear to be working to soften the image of the evil of Kim Jong Un by suggesting the horrific torture committed against American Otto Warmbier may never have happened. Time s headline on Twitter read: We may never know whether North Korea tortured Otto Warmbier, coroner says We may never know whether North Korea tortured Otto Warmbier, coroner says https://t.co/SspIbxH55c TIME (@TIME) September 28, 2017Actor James Woods was quick to respond to the disgusting article published by the Trump-hating publication, Time. Woods response was brutal, yet dripping with sarcasm. After Time suggested Warmbier may not have been tortured by North Korea, Woods replied: Yeah, I m sure he rearranged his own teeth with pliers out of boredom. #NumbskullsYeah, I'm sure he rearranged his own teeth with pliers out of boredom. #Numbskulls https://t.co/4AjUzAPqNR James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 28, 2017",0 "Over the last 15 years, the organization that offered the most accurate Renewable Energy forecasts was... Greenpeace",0 Russian authorities in Moscow broke up a march of Pastafarians on Saturday with some help from anti-gay Russian Orthodox religious activists.,0 "Ex-Catalan leader Puigdemont freed with conditions in BelgiumBRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian judge has granted conditional release to sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his ministers, and the group is scheduled to appear at court within 15 days, Belgian prosecutors said on Monday. Puigdemont, who turned himself in to Belgian police after Spain issued a European arrest warrant for rebellion and misuse of public funds, is barred from leaving Belgium without a judge s consent. The next step in the proceedings is the appearance of the five defendants before the Chambre du Conseil within the next 15 days, prosecutors said in a statement. ",1 "Russia may impose counter-measures on U.S. after new sanctions: foreign ministryMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia may impose counter-measures on the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law a new round of economic sanctions on Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The new U.S. penalties were short-sighted and risked harming global stability, it said in a statement on its website. “It’s high time to realize that threats and attempts to exert pressure on Russia will not make it change its course or sacrifice its national interests,” the statement read. ",1 Japan increases its airspace at the expense of Taiwan,1 "MILLIONS IN OUTSIDE MONEY, Hollywood Influence Couldn’t Put Georgia’s 6th District Democrat Candidate In “Win” Column [VIDEO]Dem. candidate for Georgia congressional seat @ossoff: Not an issue I don t live in district, can t vote for myself https://t.co/RcX3MNqMTD New Day (@NewDay) April 18, 2017Democrats used the anger and fury of their progressive base, including hate-filled Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson, to stir up emotions in voters as a way to encourage them to the show up at the polls in Georgia yesterday. They failed Listen to disgusting Hollywood actor/radical activist Samuel L. Jackson tell voters in a state where he doesn t even live to go vote vote for the Democratic Party. STOP Donald Trump, the man who encourages racial and religious discrimination and sexism. Remember what happened the last time people stayed home. We got stuck with Trump! We have to channel the great vengeance and fury that we have for this administration into votes at the ballot box. Ossoff led an 18-candidate field of Republicans, Democrats and independents, the entire slate placed on a single ballot to choose a successor to Republican Tom Price, who resigned to join Trump s administration as health secretary.But Ossoff fell just shy of the majority required to claim Georgia s 6th Congressional District outright, opening the door to Handel, who finished a distant second but ahead of a gaggle of Republican contenders.The investigative filmmaker and former congressional staffer received 48.1 per cent of the vote on Tuesday he needed 50 per cent to avoid a runoff. Handel, meanwhile, received 19.8 per cent of the vote.The rest of the vote was split between several other Democrats and Republicans, as well as two Independents.Here s what President Trump had to say on Twitter about the Democrats failed efforts to embarrass him:Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG ""R"" win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2017Dems failed in Kansas and are now failing in Georgia. Great job Karen Handel! It is now Hollywood vs. Georgia on June 20th. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2017In total, Democrats received 49 per cent of the vote, Republicans received 51 per cent of the vote. Daily MailIf Republicans are going to maintain their majority in the House and Senate, perhaps they need to take a few pages from the Democratic playbook. The Democrats are fighting for their lives this is no time for the Republicans to sit back and take their majority for granted.Republican resources were split between eleven Republican contenders. The most prolific fundraising candidate among them raised less than $500,000, not even ten percent of the amount Ossoff raised.The Republican establishment, initially caught flat-footed, ended up spending over $5 million in advertising against Ossoff in the last weeks of the campaign, but it never caught up in the all-important ground game, which typically consists of a positive voter engagement on behalf of a single specific candidate rather than a negative attack on a single candidate.In retrospect, Republicans failed to recognize the unique opportunity the jungle primary provided Democrats who focused all their support behind one candidate. Republican leadership could have made a similar choice from among their eleven candidates, but did not do so. They did, in the end, get some help from the Republican establishment in Washington. Republicans in Georgia sounded the alarm several weeks ago, prompting $2 million in spending from the NRCC to help boost Republican turnout and counter Democrats energy. The Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with House leadership, also dumped in $3 million of its own money and dispatched on-the-ground staffers to the district, Politico reported.Speaker Ryan, however, who has the responsibility to support Republican candidates in the House, did not see the risk of a Democratic victory in Georgia until it was too late.In fact, he was not even in the United States on Tuesday. Instead, he was in Europe, leading a bi-partisan Congressional delegation.For entire story: Breitbart ",0 "Hamas to keep Palestinians from ringing in New Year, says New Years Eve ""contrary to our traditions and an imitation of the West.",0 Price for a potential Israeli strike on Iran? A Palestinian state. ,0 I think its seven or eight of the California system of universities dont even teach an American history course. Its not even available to be taught.,0 " WATCH: Dixie Chicks Kick Off First Tour In A Decade By Humiliating Donald Trump On StageThey haven t toured in ten years but the Dixie Chicks began their new world tour by making one hell of a political statement.The trio have never been shy about slamming Republicans in the past. Just ask Ted Cruz and George W. Bush, both of whom have been heavily mocked and criticized by the band.In 2003, radio stations across the country literally censored the Dixie Chicks by pulling their music off the air because Natalie Maines dared to slam Bush for dragging America into a costly war with Iraq.During a concert in London, Maines said she was ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas. Just so you know, we re on the good side with y all, Maines said. We do not want this war, this violence, and we re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas. Not long after, Bush started a war based on lies that resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 American soldiers. That action forced America to fight on two fronts in the Middle East and caused the war in Afghanistan and the hunt for Osama bin Laden to take even longer as Bush took his eye off the ball to focus on Saddam Hussein instead of the terrorist who planned the 9/11 attacks.And Maines has taken shots at Ted Cruz and Donald Trump throughout the Republican primary on her Twitter account.Next time you re day dreaming, picture Donald Trump teaching his son Eric to throw a ball. Any ball. It s funny. Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) March 16, 2016 You know I m not a big fan of Ted Cruz, but I gotta say I m kind of liking his new facial hair. pic.twitter.com/VIC8JWXNKx Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) January 27, 2016I stand corrected Just so you know, I m ashamed Ted Cruz claims to be American. pic.twitter.com/JUltNImOXH Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) January 24, 2016 As long as Donald Trump s decisions for America are as solid as his decision about his hair, we re in good shape. Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) January 24, 2016On Wednesday, however, the Dixie Chicks humiliated Trump while on stage in Cincinnati by depicting him as the devil on the big screen behind them while singing a tune about a husband who abuses his wife.Here s the video via YouTube:Donald Trump is a vile racist who is so thin-skinned that it would be easy to provoke him into using the military to attack countries he doesn t like if he should actually be given command of our armed forces by the American people in November. He has even refused to rule out nuclear war against Europe and the Middle East which puts our military and the entire world population at serious risk. America does not need any more wars, but electing Donald Trump as president would just about guarantee perpetual war and it looks like the Dixie Chicks are prepared to wage political war against Trump to make sure that doesn t happen.Featured Image: Screenshot",0 Video - The War on Democracy - Coup d'etat in Venezuela in 2002.,1 "Israel cuts contact with U.N. Human Rights Council over probe into Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. ",1 Julian Assange: Swedish judge rules on lifting of arrest warrant live,1 "VOTING MACHINES STOLEN In Controversial GA Election Where Dems Hope To Embarrass Trump With 30-Yr Old Jon Ossoff WinSANDY SPRINGS, Ga., April 18 (Reuters) For U.S. President Donald Trump, an off-year congressional election on Tuesday in the reliably Republican northern suburbs of Atlanta could spell trouble if Democratic upstart Jon Ossoff pulls off a surprise victory.Watch MSNBC Morning Joe show hosts and guest attempt to contain their excitement over the possibility of a Democrat winning the seat of former House Leader Newt Gingrich and now, in a special election they are hoping to replace Tom Price s Georgia s 6th District seat:Donald Trump is actively campaigning against Ossoff on social media:Republicans must get out today and VOTE in Georgia 6. Force runoff and easy win! Dem Ossoff will raise your taxes-very bad on crime & 2nd A. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2017A 30-year-old political novice, Ossoff is running as the lone Democrat against a field of 17 Republicans for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives vacated when Trump named Tom Price to be secretary of health and human services.The outcome will not tip the balance of power in the Republican-controlled House. But an Ossoff win could weaken Trump s already shaky hold on his fellow Republicans in the House by encouraging those in competitive districts to distance themselves from the president.The Democrats are in the fight of their lives. They re pulling out all of the stops, as they believe a win in this traditionally red district of Georgia would be a huge black eye for President Trump. Is anyone really surprised that voter machines from this district have been stolen only days before what Democrats are calling a must win election?Channel 2 Action News has learned that critical voting machines were stolen just days before polls will open for a special election.State officials are investigating after equipment was taken from a Cobb County precinct manager s vehicle. According to Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the equipment was stolen on Saturday evening while the vehicle was parked at the Kroger on Canton Road.Kemp s office says Cobb County Elections waited two days to tell his office about the theft of the machines.The four so-called ExpressPoll machines were the computers poll workers used to check-in voters, and check those off who cast ballots. It s very shocking, especially with the climate we have of voter fraud out there, one Georgia voter told Channel 2 s Ross Cavitt.Cobb County Elections Director Janine Eveler said the stolen machines cannot be used to fraudulently vote in Tuesday s election. Eveler said the machines have voter information on them, but that information is hard to access. Eveler said they will completely replace the machines at the Piedmont Road precinct. ",0 "Tsunami motorcycle washes up in Canada, owner located in Japan. Now Harley Davidson wants to restore it for him.",0 China releases dam water to ease SE Asia drought,1 " BREAKING: Trump’s Campaign Manager Says She Might Leave The Campaign (VIDEO)There may be trouble in paradise amid the folks over at the Donald Trump campaign. After the recent tapes were leaked showing Trump to the misogynistic sexual predator that he so absolutely is, we haven t been hearing much, if anything, from Trump s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.Then, while being interviewed by Chris Matthews on MSNBC, Conway may have revealed something she might leave the campaign.Matthews asks Conway:So, are you with the campaign til the bitter end? Conway responded: I m with the campaign to the bitter end . unless Seemingly taken aback like the rest of us at home, Matthews presses Conway: Unless what? Conway quickly scrambled together an answer.Then, when pressed on it later by Rachel Maddow, Conway put together a reason that involved if her family needed her, and not at all around the fact that her candidate is a racist and misogynistic pervert.The fact that she said unless is absolutely telling of how she may feel about her current position within the campaign.Only time will tell to see if Conway stands by her candidate or not until the bitter end, but one thing is for certain, it s likely getting harder for her by the day.Watch Conway admit she may leave here: Trump s campaign manager @KellyannePolls just admitted she may leave the campaign. #Trump #debate pic.twitter.com/WwLhjuXSia Sarah Wood (@SarahWoodwriter) October 10, 2016Featured image via video screen capture",0 "The loneliest shop in the world - Mulka Store, in Australian outback. Only shop in 70,000 square miles. Run by ex-policeman turned anthropologist. Fine stock of medieval armour. Best selection of duelling pistols outside Europe",1 Rwanda bans BBC over genocide film,1 "House intel panel advances NSA spying bill despite privacy objectionsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House panel on Friday approved legislation that would renew the National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program, despite objections from the technology sector and civil liberties groups over inadequate privacy protection. The House Intelligence Committee passed 13-8 the measure to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for a further four years until 2021. The act is due to expire on Dec. 31 in the absence of congressional action. The bill’s passage signaled that Congress remained far from consensus on how to renew Section 702, as several rival bills with various new privacy provisions circulated in the House and Senate, with no clear path forward for any measure. Intelligence agencies say Section 702 is vital to national security and protecting American allies, and the Trump administration wants minimal changes to it. But privacy advocates criticized the intelligence panel’s bill for not requiring a warrant to access collected data belonging to Americans. Reform Government Surveillance, a group representing major tech companies including Facebook (FB.O), Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) that presses governments around the world to bolster digital privacy protections, issued a lengthy statement Thursday denouncing the measure, which it said may expand government surveillance. All Republicans on the intelligence panel supported the measure, while all Democrats opposed it due to a mix of concerns, including language that would revise how government officials can “unmask” the identity of Americans’ names’ typically redacted in intelligence intercepts. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have accused without evidence the previous administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, of improperly unmasking names for political reasons, a charge Democrats have rejected. Section 702 allows the NSA to collect vast amounts of digital communications from foreign suspects living outside the United States. But the program, classified details of which were exposed in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, incidentally gathers communications of Americans for a variety of technical reasons, including if they communicate with a foreign target living overseas. Those communications can then be subject to searches without a warrant, including by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The House Judiciary Committee last month passed by 27-8 another measure that partially restricts the FBI’s ability to review American data collected under Section 702 by requiring the agency to obtain a warrant when seeking evidence of crime, but not in other cases such as for data related to counterterrorism. ",1 Israel has refused to allow a French-made water purification system into Gaza amid a drinking water crisis in the Palestinian strip,0 "Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung (""father of peace studies"") defends 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion' and says Jewish influence was one of the factors leading to Auschwitz.",1 "Germany sees no sign of cyber attack before Sept. 24 electionBERLIN (Reuters) - German government officials and security experts say they have not seen signs of hacking or suspicious news leaks ahead of the Sept. 24 election despite months of warnings about possible foreign meddling. The BSI federal cyber protection agency said it was keeping a close watch on possible efforts to influence the election from abroad, as well as efforts to close security gaps discovered in a widely-used vote-tabulating software. We have no indications of any new incidents or attacks in connection with the federal election, a BSI spokesman said. Other German government sources confirmed they had not detected any unusual activity, but noted a major leak of emails belonging to then candidate Emmanuel Macron did not surface until shortly before France s presidential election. Tyson Barker, a fellow at the German arm of the U.S.-based Aspen Institute think tank, said German political parties had agreed not to play up any fake news or embarrassing information. There is a stronger cohesion ... within the German political class to make sure that this is not impactful on the election results if it were to come to pass, Barker said. Meanwhile, vote IT GmbH, maker of a vote collation software, is implementing a series of BSI recommendations after private researchers discovered vulnerabilities with the software at the end of July, according to BSI officials. vote IT declined to comment. The problems, first reported this month, followed repeated warnings from Berlin that Russia could try to influence the election after a major breach of the German parliament in 2015 that was linked to the APT 28 Russian hacker group. French and U.S. officials also said Moscow sought to influence their elections. Moscow denies any effort to sway foreign elections. Klaus Poetzsch, spokesman for the German federal election director, said it was unclear exactly how many of the 12,000 local communities used the vote IT software, but his office had made it clear to all election authorities they must carry out regular software updates. He said vote IT was plugging the biggest of the security holes identified, but lawmakers would likely undertake a comprehensive review of security, and possible reforms, such as requirement of a uniform certification process for all vote collation software, after the election. Germans will vote on paper at polling stations or by mail in advance and the ballots will be counted and entered into a computer system. However, news reports earlier this month cited concerns about the vote collation software, particularly the lack of an authentication step when results are transmitted. Barker called the incident a wake-up call for the German public. Just because we re doing this on paper doesn t mean that from end to end there is protection throughout the process as far as tabulating results, he said. Kevin Bocek, vice president of security strategy and threat intelligence at Venafi, a U.S.-based cyber security firm, said hackers were growing increasingly more sophisticated and attacks often went undetected for many months. He said it was not surprising problems were found with vote IT s software, given that it had been in use for so long. We ve got a lot of catching up to do, he said. A lot of investment, a lot of effort is going to be required to keep up with the adversaries. Poetzsch said around 200 employees of the federal election office would be in Berlin and Wiesbaden on the day of the election to manage the vote process. ",1 The only man brave to protest on Saudi Arabia's day of rage has suffered in prison for his BBC interview ,1 GREEK UNREST SPREADS - Solidarity Protests Across Europe Turn Violent,1 "BREAKING…Internal Memo From OBAMA’S Corrupt EPA: FLINT NOT WORTH “Going Out On A Limb For”Wow! Bernie and Hillary have been making hay over the Flint water crisis for months now, using the crisis to secure votes from the black community. Leftists have been converging on the city like rats in search of the last peice of cheese on earth and now we have proof that Obama s EPA knew about the crisis, but didn t think the people of Flint were worthy of protecting.An internal Environmental Protection Agency memo showed officials didn t think Flint is the community we want to go out on a limb for while residents of the Michigan town drank lead-contaminated water.House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz presented an internal memo between the EPA official who oversees Michigan, a branch manager in the EPA s Region 5, the associate director of the water division for Region 5 and an EPA environmental engineer about the water crisis in Flint.In the memo, one of the officials it wasn t clear who based on the screen shown by Chaffetz said Flint wasn t worth helping. Perhaps she already knows all this, but I m not so sure Flint is the community we want to go out on a limb for, the memo stated.Chaffetz was incredulous at the memo. Are you kidding me? he said, looking at Susan Hedman, the former director of EPA s Region 5, which oversees much of the Midwest including Michigan. Why isn t Flint the community they go to? Of all the communities, the community having trouble is the one you go all out for, Chaffetz said. Via: Washington Examiner",0 "Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, has said it would be ""unwise"" to have coalition forces try to kill Col Muammar Gaddafi in military strikes in Libya",1 Massive earthquake of 8.3 magnitude strikes Chile!,1 Tony Blair admits: I would have invaded Iraq \r\nanyway,1 "Kentucky lawmaker a 'probable suicide' amid sexual misconduct accusations(Reuters) - Kentucky state Representative Dan Johnson, who was facing sexual assault accusations, died in a probable suicide on Wednesday, Bullitt County Coroner Dave Billings said. Johnson, 57, also the leader of the Louisville-area Heart of Fire Church, held a news conference on Tuesday at which he denied accusations contained in a report by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. The report, published earlier in the week, included accusations from a woman that Johnson molested her in 2013 when she was a teenager. Johnson, whose press conference was widely reported by local media, also defied calls by some legislators to step down. On Wednesday evening, Johnson was found dead in a probable suicide from a single gunshot wound near Louisville, the coroner said, adding that an autopsy would be performed on Thursday. Billings said law enforcement officials had been searching for Johnson after someone read a post on his Facebook page, became concerned and contacted police. The post has since been taken down, but the Courier-Journal reported that it appeared to be a farewell and read in part, “the accusations from NPR are false, GOD and only GOD knows the truth. Nothing is the way they make it out to be.” The death comes amid a national reckoning over sexual harassment and abuse that has included allegations of misconduct in a number of state legislatures, including in Kentucky. Kentucky Republican Jeff Hoover recently resigned his post as Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations. “Saddened to hear of tonight’s death of KY Representative Dan Johnson,” Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin wrote on Twitter. “My heart breaks for his family tonight...these are heavy days in Frankfort and in America...may God indeed shed His grace on us all...we sure need it.” Michael Skoler, President of Louisville Public Media, which operates the investigative reporting center, said in a statement on social media that the organization reached out to Johnson numerous times during its seven-month investigation but that he declined to discuss the group’s findings. Johnson was elected in 2016 despite becoming known for a 2016 Facebook post comparing President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama to monkeys, WDRB-TV has reported. ",1 " Moody's cuts credit ratings on UK banks RBS and Lloyds ",0 "Chinese police arrested 137 people, among them doctors, suspected of trafficking human organs in a nationwide crime ring that profited from the huge demand for transplants, authorities said.",1 King of Saudi Arabia Has Died At 90,0 "GERMANY’S Anti-Trump, Open Borders ANGELA MERKEL Sees Re-election Poll Numbers Drop…Orders 100,000 Migrants To Be Deported…By Force If NecessaryIn what has to be considered an historic about face, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that 100,000 migrants who recently arrived in Germany would be deported.For more than a year following the massive tide of humanity that flooded into Germany from Africa and the Middle East, Merkel stoutly defended her open border policy as being consistent with western values. A million migrants later, and a huge voter backlash due to overburdened local governments and a sky rocketing crime rate, Merkel has changed her tune.On November 9, 2016, Germany s Angela Merkel offered Donald J. Trump a public admonishment following his historic win against pro-amensty Hillary Clinton: Sunday Express:Ordinarily, a politician who tried to pull this off would be toast. But Merkel finds herself in a strong position because the alternatives to her are even worse.Recent polls show her coalition of the CDU/CSU comfortably ahead by 11 points over the Social Democratic Party the leading left wing party in Germany by 33-22%. The next strongest party are the Greens who poll at 12% and then the nationalist party AfD at almost 9%. Put simply, the German voter has nowhere else to go now that Merkel has flip flopped on immigration.There is a chance that the left wing parties will poll enough votes to fashion a majority, but given that the Social Democrats are determined to continue with a liberal immigration policy, it isn t likely.Merkel will probably pull off her switcheroo on open borders and win re-election. But she has already accelerated the timetable for a takeover of her country by people with no interest in promoting German or western values and ideas. American Thinker ",0 "PHONY HILLARY Breaks Out Fake Southern Accent During Speech to Grads [Video]HILLARY HAS A TRACK RECORD OF BEING A BIG PHONY She s been caught on numerous occasions breaking out a fake southern accent. It s just too funny! Here she is at the CUNY graduation spewing bs and faking her accent:Bitter Hillary Clinton giving commencement speech at CUNY during #ComeyTestimony: ""I wish I was flying in from the White House!"" pic.twitter.com/9dSqvwGtq5 Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) June 8, 2017 In case you missed her past takes on a fake Southern accent:MEMPHIS: She s just like one of you Ha! Hillary Clinton breaks out the very phony Southern accent during a speech in Memphis. This always cracks me up because I m from the South and we can spot a phony a mile away. Pandering to her base is what Clinton does best. Just like Obama, she plays to the crowd she s speaking to by adopting their accent or acting like she s just one of them. This folksy style is cringe inducing for anyone with half a brain but she IS speaking to a group of Democrats soooooo SOUTH CAROLINA: Hillary Clinton sat down for a Chair Chat with the Chairman of the Democratic Party of South Carolina. During the interview, as in many of her speeches to people who live in the South, she put on a Southern accent that is absent from her speeches to Northerners. We made a mashup of some of the most painfully pandering moments, and ranked the intensity of her accent with cowboy boots (1 = lowest, 5 = strongest). ",0 "U.S. Representatives vote against D.C. assisted suicide lawWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee voted on Monday to strike down a Washington, D.C. law that would allow physician-assisted suicide there. City leaders passed legislation in December that allows terminally ill patients to end their lives with a doctor’s help, but the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to overturn laws in the 68-square-mile (177-square-km) district. “I worry that assisted suicide will create a marketplace for death,” said Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who heads the Oversight Committee. “I think it’s fundamentally wrong.” After hearing arguments from more than a dozen lawmakers, the committee voted 22 to 14 against the law. Overturning a D.C. law requires passage by both the House and Senate and signature by the president. It has happened only a handful of times since the city gained self-governance.   Chaffetz said the current law has “serious flaws” and voiced concerns over doctors inaccurately diagnosing patients with terminal illnesses. Other Republican committee members said they opposed physician-assisted suicide for religious reasons.   Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat who voted in support of the district’s so-called Death with Dignity Act, told opponents: “Do the right thing and mind your own business.” Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s congressional representative, told lawmakers they need not agree with the legislation to vote in favor. “We are asking you to agree with American doctrine that local laws are for local residents,” Norton said. The city council has passed a range of laws in recent years on issues important to many liberal Democrats nationally. Among them are a $15-an-hour minimum wage, legalized recreational marijuana and one of the country’s most generous family leave laws. Washington leaders have typically relied on the Senate, which has long had less appetite to interfere with district laws than the House, to block legislation affecting it. If the law is upheld, Washington will join six states that allow physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. ",1 "BREAKING: HILLARY CLINTON’S Comments On The ‘Rights’ Of The ‘Unborn” Will Send A Chill Up Your Spine [Video]The unborn person is how Clinton describes the baby in the womb. So if the unborn is a person then wouldn t it have rights? This interview with Clinton shows what a cold-hearted woman she is. She s all for late-term abortion like Obama is but we skewer Trump for being pro-life? The unfavorable ratings with women should be sky high for Clinton. In an interview with Chuck Todd on NBC s Meet the Press airing on Sunday, Clinton said that while it doesn t mean that you don t do everything possible to try to fulfill your obligations [to help the unborn person], it does not include sacrificing the woman s right to make decisions. SHE S JUST COLD Read more: Daily Caller",0 "As North Korea threat looms, Trump to address world leaders at U.N.UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea’s nuclear threat looms large this week over the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York, where diplomats are eager to hear U.S. President Donald Trump address the 193-member body for the first time. North Korean diplomats will have a front-row seat in the U.N. General Assembly for Trump’s speech on Tuesday morning, which will touch on the escalating crisis that has seen Trump and Pyongyang trade threats of military action. Despite his skepticism about the value of international organizations and the United Nations in particular, Trump will seek support for tough measures against North Korea, while pressing his “America First” message to the world body. “This is not an issue between the United States and North Korea. This is an issue between the world and North Korea,” Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said on Friday. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres - who, like Trump, took office in January - plans to meet separately with “concerned parties,” including North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, on the sidelines of the 72nd General Assembly. “The solution can only be political. Military action could cause devastation on a scale that would take generations to overcome,” Guterres warned on Wednesday. A week ago, the 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted its ninth sanctions resolution since 2006 over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said U.N. sanctions had banned 90 percent of the Asian state’s publicly reported exports, saying of Pyongyang on Friday: “This is totally in their hands on how they respond.” Haley told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday that Washington had “pretty much exhausted” its options on North Korea at the Security Council. Ri is due to address the General Assembly on Friday. Some leaders will also push Trump not to give up on a 2015 deal curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions in return for a lifting of U.N., U.S. and European sanctions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was time to “fix it - or cancel it.” The foreign ministers of Iran, the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and France - the parties to the agreement - are due to meet on Wednesday ahead of an October deadline for Trump to tell Congress if he believes Tehran is sticking to what he has described as “the worst deal ever negotiated.” When asked on Friday what Moscow’s message would be for Washington, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said: “Stay in the JCPOA (the nuclear deal).” A senior U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We are faced with real uncertainties with respect to North Korea and it’s a bit dangerous ... to add another source of uncertainty with respect to Iran.” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday his country would not be bullied by the United States and would react strongly to any “wrong move” by Washington on the nuclear deal. Iran and North Korea will also feature heavily during a ministerial Security Council meeting on Thursday, at the request of the United States, to discuss the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. While leaders and diplomats are also due to meet on longer-running crises including Libya, Syria, South Sudan, Mali, Central African Republic, Yemen and Iraq, a last-minute addition has been Myanmar, where the United Nations has branded violence against Rohingya Muslims as “ethnic cleansing.” Britain is due to host a ministerial meeting on Monday to seek a way to get Myanmar authorities to end a military offensive in the country’s Rakhine state that has sent more than 400,000 minority Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh. Following Trump’s announcement that the United States would withdraw from a landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, several high-level gatherings are planned on the sidelines of the General Assembly to bolster the deal. “Climate change is a serious threat,” Guterres told reporters. “Hurricanes and floods around the world remind us that extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent and severe, due to climate change.” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to hold the door open for the United States to remain in the Paris climate accord “under the right conditions.” “The president said he is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue,” Tillerson said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” program on Sunday. Trump will seek to boost support for reforming the United Nations, which he once called “a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” The United States is the largest U.N. contributor and Trump has complained that Washington pays too much. “The United Nations, of course, holds tremendous potential to realize its founding ideals, but only if it’s run more efficiently and effectively,” McMaster said on Friday. ",1 " Sexist White Supremacist Gives Donald Trump THE WORST Advice On How To Win Women Voters (AUDIO)As much as Donald Trump doesn t want to admit it, he s absolutely bombing in the polls with female voters, especially after his horrifically offensive, misogynistic comments about punishing women for seeking abortions. Trump is hated by 70% of American women, and he s rapidly losing the conservative female vote as well.Although Trump chooses not to see his failings, everyone else can. So much so that YouTube and Trump supporter Paul Ray Ramsey is actually giving the business mogul some advice on how to score points with women and make a comeback. The problem is, Ramsey s suggestions help him fit into the misogynistic definition of a Trump supporter all too well: stop being an assh*le to women and just focus on seducing them. Duh!Ramsey s disgraceful women-wooing tips were captured by David Futrelle, in which Ramsey praises the Republican front runner for being a ladies man , but notes that his hateful attitude toward women is hurting him more than helping. Ramsey, who is a white supremacist and nationalist, tried to coach Trump when he said: I know you re a ladies man, your history, but just think about it like when you re meeting girls or trying to seduce them there s a couple of phases. There is the attraction phase which you do well, you re funny, you re not a p*ssy, and girls like that. But if you stay in that assh*le mode too long, you don t get into the comfort stage.And that s where you are now. You need to get into the comfort stage of seduction of seducing American women and just be nice. In other words, use pick-up artist techniques to simply woo women into supporting team Trump! Nevermind all of the sexist, misogynistic things he s said, or all the attacks Trump has made on women since his campaign started women will come out to support Trump in droves if only The Donald would turn on his special alpha male charm. Ramsey clearly, deeply believes that American women are that stupid. He continued: I like your edge, I m not saying you should get rid of that, and no one is going to think you re some beta male, but you ve got to add some of that comfort. The only useful and somewhat reasonable advice Ramsey gave Trump was to not act butthurt if you lose the election. If Trump and his supporters take anything from this idiot s rant, let s hope it s that part.You can listen to the audio below, via We Hunted the Mammoth:It s no wonder Ramsey likes Trump so much, and is so interested in helping the GOPer capture women s votes he and Trump share the same anti-woman values. Ramsey s disgusting attitude toward women voters goes way back, just like Trump. In 2009, Ramsey was caught promoting white nationalism and saying that women s suffrage was responsible for many of the issues in society. In a blog post from 2010 on a men s rights site, Ramsey condemned the 1920 extension of voting rights to women. He wrote: Single mothers, rampant divorce, abortion and falling birth rates are part of the cancer that is destroying what is left of Western Civilization. But very few people (even conservatives) fail to realize that the inception of this cancer can be found in the passage of the 19th amendment. If Trump and Ramsey ever met each other, they would probably become best friends within seconds. Featured image via screen capture ",0 "Celebrity U.S. presidential picks prompt alliances, riftsNEW YORK (Reuters) - Pop star Demi Lovato is jazzed about Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Comic Sarah Silverman’s enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders is no joke. Meanwhile, 1980s sitcom star Scott Baio wants Republican businessman Donald Trump to be in charge. With Tuesday’s New York primary approaching and California’s contest scheduled for June, celebrities are getting increasingly vocal about their presidential picks. The trend is prompting newfound alliances and rifts among Hollywood’s elite, many of whom have donated to candidates vying for the office and actively campaigned for them. Celebrities are hardly shy about voicing their political preferences, but their opinions could carry more weight this year. The primaries in New York and California, where many of them live, actually matter for a change. Usually, both parties’ nominees for president are effectively determined earlier in the process. Prominent female comedians are split on whom they support in the Nov. 8 election. While Silverman is backing Sanders, two actresses who have played Clinton in satirical sketches on the show “Saturday Night Live” say they are fans of the former secretary of state. Amy Poehler appeared in a Clinton campaign video while Kate McKinnon said on an episode of “Close/Up with The Hollywood Reporter” last year that she is rooting for her. And cast members from the 1980s sitcom “Cheers” are not toasting the same candidate. George Wendt is listed on Sanders’ website as a supporter while Ted Danson recently campaigned for Clinton in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Kirstie Alley voiced enthusiastic support for Trump last week, sparking a Twitter storm. “HELLO BOYS! This is my formal endorsement of @realDonaldTrump & I’m a woman! (last I checked),” Alley tweeted. As primary results roll in, like-minded luminaries among the politically active rich and famous are linking up with each other on social media to show their support in numbers. Last week, Jamie Lee Curtis tweeted a photo of herself with “Scandal” star Kerry Washington. Both women squeezed into a shirt together that said “Yaaas, Hillary!” Love for a fellow supporter can come in the form of a tweet. After singer Barbra Streisand questioned the criticism over the former first lady’s paid speeches in a tweet in late March, “Girls” star Lena Dunham, who has campaigned for Clinton, declared on Twitter that she was inclined to marry the ten-time Grammy Award winner. Others are engaging in political spats as raucous as the bickering on a Bravo reality show. Actresses Debra Messing and Susan Sarandon traded barbs last month on Twitter over their support for Clinton and Sanders, respectively. Sarandon suggested that “principled people” might have difficulty voting for Clinton due to her environmental record.     “Did you see how @SusanSarandon just called us unprincipled?” Messing tweeted to fellow actress and Clinton supporter Kathy Najimy.     “Alright @DebraMessing report me to the homeroom teacher and let’s STOP,” Sarandon replied.     On the Republican side, celebrity Trump supporters are defending themselves on social media. Singer Aaron Carter’s Twitter endorsement of Trump in February prompted a barrage of snarky comments. He later wrote, “NO! you guys aren’t going to bully me into my beliefs.” While many celebrities are staunch in their views on the next president, some are trying to be more open-minded. Caitlyn Jenner, who famously revealed her identity as a transgender woman last year, said in an interview on the “Today Show” in March that she was a Republican. But her daughter Kendall and stepdaughter Kim Kardashian, as well as fellow costars on Jenner’s reality show “I Am Cait,” are Clinton fans. A month ago, Jenner posted a photo on Instagram with Clinton with the hashtags #learningfrommygirls and #willingtolisten. Still, Clinton fans would be wise not to count her as a supporter just yet. On a March episode of her show, Jenner said she would “never ever ever vote for Hillary.” ",1 York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge urges crown to drop charges in Korean Kid school fight: police were too hasty in laying the charge.,0 "BOOM! Trump Drains Obama Swamp…Mandates All Ambassadors Vacate Positions “Without Exceptions” By Inauguration DayPresident-elect Donald J. Trump s transition staff has issued a blanket edict requiring politically appointed ambassadors to leave their overseas posts by Inauguration Day, according to several American diplomats familiar with the plan, breaking with decades of precedent by declining to provide even the briefest of grace periods.The mandate issued without exceptions, according to a terse State Department cable sent on Dec. 23, diplomats who saw it said threatens to leave the United States without Senate-confirmed envoys for months in critical nations like Germany, Canada and Britain. In the past, administrations of both parties have often granted extensions on a case-by-case basis to allow a handful of ambassadors, particularly those with school-age children, to remain in place for weeks or months.Mr. Trump, by contrast, has taken a hard line against leaving any of President Obama s political appointees in place as he prepares to take office on Jan. 20 with a mission of dismantling many of his predecessor s signature foreign and domestic policy achievements. Political ambassadors, many of them major donors who are nominated by virtue of close ties with the president, almost always leave at the end of his term; ambassadors who are career diplomats often remain in their posts.A senior Trump transition official said there was no ill will in the move, describing it as a simple matter of ensuring that Mr. Obama s overseas appointees leave the government on schedule, just as thousands of political aides at the White House and in federal agencies must do. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about internal deliberations, said the ambassadors should not be surprised about being held to a hard end date. NYT s",0 "South Korea to start talks with U.S. on developing military capabilitiesSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will immediately start talks with the United States on developing the Asian nation s military capabilities, including deploying the latest surveillance assets, the South s presidential office said on Tuesday. The pact was made during a summit meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, Blue House spokesman Yoon Young-chan told a news briefing. The leaders also agreed to continue joint three-way efforts with Japan for practical responses to North Korean threats, he added. ",1 "Video: Hateful NYC ‘Artists’ Slip New ‘Items’ Into Trump Tower Gift ShopTwo NYC-based artists secretly slipped some items inside the merchandising outpost of the Trump Tower s lower lobby. Among them: A Trump-emblazoned KKK hood for fine people, sealed packages of pee-proof rubber sheets, and postcards featuring the 45th President of the United States, Vladimir Putin.Hoping these artists will be dealt with ASAP.Gothamist interviewed these so-called artists: We thought the tourists coming in to buy some stuff, especially people from other countries, should get the whole story of who the president is, because the items in the Trump store don t accurately reflect the person, one of the two artists, who asked that we not reveal his name.could the left be anymore hateful and immature?",0 Google invests in Africas largest windfarm - Internet giant to acquire 12.5% stake in Lake Turkana windfarm in Kenya.,0 "In a U.S. Court, Iraqis Accuse Blackwater of Killings in 2007",0 "IT’S A WIN! Karen #Handel Beats Democrat…Crowd Chants “Trump, Trump, Trump!” [Video]Karen Handel won a hard fought Congressional seat in Georgia s 6th district. The Democrats poured 50 Million dollars into Jon Ossoff s campaign making it the most expensive Congressional race ever! Handel spoke and thanked President Trump the crowd went nuts and chanted Trump, Trump, Trump!Congratulations Karen Handel. Love the #GA06 chant! pic.twitter.com/VaH3RvmiM0 Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) June 21, 2017 LONG FACES AT CNN AFTER KAREN HANDEL WINS!PRICELESS .. Liberal Tears CNN IS ISIS #GA06 #Handel #Ossoff pic.twitter.com/cGQdKK0TqS STOCK MONSTER (@StockMonsterUSA) June 21, 2017 ONE OF THE BIGGEST ISSUES WAS THAT OSSOFF DIDN T LIVE IN THE DISTRICT: Democrat Jon Ossoff said Tuesday that he believes voters in Georgia s sixth congressional district do not care that he does not live in the district he is running to represent, dismissing questions on his residency. Well, he did work for Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson for 5 years Johnson famously said the island of Guam would tip over but was reelected anyway. Details, meh Ossoff s residency has been a persistent problem for him during his special election campaign to fill Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price s vacant House seat.OSSOFF SAID HE LIVES DOWN THE STREET BUT IT TOOK A WASHINGTON FREE BEACON REPORTER OVER 2 HOURS TO WALK FROM OSSOFF S HOUSE TO THE 6TH DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS!The Georgia Democrat lives a two-hour walk away from the sixth district, so that his fianc e can walk to her medical school classes.The question of where he lives came up again when Ossoff appeared on MSNBC. Host Stephanie Ruhle asked why, in such a close race, Ossoff has not made a greater effort to address his residency outside of the district. Voters just aren t asking me this question, Ossoff responded. Folks here in Georgia s sixth district care about how their representation is going to impact their daily lives, he added.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9M5h99tq9c I grew up in this community. As you mentioned, I live a couple of miles down the road to support my fianc e while she finishes medical school, Ossoff said. I m running to serve my home town in Congress, and I want to make them proud. Ruhle pushed Ossoff on why he would not address the issue in such a tight race. Since the special election, where you were at 48.1 [percent], things have only moved to 48.8, with 50 million bucks under your belt. Voters care about a lot. If you look back on this and things are that tight, wouldn t you say to yourself, just get an apartment in the district? Ruhle asked. If voters were raising that as a serious concern, Steph, maybe I would, Ossoff said. But voters care about how policy and about how representation is going to impact their daily lives, he continued. They know I grew up in this community. They know I grew up in the sixth district. They know why I m a couple of miles south of the line. It s just not a major issue in the race. Because he lives outside of the district, Ossoff cannot vote for himself on Tuesday in his congressional bid against Republican Karen Handel.Via: WFB",0 TAKE OUR POLL: Who Do You Think President Trump Should Pick To Replace James Comey? ,0 " George Takei BURIES Trump With Perfect Response To Tweet About Jailing Flag BurnersDonald Trump attacked the First Amendment on Tuesday and George Takei clobbered him for it.Trump called for jailing Americans who burn the flag, and suggested they be stripped of their citizenship as further punishment.Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag if they do, there must be consequences perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016Burning the flag is a form of expression that is protected by the Constitution. The Supreme Court has ruled that way twice, and that included support from Justice Antonin Scalia, whom conservatives often hail as a hero.Trump s tweet immediately drew massive condemnation from people on both sides of the aisle. Even Fox legal analyst Andrew Napolitano blasted Trump for his blatantly unconstitutional statement.But Trump also pissed off someone else.George Takei also went after Trump. And his perspective on the subject gives him far more standing on this subject than Trump will ever have.I pledged allegiance to the flag every morning inside an internment camp. I would never burn one, but I d die to protect the right to do so. https://t.co/O5ecSQkyC2 George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 29, 2016If anyone had reason to burn a flag it s George Takei. He never did so, but that was his choice. Despite this, he is still defending people who choose to burn it because it s freedom of expression. And Takei actually made another point. There are people who have been mistreated under our flag in this country. Taking away their right to express their anger would only marginalize people and that is not right.Takei wasn t done though. He posted another tweet later reminding Trump that he is responsible for protecting and defending the Constitution now, so he better do his damn job.Mr. Trump, one of your sacred duties as President will be to uphold the Constitution. That means honoring and protecting free speech. George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 29, 2016A lot of people may find the act of burning the flag reprehensible and that s their right. But there are also those who see burning a flag as a message to the government in opposition of a policy or a lack of action to fix an issue. Silencing this form of expression would be tyrannical. If Trump is allowed to take away this form of freedom of speech, nothing stops him from taking away other freedoms as well. At that point, we might as well rip up the Constitution.Featured Image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images",0 "Six months ago, 1,127 Bangladeshi workers were killed in a garment factory collapse. Today, not a single Bangladeshi garment factory has been inspected.",1 "Syrian army cuts Islamic State's main Deir al-Zor supply line: RIAMOSCOW (Reuters) - The Syrian army has cut Islamic State s main supply line in the city of Deir al-Zor after taking control of the al-Jafra district, Russia s RIA news agency cited an unnamed source as saying on Sunday. ",1 "Sanctioning Iranians' health - ""Before the sanctions reached their full impact over the past two years, the Iranian healthcare system was long considered one of the most advanced in the Middle East, with health standards among the highest in the developing world.""",1 "Trump, on possible DACA deal, says border wall would come laterWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that any possible deal on immigration with Democrats would have to include provisions for massive border security, and that his planned wall along the border with the Mexico would come later. Trump was asked by reporters about a possible deal with Democrats over immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. He has ordered the disbanding of a program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), that allowed such young adults to stay, but has given Congress six months to come up with an alternative plan. ",1 "COLLEGE PROFESSOR CAUGHT ON TAPE: You Can’t Have Peace If ‘Whiteness’ Exists…Poor Whites Also Have ‘Privilege”Close your eyes and imagine a white professor telling his students there will be no peace as long as blackness exists. Now picture that teacher in the unemployment line with about 100 cameras and reporters around him demanding he apologize for his blatant racism. Imagine how many hard working parents are scrimping and saving to send their children to college to be part of a captive audience in this racist s classroom. Parents better start speaking up and demanding these colleges and universities hold these radical, racist professors accountable for the things they are teaching our children. No one else is going to do it for us James Harrison, history professor at Portland Community College, said in a lecture Monday for the college s April Whiteness History Month that peace in the U.S. is impossible so long as whiteness still exists.In a talk entitled Imagine A World Without Whiteness, Harrison declared confidently conflict can only cease once the power structure of whiteness is totally eliminated. Imagine everyone living life in peace, Harrison said, building off John Lennon s famous song Imagine. And how do we get to that good world is the question a world without conflict. And to me, my interpretation of these words, is it would be a world, or U.S., without whiteness, in terms of the power structure, Harrison said, offering his own interpretation of Lennon s song. Can there be a world without whiteness, a world in which white privilege doesn t exist? Harrison asked his audience. My answer is yes, we can, because it s happened before, and it all revolves around individuals taking small steps to dismantle and demolish the whole concept. The effort is working. Harrison said whiteness is on the retreat, noting estimates indicate whites will no longer be a majority in the United States by 2040 or 2050.But do poor whites have white privilege? Harrison answered in the affirmative. Most whites, even poor whites, he said, don t recognize they have white privilege because it s invisible. It s like a club you belong to without asking to be part of it, Harrison said.Via: Daily Caller",0 What America Left Behind in Iraq - It's even uglier than you think.,1 "The new Egyptian constitution may seek to ban all religious parties from the political arena,declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization",0 "Three Israeli soldiers wounded in suspected West Bank terror attack, hours after an attack in Jerusalem",1 Ukraine loses it's 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade To The Autonomous Republic of Crimea,1 "WikiLeaks gets new host -- Sweden's Pirate Party - The whistleblower website WikiLeaks will place several new servers with the Swedish Pirate Party, the group which campaigns for more freedom on the Internet said Tuesday.",1 "BREAKING: SYRIAN REFUGEE KILLS German Woman, Injures 2 With Machete…German Citizen Plows Refugee Down With BMW [VIDEO]This news comes as Obama works to bring even more unvetted Syrian refugees to America as Hillary nods in agreement Police say a Syrian asylum-seeker killed a woman with a machete and wounded two others outside a bus station in the southwestern German city of Reutlingen before being arrested.Police spokesman Bjoern Reusch said in a statement Sunday that witnesses said the 21-year-old man, who was known to police, was having an argument with the woman before attacking her about 4:30 p.m. Police say the motive behind the attack is still not clear.The attack comes as Germany is on edge following a rampage at a Munich mall on Friday night in which nine people were killed, and an ax attack on a train a week ago that left five wounded in southern Germany. Weasel Zippers Via: ABC NewsUpdate:The attack was actually stopped by a BMW driver who hit the attacker with his car and saved it from being worse.Video of attack. You can hear a witness shouting My God, My God, he s attacking her with a knife! Of course, the news stations were quick to say this was not a terror attack ",0 "Congress to start undoing Obama-era regulations this month: leaderWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers will begin voiding dozens of new U.S. regulations at the end of the month to fulfill their promise to undo Democratic President Barack Obama’s legacy, focusing on environmental and labor rules, the House of Representatives’ second most powerful Republican said on Thursday. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the Republicans who will shortly control both Congress and the White House for the first time in 10 years have made reforming federal regulation a top priority alongside repealing the Obamacare healthcare program and rewriting the tax code. Republicans are on a blitz to radically reform the vast federal bureaucracy, where they say appointed officials create costly, burdensome red tape that stifles economic growth. Once Republican President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20, they will have a like-minded ally in the Oval Office to sign their measures into law. On the chopping block are dozens of new rules that the outgoing Obama administration has finalized since the end of May on energy, the environment, transportation, banking, finance, education and media ownership. Republicans will ax them using the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to void a single regulation for a brief window of time after it is issued. Congress will begin a two-week marathon of voting to disapprove them on Jan. 30, according to McCarthy, who House aides say will lead the process. Disapproval resolutions can pass on simple majorities, giving Senate Democrats no power to block votes with filibusters. McCarthy told the conservative-leaning Hoover Institution that two of the first votes will be on new environmental regulations. Republicans will seek to kill a contentious rule intended to protect streams and forests from the impact of coal mining and a regulation curbing methane leaks on public lands. Congress will also take aim at new requirements for employers to report their workers’ gender, race and ethnicity that are intended to help root out pay discrimination. On Wednesday, the House approved a massive bill for creating accountability in rulemaking. The next day, it passed legislation largely along party lines requiring financial regulators to tally the costs of their rules. Democrats, though, have vowed to block any reform bills, saying the many extra procedures they require will stall agencies’ work, making it impossible to create needed regulations and properly oversee special interests. ",1 "BBC\'s Paxman vs. Israeli spokesman: ""You were told this was a UN facility""",1 New UK 'Drip' data law will allow interception of internet traffic worldwide,1 "Tillerson says Russia must make first move in Ukraine peace processKIEV (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday that Russia must take the first steps to de-escalate violence in eastern Ukraine, adding that Washington’s primary goal is the restoration of Ukrainian territorial integrity. On a maiden official visit to Ukraine, Tillerson also said the United States would explore ways of changing the status quo in the Ukraine crisis, and said Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election still impeded better relations with Moscow. ",1 "Controversial Milwaukee County sheriff says taking U.S. Homeland Security postWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, an African-American who became a staunch critic of the “Black Lives Matter” movement and supported Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, said on Wednesday he has accepted a job as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Clarke told radio station WISN in Milwaukee that he would leave his post as sheriff next month to join the Department of Homeland Security. The post would not require Senate confirmation. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Jenny Burke said no announcement on Clarke had been made, and said the role of assistant secretary must be made official by the secretary of the department. Clarke said on WISN’s Vicki McKenna Show, “I’ll be a liaison with state and local governments and with the private sector, and one that’s really near and dear to me - liaison with the state, local and tribal law enforcement,” according to an online recording of the show posted on the station’s website. Clarke’s office and spokeswoman in Milwaukee could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. He said on the radio show that he would work with local agencies that can feel neglected or ignored by the federal government. The Department of Homeland Security, created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon, includes agencies that handle customs, border protection and immigration, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service. The Black Lives Matter movement grew out of protests over a number of police killings of unarmed black men in various parts of the United States. The movement has challenged the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers. Clarke has labeled members of the movement “subhuman creeps” and called for its eradication. He spoke in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last July. Critics have faulted Clarke for his management of a Milwaukee County jail where a mentally ill man died in 2016 of dehydration. An inquest jury recommended that seven employees of the jail be criminally charged. Democratic Senator Kamala Harris of California called Clarke’s appointment “a disgrace.” “Sheriff David Clarke’s unconscionable record makes him unfit to serve,” Harris said in a tweet. ",1 "Three men, including a bank's Chief Executive, appeared in Irish court today to face charges relating to the 2008 banking crisis. Their bank has been bailed out so far by the state with 30 Billion Euro since 2009. These are the first people to be charged in relation to the current banking crisis.",0 "BUSTED! GUESS WHO DEFENDED The Senate’s Role In Supreme Court Confirmations…Until NowTHE MAIN STREAM MEDIA CHOOSES to ignore the facts about many of the statements made by key Senators, Obama and Biden in the past regarding Supreme Court confirmations in an election year. The key players who re now crying racism and partisanship were once staunch defenders of NOT confirming a Supreme Court nominee in an election year. Please spread this very important information around so that ALL Americans can see what hypocrites these men are. It s all about politics and power The five highest-ranking Democrats in the nation once staunchly defended the Senate s constitutional role in the Supreme Court confirmation process. Or at least they did, until now.Now, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Democratic Conference Vice Chairman Chuck Schumer, and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy are suddenly ignoring the constitutional role that the Senate is mandated in the Supreme Court confirmation process.President Obama is demanding a rushed confirmation of his eventual nominee. He along with Vice President Biden, and Senators Reid, Schumer, and Leahy are not only ignoring the Constitution but also historic precedent that since at least 1880 stands firmly on the side to giving the American people a voice in choosing who the next Supreme Court justice will be when a vacancy arises in a Presidential election year.But let s look at what each of these men did and said when they were in the Senate faced with confirming Supreme Court nominees (not in an election year, where historic precedent favors delaying confirmation until the next officeholder, but in the middle of a President s term in office).President Obama:Then-Senator Obama actually voted against Justice Alito s confirmation to the Supreme Court, taking a leading role in an attempted filibuster against his nomination, something the White House now mysteriously says he regrets. Regret was hardly the word to describe his position at the time. He eloquently described his view of the significant role played by the Senate in the Supreme Court confirmation process: It would appear that President Obama is one of the some who believe that the president, having won the election, should have complete authority to appoint his nominee and that the Senate s role is merely a rubber stamp. Though his position has changed, I don t believe the words of the Constitution have.Vice President Joe Biden:When then-Senator Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, he nearly invented the filibuster of Supreme Court nominees. It was he who created the concept of Borking a nominee as he prevented President Reagan s pick of Judge Robert Bork from being confirmed to the bench. Then-Senator Biden proclaimed: The framers clearly intended the Senate to serve as a check on the president and guarantee the independence of the judiciary, Mr. Biden said in August 1987 in defense of his newfound opposition to Judge Bork. The Senate has an undisputed right to consider judicial philosophy. Under Mr. Biden s leadership, holding up nominations to the nation s appeals courts also became a routine exercise. In 1988, the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed 17 months before refusing to confirm law professor and scholar Bernard Siegan to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals because of his libertarian positions on economic issues. . . . By 1992, 64 judicial nominees were stuck in the senatorial muck waiting for the Judiciary Committee to give them a yea or nay.A once judicial obstructionist of legend is now mostly forgotten by today s mainstream media.In 2005, Senator Biden explained his philosophy at length: At its core, the filibuster is not about stopping a nominee or a bill, it s about compromise and moderation. The nuclear option extinguishes the power of independents and moderates in the Senate. That s it, they re done. Moderates are important if you need to get to 60 votes to satisfy cloture; they are much less so if you only need 50 votes. Let s set the historical record straight. Never has the Senate provided for a certainty that 51 votes could put someone on the bench or pass legislation. A year later, Senator Biden quipped, I think a filibuster makes sense when you have a prospect of actually succeeding. When Justice Alito s nomination came before his committee, he declared, If he really believes that reapportionment is a questionable decision . . . then clearly, clearly, you ll find a lot of people, including me, willing to do whatever they can to keep him off the court . . . . That would include a filibuster, if need be. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid:As Senate Majority Leader, Reid slashed much of the Senate s historic role in confirming judges by invoking the nuclear option removing the filibuster from the confirmation process of many judgeships, but notably not the Supreme Court.Of course Senator Reid has been the leader of political partisanship, flip-flopping on the judicial confirmation process more than anyone else in the Senate. After leading the filibuster against President Bush s nominee to a circuit court judgeship, Miguel Estrada, and vehemently opposing the nuclear option, he then invoked the nuclear option to remove the filibuster when his party took the Senate and the White House.But one thing Senator Reid has said stands out. Judicial nominations are so important that the Senate s constitutional role is at best, we move slowly in the confirmation process. And in regard to its constitutionally prescribed advice and consent on Supreme Court nominations, he chided, The Senate will enact its will. Senate Democrat Conference Vice Chairman Chuck SchumerSenator Schumer has been one of the most outspoken promoters of the Senate s power in the nomination process, taking that position to the extreme.In 2007, he declared that the Senate should not confirm a [Bush] Supreme Court nominee EXCEPT in extraordinary circumstances. He continued: We should reverse the presumption of confirmation. The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts; or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito. Of course, he too quickly abandoned this position this week.Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy:Senator Leahy is probably the clearest supporter of the historic precedent against Supreme Court justices being confirmed in an election year.December 2006: The Thurmond Rule, in memory of Strom Thurmond he put this in when the Republicans were in the minority, which said that in a presidential election year, after spring, no judges would go through except by the consent of both the Republican and Democratic [leaders]. I want to be bipartisan. We will institute the Thurmond Rule, yes. Read more: Red State",0 Teetering on the apocalypse ,1 Rights of Non-Muslims restricted by new Maldives constitution,0 "GUNFIGHT ERUPTS: Muslim Migrants Fight To Keep Minority Christians Out Of Camp in Northern FranceMuslims want the majority Christian nations to accept them and pay for their existence, but will stop at nothing to keep the Christian refugees from staying in camps that are funded by the host nations A gunfight has erupted in a migrant camp in northern France, leaving four people wounded after clashes that were thought to have involved rival gangs of smugglers.Two men were treated overnight for gunshot wounds, a third for stab wounds and a woman for blows to the head following the clashes at the Grande-Synthe camp near Dunkirk.Four people were held for questioning on charges of attempted voluntary homicide. Police believe the fight erupted between rival people smuggling gangs against a backdrop of simmering tensions between Muslims and Christians in the camp.David Michaux, a CRS anti-riot officer from the Unsa Police union, told Le Figaro: There is a real problem of Muslims and non-Muslims. Most of the camp s 3,000-odd occupants are Muslim Kurds from Iraq, Iran and Syria but a minority are Christians from Iran. The Muslims are trying to expel the Christians from the camp. He added: A unit of gendarmes was at the Grande-Synthe camp [on Tuesday]. They heard shots fired, around 40 according to their estimates. Grande-Synthe is 22 miles away from the so-called Jungle camp in Calais. Via: National Posth/t Gateway Pundit",0 "FRESHMAN ORIENTATION: It’s Racist To Ask Asian Students For Math Help…Don’t Ask Black Students If They Play Basketball…And MORE Insanity You Won’t Believe!You know the Left has won when communism replaces education A freshman tentatively raises her hand and takes the microphone. I m really scared to ask this, she begins. When I, as a white female, listen to music that uses the N word, and I m in the car, or, especially when I m with all white friends, is it O.K. to sing along? The answer, from Sheree Marlowe, the new chief diversity officer at Clark University, is an unequivocal no. The exchange was included in Ms. Marlowe s presentation to recently arriving first-year students focusing on subtle microaggressions, part of a new campus vocabulary that also includes safe spaces and trigger warnings. Microaggressions, Ms. Marlowe said, are comments, snubs or insults that communicate derogatory or negative messages that might not be intended to cause harm but are targeted at people based on their membership in a marginalized group.Among her other tips: Don t ask an Asian student you don t know for help on your math homework or randomly ask a black student if he plays basketball. Both questions make assumptions based on stereotypes. And don t say you guys. It could be interpreted as leaving out women, said Ms. Marlowe, who realized it was offensive only when someone confronted her for saying it during a presentation.Clark, a private liberal arts college that has long prided itself on diversity and inclusion, is far from the only university stepping up discussions of racism and diversity in orientation programs this year.Once devoted to ice cream socials, tutorials on campus technology systems and advice on choosing classes, orientation for new students is changing significantly, with the issue taking on renewed urgency this year as universities increasingly try to address recent racial and ethnic tensions on campuses as well as an onslaught of sexual assault complaints and investigations.A bystander intervention presentation for arriving freshmen at Wesleyan University last Thursday We Speak We Stand featured students acting out fictional episodes of campus sexual violence, harassment and problematic drinking, with examples of how to intervene. Each of you has the power to bring to light sexual violence in our community, one student told the group.In August, the University of Wisconsin system, which includes the Madison flagship and 25 other campuses, said it would ask the State Legislature for $6 million in funding to improve what it called the university experience for students. The request includes money for Fluent, a program described as a systemwide cultural training for faculty and staff members and students.But that budget request has provoked controversy. If only the taxpayers and tuition-paying families had a safe space that might protect them from wasteful UW System spending on political correctness, State Senator Stephen L. Nass, a Republican, said in a statement issued by his office, urging his fellow lawmakers to vote against the appropriation.Mr. Nass s objection to spending money on diversity training reflects a rising resistance to what is considered campus political correctness. At some universities, alumni and students have objected to a variety of campus measures, including diversity training; safe spaces, places where students from marginalized groups can gather to discuss their experiences; and trigger warnings, disclaimers about possibly upsetting material in lesson plans.Some graduates have curtailed donations and students have suggested that diversity training smacks of some sort of communist re-education program. -Via NYT s",0 "FBI holding back information on Russia probes, Democrat saysWASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey was tight-lipped when asked about investigations into any Russian meddling in the U.S. election on Thursday during a closed-door meeting in Congress, the leading Democrat on the House intelligence committee said. “At this point we know less than a fraction of what the FBI knows,” U.S. Representative Adam Schiff told reporters after Comey briefed the Republican-led committee. On Wednesday, Schiff said the committee would investigate allegations of collusion between Republican Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia as part of its probe into allegations of Russian meddling in the election. But he said the FBI had yet to give the panel a full intelligence briefing and they will call Comey back. “There were very large areas that were walled off, and those walls are going to have to come down if we are going to do our job,” Schiff said. The FBI did not immediately return a request for comment on Schiff’s remarks. Committee members questioned Comey for more than three hours about the scope of the FBI investigations and any individuals who may be the subject of any counterterrorism investigation, Schiff said. “The director declined to answer those questions. It was unclear whether that was a decision he was making on his own or a decision that he is making in consultation with the Department of Justice,” Schiff said. U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia tried to help Trump win the White House in November by discrediting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her party through cyber attacks. Appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by Democratic former President Barack Obama in 2013, Comey became the center of controversy during the presidential campaign over his handling of an inquiry into Clinton’s use of a private computer server for government business while she was secretary of state from 2009-13. The White House has dismissed the controversy over ties to Russia as a scam perpetrated by sore losing Democrats. Moscow has denied the claims. Many Democrats said Comey’s decision to disclose that the FBI was examining a new trove of Clinton emails 11 days before the Nov. 8 vote helped hand Trump a victory. Comey has stayed on as FBI director under Trump. Trump fired his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, after it emerged that Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence over contacts Flynn had with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office on Jan. 20. The Republican chairman of the committee, Representative Devin Nunes, told reporters there was still no evidence about any other contacts between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. ",1 "SIBEL EDMONDS: Announcing 'Project Expose MSM' | Whistleblowers set to name names, turn tables on media who've betrayed our trust | Newsweek reporters named in 'real-life' case example of new project...",1 " Disney World Is Having A Meltdown Over Trump, Doesn’t Want To Add Him To Hall Of PresidentsDonald Trump has disgraced the United States and made the country s White House an absolute circus but he s not done ruining things yet. Apparently, the election of Trump is also going to ruin Disney World.According to a report by Motherboard, the Imagineers at Disney World are having a meltdown over having to add this illegitimate president to the Hall of Presidents. Every single POTUS has been added to this feature in Disney World, and now they re faced with a truly awful 45th president that does not deserve to stand beside the others, but must be included to follow tradition.Since 1993, several of the animatronic presidents have had speaking parts in the hall s presentation, which includes a history lesson and music. This presents a unique problem for the people tasked with making the Trump robot what should a POTUS with the vocabulary and speech patterns of a 5-year-old say? Surely, anything that comes out of Trump s mouth is going to stick out like a sore thumb compared to his wiser, more competent predecessors.The people at Disney have been torn up about this, but Motherboard reports that they ve decided to add him, under the conditions that he doesn t say a damn word. Motherboard wrote: Motherboard spoke via email and phone to a source close to Walt Disney Imagineering the research and development department behind Disney s theme park attractions. And according to the source, Donald Trump will be in the attraction, but he will probably not have a speaking role, unlike the three presidents immediately before him. The Imagineers will likely revert the attraction to its pre-1993 format, where the current president does not speak, while keeping the more realistic, grounded tone of the current show. Apparently, Disney World is also acknowledging the fact that Trump might not be in the White House much longer. Motherboard stated: Given President Trump s current problems, Walt Disney World might elect to push the attraction s opening date back to the fall and then make further tweaks to the show. Featured image is a screenshot",0 Nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide is Muslim.,1 52% of Americans have heard little or nothing about the demonstrations in Egypt.,1 U.S. helping West African troops fight ISIS-linked Boko Haram,0 Indian campaign demands 'Right to Pee' for women,0 "EXCLUSIVE Post-Election, Liberal Meltdown Explained In One Hilarious Poem: “Ode To Liberal Lunacy”If you re like me . . . it s probably been an entertaining year Full of liberal lunacy, hypocrisy, and fear. There s been so many episodes , it s easy to forget. Luckily, they ve all been logged upon the internet.The circus added one more ring when Donald got the nod To represent the GOP . . . the libs cried Oh my God. The media assured them there s no way that Trump could win So they sat back on their parent s couch, enamored by the spin.Election Day was coming . . . entertainment getting slow, Thank God the folks in Hollywood maintained the status quo. A host of A-list wannabes began to trickle forth, And told us that if Trump should win . . . they d all be headed north.When Donald passed two-seventy . . . and victory was at hand, A Trump-induced psychosis sprouted up in Liberal land. The fireworks were cancelled, and purveyors of fake news Were left to invent reasons why their candidate would lose.They blamed it all on Comey, then they blamed a Russian hack A dog that ate their homework, and of course . . . the men in black. A unicorn, a sasquatch, and a faulty Gallup Poll Next . . . they ll blame the shooter who was on the grassy knoll.Those celebs that promised egress . . . failed to adhere We waited for the moving trucks, which never did appear. Yes, not a star left Hollywood, although we wished it so, Despite the fact that Rush and Sean would pay for them to go.So now we re stuck with Miley, and we re stuck with Barbra too, Several washed-up actors . . . and the women of The View. We still have Maddow s meltdowns, and Sharpton s brand of hate. And, we still have Lena Dunham . . . though she s lost a little weight.In Congress, you can bet there s more than one defective gene. Just climb on board the crazy train with Nancy and Maxine. They often make me wonder just how awesome it would be, If parts of California could just slide into the sea.I m watching Liberal journalists like Cooper, Wolf, and Tapper, Spew the Leftist mantra . . . as their careers go down the crapper. Deplorables will have their fun with Liberal rank and file, Watching rats abandon ship when Clinton goes on trial.When Debbie left the DNC, I thought we d lost our clown. Then, from the state of Idaho, came Sally Boynton Brown. The DNC will be reborn, no matter what it takes. And the mix will look like cereal . . . with fruit loops, nuts, and flakes.Then, I saw the women s march, a feministic treat. I watched with fascination as they spilled into the street. Among the more disturbing sights were lady Democrats Who dressed up as vaginas . . . others wore their kitty hats.An incoherent Ashley Judd paraded round a stage Saying all those nasty women should demand a higher wage. Then ranting about blood-stained sheets upon those women s beds. Somewhere a doctor s wondering why he took her off her meds.Madonna parked her walker to begin her caustic din, Dreams of blowing up the Whitehouse as senility sets in. Even in her senior years . . . the party never ends. She dances round her nursing home in Vera Wang Depends.The Liberals, you must admit, have done some crazy things. It s fun to see them come unhinged as Donald pulls the strings. So, if you feel you need a shot of petulance and mirth, Sit back and watch the Liberals, it s the greatest show on earth. This poem (Ode to Liberal Lunacy) is republished here with permission and attribution to author Tony Olson About the Author: Tony Olson is an American journalist, and bestselling author. His book SPIN GAME: Exposing Political Lies And Tactics was an Amazon Top Ten Bestseller. Tony also authored the recent poem Twas The Night Before Inauguration. Tony currently lives in Boise, Idaho.",0 "EU, Russia, Ukraine and US will hold joint talks in next 10 days, as EU diplomat blames ""Russian lobby"" for lack of action in Europe",1 "UK's first 'poo bus', powered entirely by human and food waste, takes to the streets today",1 "U.S., China fail to agree on trade issues, casting doubt on other issuesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and China failed on Wednesday to agree on major new steps to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, casting doubt over President Donald Trump’s economic and security relations with Beijing. The annual economic dialogue session in Washington ended with canceled news conferences, no joint statement and no new announcements on U.S. market access to China. The two sides had a “frank exchange” but failed to agree on most major bilateral trade and economic issues that were important to the United States, a senior U.S. official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. These included U.S. demands for access to China’s financial services markets, reducing excess Chinese steel capacity, reductions in auto tariffs, cutting subsidies for state-owned enterprises, ending Chinese requirements for data localization and lifting ownership caps for foreign firms in China, the official said. “China acknowledged our shared objective to reduce the trade deficit which both sides will work cooperatively to achieve,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a brief statement, highlighting a rare point of consensus. The Chinese embassy in Washington cast the talks in a positive light, saying in a statement that both sides had acknowledged “significant progress” on the 100-day talks and would to work together to reduce the trade deficit. “The two sides will expand areas of cooperation in services and increase trade in services; expand mutual investment, and create a more open, equitable, transparent and convenient investment environment,” the embassy said. Both sides agreed that one of the solutions to address the trade imbalance is for the United States to expand exports to China, instead of reducing imports from China, said Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao after the conclusion of the talks. To address the imbalance, China has been urging the United States to remove regulations on export control and increase the exports of high-tech products to China, the official Xinhua news agency cited Zhu as saying. China will push for this in a one-year action plan for economic cooperation which both sides discussed, Zhu said. FAR FROM MAR-A-LAGO The session had been billed as a follow-up to Trump’s first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-A-Lago, Florida, estate in April when Trump hailed Xi’s cooperation in curbing the threat from North Korea. Trump said that this would lead to better trade terms for China. The two leaders launched a 100-day economic plan that has produced some industry-specific announcements, including the resumption of American beef sales in China and pledged to grant limited U.S. access to some financial services sectors. But there have been no new initiatives since, and Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with China’s lack of pressure on North Korea. His administration has threatened new sanctions on small Chinese banks and other firms doing business with Pyongyang. Ross and Mnuchin said the U.S. position on the China trade relationship would be guided by “the principles of balance, fairness, and reciprocity on matters of trade will continue to guide the American position so we can give American workers and businesses an opportunity to compete on a level playing field.” China’s delegation leader, Vice Premier Wang Yang, left the Treasury building without speaking to reporters. Earlier, he had warned that confrontation between the two countries would be damaging. Investors interpreted the negative signals from the talks and lack of new trade announcements as making it more likely that Trump would forge ahead with broad steel tariffs or quotas based on a national security review, sending steelmakers’ shares soaring. Shares of United States Steel Corp closed up 4.8 percent, while AK Steel rose 3.6 percent and Nucor rose 2.2 percent. Trump, asked by a reporter at the White House after the stock market closed whether he would impose steel tariffs, said: “Could happen.” Potential steel tariffs, which could be announced in the coming weeks, were expected to be a difficult topic in the U.S.-China talks. Ross has blamed massive Chinese excess capacity for a global steel glut that is hurting U.S. producers. Wednesday’s deadlock was unsettling for U.S. business groups that had hoped to put more cracks in Beijing’s market access barriers and obviate more aggressive measures from the White House that could destabilize trade ties. “We are disappointed the Comprehensive Economic Dialogue ended at an apparent impasse. It is important for governments to take tangible steps to address long-standing issues and ensure the commercial relationship remains a source of stability in the overall relationship,” said Jacob Parker, vice president of China operations at the U.S.-China Business Council. Even if the U.S. and Chinese governments fail to agree on more substantive trade terms, corporate chief executive officers from the two countries pledged to deepen their cooperation and joint investment efforts. Led by Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman and Alibaba Group CEO Jack Ma, a group of 20 executives said they were committing to increase bilateral trade, including the export of U.S. agricultural goods, liquefied natural gas and consumer products to China. “A stable, growing economic relationship between the United States and China is mutually beneficial to the people of our two countries and for the world,” Ma and Schwarzman said in a statement. ",1 Powerful 7.8 earthquake hits New Zealand,1 "NANCY PELOSI Thanks Dreamers for Coming to U.S. Illegally: ‘They’re so lovely’ [Video]This is what Democrats think of people who broke our laws to come to America? Nancy Pelosi thanked a Dreamer s parents Wednesday for bringing him to the United States illegally. Pelosi made the remark during a town hall with CNN s Chris Cuomo where she took a question from Dreamer Adrian Reyna. Our Dreamers, they make America dream again, Pelosi said. They re so lovely and we, frankly, owe a debt to your parents for bringing you here to be such a brilliant part of our future. AND she s happy to let the tax payers foot the bill for these illegals:The swelling population of illegal immigrants and their kids is costing American taxpayers $135 billion a year, the highest ever, driven by free medical care, education and a huge law enforcement bill, according to the the most authoritative report on the issue yet.Dreamers are individuals who were brought illegally to the United States as children. Former president Barack Obama s administration provided cover to Dreamers from possible deportation to their countries of origin with the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) executive order in 2012.The Trump administration rescinded the order last month and called on Congress to replace it within six months. Reyna expressed concern about Democrats coming to a deal with President Donald Trump about illegal immigration and Dreamers.Pelosi promised Reyna that a clean Dream Act would be passed before December.Pelosi continued to heap praise on Dreamers and their families and laid out Democrats plan to block the Trump administration and Republicans from taking any kind of potential action against illegal immigration.Read more: WFB ",0 "Former Canadian minister Jean Lapierre, his wife and three of his siblings killed in plane crash on way to father's funeral",1 "Three arrested in Malaysia for suspected beer festival bomb plotKUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police arrested three people, including a teenager, suspected of planning to detonate a bomb at an annual beer festival in the capital, the police chief said on Tuesday. The two-day Better Beer Festival was canceled last month following objections from an Islamist party, which said the event could lead to rape and other crime and free sex. A construction contractor, a former soldier and a 19-year-old student with links to the Islamic State militant group were arrested in the northern state of Kelantan last Tuesday on suspicion of planning the attack, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun told reporters. The suspects had plans to attack the beer festival, houses of worship and entertainment outlets in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas, he said. The former soldier, 34, had provided funds to the student that were used to produce and test improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for use in the attacks, Mohamad Fuzi said. Police had seized materials used for making three IEDs with an estimated blast radius of 30 meters, he said. It s a big area, he said. It would have caused a lot of deaths if set off at the beer festival. The contractor, a 25-year-old man, was suspected to be linked to a militant cell that had carried out a grenade attack on a bar on the outskirts of the capital last year, Mohamad Fuzi said. The attack on the Movida bar, which wounded eight people, was ordered by a Syrian-based Malaysian militant and is considered to be the first successful attack by the Islamic State in the country. Police were still investigating whether the three suspects had received orders from other parties. Around 6,000 people had been expected to attend the Better Beer Festival , showcasing craft beers from at least 11 countries, according to the event s organizers. Protests against events considered Western and unIslamic are common in Muslim-majority Malaysia and are usually led by the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and conservative Islamist NGOs. Since January, Malaysia has detained 78 people with suspected links to Islamic State in its crackdown on militancy, Mohamad Fuzi said. Five Malaysians are believed to have joined up with Islamic State-linked groups in the southern Philippines, while 53 others have joined the group in Syria, he added. ",1 How Sri Lanka governs through detentions - Sri Lankan officials defend the country's post-war use of anti-terrorism rules.,1 "Iran is helping its ally Syria defy Western sanctions by providing a vessel to ship Syrian oil to a state-run company in China, potentially giving the government of President Bashar al-Assad a financial boost worth an estimated $80 million",1 "Connecticut governor vetoes budget as spending cuts loomNEW YORK (Reuters) - Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy on Thursday vetoed the $40.7 billion biennial budget passed by lawmakers earlier this month, saying the bill would undermine the state’s fiscal stability, education system and economic development. Malloy, a second-term Democrat who is not running for reelection, had said he would not approve the Republican-supported budget. Without a budget, which is now nearly three months overdue, the state could implement severe cuts on Oct. 1 under an emergency spending plan put in place by Malloy. Republican lawmakers, who do not control the legislature but won support for their budget from a handful of Democrats, have said they may try to override the governor’s veto, which was expected. As the state continues to wrangle over how to close a 2-year, $3.5 billion budget gap, some Connecticut cities are in the firing because of reduced state aid. Credit ratings agency S&P Global Ratings on Thursday put nine cities and a school district on alert for possible downgrades. The warning “reflects Connecticut’s ongoing budget impasse and brinkmanship, which could reduce significant amounts of municipal aid payments to local governments,” said S&P analyst Victor Medeiros. “The credit quality of these municipalities could deteriorate further due to weaker reserves and liquidity concerns.” The cities - which include its largest, Bridgeport, and New Haven - are likely to dip into their reserves to offset losses in state aid. The drain on reserves would “make their financial position all the more precarious,” Medeiros said. The capital city, Hartford, was not on the list but has been downgraded four times in the last few weeks. On Wednesday, it fell multiple notches deeper into junk territory as it faces a potential bankruptcy. Under the Republican plan, Hartford would have lost $6.8 million dollars of state support “at a time when its financial future is in peril, almost certainly forcing it into bankruptcy,” Malloy said in his veto message. Malloy also took issue with proposals to cut state public pension benefits, which could lead to expensive court challenges from public employee unions, and an education funding plan that he said was inequitable. State Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano said in a statement that the veto had “put Connecticut in chaos.” The veto means that cuts under Malloy’s “draconian executive order will remain in effect and create destruction for low and middle income families” unless lawmakers vote to override it, Fasano said. ",1 "Senate passes Puerto Rico debt bill, sends to ObamaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate gave solid approval on Wednesday to a relief plan to help Puerto Rico address its $70 billion debt, sending the measure to President Obama for his signing into law just ahead of a possible default by the U.S. territory on its next debt payment. The measure passed the Senate on a vote of 68-30, and President Obama said in a statement he looked forward to signing the bill into law. The House of Representatives has already approved the bill. “This bill is not perfect, but it is a critical first step toward economic recovery and restored hope for millions of Americans who call Puerto Rico home,” Obama said. The legislation would create a federal oversight board, appointed by Washington, with power to restructure Puerto Rico’s unmanageable debt load. The bill provides for a stay, or halt, to any litigation brought against the Puerto Rican government and its debt issuing agencies that is retroactive to December. This provides breathing room for the board to start the process of restructuring and oversee a sustainable budget process. On Friday, Puerto Rico faces a potential default on a chunk of its debt if it cannot make $1.9 billion worth of payments. Puerto Rico’s Governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, has said the island will default some of the debt. Supporters said intervention by Washington lawmakers was necessary to help the island’s 3.5 million U.S. citizens avert a “descent into chaos,” as U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday. Puerto Rico has been waiting for months for Congress to act as its economic crisis worsened. It has already defaulted on some of its debt. The Caribbean island territory is reeling from a 45 percent poverty rate, as well as a steady flow of migration to the U.S. mainland that shrinks its tax base and shuttering of essential services. In addition, it is suffering from a Zika virus outbreak that is hurting its critical tourism industry. But many Puerto Ricans are leery of the proposed oversight board, fearing it could usurp the island’s government and place investors’ concerns over local priorities. Puerto Rico’s benchmark 2035 General Obligation bond rose 1 full point in price ahead of the final vote, to trade at 66.75 points, pushing the yield down to 12.663 percent. Passage of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) came after leaders of both political parties warned that failure to approve the legislation could lead to a U.S. taxpayer-funded bailout. “This is the best and possibly the only action we can take to help Puerto Rico,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said. “Doing nothing now ... (is) the surest route to both a taxpayer funded bailout of Puerto Rico and a humanitarian crisis for its people,” McConnell said. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he shared the concerns of many Democrats with the “excessive powers and appointment structure” of the oversight board, and he was unhappy with some labor provisions. But Reid said he was voting for passage because Puerto Rico needed the help by Friday. “Otherwise we ... turn them  over to the hedge funds and they will sue them to death,” he said. The seven member board, appointed by President Obama from recommendations given by party leaders in both the House and Senate, is supposed to be in place by Sept. 1, 2016. Neither political party was entirely happy with the fix. Democrats bridled at a Republican provision that might lower the minimum wage for some young workers and weaken overtime pay rules while some Republicans were concerned the bill could amount to a bailout of the island, or set a precedent for states in fiscal trouble to seek a similar arrangement. “They’ll say if a territory can receive unprecedented authority from Congress, then why shouldn’t a state?” asked Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. The legislation is geared toward U.S. territories. Puerto Rico is not covered by current U.S. bankruptcy law under Chapter 9. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, opposing the measure, argued that Friday was an arbitrary deadline for action that did not excuse a “flawed” bill. A vote for the bill was “a vote to authorize an unelected, unchecked and all powerful control board to determine Puerto Rico’s destiny for a generation or more,” Menendez declared. Some senators, including Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, criticized the estimated $370 million cost of the legislation over five years, complaining that Puerto Rico will get stuck with the tab while it is struggling to reduce its debt. Sanders blasted this as “colonialism at its worst.” The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which issued that estimate, said that about $350 million of the total “would primarily cover fees of legal and financial consultants hired to restructure Puerto Rico’s debt.” ",1 Fatal swine flu breaks out in Mexico,1 1.5 million Russians are addicted to heroin,0 "The level of health in a country: Singapore - 1st; over 40 countries ahead of the US including many European states, Canada and Cuba; Angola - last",1 "Albino candidate overcomes prejudice - Tanzania's first elected albino MP said yesterday the result was a breakthrough for albinos in the east African country, where scores have been murdered for their body parts to be used in sorcery.",1 Netanyahu: Israel willing to cede 'parts of our homeland' for true peace,0 "“PROGRESSIVE” DE BLASIO VISITS IOWA: Denies He’s Running For President…So He Just Wanted To Visit Iowa?Soooo, NYC Mayor de Blasio wants you to believe he just wants to visit Iowa. He s been running for President since before he became Mayor, that s why he ran for Mayor. And even in progressive NYC, everyone still despises him for doing nothing. And yes, he s further left than Hillary and Obama.Via Free Beacon: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D.) on Tuesday repeatedly denied that he is running for president in 2020 during a trip to Iowa, a state that automatically begs questions about White House ambitions if politicians head there. No, de Blasio said. I m not running for president. The New York Times noted, however, that de Blasio made Iowa his first stop since his easy re-election to the mayorship. The Iowa caucuses launch the nominating process each presidential election cycle, so any jaunts to the midwestern state attract attention.The Washington Post described the far-left mayor as fielding versions of the 2020 question throughout the day. He described himself as focused on his second term.De Blasio is a total phony HERE S A PREVIOUS REPORT ON DE BLASIO S PROGRESSIVE AGENDA:Why would anyone expect anything else from a mayor who criticized Barack Obama for being too conservative and too afraid to take the bold kind of action that President Roosevelt took during the Great Depression. Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a 13-point national Progressive Agenda that is being touted as the liberal Contract with America. The aim is for the Progressive Agenda to become the basis for the Democratic Party s main economic policies, including those of its 2016 presidential candidate.De Blasio has compared his plan to the Contract with America, a document released by the Republican Party during the 1994 congressional election and drawn up by future House Speaker Newt Gingrich to serve as the GOP policy agenda.Now WND documents that most of the 13 points in de Blasio s Progressive Agenda can also be found in the manifestos and literature of the Communist Party USA and the Socialist Party USA.The full progressive plan, entitled, The Progressive Agenda to Combat Income Inequality, can be found on the agenda s new website.Here is a comparison of the Agenda s plan with literature from the manifestos and writings of the Community Party USA, or CPUSA, and the Socialist Party USA, or SPUSA. Progressive Agenda: Raise the federal minimum wage, so that it reaches $15/hour, while indexing it to inflation. SPUSA: We call for a minimum wage of $15 per hour, indexed to the cost of living. CPUSA: Calls for struggles for peace, equality for the racially and nationally oppressed, equality for women job creation programs, increased minimum wage. Even with ultra-right control of the Federal government, peoples legislative victories, such as increasing the minimum wage, can be won on an issue-by-issue basis locally, statewide, and even nationally. Progressive Agenda: Pass comprehensive immigration reform to grow the economy and protect against exploitation of low-wage workers. SPUSA: We defend the rights of all immigrants to education, health care, and full civil and legal rights and call for an unconditional amnesty program for all undocumented people. We oppose the imposition of any fees on those receiving amnesty. We call for full citizenship rights upon demonstrating residency for six months. CPUSA: Declares the struggle for immigrant rights is a key component of the struggle for working class unity in our country today. Progressive Agenda: Make Pre-K, after-school programs and childcare universal. SPUSA: We support public child care starting from infancy, and public education starting at age three, with caregivers and teachers of young children receiving training, wages, and benefits comparable to that of teachers at every other level of the educational system. Progressive Agenda: Earned Income Tax Credit. Implement the Buffett Rule so millionaires pay their fair share. SPUSA: We call for a steeply graduated income tax and a steeply graduated estate tax. CPUSA: No taxes for workers and low and middle income people; progressive taxation of the wealthy and private corporations. Dems hail beginning of revolution De Blasio criticized Obama as too conservative to assert a progressive economic vision and too afraid to take the bold kind of action that President Roosevelt took during the Great Depression, reported the liberal news network.Speaking at the Progressive Agenda launch event outside the Capitol building last Tuesday, de Blasio said something is changing in America. It s time to take that energy and crystallize it into an agenda that will make a difference, he said. We ll be calling on leaders and candidates to address these issues, to stiffen their backbones, to be clear and to champion these progressive policies. Read more at WND ",0 "Trump team weighs 'infrastructure bank' to fund projects: Trump adviserNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is weighing an “infrastructure bank” to make investments in the nation’s infrastructure, Trump adviser Steven Mnuchin told reporters on Wednesday. Mnuchin, a Wall Street veteran under consideration for Trump’s Treasury secretary, said the team was focused on “taxes... regulatory changes, looking at the creation of an infrastructure bank to fund infrastructure investments.” “I’d say the economic priorities are clearly taxes, regulatory, trade, infrastructure,” he added. ",1 "THOMAS SOWELL’S FINAL COLUMN: “…too many of our schools are producing artificial stupidity”THOMAS SOWELL:Avoiding the fatal mistake of disregarding the record of the pastAny honest man, looking back on a very long life, must admit even if only to himself being a relic of a bygone era. Having lived long enough to have seen both the greatest generation that fought World War II and the gratingest generation that we see all around us today makes being a relic of the past more of a boast than an admission.Not everything in the past was admirable. Poet W. H. Auden called the 1930s a low dishonest decade. So were the 1960s, which launched many of the trends we are experiencing so painfully today. Some of the fashionable notions of the 1930s reappeared in the 1960s, often using the very same discredited words and producing the same disastrous consequences.The old are not really smarter than the young, in terms of sheer brainpower. It is just that we have already made the kinds of mistakes that the young are about to make, and we have already suffered the consequences that the young are going to suffer if they disregard the record of the past.If you want to understand the fatal dangers facing America today, read The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill. The book is not about America, the Middle East, or nuclear missiles. But it shows Europe s attitudes and delusions aimed at peace in the years before the Second World War which instead ended up bringing on that most terrible war in all of human history.Black adults, during the years when I was growing up in Harlem, had far less education than black adults today but far more common sense. In an age of artificial intelligence, too many of our schools and colleges are producing artificial stupidity, among both blacks and whites.The first time I traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, as the plane flew into the skies over London I was struck by the thought that, in these skies, a thousand British fighter pilots fought off Hitler s air force and saved both Britain and Western civilization. But how many students today will have any idea of such things, with history being neglected in favor of politically correct rhetoric?You cannot live a long life without having been forced to change your mind many times about people and things including, in some cases, your whole view of the world. Those who glorify the young today do them a great disservice, when this sends inexperienced young people out into the world cocksure about things on which they have barely scratched the surface.In my first overseas trip, I was struck by blatantly obvious differences in behavior among different groups, such as the Malays and the Chinese in Malaysia and wondered why scholars who were far more well-traveled than I was seemed not to have noticed such things, and to have resorted to all sorts of esoteric theories to explain why some groups earned higher incomes than others.There are words that were once common but that are seldom heard any more. The phrase none of your business is one of these. Today, everything seems to be the government s business or the media s business. And the word risqu would be almost impossible to explain to young people, in a world where gross vulgarity is widespread and widely accepted.Back when I taught at UCLA, I was constantly amazed at how little so many students knew. Finally, I could no longer restrain myself from asking a student the question that had long puzzled me: What were you doing for the last twelve years before you got here? Reading about the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and the widespread retrogressions of Western civilization that followed, was an experience that was sobering, if not crushing. Ancient history in general lets us know how long human beings have been the way they are, and dampens giddy zeal for the latest panaceas, despite how politically correct those panaceas may be.When I was growing up, we were taught the stories of people whose inventions and scientific discoveries had expanded the lives of millions of other people. Today, students are being taught to admire those who complain, denounce, and demand.The first column I ever wrote, 39 years ago, was titled The Profits of Doom. This was long before Al Gore made millions of dollars promoting global-warming hysteria. Back in 1970, the prevailing hysteria was the threat of a new ice age promoted by some of the same environmentalists who are promoting global-warming hysteria today.Read more: National Review",0 "Rosneft's Sechin to miss hearing at ex-minister corruption trial: mediaMOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of Russian state oil giant Rosneft, Igor Sechin, will not be in Moscow on Wednesday where he is meant to appear in court to testify in a major corruption trial of a former minister, according to Russian news agencies. Russian prosecutors accuse Alexei Ulyukayev of extorting a $2 million bribe from powerful political rival Sechin in exchange for approving a lucrative business deal in what turned out to be a sting operation. Ulyukayev, who was fired by President Vladimir Putin from his post as economy minister shortly after being detained, denies the charges and says Sechin framed him. Asked by reporters whether he would be in Moscow on Wednesday when the hearing is due, Sechin replied that he would be still be on a visit to western Siberia where on Tuesday he attended the opening of a new Rosneft oil field. Tomorrow I am meeting with the governor (of the Khanty-Mansiiysk region), gathering the staff, will be summing up results of the prime minister s visit, Sechin was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. Sechin has already missed two hearings in Ulyukayev s trial. He has previously said he would attend as soon as his schedule allowed. Ulyukayev s arrest a year ago came moments after Sechin personally handed him the cash in a late-night meeting at the Rosneft headquarters in exchange for signing off on Rosneft s purchase of a stake in mid-sized oil producer Bashneft, according to investigators. The fate of Bashneft, one of the most lucrative state assets to be privatized in years, was the focus of a major turf war between rival Kremlin camps, sources close to the deal and in the government have said. Ulyukayev was among those who believed Bashneft should go to private investors. Both he and Sechin are deeply embedded in the tangle of allegiances and rivalries in Russian politics and business. Ulyukayev belonged to a faction of economic liberals who argued for less state control over the economy, while Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, represents the opposite view. Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontyev dismissed speculation over possible reasons for Sechin s likely absence at Wednesday s hearing, also citing the demands of his schedule. This is a made up problem and it was made up with only one purpose - to avoid attention from the essence of the trial, Leontyev said. This is not the first case in the human or Russian history when the court wants to hear a testimony of a man with tight schedule. Ulyukayev faces up to 15 years in jail if found guilty. ",1 " Bizarre Reason Right-Wing Actor James Woods Is Suing A Twitter User For $10 MillionRight-wing actor James Woods is so upset that a liberal made fun of him on Twitter that he is suing for $10 million dollars. Woods, who has been in Hollywood for several decades, is part of a secretive Hollywood club of conservatives called Friends of Abe.A Twitter user, who goes by the name of Abe List has been sued by Woods, after he called the actor a cocaine addict. Woods is now attempting to uncover the true identity of the Twitter user and get an award of damages for the tweet.The spat began when Mr Woods posted on Twitter about a row between Bruce Jenner and Planned Parenthood.He wrote: USATODAY app features Bruce Jenner s latest dress selection but makes zero mention of Planned Parenthood baby parts market. Abe List replied: Cocaine addict James Woods still sniffing and spouting. He also referred to Mr Woods as a joke and a ridiculous scum clown-boy .Woods often uses his account to post attacks and smears against President Obama and other liberals (he called Al Sharpton a pimp ). In his lawsuit, Woods whines that Abe List is a cowardly individual who was the mastermind of a malicious online campaign to discredit the actor.In response Lisa Bloom, who is a lawyer representing Abe List, has pointed out that suggestions that Mr Woods was on drugs was not meant to be taken literally. While Hollywood obviously leans heavily to the left, there are of course conservatives in that industry like there are everywhere else. Yet, it is an article of faith that Hollywood conservatives are somehow frozen out from opportunities in the industry, which helped lead to the creation of the Friends of Abe group. Deceased right-wing provocateur Andrew Breitbart was among the founders of the group, along with Gary Sinise, Kelsey Grammer, Lionel Chetwynd, Jon Voight. They hosted Donald Trump for a get together in July of 2015.While Woods is not an A-list actor, he has steadily worked in Hollywood, and recently appeared in the TV series Ray Donovan and in the movie White House Down, hardly the resume of someone being persecuted for his conservative beliefs.Ever the victim.Featured image via YouTube",0 "Food Stamp Rap Song About EBT Card Only One Of Many Ways SNAP is Glamorized [Video]The monthly cost for the feds to pay for food stamps is sickening. We re at an all time high for people receiving help with SNAP. You might think it s because there are so many people who need it..WRONG! It has become a debit card for some to just buy whatever they want with it. Yes, it s not just for cheese and milk anymore. You can buy fast food and so many other things with your government issued debit card. This is NOT good news for the hardworking Americans out there who pay for this fraud, waste and abuse. The abuse is bad enough but what if I told you major corporations partner with the feds to PROMOTE food stamp use? Three powerful industry sectors benefit from SNAP: 1) major food manufacturers such as Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Mars; 2) leading food retailers such as Walmart and Kroger; and 3) large banks, such as J.P. Morgan Chase, which contract with states to help administer SNAP benefits. The number of individuals receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps, has exceeded 45 million for 53 straight months, according to data released by the Department of Agriculture.THE EBT RAP GLAMORIZES USING THE EBT: There were 45,415,445 beneficiaries of the food stamp program in September 2015, the latest month for which data is available. The number declined by 48,988 from August to September.The USDA has been tracking data on participation in the program since fiscal year 1969, at which time average participation stood at about 2,800,000. This means that since then, participation in the program has increased by roughly 16-fold.Maura Corrigan, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, says that despite improvements in the economy, the program remains large and too few adults who benefit from the program are working. As a former state human services director who administered more than 70 federal means-tested welfare programs, I believe that one track is especially important for reforming welfare programs she said. Our nation s simple three-word mantra should be: Better Off Working. Social safety-net programs, including SNAP, should expect and encourage work and the dignity and responsibility that accompany it from those who are able to do so. Additionally, she says that the program promotes adding beneficiaries to its rolls. Rather than promoting self-sufficiency, SNAP s predominant track record over the past decade has been to add participants to its rolls. Also, its eligibility definitions are in many cases vague, allowing it to deny fraud, waste, and abuse in the program, despite the reports of such behavior from citizens and caseworkers. The number of food stamp recipients first exceeded 45 million in May 2011. Since then, the number has consistently exceeded 45 million, hitting a record high of about 47,790,000 in December 2012.Households on food stamps received an average benefit of $255.51 in September 2015, and total benefits for the month cost taxpayers $5.72 billion.Read more: WFB",0 " Elizabeth Warren Hilariously Exposes Trump’s Lies About His Business Record (VIDEO)Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has launched yet another epic attack on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, and it s circulating around the internet at lightning speed.Trump had barely recovered the tongue lashing that his biggest rival, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had just given him about his failed businesses when Warren echoed the former Secretary of State s comments in a new video. The video appeared on MoveOn.org s Facebook page on Tuesday morning, and quickly went viral as Warren unloaded on the business mogul, criticizing him for not providing his tax returns and not paying them every year like all Americans must.Warren started off by talking about how much she despised Trump: I have to be honest: It s hard to talk about Donald Trump. Between his ignorance, racism, sexism, lies it s hard to know where to start.Warren s video was only four minutes long, but she made sure to burn him every second she had. She said: We don t know what Trump pays in taxes because he is the first Presidential nominee in 40 years to refuse to disclose his tax returns. Maybe he s just a lousy businessman who doesn t want you to find out that he s worth a lot less money than he claims we can t know for sure. But, here s what we do know. The last time his taxes were made public, Donald Trump paid nothing in federal taxes ZERO. Zero taxes before, and for all we know he s paying zero taxes today. And he s proud of it. A few weeks ago he said he s more than happy to dodge taxes because he doesn t want to throw his money down the drain. Warren ended the video by urging Americans to educate each other about Trump s untrustworthy nature: Whatever Donald Trump says, whatever scam he tries to pull, whatever disgusting thing he thinks he can say because he s Donald Trump speak out. Talk to the person behind you in the grocery store. Talk to the person pumping gas next to you. And yes, share this video with your friends. Ask your Fox News-loving Republican uncle: Why do you pay your taxes but Donald Trump doesn t? You can watch Warren bash Trump below:This is likely to hurt Trump more than many other insults, because he s shown how sensitive he is about his failing business record in the past, when his shut down businesses and fraudulent Trump University were exposed.Since being uploaded, Warren s video has been viewed millions of times, and was released just as Clinton was making an anti-Trump speech in Ohio. Clinton and Warren have been ganging up on Trump a lot recently, and we have to say that we re loving every second of it.Featured image via Astrid Riecken / Getty Images",0 "Israeli police detained 10 women at one of Judaism's most sacred sites for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men",0 "Waiting for May, Brussels eyes December Brexit dealBRUSSELS (Reuters) - When Theresa May visits Brussels on Friday, EU negotiators will be listening intently for signs the British prime minister is preparing to risk a domestic backlash and raise her offer to secure a Brexit deal in December. European Union officials and diplomats from the other 27 member states involved in the process hope that within a week to 10 days of meeting European Council President Donald Tusk, during a summit with ex-Soviet neighbors, May will deliver movement on three key conditions so that her EU peers can launch a new phase of Brexit negotiations when they meet on Dec. 14-15. I don t know what room for maneuver May has, but what we can see is a willingness to act, one senior EU official told Reuters. Another spoke of efforts to arrange the choreography of a deal over the next three weeks, including a possible EU-UK joint report on interim accords to unlock talks on trade. I feel the tectonic plates moving now, a diplomat handling Brexit for an EU government said. Time is running out and a failure in the December Council would serve nobody s purpose. There has been only a day of top-level talks between the two lead negotiators since a mid-October summit that dismissed May s call for immediate talks on a future trade agreement. But talks are continuing apace behind the scenes, participants say, ahead of a deadline of early December to strike a deal which can then be fully formalized by the 27 government leaders at the summit. Hopes have been raised by reports in British media that May has secured backing from pro-Brexit hardliners in her cabinet to increase the amount of a financial settlement of what Britain owes to the Union when it leaves in March 2019. If there is a political willingness in Britain, we should be ready, a senior EU official said, while warning that nothing was being taken for granted. May s room for maneuver to cut a deal that would please business while irritating Britons who want a sharper break with Brussels is limited. And Germany and France, the Union s lead powers have taken a tough line so far. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel distracted at home by a search for a new coalition, May can expect little focus from her to help smooth a deal, several diplomats said, leaving it quite possible that December will not see an end to deadlock. That would create some kind of crisis in negotiations, the second EU official said, noting that time was already short to complete a treaty by late next year to ensure an orderly Brexit. But maybe that is necessary. EU negotiator Michel Barnier, who met Tusk on Wednesday to prepare Tusk s Friday meeting with May, had been expected to hold a formal round of talks with British Brexit Secretary David Davis in the week starting Dec. 4. But EU officials say planning is all still up in the air. There could be a high-level meeting as soon as next week, possibly on Friday, Dec. 1, one said. The sides already believe they are quite close on agreeing the scope of rights for expatriate citizens in Britain and on the continent, though the EU will be particularly looking to pin Britain down to accepting its demands that any agreement be subject to enforcement through the Union s legal system. The third key criterion for moving to Phase Two, an outline agreement on how to avoid the new EU-UK land border disrupting the peace in Northern Ireland, remains a potential stumbling block. Differences of opinion between London and Dublin have been marked this month, worrying EU officials. However, it is the financial settlement that has been the most concern for the past few months and that, they believe, could be resolved by a combination of May stating clearly that Britain will pay a share after leaving of two major EU budget lines, staff pensions and agreed but undisbursed spending. British press reports, seen in Brussels as planted leaks from May s team, suggesting she might offer to pay something like 40 billion pounds ($53 billion) have encouraged EU negotiators. While that is well short of the 60 billion euros ($71 billion) the European Commission has mentioned, that was always seen by EU officials as a maximum demand. And they are willing, they say, to help May massage the public messaging of the amount in order to limit the political flak she takes at home. On presentational issues, Barnier is ready to help, not to call things by their real name, an EU official said. ",1 "Trump, Lockheed Martin CEO to meet on Friday: transition officialNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will meet with Lockheed Martin Corp Chief Executive officer Marillyn Hewson on Friday, a Trump transition officials said. Trump, who takes office next Friday, said last month he viewed costs for the aerospace company’s F-35 fighter as too high and would ask Boeing to price out an upgraded F-18. ",1 Typo causes collapse of 124-year-old family business,1 "South Africa's ANC says party officials barred by courts will not vote at conferenceJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s African National Congress said on Saturday its executive committee had decided that ANC officials barred by courts from attending its leadership conference this weekend would not take part in voting. We had a special (committee meeting), which was urgent, to deal with the three court cases that were given yesterday. All the structures that were nullified will not be voting delegates at conference, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told reporters. We don t want to contaminate the conference... They will not vote on any matter. Courts ruled that senior officials in two provinces seen as backing Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for party leader had been illegally elected and therefore could not attend, sparking a rally in the rand with investors betting that the decision favored her rival, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. ",1 "NOT EVERY HOLLYWOOD ACTOR Approved Of Meryl Streep’s Anti-Trump Rant Last Night…Check Out Vince Vaughn And Mel Gibson’s ReactionsThank goodness there are still a few courageous, conservative actors in Hollywood like Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Patricia Heaton and Clint Eastwood, to name a few. Gibson and Vaughn were in attendance last night at the Golden Globe awards, and by the looks on their faces, they were obviously were NOT impressed with Streep s anti-Trump rant (video of her embarrassing speech can be seen below):Hollywood conservatives/libertarians #MelGibson & #VinceVaughn listening to #MerylStreep speech slamming @realDonaldTrump. #LockHerUp pic.twitter.com/i3sdtSbz1f Jacob Engels (@JacobEngels) January 9, 2017Here is Streep s rant:""As my friend Princess Leia said to me once: take your broken heart, make it into art."" #MerylStreep pic.twitter.com/GzOHo7O729 #GoldenGlobes Richard Hine (@richardhine) January 9, 2017",0 "Canada Wants Drones to Bomb Terrorists, Track Pirates, and Spy on Protesters",1 "Pakistan kicks out medical charity MSF from country's tribal regionPESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan on Wednesday told medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to stop work and leave its impoverished tribal areas that border Afghanistan, the health organization said, ending its 14 year stay in the volatile region. MSF works out of two health facilities in the Kurram district of Pakistan s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) region, which has been plagued by militancy over the past decade and was the location of many U.S. drone strikes targeting commanders from al Qaeda and other militant groups. Though security has improved in FATA in recent years, sectarian militant attacks, primarily targeting Shi ite Muslims, still occur. Twin blasts in the Kurram s most populous town, Parachinar killed more than 75 people in June. Local officials say MSF provides essential healthcare facilities in FATA, an area with some of Pakistan s poorest healthcare and lowest literacy rates. We have been asked to close our medical activities in Kurram Agency, MSF said in a statement to the media, adding that Pakistan had refused to issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the charity to work in the tribal areas. MSF is saddened by the decision from the authorities responsible for NGOs working in Kurram Agency. The closure brings to and end 14 years of MSF working with the FATA Health Services in Kurram Agency, country representative Catherine Moody said in the statement. Foreign nationals and organizations working in Pakistan require NOCs to operate in certain areas. Pakistani NGOs and journalists also face restrictions when working in the tribal areas. MSF provides diagnosis and treatment facilities to the community for Leishmaniasis, immunization for children, as well ... responding to emergencies, disease outbreaks and mass casualties, the organization said. The region s health directorate did not respond to requests for comment but Dr. Mohammad Ishaq, who works there, said MSF was asked to leave because they did not have a valid NOC. I personally think MSF was doing a great job for the patients in FATA, he said, adding that he did not know why its license to work there was revoked. We have been working in FATA since 2004. We were never denied an NOC in the past. This will affect many patients in the area, one MSF employee said, asking not to be identified. He added that the organization had 70 staff members working at the two health facilities. The official who notified MSF that their operations would need to be shut down added: I did what I was directed to by my bosses in Peshawar but really don t know the reason behind MSF being stopped. ",1 "Trump urges NFL to ban players kneeling during anthem(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his fight with the National Football League on Tuesday, calling on the league to ban players from kneeling in protest at games while the national anthem is played. “The NFL has all sorts of rules and regulations. The only way out for them is to set a rule that you can’t kneel during our National Anthem!” Trump wrote on Twitter. For the fifth straight day the president denounced the symbolic gesture, which has been adopted by some black players in the last year to protest against racial disparities in the criminal justice system. An NFL spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. Trump praised two teams that played on Monday night and largely steered clear of the controversy. The Arizona Cardinals linked arms and stood for the “Star-Spangled Banner” along with the Dallas Cowboys, who knelt before the song. Last Friday, Trump told a political rally any protesting player was a “son of a bitch” who should be fired, and urged a boycott of NFL games, triggering protests by dozens of players, coaches and some owners before Sunday’s games. Trump’s verbal assault may appeal to his conservative base as the Republican president grapples with critical issues including North Korea’s nuclear threats, a humanitarian crisis in hurricane-struck Puerto Rico, an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the healthcare struggle in Congress. Paul Ryan, the most senior Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, said he also disapproved of the gesture. “People are clearly within their rights to express themselves how they see fit,” he told reporters. “My own view though is that we shouldn’t do it on the anthem.” U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session told an audience at Washington’s Georgetown Law School that the protesting athletes were wrong. “The players aren’t subject to any prosecution, but if they take a provocative act, they can expect to be condemned,” he said. Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 election, called Trump’s comments “a huge, loud dog whistle to his supporters” in an interview with CBS. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first kneeled during the anthem last year to protest police shootings of unarmed black men. His former teammate Eric Reid wrote in a New York Times opinion article that he and Kaepernick chose to kneel as a “respectful” gesture, comparing it to “a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy.” ",1 " Trump Considering Firing Sessions And Replacing Him With Corrupt Trump CronyOn Saturday, amateur president Donald Trump whined that Republicans aren t protecting him from his own scandals, thus forbidding him from having a safe place in which to avoid being triggered. Trump wondered Monday morning why Attorney General Jeff Sessions hasn t investigated Hillarys [SIC] crimes and Russia relations in a classic case of projection. Just after winning the election, Trump no longer showed an interest in pursuing Clinton, though. Earlier this month, Trump raged against Sessions in a bizarre interview with the New York Times.Trump was upset that Sessions recused himself from anything regarding the Russia probe. After all, he did lie to the Senate Committee about meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Trump revealed that he would have never chosen Sessions as his AG if he knew he would recuse himself.So now, it s come down to Sessions facing the ax at the ever-revolving door at the White house.During his early morning tweetstorm Monday, Trump referred to Sessions as a beleaguered A.G. Trump has raised the possibility of bringing back Rudolph Giuliani to head the Justice Department, according to West Wing confidants, Mike Allen of Axios reports.Allen revealed that Trump has been considering Giuliani even before the interview with the Times. Sessions, for all his loyalty to Trump, might be replaced with another loyalist.Trump has repeatedly suggested there will be a shakeup of staff, mostly when there s a leak, and this White House s leaks are more like a massive rainfall.As Axios points out, the Giuliani balloon may go nowhere because it could just be an empty threat.And then there s Newt Gingrich, a man who has been devoted to Donald Trump.As Axios reported Saturday, Newt Gingrich who also went all-in with the Trump campaign may take a more visible, frequent role as a defender as Trump girds for battle with special counsel Bob Mueller.But, this tweet Gingrich sent out touting Mueller as Special Counsel may come back to bite him in the a**. Robert Mueller is superb choice to be special counsel, Gingrich said. His reputation is impeccable for honesty and integrity. Media should now calm down. Robert Mueller is superb choice to be special counsel. His reputation is impeccable for honesty and integrity. Media should now calm down Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) May 18, 2017Giuliani and disgraced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich would both have a difficult time getting 50 Republicans senators to vote in order to confirm him. On the other hand, Sessions, with all of his baggage, was confirmed.No matter how loyal someone is in the Trump administration, the former reality show star can turn on that person on a dime if he needs someone to blame for his own failings. That s not to say we feel sorry for Sessions. F*ck that guy!Flashback: This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, Trump said in mid-February. Despite the fact that I can t get my Cabinet approved, and they are outstanding people. Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images.",0 " The Amazing White Right-Wing Entitlement Of The Oregon MilitantsAs of this writing, there are 4 heavily armed morons still in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney county, Oregon. The FBI has the place surrounded and it s finally occurred to the patriots inside that the only way they re leaving is in handcuffs or body bags. Listening to the livestream ravings of the group, this is a shocking revelation:Surrounded by FBI, ISIS supporter David Fry yelled at an FBI negotiator: You re going to hell. Kill me. Get it over with. We re innocent people camping at a public facility, and you re going to murder us. The only way we re leaving here is dead or without charges, Fry said during the night s ravings.Just so we re all on the same page, these people seized a government building, threatened to kill anyone that entered, and did a great deal of property damage, all while being allowed to hold press conferences. PRESS CONFERENCES! But to them, they were just camping. With guns. And death threats. And no snacks.They sound exactly like a kid that s locked himself in the bathroom and refuses to come out until mommy and daddy promise not to punish him for setting the curtains on fire.Now that their playtime is coming to an end, they truly, honestly, deep down, don t understand why they can t just pack up and go home. Ask a black person, a Latino or a Muslim if they would be allowed to leave unharmed much less not under arrest and they would quite possibly die from laughter.But these are white right wingers and this is their country! How DARE someone hold them accountable to the law?! Those laws exist to keep Those People in line! They re not supposed to keep white right wingers from doing whatever the hell they want! This. Is. TYRANNY!For frak s sake! Cliven Bundy, head moron, was arrested trying to join up with the 4 morons at the refuge. I guarantee he was outraged at the very idea of not being allowed to join an armed standoff.If the FBI is lucky, the militants fear will outweigh their indignation and they ll surrender peacefully. If not, they re all going to die under the false belief that they re being unjustly murdered for exercising their rights. Rights that they don t seem to understand only exist for white conservatives and for absolutely no one else.I hope for the sake of law enforcement all over the country that no one dies. The militia movement is already trying to turn LaVoy Finicum into a martyr even though he was clearly seen reaching for his gun. How many cops will be assassinated in the name of 4 more dead morons at the hands of the FBI? How many federal buildings will be blown up this time?And finally: How long will we keep pretending that America doesn t have a serious domestic terrorism problem and that it s not coming almost exclusively from the overly-entitled right wing?Featured image via AI archives.",0 Philippine factory fire: Death toll rises to 72,1 Some Asian glaciers are defying the global trend and growing.,1 Murder Capitals of the World,0 "China, USA or Russia - Where is cybercrime's heart of darkness?",1 EU formally renews ties with Cuba ,0 "Iran accused of torturing blogger to death: Sattar Beheshti's family told of his death in prison a week after he was arrested for criticising Iran on Facebook",1 New face-sized tarantula discovered in Sri Lanka - Scientists found the spiders -- with a leg span up to 8 inches across -- living in trees & the old doctor's quarters of a hospital.,0 Georgian President Saakashvili Eats His Tie on Live TV,0 "Trump and Yellen may not be an odd couple after allWASHINGTON (Reuters) - At first glance, U.S. President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen may have little in common. Yellen is an academic economist and veteran of Democratic administrations who is committed to an open global economy, while Trump is a real estate mogul with an electoral base suspicious of the economic order Yellen helped to create. Yet the two may have interests in common now that Trump is president and both want to get as many Americans working as possible. Since her appointment as Fed chair in February 2014, Yellen has kept interest rates low and she currently pledges to raise them only slowly even though unemployment, at 4.5 percent, is at its lowest in nearly ten years. Meanwhile, Trump’s election campaign promises to cut taxes, spend money on infrastructure and deregulate banking, have helped propel a surge in the U.S. Conference Board’s consumer confidence index to its highest level since the internet stocks crash 16 years ago. Former Fed staff and colleagues who know Yellen said Trump’s surprising remarks this week in a Wall Street Journal interview, in which he did not rule out Yellen’s reappointment to a new four year term next year, are not as outlandish as they may appear now that the president has a vested interest in keeping markets and the economy on an even keel. And the same staff and colleagues say Yellen may well accept reappointment, despite Trump’s criticism of her during last year’s election campaign. Many in Trump’s Republican party have called for tighter monetary policy and a less activist Fed, but “the president would not really find that useful,” said former Fed vice chair Donald Kohn. If Trump fills three existing Federal Reserve board vacancies with people Yellen thinks she could work with, “it would be really difficult to turn down” a reappointment when her term as chair expires in February 2018. “If she continues to do well, he’d be nuts to ditch her for an unknown quantity,” said University of California, Berkeley, economics professor Andrew Rose, a long-time colleague and co-author with Yellen of an oft-cited study of labor markets. Yellen took over from Ben Bernanke as Fed chair in February 2014 with the U.S. economic recovery from the 2008 financial crisis still on shaky ground, and she has made no secret she puts a priority on growth in jobs and wages and a broad recovery in U.S. household wealth. In a slow return to more normal monetary policy, Yellen has stopped the purchase of additional financial securities by the Fed and in December 2015 began raising short term interest rates for the first time in 10 years. So far those policy shifts have been engineered with little apparent impact on job growth, and so mesh with Trump’s core election campaign promises to restore employment and earnings. The slow rise in interest rates in the past year has also happened while U.S. stock prices have risen to record highs, though Trump has claimed the credit for himself. There is precedent for Trump to stick with a former president’s Fed chair appointment. Paul Volcker, Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, the three previous Fed chairs, served at least two four year terms and were nominated by both Democratic and Republican presidents. However it may be a more difficult step for Trump. During last year’s election campaign, Trump accused Yellen of accepting orders from then President Obama to keep interest rates low for political reasons, and he said he would replace her as Fed chair because she is not a Republican party member. In a particularly biting moment last year, in a campaign video advertisement, he labeled her as among the “global special interests” who had ruined life for middle America. The Fed on Thursday said it had no response to Trump’s comments published on Wednesday on Yellen and or on whether Yellen would consider a second term. Some of Trump’s advisers and some Republican lawmakers want a more conservative Fed in which the chair has less power and would see a Yellen reappointment as yet another step away from his promise to “drain the swamp” of the Washington establishment. There are also three current vacancies on the Fed’s seven member Board of Governors, and unorthodox new members could make it difficult for Yellen to manage policy or accept another four year term. But if the choice is her consensus style or someone unproven in their ability to manage public and market expectations, “he’d be wise to reappoint her,” said Joseph Gagnon, a former Fed staffer and Berkeley colleague of Yellen’s currently at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “I don’t see what is in his interests to appoint someone who is going to jack up interest rates.” ",1 "Jailed British-Iranian charity worker received letter from ex-UK PM Cameron: prosecutorBEIRUT (Reuters) - A British-Iranian charity worker serving a jail sentence in Tehran received a letter from ex-prime minister David Cameron that showed she had ties to the British government, a prosecutor said on Tuesday, according to Mizan, the news site of the Iranian judiciary. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity organization, is serving a five-year jail sentence after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran s clerical establishment. The prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, said the letter demonstrated Zaghari-Ratcliffe s importance to the British authorities but he did not say when it was sent or provide any other details about it. A spokeswoman at the British Foreign Office said she was not immediately able to comment on whether Cameron had written a letter, but confirmed that both he and his successor, Theresa May, had raised the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case with Iranian authorities. We will continue to raise all our dual national detainees, including Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe s case, with the Iranian government at every available opportunity, she added. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested by the elite Revolutionary Guards in April 2016 at a Tehran airport, as she was about to return to Britain with her two-year-old daughter after a family visit. Her family and the Thomson Reuters Foundation have both denied the charges against her. Thomson Reuters is a charity organization that is independent of Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters News. Last week her family said Iranian authorities had opened a new case against Zaghari-Ratcliffe, leveling charges that could carry a sentence of 16 additional years in prison. The new charges include joining and receiving money from organizations working to overthrow the Islamic Republic, and attending a demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in London, the family said. The Foreign Office spokeswoman referred Reuters to a statement it issued last week in which it expressed concern that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was facing additional charges and said it was seeking more information from the Iranian authorities. On Tuesday Jafari Dolatabadi also said Zaghari-Ratcliffe was responsible for teaching online journalism for the BBC Persian language service with the goal of attracting and teaching individuals for propaganda operations against Iran , Mizan reported. Francesca Unsworth, director of the BBC World Service Group, said earlier this year that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had never worked for the BBC s Persian service. ",1 " NASA Publicly Humiliates Right-Wing Climate Change Deniers On Facebook With Real ScienceDon t mess with NASA because they will burn you.When a climate change denier made a comment on a post made by Bill Nye the Science Guy, he made a huge mistake by dragging NASA into his rant.Nye was mocking a climate change denier for refusing to take bets on whether climate change is real or not cause he knows what s up re: global temperatures. Here s the post via Facebook.In response, a right-winger named Fer Morales made a complete ass of himself by disputing climate science by invoking NASA. Morales attributed several of his claims to NASA, including one about how fossil fuels cool the planet. Riiiiight, despite NASA confirming that fossil fuels are actually cooling the planet s temperature, and that there s more ice than in the last century in the polar caps. And the fact that the so-called rises of the sea levels have not materialized, and that any real scientist doesn t back up man-made climate change at all, since it s a cycle that has existed even before we did. Yep, solid science, leftards. This didn t sit well with NASA Climate Change, which spotted Morales comment and brutally shut him down with a humiliating educational response. Do not misrepresent NASA, NASA warned. Fossil fuels are not cooling the planet. Here s a screenshot of the exchange:And the humiliation just grew from there as other Facebook users cheered on NASA for smacking down an anti-science nut job.This was an epic shut down by NASA. The fact that NASA actually took the time to respond is simply amazing. But NASA was not done yet. They also responded to two other right-wing idiots who accused the space agency of fudging the numbers and deleting data. Then NASA proceeded to further educate everyone.Which led to this suggestion by another commenter.This is what it looks like when anti-science conservatives get owned.Featured image via NASA",0 "10,000 Arabs driven out by Kurdish ethnic cleansing in Syria",0 """How symbolic that Chinese astronauts take a spacewalk while the US Treasury Secretary is on his knees."" ",0 "Senate Judiciary Democrat says panel should hold hearings for GorsuchWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday the panel should hold hearings on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch but that Democrats would seek a 60-vote threshold for his confirmation in the full Senate. President Donald Trump announced his nomination of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Gorsuch on Tuesday night to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last year. The seat has remained vacant for nearly a year because Republicans refused to consider former President Barack Obama’s nominee. ",1 Chinese police shoot 14 dead in Xinjiang riot,1 "Australian High court throws out Hollywood Consortium appeal in favour of Aussie ISP iiNet - groundbreaking precedent set for all Common Law nations (Aus, UK, Canada) preventing ISPs from terminating customers for copyright infringement.",1 "I killed 110 Children, Claims Witchdoctor",1 " Michelle Obama Posed for A Photo, So Conservatives Called Her A ‘Gorilla’ And ‘Tranny’ (SCREENSHOTS)Recently, Michelle Obama posed for InStyle magazine. The First Lady was stunning in a custom-made teal dress by Brandon Maxwell but of course conservatives had to sh*t all over it.A ridiculously named yet somehow moderately popular right-wing garbage fire of a Facebook page called The Resistance: The Last Line of Defense decided to give their take on the matter, posting the photo of our lovely First Lady with the following message: What do you think of the new portrait of Moochelle by InStyle Magazine? The numbskulls who visit the page are then instructed to like if they think it is Photoshopped and share the post if they are still not convinced he s a she. Naturally, the denizens of Stupidville flocked to the opportunity, calling her every name they can think of and, thanks to the power of stupidity and a third grade education, even managing to accidentally make some up in their pursuit to out-stupid one another. Many, of course, leaped at the opportunity to fantasize about the First Lady being a man, with some even demanding to see her penis. Others stuck to the tried-and-true let s just call her a monkey or ape and get it over with. The modern conservative, folks.It s important to remember that each and every one of these vapid f*cksticks will be voting in November.Make sure you re there to vote BLUE because you know these idiots are voting for Trump.Featured image via screengrab",0 " ‘The Black Room’ Revealed: Fox News’ Secret Spy Network Used To Hunt EnemiesThe fallout from the sexual harassment scandal involving Fox News founder Roger Ailes continues as secrets about how he operated leak out. The latest revelations are about a creepy misuse of corporate funds, if the allegations are true.New York magazine s Gabriel Sherman, who broke the Ailes harassment story, is reporting that sources inside Fox say that Ailes used corporate money in order to finance surveillance and spying on writers that were seen as hostile to Fox News.Sherman reports that News Corp., Fox s parent, recently fired five consultants whose only job was to do the thug work for Roger Ailes against his enemies.They were part of what is being described as the Black Room, a program Ailes set up.According to one highly-placed source, Solivan worked out of what Fox insiders called the Black Room, an operation Ailes established around 2011 to conduct PR and surveillance campaigns against people he targeted both inside and outside the company. The Black Room was located on the 14th floor of the News Corp building at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, a quiet part of the office that housed Fox News Latino and some marketing and promotions employees.The Black Room allegedly went after John Cook and Hamilton Nolan, writers for Gawker who covered Ailes aggressively.According to one source, private detectives followed Cook around his Brooklyn neighborhood and Fox operatives prepared a report on him with information they intended to leak to blogs.Sherman also reports that he was a target of Ailes Black Room operation:In 2012, while I was researching a biography of Ailes, Fox operatives set up web pages to attack my reputation, and Fox funds paid for Google search ads against my name that linked to the sites. One source also said private investigators employed by Fox contributor Bo Dietl were instructed to follow me and my wife.Fox News is a creepy network, set up and operated by a major creep who also appears to have been some sort of sexual predator. This revelation, which would sound bizarre coming from any other cable news channel, seems to fit right in.Featured image via YouTube",0 Barred from Jerusalem for being Palestinian,0 Worlds richest 40 people worth $1 trillion.,1 "OINK, OINK! 2015 PIG BOOK SHOWS LAWMAKERS APPROPRIATING GLUTTONOUS SPENDINGWHAT MORATORIUM? These guys in Congress are getting around the moratorium and spending like drunken sailors er pigs Stop the madness!Congress has appropriated over $4 billion earmarks this year despite a ban on pork barrel spending, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) announced on Wednesday.The group unveiled the 23rd edition of its Pig Book at the Phoenix Park Hotel near Capitol Hill, revealing millions in earmarks for fish passage, embryo adoption awareness, and abstinence education. The 2015 Pig Book continues to prove that any earmark is a bad earmark, CAGW president Tom Schatz said. At a time when members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and both sides of the Capitol continue to call for a restoration of earmarks, taxpayers should deliver a loud and clear message that it is time for earmarks to be permanently banned. Congress has been operating under a self-imposed earmark moratorium since 2010. However, lawmakers have found ways to get around the moratorium.CAGW found the cost of earmarks increased from $2.7 billion to $4.2 billion between fiscal years 2014 and 2015.The report highlights $2.6 million earmarked for the Denali Commission, a 1998 program to build infrastructure in rural Alaska that President Obama wanted to eliminate in 2012. Since FY 2000, 26 projects worth $295.8 million have been earmarked for the Denali Commission, including requests by Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee member Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), Sen. Mark Begich (D., Alaska), and the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Alaska), according to the Pig Book.Read more: WFB",0 BRUTAL NEW BENGHAZI AD Exposes Hillary’s Embarrassing Incompetence [VIDEO]You can run but you can t hide ,0 "‘Vaccine Choice’ Mom Gets Jail Time for Not Jabbing Her Kid21st Century Wire says We ve been covering the anti-vaccine movement (and the science) for quite some time. The dangers of aluminum and the neurotoxicity of vaccines are well-documented. Now, this debate has turned up in a court of law. Which prompts us to ask this question again: Should the government force parents to vaccinate their kids?Rebecca Bredow, a self-proclaimed vaccine choice mom from Detroit, has just been sentenced to seven days in jail for contempt, defying a court order that states she agreed with her ex-husband to vaccinate their 9-year-old son.The judge also ordered to have the child vaccinated within one week, while Bredow is serving her jail sentence. Attorneys for the anti-vaxxer mom, who refused to jab her son based on her personal and religious beliefs, have said they will be filing an appeal. I would rather sit behind bars standing up for what I believe in, than giving in to something I strongly don t believe in, Bredow said in her statement to the court.As WXYX-TV Detroit reports, the son s father must get the child vaccinated before his mother gets out of jail, or this story could take yet another controversial turn WATCH: READ MORE VACCINE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Vax FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "HA! ATTORNEY FOR ROY MOORE Trolls Don Lemon On Air: ‘Don Lemon Easy Squeezy Keep It Easy’ [Video]Roy Moore s attorney just called political hack Don Lemon a funny name on air. The CNN host was not pleased with the attorney s quip of Don Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Roy Moore attorney calls CNN host 'Don Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy' pic.twitter.com/dDyvj81xnO Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) November 12, 2017THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION OF REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE ROY MOORE CONTINUES Infowars uncovered a bombshell when they discovered the Facebook page of one of Judge Roy Moore s accusers, Debbie Gibson, who came out in a Washington Post article to accuse him of sexual misconduct that allegedly took place 36 years ago.Debbie Wesson Gibson says that she was 17 in the spring of 1981 when Moore spoke to her Etowah High School civics class about serving as the assistant district attorney. She says that when he asked her out, she asked her mother what she would say if she wanted to date a 34-year-old man. Gibson says her mother asked her who the man was, and when Gibson said Roy Moore, her mother said, I d say you were the luckiest girl in the world. Among locals in Gadsden, a town of about 47,000 back then, Moore had this godlike, almost deity status he was a hometown boy made good, Gibson says, West Point and so forth. Gibson says that they dated for two to three months, and that he took her to his house, read her poetry and played his guitar. She says he kissed her once in his bedroom and once by the pool at a local country club. Looking back, I m glad nothing bad happened, says Gibson, who now lives in Florida. As a mother of daughters, I realize that our age difference at that time made our dating inappropriate. Debbie Gibson hates Donald Trump, but that s not all, she s pretty fond of Judge Roy Moore s opponent, Doug Ross for US Senate In Alabama as well Here are a few anti-Trump posts that were found on Gibson s Facebook page: One of senatorial candidate Roy Moore s accusers is apparently a fervent Democrat who has worked for the DNC as a sign language interpreter for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, a revelation which the Washington Post never included in its original report.The accuser, Debbie Gibson, had also publically supported Moore s opponent Doug Jones before the accusations came to light.Gibson openly bragged about signing for Hillary during a campaign appearance. On a side note, we re not sure who she s signing for. The crowd behind Hillary, that is usually packed with the Democrats hand-picked diverse crowd, appears to be pretty thin.Here s a post from Gibson s page proving that she s supporting Judge Roy Moore s Democrat opponent for US Senate:She even posted a video of Moore s opponent, Doug Jones to promote him to her friends on Facebook. The screenshot below shows the post on her page. Interestingly, when attacking Moore ally Steve Bannon for suggesting the Washington Post was politically motivated in its reporting, the newspaper implied that Gibson wasn t down with Democratic propaganda, a statement which seemingly conflicts with Gibson s political activism:That s not what the photos say The Washington Post reported: According to campaign reports, none of the women has donated to or worked for Moore s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, or his rivals in the Republican primary But notice the precise wording; it s lawyer-speak. It might very well be true that Gibson didn t donate or work for Doug Jones, but according to her Facebook profile, she did actively campaign for him, which doesn t help her credibility and it should have been reported yet the Washington Post conveniently left it out.",0 "WATCH: Only 6 People Show Up To See Hillary At TX Airport…And She IGNORED All 6 Of Them Heavy security, but a small crowd for Hillary. She didn t say hello or visit with anyone while at the airport. https://youtu.be/eNj2ScPW-egYou know what they say about Karma ",0 Immigrants hurt in Greek violence,0 "WATCH HILLARY CLINTON’S LONG LOST Cringe Inducing Spoof Of Forrest Gump [Video]IN 1995, HILLARY CLINTON ASSUMED HER COMEDY WAS PRETTY HILARIOUS IT WASN T: ",0 "Scientists find ancient case of human cancer in man who died 4,500 years ago",1 " BREAKING: Cop Finally Gets His Due, Walter Scott’s Killer Sentenced To Prison (DETAILS)In America, we have been having a conversation about police brutality against black Americans. Despite the countless black people murdered unjustly by police, there is usually no justice. Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Keith Lamont Scott, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray too many to mention here, really. All of those people were senselessly murdered by cops who chose to be their judges, juries, and executioners, and they did so with impunity and without consequence. However, there is hope, and it is coming out of South Carolina, of all places.North Charleston police officer Michael Slager murdered Walter Scott, a black man who was fleeing after a routine traffic stop in cold blood in 2015. He would have gotten away with it, too, had it not been for a citizen who was brave enough to tape the murder. The tape showed that Slager had lied about his life being in danger, and it showed him cuffing Scott s lifeless body, and then planting a taser as evidence. Here is the news report of that damning tape:Thanks to that tape, Slager was arrested and charged with murder. Now, fast forward two years later, and Slager has been convicted of murder. U.S. District Judge David Norton decided to throw the book at Slager, and sentenced the murdering ex-cop to 19-24 years in prison.The original case ended in a mistrial, but the state of South Carolina seemed determined to get justice for Walter Scott, and that happened on December 7, 2017. Of course, Slager s family begged for mercy from the judge, but luckily those calls were ignored. Michael Slager is a murderer, and he deserves the sentence he got.So many times, these cases end with the murderous cops back on the force, out in the streets after what amounts to nothing more than a paid vacation, free to murder another black person at will again. Thankfully, for once, the system worked as it should. For once, I am proud to be a South Carolinian. Hopefully this sets a precedent, and helps us turn a corner toward the arc of justice.Watch the video of the remarks of the Scott family below: Featured image via Grace Beahm-Pool/Getty Images",0 "DHS Spends Millions To Keep Employees On Paid Leave For Up To Three Years!This is a perfect example of big government gluttony and waste we should start here with cuts to the budget. Sitting at home collecting a paycheck the government employee is all too happy to just say, WHATEVER , while hard working Americans are working 6 months of the year to pay taxes Dozens of employees at the gigantic agency created after 9/11 to prevent another terrorist attack have been on paid administrative leave for more than a year, many of them for as long as two and three years.It s part of a pervasive problem among the nation s federal government agencies, where it s a common practice to let employees collect their taxpayer-funded checks during investigations for wrongdoing and a series of other personal issues. Sometimes internal probes drag on with seemingly no end in sight, but that doesn t stop the compensation for those sitting at home. Paid administrative leave is supposed to be reserved for rare circumstances in which employees may pose a threat to themselves or others, result in loss of or damage to government property or otherwise jeopardize legitimate government interests.The reality is much different and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a recent example though there are countless others across the government. DHS spent about $1.8 million last year to keep 88 employees on paid leave and many of them have been collecting their government pay without working for longer stretches. Four DHS employees were on paid administrative leave for three years or more and 17 for two years or more. Of the 88, 53 face misconduct charges, 13 have security clearance problems and DHS had questions about the fitness for duty of 22. The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, made the figures public this week and is demanding answers. Government employees getting paid to stay home, sometimes for more than a year, is detrimental to taxpayers and good government, Grassley says. This week the senator fired off a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson with a detailed list of questions involving the circumstances surrounding the paid leave of his 88 employees.This is part of a broader and quite serious issue among government agencies. In fact, last year a federal audit revealed that the U.S. spent an eye-popping $3.1 billion during a three-year period on salaries for government employees on paid administrative leave. At least 57,000 workers were on paid administrative leave during the period analyzed and around 4,000 stayed home with full salary for three months to a year, according to the probe which was conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress. The scary part is that this particular audit only considered five agencies so the GAO s report only features a snippet of the true problem.Here are some of the reasons that the five investigated agencies the departments of Defense, Interior, Veterans Affairs, General Services Administration and the U.S. Agency for International Development granted administrative paid leave; investigations for alleged misconduct, security threats, criminal conduct or adverse actions, donating blood, dismissals due to hazardous weather or emergency conditions, physical examinations to determine fitness for duty and voting. Attending conferences, conventions or meetings and performing tasks necessary for change of duty station are also covered under administrative paid leave.Besides the typical incompetence of a bloated government, part of the problem is that there is no uniform policy for paid leave and instead each agency just makes their own. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the agency that manages the government s civil service, is evidently trying to correct this by implementing a government-wide policy. Earlier this year OPM Director Katherine Archuleta sent agency heads a memo to inform them that OPM will begin collecting information from payroll providers to initiate the collaboration process, presumably to crack down on paid administrative leave.Via: Judicial Watch",0 "Topless feminists in Kiev, Ukraine protest against Iranian stoning sentence.",0 """I've watched the death of too many civilians, women and children getting killed for doing nothing more than stepping out of the their house. ... Pulling troops from Iraq, they're just going to be sent to Afghanistan."" Ethan McCord, ground troop involved in WikiLeaks video",1 "North Carolina lawmaker: 'we must fight to keep our state straight'(Reuters) - A Republican candidate running to become North Carolina’s attorney general faced criticism on Tuesday after saying “we must fight to keep our state straight” while discussing a law that restricts transgender bathroom access and gay rights. The measure has positioned the state at the center of a debate over equality, privacy and religious freedom as states propose legislation seen as discriminatory against gay and transgender people in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that legalized same-sex marriage. State Senator Buck Newton made the comment while concluding a speech at a rally on Monday and welcomed the idea of being considered a poster child for the law, dubbed HB 2. The law made North Carolina the first state in the country to require transgender people to use restrooms in public buildings and schools that match the sex on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. “Go home, tell your friends and family who had to work today what this is all about and how hard we must fight to keep our state straight,” he said to applause. The North Carolina Democratic Party on Tuesday called the comments hateful and discriminatory, demanded Newton apologize, and called on Republican Governor Pat McCrory to denounce the statement. “One of the Republican sponsors of HB 2 just admitted the real purpose of the law: to make North Carolina unwelcoming to (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people,” party spokesman Dave Miranda said in a statement. In a statement on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Newton said “liberals” were “twisting my words.” Lawmakers on Monday returned to the state’s capital to begin a short session designed to address the state budget, though controversy over the law has drawn much attention. A group of Democratic representatives on Monday filed a bill seeking a repeal the law, while Republican lawmakers have shown little willingness to back down. Thousands also flocked to Raleigh to show support or disdain for the law. Business leaders, entertainers and even Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump have come out against the law. Opponents contend it demonizes transgender people and limits government protections against discrimination for gays and lesbians. ",1 North American scientists call for end to tar sands mining,1 "PRESIDENT TRUMP: “Terrible. Just Found Out That Obama Had My ‘Wires Tapped’ In Trump Tower Just Before The Victory…This Is McCarthyism!”President Trump on Saturday claimed President Obama had his wires tapped in Trump Tower before Election Day, tweeting the accusation without offering evidence. Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! he wrote. Is it legal for a sitting President to be wire tapping a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW! he added in subsequent tweets. I d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election! The HillTerrible! Just found out that Obama had my ""wires tapped"" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Is it legal for a sitting President to be ""wire tapping"" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017Drawing on sources including the New York Times and the Washington Post, Levin described the case against Obama so far, based on what is already publicly known. The expanded version of the case can be found here.Here is an important portion of that case: October: FISA request. The Obama administration submits a new, narrow request to the FISA court, now focused on a computer server in Trump Tower suspected of links to Russian banks. No evidence is found but the wiretaps continue, ostensibly for national security reasons, Andrew McCarthy at National Review later notes. The Obama administration is now monitoring an opposing presidential campaign using the high-tech surveillance powers of the federal intelligence services.January 2017: Buzzfeed/CNN dossier. Buzzfeed releases, and CNN reports, a supposed intelligence dossier compiled by a foreign former spy. It purports to show continuous contact between Russia and the Trump campaign, and says that the Russians have compromising information about Trump. None of the allegations can be verified and some are proven false. Several media outlets claim that they had been aware of the dossier for months and that it had been circulating in Washington.January: Obama expands NSA sharing. As Michael Walsh later notes, and as the New York Times reports, the outgoing Obama administration expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections. The new powers, and reduced protections, could make it easier for intelligence on private citizens to be circulated improperly or leaked.January: Times report. The New York Times reports, on the eve of Inauguration Day, that several agencies the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Treasury Department are monitoring several associates of the Trump campaign suspected of Russian ties. Other news outlets also report the exisentence of a multiagency working group to coordinate investigations across the government, though it is unclear how they found out, since the investigations would have been secret and involved classified information.February: Mike Flynn scandal. Reports emerge that the FBI intercepted a conversation in 2016 between future National Security Adviser Michael Flynn then a private citizen and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The intercept supposedly was part of routine spying on the ambassador, not monitoring of the Trump campaign. The FBI transcripts reportedly show the two discussing Obama s newly-imposed sanctions on Russia, though Flynn earlier denied discussing them. Sally Yates, whom Trump would later fire as acting Attorney General for insubordination, is involved in the investigation. In the end, Flynn resigns over having misled Vice President Mike Pence (perhaps inadvertently) about the content of the conversation.February: Times claims extensive Russian contacts. The New York Times cites four current and former American officials in reporting that the Trump campaign had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials. The Trump campaign denies the claims and the Times admits that there is no evidence of coordination between the campaign and the Russians. The White House and some congressional Republicans begin to raise questions about illegal intelligence leaks.March: the Washington Post targets Jeff Sessions. The Washington Post reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had contact twice with the Russian ambassador during the campaign once at a Heritage Foundation event and once at a meeting in Sessions s Senate office. The Post suggests that the two meetings contradict Sessions s testimony at his confirmation hearings that he had no contacts with the Russians, though in context (not presented by the Post) it was clear he meant in his capacity as a campaign surrogate, and that he was responding to claims in the dossier of ongoing contacts. The New York Times, in covering the story, adds that the Obama White House rushed to preserve intelligence related to alleged Russian links with the Trump campaign. By preserve it really means disseminate : officials spread evidence throughout other government agencies to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators and perhaps the media as well.In summary: the Obama administration sought, and eventually obtained, authorization to eavesdrop on the Trump campaign; continued monitoring the Trump team even when no evidence of wrongdoing was found; then relaxed the NSA rules to allow evidence to be shared widely within the government, virtually ensuring that the information, including the conversations of private citizens, would be leaked to the media.Levin called the effort a silent coup by the Obama administration and demanded that it be investigated.In addition, Levin castigated Republicans in Congress for focusing their attention on Trump and Attorney General Sessions rather than Obama. Breitbart NewsPresident Trump also used Twitter to build his case against the Democrats and how they are attempting to unfairly trash the reputation of Jeff Sessions, an honest man :Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017 intentional. This whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed .. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017 to win. The Democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election, and now they have lost their grip on reality. The real story Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017 is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. It is a total ""witch hunt!"" Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017He followed up his tweets about the Sessions witch-hunt with a tweet about the first meeting in question that Jeff Sessions had with the Russian Ambassador just before the election was actually arranged by the Obama administration under education programs for 100 Ambassadors. This new news of course, leave the Democrats looking a little foolish over their rush to crucify Sessions for meeting with the Russian Ambassador that they arranged:The first meeting Jeff Sessions had with the Russian Amb was set up by the Obama Administration under education program for 100 Ambs Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017",0 "European companies should stop sending data to the US, German privacy officials say",1 "At least 1,300 Dutch girls per year trafficked, exploitedAMSTERDAM (Reuters) - At least 1,320 underage Dutch girls between the ages of 12 and 17 fall victim to sexual exploitation in the Netherlands each year, a report on human trafficking published on Wednesday showed. That group makes up nearly half of female trafficking victims in the Dutch sex industry, Corinne Dettmeijer, National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children, said in the study. Dettmeijer said the report contained the first reliable statistics on human trafficking in the Netherlands and the first of their kind in Europe, but was concerned by a decline in cases indicating that fewer were being reported. The 108-page report compiled both domestic and United Nations figures from 2012-2016. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which cooperated on the report, is encouraging other countries to produce similar data, to help create a clearer international picture of the scale of the crimes. The total number of human trafficking victims in the Netherlands is roughly five times higher than reported figures indicated, at about 6,250 cases per year, it said, meaning that many victims stay out of sight of authorities and support agencies. Roughly half of about 3,000 cases of sexual exploitation, predominantly woman, involved underage girls. The number is high, but what makes these statistics unique is that they show us what specific groups are falling prey to human trafficking, National Rapporteur Corinne Dettmeijer said in an interview. It has exposed our blind spots. In a report published in 2015, the European Commission said there had been over 30,000 victims of human trafficking between 2010-2012 across all EU member States, of which around 1,000 were child victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation. Dettmeijer said it was known that a relatively high number of women from Central and Eastern Europe were being forced into the sex industry, but the number of underage Dutch girls was surprising. The figures were also remarkable because the number of reported cases of trafficking has fallen sharply over the past five years, from nearly 1,300 in 2012 to below a thousand last year. I am very concerned about the falling number of reported cases, Dettmeijer said. This means that an increasingly larger portion of trafficking of humans is going unreported. ",1 "OBAMA REGIME GRANTS EARLY RELEASE TO TERRORIST WHO KILLED US MEDIC [Video]This is a shocking story that shines a bright light on Obama and his regime s willingness to give terrorists who kill Americans special treatment Sgt. 1st class Christopher Speer was killed by a grenade tossed by 15-year-old Omar Khadr in 2002.Khadr was sentenced to 40 years, but because we have a traitorous administration running the country, the radical jihadist was released after only serving eight.Omar Khadr is now free.From John S. Roberts at Young Cons:A terrorist is now free after serving only eight years of a 40-year sentence for killing a U.S. Delta Force medic in Afghanistan in 2002, thanks to a deal the Obama administration made with Canadian authorities.Sgt. Lane Morris, who served alongside Speer and who lost an eye in the attack, told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren that the terrorist s release all started with the Obama administration in a deal made behind the prosecutor s back. Khadr served one [year] in Guantanamo, and one in Canada, he added.Khadr and six of his companions wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, Morris said, and started lobbing grenades at the Americans. In addition to Speer, the terrorists also killed two Afghan interpreters.The Times reported:The Canadian government asserted that the terms of Khadr s release from Guantanamo Bay detention facility barred the court from granting him bail, that he is a risk to the public and that doing so could be diplomatically damaging, NPR reported.Terrorism expert Max Abrahms of Northeastern University told Fox that officials should not be surprised if Khadr ultimately turns towards terrorism again.Eight years for killing a Delta Force medic!His fellow platoon-mate reacted on Greta:The way the Obama White House treats our military men and women is beyond reprehensible.Khadr deserves to serve life, and whoever sentenced him to 40 years in the first place was out of their mind.What do they think Khadr will become now that he s a free man? Will he join back up with his radical buddies, or will he transform into a stay at home father who shuttles his kid to soccer practice?This is wrong, and the GOP candidate who wins in 2016 needs to make sure our service members are treated with the utmost respect.What this says to the world more importantly, to Americans is that sensitivity towards Islam is valued above the lives of those who serve our country.Again, Obama makes us look weak to our enemies.Via: Washington Times",0 Al Qaeda calls for attacks inside United States,1 "Australian government lobbying against UNESCO listing Great Barrier Reef as ""In danger.""",0 Chinese market selling 40 year old meat. Police discovered 483 million worth in storage.,1 Qatar's foreign domestic workers subjected to slave-like conditions,1 "BOOM! DONALD TRUMP HAMMERS BERNIE SANDERS WITH THIS ONE QUESTIONBernie Sanders can t effectively handle two loud mouthed female #BlackLiesMatter activists/thugs (see video below), but he wants America to believe he s ready to defend our nation against some of the most horrific enemies we ve ever faced?How is Bernie Sanders going to defend our country if he can t even defend his own microphone? Very sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2015",0 "Italy high court upholds four-year sentence on veteran banker GeronziROME (Reuters) - Italy s highest court on Friday upheld a four-year jail sentence on the former chairman of Generali Cesare Geronzi for his role in the 2003 bankruptcy of food company Cirio. The decision, by the Rome-based Court of Cassation, is final and cannot be appealed. However, three of the four years will be wiped out under a national amnesty and Geronzi, a symbol of old-style Italian capitalism, will not actually serve any jail time because of his age, 82. In April 2015 an appeals court had handed Geronzi a four- year prison sentence for bankruptcy, confirming the previous sentence in a long court battle that started in 2003. Geronzi s lawyers over the years have argued that he had no specific powers over Cirio at the time of its bankruptcy, when he was at the helm of lender Capitalia, and that he had acted correctly. The Rome Court of Cassation also ordered on Friday a new trial for Cirio s ex-chief, Sergio Cragnotti, who was handed a sentence of eight years and eight months in 2015. ",1 "Minor New Zealand parties in focus as hotly contested election gets tighterWELLINGTON (Reuters) - The rising popularity of New Zealand s Labour Party in hotly contested elections is making it less likely that the nationalist New Zealand First Party will play kingmaker, poll averages released on Friday show. The uncertainty over which combination of parties will decide the next government is worsening an already topsy-turvy election, previously seen as a slam dunk for the center-right National Party, which has ruled for almost a decade. Since taking over as leader last month, charismatic politician Jacinda Ardern has almost single-handedly changed the chances of her Labour Party at the Sept. 23 election. When I go out and knock on doors...there is a feeling for change, there is, Marama Fox, a leader of the M ori Party, said at a televised debate between leaders of smaller parties, referring to Labour s newfound popularity. Fox s party, which campaigns for the rights of indigenous New Zealanders, could play a crucial role in determining the next government. Though it has been in a coalition with National for nine years, Fox said she could work with Labour. Support for newly invigorated Labour rose to 41.8 percent in opinion polls, nudging above the National Party s 41.1 percent, figures released by media showed. That put the center-left opposition party closer to being able to form a government with the Green Party, polling at around 5.4 percent, and the M ori Party, which posted support of about 1.2 percent. Alternatively Labour could join forces with New Zealand First, which slipped to 7.9 percent and had previously been thought likely to determine which major party governed. Green Party leader James Shaw would not rule out a deal with New Zealand First, but expressed reluctance, as the party s outspoken leader would not commit to either National or Labour. He s a bad date, Shaw said of Peters last-minute decision to skip the debate. He s stood us up tonight... he s completely unreliable and you don t know which way he s going to go. But if the Green Party fell further, sinking below the support threshold of 5 percent for seats in parliament, that would put New Zealand First in an even stronger position. It is really unusual... it s all about which pieces land where, said Grant Duncan, political analyst at Auckland University. Minor parties often have an outsize role in New Zealand s proportional representation system, in which a party, or combination of parties, needs 61 of Parliament s 120 members - usually about 48 percent of the vote - to form a government. ",1 Tunisias assembly elects human rights activist as interim president [Washington Post],0 " WATCH: Kellyanne Conway Runs From Reporter Asking About Trump’s Vile Attack On MikaWhite House counselor Kellyanne Conway likes to call her critics sexist but she s always stood by amateur president Donald Trump s misogynistic attacks. In May, Conway said that CNN s Anderson Cooper was sexist because he rolled his eyes. Conway s boss unleashed an appalling personal attack on MSNBC s Mika Brzezinski Thursday that left even some Republicans speechless. Melania Trump has undergone numerous cosmetic surgeries, but her husband bashed low IQ Crazy Mika for bleeding after an alleged facelift. Then he went on to attack Psycho Joe Scarborough.While even House Speaker Paul Ryan said Trump s tweets this morning were not appropriate, Conway couldn t answer the question from a TMZ reporter.The video published by TMZ shows Conway turning herself into a pretzel trying to dodge the question as she headed as quickly as possible for the elevator. But halfway there she gave what she called a bipartisan hug to Rep. Debbie Dingell. That s right, she even hugged a Democrat to get out of answering the simple question about the former reality show star unleashing highly inappropriate mean-girl tweets this morning. Look, Conway said, a bipartisan hug. The elevator wasn t on the ground floor yet so Conway had to wait impatiently for it while she was still questioned about her boss s tweets, so naturally, she brought up the weather. It s a gorgeous day here, she said.Back in May, Conway said, I face sexism a lot of times when I show up for interviews like that, of her interview with Anderson Cooper. And now it s a little more than a month later and she s strangely quiet after the alleged president launched a personal attack on Mika Brzezinski simply because she s critical of the former reality show star. While Conway blasts the media over negative coverage, Trump is supposedly the president of the United States and Mika is the co-host of a cable show only one of them is supposed to act presidential.Image via screen capture. ",0 " Trump Agriculture Advisor Has A New Nickname For Clinton, And It’s Worse Than Trump’s (SCREENSHOTS)Donald Trump has his cute little nickname for Crooked Hillary Clinton, but soon-to-be former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller seems to have one-upped him in terms of douchebaggery. On Tuesday, Miller tweeted a Pennsylvania poll showing Clinton down a point or, as he lovingly called her, Cunt. Go Trump go, the deplorable-escaped-from-the-basket proudly declared to punctuate his awful tweet.Texas ag commissioner Sid Miller just called Hillary Clinton the c word. #txlege pic.twitter.com/zkxsEo5FeI Edgar Walters (@ewaltersTX) November 1, 2016As people began to retweet this bit of awfulness, the elected official and member of Trump s agricultural advisory committee quickly removed the tweet. Rather than take personal responsibility, Miller claimed his account was hacked. Tweeted from the same account he was clearly in possession of, Miller tweeted @MillerForTexas HAS BEEN HACKED. The disgusting re-tweet has been removed and we have changed all account passwords. Be advised. When they realized that this was not a retweet that was deleted, and the lie would otherwise not work, Miller removed that claim and replaced it with another. Forgetting again that this was not a retweet, Miller again claimed it was a retweet a staffer made.The text seems to have originally appeared on noted white supremacist Twitter account @TheRickyVaughn, with the exception of Go Trump Go which was added by Miller, the staffer, or whomever. In other words, the person who tweeted it had time to read the tweet and add to it, so it was well known what was posted. They found some interesting poll numbers that included some derogatory language that I would never use, Miller said. When I found out about that, I told them to take it down immediately. When confronted with the fact that this was clearly not a retweet, Miller was full of excuses that simply do not work. I can assure you I did not post that, he said. Maybe the staffers took a screen shot and posted that. It was not a screenshot either. I m sorry to anybody out there, he said. That s not something I would condone or knowingly do. Just last week, though, while condemning Clinton for not always posting her own words on social media, he was firm that the tweets on his account were absolutely his own thoughts and the words his own meaning he took credit for this tweet in advance.Miller and millions like him will be voting on November 8. Make sure you re out there too.Featured image via screengrab",0 The Mormon church officially supports LGBT rights.,0 "No terror arrests in 100,000 police counter-terror searches.",0 Tragic. Over 1500 farmers in India commit suicide after crop failure.,1 Middle East Coronavirus Called 'Threat To The Entire World',1 "Erdogan, Putin to discuss Syrian peace plan next weekISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he will meet Russia s President Vladimir Putin next week to discuss a plan agreed by their countries and Iran to reduce the fighting in Syria s northwestern Idlib province. The three countries agreed last week to deploy hundreds of observers around the province, which borders Turkey and is controlled by an alliance led by the Nusra Front, fighters once linked to al Qaeda. Idlib has been set as a de-escalation zone, Erdogan told an event in New York where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly. Right now, outside the border there are guard towers and stations of the Russian Federation. And inside, Turkey has stations at protection points, Erdogan said, adding the Turkish army was also working with Free Syrian Army fighters. This will continue until peace will be established over there, he said, without giving further details. Erdogan said he would meet Putin on Sept. 28, and Turkey s TRT broadcaster said the talks would take place in Ankara. ",1 Blogger's release 'reignites' Egypt - Middle East - Al Jazeera English,1 The One Billion Dollar Question: Who Are the Libyan Rebels?,1 "Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam NOT captured, as previously reported",1 " Tim Tebow Reveals Trump LIED About Him Speaking At GOP Convention (VIDEO)Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow is denying a story circulated by the Donald Trump presidential campaign that he will be a speaker at the Republican Convention.In a video posted to Facebook, Tebow said he just returned from the Phillipines and woke up this morning to find out I m speaking at the Republican national convention, it s amazing how fast rumors fly and that s exactly what that is, a rumor. https://www.facebook.com/TimTebow/videos/500296036836329/Tebow points out that while one day it might be in the cards for him to be involved in politics, right now he s more interested in his work in the world of conservative Christianity.Tebow gained national notoriety as the quarterback for the University of Florida Gators where he won two national championships and the Heisman trophy. He was less successful in the NFL where he played for four teams but never found a permanent place on a roster. He is very popular with the religious right and has been part of the anti-choice movement.Earlier in the day, a spokesperson from Trump s campaign had confirmed to outlets that Tebow would be a speaker at the convention according to a reporter from NBC News.The denial again raises the question of how much can ever be believed from the Trump campaign. They have constantly throughout the campaign told reporters and the public one thing while it turns out to be very different or not at all.How many other of the speakers rolled out by the Republican Party as speakers for the Convention will actually show up? It is unclear.The list of speakers has also been criticized for being heavy on Trump family members, C and D list celebrities and Republican lawmakers (though many senators are skipping the convention, including high profile leaders like Senator John McCain).The convention has also been plagued by a push by a small faction of delegates to vote against Trump at the roll call. Party chairman Reince Priebus has tried to tamp down on the rebellious faction, and even conducted secret meetings to undermine the effort.Featured image via YouTube",0 "Vietnamese Seek Help with Mystery Illness - Health officials in Vietnam have international experts for help in identifying a strange illness that has killed 19 people, but so far defies explanation. ",1 "In historic move, Turkey and Armenia to formally establish diplomatic ties",0 "Kremlin: U.S. covering up election intrigue by demonising RussiaMOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that U.S. allegations Moscow was behind the hacking of Democratic Party emails were part of a cover-up designed to hide the fact that the U.S. election campaign had been manipulated by domestic forces. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Sunday Russian intelligence services had hacked into Democratic National Committee computers, and she questioned Republican rival Donald Trump’s overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Such pronouncements by Mrs Clinton are of the pre-election rhetoric genre and do not contain anything tangible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. “In this case they (the Americans) are trying to camouflage some of their own (pre-election) shenanigans by demonising Russia. We consider that to be wrong.” Peskov said Clinton’s comments were absurd and emotional and lacking in facts, saying it was wrong to accuse Moscow of wrongdoing without first investigating the accusations. “Official Russian bodies ... do not carry out cyber terrorism,” he said, saying the Kremlin wanted to see U.S.-Russia relations normalised. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied involvement in the hacking incident and said it does not favour any candidate in the Nov. 8 U.S. election. Despite its official stance, Kremlin-backed TV has tilted its coverage in favour of Trump whom Putin has called “very talented.” ",1 "Bodies of ambushed travelers found in eastern Congo: chiefGOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - The bodies of 26 people believed killed after an ambush last week in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been discovered, most of them with their hands tied and their necks broken, a local chief said on Sunday. The victims disappeared a week ago after they were ambushed by militants on a main road in North Kivu s restive Beni territory, where more than 800 people were killed in dozens of massacres between 2014 and 2016. The attack, which followed a lull this year, has revived questions about the state s ability to impose order over eastern borderlands wracked by ethnic tensions and competition for mineral resources. Congolese authorities and U.N. officials initially believed that about 20 civilians had disappeared after being attacked by armed assailants and were likely to have been killed. They were unable to locate the bodies for days, however, due to intense fighting. A group including officials from Congo s U.N. mission MONUSCO, the army, the Congolese Red Cross, and Congolese authorities traveled to the scene of the killings on Sunday. In total, 26 people three women, 22 civilian men and one Congolese soldier were tied up and killed by breaking their necks, Saambili Bamukoka, chief of Beni s Watalinga chiefdom, told Reuters. A Congolese military spokesman had earlier confirmed that the bodies had been discovered near the road, but did not know how many there were. Bodies were found in a state of decomposition, said local army spokesman Mak Hazukay, adding that the road remained closed to civilian traffic. We must first have the time to secure the surrounding area. The day after the attack on the travelers, militants assaulted two nearby military bases, killing two U.N. peacekeepers and injuring 18 others. The army and U.N. peacekeeping mission blamed the raids on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist group active near the border. Authorities have also accused the ADF of carrying out nearly all the massacres of the past three years. But independent and separate U.N. experts say several armed groups as well as national army commanders have been involved in the killings as they vie for influence in Congo s lawless eastern borderlands. Millions died in regional wars that ravaged eastern Congo between 1996-2003 and spawned dozens of armed groups that continue to prey on local populations. ",1 "STAMMERING HILLARY PLAYS DUMB On Assange Comment: ‘I don’t recall’ [Video]Hillary Clinton: If I talked about droning Julian Assange, it would have been a joke. pic.twitter.com/WuMI2p080M Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 4, 2016",0 "Clinton cancels California trip after pneumonia: aideNEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has canceled a campaign trip to California because of her diagnosis of pneumonia, a campaign official said on Sunday. Clinton was scheduled to leave for California on Monday morning for a two-day swing that included fundraisers and a speech on the economy. No other details about her travel were available. ",1 "Trump Transition: As Secretary of State, Tulsi Gabbard offers potential for peace with Syria, RussiaPatrick Henningsen 21st Century WireSo far as world peace and prosperity goes, most of the names currently being kicked around for America s top diplomatic position do not inspire a great deal of confidence. It s easy to feel uneasy when you see recycled neoconservative hawks like John Bolton and Rudy Giuliani, or old hands like Mitt Romney who previously stated that Russia is America s greatest threat. As far as potential picks go for Secretary of State, none is more interesting than the potential that Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard brings to the table. President-Elect Donald Trump invited Hawaii s Gabbard to New York City this week for a meeting regarding possible involvement in the new Presidential Administration. She s got a lot going for her as an Iraq War veteran with deep understanding of the perils of US interventions overseas, she also brings with her some common sense geopolitical context a refreshing change from the off-the-shelf, neoliberal interventionist juggernaut previously driven by the hawkish Hillary Clinton, or the flippant public tirades and baseless insults leveled at Russia by the likes of Samantha Power.With an apparently more experienced Romney ahead of her in the queue, Gabbard is certainly a long shot, but considering the mess left behind by eight years of clandestine free for-all and the chronic absent-minded Obama era interventionist policy blunders, not to mention (but we will) the hysterical public meltdowns by US State Dept spokespersons like John Kirby, Jen Psaki and Marie Harf you can t help but consider the fresh approach that someone like Gabbard might offer.Gabbard (photo, left) also understands the dangers posed by salafist and Wahabi extremists like ISIS, and most certainly would push back against the Obama Administration and the CIA s dubious (and technically illegal, by way of US and international law) policy of arming and supporting various and sundry moderate rebel extremists (terrorists) in Syria like Al Nusra Front, Arar al Sham, Nour al-din al-Zenki and many others all favored by western covert subterfuge teams as instruments of regime change in Syria.In terms of independence, Gabbard has already made it clear that her stint would not involve capitulating to her GOP cabinet cohorts, adding that if she was to disagree with President Trump, I will not hesitate to express that disagreement. Previously, Gabbard was Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), but suddenly resigned earlier this year in protest after pointing out her party s unfair favoring of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during their party s primaries. Following the Wikileaks disclosures, it turns out that Gabbard was on the right side of history, while her detractors in the DNC leadership hierarchy like Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (forced to resign over the Sanders affair was exposed) and Donna Brazile (caught cheating with CNN by passing questions to the Clinton campaign) ended up on the wrong side of history. Here we can see a positive pattern emerging for Gabbard, and it gets better.SEE ALSO: Trump s Foreign Policy: Russia, Syria, Iran and Cabinet NeoconsRegarding foreign policy, Gabbard s stance on Syria is remarkable, and holds great potential for a resolution to the 5 year conflict (not a civil war), as well as a chance to make positive inroads with Russia and other countries who have been perennial foes of both the Obama and Bush Administrations. Because of this, Gabbard has many enemies from on both the Republicans and Democratic chambers alike. Washington, with all of its untoward influence from the cartel of military defense contractor giants, and foreign lobbies like Israel and Saudi Arabia, will not go quietly overnight.In a major departure from the abject failure of the Obama-Clinton-Kerry proxy war debacle in Syria, Gabbard said this about her alignment with Trump policy objectives and diffusing a tense situation in Syria: However, I believe we can disagree, even strongly, but still come together on issues that matter to the American people and affect their daily lives. We cannot allow continued divisiveness to destroy our country I shared with him my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian people, our country and the world, she said. It would lead to more death and suffering, exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda and bring us into a direct conflict with Russia, which could result in a nuclear war. We discussed my bill to end our country s illegal war to overthrow the Syrian government and the need to focus our precious resources on rebuilding our own country and on defeating al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups who pose a threat to the American people. Critics have remarked about her young age (35 years old) and lack of political experience. However, consider how much experience both of the previous Secretary of States had in John Kerry and Hillary Clinton and yet, they have presided over one unmitigated foreign policy disaster after another, whether in Libya, Syria, Yemen or the Ukraine. Quite possibly, history will look back on these two Obama appointees as the worst ever Secretary of States to hold that position. This is no exaggeration when you pause and take a sober look around the Middle East today.Aside from the novelty of her relative youth in relation to typically older diplomats, Gabbard s authenticity and character comes across in her public speaking, and thus she could be very effective, and no doubt very popular internationally. She s also gone against the party line on Syria. Once again, there she is on the right side of history, while her more experienced party leaders are on stuck on the wrong side. While boldly challenging the party line won t win you any favors in the partisan cesspool of the DC swamp, it shows the sort of character required to lead a team for successful bilateral consensus-building at the international negotiations table. In terms of the US public relations image internationally, this is an intangible benefit that you simply cannot put a price on, because right now, Washington s chief priority should be mending some of the serious rifts left behind by a previously derelict State Dept. Gabbard has the potential to paint US diplomacy in an entirely new light, and a positive one at that. The biggest mistake a Trump White House could make is to place a neoconservative, or hawkish Secretary in place who might help to reboot talking up a war with Iran, or use NATO to press against Russia at its doorstep.So the real question should not be about Gabbard s relative experience, but rather can she be what the previous Secretaries could not a diplomat.It s a long shot, but she has the potential to mend a fractured Middle East and also revamp relations with Russia which means a more peaceful and stable world. Not a bad a thought.More from the Trump Transition Team . Shushannah Walshe ABCDemocratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a high-profile Bernie Sanders supporter during the Democratic primaries, is under serious consideration for various Cabinet positions in President-elect Donald Trump s administration, according to a senior official on the transition team.According to the official, the 35-year-old Hawaii congresswoman is being looked as a candidate for secretary of state, secretary of defense or United Nations ambassador. If selected, Gabbard will be the first woman as well as the youngest pick for Trump s Cabinet.She met with him this morning in his New York City offices at Trump Tower. The Trump transition source said that their sit-down was a terrific meeting and that the Trump team sees her as very impressive.Gabbard, a progressive Democrat, has bucked her party in Congress and during the contentious Democratic primaries. In February she left her position as vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee to support Sanders. In the House she has broken with Democrats on the Syrian civil war (she supports keeping President Bashar al-Assad in power) and Syrian refugees (she voted for a GOP bill last year to conduct stricter background checks on refugees).This afternoon she released a long statement on her meeting with Trump, saying he asked to meet with her about our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face. She said they had a frank and positive conversation in which we discussed a variety of foreign policy issues in depth. Continue this story at ABCREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Georgia governor to veto religious protection seen as anti-gayATLANTA (Reuters) - Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said on Monday he will veto a so-called religious freedom bill passed by the state legislature that has drawn national criticism for discriminating against same-sex couples. The measure, which states that no pastor can be forced to perform a same-sex wedding, was recently passed by the Republican-controlled legislature. Under the bill, faith-based groups could not be forced to hire or retain an employee whose beliefs run counter to the organization’s, while churches and religious schools would have the right to reject holding events for people or groups to whom they object. Deal, a Republican, said he could not support the legislation, which had drawn wide criticism from corporations and had triggered threats of a state boycott by the entertainment industry. Deal said he was not bullied into his decision but felt a law was not necessary. “I do not think that we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia,” Deal said at news conference on the legislation, noting his religious faith. Similar bills in states such as Indiana and Arkansas sparked storms of criticism last year, forcing many lawmakers to retreat, and North Carolina is currently seeing protest over a new law that bars transgender people from choosing bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Deal’s decision was immediately celebrated by gay rights advocates, including the national Human Rights Campaign. “Our message to Governor Nathan Deal was loud and clear: this deplorable legislation was bad for his constituents, bad for business, and bad for Georgia’s future,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement. He added that Deal had “set an example for other elected officials to follow.” Mike Griffin, spokesman for the Georgia Baptist Convention, which lobbied for the bill, said his group’s 1.3 million members will continue fighting for it. “All we wanted was protection from government overreach,” he said, noting his disappointment in Deal, a two-term governor. “We feel that he’s let down the people of faith and all of Georgia by not signing the bill.” Critics of the legislation included marquee Hollywood stars, such as Anne Hathaway and Julianne Moore, as well as movie and TV studios 21st Century Fox, NBC Universal, Time Warner, Walt Disney, AMC, Viacom and Marvel Entertainment. More than 300 large corporations and small businesses, including Delta Airlines and Coca Cola also came out against it. “Georgia is a welcoming state,” Deal said. ",1 " ‘Donald Trump’ Joins A Pro-Immigration Rally In LA And It’s Glorious (TWEETS)On Sunday, thousands of protesters came together for the annual pro-immigration march in downtown Los Angeles, but this year it was as much an anti-Trump rally as it was an immigrant rally. The Republican frontrunner even joined the march and it was awesome.Protesters rolled out a huge balloon effigy of The Donald and marched through the streets chanting about inclusiveness:#MayDay rallies in Los Angeles carry strong anti-Trump theme for his anti-illegal immigration platform pic.twitter.com/xE7elZ8AAg News18 (@CNNnews18) May 2, 2016 #MayDay Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/6X0isdKPAW Mike (@mikemcgroarty1) May 1, 2016The march s organizer, Francisco Moreno told the LA Times that the billionaire frontrunner has no heart : He s plastic, he doesn t have a heart, he doesn t have a brain. We re not going to vote for Trump! Another protester, Gloria Carrasco, explained why she was at the rally, I m not a drug addict, I m none of what [Trump] says. I want immigration reform. In addition to the pro-immigration theme, protesters were also marching for LGBT rights, worker s rights, Muslims and against police brutality. One sign read, Stand with immigrants, black lives, Muslims, LGBTQ people and low-wage workers! Los Angeles wasn t the only city that held marches on Sunday. In Seattle, thousands of people held their own rally, but the positivity of that event is largely being ignored by media outlets. Instead of reporting about how amazing it was that so many people united for the rights of people across the country, they ve chosen to discuss a few protesters who clashed with police. Yes, nine people were arrested, but this is what the march actually looked like: Several thousand take to streets of Seattle for #MayDay immigration and labor rights details @KIRORadio pic.twitter.com/hKtVjj0Mej Josh Kerns (@joshkerns38) May 2, 2016Several thousand take to streets of Seattle for #MayDay immigration and labor rights details @KIRORadio pic.twitter.com/hKtVjj0Mej Josh Kerns (@joshkerns38) May 2, 2016Members of Seattle First Baptist Church giving water to passing marchers. #May1stSea#MayDaypic.twitter.com/LpztGSew4C El Comit (@ElComiteWA) May 1, 2016That s what May Day in Seattle actually looked like, not the videos of police violence that you will being played on a loop on the news today.What was clear from the marches in both cities is that the people of this country do not want the bombastic GOP frontrunner as their president. He does not represent us. He does not love this country or its people. The only thing he wants to do is divide us, and immigrants, workers, Muslims, etc. are the scapegoats he needs to appeal to his poorly educated supporters. So, remember that when you go to the polls in November and vote blue.Featured image via David McNew/Getty Images",0 Almost 450 killed in a single day in Syria,0 French MPs vote to ban Islamic full veil in public,1 Women hit by stones at rally against law that critics say legalizes marital rape.,1 "OBAMACARE PRIVACY PRACTICES IN QUESTION AS CRITICS VOICE CONCERNSRep. Dianne Black has been in the healthcare industry for decades and knows way too much to be fooled by the Obama administration. She s calling out the Obamacare powers that be on the lack of privacy protection for Americans. This is serious stuff and breaches of privacy have already occurred last week with federal employees. Does anyone believe the privacy gaps will ever be closed with big government? I don t...Critics blasted the White House for perceived privacy gaps in the Affordable Care Act on Monday.Representative Diane Black (R., Tenn.) is concerned about the possible breaches of privacy caused by Multidimensional Insurance Data Analytics System (MIDAS), a storage system for Obamacare participant s personal information. We repeatedly warned of privacy concerns under the data hub only to be told by the Administration that this hub would not collect personally identifiable information instead it would only be used to pass information between the appropriate agencies to verify an Obamacare applicant s eligibility status. Clearly, the Obama administration did not deliver the whole truth, Black said in a release.MIDAS is not included in the Healthcare.gov privacy policy and it was implemented without a privacy assessment, according to Black. MIDAS is said to hold names, financial accounts, Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers, and passport numbers.Black has more than 40 years experience in the healthcare industry as a nurse and said that privacy is essential to medical care. This should concern every American who desires to see their personal information protected from the prying eyes of Big Brother Obama and it begs the question, she said, adding, What else don t we know when it comes to Obamacare? Read more: WFB",0 Ultra-Orthodox Jews cause chaos on flight to Israel by demanding segregation of men and women,1 "In Canada, More Jobs in Green Energy than Tar Sands: 'The global clean energy revolution isnt a future scenarioit is underway right now,' declares Clean Energy Canada",0 Websites 'Stirring up Social Strife' to be Blocked Within 5 Days in Russia,1 "State Dept. subpoenaed documents from Clinton Foundation: reportWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. State Department investigators last year issued a subpoena to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation seeking documents about projects run by the charity that may have required U.S. government approval when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. A U.S. official said the matter was being investigated by the Inspector General, the State Department’s internal watchdog. Citing unnamed sources for the report, the Post said the subpoena issued in the fall also asked for records related to senior Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who for six months in 2012 simultaneously worked for several employers including the State Department, the foundation, and Clinton’s personal office. The report follows a Reuters investigation last year that found the Clinton Foundation’s flagship health project did not submit new or increased payments from at least seven foreign governments to the State Department for review, in breach of the ethics agreement Clinton signed with the incoming Obama administration in order to become secretary of state. Clinton, who is running for the Democratic nomination in the Nov. 8 presidential election, has been criticized for using a private email account hosted on a private computer while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, a matter the FBI is investigating. Spokesmen for Clinton’s campaign and the Clinton Foundation and a lawyer for Abedin did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. A spokesman for the Inspector General also declined to comment. The Post quoted an unnamed foundation representative as saying the initial document request had been narrowed by investigators and that the foundation was not the focus of the probe. It said there was no indication that the investigators were looking at Clinton. “The full scope and status of the inquiry, conducted by the State Department’s inspector general, were not clear from the material correspondence reviewed by the Washington Post,” the paper said. Sources familiar with investigations into the controversy surrounding Clinton’s private email server said they had no reason to believe any government agency was conducting any kind of inquiry into possible criminal violations related to the former secretary of state. ",1 "BOYCOTT BACKFIRES! Ivanka Trump Clothing Line Reports Record SalesIvanka Trump s eponymous women s fashion line is reporting record sales figures despite calls for a boycott and controversies surrounding President Trump. Since the beginning of February, they were some of the best performing weeks in the history of the brand, Abigail Klem, the president of the Ivanka Trump fashion brand, tells Refinery29 in an interview published Tuesday. For several different retailers Ivanka Trump was a top performer online, and in some of the categories it was the [brand s] best performance ever. The news of a sales surge comes after Nordstrom announced in early February that it would no longer carry the 35-year-old s clothing and accessories, citing poor product sales. The move caused President Trump to tweet shortly after the announcement that his daughter was being treated so unfairly by the luxury department store giant.Also last month, Neiman Marcus stopped carrying the first daughter s jewelry line on its website, and employees of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores were instructed to throw away any signage advertising her wares. The Office of Government Ethics recommended disciplinary action against White House adviser Kellyanne Conway after she urged viewers to go buy Ivanka s stuff during a February interview on Fox & Friends. A campaign called Grab Your Wallet, which is critical of the Trump administration, asked shoppers to boycott retailers with any Ivanka or Donald Trump-branded products.According to the e-commerce aggregator Lyst, from January to February, Ivanka Trump sales increased 346 percent, Refinery29 writes.Read more: The Hill",0 "Pentagon says revising rules after Trump's transgender banWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday said it would provide revised guidance to the U.S. military “in the near future” after President Donald Trump announced a ban on transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military. “We will continue to work closely with the White House to address the new guidance provided by the Commander-in-Chief on transgender individuals serving the military,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis, referring all questions about Trump’s comments to the White House. “We will provide revised guidance to the Department in the near future.” ",1 "Factbox: Ex-FBI Director Mueller draws praise as special counsel on Russia probeWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday generally approved of the appointment of former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate possible connections between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign team and Russia. Committees in the House and the Senate will continue their own investigations while Mueller leads the Justice Department’s probe. Mueller’s appointment comes after the administration was rocked by reports that Trump asked Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey to drop an investigation of Mike Flynn, who resigned amid allegations of contacts with Russia. Trump fired Comey last week. Below are reactions to the Mueller appointment: “As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know - there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity. I look forward to this matter concluding quickly.” - Trump in a statement “A special prosecutor is the first step but it cannot be the last. Director Mueller will still be in the chain of command under the Trump-appointed leadership of the Justice Department. He cannot take the place of a truly independent, outside commission that is completely free from the Trump administration’s meddling.” - Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi in a statement “I don’t think they should have appointed someone ... Where is the actual crime that they think they need a special prosecutor to prosecute? ... What I worry is Democrats are going to politically exploit this on a daily drumbeat.” - Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee investigating Russian influence, in a Fox News interview in which he also praised Mueller’s “impeccable credentials.” “I think the president ought to now back off and let the justice system proceed as it proceeds in all cases. I think tweeting about the process of the investigation is not helpful and again, I think if he has done nothing wrong there will be no problem.” - Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings to reporters “This had gotten too political. Any news comes out, those on the left yell impeach, some on the right say it’s fake. So this hopefully detoxes some of the politics.” - Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger to reporters “It’s fine but there’s absolutely no need for it...In Watergate, there was a crime. In the (Monica) Lewinsky case, there was a crime. There’s no crime here.” - Republican Representative Peter King to Politico “Hopefully, he (Mueller) will be seen as someone that both Democrats and Republicans can support. I think it’s a prudent move. And it certainly means that the administration is taking it seriously.” - Republican Representative Mark Meadows to reporters “This must only be a first step. No doubt this investigation should extend to the circumstances that led to the president’s abrupt dismissal of James Comey and to other critical matters that arise.” - Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy “I would hope that the people here (in Congress) will believe if a special prosecutor tells them that there’s no indication that the Russians have done anything here, that they will finally open their eyes, and say, ‘There’s no there, there.’” - Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher to Reuters “The appointment of former FBI director and respected lawyer Robert Mueller ... is a positive development and will provide some certainty for the American people that the investigation will proceed fairly and free of political influence.” - Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Mark Warner, leading members of the Senate committee investigating Russian influence, in a statement ",1 "U.S. lawmakers offer bills to counter Obama Guantanamo planWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers introduced legislation on Tuesday to counter President Barack Obama’s bid to close the Guantanamo detention center, underscoring the difficulty he faces keeping a promise to close it before leaving office next year. Republican Representative Ed Royce, the chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a measure that would force the Obama administration to publicize plans for transfers from Guantanamo. Currently, the administration must inform Congress of plans for any transfers, but those notices are classified. Public notice of plans to move detainees would allow opponents more time to marshal opposition and potentially stop any transfers. “This legislation will bring much needed public scrutiny to the administration’s mad rush to transfer detainees out of Guantanamo Bay before President Obama leaves office,” Royce said in a statement.  Four other Republicans, Senators Richard Burr, Kelly Ayotte, Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio, a 2016 presidential hopeful, introduced a bill late on Monday that would bar Obama from returning the naval base at Guantanamo to Cuba without authorization from Congress. A similar bill was introduced in the House by Republican Representative David Jolly. “It’s clear that the threats to the United States are increasing, not decreasing, and we need every available military asset. As President Obama continues to court the Castro regime, I believe it is important that Congress makes clear that he cannot give up our base in such a strategic location,” said Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “President Obama’s aggressive push to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay is dangerous,” Burr said. ",1 "STUNNING VINTAGE VIDEO Shows BARACK OBAMA Mocking God…The Bible…Where Was This 9 Years Ago?Obama can be seen addressing a crowd about religion and the role it plays in our lives and in politics. The most interesting line comes at the beginning of the video when he tells the crowd America is no longer a Christian nation: We are no longer a Christian nation. At least not just ! Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It s the art of the impossible. If God s spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God s edicts regardless of the consequences. Barack Obama goes on to criticize his interpretation of several passages in the Bible suggesting God s word is ridiculous and needs to be examined and challenged ",0 "A Palestinian 20 years, kept their children in the basement",0 "Good News for Silver in 2017 James Burgess Oil PricePrecious metals are an important component of every investor s portfolio, and while gold often gets all the hype, another precious metal will be a much better bet in 2017: Silver.The market for silver continues to tighten as supply has failed to keep up with demand for much of the past decade. Silver is used in all facets of modern life, including electronics, medical devices, engines, batteries, solar panels, LED lighting, semiconductors, touch screens, dentistry, and nuclear reactors. The list goes on.Demand for silver is up by more than 35 percent since 2009, while supply only grew by a little more than 10 percent. In 2015 alone, global demand for silver exceeded supply by roughly 129 million ounces, or about 11 percent of overall demand. With silver consumption set to expand indefinitely, the supply deficit will continue to put upward pressure on prices in the years ahead.The set-up here is fantastic because indications are that we are on the edge of another bull run at a time when silver mining stocks are significantly undervalued. Silver prices had a good run for most of 2016, but have fallen back in recent weeks as the dollar has strengthened and uncertainty surrounding the U.S. presidential election abated. But the pause in the run up in prices will be brief, offering investors an appetizing entry point for a crucial commodity in today s globalized economy.Silver may be down 10% from its peak of $20.67 in Q3, but the sell-offs were based on sentiment, not fundamental reality and this is exactly where smart investment finds opportunity. The strongest documented indication of this is the Q3 earnings of silver miners, which only the savviest of investors are picking up on. Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) reported Q3 earnings of an impressive US$43.4 million up US$9.2 million over the previous quarter just for starters.[ ]1. The Global Silver Lining: A Precious Metal PremiumGlobal investors are magnetically drawn to precious metals in times of uncertainty and instability. Global tensions are as high as they were in the 9/11 aftermath, when precious metals soared phenomenally as everyone hedged bets against global instability Continue this article at Oil PriceREAD MORE FINANCIAL NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Financial Files",0 " WATCH: Fox Sports Reporter Taken Off Air After Questioning Intelligence Of MexicansFox is not only number one with racists, the network is apparently number one at hiring racists as well.After a video of a school valedictorian went viral because Mayte Lara Ibarra told the audience that she is an undocumented immigrant during her speech, a Fox Sports reporter simply could not accept that a Latino is smart enough to be at the top of the class.During a Barstool Rundown associated with Republican nominee Donald Trump and his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Fox reporter Emily Austen openly questions the intelligence of Mexicans and made racist comments about Asians and Jews. I didn t even know Mexicans were that smart, Austen said. She also derided Jews as stingy and claimed the Chinese guy is always the smartest guy in math class. Here s the video via Vimeo. Austen s remarks begin at the 24 minute mark.Well, while racist Trump supporters probably appreciated Austen s comments, they didn t go down well with her bosses at Fox Sports, who promptly removed her from the air for the time being.Fox Sports General Manager Steve Tello condemned Austen s comments and quickly made it clear that Fox Sports had nothing to do with them. We were made aware that Emily Austen appeared in a social media video unaffiliated with Fox Sports in which she made insensitive and derogatory comments. She was not speaking on behalf of Fox Sports, nor do we condone any of the statements she made in the video. Emily has been advised that her comments were unacceptable, and she is not scheduled to appear on any upcoming Fox Sports Florida or Fox Sports Sun broadcasts. These kinds of stereotypical precepts have no place in our society, but this is the kind of America that Donald Trump is hoping to create. As a public media figure, Austen should have known better. It would like someone saying that all blondes are dumb. However, that stereotype appears to be true in Austen s case.Featured image via YouTube",0 "EPIC FAIL: Anti-Trump Movement Spent $75 MILLION on 64,000 Ads21st Century Wire says The system is running out of options it can use to stop Trump.Watch a video of this report here:CNN is reporting that the anti-Trump movement has spent an estimated $75,723,580 on 64,000 negative television advertisements. Furthermore, that figure only accounts for broadcast television, not cable or satellite.About one out of every four dollars against Trump came from Conservative Solutions PAC, a group supporting Marco Rubio s candidacy.Two groups supporting Cruz wasted nearly $16 million in their effort, while his campaign spent $4.3 million.One group supporting Jeb Bush spent $10 million against Trump.Hillary Clinton s campaign has already spent $5.2 million specifically going after Trump.Yet, despite all of these huge sums of money being spent to try and disparage Trump s run for the presidency they have all failed.Donald Trump is the only candidate still standing on the GOP ticket, and a new poll suggests Trump can indeed beat establishment-darling Hillary Clinton.Most shocking for the establishment, perhaps, is that Trump himself only spent $19 million on campaign advertising around a quarter of what was spent against him.What is the system going to try next to further its campaign to stop Trump?GET THE FULL STORY ON THE 2016 ELECTION: 21st Century Wire Election Files",0 North Korea erupts with anti-gay tirade against UN Human Rights Chair,1 Mass sexual assault reported at music festival in Germany: The attacks are similar to those reported in Cologne and other cities on New Year's Eve.,0 "Britain to submit 'Brexit bill' proposal before December EU meetingLONDON (Reuters) - Britain will submit proposals on how to settle its divorce bill with the European Union before an EU summit next month and is expected to negotiate hard, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Sunday. The EU told Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday that there was more work to be done to unlock the Brexit talks, repeating its early December deadline for her to flesh out Britain s opening offer on the financial settlement. We will make our proposals to the European Union in time for the Council, Hammond told the BBC, referring to the Dec. 14-15 meeting of EU heads of government. He was speaking three days before he sets out Britain s budget plan, where he will have to find room within tight fiscal constraints to help May convince voters that the Conservative government is tackling Britain s domestic problems at the same time as negotiating its exit from the EU. Last week, May met fellow EU leaders to try to break a deadlock over how much Britain will pay on leaving the bloc, an issue threatening to derail British hopes for a negotiated exit and an agreement on a new trading relationship by March 2019. May has signalled she would increase an initial offer that is estimated at some 20 billion euros ($24 billion) - about a third of what Brussels wants. But Hammond, who has been criticised by supporters of Brexit for being too conciliatory towards Brussels and lobbying for a softer exit, said Britain would take a tough stance about how much it owes. There are some things that we re very clear we do owe under the treaties, other things where we dispute the amounts or even whether something should be included, Hammond said in a separate interview with ITV television. Of course we ll negotiate hard to get the very best deal for the British taxpayer. Asked about the prospect of Brexit without a trade deal, Hammond said he was increasingly confident that an agreement could be reached because it was in the interests of both parties. Despite scepticism in Brussels over the tight timetable, May and her chief negotiator David Davis have been clear they want to have a full post-Brexit free trade deal sealed by the time Britain leaves. However, Hammond set out a softer stance on the timing of the trade deal. We hope that it will be agreed, certainly in principle, that the big elements of it will be agreed before March 2019 so that everybody knows where we are going, he told ITV. ",1 "Uttar Pradesh Gang-Rape Victim Raped, Threatened by Police Officers Probing Her Case (India)",0 " Meet The Cowardly Republicans Who Re-Endorsed Trump After Condemning Him For Sexual AssaultRepublicans everywhere have been denouncing Trump for his boasts about sexually assaulting women, but it seems that they can t stick to their guns. In a very cowardly move, four Republicans have re-endorsed him, one has knuckled under and stayed quiet, and more are sure to follow both of these leads. These weak-kneed, spineless rat turds are busy putting party over country, and it s disgusting.First up: Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska. She made her position clear on the radio shortly after the worst weekend Trump has ever had. As a woman, there is no way she should still support him, and yet, she does for some sick reason: Well, like most Nebraskans, I am fully committed to defeating Hillary Clinton. I support the Republican ticket and I plan to vote for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence on November 8th. She went on to say that she d never said she wouldn t vote for the GOP ticket, which is likely true, but smacks of making excuses. All she s done is show that beating Hillary is more important than the very real danger of legitimizing sexual crimes, and making a predator into a role model for our children. Giving in to that ideology is the move of a coward.Senator John Thune of South Dakota is next. He tweeted that Trump should withdraw and Mike Pence should take over. Now, though? He s caved like the chickenshit he is, too. He said: He has a lot of work to do, I think, to win this election. But I m certainly not going to vote for Hillary Clinton. So vote for Evan McMullin at least he s respectable, knowledgeable and sane, unlike Trump and his minions.New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett said that he felt Mike Pence was a better candidate than Trump following Trump s unmasking as a sexual predator. However, Garrett s campaign has since said that he still feels Trump is the best candidate to lead our country. His spokesman said, in part: Donald Trump remains the nominee of the Republican Party, and Rep. Garrett has always said he will vote for the Republican Party nominee. Scott Garrett s top priority in this election is stopping the Clinton-Gottheimer agenda of higher taxes, more wasteful spending, and weak national security policy. All important issues, but dismissing half the electorate by essentially saying, Sure, we care about you, but your problems with sexual assault are just not that important, right now is clueless and vile. It s typical sexism, actually.In fourth place, but tied for first, is Congressman Bradley Byrne of Alabama. We probably shouldn t be surprised that an official from Alabama would decide to support Trump, though, even after sixteen straight months of rotting vomit spewing forth from his mouth. Byrne was one of the first officials in Alabama to call on Trump to step down, but apparently, that s all changed now that it s been a week since Trump s hot mic tape was released.Byrne s spokesman, Seth Burrow, said: He will support the Republican ticket on Election Day, as he has pledged to do all along. He just believes that person should be Mike Pence. He just believes that person should be Mike Pence, is one of the worst cop-outs in the long, sad history of bad cop-outs.And last, but certainly not least, is Paul Ryan. While he has refused to campaign with Trump anymore, and even disinvited him to an event in Wisconsin, he s got an extraordinarily flimsy position on Trump now. He won t talk about Trump, and he seems to be urging people to just kind of forget about Trump s Twitter storms and other problems.No mention of Trump being a sexual predator, which is unbelievably hypocritical for someone as Christian as Paul Ryan. To be sure, Ryan never rescinded his endorsement of Trump, and apparently, that position has not changed. It s still sick.More Republicans are sure to follow as they decide their party is more important than actually standing for what s right. They are bloody pieces of feces-infused wimpiness for that, considering they keep trumpeting every type of moral value there is.Photo of Deb Fischer by Mark Wilson, photo of John Thune by Alex Wong, photo of Scott Garrett by Chip Somodevilla, Photo of Paul Ryan by Win McNamee, via Getty Images. Photo of Bradley Byrne By U.S. House Of Representatives, Public Domain via Wikipedia. All photos merged by Rika Christensen",0 Venezuela's Chavez expels U.S. ambassador,0 "Over 40 people have been killed in a wave of bombings in the Pakistani city of Lahore. It is suspected that the army was the main target, though mostly civilians were killed.",1 "Trump blasts Russia probe, touts ex-adviser Page over FBI, CIAWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump sought to insert himself into congressional investigations on Russia on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to hear from one of his former advisers, Carter Page, to counter testimony by directors of the FBI and CIA. Trump has been dismissive of probes by the FBI and several congressional panels into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion with his campaign. In a series of early morning tweets, the president quoted a letter from Page, in which he asked to address the House Intelligence Committee promptly and referred to what he characterized as faulty testimony from U.S. intelligence officials. Trump accused Democrats of blocking Page’s testimony, without citing evidence but referring to an unidentified report. “So now it is reported that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, don’t want him to testify. He blows away their case against him & now wants to clear his name by showing ‘the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan...’ Witch Hunt!” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the former directors of the FBI and CIA. Trump’s tweets came as his advisers are planning to establish a “war room” to combat mounting questions about communication between Russia and his campaign. The White House said on Wednesday it would not answer any more questions about the investigations, referring reporters instead to Trump’s outside attorney, Marc Kasowitz. The president’s penchant for tweeting could complicate White House efforts to tamp down the scandal if the messages appear to address the investigations. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House committee, swatted back at Trump on Twitter with a reference to the president’s acknowledgment to NBC that he was thinking of “this Russia thing” when he fired Comey on May 9. “@POTUS, appreciate suggestion on witnesses but feel you may not have probe’s interests at heart. Ex: Firing FBI Dir because of Russia probe,” Schiff wrote. Democrats say Comey’s dismissal was aimed at hindering the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Russia investigation. CNN reported on Wednesday that Comey would confirm reports that Trump had asked him to let up in an investigation of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn’s contacts with Russia in upcoming public testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Trump’s fellow Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have urged him to tweet less and more wisely. U.S. Representative Sean Duffy said on Wednesday the Russia investigations were becoming too much of a distraction in Trump’s 4-month-old presidency. “I think the president should step aside from any comments, any tweets on the investigation and focus on the agenda that he ran on,” Duffy said on CNN. “Stop tweeting about it, stop talking about it and get about the business of your agenda.” Page, who provided a copy of his letter to Reuters, said the House committee postponed an appearance scheduled for next week without giving a specific reason. Schiff said in a statement that he and the Republican overseeing the panel’s probe, Representative Mike Conaway, want to review documents before interviewing witnesses. Russia has denied U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Moscow interfered in the election campaign to try to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor, and the president has denied any collusion. Congressional committees have contacted a parade of Trump associates and advisers to request information in their probes. In addition to Page, they include Flynn, former campaign manager Paul Manafort, former White House press officer Boris Epshteyn, personal lawyer Michael Cohen and informal adviser Roger Stone. On Wednesday, the House committee approved subpoenas for Flynn and Cohen. It also approved subpoenas to intelligence agencies seeking records showing which former Obama administration officials requested the “unmasking” of the names of Trump associates who were inadvertently picked up in top-secret communications intercepts. Flynn has also been subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee. ",1 "WISCONSIN PRIEST COMES OUT AS “GAY” During Sunday Mass…Gets Standing Ovation…Wait…What?In 1992, the Vatican under Pope John Paul II published the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which stated, among many other things, that homosexual tendencies are objectively disordered. One of the principal theologians who shaped the document was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would succeed John Paul II as Pope Benedict XVI. He too would take a hard-line stance against homosexuality.Two decades later, Pope Francis has signaled what many believe to be a softening on the matter.In 2013, when asked about gay priests, he famously replied, Who am I to judge? He has continued to call for the Catholic Church to treat LGBT people with dignity and respect, and to fight discrimination against sexual minorities. RNSFrom the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The Rev. Gregory Greiten told his congregation Sunday, I am Greg. I am a Roman Catholic priest. And, yes, I am gay! The priest in the Milwaukee Archdiocese serves as the pastor of St. Bernadette Parish. On Monday, he came out to the rest of the world with a column in the National Catholic Reporter. He received a standing ovation from his parishioners when he made his announcement before the column s publication.Greiten said he was breaking the silence of gay men in the clergy so he could reclaim his own voice.While it is established that there are gay men who serve as priests, it is rare for a priest to come out to his congregation in this way. Greiten shares an estimate in his article that there are between 8,554 and 21,571 gay Catholic priests in the United States from The Changing Face of the Priesthood. Church theology teaches that acting upon homosexuality is a sin.In announcing his identity as a gay man, Greiten chastised the Catholic Church for its stance on homosexuality.He wrote: By choosing to enforce silence, the institutional church pretends that gay priests and religious do not really exist. Because of this, there are no authentic role models of healthy, well-balanced, gay, celibate priests to be an example for those, young and old, who are struggling to come to terms with their sexual orientation. This only perpetuates the toxic shaming and systemic secrecy. NYP-Greiten wrote that has decided to stand with the few courageous priests who have taken the risk to come out of the shadows and have chosen to live in truth and authenticity. The church s silent stance on gay priests perpetuates toxic shaming and systematic secrecy, Greiten wrote. The church needs healthy role models for priests who are struggling to come to terms with their sexual orientation, he said.Greiten met with Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki before coming out, according to an archdiocese spokeswoman. We support Father Greiten in his own personal journey and telling his story of coming to understand and live with his sexual orientation, Listecki said in a statement Monday. As the Church teaches, those with same-sex attraction must be treated with understanding and compassion. ",0 "Using Illegal Drugs Is Like Gambling Or Eating Junk Food, Says UK Drug Policy Commission",1 Israel Kidnaps Eight Palestinians In the West Bank,0 Slavery Still Exists: Photographs of human trafficking and enslavement around the world,1 "Spanish Red Cross physiotherapist killed in AfghanistanMAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A Spanish physiotherapist working for the Red Cross in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif was shot dead on Monday, apparently by a hospital patient, officials said. Police said two arrests had been made and an investigation was underway. The International Committee of the Red Cross said Lorena Enebral Perez, 38, was killed in its orthopedic rehabilitation center in Mazar-i-Sharif. Energetic and full of laughter, Lorena was the heart of our office in Mazar. Today, our hearts are broken, said the ICRC s head of delegation in Afghanistan, Monica Zanarelli. Perez s work in Afghanistan involved helped people, including children, who had lost legs or arms, mostly in the war, to learn to walk again or feed themselves. Sheer Jan Durani, a spokesman for the police chief in Balkh province, said two patients were admitted to hospital and one took out a pistol apparently concealed in a wheelchair and shot the woman. Both men were arrested, he said. Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for aid workers, with groups including the ICRC often facing attacks on their staff, both Afghan and foreign. Perez s death followed the killing in February of six ICRC staff in northern Afghanistan in an attack in which two other Afghan employees were abducted. The kidnapped Afghan staff were released six days ago, the ICRC statement said. The ICRC has seven rehabilitation centers in Afghanistan that manufacture more than 19,000 artificial limbs per year and treat hundreds of thousands of patients. ",1 " WATCH: Mark Cuban Informs Fox Host That Media Would Cover Trump Better If He Would Just Shut UpWhen a Fox News host tried to whine about the way the media has been covering Donald Trump, Mark Cuban dropped a truth bomb on him.Throughout this campaign, the Republican nominee has said increasingly more bombastic statements. In fact, Trump s rhetoric and behavior are totally unprecedented, which is why the media is covering him the way they do.But Trump has repeatedly complained about the media covering the things he has said and done, which is why he has been blaming them for his low poll numbers and is accusing them of rigging the election against him.And Fox host Howard Kurtz tried to push the Trump line on Sunday, only to be derailed by real billionaire Mark Cuban. The media coverage of Trump in the last couple of months has been overwhelmingly negative, Kurtz whined. But Cuban was quick to point out that Donald Trump only has himself to blame for the way the media covers him. Well, that s of his own making, isn t it? If you re going to say the things that he says, and if you re going to make the flippant comments that he makes, you re going to get covered. I mean, all he had to do was shut up nine out of ten times and the coverage would be distinctly different. That s just not something he s capable of doing. Cuban is exactly right. Donald Trump did this to himself by simply opening his mouth and saying and doing things that he shouldn t. He just doesn t want to take responsibility for his words and behavior so he is making the media his scapegoat and his supporters believe him.When Kurtz complained that the media is hostile towards Trump, Cuban once again informed the Fox host Trump knew what he was getting into when he threw his hat into the presidential arena. Look, on the way up, he was happy to ride the train, right? He bragged about media coverage, he was excited about it, he loved the live coverage of the primaries and early on the presidential race. It s a two-edged sword, you know that. So if you re going to love it on the way up, you got to learn to deal with it. Here s the video via YouTube.Once again, Mark Cuban is spot on. Donald Trump has seen a lot of presidential elections in his lifetime so he should know that media coverage of presidential candidates is intense. And Howard Kurtz should know that the primary job of the media is to cover the candidates because that s what journalism is all about. It s not that the media s coverage of Trump is negative, it s that Trump has made himself and his campaign negative from the start and he has made no effort to tone it down.So if Trump wants the media to start covering him differently, he ll have to change first. And that probably won t happen any time soon.Featured Image: Screenshot",0 "Israeli military action in Gaza is comparable to that of German soldiers during the Holocaust, a Jewish UK lawmaker whose family suffered at the hands of the Nazis has claimed",1 "Fragment of Florence basilica falls and kills tourist: officialFLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - A stone fragment, probably a piece of marble from the top of a column, fell on a tourist visiting Florence s Basilica of the Holy Cross, killing him, officials said on Thursday. The church where Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarotti is buried has been closed by police, a spokesman for the national fire rescue service said. The fire service identified the victim as a male Spaniard in his 50s. ",1 "Beijing government pulls winter construction ban from websiteBEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing s city authorities have taken down from their website a policy document put up just a few days ago that looked to help improve the city s notorious air quality by banning construction during winter months. It is unclear if the move means the prohibition is no longer in place, with an official at the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development who gave his name as Yu saying the document had been pulled from the website due to misunderstandings over the rules in media reports. He declined to give further details. The statement, dated Sept. 15, was posted on the commission s website last Friday, but it was no longer available on Wednesday. It was not clear when it was withdrawn. Under the plan, all construction of road and water projects, as well as demolition of housing, would be banned from Nov. 15 to March 15 within the city s six major districts and surrounding suburbs. As part of dust control measures, the government often instructs construction sites in northern cities to close during bouts of heavy smog in the winter when households crank up heating, drawing on the power grid which is mainly fueled by coal. Provincial authorities are rushing to enforce the central government s ambitious targets for preventing toxic air during the upcoming colder months as it has ramped up its years-long war on smog. The possible pulling of the construction rules underscores the complexity of implementing some of the steps. Among the most stringent measures are orders for heavy industry such as steel mills to curb output by as much as 50 percent during the colder months. Recent checks of factories across the north have forced many to close or curb operations, roiling supplies of some critical raw materials like coke and coal and sending prices of base metals soaring. ",1 Wau Holland Foundation takes legal action against PayPal over suspended WikiLeaks funds,1 "North Korea defector 'stabilized' after second surgery: South Korean surgeonSEOUL (Reuters) - A North Korean soldier who suffered critical gunshot wounds during a defection dash over the border to South Korea this week stabilized on Wednesday after a second round of surgery, a doctor treating him said. The soldier, whose rank and identity have not been disclosed, was flown by helicopter to hospital on Monday after his escape to South Korea in a hail of bullets fired by North Korean soldiers. Wednesday s surgery was successful in terms of staunching bleeding and the soldier had stabilized much , said Lee Cook-jong, the surgeon in charge of his treatment. However, he remained unconscious and was not out of the woods, as complications from a severe hip fracture and possible infection remained major concerns, Lee said. We will be able to tell you after about 10 days, Lee told reporters at a briefing, when asked about the soldier s chances of surviving. On Tuesday, government and military officials said the soldier was in critical condition but doctors expected him to live. The soldier made his escape in a border peace village on the heavily guarded demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. At first, he sped toward the border in a four-wheel drive vehicle but was forced to abandon it and flee on foot when one of its wheels came loose, South Korean officials said earlier. He was hit by about seven bullets before he took cover behind a South Korean structure in a Joint Security Area (JSA) inside the demilitarized zone. Doctors removed five bullets from him earlier and one more on Wednesday. North Korea has remained silent on the issue, while no unusual activity has been detected at the border where the soldier defected, the South s Unification Ministry said. There will need to be some questioning on why he defected after his treatment is over, ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a regular briefing. Monday was the first time since 2007 a North Korean soldier had defected across the JSA. ",1 "Month into trial, North Korean 'masterminds' behind Kim Jong Nam killing a mysteryKUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - One month into the trial of the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un s half-brother, Malaysian prosecutors have focused on two accused women, but have shed no light on four prime North Korean suspects. Historically close ties between North Korea and Malaysia unraveled as the Southeast Asian country started investigating the alleged murder of Kim Jong Nam, who died after the two women smeared his face with VX, a banned chemical weapon, at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. Malaysian police declared two women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam, and four men who fled to North Korea, as prime suspects. Police secured an Interpol alert for the four men, identified as North Koreans Ri Ji Hyon, Hong Song Hac, O Jong Gil, and Ri Jae Nam. Their photos and passport details were widely distributed among media organizations. But as the trial enters its fourth week, prosecutors have yet to name the four men or even confirm their North Korean origin in court. The case s lead police investigator, Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz, has referred to the suspects only by their pseudonyms during the trial and said that authorities did not have enough information to trace and arrest them. Based on my investigation, the suspects used assumed names and there were no identifying details such as passport numbers or telephone numbers, Wan Azirul told the court. Kim Jong Nam and his relationship with North Korea s leader has been barely mentioned throughout the trial. Witnesses and lawyers alike refer to the victim as Kim Chol, according to the name on his North Korean passport. Nor have prosecutors made any mention of what South Korean intelligence sources have described as a state-sponsored plot to kill Kim Jong Nam, who had been living in exile in Macau. Both South Korean and U.S. officials say Kim Jong Un s regime were behind the killing, which Pyongyang vehemently denies. The question of who (the victim) is related to is only relevant when trying to determine the motive, but it s up to the prosecutors if they want to avoid having to prove a conspiracy involving the head of state of a foreign government, Shad Saleem Faruqi, a law professor at the Kuala Lumpur-based University of Malaya, The broader you cast the net, the more difficult your job becomes, he said. Malaysia and North Korea came close to snapping ties over the case until a swap deal was agreed upon on March 30. Three North Koreans wanted for questioning over the killing were allowed to return home, along with Kim Jong Nam s body, while nine Malaysians barred from leaving Pyongyang were released. Defense lawyers have said Siti Aisyah and Huong, who were arrested in Kuala Lumpur within days of the killing, were duped into thinking they were playing a prank for a reality TV show and did not know they were poisoning Kim Jong Nam. CCTV recordings screened in a court on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur showed the four suspects, known only as Mr. Chang, Mr. Y, James and Hanamori, at the airport on the morning of the killing. Hanamori, who went by the names of Grandpa and Uncle orchestrated the operation at the airport, Wan Azirul said. Two of them were seen meeting Siti Aisyah and Huong before changing clothes and leaving the scene after Kim Jong Nam was attacked. Mr. Chang and Mr. Y had applied liquid on the women s hands, Wan Azirul said. The trial resumes on Monday when more CCTV footage is expected to be shown. The defense team is expected to focus more on the four North Koreans, when the judge calls it to present its case. The two women face a mandatory death sentence by hanging if found guilty. ",1 "Religious instruction to be scrapped from curriculum next year in Victoria, Australia",0 EU ministers seek to ban creation of 'hacking tools',0 "Fundamentalists block entire Paris streets by praying, preventing the inhabitants of the area from going out or returning to their homes, the shopkeepers from working, and ordinary citizens from circulating normally.",1 "OUCH! NEW EMAILS Show Hillary Didn’t Want To Fly In Same Plane As Michelle ObamaFormer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once requested to fly in a separate plane rather than share one with then-First Lady Michelle Obama, according to newly released emails.The email exchange was part of a new batch of emails that government watchdog Judicial Watch obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Clinton and her top aide, Huma Abedin, discussed in a July 2011 exchange Clinton s plans to attend the funeral of fellow former First Lady Betty Ford in Grand Rapids, Mich. Looks like plane won t be an issue, Abedin wrote. Also, looks like Michelle Obama also going. Is it ok [sic] that we and Mrs. O take two separate planes? Clinton asked. I think it s ok [sic]. But let me see what kind of plane she s taking, Abedin responded. I would rather have our own of course, Clinton added.The new emails surfaced after other messages, ones released during the 2016 presidential campaign, revealed that Clinton and Obama s husband, former President Barack Obama, had an antagonistic relationship. And she HATES that the president ( that man, as the Clintons call him) kicked her ass in 2008, Democratic megadonor Jeffrey Leeds wrote to former Secretary of State Colin Powell in March 2015. She can t believe it or accept it. Leeds also addressed the growing controversy over Clinton s use of a private email server at the State Department, writing that then-President Obama would not care if Clinton found herself in legal trouble. I don t think the president would weep if she found herself in real legal trouble. She ll pummel his legacy if she gets a chance and he knows it, Leeds said.The exchange between Clinton and Abedin came after another message, one also released during the 2016 election, showed that Clinton complained commercial flights were burdensome and asked Abedin to get the Air Force to fly her from Westchester, N.Y. back to Washington, D.C. WFB",0 "The President of Ireland signed a Civil Partnership Bill for gay couples this morning. The new law provides gay couples with most of the same rights and responsibilities as marriage - tax, social welfare, inheritance.",1 "Putin requests leniency for Pussy Riot punks - Three female members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, who are facing trial and jail terms of up to seven years for performing a protest inside Moscow's main cathedral, should not be judged ""so harshly"", President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. ",1 "UN: ""Israel knew they were bombing a school"" [vid]",0 Sweden examining 'Islamic State threat' to Stockholm,1 France to put forward a bill to ban the wearing of Islamic veils in public places,1 "Saudi-led air strikes support Yemen's Saleh as he shifts against HouthisADEN (Reuters) - A Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Yemen s capital, Sanaa, local media said, lending support to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh after he signaled he was abandoning his support of the Iran-aligned Houthis - a shift that could pave the way to end three years of war. In a speech on Saturday, Saleh appeared to indicate the end of his loyalists alliance with Houthi fighters. He said he was ready to turn a new page in ties with the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, if it stopped attacks on Yemeni citizens and lifted a siege. Residents on Sunday, however, said a coalition air strike overnight killed 12 Yemeni civilians in one family in the northern province of Saada, the home territory of the Houthis. The attack could not be verified. Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television said on Sunday coalition aircraft pounded Houthi outposts in southern Sanaa overnight, but gave no details on casualties. Separately, the Houthis, who together with Saleh s loyalists, control most of northern Yemen, said they had fired a cruise missile toward a nuclear power plant under construction in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a report quickly denied by the UAE. Saleh s announcement on Saturday was welcomed by the Saudi-led coalition, which has been backed by the United States and other Western powers. The coalition, which includes the United Arab Emirates, is trying to help Yemen s internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi back to power, but it has struggled to advance against Houthi-Saleh forces. A split between Saleh s armed allies and the Houthis could tip the balance of power. Army units loyal to Saleh have been clashing with Houthi fighters in the past five days, adding a new layer to an already complex situation in Yemen. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash appeared to back Saleh s side in remarks on his official Twitter page. The events in Sanaa are murky, but its national uprising needs support ... to protect the Arabian Peninsula from Iranian expansion, he said. Residents in Sanaa reported on Sunday that the Houthis appeared to be clawing back some territory lost to Saleh over the previous four days, and Houthi tanks were deployed amid heavy gun battles in the city s central Political District. The area is a stronghold of Saleh s loyalists under the command of his nephew Tareq, an influential army general. The fighting has cut off the airport road, prompting the United Nations to try to evacuate at least 140 aid workers from Sanaa, according to U.N. and other aid officials. The U.N. was awaiting approval from the Saudi-led coalition, they said. Residents earlier said Houthi fighters seized the television studios of Yemen Today, a news channel owned by Saleh, after clashes that damaged the building. Residents said 20 employees were trapped inside. The Red Cross said dozens of people have been killed in clashes over the past five days and called for civilian lives to be spared. In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi called for calm and restraint. All internal disputes should be resolved through dialogue to block the grounds for any abuse by the enemies of the Yemeni nation, he said, according to a statement on the ministry s website. Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, and the proxy war between the Iran-aligned Houthis and the Saudi-backed Hadi has created widespread hunger and disease, in one of the worst humanitarian crises of recent times. More than 10,000 people have died since 2015, more than two million have been displaced and nearly a million have been infected by a cholera outbreak. Famine threatens much of the country. Yemen descended into violence in late 2014 when the Houthis, a group that follows the Zaidi branch of Shi ite Islam, marched on Sanaa and seized control of the government. Backed by government troops loyal to Saleh, the Houthis fanned out across the country, forcing Hadi to flee to Riyadh. His ouster led the alliance headed by the Saudis to join the fighting. The Houthis said the missile fired on Sunday was directed toward the al-Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, but provided no evidence of any attack. There were no reports of any missiles reaching Abu Dhabi. The country s crisis management authority said the al-Barakah was well protected and urged the public not to listen to rumors. The National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority denies claims by the coup trumpets in Yemen that they fired a missile toward the airspace of the United Arab Emirates, the department said in a statement carried by state news agency WAM. It said the nuclear power project was fortified and sturdy against all possibilities. And enjoys all measures of nuclear safety and security that such grand projects require . The Houthis had said Abu Dhabi, a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting against them since 2015, was a target for their missiles. The Barakah project, which is being built by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) (015760.KS), is expected to be completed and become operational in 2018, the UAE energy minister has said. It is the second time this year the Houthis have said they have fired missiles toward the UAE. A few months ago, they said they had successfully test-fired a missile toward Abu Dhabi, but there were no reports of any rockets being intercepted by or falling in the UAE. ",1 "Top court exempts church-affiliated hospitals from pension lawWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that church-affiliated hospital systems do not have to comply with a federal law governing employee pensions, overturning lower court decisions that could have cost the hospitals billions of dollars. The court ruled 8-0 that church-affiliated organizations are exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a 1974 law that forces private employers to follow rules aimed at protecting pension plan participants. The ruling was a victory for New Jersey-based Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, Illinois-based Advocate Health Care Network and California-based Dignity Health, which had faced separate employee lawsuits accusing them of wrongly claiming a religious exemption under ERISA. Federal agencies had long interpreted the law as exempting not just church plans but also those of church-affiliated organizations. The employees challenged that view, in effect accusing the hospital systems of being big businesses posing as church organizations in order to avoid minimum funding and reporting requirements under ERISA. The three hospital systems maintained that their religious affiliation made them exempt from ERISA. St. Peters is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Dignity operates both Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals. Advocate is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said the law’s religious exemption applies to plans whether they were established by churches themselves or organizations affiliated with the churches. Justice Sonia Sotomayor agreed with the ruling based on the text of the law. But, in a separate opinion, she wrote that she was “troubled” with the outcome, noting that some church-affiliated organizations operate for-profit subsidiaries, earn billions of dollars in revenues and compete with companies that must comply with ERISA. Sotomayor suggested that the U.S. Congress take action, adding that “scores of employees - who work for organizations that look and operate much like secular businesses - potentially might be denied ERISA’s protections.” The ruling is the latest in which the justices endorsed the idea that certain businesses deserve wider latitude because of religious considerations. In 2014, the justices sided with Hobby Lobby, a retailer owned by conservative Christians, that objected to a federal requirement that it pay for insurance coverage for women’s birth control, saying that violated a U.S. law protecting religious freedom. Three separate regional federal appeals courts had ruled against Saint Peter’s, Advocate and Dignity in separate cases, refusing to dismiss employees’ lawsuits against them. Hundreds of hospitals and hospital systems have claimed the exemption since 1980, when Congress amended ERISA to extend what is known as the “church plan” exemption, originally only for churches, more broadly to certain religiously affiliated entities. The plaintiffs were seeking retroactive penalties for past violations of ERISA, which the hospitals said could add up to hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who joined the court after the arguments were presented in the case, did not participate in Monday’s decision. ",1 " Chelsea Clinton Teaches Trump How To Treat The White House With RespectDonald Trump insulted the People s House, so Chelsea Clinton subtly ripped him a new one for it.During a recent outing to his Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump told members that the White House is a real dump. The insult outraged Americans across the country. No president should talk about the White House that way. It s disrespectful, especially to the people charged with preserving it and keeping up the maintenance, which is paid for by American taxpayers.Trump is probably mad because the decor doesn t feature gold-plated walls like his penthouse at Trump Tower.But the White House has a history. It was burned by the British during the War of 1812. But we rebuilt it. Years of neglect and failure to update the historic residence resulted in the biggest overhaul during the Truman presidency. The White House was gutted and Truman was forced to take up residence across the street until the renovation was complete.Today, the White House stands as a magnificent mansion that honors the past while continually updating to remain equipped with the latest technology. Sometimes, it s hard to keep up, but the White House staff does the best they can.Trump s remark was off the cuff to people who paid to be around him. He probably thought his comment would be off the record, which means he said exactly what he meant to say.But Chelsea Clinton was not amused by Trump s insult. And she proceeded to school him on Twitter for it.Thank you to all the White House ushers, butlers, maids, chefs, florists, gardeners, plumbers, engineers & curators for all you do every day https://t.co/rjQS9HeALG Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) August 1, 2017This is what Trump should have said. This is how a grateful and unspoiled person acts. Trump is used to excess and flaunting his wealth. He has no idea what it means to live in an ordinary household. To him, the White House is a step down, and that is truly insulting. So much so, that he should resign and move out if he hates being there so much.Back in May, Trump bragged to Time Magazine that he s the certain type of person who sees the beauty of the White House. People have no idea the beauty of the White House. The real beauty of the White House, he said.That was clearly a lie Trump told the media to make himself look good. Get him around his golf buddies and he ll blurt out how he really feels.Featured Image: Alex Wong/Getty Images",0 "In Iraq, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, upbeat on MosulQAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, voiced optimism about the long-term U.S. alliance with Iraq’s military and its campaign to retake Mosul from Islamic State on Tuesday, as he visited a base about 10 miles (16 km) from the city. Kushner was on the last day of a two-day trip to Iraq as the guest of Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The visit to the Hammam al-Alil base included an operational briefing from Iraqi and U.S. commanders. The trip has demonstrated the far-reaching portfolio of Kushner, 36, who is part of Trump’s innermost circle and who has been given a wide range of domestic and foreign policy responsibilities, including working on a Middle East peace deal. His views on Iraq could shape Trump’s own opinions. It comes as Trump is examining ways to accelerate a U.S.-led coalition campaign that U.S. and Iraqi officials say has so far been largely successful in uprooting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Mosul is by far the biggest city to have been held by Islamic State, and winning it back would largely destroy the Iraqi part of the group’s “caliphate,” proclaimed from a Mosul mosque in 2014. There are mounting concerns about civilian casualties in the final phases of the assault and questions about how quickly Mosul can be rebuilt, repopulated and governed in a way that avoids alienating its Sunni-majority population. The Mosul battle, the biggest in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, has been under way since October, with 100,000 Iraqi troops, Kurdish fighters and Shi’ite militiamen seeking to drive out the militants with the support of U.S.-led air strikes. Although Trump campaigned on defeating the hardline Sunni militant group, he has not announced any major changes to war strategy and it is unclear how Kushner’s experience in Iraq might shape his advice to the president. Speaking after lengthy battlefield reports from Iraq’s military, Kushner sounded upbeat about the campaign and said the partnership between U.S. and Iraqi troops was “very impressive.” He expressed hope the partnership would be enduring, signaling White House interest in longer-term U.S. military assistance. “I hope the victory that you have in Mosul in the near future will not just be a victory for the American and Iraqi troops but it will be a victory for the world,” Kushner said. On Tuesday, Islamic State issued its first official remarks referring to Trump since he assumed the U.S. presidency in January, describing him as an “idiot.” “You (the U.S.) are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye,” spokesman Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer said in a recording released on the messaging network Telegram. “There is no more evidence than (that) you being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is.” Even after Mosul and other pockets of territory are recaptured, U.S. officials expect Islamic State to go underground and fight on as a more traditional insurgency. Kushner’s trip was his first to Iraq and the visit to Hammam al-Alil, where U.S. advisers and artillery are positioned to assist the battle in Mosul, was also the closest Dunford has gotten to Mosul since the campaign began. They stopped briefly at Qayyara West Airfield, another key hub in the war, where U.S. forces manning High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems fired twice at Islamic State targets in Mosul the night before. Iraqi security forces are engaged in fierce, house-to-house fighting in Mosul. Nearly 290,000 people have fled the city to escape the fighting, according to the United Nations, and it has had a heavy toll on civilians trapped in the city. The advance has been slowed since March 17, when scores of people sheltering from air strikes were killed in a blast. The United States has acknowledged it may have had some kind of role in the incident but also said Islamic State may be to blame. A U.S. investigation is ongoing. Dunford said Baghdad was looking at ways to better safeguard civilians, given tactics by Islamic State that has raised the risks - including the use of civilians as human shields. “The Iraqis are looking to make some adaptations,” he told reporters after the talks, which included meetings on Monday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad. ",1 "Illinois to sell bonds, but cannot tap all the proceedsCHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois will sell $550 million of bonds on Thursday but lacks authority from the state legislature to spend all of the proceeds due to an ongoing budget impasse. “The General Assembly needs to grant appropriation authority to fully expend the proceeds from the bond sale, although existing FY16 appropriations could be used to expend a portion of them,” Catherine Kelly, a spokeswoman for Governor Bruce Rauner, said on Wednesday. Her statement followed a news conference earlier on Wednesday with the Republican governor and his transportation department head, who warned of the imminent shutdown of hundreds of construction projects if the Democrat-controlled legislature does not approve Rauner’s temporary budget plan. All but $20 million of the state’s general obligation bond issue is earmarked for mass transit and road construction projects. The odd timing of the announcement on the eve of the state bond sale handed Rauner’s Democratic rivals in the state legislature fodder to question the first-term governor’s actions. “We’re hoping none of his activities or staff work is going to drive up borrowing costs like it did for the Chicago Public Schools in February,” said Steve Brown, spokesman for Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. The school district delayed, then downsized its bond sale, after Rauner threatened a state takeover of CPS and said the system was headed for bankruptcy, comments Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called “shameful” because of their possible impact on the bond sale. Rauner on Wednesday pleaded with Democratic lawmakers to return to session to pass a spending plan that would keep the state operating until January and fully fund K-12 schools. “Allowing the crisis to continue is wrong,” Rauner said, referring to the ongoing impasse that has left Illinois as the only state without a fiscal 2016 budget. Illinois has been dependent on court orders and a muddle of ongoing and stopgap appropriations to continue operating and lawmakers have not reached any agreement on a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The state’s GO bonds trade at wide spreads over Municipal Market Data’s benchmark triple-A yield scale. But Illinois’ upcoming debt issue will likely benefit from yields in the municipal market that are at or near record lows as cash-heavy investors chase scarce supply of bonds issued by states, cities, schools and other issuers. Illinois’ already low credit ratings were downgraded last week ahead of the sale. ",1 " Comey CONFIRMS FBI Investigation Into Trump’s Collusion With Russia During Election (VIDEO)FBI Director James Comey has confirmed that the agency is not only investigating Russia s interference in the 2016 presidential election but is also taking a long hard look at whether Donald Trump and his campaign colluded with the foreign power.In his opening statement, Comey said that the FBI doesn t usually confirm the existence of ongoing investigations, However, if there are unusual circumstances where it is in the public interest, that can change. The bureau may, at these times, find it necessary to break with this policy, Comey explained. This is one of those circumstances, he said. I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. And that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia s efforts, Comey said.He added that the investigation would also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed. The most concerning part of Comey s statement came when he said that the investigation was initiated in July of 2016. July. Think about that. Somehow, even though the FBI was investigating Russia s interference in the election on Trump s behalf and whether or not Trump was actually working with Russia, we still ended up with this man sitting in the White House. Let that sink in for a minute.FBI Dir. Comey: FBI is investigating Russian meddling in election, including whether there was any coordination between Trump team, Russia pic.twitter.com/pf8xZyXQYD ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 20, 2017Featured image via video screen capture",0 "Norway plans to send armored unit close to Russian borderOSLO (Reuters) - Norway said on Friday it planned to send an armored battalion near its arctic border with Russia and buy more tanks and artillery to respond to growing threats. Defence Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide did not mention Russia as she described her minority government s defense plan, and said she did not see a specific, current military threat. But the NATO member and other nearby countries have grown increasingly alarmed about Moscow s ambitions, particularly following its annexation of Ukraine s Crimea region in 2014 and its naval and air force maneuvers in the region. The security situation has become more challenging and less predictable. This has consequences for how we organize the military, Soereide told journalists. The plan calls for the armored unit - still referred to as a cavalry battalion - to be stationed in the remote Porsanger district, in the far north on the edge of a long fjord leading into the Barents Sea, which also borders Russia. It also includes more investment in tanks, artillery and long-range precision weapons in the area and other locations further south, together with an extension of the time people have to spend in some national service positions to 16 from 12 months. We must be able to defend all parts of our country ... this is a clear signal that we have a particular responsibility in the north, Soereide said. The Russian embassy in Oslo was not immediately available for comment. Norway s minority government will need to get support from other parties to get the proposals through parliament, but there is a broad consensus on strengthening defenses in the Arctic north. In June, Russia said Norway s decision to extend the presence of U.S. Marines on its soil would worsen relations and could escalate tensions on NATO s northern flank. ",1 "Indian army will deploy 40,000 strong mountain strike corps division by 2016 along disputed areas bordering/claimed by China.",1 "Clinton leads Trump by five points in White House race: Reuters/IpsosNEW YORK (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton led Republican Donald Trump by more than 5 percentage points in the Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Friday, little changed in weeks as the U.S. presidential campaign wobbles into the heart of summer. Since July 28, Clinton’s daily support among likely voters in the poll has hovered between a low of 41 and a high of 44 percentage points. She was at 41 percentage points on Thursday, down slightly this week. Trump’s support has moved slightly more, ranging from a low of 33 percentage points to a high of 39 points. He was at 36 points on Thursday, up slightly this week. Among registered voters, Clinton was ahead by 9 points on Thursday, 42 to 33. At this point in the 2012 election, both President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney had solidified their support, and Romney held a 45 percent to 41 percent lead, with only 14 percent of likely voters not picking one of the two candidates. Trump, a New York businessman seeking his first elected office, has been mired in controversies in recent days, and many establishment Republicans have begun to distance themselves from his campaign. He drew heavy criticism for suggesting gun rights activists could take action against Clinton, a statement he later said was meant to rally votes against her. On Thursday he repeatedly accused Clinton and Obama of being co-founders of the Islamic State militant group. On Friday he said the remarks were meant to be sarcasm. On Thursday, the number of likely voters who were not picking either Clinton or Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election was 22 percent. That number has remained stubbornly in the 20- to 25-point range for weeks. Despite that, neither of the alternative candidates is gaining traction. In a four-way race, Libertarian Gary Johnson saw his support dip slightly to 7 percentage points on Thursday, down from a high of nearly 9 points earlier this week. Green Party nominee Jill Stein was at about 3 points on Thursday, largely unchanged. The results on Thursday were taken from a sample of 1,446 registered voters and 1,116 likely voters surveyed between Aug. 7 and Aug. 11. The results have a credibility interval of plus or minus 3 percentage points. ",1 "Exclusive: Senate too divided to keep up healthcare push - Senator HatchWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said on Monday that senators for now are too divided to keep working on healthcare overhaul legislation and that he and other senior Republicans will take that message to the White House. President Donald Trump has been urging lawmakers not to drop the matter, despite a series of failed votes last week. “There’s just too much animosity and we’re too divided on healthcare,” Hatch said in an interview with Reuters. He said he would prefer Congress not appropriate cost-sharing subsidies that help make Obamacare plans affordable but added, “I think we’re going to have to do that.” Trump over the weekend urged Republican senators to stick with trying to pass an overhaul of the Affordable Care Act, former President Obama’s signature domestic initiative known as Obamacare. Trump made replacing Obamacare a key part of his presidential campaign and Republicans have promised for years to repeal or replace the law. The House of Representatives has passed an overhaul but the Senate has been unable to do so despite having worked on it for months. Three Senate Republicans joined Democrats in voting against repealing even part of the law at the end of last week. “Don’t give up Republican senators, the world is watching: Repeal & Replace ...,” Trump tweeted on Sunday while White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the Senate should stay in session to get something done on healthcare, even if it means postponing votes on other issues. Hatch said although he understood Mulvaney’s position, he did not think he was right. The senator said he saw no real desire on the part of Democrats to work together on the healthcare issue “and I have to say some Republicans are at fault there, too.” Hatch said he had not given up on healthcare. “I think we ought to acknowledge that we can come back to healthcare afterwards but we need to move ahead on tax reform,” Hatch said. Asked who would relay the message to the Trump administration, Hatch laughed and said, “I’m going to be one who does that,” adding that he expected Republican leaders of the House and Senate, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, would do so, too. Hatch said lawmakers would need to appropriate the cost-sharing subsidy payments that the administration has been making. Trump has threatened to cut off these subsidies, which help insurers keep deductibles down for low-income people who get health insurance through the Obamacare exchanges. “I’m for helping the poor, always have been. And I don’t think they should be bereft of healthcare,” Hatch said. ",1 Germany president resigns over finances scandals,1 Chinese State-Run Media Has Started Attacking North Korea,0 "George W. Bush to make first appearance for brother JebWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican George W. Bush on Monday will seek to generate a fresh burst of enthusiasm for his brother Jeb Bush’s White House bid in South Carolina, marking the former president’s first appearance on the campaign trail this year. George W. Bush will appear with his younger brother at a rally in North Charleston, S.C., the Jeb Bush campaign said on Thursday. The 6 p.m. EST event will be held at the North Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. The 69-year-old former president is highly popular in the Republican Party, particularly among South Carolina Republicans, who supported his 2000 and 2004 races for president. George W. Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 remains a topic of debate in the race to find a successor to President Barack Obama, with Republican front-runner Donald Trump noting that he had opposed the war. Bush’s image has improved among Americans in the years since he left office in 2009. A CNN/ORC poll last June found that 52 percent of adults had a favorable impression of him, compared with about a third of Americans when he left office. The Bush campaign believes the ex-president can have a positive impact in South Carolina, which has a sizable number of U.S. military facilities and military veterans who have supported the former commander-in-chief. It will be the most public role George W. Bush has taken to date in his brother’s campaign. Jeb Bush, whose father was also president, played down his famous family roots for most of last year in his pursuit of the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, but in need of a boost, he has been relying more heavily on his family ties. His 90-year-old mother, Barbara Bush, campaigned with him last week in New Hampshire. George W. Bush has headlined several private fundraisers for him and reporters were allowed in at one of them, in Houston last October. On Wednesday his voice was heard on a radio ad in South Carolina. “We need a strong leader with experience, ideas and resolve. There’s no doubt in my mind that Jeb Bush will be a great commander-in-chief for our military,” the former president says in the ad. Jeb Bush has drawn large crowds during his appearances in South Carolina on Wednesday and Thursday after experiencing something of a comeback with a fourth place finish in New Hampshire. He has some ground to make up in South Carolina, however, with Trump enjoying a big lead there ahead of the Feb. 20 primary vote. “President Bush has been incredibly supportive of his brother’s campaign and Governor Bush is excited to have him out on the trail,” said Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell. (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.",1 "RUSH TO FINISH: OBAMA SLAPS $5 BILLION In Regulations On America Before ExitClyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute warns that Obama s manufacturing of regulations is not over. With the amount of time left in the year, the current pace of rule passage could bring many thousands of more pages. This is astonishing and should be of great concern, and intolerable, to policymakers. Said Wayne Crews. It is remarkable enough that the all-time record has been passed before Thanksgiving. Read more: ZH This is either the beginning of a midnight uptick in regulation or an otherwise busy week for federal regulators, Sam Batkins, the director of regulatory policy at the right-leaning American Action Forum, wrote in a report.Batkins, an expert on federal regulations, found federal agencies finalized 19 new regulations last week totaling $2.4 billion in costs, but only $623 million in benefits. Batkins also pointed to another two recently-finalized rules costing businesses $2.3 billion.The White House is increasing the number of rules it pushes out every week as federal agencies rush to finish regulations before President Barack Obama leaves office in January. The Obama administration s latest Unified Agenda had 1,019 final rules ready to be put on the books.Read more: Daily Caller",0 "Part of The Think Tank Google Ideas, Google has invited former extremists gang members, religious radicals and neo-Nazis to meet with activists, survivors, academics and public sector officials in Dublin to discuss ways of ""de-radicalizing"" violent extremists using modern technology. ",1 "Clinton slams student loan servicer Navient as misleadingHENNIKER, N.H. (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said during a student town hall on Saturday that student loan servicer Navient Corp has been “misleading people” and “doing some really terrible things.” “Their behavior is outrageous,” Clinton said at New England College, where she was campaigning ahead of the state’s nominating contest on Tuesday, Feb. 9. Clinton’s criticism of the student loan servicer comes after she lost badly among young voters to Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders in last week’s Iowa caucus. She received 11 percent of the vote among 17 to 24 year olds who caucused in Iowa versus 86 percent who supported Sanders, according to a NBC News exit poll. Clinton’s statements came in the response to a question from the audience related to student debt. Navient is being investigated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over late fees and other matters, the company revealed in an August regulatory filing. “We understand the politicization of student loans, but we remain focused on delivering excellent service to our customers,” said Navient spokeswoman Patricia Christel in a statement, inviting Clinton to come meet their “hardworking employees and learn firsthand about our industry-leading default prevention work.” (Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by James Dalgleish and Nick Zieminski) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.",1 Russian MPs vote to scrap juries for terror and treason cases,1 "Swedish PM survives vote of no-confidenceSTOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven easily survived a parliamentary vote of no confidence brought on Friday by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats over a botched IT outsourcing project that may have led to the leak of sensitive information. Only 43 of the parliament s 349 members supported the motion. Had Lofven lost, the government would have resigned, just a year before a general election. Two ministers have resigned over the potential leak of sensitive data as a result of a deal under which IBM Sweden took over some IT functions of the Swedish Transport Agency. During the last 37 years, only eight votes of no-confidence have been tabled in parliament. None has been successful. ",1 "Factbox: Legal issues in Supreme Court immigration case(Reuters) - When the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday takes up a challenge brought by Texas and other states to President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration, the eight justices face a series of legal questions beginning with whether Texas and the other state challengers even have grounds to bring the case. Obama’s November 2014 orders affect immigrants in the country illegally whose children are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents or who themselves have been in the United States since they were children. Here is a look at some of the key legal questions in the case: LEGAL STANDING To bring a case, challengers must first demonstrate that they have legal “standing,” arising from some injury or negative consequences. In this case, that means the states need to show that they would be hurt by the Obama administration’s deferral of deportation for immigrant parents and children with deep ties to the United States but who are in the country illegally. The state of Texas has taken the lead in the lawsuit against the Obama administration to block the president’s actions. Texas asserts that it has standing largely because of the expected financial cost to the state of processing temporary driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants with new authorization to live in the United States. Texas subsidizes the cost of processing driver’s licenses and contends Obama’s actions would cost it millions of dollars. The Obama administration rejects that basis for standing to file suit, asserting that any such costs are “incidental” and could be avoided by the state. Obama administration lawyers say Texas could eliminate the subsidies for these driver’s licenses and eliminate the harm claimed by the state. If a majority of the justices finds that Texas lacked a sufficient injury to sue, the case of United States v. Texas ends there and the Obama administration wins. RULE-MAKING REQUIREMENTS If the justices agree that Texas has standing to bring the case, they then would consider whether deferred-deportation policies that were part of Obama’s actions violated rule-making requirements in a federal law called the Administrative Procedure Act. Under that law, federal agencies typically must issue a general notice of a proposed rule and give interested parties a chance to comment. Obama administration lawyers say the deferred deportation practices are not binding rules subject to the Administrative Procedure Act. Rather, they characterize these policies as an outgrowth of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s discretion in determining deportation priorities. The administration contends that the homeland security secretary should be able to focus his department's limited resources on deporting serious criminals and securing the border. ’TAKE CARE’ A final possible question for the justices is whether the deferred deportation violates a dictate of the U.S. Constitution that presidents must “take care” to “faithfully execute” the nation’s laws. Texas and the other states that brought the lawsuit say Obama, in taking executive action that bypassed Congress, crossed that line because Congress is in charge of deciding who is a lawful or unlawful immigrant. The Obama administration says it was faithfully executing the authority to determine priorities under immigration law. ",1 "Right to rape: is that what the British Army is fighting for? To allow Afghan men to continue unpleasant habits such as withholding food from their wives, insisting on sex and imprisoning them in their own home?",1 "Human Rights Watch annual report 2014 criticises NSA mass surveillance | States with poor human rights records may use spying scandal as excuse to clamp down on internet freedom, report warns",0 "Every year, more people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war\n",1 "‘Common Cause’? Barbra Streisand lobbying Obama to bypass US Senate and appoint Supreme Court Justice unilaterally21st Century Wire says Three weeks ago, while the wounds were still fresh following Hillary Clinton s epic electoral collapse, a number of frustrated Hollywood celebrities floated various reactionary and often flippant ideas. As liberal elites and their student acolytes accused President-Elect Donald J. Trump of being a fascist , Hollywood elites were themselves pushing actual fascist directives, the worst of which had to be singer Barbra Streisand s insistence that lame duck president Barack Obama bypass the US Senate and appoint a liberal Supreme Court Justice unilaterally. If this episode demonstrates anything, it shows how Hollywood s liberal celebrity elites would govern if, god forbid, they were ever in power.Streisand has been pushing via her Facebook page a White House petition entitled We the People calling for Obama to appoint Merrick Garland by executive action and without any Senate confirmation or due process. Obama had previously nominated Garland, a chief justice of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, to fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly last winter. Underlining the current partisan feud during this election year, Senate Republicans refused to hold hearings or vote on his nomination.It appears that Streisand is working in coordination with a radical left-wing George Soros-funded change agent NGO called Common Cause, whose board member Gregory L. Diskant had initially worked with the Washington Post to launch their the campaign in the national media.Here s what the ever controversial pundit, the Doctor of Common Sense E.T. Williams had this to say about Hollywood s attempted hostile takeover of the US Supreme Court, and celebrities who had threatened to leave the US if Trump won the election ",0 "After firing, Bannon returns to his 'killing machine'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With Stephen Bannon, the worry always was that he could be even more disruptive to President Donald Trump’s White House from outside than he was within. In the hours following his firing on Friday, those fears seemed warranted, as the conservative voices who viewed Bannon as one of their own howled in rage over Trump’s decision to fire his chief strategist. The reaction was most notable from Breitbart News, the hard-right news site that Bannon ran before he joined Trump’s presidential campaign last year. “WAR,” tweeted one of the site’s editors, Joel Pollak, who published a piece questioning whether Trump would now move in a more moderate direction with Bannon out of the White House. “Steve Bannon personified the Trump agenda,” Pollak wrote. Bannon rejoined Breitbart as executive chairman only hours after his firing was announced. He is now expected to use it as a platform to blast those within the White House - and perhaps Trump himself - when they don’t hew to the fiercely nationalist policies Bannon advocated as an inside adviser. As Trump’s chief strategist, Bannon fought numerous battles with senior Trump aides and top Republicans in Congress over the administration’s policy agenda. Breitbart frequently backed him up, ripping establishment Republicans such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan, blaming them for obstructing Trump’s agenda. More recently, the site trained its fire on Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, after he removed officials who espoused Bannon’s foreign-policy world view. In recent days, Bannon had told friends he is worth tens of millions of dollars, is a worldwide leader in the populist-nationalist movement that propelled Trump to power, and could go back to Breitbart, which he refers to as a “killing machine”, or perhaps other endeavors financed by the family of hedge-fund tycoon Robert Mercer, his longtime ally. “Steve has a powerful voice, and he’s going to keep that voice up,” said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign adviser and Bannon friend. “He’s going to continue to promote policies that got Donald Trump in the White House.” Bannon had clashed with the likes of Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, and Jared Kushner, a Trump adviser and the president’s son-in-law, both of whom favored more business-friendly, mainstream economic policies on trade, taxes, and other matters. While Bannon’s ouster may mean a short-term win for the relative moderates in the West Wing, those he dubbed the “globalists,” it does not mean that policy battles on national security, immigration and the economy will dissipate. Trump has a shown a proclivity for seeking counsel from former advisers such as Corey Lewandowski and Newt Gingrich and from conservative pundits such as Sean Hannity. The outspoken and provocative Bannon could join their number. And there remain other White House officials sympathetic to Bannon’s world view, such as domestic policy adviser Stephen Miller. Even so, Bannon’s absence will be felt. “Trump is always going to be Trump on immigration, trade, and foreign policy. But Steve was the highest-ranking adviser who shared Trump’s world view. With him gone, there’s not a replacement for that voice in internal debates,” one administration official said. “I think people have always overestimated how influential anyone can be on Trump. But without Steve constantly pushing back on every policy idea coming from the so-called ‘globalists,’ it’s easy to see how they could have a chance to start winning more policy battles.” Mike Cernovich, an alt-right activist and personality, suggested to his more than 300,000 followers on Twitter that Bannon was sacked to ensure that the White House raises troop levels in Afghanistan, which Bannon opposed. “This is a full-on coup now, guys,” Cernovich said in a posted video. Beyond Breitbart and the alt-right, some more traditional conservative groups were also concerned about the implications of Bannon’s departure. Twenty Republican grassroots leaders, including longtime activists Richard Viguerie, Jenny Beth Martin, and Ginni Thomas, wrote to Trump earlier in the week urging him to keep Bannon on. “We will miss Steve Bannon in the White House because he helped President Trump keep many of the promises he made on the campaign trail,” Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, said in a statement after Bannon’s ouster. But she also reiterated her support for the president, saying “he is his own man.” If Bannon has anything to do with it, he will push to make sure that Trump stays that way. But some supporters still worried that the radical agenda Bannon fought for could be at risk. “It’s a sad day for the movement,” Nunberg said. “I think it will end up being a mistake.” (Corrects spelling of name in paragraph 22 to Viguerie.) ",1 Top disaster relief officials in Hungary say the toxic spill has killed all water life in the small Marcal river. Higher-than-normal pH levels have also been recorded in a tributary of the Danube.,0 Spain's King Juan Carlos under fire over elephant hunting trip,1 "DINGBAT DEMOCRAT Maxine Waters Hopes Trump Won’t Serve 4 Years…Thinks Putin Invaded Korea [VIDEO]When will the Democrats realize they lost the election because America is sick of their intolerant and hateful behavior and in the case of Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi, the outright idiocy .Sorry, Maxine. You can t impeach a president because you don t like him. And, Putin didn t invade Korea. It was Crimea.Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) wants Donald Trump impeached.CNS News reported: I have not called for the impeachment (of President Donald Trump) yet, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told a news conference on Monday. He s doing it himself. On Friday, Waters said she hoped Trump would not serve for four years: And my greatest is to lead him right into impeachment. On Monday, Waters clarified: Let me just say the statement I made was a statement in response to questions and pleas that I am getting from many citizens across this country. What are we going to do?Waters also said Putin invaded Korea. Which is nonsense.Putin invaded Crimea but it s likely Waters couldn t find it on a map.Keep talking, Democrats. Keep talking.Via: Gateway Pundit",0 "Planned meeting of TPP leaders at APEC summit did not happen: officialsDANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - A planned meeting of leaders of the eleven countries in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) did not take place on Friday, officials said. The leaders were set to meet in the afternoon on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam to discuss how to push ahead with TPP, after the United States pulled out this year. The meeting did not happen, work remains to be done and that s what s happening now, a Canadian official said. Trade ministers of the TPP countries had met on Thursday but it was not clear if any agreement had been reached. Japan had said an agreement in principle had been reached, but Canada disputed that. ",1 Snowden: I never gave any information to Chinese or Russian governments,1 "(Don’t Hold The Press) Jeb Bush Endorses Ted Cruz For President21st Century Wire says OK. As political endorsements go, this one is about as sexy as a box of Wheaties.This exciting development comes just hours after Cruz was declared the winner in Utah s GOP primary contest.Now if it was Barbara giving the honors, then we might be intrigued Of course, we should be so lucky Huff PostFormer Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for president, Politico reported. Bush, who dropped out of the race last month, confirmed the endorsement on Wednesday in an email from the Cruz campaign. Ted is a consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests, including yesterday s Utah caucus, Bush said on Facebook.The statement also went out in an email to supporters from the Cruz campaign, the New York Times said. Jeeebbbbbbbb. For the sake of our party and country, we must move to overcome the divisiveness and vulgarity Donald Trump has brought into the political arena, or we will certainly lose our chance to defeat the Democratic nominee and reverse President Obama s failed policies, Bush said Continue this story at Huff PostREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files",0 "Turkey blocks access from northern Iraq at Habur border gate: NTVISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey has blocked access into the country from northern Iraq at the Habur border gate in its southeast, but it was still possible to enter Iraq through the crossing, broadcaster NTV said on Monday. The move came as voting started in an independence referendum organized by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. ",1 "U.S. Navy moving aircraft carrier in anticipation of Irma reliefWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy said on Friday that it was moving the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln into position to provide humanitarian relief from Hurricane Irma if needed. The Navy said in a statement that the Abraham Lincoln, along with the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima and transport dock ship New York, had been ordered to get underway on Friday and that a destroyer would join them. These ships are capable of providing medical support, maritime civil affairs, maritime security, expeditionary logistic support, medium and heavy-lift air support, the statement said. ",1 " Unbelievable: Trump’s DISGUSTING Comment About Black VotersDonald Trump is back to his pre-election habit of saying rude, dismissive, and bigoted things about black voters in America. In another of his strange post-election rallies, Trump brought up the topic of black voter turnout, and then proceeded to say that one set of blacks are not as good as another.President-elect Donald Trump claimed Friday night that African Americans came through for him big league in the November election and said those who stayed home were almost as good as those who voted for him.Trump s comments came during a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., the latest stop on an ongoing thank you tour of states where the Republican prevailed against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.As has been the trend for decades, Trump was trounced among black voters who voted for Clinton by a margin of 89 percent to 8 percent. It s an almost-standard part of Republican rhetoric to ignore the lopsided vote among this key set of Americans instead of denigrating the choices this group of citizens has made at the ballot box.During the campaign, Trump also generated a backlash among black voters, describing the black community as crime-ridden and uneducated, while telling black voters they had nothing to lose by voting for him. A vast majority of them evidently rejected his message, perhaps in large part coming from his decision to woo white supremacist support while also supporting the racist birther conspiracy against President Obama.While Clinton did not get as strong a turnout with black voters as Obama did, she earned enough of their vote to end up with a popular vote victory over Trump, leading him by 2.7 million votes and making him the second Republican in 20 years to win the presidency without getting most of the votes.Perhaps if Trump was less flippant or dismissive with black voters, his party would be competitive in that arena instead of the constant routs.Featured image via Flickr",0 " Rubio Apologizes For Questioning Trump’s Small Hands In Humiliating Interview (VIDEO)In what was either an interview with CNN s Jake Tapper or a very public suicide note, Marco Rubio broken, sad, and tired suddenly had a lot of good things to say about Donald Trump, the man he once called a lunatic incapable of being president. Rubio, like Chris Christie and Ben Carson before him, has done a complete 180 degree turn on the issue of Trump which isn t as hard as it sounds if your spine is made of jelly.Speaking with Tapper, Rubio revealed one humiliating detail after another about his evolution. According to his own account, Rubio has privately apologized to Trump for once implying that he had small hands (and a small penis), a conversation that would have been AMAZING to overhear. I actually told Donald one of the debates, I forget which one I apologized to him for that, Rubio said. I said, You know, I m sorry that I said that. It s not who I am and I shouldn t have done it. I didn t say it in front of the cameras, I didn t want any political benefit. He also shrugged off Trump s overwhelming popularity with white supremacists. Apparently, the fact that groups as toxic and hateful as the Ku Klux Klan and various neo-Nazis adore Trump doesn t bother Rubio. Or maybe he s just come to accept that this is what the Republican Party stands for these days. As he says it: It is what it is. It is what it is might be something you say when you find a little dent on your car in the parking lot. It should NOT be what you say to dismiss widespread racism thriving within the campaign of the man you just endorsed for president. Yikes.However the most egregious demonstration of just how feckless Rubio has become came when the conversation turned towards Hillary Clinton. When Tapper asked Rubio what he thought about Trump using outrageous lies like the Clintons killed a man in the 1990s and Bill Clinton is a serial rapist, the former presidential candidate said he didn t necessarily agree with the tactic, but Trump should keep doing it because it helps him get votes. I don t think he should change if he s been successful, Rubio said when asked about Trump dredging up scandals of the 1990s to attack Hillary Clinton, which Rubio said he himself wouldn t do. I may not like that direction, but at this point, he won and this is the direction that he won on. All of this would be shocking if it weren t so obvious that this was how things would eventually play out. Ben Carson, Trump s least popular campaign surrogate, has dealt with a similar situation, only worse. He had to grovel in front of a man who once said he was little better than a child molester. At least Rubio was just called Little Marco. For the sacrifice of both his integrity and his political career, Rubio gets to look forward to a long campaign of being further humiliated by Trump. Chris Christie has been forced to endure several instances of degradation at the hands of the guy he now wants to elect president. Considering Rubio s heritage, it seems plausible that Trump will both use him a token Latino and also a punching bag when he needs to rile up his anti-immigrant flock. Dark days are ahead for Rubio and he knows it.Throughout his interview with Tapper, Rubio s face oscillated between pained expressions. Selling out is never fun.Watch a portion of Rubio s interview with Tapper see if you can pinpoint the exact moment Rubio s soul dies below:Featured image via CNN",0 "BREAKING: OBAMA SUCCESSFULLY WHITEWASHES AMERICAN HISTORY…”Racist” President Andrew Jackson To Be Replaced With Harriet Tubman On $20 BillThe irony in Obama s radical Treasury Secretary s decision to remove racist Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill, lies in the fact that Jackson was the first Democrat to be elected President. Rabid Bernie Sanders supporters are hell-bent on seeing Bernie Sanders fulfill his promise of breaking up the big bank monopolies. Andrew Jackson was pioneer in staving off banking domination in his day.But alas it s official .Moments ago Politico reported that the U.S. Treasury will announce that it plans to replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, the sources said. There will also be changes to the $5 bill to depict civil rights era leaders.Not every dead president is being scraped however: treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Wednesday will announce a decision to keep Alexander Hamilton on the front of the $10 bill and put leaders of the movement to give women the right to vote on the back of the bill.Lew s decision comes after he announced last summer that he was considering replacing Hamilton on the $10 bill with a woman. The announcement drew swift rebukes from fans of Hamilton, who helped create the Treasury Department and the modern American financial system. Critics immediately suggested Hamilton take Jackson off the $20 bill given the former president s role in moving native Americans off their land.Jackson may remain on the $20 bill in some capacity, but will clearly be demoted.While some pointed to the many accomplishments and qualities of Hamilton for why he should stay on the currency printed by the very Treasury the man created, the more popular argument for the Founding Father s retention was an argument about how awful the man on the $20 dollar bill was.The Daily Beast described Jackson as villainous and linked to a February article that called him a mass murderer. The New York Post argued that Old Hickory may well have been our most racist president and was a vicious, power-mad kook. Lew told POLITICO last July that Treasury was exploring ways to respond to critics. There are a number of options of how we can resolve this, Lew said. We re not taking Alexander Hamilton off our currency. Confused? Disturbed? Angry? You are not alone. The following rant by Mac Slavo expressed many feeling about the proposed change.Andrew Jackson, Who Fought Central Bank, Removed from $20 As Public Concern for Liberty ErasedJackson narrowly succeeded in staving off banker domination of the U.S. during his day.Of course, Andrew Jackson, who was the United States seventh president, was also a complete controversy his entire lifetime. It is no surprise that the same people who took down the Confederate flag from the South on the back of a mass shooting tragedy are now trying to tear down the image of a particularly controversial and intriguing figure from the American past.Jackson was a recalcitrant and unyielding general and war hero, and later an outsider riding a wave of populist support into the White House, bringing in sometimes unscrupulous companions, and plenty of Masons. Many of his backers were diametrically opposed to the entrenched power of New York bankers and speculators, as well as patrician politicians who dominated the first phase of politics in the nation s history. Jackson played a nasty role in the Trail of Tears affairs with Indians, too, and with the South and Western expansion of slave-friendly territories. Many shades of grey.Erasing Andrew Jackson from the faces of the fiat funny-money that is passed around by an increasingly ignorant and dependent society (which itself has adopted digital currency as the new norm) will further cut off the past from the masses, and ensure their enslavement.For entire story: Zero Hedge",0 "Lebanon's Hariri to meet major powers in ParisPARIS (Reuters) - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri will meet ministers from major powers in Paris on Friday to discuss ways of stabilizing his country a month after his shock resignation plunged it into political turmoil, three diplomats said. The Arab and European diplomats said Hariri would take part in the meeting of the International Lebanon Support Group, a body that includes the five members of the U.N. Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. Hariri resigned as prime minister in early November while he was in Saudi Arabia, prompting a political crisis in Lebanon and thrusting it back into a regional tussle between Riyadh and its main regional foe, Iran. Hariri has now returned to Beirut and indicated that he might withdraw his resignation, which was never accepted by the president. Lebanese officials say Saudi Arabia had coerced Hariri, a long-time ally of the kingdom, into resigning and held him there against his will until an intervention by France led to his return to Lebanon. Saudi Arabia denies this. A European diplomat said the aim of the meeting would be to put pressure on the Saudis and Iranians . He added that the meeting would be an opportunity to reinforce that the Lebanese must stick by the state policy of disassociation , or keeping out of regional conflicts. Before Hariri sets off, Lebanon s cabinet is this week set to meet for the first time since the political crisis erupted. The date of the cabinet meeting has not yet been confirmed but it is expected to address Hariri s resignation. A Lebanese MP who met Hariri on Monday said discussions among politicians were moving positively and would result in a unanimous stance by the cabinet soon. The comments from MP Wael Abu Faour were published by Hariri s office on Monday. The Lebanon support group, launched in 2013, also includes the European Union, the Arab League and the United Nations. ",1 "Georgia says suspect in Istanbul airport bombing killed last weekTBILISI (Reuters) - A former Islamic State fighter suspected of masterminding a deadly attack on Istanbul airport in 2016 was killed during a special operation in ex-Soviet Georgia last week, a spokeswoman for Georgia s state security service said on Friday. Akhmed Chatayev was named by Turkish media and a U.S. congressman as the mastermind of the suicide bombing of Istanbul airport in 2016 which killed 45 people. His involvement has not been corroborated by Turkish officials. It s confirmed that one of those killed during the operation is Akhmed Chatayev, Nino Giorgobiani, a spokeswoman for Georgia s state security service, told a news briefing. Giorgobiani said that Chatayev blew himself up. One Georgian special forces serviceman and two other members of the armed group, which was suspected of terrorism, were killed in the same operation. Four police officers were wounded and one member of the group was also arrested. The 20-hour operation took place at an apartment block on the outskirts of the Georgian capital Tbilisi last week. Giorgobiani declined to name the two other armed men killed or disclose the identity of the member of the group who was arrested, the group s motives, or how they got to Georgia. The investigation is ongoing ... We continue to work with our international partners to identify the other two (armed men), Giorgobiani said. She said that experts from the United States had been participating in the investigation. A United Nations sanctions list describes Chatayev as a senior figure in Islamic State responsible for training Russian-speaking militants. A veteran of Chechnya s conflict with Moscow during which he lost an arm, he lived in Georgia s Pankisi Gorge, a remote area populated largely by people from the Kist community, ethnic Chechens whose ancestors came to mainly Christian Georgia in the 1800s. When, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechnya rose up in an armed rebellion against Moscow s rule, the Kist community were drawn to the fight. Thousands of refugees arrived from Chechnya, and some insurgents used the gorge to regroup and prepare new attacks. Chatayev was wounded and arrested in Georgia in August 2012 following a clash between the Georgian police and a group of militants, who were allegedly trying to cross the Georgian-Russian border and move to Dagestan. ",1 Civilians rush to withdraw savings from banks after Egyptian president signs bill into law; US: We urge Morsi to bridge division.,0 YouTube begins removing al-Qaeda videos,1 Former Israeli president Katsav loses rape appeal ... and will go to prison for seven years,1 "France sees U.S. strike on Syria as tool to push for peace talks: HollandePARIS (Reuters) - France and the rest of Europe must use last week’s U.S. missile strike on Syria as a tool to revive peace negotiations between warring parties, French President Francois Hollande said in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday. In the interview with Le Monde, Hollande said intelligence suggested that the nerve gas attack which prompted the U.S. missile strike was tactical in nature and launched from an aircraft. Major western powers and their Middle Eastern allies blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the attack and have been pushing this week to try to isolate him over the attack on a rebel-held town last week that killed 87 people including 31 children. Pressure is also building on Russian President Vladimir Putin to break ties with Assad. ",1 "CHRISTIAN GROUPS FEARFUL AFTER TARGETED in Fake Hate Groups List Released by CNNCNN published a hate group map and list from the Southern Poverty Law Center that targeted many Christian Organizations. The organizations are fearful for their safety after the bogus hate map with the headline, Here are all the active hate groups where you live. The Southern Poverty Law Center will have blood on their hands if they cause the injury of anyone in these Christian groups. It s bad enough that they labeled these groups as hate groups but now the people in the groups are fearful.Todd Starnes of Townhall reported:The list included among others American Family Association, Family Research Council, Alliance Defending Freedom, Liberty Counsel and Pacific Justice Institute.American Family Association blasted the CNN story calling it a sham news article that could easily incite violence and place AFA employees and supporters in harm s way. Liberty Counsel President Mat Staver demanded an immediate retraction calling CNN s report false, defamatory and dangerous. Liberty Counsel is not a hate group, he said. The false hate label is very damaging to our reputation and is a safety risk to our staff. Liberty Counsel is a Christian ministry, and hates no one. Conservatives and Christians have good reason to be worried.In 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins opened fire inside Family Research Council headquarters in Washington, D.C. A security guard was shot and wounded.The domestic terrorist told police he wanted to kill as many employees as possible to intimidate opponents of same-sex marriage. Corkins brought along Chick-fil-A sandwiches, which he intended to smear on the faces of dead staffers.Corkins told authorities that he picked his target using the Southern Poverty Law Center s so-called hate map. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins appeared on my nationally syndicated radio show Thursday to condemn CNN for using material from an organization that is an attack dog of the Left. They are not a neutral arbiter that is calling balls and strikes. They are on the field playing. They are pushing an agenda and anyone who opposes them they slap a label on them, Perkins told me. They are inciting violence and it needs to stop, he added.READ MORE: TOWNHALL",0 "US secretary of state threatens Venezuela over Snowden asylum. ""A report published earlier this week by Spanish newspaper ABC details a series of heavy-handed threats leveled by US Secretary of State John Kerry against the government of Venezuela.""",1 "Top Republican pledges to maintain Cuba trade embargoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican in the U.S. Congress dimmed hopes that lawmakers might end the embargo on Cuba after President Barack Obama leaves office, saying on Tuesday he intends to keep the trade restrictions in place. “As the past two years of normalizing relations have only emboldened the regime at the expense of the Cuban people, I fully intend to maintain our embargo on Cuba,” U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement. The Obama administration has been easing restrictions on dealings with Cuba since the surprise announcement in 2014 by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro that the long-time foes would move toward more normal relations. On Friday, the White House announced new measures to further ease trade, travel and financial restrictions, including allowing American travelers to bring home more of the country’s coveted cigars and rum. But the half-century-long embargo can only be lifted fully by Congress, which is controlled by Ryan’s Republicans. While some join most of Obama’s fellow Democrats in backing the new policies, party leaders have opposed legislation to ease restrictions. Some lawmakers had hoped attitudes in Congress might soften after Obama leaves office in January, even if Democrats do not win majorities in the House and Senate, especially with Americans accustomed to two years of freer travel and business. Cuban relations often come to the fore during U.S. election campaigns. Pro-embargo Cuban-Americans are an important Republican voting bloc in Florida, which often has close congressional races and is one of the swing states that can decide presidential elections. Ryan termed Obama’s actions “efforts to appease the oppressive regime” in Cuba. He said they would strengthen its government and endanger U.S. companies’ intellectual property rights. Backers of Obama’s policy say half a century of restrictions on trade and travel have not ended Cuban communism, and are not worth denying U.S. citizens freedom of travel and U.S. companies the chance to do business there. ",1 "Scientists crack the code of viral replication, which may lead to erradication of the common cold.",1 "As many of you may know, The Pirate Bay is down, here is the reason.",1 "Clinton, Trump move to show medical fitness for White HouseWHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Wednesday moved to show their medical fitness for the White House as Clinton released a letter from her doctor declaring her fit for the presidency and Trump taped a TV-segment about his well-being. Clinton, 68, is healthy and fit to serve as president and is currently recovering from non-contagious, bacterial pneumonia, her physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, said in a letter about the Democratic nominee’s medical condition released by the campaign. Trump, 70, knows he could stand to lose a few pounds but otherwise is in great health, campaign adviser Sarah Huckabee Sanders told MSNBC on Wednesday after the Republican nominee taped an episode of the “Dr. Oz Show” in New York that will air on Thursday. Bardack, in her letter about Clinton, wrote: “She is recovering well with antibiotics and rest. She continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as President of the United States.” The announcements came as Clinton spent a third day resting at her home in Chappaqua, New York, after falling ill on Sunday morning as she left a Sept. 11 memorial in New York City. Video footage taken by a bystander showed Clinton becoming dizzy as she attempted to get into a waiting vehicle. Her campaign said later in the day that the former secretary of state had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday. Though senior aides knew about Clinton’s diagnosis, the delay in public disclosure fueled criticism that she is prone to secrecy and fed unsubstantiated internet rumors that she is hiding a health issue. Bardack said Clinton’s pneumonia was diagnosed after a chest scan on Friday and that she was prescribed a 10-day course of antibiotics. Bacterial pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics while viral pneumonia necessitates a different approach, according to Dr. Steve Simpson, acting director of the Division of Pulmonary Disease at the University of Kansas Hospital. Simpson has not evaluated or treated Clinton. Since bacterial pneumonia is not contagious, Clinton was at no risk of transmitting the infection at campaign and fundraising events before or after she was diagnosed. She is scheduled to return to the campaign trail on Thursday. Bardack said Clinton’s cholesterol and blood pressure are within normal ranges. She had a normal mammogram and breast ultrasound and shows no signs of developing heart disease, which runs in her family. Clinton takes medication for an underactive thyroid, which has been stable for years, Clarinex for her allergies, a vitamin B12 supplement and the blood thinner Coumadin following a 2012 blood clot in her head. In December 2012, as Clinton was near the end of her term as secretary of state, she fell at home and suffered a concussion, developing a blood clot shortly thereafter. Since then, Clinton’s dosage of Coumadin has “been adjusted as needed according to regular lab testing,” Bardack said. After consultation with a specialist, a decision was made to not switch Clinton to a newer anticoagulation drug. Bardack had released a two-page assessment of Clinton’s health in July 2015. Trump’s campaign released a brief letter from his personal physician in December 2015 that said he was in “astonishingly excellent” health but did not provide detail about treatment or medications. Neither candidate has released the type of detailed or voluminous medical records provided by past presidential candidates such as U.S. Senator John McCain, who in 2008 allowed reporters to review 1,173 pages of medical records after concerns were raised about a cancer scare. Trump’s campaign has said he will release additional medical information to the public in the coming days. The “Dr. Oz Show” on Wednesday released a short clip of its Thursday segment with Trump. In it, Trump gives Dr. Mehmet Oz two letters showing the results of medical tests conducted last week. Huckabee Sanders said she did not see the summary Trump showed Oz, but “he self-admitted he could lose a few pounds.” Trump weighs 267 pounds, according to media reports. That weight would mean Trump, like many Americans but few U.S. presidents, is considered medically obese, according to body mass index standards. Clinton’s running-mate, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, 58, also released a physician letter on Wednesday. Dr. Brian Monahan, who oversees the Office of the Attending Physician in the U.S. Congress, said Kaine, as of his last physical last February, was in “overall excellent health.” Monahan said Kaine was on no medications but recommended a vitamin D supplement. ",1 "VANITY FAIR LEAVES MELANIA Off “BEST DRESSED” List…But Look Who Did Make The ListImmediately following the election, a few leftist designers announced they wouldn t work with Melania Trump. Their decision to not offer their fashion creations to Melania hasn t seemed to have had much of an effect on her. Melania has brought elegance, class and most of all, style back to the White House that we haven t seen since the Jackie Kennedy era.Apparently, Vanity Fair missed the excitement and enthusiasm so many women (and men) seem to have for seeing photos of the always meticulously dressed First Lady Melania Trump, because somehow, her name was kept off their Best Dressed Women of 2017 list, but several names that appeared on their list have many Americans scratching their heads in disbelief.Melania made her first major fashion statement on the day her husband was inaugurated as our 45th President, where she was seen wearing a stunning two-piece, robin s egg blue, Ralph Lauren suit.Later in the evening, Melania stunned again in a sleek white, off-the-shoulder column dress with a modest slit revealing her toned legs, as she and President Trump danced to Frank Sinatra s My Way. There have been countless photos of Melania carrying herself with grace, class, and elegance as truly one of the most well-dressed First Lady s in history.Melania stunned the world in her luxurious black pants suit on her first overseas trip to Saudi Arabia with President Trump:Again, Melania pulled off another amazing pants suit on her trip to Saudi Arabia, that even made some of us forget about the damage Hillary Clinton had done to the image of pants suits on women.But Vanity Fair s list apparently is less a list of well dressed individuals and couples, and more a list of individuals who lean left. Here are a few of the people who did make Vanity Fair s list:Here are a few of the people who did make Vanity Fair s Best Dressed Women list:Beyonce s sister, (Yes, the same sister who was caught on camera beating and kicking Jay Z in an elevator.) Solange Knowles made the list. Because why?We don t need to go into the whole love-fest between Solange s much more famous sister Beyonce and the Obama s, do we?And the entertainer Rhianna, who usually looks like she just walked out a freak show, and calls women up to the stage while she s performing to grind on them in front of a packed house, was also named as one of Vanity Fair s Best Dressed . Did we mention that she was a huge Obama supporter? When she visited the White House, she told her fans that the best part of the visit was that Obama was black . She probably just forgot that he is also white. Anyhow, it s probably pretty clear why Vanity Fair chose her.Vanity Fair even had a Best Dressed Couples category, and to the surprise of no one, the Obama s and the Macron s made the list that should have been renamed the High Profile People On The Left Who Wear Clothes . Of course, Michelle and Barack made the list. Even funnier, is the fact that Vanity Fair chose this photo to highlight Michelle s great taste in clothing.And then there s the leftist first couple of France, the Macron s. We must concede, that Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron are the only leftists on this list that we believe actually have any business being on a Best Dressed list. Like Melania Trump, France s first lady never disappoints when it comes to fashion. Vanity Fair did however mention Melania and her fashion sense in arecent article, but it was anything but flattering, as they attempted to accuse her of copying (of all people) Michelle Obama, as a way to make her more appealing to Americans. LOL!From the Vanity Fair article:Melania Trump appears to be taking a page out of the Michelle Obama book of fashion. The usually designer-clad Trump flew from Camp David to D.C. over the weekend wearing a surprisingly affordable $75 pink gingham shirt from J.Crew along with a pair of matching J Brand pink pants and Manolo Blahnik flats. According to Yahoo Style Canada, the button-up top is a discontinued piece from the brand s 2012 collection. Perhaps she s been waiting to save the economical top for just the right moment in her First Lady reign.The mall brand is a major departure from the First Lady s typical designer wardrobe, which is occasionally criticized for being over the top and out of touch. Trump s predecessor Michelle Obama was often lauded for wearing J.Crew during her time in the White House, coming across as a more relatable and accessible First Lady than many in the past. It seems entirely possible that Trump is ripping out a page from the Obama handbook in order to drum up some much-needed goodwill from the public. ",0 "WOW! MALE College Professor Caught On Camera BULLYING Female Pro-Life Student: “College campuses are not free speech areas” [VIDEO]A Fresno State University professor was recently caught on camera scrubbing pro-life message off of the sidewalk and encouraging several of his students to do the same.Here is Gregory Thatcher s profile on the Fresno State College website. We thought we d post it before they take it down. His contact information is listed below, if you d like to have a respectful free speech discussion with him. The whole idea of free speech is that we have a free speech area on campus, kay? Professor Gregory Thatcher erroneously declares in a video recorded by the school s Students for Life chapter. Free speech is free speech in the free speech area. It s a pretty simple concept, okay? This does not constitute a free speech area, okay? He and his students go on to argue that it is within their own First Amendment rights to actively remove the pro-life messages from campus, and in one instance Thatcher claims that since the pro-life group has permission to put it down he has permission to get rid of it. This is our part of free speech. Do you disagree with our part of free speech? Thatcher asked while erasing one of the club s messages, after which he proclaimed that college campuses are not free speech areas. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has since filed a lawsuit against Thatcher on behalf of the Students for Life chapter at Fresno State, arguing that his efforts to intimidate and harass members of the Student for Life chapter violated their fundamental right to free speech.***WARNING***The video you are about to see will make your blood boil. It s pretty hard to watch a full grown man employed by Fresno College sending female students out to do his dirty work. It s even harder to watch the way he aggressively approaches this young female pro-life student, while arrogantly explaining to her that he has the right to deny her free-speech in America Fresno State Students for Life received full permission to chalk pro-life messages near the library. Rather than countering with his own message, Dr. Thatcher took the illegal approach of censoring speech and inciting students to help in this, Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, remarked in a press release, claiming that no student should have to endure this kind of intimidation and harassment for simply expressing their views. For entire story: Campus Reform ",0 "ONE OF The WORST TEAMS In The NFL Will Donate $500,000 To Push For Gun-ControlThe San Francisco 49ers weighed in on the national firearms debate Thursday, announcing their $500,000 donation to push for more gun control and a ban on bump stocks.The team is partnering with local and national law enforcement in an effort to create a safer America, by banning silencers and and armor piercing rounds, according to ESPN writer Nick Wagoner.A portion of the donation will also fund public service announcements geared towards police brutality and violence.Team owner Jed York was asked about his political views during an interview with reporters and said he was being painted as left-wing for pushing commonsense issues. I m not the most left-wing person in the world. I realize people are trying to sort of paint me as that. That s not my background politically and how I grew up, he said. A lot of these are commonsense issues. When you actually sit down and talk to people and know where they re coming from, it s hard not to be sympathetic and empathetic. The Niners have started the season 0-7 and are considered one of the worst teams in the league. Daily Caller",0 Moscow already has a Trophy Museum of the Georgian War,1 " Philadelphia New Year’s Parade Ruined By Racist White People In Brownface (IMAGES)It s hard to believe that racism is still a key issue in a city with one of the highest African American populations in America, but that wasn t the case in Philadelphia on New Year s Day, when white people dressed up in brownface for the city s annual Mummers Parade and insulted #BlackLivesMatter protesters with racial slurs while trying to argue that the parade wasn t racist!The Mummers Parade has been a New Year s Day tradition in Philadelphia where Mummers (amateur actors/Philadelphia citizens) dress up in extravagant costumes and perform throughout the city. As part of the costumes, it used to be common practice for the actors to wear blackface but this was curbed in 1964 after the NAACP and supporting protesters pressured the city to have it removed from the parade. Blackface was never officially sanctioned, so it still occurs despite the fact that blackface is now commonly regarded as racist. In response, the Philly Coalition for REAL Justice decided to schedule a rally during this year s Mummers Parade in protest.Coverage of the rally ended up exposing not only rampant racism, but misogyny. Along with the brownface, there were many men dressed up as wenches and some people even mocked the #BlackLivesMatter movement by carrying signs that said Wench Lives Matter, Pirate Lives Matter and Shark Lives Matter (which bared some resemblance to KKK attire).When parade participants heard of the Philly Coalition for REAL Justice rally, they began flooding the group s Mummers Parade Justice Rally s Facebook event page to convince America that the Mummers Day parade wasn t racist and ironically showed an impressive amount of white privilege and N-bombs.It should be mentioned that #BlackLivesMatter wasn t even the sole purpose of the rally it was just one of many issues that protesters had with the Mummers Parade. And the rally s intention was not to shut the Mummers Parade down. The Justice Rally s page wrote: Bring your signs, banners and noise makers to the Mummers parade and let s represent for the issues that matter to our communities! Our goal is to pack the stands and the parade route around city hall with people representing for #BlackLivesMatter in a city 48% black, funding public schools, fighting for a $15 minimum wage, dumping Trump, immigration rights and explosive oil trains. Not one mention of shutting the parade down, just the innocent intention of improving the lives of Philadelphians. Here are some of the horrendously racist, vile things people posted on the Justice Rally s event page in response: So improving Philadelphia is something to condemn, and yet behavior like what happened in the below Facebook post is perfectly acceptable at the Mummers Parade:If that had been a group of drunk black people p*ssing on homeless people, this would have never been accepted. Fortunately, there were also many people who recognized that the Mummers Parade does have a racist past and that racism and misogyny don t belong in such a widely celebrated parade. Hopefully 2016 will be the year that the more offensive traits of the parade get squashed.Featured image via Joshua Scott Albert Twitter",0 "Albanian town backs Clinton with bronze bustSARANDE, Albania (Reuters) - Whatever the outcome of November’s U.S. presidential election, the Albanian town of Sarande is backing Hillary Clinton by erecting a bronze bust to thank her for supporting Albanian causes. Albania is a staunch ally of the United States and has a history of commemorating its presidents. Woodrow Wilson has a statue there for helping foster the young Albanian state. So does George W. Bush, who visited Albania in 2007 and backed the independence of Kosovo, whose population is mainly ethnic Albanian. Bill Clinton has a statue in Kosovo in recognition of his role in the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 in support of Kosovo. “This bust in our most central public space is an expression of our gratitude through Mrs. Clinton to the American people and state for what they have done for the Albanian people and nation,” Sarande Mayor Florjana Koka told a small crowd. It was also a tribute to Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, as an example to women in politics, said Koka, the first female mayor of Sarande. American tourist Jessica Rightmayer wiped away tears as the U.S. national anthem was played. “I think it is beautiful and I really think it is a very good likeness,” she said. Sculptor Idriz Balani said the idea for the statue came to him when Hillary Clinton told the Albanian parliament in 2012 that Albania and the United States had together marked the Balkan country’s first centenary and would be friends for another 100 years. Her “charm, elegance and vitality” had convinced him to sculpt her. “I used three photos to get her smile, hair, posture and attire right and kept the necklace. She exudes benevolence. I hope they like it,” Balani told Reuters. ",1 "Trump's prediction of 'massive recession' puzzles economistsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s prediction that the U.S. economy was on the verge of a “very massive recession” hit a wall of skepticism on Sunday from economists who questioned the Republican presidential front-runner’s calculations. In an interview with the Washington Post published on Saturday, the billionaire businessman said a combination of high unemployment and an overvalued stock market had set the stage for another economic slump. He put real unemployment above 20 percent. “We’re not heading for a recession, massive or minor, and the unemployment rate is not 20 percent,” said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Research in New York. The official unemployment rate has declined to 5 percent from a peak of 10 percent in October 2009, according to government statistics. But a different, broader measure of unemployment that includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment is at 9.8 percent. Coming off a difficult week of campaigning, in which he acknowledged he struggled to articulate his position on abortion among other missteps, Trump’s comments to the Post might be some of his most bearish on the economy and financial markets. “I think we’re sitting on an economic bubble. A financial bubble,” he said. Some economists agree the stock market is in a period of overvaluation but do not see that as foretelling a cataclysmic economic downturn originating in the United States. “Nobody can predict what the stock market is going to do,” said Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University. “I cannot predict a stock market crash, so I cannot predict a recession. I don’t see any of the reasons for a recession going forward unless there is a huge problem with the market or there is some catastrophic world event which is beyond the scope of economics.” Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, put the probability of an imminent recession at less than 10 percent. “If it happens, it would be because of what is happening overseas, especially in China and Europe,” he said. Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Pennsylvania, said it would take a “total financial meltdown” to trigger a recession. “We can get by with Europe growing minimally,” he said. “We can get by with China growing modestly because the rest of the U.S. is still solid enough that we can handle weakness in the rest of the world.” The Democratic National Committee criticized Trump for his remarks, saying they “undermine our economy.” Trump’s success with voters, despite his sometimes saying things only to contradict them later, has also alarmed many leading figures within his own party. Some of them are openly plotting to try to prevent him from becoming the nominee at the party’s national convention in July. Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman, said on Sunday that voters were “afraid” of their economic situation, when asked about Trump’s remarks on CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “When people are afraid and when they’re angry, sometimes people say things that they regret,” he said, apparently referring to Trump’s remarks. He also played down speculation that party leaders would seek to dislodge Trump by helping someone who is not even a declared candidate prevail at the convention, which becomes governed by complicated voting rules if no candidate arrives with a clear majority. “I think that our candidate is someone who’s running,” Priebus said, referring to Trump, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich. The candidates will next face voters on Tuesday in Wisconsin, where recent polls show Cruz holding a small lead over Trump. ",1 "Indian police arrest Christian priest after complaint by Hindu groupNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police arrested a Christian priest and were questioning members of a seminary after a hardline Hindu group accused them of trying to convert villagers to Christianity by distributing Bibles and singing carols, police said on Saturday. The priest was arrested on Friday after a member of the Bajrang Dal, a powerful Hindu group associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi s ruling party, accused 50 members of a seminary of distributing the Bible, photos of Jesus Christ and singing carols in a village in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Our members have registered a criminal case because we have proof to show how Christian priests were forcibly converting poor Hindus, said Abhay Kumar Dhar, a senior member of the Bajrang Dal in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. The Bajrang Dal has direct links with Modi s ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Madhya Pradesh, governed by the BJP, has strict religious conversion laws. People must give formal notice to local administrators in order to change religion. We have arrested the priest but have not booked him under the anti-conversion law because the probe into the allegations is still on, said Rajesh Hingankar, the investigating official in Satna district, where the incident occurred. The Catholic Bishops Conference of India said they were shocked, and pained at the unprovoked violence against Catholic priests and seminarians . We were only singing carols, but the hardline Hindus attacked us and said we were on a mission to make India a Christian nation ... that s not true, said Anish Emmanuel, a member of the St. Ephrem s Theological College in Satna. Two senior police officials in Bhopal said they had detained six members of the Bajrang Dal who had allegedly torched a car owned by a Christian priest in Satna, 480 km (300 miles) northeast of Bhopal. Religious conversion is a sensitive issue in India, with Hindu groups often accusing Christian missionaries of using cash, kind and marriage to lure poor villagers to convert to their faith. Modi s government has been criticized for failing to do enough to stop attacks on minority Christians and Muslims by hardline Hindu groups. The government rejects the allegation and denies any bias against Christians or Muslims. ",1 John McCain says it's okay with him if the U.S. spends the next thousand years in Iraq.,1 "WARNING: Don’t Worry If the Stock Market Goes Crazy After Election BloombergIn the hours after the president is elected, equity investors need to brace for volatility. What they shouldn t do is panic.That s because regardless of how prices react on Nov. 9, next-day moves in the S&P 500 Index are useless in telling what comes after.While the index swings an average 1.5 percent the day after the vote, gains or losses over the first 24 hours predict the market s direction 12 months later less than half the time.This matters because the compulsion to act in the vote s aftermath is often very strong stocks swing twice as violently as normal those days, data compiled by Bloomberg show. They plummeted 5 percent just after Barack Obama beat John McCain in 2008. But while nothing says Wednesday s reaction won t be a harbinger for the year, nothing says it will, either, and investors should think before doing anything rash. Trying to trade that is very difficult, said Thomas Melcher, the Philadelphia-based chief investment officer at PNC Asset Management Group. Even if the market sells off, if you have any reasonable time horizon, that should be a buying opportunity. The dust will settle and people will conclude the economy is OK. In the 22 elections going back to 1928, the S&P 500 has fallen 15 times the day after polls close, for an average loss of 1.8 percent Continue this story at BloombergREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files",0 16 year old Iraqi Immigrant cracks centuries-old mathematical puzzle,1 "Arab lack of industrialization partly due to reforms ""pushed by the World Bank and IMF. In fact, today, Arab countries are less industrialized than they were in 1970.""...Holy Crap!",1 " Kid Rock Just Had His First Political Rally, And It Was Worse Than You’d Imagine (VIDEO)Robert Ritchie, AKA Kid Rock, has shown quite a bit of interest in running for the Senate in Michigan over the last few months, which would pit him against incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow. Although he has not officially entered the race, Kid Rock launched the website kidrockforsenate.com in July.I have had a ton of emails and texts asking me if this website is real https://t.co/RRVgISDFeq The answer is an absolute YES. pic.twitter.com/uYCUg6mjW1 Kid Rock (@KidRock) July 12, 2017Now Kid Rock has taken things to a whole new level by delivering campaign-style speeches during concerts. One of the first occured at a show on September 6 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a performance that had already garnered it s share of criticism and protesters before it even began, due to the artist s history of using the Confederate flag as a prop, something Rock has tried to justify as Southern pride, despite the fact he hails from Detroit. Yes, this is a man who is considering running for office.Kid Rock opened the night s performance with a new track entitled Greatest Show on Earth and then the entire arena went dark. A campaign banner was projected on a screen and a voice announced over the public address system Ladies and gentleman, will you please welcome the next senator of the great state of Michigan, Kid motherf___ing Rock. Red, white and blue lights came back on and Rock made his way on to the stage and settled behind a lectern with a parody of the presidential seal that read United States of Merica while Hail to the Chief played in the background.What followed was completely surreal as Rock stood at the podium, flanked by two women resplendent in white business shirts and hot-pants, and rhymed his way through an offensive, expletive-laden speech that, in comparison, made Donald Trump seem as reserved as a kindergarten teacher during his presidential campaign and, really, was a speech only Kid Rock could deliver. Rock covered all of the hot topics over the following four minutes between periodic bursts of guitars and thrusting, touching on sensitive issues such as health care and racism, while also calling out single mothers that rely on government assistance and white supremacists. He even went as far as considering the possibility of being President, pondering the potential of being able to grab his own junk while addressing the nation!Watch the madness that was Kid Rock s rant unfold here, however, a word of warning, there is quite a bit of coarse language. But, as if you expected anything less.Featured image via Rick Diamond/Getty Images",0 "BREAKING: PICTURE OF MOTHER Whose Boy Climbed Into Gorilla Cage Is Revealed…Angry Black Twitter Users Humiliated After Blaming “White Privilege” For Gorilla’s DeathHere s what some ignorant race baiting Twitter users had to say about the recent tragedy that involved the killing of a Silverback Gorilla, after a 4 year old boy fell into the exhibit in the Cincinnati Zoo. One of the users claimed the white boy who was only saved because he was white. Meanwhile, one of these fools actually said if the boy was black the endangered gorilla would have only been tranquilized. LOL!Tweets are courtesy of Breitbart News:There are so many things we could point out that are wrong with these ignorant tweets, but clearly the most stinging mistake was the accusations being made about the skin color of the boy.Here s a picture the mother of the 4-year-old boy who fell into the Gorilla World exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo, which lead to the fatal shooting of Harambe the gorilla. She has been identified as Michelle Gregg. She is clearly not suffering from white privilege LOL!The 32-year-old mom of four and Cincinnati resident posted a now-deleted Facebook post thanking the zoo for making the difficult decision to shoot the gorilla to save her son.Here is her Facebook post explaining the incident:Harambe, a 17-year-old western lowland silverback gorilla, was killed after dragging the boy through a moat inside the exhibit.Watch video here: The Zoo security team s quick response saved the child s life. We are all devastated that this tragic accident resulted in the death of a critically-endangered gorilla, Zoo Director Thane Maynard said in a statement. This is a huge loss for the Zoo family and the gorilla population worldwide. Videos of the incident were recorded by a bystander and posted on social media. The videos show the 400-pound gorilla grabbing the 4-year-old boy and dragging him through a moat area. He then stops and stands over the boy, before dragging him further into the enclosure.During one part of the video, which you can watch below, Michelle Gregg can be heard talking to her crying son and saying Oh God, please protect him, while panicked zoo visitors call for help. Isaiah, be calm, Gregg calls out. Be calm, be calm. In another part of the video, she can be heard saying, Mommy s right here, and mommy loves you. Kim O Connor, who recorded video of the incident, said it appeared the gorilla was trying to protect the child. I don t know if the screaming did it or too many people hanging on the edge, if he thought we were coming in, but then he pulled the boy down away further from the big group, Kim O Connor told WLWT-TV.Cincinnati Fire Chief Marc Monahan said in a statement to NBC News that the gorilla was seen violently dragging and throwing the child. He said the gorilla was neutralized by a Cincinnati Zoo employee with one shot from a long rifle.The family issued this statement through a PR firm: We are so thankful to the Lord that our child is safe. He is home and doing just fine. We extend our heartfelt thanks for the quick action by the Cincinnati Zoo staff, the statement from Gail Myers Public Relations said. We know that this was a very difficult decision for them, and that they are grieving the loss of their gorilla. We hope that you will respect our privacy at this time. The 4-year-old boy was released from a local children s hospital on Sunday. He suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries, authorities said. Via: Heavy ",0 "TRUMP AND SECRET SERVICE FORCED To Take Last Minute Escape Route To Avoid VIOLENT Liberal Thug Protesters [Video]WATCH: @realDonaldTrump exits his speech in California by climbing over a barricade to avoid protesters.WATCH: @realDonaldTrump exits his speech in California by climbing over a barricade to avoid protesters.https://t.co/xOzgokBc2x Fox News (@FoxNews) April 29, 2016 The California GOP Convention is going on and it s more of the same thugs who re using violence and violent rhetoric to stop the support of Republican Donald Trump. One of Trump s supporters was harassed and roughed up today in a show of total intolerance by the left. Here s the moment when anti-#Trump protesters broke through the barricade at #CAGOPConvention @ReutersTV pic.twitter.com/1gyarQYn63 Lily Jamali (@lilyjamali) April 29, 2016 Protesters chanting Make America Mexico Again ",0 "Factbox: Trump on Twitter (Dec 29) - Approval rating, AmazonThe following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - While the Fake News loves to talk about my so-called low approval rating, @foxandfriends just showed that my rating on Dec. 28, 2017, was approximately the same as President Obama on Dec. 28, 2009, which was 47%...and this despite massive negative Trump coverage & Russia hoax! [0746 EST] - Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE! [0804 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) ",1 A Spanish newspaper has published what it alleges are documents showing Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and other top politicians received illicit payments.,1 Mubarak assets frozen by Swiss government,1 " Thanks To Trump, Companies Are Pulling Out Of The Republican National ConventionNow that Republicans are only a month away from officially nominating a racist, sexist, bigot, companies responsible for funding the Republican National Convention are pulling out, and for good reason: bigotry isn t good for business.Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Motorola, Ford, Walgreens and UPS (all of whom sponsored the 2012 convention) have announced they will be pulling out of this year s convention. Although none of the companies have publicly said why they are pulling out, Trump s continuous slamming of the Ford Corporation could explain why the motor company is calling it quits. Sources close with Wells Fargo say they will continue to sponsor the Democratic National Convention because of a large market outreach in Philadelphia.Coca-Cola has also pulled out of the RNC, citing bad publicity.Reports are surfacing that delegates for the RNC are gearing up to stage a coup against trump, thus brokering the convention and thwarting the billionaire s chances of taking on Hillary Clinton (who would mop the floor with him).Their decision to pull out comes as the RNC is close to reaching their goal of $64 million to fund the convention. With these companies now retracting their monetary support, the RNC will have to find new ways to make up for the lost funds. Maybe they could ask their nominee? He is a billionaire, after all.Several months ago, the New York Times reported Apple, Walmart, and Google are considering pulling out as well, as public pressure mounts against the presumptive nominee.Republican fundraising consultant Carla Eudy told the Times:I have talked to several people at companies who have said, I ve always gone to the convention, I ve always participated at some level, but this year we re not putting it in our budget, we re not going, we re no going to sponsor any of the events going on.Things aren t looking good for the RNC, and yet Reince Priebus insists everything is O.K. when, in fact, nothing is O.K. The public is turning against them, big business is turning against them, and members of their own party are turning against them.Cleveland will be a catastrophe, and it s all thanks to Donald J. Trump. Congratulations, GOP, you built that. Now, reap what you sow.Featured image via Ron Jenkins/Getty Images",0 "Hunger 'kills 17,000 children per day'",1 "BREAKING: A Third Democrat Senator To Vote For Supreme Court Nominee Neil GorsuchAssuming all Republicans support Gorsuch, the nominee would need the votes of five more Democrats to achieve the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. If the number does not hit 60, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he will invoke the nuclear option to end filibusters of Supreme Court nominees and require only a majority vote for confirmation.Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Joe Minchin, D-W.Va., announced Thursday they would vote to confirm Gorsuch to the Supreme Court: Senators have a constitutional obligation to advice and consent on a nominee to fill this Supreme Court vacancy and, simply put, we have a responsibility to do our jobs as elected officials, Manchin said in a statement Thursday. I will vote to confirm him to be the ninth justice on the Supreme Court. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csE04bREOAEHeitcamp of North Dakota also pledged her vote for Gorsuch and released a statement to confirm: After doing my due diligence by meeting with Judge Gorsuch and reviewing his record and testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I ve decided to vote in favor of his confirmation. He has a record as a balanced, meticulous, and well-respected jurist who understands the rule of law, . ",0 "In order to sustain global auto-mania, we require overwhelming self-delusion.",1 "Kidnapped Saudi released in Lebanon: Lebanese news agencyBEIRUT (Reuters) - Kidnappers in Lebanon have released a Saudi Arabian man whose abduction was announced by Riyadh last week, Lebanon s National News Agency reported on Wednesday. The case comes during a diplomatic crisis between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. The kidnapped Saudi ... was released. He was handed over to the Lebanese army intelligence, the agency reported. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have advised their citizens against traveling to Lebanon and urged those already there to leave as tensions have risen. Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Wednesday accused Saudi Arabia of holding hostage Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as Lebanon s prime minister on Nov. 4 in a televised statement broadcast from Riyadh, where he had traveled on Nov. 3. Saudi Arabia and Hariri both deny that he is being held by the kingdom. When Saudi Arabia said last week that one of its nationals had been abducted, Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said the safety of Saudi residents and visitors was a priority for the Lebanese authorities. ",1 " WATCH: Jimmy Kimmel Demonstrates That Trump Could Support Child Rape And Not Lose Any VotesIt s official. Trump s supporters will vote for Donald Trump no matter what he does or what lies he tells, even if his tax returns reveal the truth.During his show on Tuesday night, Jimmy Kimmel ran yet another Lie Witness News segment featuring Trump supporters being asked questions based on the false story of him finally releasing his tax returns.The Kimmel reporter on the street asked Trump fans what they think now that the tax returns reveal that Trump is close with Putin, leases his wife Melania, writes off gold-plated toilets as a business expense, and supports child molester Jared Fogle.As it turns out, every single Trump supporter said they are still voting for the Republican nominee no matter what, even if it is true that Trump contributed to the legal defense fund of a convicted child molester. In fact, his supporters made excuses for Trump in order to justify his actions.So when Donald Trump said that he could go out and shoot someone dead in broad daylight in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes, he was right.Because Trump s supporters were not fazed by any of the claims presented to them. They were even okay with him lying on his returns by listing his occupation as a farmer.Seriously.Here s the video via YouTube.Trump s supporters are truly deplorable people who just want to watch the world burn.It doesn t matter what he says or what he does or how much he embarrasses America, Donald Trump s supporter will vote for him no matter what.So the question is will the rest of us sit home on Election Day and let the lunatics win? Or will we get our asses off the couch and make sure Donald Trump never sets a single toe inside the White House?Because if his supporters don t mind him doing all of these despicable things, that means Trump could basically do whatever he wants in office without political consequences and that would be disastrous for the nation.Featured image via screen capture",0 U.S. builds two air bases in Kurdish-controlled north Syria: Kurdish report,1 Violent Protests Erupt in Moldova ,0 "Ebola Deaths Doubled in a Month, WHO Says",1 "OBAMA RELEASES TOP IRANIAN SCIENTIST…LEAVES 4 AMERICANS TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES IN IRANIAN PRISONS As Part Of Nuke DealOn Wednesday Barack Obama lashed out at CBS reporter Major Garrett after he asked him about the four Americans left behind to languish in Iranian prisons.Former Marine Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini and Vahid Salemi are being held in Iranian prisons. (Breitbart)Obama was defending his nuclear deal with Iran when Garrett asked him about the US hostages in Iran.https://youtu.be/rqdVAd25CHUObama: I got to give you credit Major for how you craft those questions. the notion that I m content as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails. Major, that s nonsense and you should know better.Of course, that is exactly what he did. The Obama administration did nothing to free American hostages during their talks with the Iranian regime.Now we know Obama released a top Iranian scientist as part of the deal but left the Americans to rot in hell in Iranian prisons. The Times of Israel reported:Mojtaba Atarodi, arrested in California for attempting to acquire equipment for Iran s military-nuclear programs, was released in April as part of back channel talks, Times of Israel told. The contacts, mediated in Oman for years by close colleague of the Sultan, have seen a series of US-Iran prisoner releases, and there may be more to come.The secret back channel of negotiations between Iran and the United States, which led to this month s interim deal in Geneva on Iran s rogue nuclear program, has also seen a series of prisoner releases by both sides, which have played a central role in bridging the distance between the two nations, the Times of Israel has been told.In the most dramatic of those releases, the US in April released a top Iranian scientist, Mojtaba Atarodi, who had been arrested in 2011 for attempting to acquire equipment that could be used for Iran s military-nuclear programs.No wonder he didn t want reporters talking about it!Via: Gateway Pundit",0 " ‘Squeaky Clean’ Super Bowl Champ And GOP Poster Boy Peyton Manning Buried A Sex Scandal In CollegeDenver Broncos Quarterback and two-time Super Bowl Champ Peyton Manning makes a great commercial. His boyish looks and unassuming southern drawl combined with a squeaky clean image make him the perfect poster boy for just about any product.Aside from being a Papa John Schnatter loving, Jeb Bush supporting Republican who sends maximum donations to GOP campaigns regularly, Peyton Manning has what appears to be a polished past with nothing but daisies, rainbows and NFL records dotting it. As with most Republicans, however, the illusion at some point comes crashing down. As it turns out, the already-famous Manning was reportedly responsible for an assault of a sexual nature and subsequent cover-up that changed the course of a woman s career while he was in college at the University of Tennessee.The woman, Dr. Jamie Ann Naughright, wasn t a random female student who could be bullied into silence the way so many in the twisted world of men s college sports are. She was a student volunteer on the training staff and a pioneer in a field where only men had previously prevailed.According to court records recently uncovered by The New York Daily News, a 74-page scandal was swept under the rug and a great woman was forced to leave a campus and a job she loved because Peyton Manning was a foolish and vulgar scumbag. After months of abuse by the misogynist coaching staff, who joked that she must be a lesbian and called her c*nt bumper, Dr. Naughright s glass ceiling was raised to impossible heights by none other than number 18.The story begins with Manning suffering a typical football injury and Naughtright, whose name was Whited at the time, attending to him. She said that Manning had first asked her personal questions, including if she hung out with people she worked with. Then things got infinitely worse.After turning down his advances, Manning decided to drop trou while Dr. Naughright had her head down. When she hears chuckles from the others in the room, she looked up to see Manning s privates in her face. According to the court documents, Naughright said: It was the gluteus maximus, the rectum, the testicles and the area in between the testicles. And all that was on my face when I pushed him up. To get leverage, I took my head out to push him up and off. Such blatant lewd behavior and disrespect for a woman who was trying to help him shows a different character than the one the NFL has sold its fans for nearly two decades. Not only did Manning stick his privates in this woman s face, he and the coaching staff tried to blame the incident on a black player, according to documents, and went on to downplay it as mooning. They went so far as to involve yet another player, who was supposedly the target of said mooning, who rebuffed the theory that Naughright accidentally placed her own face in the path of Manning s ass. Yes, it really did get that ridiculous. The other player rebuffed the claim, telling Manning in a letter that he should take responsibility for what he did.After the incident was reported, Manning was punished with the removal of his privilege to eat at the athletic facilities dining room, and requiring him to run at 6:00 a.m. for two weeks. The dining room ban was then reduced to two weeks as well. Dr. Naughright ended up being forced out of the University with a $300K settlement and a confidentiality agreement. For her, the incident was over.For Manning, however, the incident needed to be put into his own context, most likely as a pre-emptive strike against the truth ever coming out. In a book released by him and his father, Archie, Manning tells a completely different story of a woman he called vulgar. While he admitted his behavior was inappropriate, he placed most of the blame on Dr. Naughright, claiming she had a foul mouth and that she yearned to be one of the guys. In his book, Manning described his feelings towards women in the manly man s world of football: Never mind that women in the men s locker room is one of the most misbegotten concessions to equal rights ever made, Manning wrote. When Dad played, there was still at least a tacit acknowledgment that women and men are two different sexes, with all that implies, and a certain amount of decorum had to be maintained. Meaning when it came to training rooms and shower stalls, the opposite sex was not allowed. Common sense tells you why. Misogyny is what tells you why. Peyton Manning s need to display his superiority over a woman who had halted his advances tells you why.At the time, Naughright was working at Florida Southern College and while she wasn t named, it became common knowledge that she was the trainer Manning was referring to in his book. She ended up leaving the school and filing a defamation lawsuit against Manning, which is where the 74 pages of documents came from.USA Today picked the story up in 2003 but didn t release the documents they obtained that incriminated Manning. Instead, they ran a piece about an unnamed woman who took a mooning incident the wrong way, clearing the way for Manning s squeaky clean image to move forward.Here we are, on what seems to be the waning days of manning s career, and lo and behold the truth comes out. Consequences at this point for Manning will probably be non-existent, because even though what he did and how he treated this woman were disgusting, he has two Super Bowl Rings and the undying admiration of millions of fans.To those of us keeping score, Manning belongs in another club of players: The ones who got away with something horrible. Featured image via biography.com",0 Israel navy fires on Gaza fishing boats,1 27 asylum seekers die as boat sinks off Australia,0 " Snowflake Trump Demands An Apology From The Media And The Internet Laughs At HimDonald Trump went on a whining rant about the media on Tuesday morning and got totally humiliated.As he usually does, Trump woke up and immediately took to Twitter to attack Democrats, the courts, and the media.He accused Democrats of being obstructionists and once again declared that the Affordable Care Act is in a death spiral, a spiral he himself caused by attacking the law through executive orders.Trump also bitched about the 9th Circuit Court blocking his Muslim ban.But he saved most of his vitriol for the media.The Fake News Media has never been so wrong or so dirty. Purposely incorrect stories and phony sources to meet their agenda of hate. Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2017Fake News is at an all time high. Where is their apology to me for all of the incorrect stories??? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2017< /script>

Heading to the Great State of Wisconsin to talk about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! Big progress being made as the Real News is reporting.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2017

Yep, Trump literally demanded an apology from the media for doing their jobs, which drew a belly laugh from Twitter users, who proceeded to mock Trump for being a snowflake.Like the time where they said Ms Universe had a sex tape and everyone should watch it even though it didn t exist? Evan Dashevsky (@haldash) June 13, 2017Or the time the Fake News said your birth certificate was a fraud they STILL haven t apologized to you for that one! What gives? Evan Dashevsky (@haldash) June 13, 2017Also, remember when the Fake News said your dad assassinated JFK. Still waiting for them to apologize on that one. Evan Dashevsky (@haldash) June 13, 2017Where is your apology for trying to ban muslims, taking billions away from healthcare, destroying the environment, and betraying the USA? Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) June 13, 2017Translation: Why won t the media worship me properly? kim (@kim) June 13, 2017Where is your apology to the voters for claiming you won the popular vote? Morten verbye (@morten) June 13, 2017Where is your apology to Muslims in New Jersey for claiming they celebrated on 9 11? Morten verbye (@morten) June 13, 2017Where is your apology to John McCain for saying he is not a war hero? Morten verbye (@morten) June 13, 2017We ve officially stepped through the looking glass Man who has never apologized for anything in his life is Whining about wanting apology. Dana Smith (@Brady5thOrBust) June 13, 2017#Trump claimed Obama was born in Kenya and he complains about fake news. Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) June 13, 2017And that Obama put a tapp on his lines at trump tower. Angela Jackson (@butterbeangabs) June 13, 2017Don t forget Microwave Spying! Jamie (@xochewie) June 13, 2017And the proof of 3-5 million illegal votes! Dana Smith (@Brady5thOrBust) June 13, 2017And the largest Inauguration crowd since Obama D backl (@DanBackl) June 13, 2017It sounds like Donald Trump is the one who better start apologizing. He can do it all at once by resigning and turning himself in to federal authorities.Featured Image: Mario Tama/Getty Images",0 Cameron: UK public is fine with domestic spying,0 " Trump Reveals The ONE THING To Stop Him From Debating Hillary And It’s RIDICULOUS (VIDEO)On Monday, Donald Trump gave interviews to reporters on his plane, and naturally the subject of the presidential debates against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton came up. As expected, Trump s responses were nothing short of moronic and unbelievable, and show just how unprepared Trump is to be president.As reporters threw different questions at Trump about his strategy to beat Clinton, Trump gave responses that should have his supporters worried sick about how he s going to win. Trump told reporters that he is barely doing any debate prep in stark contrast to most presidential candidates. With a dismissive attitude, the ignorant business mogul revealed that he has not planned on mock debates, saying he d pretty much rather wing it: I ve seen people do so much prep work when they get out there, they can t speak. I ve seen that. Then when Trump was asked if he d actually follow through with the debates, Trump gave an even more surprising answer.Trump said, As of this moment, yeah a strange response for sure. And then he said that only hurricanes and natural disasters would stop him from debating the former Secretary of State. He said: I expect to do all three. I look forward to the debates. You can watch this bizarre interview below:Hilariously, Trump also said that it was his obligation to debate Clinton and that presidential debates are an important element of what we re doing. He said: I did them with the other, you know, the other cases. We had, I guess 11 debates. Obviously, I did well in the debates. Obviously, according to the polls, the online polls they did right after the debates. And I think I m doing the same thing. Trump must have forgotten that he actually skipped one of the GOP debates, and also backed out of the debate that he challenged Vermont senator Bernie Sanders to. And there are ongoing rumors that Trump is going to somehow find an excuse to back out of his debates with Clinton as well. Judging from this interview alone, we would not be surprised.Featured image is a screenshot",0 "Syria accepts Russian plan for ceasefire in besieged zone: U.N.GENEVA (Reuters) - The Syrian government has accepted a Russian suggestion of a ceasefire in the besieged rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told reporters on Tuesday. I was just informed by the Russians today at the P5 meeting that the Russians have proposed and the government has accepted a ceasefire on Eastern Ghouta because we were and are very concerned about it, de Mistura said. Now we need to see whether this takes place but it s not coincidental that this has actually been proposed and agreed upon just at the beginning of this session (of peace talks in Geneva). ",1 "MIKE ROWE SENDS A BRUTAL MESSAGE To The Media Trying To Label TRUMP Supporters As “Uneducated”An electrical contractor wrote to the 54-year-old host of Dirty Jobs to say that he finds it offensive when the media constantly refers to majority of the Republican nominee s supporters as uneducated white men. If the media is referring to Trump supporters who happen to be male caucasians suffering from a lack of knowledge brought about by an absence of formal or practical instruction, than I guess uneducated white men is a fair description, Rowe responded in a lengthy Facebook post. However, if the Trump supporters in question are being dubbed uneducated, simply because they didn t earn a four-year degree, I d say the media s slip is showing. Let s assume that Donald Trump is indeed popular among white men who didn t graduate from college. The first question is, so what? Is this information newsworthy? Obviously, thousands of journalists think it is. To your point, the words uneducated white men now appear in hundreds of articles about Trump. But if this is truly important information, where were these reporters four years ago? In the last election, an even greater majority of African-American males who voted for President Obama had no college on their resume. Maybe I missed it, but I don t recall any headlines or articles that delved into Obama s popularity among uneducated black men. If the media didn t care about the lack of college among black men supporting Obama, why do they care so much about the lack of college among white men supporting Trump? Moreover, when exactly did a lack of college become synonymous with a lack of education? There are many ways to become educated that don t involve the purchase of a diploma. Why would the media ignore thousands of apprenticeship programs, on-the-job-training opportunities, and all the other alternative educational options that have led so many people into so many successful careers? The answer is obvious many in the press are looking for ways to impact the election. If a biased reporter can get away with labeling Trump supporters who didn t graduate from college as uneducated, he can simultaneously imply that any ballot cast for Trump is the hallmark of an uneducated voter. It s impossible for me to have this conversation and not think of my grandfather. Pop never made it to college. In fact, he never made it out of the 7th grade. But he never stopped learning or studying. He started as an electrician s helper, became an apprentice, a journeyman, a master electrician, a contractor, and then a small business owner. Later, as an electrical inspector for the state, he was responsible for guaranteeing the safety of hundreds of buildings in Maryland, as well as all the rides on the carnival midway at the State Fair. He was a modest man of real intelligence, admired and respected by everyone who knew him. But today, he d be right there with you, Albert swelling out the ranks of uneducated white men. Closing the skills gap and making college more affordable is beyond my pay grade, but it seems like we could start by reminding the media that a college degree is not the only path to success. It s well and good to promote higher education, but it s crazy to suggest the most expensive road to enlightenment is the best path for the most people. And it s equally nuts to pressure our kids to keep borrowing vast sums of money to become educated in careers that no longer exist. The media has minimized your work, insulted your intelligence, and ignored your contribution to civilized life. Try not to take it personally. Just keep doing what you do. Run your business. Vote your conscience. Keep the lights on for the rest of us. Read more: Daily Caller ",0 As many as 126 reported killed as Syrian attacks escalate - CNN.com,0 4 arrested in Egypt after shoe thrown at Irans President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,1 "An Ugly Truth in the War on Drugs: ""human rights abuses in the war on drugs are widespread and systematic""",1 " Greek journalist who published names of 2,000 suspected tax evaders acquitted ",0 "New York governor questions the constitutionality of federal tax overhaulNEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new U.S. tax code targets high-tax states and may be unconstitutional, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday, saying that the bill may violate New York residents’ rights to due process and equal protection. The sweeping Republican tax bill signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday introduces a cap, of $10,000, on deductions of state and local income and property taxes, known as SALT. The tax overhaul was the party’s first major legislative victory since Trump took office in January. The SALT provision will hit many taxpayers in states with high incomes, high property values and high taxes, like New York, New Jersey and California. Those states are generally Democratic leaning. “I’m not even sure what they did is legally constitutional and that’s something we’re looking at now,” Cuomo said in an interview with CNN. In an interview with CNBC, Cuomo suggested why the bill may be unconstitutional. “Politics does not trump the law,” Cuomo said on CNBC. “You have the constitution, you have the law, you have due process, you have equal protection. You can’t use politics just because the majority controls to override the law.” The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, better known for its protection against self-incrimination, also protects individuals from seizure of life, liberty or property without due process and has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as guaranteeing equal protection by the law. Cuomo and California Governor Jerry Brown, both Democrats, have previously said they were exploring legal challenges to SALT deduction limits. Law professors have said legal challenges would likely rest on arguing that the provision interferes with the protection of states’ rights under the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment. Tax attorneys said Cuomo’s legal argument against the tax bill could be that it discriminates and places an unjust tax burden on states that heavily voted for Democrats in the past - known as “blue states.” “The de facto effect of this legislation is to discriminate against blue states and particularly from (Cuomo’s) perspective the state of New York,” said Joseph Callahan, an attorney with the law firm Mackay, Caswell & Callahan in New York. But some tax experts noted the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the 16th Amendment to give Congress broad latitude to tax as it sees fit. In a frequently cited 1934 decision, the Supreme Court called tax deductions a “legislative grace” rather than a vested right. “I don’t understand how they think they have a valid lawsuit here,” David Gamage, a professor of tax law at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, told Reuters last week, speaking generally about governors in blue states that could challenge the tax bill. Cuomo also said on Thursday that New York is proposing a restructuring of its tax code. He provided no details. A group of 13 law professors on Dec. 18 published a paper suggesting ways that high-tax states could minimize the effects of the SALT deduction cap. Their suggestions included shifting more of the tax burden onto businesses in the form of higher employer-side payroll taxes, since the federal tax bill’s cap on SALT deductions only applies to individuals and not businesses. States also could raise taxes on pass-through entities, which the federal tax bill specifically benefits with a lower rate on a portion of their income. On Friday, Cuomo said he would allow state residents to make a partial or full pre-payment on their property tax bill before Jan. 1, allowing taxpapyers to deduct such payments for 2017 before the cap kicks in, prompting a wave of residents to pay early. However, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday advised homeowners that the pre-payment of 2018 property taxes may not be deductible. ",1 "A Dominican cardinal upset over comments that the U.S. ambassador made about corruption in his country has said the openly gay diplomat should focus on homemaking. ""Let him focus on housework, since he's the wife to a man.""",0 "Hundreds of migrants protest tax dispute in east China, blocking roads, torching vehicles",1 "GOP voters like Trump despite seeing him as not religious: poll(Reuters) - Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is seen as not as religious as other Republican candidates, but most Republicans think he could be a good president anyway, a new nationwide poll found on Wednesday. A Pew Research Center poll found just 44 percent of Republican voters thought that Trump, who identifies as Presbyterian, was very or somewhat religious. Another 24 percent found the thrice-married real estate tycoon not too religious, and 23 percent found him not religious at all. The poll also found that 56 percent of Republican voters thought Trump would be a good or great president, even though voters view being religious as an asset for U.S. presidential candidates, especially for Republicans. In contrast, 80 percent of Republican voters found contender Ben Carson, a Seventh-Day Adventist, very or somewhat religious, while 76 percent found that about U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Southern Baptist. He is running second to Trump in recent polls. Only 3 percent of Republican voters found Cruz and Carson not at all religious. The poll also found that 64 percent of Republicans consider having a president who shares their religious beliefs very or somewhat important, compared to 41 percent of Democrats. On the Democrat side, 65 percent of Democratic voters view former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a Methodist, as very or somewhat religious, while 47 percent of Democrats think that of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is Jewish. Candidates are seen as more religious by those in their own party, the poll found. The biggest partisan gap is in the views of Hillary Clinton: only 28 percent of Republicans think Clinton is very or somewhat religious. The survey also found the share of Americans who have reservations about voting for an atheist president has declined. In 2007, more than 60 percent of Americans said they would be less likely to support an atheist for president. That number has declined to 51 percent, the poll found. The survey was conducted between Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 among a sample of 2009 adults in all 50 states, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent for the total sample. (Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.",1 "Five police cruisers torched, 40 protesters arrested as native anti-fracking rally. (social search of the area)",1 "IS WASHINGTON POST INCITING VIOLENCE Against Fox News’ Hosts: “Kill Fox & Friends before it’s too late”This afternoon, The Washington Post wrote an opinion article entitled Kill Fox and Friends before it s too late. This is awfully ironic, considering the previous outrage over so-called, violent tweets targeting CNN.Opinion: Kill ""Fox & Friends"" before it s too late https://t.co/DVUcBbgOWQ Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 10, 2017In the article, the Post questions, How could a guy who d run the FBI be guilty of a leak? . A better question would be: How could he be stupid enough? Thus far, this symbiosis has clarified just what Fox & Friends is a propaganda mill and the type of media coverage the president fancies straight-up sycophancy. The Washington Post has gone from being a reputable source of news with real journalists to nothing more than an opinion piece supporting the Democratic Party and their progressive agenda. The Washington Post",0 the power of reddit makes the news!!,0 " BREAKING: Dir. Comey Just CRUSHED The GOP’s Fantasies Of Endless Clinton Investigations (TWEETS)House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz has been fantasizing about investigating a potential President Hillary Clinton into oblivion based on her use of a private email server. After all, Chaffetz has promised, quote, years of Clinton investigations should she be elected. This all comes after an unprecedented not to mention completely inappropriate letter that FBI Director James Comey sent to House Republicans saying that he was re-investigating new emails. Well, now, Comey has, once again, cleared Hillary of what was to become yet another anti-Clinton GOP witch hunt, and House Republicans are sure to be furious. Here is the tweet of the letter:New Comey letter: FBI has not changed its conclusion regarding Clinton use of personal email server pic.twitter.com/IdKT1gweMf Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 6, 2016Nonetheless, Chaffetz himself had to admit that Hillary is in the clear with this one. He tweeted:FBI Dir just informed us ""Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Sec Clinton"" Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) November 6, 2016Of course, most sane people know that the idea that Hillary is some kind of criminal is nothing more than decades of right-wing witch hunting, and her campaign is right to say that they have always been confident that she did nothing wrong. Therefore, top adviser Brian Fallon tweeted the following regarding this news:We were always confident nothing would cause the July decision to be revisited. Now Director Comey has confirmed ithttps://t.co/BMQQx9eRzw Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) November 6, 2016The thing is this, though: Comey and his rogue FBI agents directly impacted the election with baseless and wild accusations. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is supposed to be non-partisan, and has been anything but. Hell, there were inside agents who even called the New York FBI, quote, Trumpland. The bottom line is this: The whole situation never should have happened. Rogue agents never should have been leaking information regarding an ongoing investigation, and Comey himself should have never gone to Congress with that letter eleven days shy of this all-important and highly contentious election.When Hillary gets elected, she should clean house, and restore confidence in one of America s most important institutions.Featured image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images",0 "U.S. State Department questions Gulf motives on Qatar boycottWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department bluntly questioned on Tuesday the motives of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their boycott of Doha, saying it was “mystified” the Gulf states had not released their grievances over Qatar. In Washington’s strongest language yet on the Gulf dispute, the State Department said the more time goes by, “the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.” “At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions really about their concerns regarding Qatar’s alleged support for terrorism or were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC countries,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, referring to the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. The State Department’s comments came in contrast to the language taken by U.S. President Donald Trump who has accused Qatar of being a “high level” sponsor of terrorism. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are key American allies. The fact the State Department bluntly questioned Riyadh and Abu Dhabi’s actions in public suggests Washington was keen for the parties to end the dispute. “We’ve just said to the parties involved: Let’s finish this. Let’s get this going,” Nauert said. Qatar hosts a vital U.S. military base, Al Udeid, to which more than 11,000 U.S. and coalition forces are deployed or assigned and from which more than 100 aircraft operate. The United Arab Emirates, which along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain imposed the measures to isolate Qatar, has said the sanctions could last for years unless Doha accepted demands that the Arab powers plan to reveal in coming days. The State Department, headed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was encouraging “all sides to de-escalate tensions and engage in constructive dialogue,” Nauert said. A U.S. official said Washington is urging Qatar to take steps to defuse the crisis, including signing on to proposals being drawn up the Treasury Department to strengthen controls against financing of militant groups. But this official and a second U.S. official said it was inaccurate to single Qatar out, and that the Saudis, Emiratis and other Gulf states face similar challenges in countering terrorist financing. Qatar’s foreign minister, who is expected to travel to Washington next week, said Doha would not negotiate with its neighbors to resolve the Gulf dispute unless they first lift the trade and travel boycott they imposed two weeks ago. He added that Doha still believed a solution was possible. “Now that it has been more than two weeks since the embargo started, we are mystified that the Gulf states have not released to the public nor to the Qataris the details about the claims that they are making toward Qatar,” Nauert added. There was no immediate comment from Riyadh or Abu Dhabi. Qatar’s ambassador to the United States, Meshal Hamad al-Thani, welcomed the State Department’s statement, tweeting: “We are confident in the ability of the U.S. to resolve this crisis”. Qatar has denied accusations by its neighbors that it funds terrorism, foments regional instability or has cosied up to their enemy Iran. The first U.S. official said the dispute is driven more by economic rivalries, historical tensions and the personal dynamics of Gulf leaders than by the specific demands the Saudis and Emiratis are making on Qatar. The dispute has opened a rift among some of the main U.S. allies in the Middle East. Since the dispute erupted, Trump has taken a tougher stance against Qatar, while the State Department had sought to remain neutral. Nauert said Tillerson had three phone calls and two in-person meetings with the Saudi foreign minister. Tillerson also spoke by phone three times with Qatar’s foreign minister and with the Qatari emir. The UAE’s ambassador to the United States said last week a list of demands for Qatar was being compiled and would soon be handed to the United States. He said they would broadly address support for terrorism, meddling in the internal affairs of these countries and attacks through Qatari-owned media platforms. The Pentagon has said the boycott was hindering U.S. ability to plan for long-term operations in the region. Al Udeid is where command for the anti-Islamic State air campaign takes place. Meanwhile, Qatar’s attorney general said on Tuesday his country has evidence that the hacking of Qatar’s state news agency was linked to countries that have severed ties with Doha. ",1 EPIC TUCKER CARLSON! Liberal Hack Demolished For Claim About Russian Hacking And Trump’s Response [Video] ,0 "Lebanese president says Trump decision threatens stabilityBEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump s Jerusalem decision was dangerous and threatened the credibility of the United States as a broker of the peace process in the region. He said the decision had put back the peace process by decades, and had threatened regional stability and perhaps global stability. Lebanon s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Twitter that Lebanon rejected the decision and had the utmost solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. The leader of Lebanon s Hezbollah movement, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, will speak on Thursday about the issue of Jerusalem, the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar TV station reported. ",1 "PM Vladimir Putin speaking English. I don't why this was interesting to me, but it was.",1 " Trump Keeps Shooting Himself In The Foot With Tweets Because He Doesn’t Know When To Shut UpSome people believe that Trump is journaling his thoughts by posting on Twitter. He s being transparent, they say.What these people fail to realize is, maybe sharing his thoughts to the entire world isn t the best idea.Or, maybe it is a good idea. We get to really see what kind of man Trump is while he shoots himself in the foot.According to Fortune, Donald Trump s tweets about his travel ban helped convince an appeals court to block the controversial plan once again. It s the second time his own comments have helped the courts knock down the executive order.The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals came to a decision on Monday, ruling that Trump s attempt to block immigration from six predominantly Muslim countries exceeded the scope of the authority delegated to him by Congress. In their ruling, the judges cited a tweet from the President that was posted after the recent terrorist attack in London. In this tweet, Trump stated that the U.S. needed a travel ban for certain dangerous countries. President Trump s tweets continue to be cited in court decisions. This from the 9th circuit just now: pic.twitter.com/4qN3thefAq Matt Viser (@mviser) June 12, 2017Gee. I wonder which countries he means.Trump didn t stop at one tweet about the ban, either. Trump also tweeted that he supported his original order, not the watered down, politically correct version that his own advisers had convinced him to sign.The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017No matter what way they try to spin it, we all know that Trump means a disgusting Muslim ban. He even outright admitted it by saying he does not support the politically correct version . And even that politically correct version was a bunch of crap, too.Luckily, the courts recognize this. The Order seeks to ban people from specific countries, but it does not provide any link between an individual s nationality and their propensity to commit terrorism or their inherent dangerousness, the judges said. In short, the Order does not provide a rationale explaining why permitting entry of nationals from the six designated countries would be detrimental. Source: FortuneKicking yourself now for stating that Trump s tweets are official White House statements, aren t you, Spicer?Like I said there s obvious good from Trump s Twittering. Trump helped stopped his travel ban executive order once again.Featured Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images",0 "“DEAL WITH IT”: YOU’LL LOVE WHAT TRUMP CHOSE TO SYMBOLIZE His Love For America In TIME Magazine Interview [VIDEO]Trump s not backing down from his in your face style anytime soon. That s the problem with our country, we don t have fighters in our country. And his critics are just gonna have to deal with it. Donald Trump is on the cover of Time magazine, and the headline reads: Deal with it. The meme-worthy photo shoot features the Republican presidential hopeful posing with a 27-year-old American bald eagle the emblem of the United States. Every frame was the same, Schoeller told TIME. Mr. Trump knows exactly how he looks, and he strikes one pose and doesn t move. The same could not be said for 27-year-old Uncle Sam, who was hit by a car in the 1990s and has since segued into a life on the educational and entertainment circuits. He s very difficult to photograph, said Schoeller. If you ask him to look up a little bit, he says no or he just doesn t do it. He literally has one angle. If I ask him to smile, he puts on a big grin and then he goes back to his Zoolander blue steel look. The blue steel look appears, sans eagle, on the cover of this week s TIME.It s a look America has grown very accustomed to since Trump became a household name in the 1980s and one they ve been showing their love for more than ever in recent months.The Republican front-runner said it all on Wednesday that when it comes to the polls in the crowded 2016 presidential race, the only thing constant is Trump. Asked at a news conference ahead of a town-hall forum in New Hampshire who he saw as his strongest rival in the crowded Republican field, Trump said: You know it changes. The only thing constant is Trump. Via: UK Daily Mail They re going up and down like yo-yos, he said of his Republican rivals. But I ve been up there for a long time and I hope I m going to be up there for a long time. Saying he had seen newspaper reports that he would grow tired of the presidential race, Trump said: I m not going anywhere folks. I m not doing this for my health. I m doing this to make America great again. Here is a great interview by Entertainment Tonight:Trump told TIME magazine, I don t have a racist bone in my body. The fact that I want a strong border and the fact that I don t want illegal immigrants pouring into this country, that doesn t make me a racist, it means I love this country and I want to save this country. ",0 "Helicopter firms are carrying out unauthorised sightseeing flights over the upper reaches of Mount Everest, Nepalese officials say. Sherpas have expressed concerns that vibrations caused by the helicopters could trigger avalanches.",0 Syria descends into holy war,1 " WATCH: Joy Reid Has PERFECT Response To Melania Trump’s Plagiarized SpeechAs conservatives rushed to find excuses for Melania Trump s plagiarized speech at the RNC Convention on Monday night, Joy Reid pointed out the hypocrisy.The festivities got off to a rocky start on the first day of the convention, which is definitely not what the Republican Party had in mind.Melania Trump auditioned to be the First Lady by stealing part of Michelle Obama s DNC Convention speech from 2008, and it s pretty obvious that the similarities are not just a coincidence.Here are passages of both speeches side by side via the New York Times.Ms. Trump, Monday night: From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them. Mrs. Obama, in her 2008 speech: Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don t know them, and even if you don t agree with them. And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them. Clearly, this is not just a mistake, but Trump apologists and even members of the media are blaming speechwriters and campaign staff even though Melania Trump told Matt Lauer prior to the convention that she wrote it herself. So Melania is either a liar or lazy or both.And the hypocrisy was too much for Joy Reid to stand by and say nothing. Reid pointed out that if Michelle Obama s speech had been plagiarized she would not have been given a pass. I ll start by quoting a guy called Tom Nichols, who s a conservative and very prominent on Twitter, who said, Ask yourself if Michelle Obama would have been given a pass had she done the same thing in 2008? I think we re all very quickly passing the responsibility onto staff. Clearly, this is a campaign that is poorly staffed. I think that has been clear for a long time. But they sent Melania Trump over to Matt Lauer to say that she wrote it [the speech]. But we re immediately dismissing the idea that she had anything to do with it. I doubt that we would dismiss the idea that Michelle Obama had anything to do with it.She s an adult woman. She s grown up. She has participated in the delivery of this speech. She gave the speech. So I think you have to give responsibility sure, to the staff, the campaign management has been poor here but Melania Trump did give the speech and Michelle Obama wouldn t have gotten a pass. Here s the video via VidMe.Indeed, conservatives would have howled in rage had Michelle Obama plagiarized her speech. They would have said that it proved she is unqualified to be First Lady and they would not have tolerated any excuse. Let s face it, the difference here is that Melania Trump is the wife of the Republican nominee and her skin is white and that somehow makes it okay that she plagiarized her speech. Once again, conservatives demonstrate clearly that they are hypocrites who don t have original thoughts.Featured image via video screen capture",0 " Clinton Skewers GOP Candidates After Muslim Vet Asks Her An Emotional Question (VIDEO)Last night during the Democratic Presidential Town Hall in Iowa, Democratic presidential candidate absolutely skewered the 2016 Republican candidates for their dangerous rhetoric.Clinton s fiery rant against the GOP came as a response to Islamic Air Force veteran Erum Tariq-Munir, who asked a question that no parent in America should ever have to wonder, but it s completely understandable now that the far-right is upping the crazy. Noting the rising Islamophobia in the country, Tariq-Munir asked: As a mother of three young children, as an American Muslim, how can I make sure that this country is the best place on earth to raise my family? Clinton paused and thanked Tariq-Munir for her service before launching into an attack against the people most responsible for the growing bigotry in the United States. Once she got going, the former Secretary of State couldn t hold back, allowing disgust and anger to flow freely.While Clinton s criticism was intended for all GOP contenders, front-runner Donald Trump was singled out specifically. Clinton admitted that one of the most distressing parts of the 2016 campaign has been hearing the Republican party s offensive, bigotry-fueled rhetoric. Visibly upset and disturbed by what this coming election has revealed so far about America s conservatives, Clinton said: One of the most disturbing aspects of this campaign has been the language of Republican candidates, particularly their frontrunner, that insults, demeans, denigrates different people. I found it particularly harmful the way [Trump] has talked about Muslims.It s not only shameful and offensive, which it is I think it s dangerous We cannot tolerate this. We must stand up and say, Every person in this country deserves to be treated with respect. Once she was content that she d ripped the GOP enough, Clinton tied Tariq-Munir s question to foreign policy. She said: We need a coalition that includes Muslim nations to defeat ISIS and it s pretty hard to figure out how you re going to make a coalition with the very nations you need if you spend your time insulting their religion! Later on, Clinton solidified her position as a great presidential candidate, demonstrating an amount of poise and class that her GOP rivals would have never been able to pull off. She said: I want to be the president for everyone, and I believe that is exactly what any president should do. You can watch Clinton s passionate response below:Standing up against the GOP is now something that comes naturally to Clinton. Time after time, she demonstrates that she will stand up for ALL Americans not just the rich white ones.TwitterFeatured image is a screenshot",0 "Pope lands in Bangladesh, to meet Rohingya group on FridayDHAKA (Reuters) - Pope Francis landed in Bangladesh on Thursday after a diplomatically sensitive trip to neighboring Myanmar, where he made no direct reference to the plight of Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh in their hundreds of thousands. Bangladesh is hoping the Thursday-Saturday visit, during which the pope will meet a group of Rohingya in Dhaka, will help pressure the international community to find a lasting solution to the problem of the periodic influx of Rohingya from Buddhist-majority Myanmar. ",1 "Exclusive: Trump surges in support, almost even with Clinton in national U.S. poll NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s support has surged and he is now running nearly even with Democrat Hillary Clinton among likely U.S. voters, a dramatic turnaround since he became the Republican party’s presumptive presidential nominee, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. The results could signal a close fight between the two likely White House rivals as Americans make up their minds ahead of the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. As recently as last week, Clinton led Trump by around 13 points in the poll. In the most recent survey, 41 percent of likely voters supported Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, and 40 percent backed Trump, with 19 percent not decided on either yet, according to the online poll of 1,289 people conducted from Friday to Tuesday. The poll had a credibility interval of about 3 percentage points. The results reflect a big increase in support for Trump since he knocked out U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich last week to become the last Republican in the White House race. There was no immediate comment from the Clinton or Trump campaigns. Clinton, who has all but clinched the Democratic nomination over rival Bernie Sanders, has mostly led Trump in the head-to-head poll this year. Trump briefly matched her support a few times in 2016, most recently in mid-March, after U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a favorite of the Republican establishment, dropped out. ",1 "Islamic State calls slain Muslim American soldier an 'apostate'DUBAI (Reuters) - Islamic State on Sunday condemned as an “apostate” a U.S. Muslim soldier killed in Iraq whose story has re-ignited debate in the 2016 presidential election on the role of Muslims in American life. Dabiq, the militant group’s online magazine, showed a picture of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan’s tombstone in Arlington National Cemetery with a caption, “Beware of Dying as an apostate.” An accompanying article, penned by an unnamed “American convert in the Islamic State,” urged Muslims to resist Western influences and to either migrate to Islamic State-controlled lands or carry out lone attacks. “Reject these calls to disunity and come together. Live the life of Islam, for which you have already left the path of falsehood,” the militant wrote. “You are behind enemy lines, able to strike them where it hurts them most,” the article added. Khan’s death in a bomb attack in Iraq in 2004 re-emerged as an election issue when his father gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday in which he paid homage to his son. Khizr Khan, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin and a Muslim, also criticized Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for proposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and asked if the candidate had read the U.S. Constitution. Trump rejected the criticism and questioned whether the soldier’s mother was allowed to speak during the couple’s appearance at the podium. Ghazala Khan later said the outspoken billionaire was ignorant of Islam and of sacrifice. Trump has stoked outrage during his unorthodox campaign by supporting racial profiling for Muslim Americans in the wake of a deadly shooting by a U.S.-born Muslim man killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has said the comments and other pointed remarks about American minorities show Trump is unfit to be president. ",1 China confirms first imported Zika case: Xinhua,0 "As Tensions With U.S. Grow, Beijing Says It Will Stop Building Artificial Islands in South China Sea",1 "SHAMEFUL! AIR FORCE VETERAN Ousted From Colleague’s Retirement Ceremony For Reading Dedication To U.S. Flag?! [VIDEO]OBAMA S AMERICA: Why do you think people are leaving (the Air Force) in droves? What began as a dignified affair quickly turned into an embarrassing scene after a retired Air Force official was forcibly ejected from his colleague s retiree ceremony.The event was being held at Travis Air Force Base in California for Master Sergeant Chuck Roberson of the 749th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.But the service was interrupted when Retired Senior Master Sgt. Oscar Rodriguez was forcibly ejected from the stage as he began to read out a statement honoring the American Flag to the audience.However, the recital was not a part of the usual procedure at retirement ceremonies and Rodriguez was told to stop.A video that captured the incident shows two men in camouflage uniform approach Rodriguez and say something quietly, but he appears not to respond.As the two men push him off stage, he continues to shout out the words, he is eventually pushed out of the room, but his shouts can still be heard in the distance.An investigation has since been launched into the disturbance, an Air Force Reserve official told Fox News Wednesday.An official said in a statement: Rodriguez ignored numerous requests to respect the Air Force prescribed ceremony and unfortunately was forcibly removed. We will continue to investigate the situation fully. But John Huffington, who said he is a friend of the man whose retirement ceremony was taking place, posted the video on his Facebook with the comment: This is disturbing at my friend s retirement today and the gentlemen that you are going to see in the video gets assaulted as a guest of my friend. He speaks the words of the color and strips [sic] as they fold the flag. The squadron commander and Oscar have issues from years ago the commander said he did not want him in the building nor saying the words to the flag. Remember he is my friend s guest. So instead of letting him finish what he started saying he had his trolls assault him dragging him out of the building as you can here [sic] him still saying the words to the flag. And you can here joe saying do it do it. Theater is full of family and guests and fellow Air Force members. This could have been handled in a much better way instead of tainting my friend s retirement. This is how we treat our fellow Air Force veterans. Yes I m pissed off. And Stephen Sila, who identified himself as the officiating officer at the ceremony posted a long explainer on the Facebook page of John Q Public, an army blog where the story first appeared. Sila said that Rodriguez had been invited to speak at the ceremony and had planned to read a statement honoring the flag and that his appearance had been cleared through the proper avenues.But non squadron CC apparently had an issue with Rodriguez attending, apparently stemming from a personal issue at a previous squadron between the squadron CC and Mr Rodriguez, claimed Sila.He added: Why do you think people are leaving (the Air Force) in droves? Because the guys in the trenches are subjected to nonstop stupidity from commanders who don t deserve the rank, respect, or support of the people they re in charge of. But the Air Force Reserve said in the statement it respects and defends the right to free speech and religious expression. Via: Daily Mail ",0 "U.S. must stop judicial 'extortion' of corporate Europe, French lawmakers sayPARIS (Reuters) - Europe should challenge the United States over its increasingly aggressive use of extraterritorial laws that have cost European companies - especially banks - billions in fines and other settlements, a French parliamentary report said. Still reeling from the $9 billion fine its biggest bank, BNP Paribas, had to pay U.S. authorities over violations of American sanctions against other countries, the French government has criticized in recent years what it considers the over-reach of the U.S. legal system. Paris’s main objections center on the U.S. Department of Justice’s broad interpretation of what it considers its jurisdiction. This sphere of influence can include transactions between non-Americans outside the U.S. where the U.S. dollar currency is involved. It can also cover deals and other actions taking place via the Internet using U.S. computer servers. “We consider that today’s situation amounts to abusive use of American law,” Karine Berger, a lawmaker from the ruling Socialist party told Reuters in an interview, calling the practices akin to “extortion”. “We ask France and Europe to let it be known to the United States that we will no longer accept this type of behavior.” In a non-binding investigative report last week, lawmakers from both the Socialist party and opposition conservatives said U.S. law appeared to be more punitive toward foreign firms than domestic ones. Although foreign firms accounted for only 30 percent of investigations opened by U.S. authorities between 1977 and 2014 under its anti-foreign bribery law, 67 percent of the amount levied in fines came from foreign companies, the report said. Since 2009, European banks such as HSBC and Deutsche Bank have paid about $16 billion to the United States over breaches of various sanction regimes. European firms have also accounted for 14 of the 15 biggest penalties, the report said. The report did not question U.S. regulators’ current prosecution of Deutsche Bank over mis-selling toxic mortgage securities before the financial crisis, since the actions took place in the United States. But it did say the DoJ had not taken account of the impact on the financial system that the $14 billion fine it sought from the German bank went on to have. Swiss bank Credit Suisse said on Sunday it has put five employees on leave while it investigates a tax-related matter. Swiss paper SonntagsZeitung reported that the move was connected to a U.S. probe of the bank’s Israeli unit over possible tax evasion. Berger said Europe’s response had not been forceful enough, and that both the European Union and individual member states should adapt their own legislation, which is why the report will be sent to counterparts at other EU parliaments. “There must be a legal rearmament in Europe, so we fight on equal terms with the United States in the field of economic competition,” Berger said. The European Union should consider challenging parts of the U.S. sanction regime at the World Trade Organisation, the report said, citing a 1998 precedent when Europeans successfully forced the U.S. to back down over Congressional sanctions against Cuba, Libya and Iran that could have affected European firms. The EU should update a 1996 ban on European firms complying with U.S. sanctions based on such extraterritorial legislation, giving European firms a legal “excuse” to reject U.S. demands. European countries and institutions should also encourage the use of the euro for global transactions and strengthen the use of intelligence services for economic means. Citing the recent EU ruling asking Apple to pay up to 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland, Berger said Europe should not be afraid to be more confrontational. “It shows Europe is perfectly capable of waging this economic war since the U.S. is only going to keep it up,” she said. ",1 The UK parliament will be voting on a motion to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel on 13 October.,1 "Britain's PM May, husband have no direct offshore investmentsLONDON (Reuters) - Neither the British Prime Minister Theresa May nor her husband have any direct offshore investments, her spokesman said on Monday, after leaked documents revealed investments by wealthy individuals across the globe. Neither the prime minister or Mr May have direct offshore investments, their investments have been declared to the cabinet office and are held in a blind trust, he told reporters. The nature of a blind trust is just that, this is a well established mechanism in protecting ministers in their handling of interests. ",1 Botswana Bushmen denied access to water. The Botswana government capped a well to drive natives out of their homeland.,1 Ukraine Starts Building Wall to Keep Russia Out,0 France on full alert for suicide bomb threat on Paris transport,1 "UK's May to visit China around Jan. 31: Sky News(Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit China around the end of January to promote her vision of a global Britain whose economy is strongly placed to succeed after Brexit, Sky News reported on Wednesday. May s office has pencilled in a trip on or around Jan. 31. She will be accompanied by a delegation of business leaders drawn from across the UK economy, Sky reported, citing insiders. China is one of the countries with which Britain hopes to sign a free trade pact once it leaves the EU. Plans for the trip have not been finalised and remain subject to change, Sky added. ",1 "Earthquake felt in Toronto, Canada, reported as Magnitude 5.0",1 Top 5 Reasons Not to Ballyhoo Chinas Carrier - It has no aircraft on it. ,0 " Grab Popcorn: Trump’s About To Have A Twitter Fit Over His ‘Record’ Approval Rating (TWEETS)If there s one thing Donald Trump has made remarkably clear throughout his campaign for the presidency, it s that low ratings are pathetic. He said it about the debates, about how high or low they are, about how certain networks do better than others if they feature him, etc. etc.Taking all of that into consideration, Trump is really going to hate the fact that he has a lower approval rating than any of his predecessors for the past 27 or so years.According to the Pew Research Center: Trump s rating for the job he has done so far presenting his vision to the public is lower than those other recent presidents received following their elections. The partisan gap in ratings of the job Trump has done so far is wider than it has been for any prospective president dating to the 1988 election. Further: Trump also receives low marks for his initial cabinet choices and other high level appointments. By 51% to 40%, more say they disapprove than approve of the cabinet choices and appointments Trump has made so far. In contrast, majorities approved of the choices made by the past four president-elects. In fact, approval ratings for Trump s cabinet choices are 18 points lower than for the next lowest-rated president-elect. And also this: Alongside negative ratings for the job Trump has done explaining his plans and selecting his cabinet so far, most also hold an overall unfavorable view of the president-elect. Here s a look at the visual comparison put out by Pew:Approval rating for Trump during transition lower than for his predecessors https://t.co/PdrJWw1pJl pic.twitter.com/ge2vzQOdnu Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) December 8, 2016Trump receives low marks for his initial cabinet choices and other high level appointments https://t.co/PdrJWw1pJl pic.twitter.com/hiuCwKANCh Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) December 8, 2016Trump's personal favorability far lower than those of past president-elects https://t.co/kkdcf5k0DW pic.twitter.com/O9C3BfkURG Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) December 8, 2016Now, with Trump s obsession for ratings taken into consideration, you know this isn t going to go over very well with him, and he s likely going to take to Twitter very soon to go after how terrible Pew is or something to that affect.The president-elect has very, very thin skin, so grab your popcorn and get ready.Featured Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 " Newsweek Outs Trump As Putin’s Puppet And Our NATO Allies Are Terrified (VIDEO)In yet another bombshell report, Newsweek just revealed that Vladamir Putin and the Russian government are actively trying to help Donald Trump win the election because they believe he will help them weaken our NATO allies.The Republican nominee s connections to Russia have been a huge topic in the news for many months due to his compliments about Putin and the fact that some of his closest campaign allies have connections to Russia.In addition, Trump has declared that he will consider pulling United States support from NATO and even strong-armed the Republican Party to ditch a platform plank condemning Russia s aggression toward Ukraine.And Putin has rewarded Trump by directing Russian media to blare out support for him and Russian hackers have been busy hacking American computer systems in an effort to hurt the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton.Of course, Trump has defended Russia despite the cyber-attacks being confirmed by Western intelligence agencies in the United States and Europe. Trump was even briefed about this and yet he still denies that Russia is the perpetrator.And that is leading many of our closest allies to worry about what could happen if Trump becomes president.According to Newsweek,Officials from two European countries told Newsweek that Trump s comments about Russia s hacking have alarmed several NATO partners because it suggests he either does not believe the information he receives in intelligence briefings, does not pay attention to it, does not understand it or is misleading the American public for unknown reasons. One British official said members of that government who are aware of the scope of Russia s cyberattacks both in Western Europe and America found Trump s comments quite disturbing because they fear that, if elected, the Republican presidential nominee would continue to ignore information gathered by intelligence services in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy.And we know Russia is backing Trump because they ended their hacking campaign when it seemed like he would be replaced as the nominee by a sane Republican, only to resume hacking on Trump s behalf when he wasn t replaced.When Trump launched into an inexplicable attack on the parents of a Muslim-American soldier who died in combat, the Kremlin assumed the Republican nominee was showing himself psychologically unfit to be president and would be forced by his party to withdraw from the race. As a result, Moscow put its hacking campaign temporarily on hold, ending the distribution of documents until Trump stabilized, both personally and in the polls, according to reports provided to Western intelligence.And the United States election is not the only one Russia has interfered with. The Kremlin also spread misinformation that helped right-wingers take control in Germany and caused the United Kingdom to vote in favor of Brexit, both of which help Russia weaken alliances.But their true target is NATO, which is what stands in the way of Russia overpowering Europe, and our allies fear that a Trump victory on November 8th would embolden Russia to do just that.Officials in Western Europe say they are dismayed that they now feel compelled to gather intelligence on a man who could be the next president of the United States, but believe they have no choice. Moscow is seen as a direct threat to their interests both in its aggressive efforts to reshape global alliances and for its power to damage Western Europe, which obtains almost 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia. Should the United States, the last remaining superpower, tilt its policies away from NATO to the benefit of Russia, the alliance between America and Western Europe could be transformed in unprecedented ways. And so, for perhaps the first time since World War II, countries in Western Europe fear that the American election, should Trump win, could trigger events that imperil their national security and do potentially irreparable harm to the alliances that have kept the continent safe for decades.Here s video of Rachel Maddow explaining how big this news is via YouTube.Oh, and one more thing. While Donald Trump and Republicans continue to whine about how Hillary Clinton used a private server, it turns out Hillary was smart to do so because the Russians hacked into the State Department email system, which means if she had used that system her emails would have been obtained by the Russian government.So Russia literally wants Trump to win so they can use him as their puppet to gain more influence in the world, which means more war, less democracy, and a United States that is weaker.That cannot be allowed to happen. Clearly, the Russians like Trump, and that should make all Americans cast their votes for Hillary Clinton.Featured Image: YouTube",0 "Trump's stop in Vietnam a poignant one for U.S. veteransDANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - Whether they like President Donald Trump or not, the U.S. veterans who gather at Hoa s Place in Danang show little concern that he avoided the war that marked their lives. Trump flies into the Vietnamese resort of Danang on Friday for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, landing in a city that for many Americans of his generation was their first sight of Vietnam - and of war. He ll finally be able to put on his resume that he was in Vietnam, said David Clark, 68, who is originally from Akron, Ohio and calls Trump a joke . After serving in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969 with the Marine Corps, he has now returned to help with projects to address the legacy of the war. Trump never served in the military. He received five deferments during the Vietnam War, including one for bone spurs in his heel, the New York Times reported last year. The paper quoted Trump as saying the bones spurs had been temporary . Everyone I know tried to avoid it, said draftee Keith Soukkala, sipping a beer at Hoa s Place, a favored bar of veterans near Danang s China Beach . I stayed out as long as I could but I didn t have any bone spurs, said Soukkala, who splits his time between Vietnam and Alaska and said he voted for Trump. At 73, he is two years older than Trump and recalls landing in Danang to the humid heat and a certain smell in the air at the start of a 13-month tour with the Marine Corps dodging bombs hidden by the communist Viet Cong guerrillas. The seaside resort of Danang has a special place in U.S.-Vietnamese history: it was here that the first U.S. ground troops disembarked in 1965 in the escalation of a war that would last another decade before the communist victory. Close to some of the heaviest fighting in central Vietnam, Danang had a big U.S. air base. China Beach was a relaxation spot for U.S. soldiers back from combat. Now, Danang s beachfront hotels draw tourists from around the world. Gleaming office towers mark it out as one of Vietnam s most modern cities and one the communist government sought to showcase with the hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit which Trump will attend. It s also home to a community of U.S. veterans who returned to a country where a recent Pew Research survey showed the United States was viewed favorably by 84 percent of people. Clark came back in 2013 for a year and is still in Danang, busy with projects to destroy unexploded U.S. bombs and help families affected by the Agent Orange defoliant linked to illness and deformity. Mark O Connor, 67, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and once part of a helicopter assault team, visits as often as he can to provide bicycles to children in hill villages. On this visit, though, he said he had come back in the hope of seeing Trump - his support unaffected by the fact the president had not served in Vietnam. You know, more power to him, he said. You can t feel bad about him and not feel bad about everyone who went to Canada to avoid the draft. ",1 "Trump, as Comey takes spotlight, vows to stay strong and fightWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, in a speech across town from a closely watched congressional hearing on his dealings with the FBI amid its Russia probe, told supporters on Thursday their movement was “under siege” and vowed to fight on. “We’re under siege...but we will come out bigger and better and stronger than ever,” he said during a separate speech in Washington. “We will not back down from doing what is right ...we know how to fight and we will never give up.” ",1 A world of plenty....Countries ignore global warming to mine shale gas ,0 "When the CIA swooped in and took him, they badly damaged Italys work against terrorists. The case, in other words, looked like a good example of how the war on terror made the West less safe from terrorists",0 You can buy lobster with food stamps.,1 Wikileaks among nominees for 2011 Nobel Peace Prize,0 Australian MPs allowed to see TPP trade deal text but can't reveal contents for four years,0 "Mexico enacts law to help find thousands missing in gang violenceMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico on Thursday undertook to focus more resources on the search for missing people, the number of which has grown dramatically in recent years as gang violence has claimed tens of thousands of lives. President Enrique Pena Nieto signed into law the creation of a national commission dedicated to finding people who have disappeared that in its first stage will add some 469 million pesos ($25 million) to better fund search efforts, officials said. Over the past 50 years, more than 32,000 Mexicans have been reported missing, according to government data. More than half of the disappearances have been during Pena Nieto s six-year term, which began at the end of 2012. The disappearance of people is one of the greatest challenges facing our human rights ... and one of the most painful experiences anyone can suffer, Pena Nieto said during the signing ceremony. The law, which also creates new forensic databases and rules on the exhumation of cadavers, goes into force in about 60 days. Raging gangland violence in Mexico has claimed well over 100,000 lives over the past decade. Authorities are often unable to identify bodies found in mass graves, many of which are located in remote areas. ",1 Indias Misplaced Priorities: It fires missiles that can go thousands of miles yet most people don't have electricity and can't get an education and are doomed to poverty. ,1 New Philippine cyber law could numb the Net,1 North Korea confirms Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol's execution for napping during Kim Jong Un meeting,0 "Britain's May to speak to U.S. President Trump on North KoreaLONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May will speak to U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday to discuss North Korea, her spokeswoman said, after it conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test two days ago. She is due to speak to President Trump shortly, her spokeswoman told reporters, adding that May also planned to speak to French President Emmanuel Macron about North Korea. Earlier, a British minister summoned the North Korean ambassador to the foreign ministry to condemn the test on Sept. 3. ",1 "Antarcticas ice is being carved up from below - The warm ocean water thats undermining West Antarctica from below may also be weakening its ice shelves. It appears to be slowly carving deep channels into their bases, cavities ranging from 50 to 250 meters in vertical extent.",1 " This Die Hard Trump Supporter Has Now Gone Full #NeverTrump (VIDEO)Kraig Moss was a die hard Donald Trump supporter. He followed the then-GOP presidential candidate around the nation, playing his guitar and singing special songs he had written especially for Trump. He was well known in Trump supporter circles, due to his guitar decorated with Trump stickers and other campaign items. He became known as the Trump Troubadour. In the end, Moss had attended 45 Trump rallies. However, all of that has changed now.Moss tragically lost his son to a heroin overdose. He sincerely believes that if his family had had health insurance at the time of the overdose, his son might still be alive. That s why Moss no longer supports Trump: because of his pushing the new healthcare bill that is being trotted out by House Republicans. Moss knows how awful the bill is, and how many people it will rob of healthcare. Thanks to this fact, he no longer sings his Trump songs, and he no longer supports the president. Moss says of his turning on Trump: The bill is an absolute betrayal of what Trump represented on the campaign trail. I feel betrayed. The disastrous healthcare bill will result in terrible losses for addiction services. For Kraig Moss, this is personal. So, now, instead of promoting Trump, Moss held a fund raiser to help a drug rehabilitation facility, raising $3,000 in his son s name.Hopefully, more and more people begin to realize what a massive con Trump has managed to pull off, and he gets annihilated in four years if he isn t impeached first.Watch the video below:Featured image via video screen capture",0 Russia plans to build sea based missile shield,1 " The RNC’s First Night Proves Republicans Are Dividing America, Not President ObamaWe ve all heard it from our conservative friends (and enemies): race relations are worse under President Obama. President Obama is dividing this nation using race and religion as a factor. The Democrats (and, again, President Obama), are pitting Americans against Americans.We ve heard it time and time again. Everything is President Obama s fault, not his vile, racist, xenophobic haters.But before anyone with half a brain entertains that idea any further, look at the first night of the RNC. It was a disaster, we all know. Chaos broke out, Republicans stormed out and threw their credentials, Never Trump delegates staged protests and challenged the rules.But what was even more telling was the vile, racist (blatant and latent) and divisive comments that came from a slew of speakers and representatives:The next time a republican wants to accuse President Obama and the democrats of stoking racial, divisive sentiments, just show them reruns of the first day of the RNC.In only seven hours, the Republicans successfully demonized (multiple times) anyone who wasn t a white, male, Christian conservative. It must be a new record.For too long Democrats and peaceful progressives have been demonized anyone who dares to call out their hateful, radicalizing rhetoric. They have blamed Black Lives Matter for dead police, but don t blame their anti-Muslim rhetoric for radicalization in the Middle East (which has trickled into the United States). They blame liberals for the United States weakened image across the world, but they somehow managed to give us someone dumber than George W. Bush.Republicans say Democrats hyper focus on race, yet they put their token black conservative on stage to celebrate the killing of unarmed black men and women.Republicans say the people don t have faith in American politics or their elected officials anymore, and then they put a general on stage to chant lock her up, making a spectacle never seen before in American politics.Politics has become a victim peddling sideshow to the Republican Party. Their resurgence of Nixon s Southern Strategy, coupled with a divide-and-conquer mentality, was put on full display as one after another, speakers and personalities alike made it their mission to appeal to the lowest common denominator: hate.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 South Sudan women suggest sex strike to end civil war,1 "ACTOR VINCE VAUGHN DESTROYS The Left With AWESOME Statement On Gun RightsBoom! Just when you think there isn t a sane person left in Hollywood, actor Vince Vaughn comes out with this brilliant statement on guns. Enjoy! ",0 "Scandals cloud Pope's UK visit. On the eve of Pope Benedict's visit to Britain, victims of child abuse at the hands of Catholic priests have demanded that the pontiff hand over all information on paedophile clergy to authorities.",1 "Remember that adorable 62-year-old who led your country into war based on evidence? That was fake, too.",0 How digital technology gets the news out of North Korea,1 Brazilian prison,0 "Militants kill U.N. peacekeeper in Central African RepublicDAKAR (Reuters) - Christian militiamen killed a Mauritanian U.N. peacekeeper in an attack on a camp for displaced people in a Central African Republic diamond-mining town on Monday, the United Nations mission there said. Fighters armed with AK-47s and makeshift weapons also wounded one Zambian and two Mauritanian peacekeepers during the 90-minute gunfight at the police checkpoint in the town of Bria, the U.N. added. The country has been riven by sectarian conflict since 2013 when Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize. That triggered a backlash by Christian anti-balaka fighters. As many as 100 people died in Bria in June during a day of clashes between rival factions. The area is coveted by militia for its surrounding diamond mines. It also hosts tens of thousands of people displaced by the conflict. Even with 13,000 troops, the U.N. mission has struggled to restore order to a country the size of France and has lost 14 peacekeepers in attacks this year alone. ",1 BBC denies market trader who earlier claimed he 'dreamed of another recession' was a member of the 'yes men' hoax group,1 " THIS Is Trump’s Definition Of ‘Fair’ Media Coverage (VIDEO)Trump hates the media with a passion. He often rails on Twitter, and at his rallies, about the dishonest media, and the dishonest coverage they give him. He complains that he s been treated very unfairly by any media outlet that doesn t immediately shove its head up his ass, and he bans outlets he deems to be too dishonest and unfair to have the privilege of covering him.Not once has he ever actually laid out what is fair. But, thanks to his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, we now have a definition for fair reporting. But watch out, it s pretty ridiculous: What fairly means is you don t editorialize, you report what he says, that s fair. If you look at the story that he did in The New York Times on foreign policy, it was literally the transcript of what he said it wasn t editorialized at all. That s fair reporting. That was in response to Don Lemon saying that Trump is bashing CNN for repeating what he says and fact-checking it. So, basically, fair is no fact-checking, no discussion, just his words. Nothing else.All that does is give Trump a license to say what he wants, because then he knows the media won t call him on it. Of course, that s exactly what he wants to have happen. He wants everyone to believe him, to trust him implicitly, even though he s lying through his teeth. A huge part of his hatred toward the media is their penchant for fact-checking him, and proving him false.This is the most laughable definition of fair reporting imaginable.Watch a video of this below, beginning at about the 3:20 mark:Just now on @CNNTonight: some frank talk about Trump & the media with @CLewandowski_ & @DonLemonhttps://t.co/OJk77DpOvl Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 17, 2016Featured image by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images",0 Ukrainian customs block 10 tons of humanitarian aid for Maidan protestors,1 "Britain aiming for outline Brexit transition deal by first quarter of 2018: DavisLONDON (Reuters) - Britain wants an outline agreement with the European Union on the transitional arrangements that will apply after it leaves the bloc by the first quarter of 2018, Brexit minister David Davis said on Wednesday. I would be aiming to get certainly the outlines of it agreed, if we could, in the first quarter (of 2018) ... but it s a negotiation, Davis told a parliamentary committee. ",1 "Former New York City Mayor Bloomberg to endorse Hillary Clinton: NYTWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to endorse Hillary Clinton in a prime time address at the Democratic convention, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Citing Bloomberg’s adviser Howard Wolfson, the newspaper said that he plans to make the case for Clinton from the “perspective of a business leader and an independent.” Bloomberg, who was previously elected as a Republican and later became an independent, has been sharply critical of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. ",1 " WATCH: Trump Gets Humiliated By New York Lawmaker For False 9/11 ClaimsIt has been 15 years since the World Trade Center Twin Towers fell. But Republicans and Donald Trump still exploit it for political gain.During Trump s primary run for the Republican nomination, he made a claim that sent journalists into a frenzy of fact-checking. I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down, Trump said during a rally last November. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering. Trump doubled down the next day during an interview with George Stephanopoulos. It was on television. I saw it, Trump said. It was well covered at the time, George. Now, I know they don t like to talk about it, but it was well covered at the time. There were people over in New Jersey that were watching it, a heavy Arab population, that were cheering as the buildings came down. Not good. But what Trump is claiming never happened.After an exhaustive search, Politifact concluded:This defies basic logic. If thousands and thousands of people were celebrating the 9/11 attacks on American soil, many people beyond Trump would remember it. And in the 21st century, there would be video or visual evidence.Instead, all we found were a couple of news articles that described rumors of celebrations that were either debunked or unproven.Trump s recollection of events in New Jersey in the hours after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks flies in the face of all the evidence we could find. We rate this statement Pants on Fire.And on Friday, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks humiliated Trump for that very claim once again during a panel discussion about Trump s birtherism on CNN.Just like Trump won t admit that he is wrong about his birtherism, Trump has also not apologized for being wrong about Muslims cheering in America on 9/11.After Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany claimed that Trump has renounced his birther past, Meeks pointed out that Trump himself should man up and publicly do it himself. Then he should say it. If he believes it, he should say it. There s a pattern with Donald Trump. I m still looking and I m sure that everybody s still looking for those thousands of Muslims that were cheering during 9/11. That has not taken place. We heard video where he says he was for the war in Iraq. He now says he wasn t. There s not any evidence where he was against the war in Iraq. There is a practice and pattern with Donald Trump, who continues to make noise he knows is completely incorrect, Meeks continued. He never apologizes about it. He leaves it out there. Here s the video via YouTube:Donald Trump is a coward and a liar and he is totally unqualified to be president. The 15th anniversary of 9/11 is on Sunday and you just know that Trump is going to make some outrageous claim in an effort to exploit the tragedy.Featured Image: Alex Wong/Getty Images",0 "French women cause a stir in niqab and daisy duke shorts in anti-burka ban protest, aka ""the NiqaBitches""",0 Ugandan parliament drops bill that would jail gay people for life,0 Senegal Curbs a Bloody Rite for Girls and Women,0 "Chinese artist looks into Sichuan earthquake deaths. ""He began his own investigation, collecting names of the children who died. He had reached more than 5,000 names before his blog was shut down last month.",1 French police: Explosive belt without detonator found in southern Paris suburb of Montrouge,1 Protest against sex-tourism in Ukraine,1 Mongolia to abolish the death penalty,1 "Four killed in Canada helicopter crash(Reuters) - Four people were killed on Thursday when a helicopter belonging to utility Hydro One crashed in central Ontario, the company said in a statement. Hydro One did not provide details on its four employees who were killed in the crash, saying names would not be released until next of kin had been notified. The company, which is based in Ontario, said emergency services were on site in the Tweed area of rural central Ontario, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Toronto. It said it had notified the appropriate oversight groups. The Ontario Provincial Police said in a statement that officers responded to the crash shortly after 12:30 pm ET (1730 GMT), and were joined by emergency response services, including a forensic identification unit. Police said Canada s Transportation Safety Board would investigate. A woman named Kim Clayton tweeted that Hydro One staff had been working on power lines on her property before the crash. On Wednesday a small airplane carrying 22 passengers and three crew members crashed after taking off in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. ",1 "Anti-Gay Bill: German Foreign Minister Criticizes Russian Legislation - Moscow is seeking to make ""homosexual propaganda"" a prosecutable offense. But Germany's foreign minister warns Russia's ambassador it could aggravate European-Russian relations.",1 "Cameroon army helicopters shot separatist protesters: witnessesDAKAR/BAMENDA, Cameroon (Reuters) - Troops and attack helicopters opened fire on protesters at the height of separatist rallies in English-speaking areas of Cameroon over the weekend, killing and wounding people, witnesses and rights groups said. The army dismissed the reports from sources in five towns as completely false and said helicopters had only been used for surveillance. Any use of air attacks would mark a major escalation in a government crackdown on separatist protests that have been rumbling in Anglophone districts of the central African oil producer for almost a year. Thousands took to the streets in towns across the Northwest and Southwest regions on Sunday, Oct. 1, calling for independence from the country s French-speaking majority. Rights groups said they started to collect reports on ensuing violence in the areas bordering Nigeria as the week progressed. Eight people in the towns of Bamenda, Buea, Ndu, Tombel and Kumbo told Reuters that police and soldiers moved in to stop the protests and in some areas, low-flying attack helicopters fired tear gas and live rounds on the crowds. Etienne Ndage, a 31-year-old journalist for Savannah Frontier Radio in the northwest tea-plantation town of Ndu said he saw helicopters firing at around 1 pm local time, killing two protesters as a 1,000-strong march gained momentum. They were firing like in a war film, he told Reuters. Hilary Manjong, private secretary to a local Member of Parliament in Ndu, said witnesses had shared similar accounts with him. Army spokesman Didier Badjeck dismissed the accounts. Reports that the helicopters fired on protestors is completely false. The helicopters were only conducting surveillance, he said. The government earlier this week said about 10 people had died on Sunday including five in a prison fire that may not have been linked to the protests. The governor of Southwest region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, told the Cameroon Tribune newspaper in an article published on Tuesday that protesters had ambushed soldiers in Kumba, forcing them to open fire in self defense. Amnesty International told Reuters on Thursday that more than 20 people were killed between Oct. 1 and 2. Demonstrations began nearly a year ago when Anglophone lawyers and teachers protested against having to work in French, saying it showed the wider marginalization of the English-speaking minority. The protests gained support and have increasingly called for Cameroon s five million English speakers to get their own country. The rallies have also have become a lightning rod for opposition to President Paul Biya s 35-year rule. Campaigners called more protests on Sunday, the anniversary of Anglophone Cameroon s independence from Britain. In the southwest town of Tombel, a resident who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters that a military helicopter came so low over the town center that the wind gusts threw a man off his motorbike. First the helicopter fired teargas to disperse the crowd, then it opened fire, the resident said. Normally they fire rubber bullets, but I could tell from the sound that these were real, they added. Outside Buea, police on the ground and a helicopter opened fire on protestors who had run into the bush to bypass a military checkpoint, said Louis Anuchem, a 35-year-old taxi driver from Buea. The helicopter came close to the ground, he added. We heard the gunshots and the bullets coming through the trees, he told Reuters. After the demonstrations police went door-to-door in some towns, rounding up young men and women, residents said. Soldiers came to our neighborhood and broke into homes and carried boys away, said Lanya Joel, a 21-year-old Kumba resident. I am scared and will be away until it s all over. Rights group the Southern Cameroon s Public Affairs Committee said in a report that a 12 year-old girl was shot by security forces from a helicopter in the town of Kumbo. The Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference of Anglophone Christian Bishops said in a statement this week that is was disturbed by reports that some of our Christians were ... arrested, some maimed, and some were simply shot to death, some from helicopters. Helene Mekem said her son was shot dead by security forces outside his home in Kumba on Sunday, even though he was not involved in the protests. They are killing the innocent ones, she told Reuters. ",1 Pope is 'shocked' to hear of abuse case in Munich while he was archbishop,1 "Republicans to kill U.S. rules on corruption, environment, labor and guns next weekWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans are set to overturn a slew of Obama-era regulations next week, including a controversial anti-bribery rule aimed at U.S. resource companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N), according to a top lawmaker. After six years of legal battles, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June approved the rule requiring companies to disclose payments to foreign governments. It will probably be killed swiftly with two simple congressional votes. Other rules eyed for quick overturning by Congress include newly minted environmental, gun control and labor relations measures, sources said. Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress can use simple majority votes to stop recent regulations in their tracks. The timing in the law means that any rules that became final after May 31 could go on the chopping block. House of Representatives Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the second-most powerful Republican in the chamber, had said he would start using that law quickly after President Donald Trump was inaugurated to help roll back regulations the party considers abusive. House Republicans have been on a blitz of regulatory reform, passing bills to drive down regulations’ costs and create more congressional oversight. The Republican-dominated House will bypass the committee process and go directly to a vote by the entire chamber on a half-dozen resolutions, McCarthy’s spokesman said on Wednesday. Further rule reversals are likely to come out of various committees, Representative Greg Walden, a Republican from Oregon, said on Tuesday. Given the resolutions only require simple majorities to pass, they will probably sail through the House and then pass the Senate, where Democrats, the minority party, cannot mount a filibuster against them. They could then zoom to the White House for fellow Republican Trump to sign. But Walden also said the Congressional Review Act broadly wipes out entire regulations and forbids agencies from writing new versions in their place. That could be dangerous for a rule with some provisions that Republicans support, he said. Earlier this month, McCarthy said the House would try to kill regulations protecting streams and forests from coal mining’s impacts, curbing methane leaks on public lands, and requiring employers to report workers’ information as part of an attempt to end pay discrimination. Reforming regulations is as high a priority as undoing the Affordable Care Act and rewriting the tax code, he said. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on Wednesday, he also added a rule expanding background checks on gun purchases for disabled Social Security recipients to the hit list, as well as the anti-bribery regulation. Requiring companies to state publicly how much they pay governments in taxes, royalties and other types of fees for exploration and extraction was included in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. Regulators struggled for years to make it a reality as the companies said it would drive up their costs. Human rights group Oxfam in 2014 sued the SEC when it stalled on drafting the rule, and in 2015 a federal judge ordered the commission to fast-track it. The commission met the judge’s deadline this summer, with the requirements set to take effect in 2018. ",1 "N Korea, final approval for nuclear attack on US",1 MI5 faces allegations over torture of British man in Bangladesh,1 Healthy British nurse ends her life in a Swiss clinic because of fear of getting old,0 "Congress to fund more detention beds despite drop in border crossingsWASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Congress has agreed to fund an additional 5,300 detention beds for illegal immigrants, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee said on Monday, less than half the number requested by President Donald Trump. The additional detention space was negotiated by Republican leaders with Democrats as part of a spending package Congress will vote on later this week to fund the government through September, according to two congressional sources familiar with the agreement. The new beds will be added despite a sharp decline last month in apprehensions of people crossing the southern border with Mexico illegally. Immigration detention centers at the U.S. border have been operating at below capacity in recent months. The agreement will increase the number of immigration detention beds to 39,324 from 34,000 currently, according to a summary provided by the House Appropriations Committee. The White House in March requested bringing the total number of beds up to 45,700, saying the additional capacity was necessary to achieve the president’s goal of “enhancing interior enforcement efforts and ending ‘catch and release’ for those apprehended at the border.” The budget summary did not break out the specific cost of the additional 5,300 beds, but said they would be included in an overall $1.5 billion increase in immigration enforcement funding. The spending also includes more electronic monitoring and GPS tracking alternatives to detention, as well 100 additional officers to enforce immigration laws and funding for programs that increase coordination with local authorities on immigration enforcement.   A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which runs detention facilities, said the agency would not comment on the contents of the spending bill while the legislation is pending. The House Appropriations Committee did not respond to a request for comment. From April 1-22, an average of 36,235 immigrants were in detention per day, according to the most recent statistics provided by ICE. If border crossings and apprehensions continue to stay low, the administration could struggle to fill additional detention beds, unless it increases “arrests of undocumented immigrants in the interior with no criminal convictions and cuts back on releases of asylum seekers found to have legitimate claims,” said Kevin Landy, who served as assistant director at ICE during the Obama administration.     “ICE is going to be under enormous pressure to fill those beds” to prove to Congress that the funding was needed, said Landy, who left his post in January. Democrats raised similar concerns during budget negotiations, a Congressional aide with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters. Some Republicans as well as Democrats also expressed worries during the negotiations that the Department of Homeland Security might redirect money allotted for detention centers to use on border wall construction if Congress appropriated more money than needed, the aide said. In October, the first month of the 2017 fiscal year, 66,710 people were apprehended crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Apprehensions have fallen steadily since then.   In March, 16,600 individuals were apprehended, down 64 percent from the year-earlier month, according to statistics from Customs and Border Patrol. ",1 Ahmadinejad: Obama Must Allow Investigation of 9/11....,1 Restaurateur Gets 90 Days In Jail For Criminally Libelling Author Of Bad Review,1 Kim Jong-un's Barbaric Purge of 'Unsound' Military Brass: He Uses Mortar Rounds To Dispose Of His Redcoats,1 "How Ted Cruz win in Supreme Court hurt U.S.-Mexico relationsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz often tells supporters about his Supreme Court win against the federal government in 2008, defending Texas’ right to execute a Mexican man for murder, as evidence of his conservative and anti-establishment credentials. But there is one part of the story that goes untold. The Medellin v. Texas case, decided when Cruz was the state’s solicitor general, set the stage for years of diplomatic tension between the United States and its southern neighbor. Mexico has publicly protested U.S. executions of its citizens over the years, but interviews with diplomats and reviews of official Mexican government communiqués reveal that the turmoil caused by the Medellin case ran deeper, coming up at nearly every meeting between the United States and Mexico and leading to an official protest to the United Nations Security Council in 2014. Given the level of frustration, Cruz’s role in the court battle raises questions about U.S.-Mexico relations if he were to beat billionaire Donald Trump to the Republican nomination and win the U.S. presidential election in November.   “I think relations would be complicated with a President Cruz,” said Sergio Alcocer, who was Mexico’s deputy foreign minister responsible for North America between 2012-2015. Alcocer praised Cruz as intelligent and pragmatic but said the senator was too inflexible on issues like immigration and the death penalty. “Cruz takes certain positions that are very clearly defined. And he’s much more conservative, much more dogmatic than Trump,” Alcocer said. A Cruz campaign official did not respond to requests for comment. In Mexico City, a foreign ministry spokesman said Mexico had no preference among the U.S. presidential candidates and would not comment on the election. In the Medellin case, Cruz defended the death sentence a Texas court imposed on Mexican citizen Jose Ernesto Medellin after he was convicted in 1994 for his role in the gang rape and strangling of two teenage girls in a Houston park. In 2004, the International Court of Justice of the United Nations ruled that Texas and other states had violated the Vienna Convention by failing to notify Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row of their right to contact the Mexican consulate after arrest. President George W. Bush ordered Texas and other states to review the sentences. Cruz argued that, while the United States had submitted to the international court’s decisions, the White House could not implement an international agreement that required states to change their court procedures without action by Congress. The Supreme Court agreed in a 6-3 decision. Winning the case raised Cruz’s profile in conservative circles. He has recently said he would appoint justices who would narrowly interpret the Constitution - as he did in the Medellin case - a crucial talking point in the election following the death of Supreme Court conservative icon Antonin Scalia. “It was an unusual thing at the time for the state of Texas to be standing up against the president of the United States in front of the Supreme Court, particularly when that president was a Texan and a Republican and the former governor of this state,” Cruz told cheering supporters at a Houston rally in February, one of the many times he has brought up the case. The Supreme Court ruling removed a potential legal barrier to three more executions of Mexican nationals in Texas who had been part of the same international court case as Medellin, even as U.S. allies such as the European Union and Switzerland criticized what they saw as ongoing treaty violations. Mexico pressed U.S. officials and Congress to follow the international court’s directive and require states to review death sentences where people had been denied consular access. “The issue came up as one of the top few issues (Mexico) raised in almost every bilateral meeting we had,” said Harold Hongju Koh, who was legal adviser to the U.S. State Department from 2009-2013. Alcocer, the former Mexican deputy foreign minister, confirmed the issue of consular access was raised during negotiations on other cross-border issues like the extradition of criminals. “It’s not resolved, and it’s something that Mexico needs to keep insisting on,” he said in an interview. Mexican officials said both the Bush and Obama administrations had been open to working on the issue. U.S. State Department officials supported consular-access legislation introduced in the Senate, but that was not enough to spur Congress to resolve the issue. Texas executed Medellin in August 2008, five months after the Supreme Court decision, drawing swift criticism from the United Nations court. Three years later, as Texas prepared to execute another Mexican national who had not received consular access, Mexico’s then-ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying the action would “seriously jeopardize” cooperation on a range of issues. “It serves neither the United States nor the Mexico-U.S. relationship if the U.S. cannot live up to its treaty obligations,” said the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters. In 2013, Mexico warned Washington in another letter that the executions of Mexican nationals who had been denied consular access would mean “our whole forward-looking bilateral engagement could be questioned.” A year later the government wrote to the president of the United Nations’ Security Council expressing indignation over the executions of Mexican citizens in violation of the international court directive. Sarukhan, the former Mexican ambassador, said Mexico had few options to put pressure on the United States without harming cooperation in other areas. “March 31st marks now 12 years since the decision was rendered and the United States is yet to comply with its international obligations,” the government said in a statement, responding to Reuters questions about the Medellin case and Cruz’s involvement in it. Critics of the Medellin ruling, and Cruz’s boasts about it, say Texas could have simply reviewed the sentences as the international court had asked. “Texas could have provided that remedy 20 times over in the time that it took to litigate that case up and down through the Texas courts and the Supreme Court,” said Sandra Babcock, a law professor at Cornell University who was one of Medellin’s attorneys. “The long-term damage, the reputational damage to the United States is still ongoing.” But Cruz’s supporters dismiss such criticism. His job as solicitor general was to defend Texas, not to worry about the international implications, they say. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a former attorney general who was Cruz’s boss at the time of the Medellin case, introduced the presidential hopeful at the February rally in Houston. “He fought against the United Nations, the world court and the United States of America itself to defend Texas’ sovereignty,” Abbott said to cheers. ",1 "Thousands of Italian women march in protest of Berlusconi in particular, and degradation of Italian women in general.",0 "Hamas, 10 other groups pledge to continue targeting Israelis",1 Jewish terrorist who murdered two palestinians gets 2 life sentences in Israeli jail,1 Explosions Rock Libyan Capitol,0 "KOREA Seoul warns, North has 180,000 soldiers ready for war",1 "Republican lawmakers shift to 'yes' on healthcare bill with changesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. Republican House lawmakers threw their support behind their party’s healthcare overhaul plan on Wednesday after crafting changes to provide $8 billion over five years to shore up coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Representatives Fred Upton and Billy Long, who had rejected an earlier bill to roll back the 2010 Affordable Care Act, told reporters after a meeting with Trump at the White House that they could now vote for the plan with their proposed changes. Upton said the revised bill could come up for a vote on Thursday, although both he and Long said they did not know whether there were enough votes to pass it. Representative Michael Burgess also said he could back the legislation. ",1 " Trump Tweets A Douchey, Self-congratulatory “THANK YOU” And Americans Tell Him Where He Can Shove It (TWEETS)On Wednesday, Donald Trump kicked off his morning by tweeting two little words an allcaps THANK YOU. THANK YOU! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2017Trump didn t say whom he was thanking. Was it the Jews he says are behind antisemitic hate crimes committed by his supporters? The father of the Navy SEAL who died for nothing during his failed Yemen raid who didn t want to meet him? The wife of said SEAL who broke down in tears while The Donald joked about applause? Hispanics and Muslims who now live in fear every day? Oh, that s right he was thanking the media who apparently have learned nothing and are currently gushing about how presidential he was at his Wednesday speech because he managed to stick to the script and not scream about FAKE NEWS for once never mind that he lied 51 times in his 61 minute speech. While Trump may be patting himself on the back, those of us who can operate a toaster without an adult supervising are a bit confused at whom, exactly, he thinks likes him. Trump s disapproval numbers are current at over half the country (and steadily rising) meaning that most Americans are sick of his bullsh*t already. Naturally, a whole mess of them stopped by Trump s Twitter to let him know how they really feel:.@realDonaldTrump all caps isn't presidential or eloquent Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) March 1, 2017@realDonaldTrump Successful morning poop? DansGaming (@Dansgaming) March 1, 2017@realDonaldTrump FUCK YOU Stevie (@StevieeeWx) March 1, 2017What are you thanking us for, @realDonaldTrump? Most of us didn't have orgasms over your lame speech. https://t.co/WU62kY7Enn Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) March 1, 2017.@realDonaldTrump Did someone just pee on you? Donald Trump Exposed (@DTrumpExposed) March 1, 2017@realdonaldtrump When will you speak against anti-Muslim bigotry by many supporters? We don t want more Kansas/Quebec type attacks Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) March 1, 2017@realDonaldTrump You got a woman's husband killed, refused to accept responsibility & then used her as a prop to absolve yourself. fuck you cx cope (@cxcope) March 1, 2017@realDonaldTrump Was this meant for President Bannon for buying you a lego toy? Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) March 1, 2017Are you thanking Republicans for helping to keep your corruption hidden from the American people? @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/Zyj5fpoUdG Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) March 1, 2017Don t be fooled by the one time Trump has managed to avoid mocking a disabled reporter or telling his fans he will pay their legal fees if they beat up black people at his rallies. He s still the same racist xenophobe he s always been though as Real Time host Bill Maher points out: I think the bad thing is it will fool a lot of people. [He] like a fairly reasonable guy, too right-wing for me, but a normal person. Once again, don t be fooled.Featured image via Getty Images(Pool)/screengrab",0 " Republicans Are Literally Plotting An Intervention With Trump To Save Their PartyThe GOP implosion is about to be set off as influential Republican leaders are on the cusp of staging an intervention with presidential nominee Donald Trump.Yes, you read that right three months before a presidential election, a candidate is being given an ultimatum by their party leaders about cleaning up their act or dropping out of the race.You couldn t even make this stuff up for TV, let alone reality.According to NBC News:Key Republicans close to Donald Trump s orbit are plotting an intervention with the candidate after a disastrous 48 hours led some influential voices in the party to question whether Trump can stay at the top of the Republican ticket without catastrophic consequences for his campaign and the GOP at large.Republican National Committee head Reince Priebus, former Republican New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are among the Trump endorsers hoping to talk the real estate mogul into a dramatic reset of his campaign in the coming days.The intervention comes as Trump has repeatedly been attracting negative press for a slew of gaffes, including attacking the Khans whose son was killed in battle kicking out a crying baby at his rally, selfishly accepting a Purple Heart, and backstabbing fellow Republicans running for reelection.In the last several days, influential Republicans, from policy advisers under Reagan to Congressman Richard Hanna and mega-donor Meg Whitman, have publicly stated they will be voting for Hillary Clinton over the GOP nominee. Heck, even John McCain s granddaughter is voting for Hillary Clinton. It seems that with every passing day another Republican wakes up and realizes how truly damaging Trump is.Of course the Trump campaign denied such an intervention was in the works and pathetically tried to convince the public that the campaign was more unified than ever. Republicans are more scared that he will drop out of the race, something that seems very unlikely.As of right now, the Trump train has derailed and is heading on a crash course into a ditch.Can anyone remember a time in our American electoral history when a presidential candidate was forced to undergo an intervention to clean up his act? This is something completely unheard of, but lo and behold, it s happening right before our eyes.Remember when Republicans told us he would change his tune when he secured the delegates needed to be the nominee? Guess that was just another lie. And now they are paying the price, and, if Democrats show up to vote in November, it will pay off beautifully.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images",0 "A Globalized God | Organised religion on the rise around the world. Cause and effect of globalisation. Pentecostalism, Islam spreading fastest. Growing role in international relations, as religion shapes national foreign policies",0 "Factbox: Trump on Twitter (September 19) - Venezuela, North Korea, U.N., MexicoThe following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - We call for the full restoration of democracy and political freedoms in Venezuela, and we want it to happen very, very soon! [0018 EDT] - #USAatUNGA #UNGA [0047 EDT] - Big day at the United Nations - many good things, and some tricky ones, happening. We have a great team. Big speech at 10:00 A.M. [0721 EDT] - The US has great strength & patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy #NoKo. [1322 EDT] - As President of the United States of America, I will ALWAYS put #AmericaFirst #UNGA Full remarks: 45.wh.gov/wkGxNw [1509 EDT] - God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you. [1605 EDT] - It was a great honor to have spoken before the countries of the world at the United Nations. #USAatUNGA #UNGA instagram.com/p/BZPRctNg-5U/ [1804 EDT] - The true question for the @UN... instagram.com/p/BZPnyKZAIA5/ [2119 EDT] - Puerto Rico being hit hard by new monster Hurricane. Be careful, our hearts are with you- will be there to help! [2223 EDT] - A great and important day at the United Nations.Met with leaders of many nations who agree with much (or all) of what I stated in my speech! [2231 EDT] - So nice, thank you! bit.ly/2xQjAbv [2233 EDT] - I was saddened to see how bad the ratings were on the Emmys last night - the worst ever. Smartest people of them all are the DEPLORABLES. [2241 EDT] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR) ",1 Blow-by-blow account written in a tell-all letter from prison by the prime-accused of a Train Sabotage in India,1 Burma - Crisis in Shan State,0 Finnish farmers protest new legislations by driving over 300 tractors to Helsinki Senate Square.,0 "Spains ruling elite tries to ignore the fate of 300,000 murdered by Francos fascists, the 500,000 people they imprisoned and the 500,000 they forced into exile.",0 "Israel Defense Minister: In Syria, if the choice is between Iran and the Islamic State, I choose the Islamic State.""",1 "Democrats, seeking unity, give Sanders say in party platformNEW YORK (Reuters) - The Democratic Party said on Monday it would give U.S. presidential contender Bernie Sanders a prominent say in writing its platform this year, a gesture that could ease tensions between Sanders’ camp and party leaders, whom Sanders has accused of favoring rival Hillary Clinton. Sanders has remained steadfast in his long-shot battle with Clinton for the Democratic nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election, even though he lags her in the delegate count with only a few state contests remaining. The divisiveness among the Democrats stands in contrast to the Republicans, whose party leaders are slowly rallying behind Donald Trump, their presumptive nominee. Sanders’ tenacity appeared to be paying off. The U.S. senator from Vermont will be allowed to name five members to the 15-member committee that writes the platform at the Democratic National Convention in late July in Philadelphia even if he is not the nominee. Clinton will name six. The party said in a statement the split was based on the results of state votes to date “in an effort to make this the most representative and inclusive process in history.” The party’s chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, will name the committee’s final four members. The Democratic Party’s rules allow the chair to name all 15 members, suggesting the party was trying to accommodate Sanders and his fervent supporters, who still pack rallies by the thousands as he campaigns in California, which will hold its primary on June 7. Sanders did little to dispel the acrimony between himself and the party, which he joined only last year after more than two decades in Congress as an independent, when he said over the weekend he was endorsing Wasserman Schultz’s Democratic opponent in her Florida congressional district. On Monday, he repeated some of his criticisms of Clinton, who he has suggested is vulnerable to influence by corporate donors to her campaign, which she denies. Sanders also told the Associated Press in an interview that if Democratic leaders open the convention’s doors “to working-class people and young people and create the kind of dynamism that the Democratic Party needs, it’s going to be messy.” “Democracy is not always nice and quiet and gentle but that is where the Democratic Party should go,” he added. The Clinton campaign said it was pleased to see Sanders represented, describing the party as a “big tent.” “Hillary Clinton is committed to continue welcoming different perspectives and ideas,” spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement. Sanders, who has criticized Clinton for being too biased toward Israel, has named a pro-Palestinian activist and a prominent environmentalist among his picks for the committee. Clinton has said she now considers herself the de facto Democratic nominee. Increasingly, she has turned her attention to attacking Trump as a “bully” when speaking at campaign events while urging Sanders supporters to rally to her side. She told labor union members in Detroit on Monday that if elected, she would embrace issues important to Sanders’ supporters, including reform of campaign financing and reducing income inequality. Underlining Clinton’s confidence that she will become the Democratic candidate, her campaign said on Monday she would not participate in a debate with Sanders in California, despite having previously agreed to attend the event hosted by Fox News. Trump is steadily escalating his criticism of both Hillary and Bill Clinton’s relationship with women, using rhetoric that has little precedent in U.S. presidential politics. On Monday, Trump circulated a new online video that shows images of Bill Clinton, the former president, as voices of women play on the soundtrack saying he had assaulted them, before ending with the sound of Hillary Clinton, his wife, laughing. Although none of the women are identified in the video, one of the voices is that of Juanita Broaddrick in an NBC interview from 1999 in which the former nursing-home manager accused Bill Clinton of raping her in a hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1978. The Clintons’ lawyer, David Kendall, said in 1999 that the accusation was false. The Clintons have declined to discuss the accusation and are ignoring his personal attacks, with Hillary Clinton saying instead she will defend vulnerable Americans from the consequences of Trump’s proposals. “Trump economics is a recipe for lower wages, fewer jobs, more debt,” she told the union members on Monday. “He could bankrupt America like he bankrupted his companies. I mean, ask yourself: How can anybody lose money running a casino, really?” ",1 The LIBOR scandal -- The rotten heart of finance,0 "REVEALED: List of People President Elect Trump is Considering for Top White House Postions21st Century Wire says IMPORTANT: We are particularly worried about John Bolton and Rudolph Giuliani holding major diplomatic positions they are both damaged goods and relics of a failed Neoconservative past which some Republicans are acting nostalgic about. Both Bolton and Giuliani have pressed for a pre-emptive strike on Iran in the past, and with continued pressure and finance from the Israeli Lobby it s a near certainty that they will continue this foreign policy line. Trump won the GOP primaries by rejecting the Bush docrine and the Neocon model of foreign intervention. If Trump reverses that postion he is only creating a new and more powerful anti-war oppostion in America. A hawkish Trump policy would only galvanize the left in America, and globally.Let s see if he s smart enough to realize this prospective reality and appoint his cabinet accordingly TRANSITION: Media currently carried away with speculation over what a President Trump administration will look like in Janruary. Daily CallerDonald Trump is contemplating naming a number of recognizable players from the 2016 campaign to serve in senior White House roles, according to an internal transition document obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller.The list was provided by a member of the transition team on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press. Described as a working document, it is being used to help the president-elect envision a White House staff structure, the source said. Some people are listed more than once.It includes names like Trump campaign chairman Stephen K. Bannon, RNC chairman Reince Priebus, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn.Bannon who was executive chairman of Breitbart News before joining the Trump campaign is under consideration for chief of staff, as is Priebus. The choice here could be telling about Trump s strategy for working with Congress: Bannon, who is proudly anti-establishment, detests House Speaker Paul Ryan while Priebus and Ryan are close allies.Like chief of staff, a number of the roles listed seem to include both insider and outsider options. For example, Kellyanne Conway, a longtime Republican pollster, is in contention with Corey Lewandowski, who worked with the New Hampshire state police until 2010, for the position of senior adviser.Lewandowski is also in consideration for the role of deputy chief of staff for planning, as is Katie Walsh, the RNC s chief of staff. As for White House counsel, the list includes both Alan Garten, the general counsel at the Trump Organization, and Donald McGahn, his campaign attorney, as options.Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller an immigration hawk and former communications aide to Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions is under consideration for a variety roles, including deputy chief of staff for policy, director of speechwriting, director of the domestic policy council and director of communications. Miller often warmed up for Trump during rallies in the Republican primary and embodies Trump s message of limited immigration, free trade skepticism and distaste for the donor class.Miller isn t the only former Sessions aide being considered for a Trump administration. Rick Dearborn, Sen. Sessions chief of staff, is listed as the sole option for leading the office of legislative affairs.Like Sessions, former GOP Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, formerly the chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, appears likely to have influence in the Trump administration. He is being considered for both national security advisor and assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. His former chief of staff, Andy Keiser, is also being considered for the position of deputy national security advisor.Two other people listed for national security advisor are retired Army Lt. Gen. Micheal Flynn, who served as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama, and Stephen Hadley, who served in the same role under former President George W. Bush. Flynn, Rogers, and Hadley are all hawkish. Flynn has called for the destruction of the Syrian city of Raqqa, Hadley served as deputy national security adviser during the invasion of Iraq and Rogers said in 2014 that ground troops should be deployed to fight the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.As for White House press secretary, the list includes some memorable faces from the campaign: former Ted Cruz aide and eventual Trump spokesman Jason Miller, top RNC aide Sean Spicer and Conway.Here is the list obtained by TheDC:Assistant to the President and Chief of StaffStephen K. Bannon, Reince PriebusAssistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.Keith Kellogg, Mike RogersAssistant to the President and Press Secretary.Jason Miller, Sean Spicer, Kellyanne ConwayAssistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning. Corey Lewandowski, Katie WalshAssistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Stephen Miller, Sam ClovisAssistant to the President and National Security Advisor. Michael T. Flynn, Mike Rogers, Stephen HadleyAssistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting. Stephen Miller, Cliff SimsSenior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement.None listedAssistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.David Bossie, Katie WalshAssistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor.Clare Lopez, Walid Phares, Andy KeiserAssistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council.Stephen MillerAssistant to the President and Director, Office of Legislative Affairs.Rick DearbornAssistant to the President and Director of Communications.Jason Miller, Stephen Miller, Cliff SimsAssistant to the President and Senior AdvisorKellyanne Conway, Corey LewandowskiAssistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council. Dan Dimicco, David MalpassWhite House CounselDon McGahn, Alan Garten**** READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV",0 "Lebanese court issues death sentence over 1982 Gemayel assassinationBEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon s top court on Friday sentenced Habib Shartouni to death for the 1982 assassination of president-elect Bashir Gemayel, an event that was a turning point in Lebanon s 15-year civil war. Shartouni, a member of the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party (SSNP), admitted his part in the bombing in the 1980s and was tried in absentia after escaping from prison in 1990 following eight years in detention. He was quoted in an interview in Lebanon s al-Akhbar newspaper on Thursday saying the timing of the trial was political and that he had lived in Syria between 1994 and 2004. He did not reveal his present location. Gemayel was killed less than a month after he was elected president and soon after he agreed to start discussing diplomatic ties with Israel. His assassination occurred during Israel s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, one of the bloodiest episodes in the civil war. His death in a bombing that killed 32 other people on Sept. 14, 1982, still resonates among many Lebanese and triggered the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut s Sabra and Chatila refugee camps. Supporters of both Shartouni and Gemayel have protested outside the court during the hearings. Gemayel was head of the Lebanese Forces Christian militia, locked in conflict with leftist, Muslim and Palestinian factions, and his candidacy was backed by Israel. Its invasion was aimed at driving from Lebanon the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), as well as the Syrian army, which had entered in 1976 as part of a peace deal. After his assassination, Israel entered the capital Beirut and allowed Gemayel s militia, the Lebanese Forces, to access the Sabra and Chatila Palestinian refugee camps, where their fighters killed hundreds of civilian refugees. Gemayel s family is still one of the most important in Lebanese politics, heading the Kataeb party that was founded by his father. The Lebanese Forces militia later became a different political party headed by one of its commanders, Samir Geagea. ",1 North Korea Warns South to Show Respect for Kim Jong-il,1 UK ready to take on Israel over fate of children clapped in irons,1 "Israeli kibbutz can 'feel the Bern' of forgotten volunteer Sanders KIBBUTZ SHAAR HAAMAKIM, Israel (Reuters) - An Israeli kibbutz is taking considerable pride in a former volunteer, U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, even though no one on the communal farm can quite remember him. In 1990 Sanders, then running for Congress, told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper he had volunteered for several months as a young man at Kibbutz Shaar Haamakim, a community with deep socialist roots on the edge of the Biblical Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. Sanders, 74, has mentioned in the past that he once worked on a kibbutz, but its name remained a mystery until Haaretz republished its interview with him earlier this month. There are no records at Shaar Haamakim of Sanders’ stint in 1963 and none of its veteran members can say for sure they ever met him. That hasn’t stopped journalists from streaming into the community to try to dig for details about Sanders’ experience at the kibbutz, where the Brooklyn-born Vermont senator, who is Jewish, is now the talk of the farm. “The fact that Bernie Sanders’ name was linked with Kibbutz Shaar Haamakim is a big honor for the kibbutz,” said its chairman Yair Merom. “The values that Bernie Sanders speaks about and his ideology in the presidential race - the modern social democratic values - are incredibly compatible with Kibbutz Shaar Haamakim.” Kibbutz elder Albert Ely, 79, told Reuters he couldn’t put a face to the name but he remembered that “an American called Bernard” had once been a volunteer. “Everybody mentions it. Now that the election campaign began, there is great happiness in the entire kibbutz,” said Gilad Hershkikovich, who tends to its cows. “I’m sure he had a good time here.” (Reporting by Elana Ringler; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Tom Heneghan) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.",1 "WATCH: MITT ROMNEY DOESN’T Think Roy Moore Deserves Fair Treatment In Questionable 40-Year-Old Sex Assault Allegations…Has Romney Already Forgotten What Harry Reid’s LIE Did To His Campaign?Yesterday, former GOP Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, came out with one of his most incredible statements to date. After months of silence, Mitt tweeted about the 36-40-year-old sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama s Republican candidate for Senator, Judge Roy Moore.In his tweet, Mitt told Americans that Judge Roy Moore was not entitled to a fair investigation and that Moore should step aside . Romney tweeted: Innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections. I believe Leigh Corfman. Her account is too serious to ignore. Moore is unfit for office and should step aside. Innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections. I believe Leigh Corfman. Her account is too serious to ignore. Moore is unfit for office and should step aside. Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) November 10, 2017Mitt has remained mostly dormant since he went off on his anti-Trump rant just before the Presidential election. The last time we saw Mitt, was when he was in Trump Towers, pandering to President-elect Trump for a job in his administration. It appears that, much like John McCain, the anti-conservative, bitter, former GOP presidential candidate just can t keep his disdain for Republicans, who are unafraid to openly fight for their convictions, to himself. Perhaps Mitt s nasty remarks were intended to help ingratiate himself with liberal voters in Utah, as he allegedly is preparing to run for the retiring Republican Senator Orin Hatch s seat. It s also quite possible that after the United States watched Mitt give up the race after he pummeled Barack Obama in their first presidential debate, that Mitt just doesn t have the stomach for Republicans who actually fight back when they re being attacked by the left.Is it possible that Mitt has already forgotten the lie that Harry Reid pushed out to the voters only months before the election about Mitt not paying taxes for the past 1w years?On July 12, 2012, Senator Harry Reid stood before his comrades on the Senate floor and told a bald-faced lie about then-candidate Mitt Romney not paying his taxes for the past 12 years. Reid knowingly lied to Congress telling them Mitt Romney s father set the precedent for presidential candidates allowing the American public to view their taxes, but Mitt Romney can t do that because he s paid no taxes for 12 years. His father, George Romney, set the precedent that people running for president would file their tax returns, let everybody look at them. But Mitt Romney can t do that because he s basically paid no taxes in the prior 12 years. Watch:Two years later, Harry Reid was later questioned by CNN s Dana Bash about the lie he told to his fellow Senators. His response could not have been more arrogant or disrespectful to the American voters who based their votes for Barack Obama, based on a lie that Senator Harry Reid told only 4 months before the election.So, tell us again Mitt, how it doesn t matter if a political candidate is guilty of charges levied against him by the left, that their only response must be to step down if they re accused of wrongdoing.Yesterday, it was revealed that at least one of Judge Roy Moore s accusers was deeply involved in Democrat politics, is virulently anti-Trump, and has been openly pushing for Judge Roy Moore s Democrat opponent Doug Ross on her personal Facebook page.It was also revealed that Stephanie McCrummen, one of the co-writers of the Washington Post article that smeared Moore with 4 unproven allegations has a history of faking things to benefit herself (read more HERE). More and more details continue to emerge about Roy Moore s alleged victims .Stay tuned, for those of us who are sick and tired of watching Republicans get kicked around and watching their careers being ruined, this isn t over yet ",0 "Factbox: Governorships up for grabs in 12 states(Reuters) - Republicans and Democrats will battle in a dozen U.S. states that will hold elections for governor on Tuesday, and many of the races could be close calls. Drawing national attention because of a debate over transgender rights, Republican Governor Pat McCrory is seeking a second term against Roy Cooper, a Democrat who has been the state’s attorney general since 2001. Polls show Cooper with a modest lead in a state that also has competitive races for president and the U.S. Senate. In one of the year’s closest gubernatorial races, polls put Republican former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens in a dead heat with Democrat Chris Koster, the state’s attorney general. They are bidding to succeed Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat who has served the maximum two terms in office. Indiana Governor Mike Pence, who initially sought re-election, withdrew from the gubernatorial race in July to campaign as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s running mate. Lieutenant Governor Eric Holcomb, a Republican, stepped in for Pence and will compete against Democrat John Gregg, a former state lawmaker. Gregg narrowly leads Holcomb, according to polls. Democratic businessman Jim Justice leads Republican state Senate President Bill Cole in polls, though data is sparse. Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin was barred by term limits from running again. Democratic Governor Steve Bullock is battling Republican tech entrepreneur Greg Gianforte to keep his seat. A poll conducted last month by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research put Bullock ahead of Gianforte 47 percent to 45 percent. Democrat Colin Van Ostern has a modest lead over Republican Chris Sununu in recent polls. Both are members of the state’s Executive Council, which helps to administer state government, and are seeking to succeed Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan, who is running for the U.S. Senate. The term is two years. Republican Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott and Democrat Sue Minter, a former state transportation secretary, are vying to succeed retiring Governor Peter Shumlin, a Democrat. One poll last month gave Scott a seven-point lead, while another showed a dead heat. The term is two years. Democratic Governor Kate Brown is favored against Republican Bud Pierce, an oncologist. Brown was sworn in last year after her predecessor, John Kitzhaber, resigned in scandal. The election is for the final two years of Kitzhaber’s term. Polls put incumbent Governor Gary Herbert, a Republican, at an advantage over Democrat Mike Weinholtz, a healthcare executive, in Utah. Herbert, who took office in 2009 after his predecessor, Jon Huntsman, resigned, is seeking a second full term. Democratic Governor Jay Inslee is widely favored in the polls to win a second term against Republican Bill Bryant, a businessman and former commissioner of the Port of Seattle. Republican Doug Burgum, a former Microsoft Corp executive, is expected to defeat Democratic State Representative Marvin Nelson in the solid Republican state of North Dakota. Governor Jack Dalrymple, a Republican who was eligible to run for re-election in 2016, declined to seek another term. Democrat John Carney, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, had a wide lead in a University of Delware poll last month against Republican Colin Bonini, a state senator. Democratic Governor Jack Markell is prohibited by term limits from running for re-election to the position he has held since 2009. ",1 Israel and Hamas forces 'clash on Gaza border': Arab media reports two Israeli troops have been killed east of Khan Younis,1 "South Korea police seek arrest warrant for Hanjin Group chiefSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean police are seeking an arrest warrant for Cho Yang-ho, chairman of Hanjin Group, the parent of Korean Air Lines Co Ltd, on charges of breach of trust following their probe into construction work at his house, a police official said on Monday. In July, police raided the headquarters of Korean Air Lines, South Korea s top airline, as part of an investigation into allegations that company funds were used to pay for the renovation work at Cho s home. A Korean Air spokesman declined to comment. ",1 "Threat from NSA leaks may have been overstated by UK, says Lord Falconer - Ex-lord chancellor defends Guardian reporting of Snowden files and says he's sceptical of warnings from spy agency chiefs",1 Rushdie says 'wrong lessons' learned from his Iran fatwa ordeal,0 "UK officials were allowed to interrogate tortured prisoners, document shows.",0 "A record 1,004 rhinos were killed in South Africa in 2013. Valiant efforts by concerned citizens can't compete with the international smuggling operations that have zeroed in on South Africa in recent years.",0 "Suspects in Malta blogger's murder sent to trialVALLETTA (Reuters) - Three men accused of killing Maltese anti-corruption blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia were committed to trial on Thursday by a magistrate hearing preliminary evidence. Brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio and Vincent Muscat were arrested in early December on the strength of phone intercepts and accused of having killed Caruana Galizia in a carbomb as she drove out of her home on Oct. 16. In the Maltese judicial system, police have to present initial evidence to a magistrate, who decides whether there are sufficient grounds to press charges. On the third day of the preliminary hearing, Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit ruled that the three should be sent to trial. The trio have denied wrongdoing. Police told the court that George Degiorgio was sitting on a boat outside Valletta harbor when he sent an SMS to trigger the deadly bomb, which had been planted overnight in Caruana Galizia s hire car. Mobile phone data showed that Alfred Degiorgio and Muscat had repeatedly visited Caruana Galizia s home village Bidnija in the days before the blast. Police believe they watched from a nearby vantage point as Caruana Galizia set out in her car and told George Degiorgio via telephone to detonate the device. Her death shocked Malta, the smallest nation in the European Union, which has been engulfed by a wave of graft scandals, including accusations of money laundering and influence peddling in government all of which have been denied. Caruana Galizia exposed many of these cases, but had never written about the three suspects, who had fallen foul of local police in the past. The slain blogger s family say the mastermind behind the killing must still be at large. Malta s attorney general must now draw up precise charges against the Degiorgios and Muscat, and no trial date has been set. ",1 "U.S. House passes ballistic missile sanctions on IranWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously on Thursday for new sanctions on Iran s ballistic missile program, part of an effort to clamp down on Tehran without immediately moving to undermine an international nuclear agreement. The vote was 423 to two for the Iran Ballistic Missiles and International Sanctions Enforcement Act. Among other things, it calls on the U.S. president to report to Congress on the Iranian and international supply chain for Iran s ballistic missile program and to impose sanctions on Iranian government or foreign entities that support it. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 13 he would not certify Iran is complying with an international agreement on its nuclear program, and threatened that he might ultimately terminate the accord. Trump s action opened a 60-day window for Congress to act to reimpose sanctions on Iran s nuclear program that were lifted under the agreement, but there has been no move to do so in the House or Senate. Aides said that, for now, House lawmakers are focusing on clamping down on Iran in other ways such as the Hezbollah and missile-related sanctions. U.S. Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who sponsored the ballistic missile bill, has said the international nuclear deal should be strictly enforced by Washington working with its allies. The United States must respond to the full range of threats and, with this bill.... that is what we are doing today, he said. The House passed three other Iran-related measures on Wednesday, including new sanctions on Lebanon s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia and a resolution urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. [L2N1N02UY] To become law, the measure would have to pass the U.S. Senate and be signed into law by Trump. ",1 Thousands of bats killed by hot weather in Queensland,1 Boeing to clinch $2.4 billion Indian Air Force deal over Russian Mi-26,1 "Germans will soon be getting 30 percent of their power from renewable energy sources, by far the largest industrial power to reach that level in the modern era.",1 "Catalan parliament defies Madrid pressure, works on independence declarationBARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Catalan secessionists were working on Friday toward a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain that could be adopted next week in defiance of a court order and increased economic pressure from Madrid. After Spain s Constitutional Court suspended a session of the Catalan regional parliament set for Monday, which had been expected to endorse an independence declaration, the parliament said the region s pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont would address the assembly at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Tuesday. Madrid apologized for the first time on Friday for police use of violence in trying to hinder a weekend referendum it had declared illegal. That crackdown raised the temperature of a confrontation that has grown into the worst political crisis for decades in Spain. A Catalan legislator was quoted by El Mundo newspaper as saying secessionist parties in the Catalan parliament were discussing an independence declaration to be submitted to the assembly next Tuesday. We are in talks about a text, with paper and pencil, on the declaration that we want the regional parliament to accept on Tuesday, Carles Riera, a lawmaker from the pro-independence CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy), was quoted as saying. Nobody has put forward any scenario of delay, ambiguity or confusion. We are not working on that scenario, he said. The stakes are high for the euro zone s fourth-largest economy. Catalonia is the source of a huge chunk of its tax revenue and hosts multinationals from carmaker Volkswagen to drugs firm AstraZeneca (AZN.L). The Catalan region s head of foreign affairs, Raul Romeva, told the BBC earlier that the Catalan parliament intended to make a decision on independence, without specifying when. Parliament will discuss, parliament will meet. It will be a debate and this is important, Romeva said. The Spanish government stepped up economic pressure on the Catalan government on Friday by passing a law to make it easier for companies to move their operations around the country, potentially dealing a blow to the region s finances. Within hours of the government s move, CaixaBank (CABK.MC), Spain s third biggest lender and Catalonia s biggest company, said its board had decided to move its registered office to Valencia in light of the current political and social situation in Catalonia . Catalonia-based utility Gas Natural (GAS.MC) said its board had decided to move its registered office to Madrid for as long as the legal uncertainty in Catalonia continued. They joined a number of other Catalonia-based companies, including Sabadell (SABE.MC), Spain s fifth-largest lender, that have already announced plans this week to move their registered offices elsewhere in Spain. Spain made a conciliatory gesture in apologizing for Sunday s referendum violence, where Spanish police used batons and rubber bullets to stop people voting. The scenes brought worldwide condemnation and fanned separatist feeling but failed to prevent what the Catalan government described as an overwhelming yes vote. When I see these images, and more so when I know people have been hit, pushed and even one person who was hospitalized, I can t help but regret it and apologize on behalf of the officers that intervened, Enric Millo, the Spanish government s representative in Catalonia, said in a television interview. The apology came after the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia quoted sources in Puigdemont s party as saying a unilateral declaration of independence could be delayed if Madrid made a gesture , such as withdrawing some Spanish police reinforcements from the region. Artur Mas, a former head of the Catalan government who was barred from public office for two years in March for staging an informal independence referendum in 2014, told the Financial Times on Friday that the region had yet to lay the groundwork for real independence . He said there was a debate among Catalan leaders about whether now was the right time to unilaterally declare independence. Amid calls from many groups, including Barcelona soccer club, for a mediated solution to the standoff, Swiss state broadcaster RTS said neutral Switzerland was ready to help forge dialogue between the Spanish government and Catalonia. The foreign ministry said Switzerland was in touch with Spain and Catalonia but conditions for talks were not yet ripe. Puigdemont has called for international mediation to find a way out of the impasse. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has offered all-party political talks to find a solution, opening the door to a deal giving Catalonia more autonomy, but only if the Catalan government gives up any independence ambitions. You can t hold talks if people are outside the law, Spanish government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting. Final referendum results released by the Catalan regional government on Friday showed 90.18 percent support for breaking away among the nearly 2.3 million people who voted. But turnout was only about 43 percent as Catalans who favor remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the ballot. Secession could fuel separatist-nationalist divisions across the rest of Spain, which only this year saw ETA guerrillas in the northern Basque region lay down their arms after a campaign lasting almost half a century. Spanish ruling-party lawmakers say Rajoy is considering invoking the constitution to dissolve the regional parliament and force fresh Catalan elections if the region s government goes ahead with an independence declaration. Romeva s remarks about the Catalan parliament pressing ahead with an independence debate hit Spanish stocks and bonds, including shares in the region s two largest banks, Caixabank and Sabadell. In a separate development that could raise tensions, Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero appeared in Spain s High Court on Friday to answer accusations he committed sedition by failing to enforce a court ban on holding the referendum. Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggest a minority of around 40 percent of residents in Catalonia back independence. ",1 " With The Death Of Alton Sterling, Police Have Now Killed 114 Black Men So Far This YearOutraged protesters have taken to the streets of Baton Rouge, Lousiana following the shooting death of Alton Sterling. Early Tuesday morning, the 37-year-old African-American man was gunned down by police officers while they had him pinned to the ground. Video taken by witnesses shows Sterling being held down while he pleads with officers. You can hear one of the officers yell, You fucking move, I swear to God, and then shots ring out.*Trigger warning*37-year-old #AltonSterling shot and killed by a Baton Rouge police officer. pic.twitter.com/xJRm500its Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 6, 2016In that horrifying instant, Sterling became the 114th black man to die at the hands of law enforcement so far this year, according to a Washington Post investigation. It should also be noted that this number is just the deaths that we know of, the true number could be even higher still. With only 186 days having passed in 2016, this means that police officers in the United States are killing African-American men at a rate of almost one a day.Abdul Muflahi owns the Triple S Food Mart that Sterling was killed in front of and took the video of the killing, which has now gone viral. Although authorities have not confirmed whether or not the gun they spoke of in the video was recovered, Muflahi said that they did find one in his pocket. However, the witness insists that Sterling s hands never went anywhere near his pockets or the gun at any point during the struggle.Muflahi added that the responding officers were really aggressive with him from the start. Mignon Chambers, Sterling s sister, said that her brother would often sell CD s in front of Muflahi s store.The police shooting of yet another black man has once again sparked protests, an all too familiar scenario in America. The Advocate s Bryn Stole was on the scene as the protests were taking place. He reported that protesters were chanting Black Lives Matter and called for Wednesday morning protests in front of Baton Rouge City Hall.Protestors now parking in street to block traffic, raising fiats & chanting black lives matter #AltonSterling pic.twitter.com/aGu463ZTN4 Bryn Stole (@BrynStole) July 6, 2016As some people leave, lots more come. A younger crowd now outside where #AltonSterling was shot about 24 hours ago pic.twitter.com/5lX34UW8Z2 Bryn Stole (@BrynStole) July 6, 2016Traffic moving again, as protestors in street yell at drivers to come down to Baton Rouge city hall at 8am tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/mP8JapS0jE Bryn Stole (@BrynStole) July 6, 2016Featured image via Twitter",0 Could the Pirate party's German success be repeated in Britain?,0 "LAVAR BALL: Here’s Why President Trump Was Under No Legal Obligation To Help Release Your Shoplifting Son From Chinese PrisonBefore Lavar Ball, the ungrateful father of accused criminal, and UCLA basketball player, LiAngelo Ball, goes off on a public rant about how unappreciative he for President Trump s help, when he interceded on behalf of his son and 2 other UCLA basketball players, who were caught shoplifting at a Louis Vuitton store in China, he may want to consider, that without the help of President Trump, his son could be sitting in a Chinese prison for the next 10 years.Lavar Ball might also want to consider that President Trump was under no obligation to ask President Xi to get involved in the public relations nightmare that took place while our President was a guest in China, to help negotiate their release, and here s why Days after President Donald Trump touted his role in the release of three UCLA basketball students who were arrested in China, LaVar Ball, the father of one of those players, suggested the President had little to do with the matter. Who? Ball told ESPN when asked about Trump s involvement in the situation. What was he over there for? Don t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out. They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes. I m from L.A. I ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. LaVar Ball, father of UCLA player with sticky fingers Law Newz Our Tweeter-in-Chief lashed out on Twitter Sunday after Ball, a businessman, and ex-basketball player, downplayed POTUS role in helping release son LiAngelo Ball from Chinese custody.Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017 I should have left them in jail, Trump wrote. That s a hell of thing to tweet, and it grabbed a lot of attention. Outlets like Mediaite, The NY Times, Fox News, and ESPN were all over it. But as with many things in this administration, it s always helpful to review a president s role in situations like this.To recap, we have three Americans UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley arrested by Chinese authorities for alleged shoplifting. Trump took credit for their return to the states, saying he asked the country s president Xi Jinping for help. Now we have that same president saying he should ve done nothing.What does it mean if provable spite motivated a president s decision to refrain from helping an American held in custody on foreign soil? Law&Crime reached out to Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman for his take on the matter and asked if such behavior, or something like it, could be impeachable. Not impeachable, Feldman wrote in an email. He was under no duty to help and no duty to be nice about it after the fact. ",0 " Trump: Obama Just Looks Anti-Cop (VIDEO)After the horrific murder of three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, President Obama gave a heartfelt speech one that could have been given by any politician condemning the cowardly and reprehensible attack against those who put their lives on the line for ours every day. Obama declared that justice will be done. That, though, wasn t convincing enough for Trump, who stated in a Fox News interview that somehow, Obama must be in collusion with the murderers because of his body language. After Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy read Donald Trump a statement from a Cleveland police union president which accused Obama of having blood on his hands Trump replied, Well, it s true. I watch the president and sometimes the words are okay, but you just look at the body language and there s something going on. Source: NY MagazineHere s the video:When the hell did Donald Trump become a body language expert? Oh, he isn t. Body language is nothing but code. President Obama is black. To racists, and Trump, that means that he s anti-cop and he must be a member of the Black Panthers, just as all Muslims are terrorists and all Mexicans are rapists.For decades, and probably centuries, part of the country s narrative was that cops and black people don t mix. Who can blame the African-American community, really? The justice system has been rigged against them from the start.Of course, white people turn that around to prop up the image of black people as criminals; they only have problems with the justice system because they are lawbreakers. Of course, that s not true (more on that in a minute), but that doesn t stop those on the right, including their leader, Donald Trump, from playing that particular race card with the highly educated African-American President of the United States, who must hate cops, simply because he has black skin.Here are the ugly facts, and they don t bode well for the justice system:If I were African-American, I d be pissed, but Obama is the President of the entire United States, a fact that has made some civil rights leaders, like Dr. Cornel West, turn on him. Sure, Obama doesn t deny his race, but he knows injustice wherever he sees it, and the shootings of cops was unjust. There was nothing in his body language but weariness from our seemingly increasing rash of violence.See for yourself:As for Trump, his rhetoric is only ginning up the violence, all while the President tries his hardest to soothe a nation being driven to crisis level, partly because of Trump.Featured image via Drew Angerer at Getty Images. ",0 "WHY IS OBAMA DISARMING COPS IN AMERICA At Same Time Terror Threat Is Being Raised?In the face of mounting threats of terrorism and civil unrest in U.S. cities, President Barack Obama is arbitrarily prohibiting local police and sheriff departments from obtaining military surplus equipment from the Defense Department as part of what many law enforcement officers are calling his war on police.Beginning on Monday, Obama visited a number of high-crime areas especially those with large black populations to explain the need for his unilateral action, according to news sources on Monday.President Obama s spokespeople said Monday that the administration will no longer give local cops some types of protective gear and vehicles while putting stricter controls on other weapons and equipment distributed to law enforcement. The details were released prior to Obama s visit to Camden, News Jersey, Monday afternoon to give a speech on how he will address police officers allegedly using racist tactics based on racist departmental policies.Obama and his supporters view police wearing protective riot gear and using armored vehicles as being overly-aggressive in neighborhoods that are predominately black and Hispanic. The President even accused some departments of issuing bayonets, which is demonstrably untrue, according to one police officer who claims she voted for Obama in 2008. This President actually shows his dislike for local cops. I believe he wants to federalize policing and do away with local and state law enforcement. While the constitution prohibits that, when was the last time Obama cared about what the constitution says, said Iris Aquino, a former police detective.During Obama s speech in Camden, New Jersey, a city reputed to have the highest violent crime rate in the United States, not once did he mention the police officers who were gunned down by blacks or whites within the last few months, noted a New York City police official who has been active fighting against the anti-cop Mayor Bill de Blasio. That s because Obama like many liberal-left ideologues believe that police officers are the primary oppressors of minorities. The fact that Obama and the racial-division industry which includes the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson keep blacks in a state of poverty in order to use their anger and resentment for their own political interests appears to escape the notice of the news media, another group that doesn t care about dead cops, he said.Originally police officers were led to believe that Obama would continue the Pentagon s military surplus program, however a panel of his sycophants warned that there is a propensity for misuse of equipment such as armored vehicles, high-powered firearms and camouflage. But not one example of police misusing an armored vehicle has been reported. I have not heard of one incident in which police misused an armored vehicle. These are defensive vehicles used by cops to protect themselves from gunfire, Molotov cocktails, explosives and weapons of mass destruction, said former law enforcement commander Jack McGowan. High-powered firearms? The police use nothing that even resembles a powerful firearm. And camo clothing is clothing. No one gets hurt from a shirt s design pattern, McGowan said.Besides cutting off the flow of equipment that would have gone to local law enforcement, the Obama government considering a recall of certain equipment that was already give to local police and sheriffs departments. I ll highlight steps all cities can take to maintain trust between the brave law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line, and the communities they re sworn to serve and protect, Obama said in his weekly address out Saturday.Obama believes law enforcement is a necessary evil, claim his opponents. He s never showed local cops any respect. He also doesn t trust any agency he doesn t directly control. This is an American leader who wants to federalize the law enforcement function and he has a lot supporters who trust big government over states rights, political strategist Michael Baker.Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani s Police Commissioner Howard Safir said he believes a war on police, exists in America, the anti-cop attitudes are being stoked up by Obama and his minions. After 20 years of incredible crime reduction accomplished by thousands of dedicated police officers, the public has become complacent now that they are safer, said Safir. They have let the anti-police pundits and talking heads convince everyone from the president to the attorney general that police are racist and brutal. Via: Examiner",0 "FBI agents investigating the Sony Pictures hack were briefed Monday by a security firm that says its research points to laid-off Sony staff, not North Korea, as the prepatrator",0 "The Canadian Cannabis laws have been declared invalid, in 90 days it will be fully re legalized.",1 High Court justice Duncan Ouseley rejected prosecutors' argument that Assange should stay in prison and granted him conditional bail.,1 "Factbox: Five facts about Tom Cotton, Trump's likely pick for CIAWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, a hawkish Iraq war veteran who has said he did not consider waterboarding to be torture, is likely to be chosen by President Donald Trump as the next leader of the Central Intelligence Agency amid a Cabinet shake-up, senior administration officials said. Here are five facts about the Arkansas Republican: - Cotton, 40, is a staunch Trump ally who has vigorously opposed the Iran nuclear deal. He served one term in the House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2014 as part of a Republican wave. Cotton sits on the Intelligence Committee but has no experience managing a large organization. - Cotton has given a qualified endorsement of the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to boost Trump’s prospects. “I have no doubts about the intelligence community’s assessment,” he said in an Oct. 5 interview with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. - Cotton wants to boost the defense budget, saying the U.S. military is in crisis, and has pointed to both Russia and China as growing threats. He accused Moscow of trying to divide NATO and said China was “seeking control over the Pacific Rim.” - A decorated Army veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Cotton appeared to align himself with Trump’s support of waterboarding, saying he did not consider it torture. “Waterboarding isn’t torture. We do waterboarding on our own soldiers in the military,” the former paratrooper told CNN in November 2016. Waterboarding, the practice of pouring water over someone’s face to simulate drowning as an interrogation tactic, was banned by Democratic President Barack Obama days after he took office in 2009. - Cotton is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School. A father of two, he has a reputation as a devoted family man who once apologized for being late for an intelligence hearing because he was tending to a baby in his office. ",1 Turkey earthquake topples hotel,1 "Obama: Sanders has 'luxury' of being long shot in Democratic raceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has had the “luxury of being a complete long shot” so far in the race to be the U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, President Barack Obama said in an interview published by Politico on Monday. Obama said both Sanders and Hillary Clinton, his former Secretary of State, share similar views on core issues like income inequality, but said Clinton faces the disadvantage of being well-known “in a culture in which new is always better.” “I think Bernie came in with the luxury of being a complete long shot and just letting loose,” Obama told the political news website. “I think Hillary came in with the both privilege and burden of being perceived as the front-runner.” Obama, who won the Democratic nomination over Clinton in 2008, lauded her experience, saying it will help her govern if she wins but described her campaign as “cautious.” “Her strengths, which are the fact that she’s extraordinarily experienced, and, you know, wicked smart and knows every policy inside and out, sometimes could make her more cautious and her campaign more prose than poetry,” he said. The interview was the first time Obama discussed in detail the Democratic race and comes just ahead of the first contests to pick a nominee for the November election: Iowa, on Feb. 1, and New Hampshire, on Feb. 9. He did not explicitly endorse a candidate, and mentioned only once in passing former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who trails in polls. Sanders has surged in recent polls in Iowa and leads Clinton in New Hampshire. Still, Clinton holds the edge nationally, with nearly 56 percent support to Sanders’ 36 percent in the most recent Reuters/Ipsos polling. Still Obama, asked whether Sanders reminded him of himself, told Politico: “I don’t think that’s true.” Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver on Monday also rejected the idea that Sanders is a repeat of Obama, although he pointed to similarities in their campaigns’ momentum and the large crowds their rallies have attracted. “They’re obviously very different people,” Weaver told CNN. Obama said if Sanders wins Iowa or New Hampshire, he will face the intense scrutiny the media has long given Clinton, subjecting him and his policies “to a rigor that hasn’t happened yet.” Obama also said Sanders would need to broaden his message to continue to succeed. “I will say that the longer you go in the process, the more you’re going to have to pass a series of hurdles that the voters are going to put in front of you, because the one thing everybody understands is that [with] this job right here, you don’t have the luxury of just focusing on one thing,” he said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency.",1 "SpaceX: Explosion Rocks Launchpad at Firm’s Cape Canaveral Facility in Florida 21st Century Wire says The privatization of space, and what were formally state-run NASA space agency projects in the United States, has had its share of high profile controversy in recent years. Today s incident will only punctuate some of those concerns.Early this morning, we re told that an explosion took place at the Launch Complex 40 site in Florida managed by SpaceX, a private space contractor firm founded by billionaire Elon Musk.It s not clear what the exact cause of this accident was, but it s certain that it s directly related to the Falcon 9 rocket which SpaceX was set to deploy as part of a test launch this weekend, leading to the final launch of a new commercial satellite. Watch:Washington PostAn explosion at a SpaceX launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday, Brevard County authorities said.A SpaceX rocket blew up during a test fire, the county s emergency operations center said in a tweet. There is NO threat to general public from catastrophic abort during static test fire at SpaceX launchpad at CCAFS this morning, it said.Bryan Purtell, a spokesman for the Air Force 45th Space Wing, confirmed that there was an explosion and said that emergency crews were responding. Right now we re trying to determine the extent of the damage, the exact location, possible cause and checking to make sure no one is injured, he said.The Associated Press reported that the explosion shook buildings several miles away. Plumes of smoke could seen rising into the air an hour after the accident. And images on social media showed a fireball shooting into the sky Continue this story at the Washington PostREAD MORE SCI-TECH NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Sci-Tech Files",0 Iran protests continue: citizens trigger blackouts by turning on appliances all at once.,1 "Kerry says U.S. and Venezuela agree to start talks to ease tensionsSANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - Venezuela and the United States will immediately start talks to ease tensions between the two countries and does not support its ouster from a regional diplomatic bloc, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday after meeting his counterpart from the OPEC nation. Venezuela is embroiled in an economic and political crisis that has led to social unrest in one of the world’s largest oil producers. The United States will send Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, a veteran on Latin American diplomacy, as its representative to the talks, Kerry told reporters traveling with him after the bilateral meeting. Kerry said that the United States did not support efforts by the head of the Organization of the American States to suspend Venezuela from the regional diplomatic bloc. ",1 Prominent anti-same sex marriage French MP presses wrong button and casts ballot in favour of legislation he opposed,0 "IMF's Lipton says Ukraine risks going backwardsKIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine risks reversing progress made under a $17.5 billion aid-for-reforms programme from the International Monetary Fund, IMF first deputy managing director David Lipton was quoted as saying on Friday, urging the government to improve anti-graft efforts. There are risks of going backwards, Lipton told online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda in an interview during a visit to Kiev to meet Ukrainian authorities. We certainly agree that the creation of an anti-corruption court is an important next step. We encourage the government to do that. ",1 "U.N. asked to probe U.S. efforts to squelch Spain torture probe - ""When arguably the leading human rights country in the world is engaged in torture and then gives impunity to those torturers, it sends a pretty bad message,"" ...",0 "Argentina's Fernandez charged with treason, arrest soughtBUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A federal judge in Argentina indicted former President Cristina Fernandez for treason and asked for her arrest for allegedly covering up Iran s possible role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people, a court ruling said. As Fernandez is a senator, Congress would first have to vote to strip her of parliamentary immunity for an arrest to occur. The judge, Claudio Bonadio, also indicted and ordered house arrest for Fernandez s Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, the 491-page ruling said. Fernandez called a news conference in Congress to deny wrongdoing and accuse Bonadio and President Mauricio Macri of degrading the judiciary. It is an invented case about facts that did not exist, she said, dressed in white. Timerman s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment. While removing immunity from lawmakers is rare in Argentina, Congress voted on Oct. 25 to do so for Fernandez s former planning minister Julio De Vido and he was arrested the same day. De Vido is accused of fraud and corruption, which he denies. Argentina s legislature has entered a period of judicial recess until March but can be convened for urgent matters. Fernandez and her allies have been the focus of several high profile cases with arrests and indictments since center-right Mauricio Macri defeated her chosen successor and was elected president in late 2015. Fernandez left office just a few months before the Congress in neighboring Brazil impeached another leftist female leader, Dilma Rousseff for breaking budget laws. The cover-up allegations against Fernandez gained international attention in January 2015, when the prosecutor who initially made them, Alberto Nisman, was found shot dead in the bathroom of his Buenos Aires apartment. An Argentine appeals court a year ago ordered the re-opening of the investigation. Nisman s death was classified as a suicide, though an official investigating the case has said the shooting appeared to be a homicide. Nisman s body was discovered hours before he was to brief Congress on the bombing of the AMIA center. GRAINS-FOR-OIL Nisman said Fernandez worked behind the scenes to clear Iran and normalize relations to clinch a grains-for-oil deal with Tehran that was signed in 2013. The agreement created a joint commission to investigate the AMIA bombing that critics said was really a means to absolve Iran. Argentine, Israeli and U.S. officials have long blamed the AMIA attack on Hezbollah guerrillas backed by Iran. Tehran has denied links to the attack. Earlier on Thursday, two lower level allies of Fernandez were arrested based on the same ruling from judge Bonadio: Carlos Zannini, a legal adviser, and Luis D Elia, the leader of a group of protesters supporting her government. Zannini s lawyer, Alejandro Baldin, told local media the detention was arbitrary, illegal and ran over constitutional and individual rights, after leaving a police station in Rio Gallegos, where Zannini was held. D Elia s lawyer, Adrian Albor, told radio Del Plata that Bonadio had no respect for the law, rights, justice. They are coming for everyone in the previous government. Bonadio wrote in his ruling that evidence showed Iran, with the help of Argentine citizens, had appeared to achieve its goal of avoiding being declared a terrorist state by Argentina. The crime of treason is punishable by 10 to 25 years in prison, Argentina s maximum sentence. The next step in the case would be an oral trial and sentences can be appealed on first instance, which could be a long process. Macri s leader in the Senate, Federico Pinedo, said on Twitter that Congress would analyze the request to strip immunity with sincerity and responsibility. Macri s coalition performed better than expected in Oct. 22 mid-term elections, gaining seats in Congress, but it is not clear if lawmakers will vote to strip Fernandez s immunity. Fernandez, who governed from 2007 to 2015, finished second to a Macri ally in the Buenos Aires province Senate race but won a seat under Argentina s list system. She was sworn in last week. She was also indicted in late 2016 on charges she ran a corruption scheme with her public works secretary. Fernandez has admitted there may have been corruption in her government but personally denies wrongdoing. ",1 "For every kilo of cocaine that is seized, we want to be compensated 50 percent by the consumer countries, said Perez recently, arguing its the USs responsibility to pick up more of the counter-drug tab for the regions poorest nations.""",1 "In crucial vote, Hillary Clinton fails to rally women to her history-making bidMANCHESTER, N.H./COLUMBIA, S.C. (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton made the prospect of her being elected the first woman U.S. president a centerpiece of her campaign, then lost a critical nominating contest to a 74-year-old man in part because women preferred him. NBC News exit polls showed Clinton, a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, won 44 percent of the women’s vote in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary to 55 percent for her Democratic Party rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. Young women contributed significantly to Clinton’s loss, and the candidate acknowledged that she struggled with young voters. “I know I have some work to do, particularly with young people,” Clinton said during a concession speech. “Even if they are not supporting me now, I support them.” With women over 45, Clinton prevailed with 56 percent of the vote, ABC News exit polls found, but Sanders won 69 percent among women under 45. Among women under 30, Sanders won a staggering 82 percent. Unlike Barack Obama, who played down his African-American roots when elected the first black president eight years ago, in this election cycle Clinton, 68, has emphasized the breakthrough a Nov. 8 victory would represent for women. At nearly every campaign stop in New Hampshire, Clinton or a supporter emphasized the role she could play as the first woman in the White House while Sanders galvanized young people with his promise to fix an economy he said was rigged in favor of the wealthy. Clinton said she was trying to break the “hardest, highest glass ceiling.” She campaigned alongside four women U.S. senators, New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan and Lilly Ledbetter, the woman for whom an equal-pay law is named. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright reprised her line that “there is a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other” while introducing Clinton at a rally on Saturday. Clinton told a young woman the same day that she has to walk a “narrower path” because she has “got to be aware of the fact that I’m trying to be the first woman president of the United States of America, and there has never been one before, and so people don’t have, you know, an image.” The remarks by Albright, the first woman to serve as secretary of state, and others by feminist icon Gloria Steinem were assailed as disparaging by young women supporters of Sanders. Steinem had said young women were drawn to Sanders because that was where the boys were. With the next nominating contests in Nevada and South Carolina, Clinton will seek to lift her standing among women. Katherine Wilbur, 20, a geography major at the University of South Carolina from Hopkins, South Carolina, said she had yet to decide on a candidate or party. “I think that’s ridiculous. It’s 2016,” Wilbur said of the suggestion that women should vote for other women. “It’s not important to me.” Paige Lambert, 23, who volunteered for the Sanders campaign in New Hampshire, said she thought the remarks by Steinem and Albright were sexist. “I don’t think I should have to vote for a woman because I am a woman,” Lambert said. “If I would have thought she’d do better, I would have voted for her. I’m not just going to vote for her because she’s a woman.” Amanda Coleman, 26, of Manchester, New Hampshire, said she did not think candidates should be elected based on gender, but on their stances on the issues. (Additional reporting by Cassandra Garrison; Writing by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Caren Bohan and Howard Goller) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage.",1 " Reince Priebus Does WEIRD Balancing Act Regarding Trump’s ‘Rigged Election’ TalkDonald Trump s recent talk of a rigged election is dangerous, as it undermines the trust of Americans in the electoral process. There has been bipartisan condemnation of his continuing to poison the minds of his brainwashed supporters. Elected officials and leadership on both sides of the political aisle have expressed confidence in the election results, and some have even gone on television to explain the process in great detail, to show just how impossible it is to rig a national level election. There seems to be one Trump supporter, though, who isn t being as forceful with regards to pushing back against this narrative: Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus.Priebus seems to be the only member of the GOP leadership who is closely helping the Trump campaign these days, and he seems to be afraid to anger Trump. On CBS s Face the Nation on Sunday, Priebus said to host John Dickerson with regards to Trump s willingness to concede if he loses: He s saying he wants to reserve all options, and if there is grounds for a recount, I will exercise my options. He is not willing to not concede if he loses and there s no fraud. Dickerson reminded Priebus that Trump had told his supporters that fraud is the only way he could possibly lose Pennsylvania. Instead of taking the usual line that voter fraud is not widespread, Priebus said: That s not where we re at. Losing by 100 votes is one thing. Losing by 100,000 is another thing. Sure, there have been contested elections, but that is not what Trump has been saying to his rabid base of supporters. He has instead been telling them that there is a vast conspiracy, a huge, sweeping, nationwide effort to make sure he doesn t win. Party leaders like Priebus, whether they are in Trump s camp or not, have a responsibility to put a lid on this dangerous rhetoric. Instead, Priebus is giving shameful responses to something that could cause many, many problems indeed.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images ",0 "RADICAL, INTOLERANT Students Held College Administrators HOSTAGE…And No One Cared [VIDEO]Video from inside Evergreen State College continues to leak, showing that protesters had at one point held administrators hostage until they agreed to comply with their demands.The incident took place during the second day of demonstrations demanding the resignation of Professor Bret Weinstein, who angered many students when he challenged the school s decision to ask white people to leave campus for a day of diversity programming in an all-staff email.The protest began Tuesday morning when an angry mob of SJW s confronted Professor Bret Weinstein after he had sent an email to faculty and staff explaining his reasoning for opposing the demonstration. Campus ReformWatch the hostage situation here:Now, Weinstein s reportedly been told to avoid campus because his safety is at risk. Police told me protesters stopped cars yesterday, demanding information about occupants, Mr. Weinstein told The Washington Times. They believe I was being sought. It appears that the campus has been under the effective control of protesters since 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Police are on lockdown, hamstrung by the college administration. Students, staff and faculty are not safe.Having already accosted Weinstein with such vitriol that campus police suggested he leave campus because officers could not guarantee his safety, the students set their sights on the administration, confining school officials in an office until they capitulated to an ultimatum demanding various diversity-related initiatives. The priority is that they stay in that room. If they aren t in that room, then we did something wrong, so you all need to watch that door, watch all the doors, the windows, you need to keep eyes on them, one protester commands, referencing all of the potential exit points that administrators could use to make an escape. Somebody needs to go in that room real quick to make sure there s no way for them to leave. The video pans to a closed conference room leading to College President George Bridges office, which is surrounded on the outside by dozens of student protesters who made it their stated mission to establish a physical presence outside the office to ensure that Bridges and his staff aren t leaving. Shortly thereafter, one demonstrator emerges from Bridges office and triumphantly informs her companions that Bridges talked to the chief of police and he said police will not show up. The unidentified protester who was apparently leading the brigade then enters Bridges office, where the president and several other administrators are seated around a table that is encircled by still more student protesters. The only priority is that y all stay in this space until those demands can happen so that s the only thing that we re concerned about, the protest leader reiterates, though he assures the administrators that everyone s safety and health is concerned, and that food and water would be provided to them.At one point, Bridges explains that he needs to pee, to which one protester initially responds by sharply instructing him to hold it, though he was eventually escorted to a nearby bathroom by a team of protesters.Meanwhile, the crowd gathered outside continued to chant hey, hey/ho, ho/these racist faculty have got to go. The student who said they talked to the police chief and that they would not be coming was lying. The police did show up to the hostage situation. The only problem is, the president of Evergreen College has already made a public statement saying that he has no interest in pressing charges against any of the hostage takers.When police arrived, presumably drawn by the uproar, the students fled to the library, where they barricaded themselves inside the Trans & Queer Unity Lounge and asked white students to patrol the halls for any police intruders. At a meeting between the administration and students later that day, University President George S. Bridges quickly assured the crowd that no students would be punished for their involvement in the demonstrations and promised a major reiew of what happened and why.My brother. Biology Professor @BretWeinstein. In the crosshairs of a lying mob. You SJWs just targeted the wrong guy. The Left eats its own. https://t.co/qQBCoztAvw Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) May 24, 2017Here's the (incredibly thoughtful and well-written) email. pic.twitter.com/3NecW0tNfw William Treseder (@williamtreseder) May 24, 2017",0 "Tanks seen heading toward Zimbabwe capital: witnessesHARARE (Reuters) - Four tanks were seen heading toward the Zimbabwe capital Harare on Tuesday, witnesses said, a day after the head of the armed forces said he was prepared to step in to end a purge of supporters of ousted vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa. A Reuters witness saw two other tanks parked beside the main road from Harare to Chinhoyi, about 20 km (14 miles) from the city. One of the tanks, which was pointed in the direction of the capital, had come off its tracks. Soldiers on the scene refused to talk to Reuters. (This version of the story was refiled to fix typo in second paragraph) ",1 " Sad Sack Santorum Visited Over 70 Pizza Ranches In Iowa – And The CEO Endorsed TrumpNobody seemed more desperate to win Iowa by sheer force of will than Rick Santorum. The perennial Republican also-ran staked his entire campaign on convincing enough ultra-conservative Iowans that he was their guy, and didn t just come up short he hardly came up at all.But if Iowan voters didn t know Santorum was running, the hapless employees at the state s ubiquitous Pizza Ranch restaurants sure did. For some reason some very, very insane reason Santorum decided to almost exclusively stump in the pizza chain s locales. By the close of the primary, Santorum had racked up an impressive (or sad, depending on how you look at it) 120 visits, that s nearly two visits per location.CNN s Chris Moody covered the Santorum s Iowa bid, and while he clearly tried to remain objective and we give them an A for effort, really his recollection of Santorum s sad campaign radiates a sense of bafflement and failure.About forty die-hard Santorumites joined together in a private room at a Pizza Ranch restaurant. The evening was full of nostalgia, sadness and hope, and a pinch of denial, to celebrate a man who hosted more than 700 events in the Hawkeye State. It has been an honor. It really has, Santorum said. I hope we have another opportunity, but my guess is that when we come in on Air Force One, we re not going to have these types of deals because we re going to have a country to run. The crowd laughed, lovingly, knowing that what he said wasn t true and probably would never be.There may be nothing more fatalistic than holding what is probably your last campaign rally in the back room of a greasy pizza shop and joking about how someday you may be unable to come in because you re too busy on Air Force One. It s never going to happen that s the punchline.To twist the knife of failure just a little bit harder, Santorum s Pizza Ranch base of operation is actually already spoken for. The company s CEO, Adrie Groeneweg, announced just weeks ago that he would be endorsing Trump.Groeneweg has never endorsed a candidate before and he has also never caucused. It was just something my dad has always done, he explained. This year, Groeneweg said he d go to caucus for Trump in February.Hilariously, Trump didn t even have to show up beforehand. In trademark fashion, Trump only decided he liked Pizza Ranch after he learned the CEO endorsed him.Meanwhile, all the pizza slices in the state couldn t buy Santorum some love.But there is one silverlining to this story. Taking pity on poor Santorum, Pizza Ranch did throw him a bone. They gave him a t-shirt and made him an honorary employee. Rick Santorum is made an honorary Pizza Ranch employee pic.twitter.com/TeP9tg4xJ9 Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) February 1, 2016Not that he ll have time to do as much pizza cooking and toilet scrubbing as he may want to, what with flying on Air Force One and all.Featured image from Twitter",0 "Senate Democrats ask Trump attorney general pick to recuse himself from Russia probesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nine Democratic senators asked President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, on Tuesday to recuse himself from any FBI or Justice Department investigation into Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. The request was signed by every Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the panel responsible for confirming Sessions’ appointment. It comes amid growing concern in the U.S. Congress about what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was hacking and other actions by Russia during the election campaign aimed at tilting the November vote in Trump’s favor, and about potential personal or financial connections between Trump associates and Moscow. The letter also asked Sessions, who as attorney general would be the country’s top law enforcement official and head of the Justice Department, to commit to not shutting down any investigation into Russia’s activities. FBI Director James Comey last week declined to comment on whether or not the FBI might be investigating links between Russia and associates of Trump. The president-elect frequently called during the campaign for improved relations between Washington and Moscow. A spokesman for Sessions, who is expected to be confirmed in the job by the Republican-controlled Congress, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter. On Friday the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said their panel would investigate allegations Russia used cyber attacks to influence the U.S. presidential election, including any links between Russia and the political campaigns. Classified documents that the heads of four U.S. intelligence agencies presented earlier this month to Trump included unsubstantiated information compiled by a private security firm suggesting Moscow had compromising personal and financial details about Trump. Trump has called the dossier that contains salacious claims about him in Russia “fake news” and “phony stuff.” The Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing last Tuesday for Sessions, a Republican and early backer of Trump’s candidacy. He declined to comment on news reports that emerged late in the hearing about the dossier, saying he had no information about the matter at that time. “We understand that you may have been unaware of this news report at the time, which is why we would like to give you another opportunity to respond,” the senators wrote. During his testimony, Sessions said he would recuse himself from investigations involving Trump’s rival for the White House, Democrat Hillary Clinton, saying comments he made during the campaign about her email practices and charitable foundation would cloud the perception of impartiality at the Justice Department. He said he would instead favor a special prosecutor to carry out any future Clinton probes. ",1 "U.S. committed to bringing American hostages home -ObamaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said the United States remains committed to bringing home Americans held captive overseas and helping their families, a year after the administration promised to overhaul its handling of hostage situations. “We will not stop until we can bring our fellow citizens back to their families,” Obama said in a statement on the anniversary of the White House’s policy review. Obama specifically named journalist Austin Tice who disappeared in Syria in 2012, Caitlan Coleman held in Afghanistan, and retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran more than nine years ago. Earlier this week, the families of four Americans killed by Islamic State urged Obama to do everything possible to bring home Tice, the only U.S. journalist known to be held in war-torn Syria. The parents of the slain hostages criticized Obama for not personally naming Tice in his remarks at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner when Obama said that he would “fight for the release of American hostages held against their will.” They said Tice’s return would be a test of the of the success of the administration’s new policy. The White House undertook a six-month review of its hostage policies after complaints from families that their initiatives to free relatives captured abroad had been discouraged and sometimes blocked by government officials. As part of the overhaul, Obama named James O’Brien special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department to help coordinate the efforts of law enforcement and diplomats. “But I know our work will not be done until our fellow Americans who are held against their will, and whose families mark their calendars by the days since they’ve held their loved ones, are reunited,” Obama said. ",1 "WILL TAYLOR SWIFT “Bestie” AND LEFTIST WHO LIED ABOUT BEING RAPED BY A REPUBLICAN Ruin Her Wholesome Image? Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born Taylor Swiftmi sog y ny m s j n /Submit noun dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. Becoming friends with Lena without her preaching to me, but just seeing why she believes what she believes, why she says what she says, why she stands for what she stands for has made me realize that I ve been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so, she said at the time.Taylor Swift has decided to use her platform as Maxim magazine s June cover girl to address feminism, and says her music is unfairly categorized as whiny because of society s systematic misogyny.The 25-year-old singer, who has won seven Grammy s and is worth an estimated $200 million, explained to the men s publication why she believes there is a double standard when it comes to how others analyze her music. A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is brave; A woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is oversharing or whining, she said. Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born. So to me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it s just basically another word for equality, she added.The seemingly impressionable mega star, who hadn t previous identified as a feminist, told the Guardian last August how one of her closest friends, Lena Dunham, put it into perspective for her.Approximately two months after she spoke to the Guardian, Swift told David Letterman how empowering Dunham was, while explaining how the two became friends. She direct messaged me, and she said We need to be best friends. I feel like you ve been my best friend in my head for months and almost years now. So, I need to see you in person; then I will lavish you with complements in person, Swift recounted.Fortune Magazine named Swift as the world s most influential female leader in March, citing her savvy business nature.While Swift speaks of a double standard surrounding her music, it has yet to affect her album sales or stop her from selling out two or three stadium shows every week.Just this past Sunday, the Shake it Off singer nabbed eight recognitions at the Billboard Music Awards, including top female artist, top artist, top Billboard 200 artist, top Billboard 200 album, top streaming song, and top Hot 100 artist.Watch: Taylor Swift Likes Lena Dunham- David Lettermanhttps://youtu.be/jFZsQKdR20UWhat was supposed to be Her Year has in fact turned out to be five-alarm disaster for Lena Dunham, the creator of HBO s Girls. A year ago, closing out 2014 had to look pretty exciting to the 28 year-old. No matter how good or bad it was, her memoir would be released to guaranteed critical acclaim (she is Lena Dunham after all), there were two major Golden Globe nominations, and the publicity surrounding the 4th season premiere of Girls was going to be bigger than anything anyone could have ever imagined.2014 was going to be Dunham s breakthrough; the year she went mainstream. Along with the gushing reviews of her memoir and slavish coverage from The New York Times, there would be countless magazine covers, talk show appearances, and a thousand slathering articles obsessing over her every tweet and utterance. The entertainment media was on board. The mainstream media was on board. And at first it all went according to plan.Things went so well there was even talk of Lena Dunham starring in a Ghostbusters remake. You don t get any more mainstream than that. And you certainly don t get any more mainstream than having a best friend forever like Taylor Swift.Then, in three words, it all fell apart: Hypocrisy, lies, children. Hypocrisy: Dunham demanded people vote then it was discovered she did not vote.Lies: Dunham claimed in her non-fiction memoir that she had been raped in college by a campus Republican named Barry. She lied. And in the process indicted an innocent family man as her alleged rapist. Worse, Dunham and her publisher Random House stood silent for two months even after they knew the memoir had placed a cloud of suspicion over an innocent man.While attempting to run to Dunham s defense, Gawker tripped over itself and was forced to report their belief that Dunham s alleged rapist is wait for it, wait or it a Democrat.No one is questioning whether or not Dunham was raped. Something no one else is questioning, though, is that her behavior in this matter was breathtakingly selfish and craven.Children: Dunham s unnatural sexual behavior towards her much younger sister creeped everyone in America out not named Jimmy Kimmel.Those are just the top 3. The Wrap dug up 3 more PR disasters. The mainstream media desperately tried to save Dunham from herself, especially the cowardly and wildly dishonest Savannah Guthrie and Bill Simmons. But they just ended up sullying their own reputations.Via: Breitbart News",0 Japan delivers whiskey to space station_ for science,0 "BILL CLINTON CAUGHT GROPING Flight Attendant On Plane Until He Realized Camera Was Recording Him [VIDEO]Here s a video posted on The Donald Reddit earlier on Tuesday of Bill Clinton putting his hand in between the legs of a flight attendant or campaign assistant. The woman then removes Bill s hand.We re not sure exactly when this video of Bill Clinton (likely early 90 s) being caught groping this flight attendant took place, but one thing is clear she didn t want him sticking his hands between her legs. Watch as she pushes him away:Uncovered ABC footage shows Bill Clinton groping an assistant before realizing the camera is on.#RapistBillClinton#HillaryTheEnabler pic.twitter.com/CKLCdPmg5P Patriots LOVE Trump! (@HilLIARy_Lies) October 2, 2016",0 "PRESIDENT TRUMP’S Illegal Immigrant Crackdown Begins…Feds Conduct Raids In At Least 6 States With Focus On Finding And Deporting Criminals [VIDEO]U.S. immigration authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in at least a half-dozen states this week in a series of raids that marked the first large-scale enforcement of President Trump s Jan. 26 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.The raids, which officials said targeted known criminals, also netted some immigrants who did not have criminal records, an apparent departure from similar enforcement waves during the Obama administration that aimed to just corral and deport those who had committed crimes.Trump has pledged to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Last month he also made a change to the Obama administration s policy of prioritizing deportation for convicted criminals, substantially broadening the scope of who the Department of Homeland Security can target, to include those with only minor offenses or those with no convictions at all.Immigration officials confirmed that agents this week raided homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina, netting hundreds of people. But Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said they were part of routine immigration enforcement actions. ICE dislikes the term raids, and prefers to say authorities are conducting targeted enforcement actions. Christensen said the raids, which began Monday and ended Friday at noon, found undocumented immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries. We re talking about people who are threats to public safety or a threat to the integrity of the immigration system, she said, noting that the majority of those detained were serious criminals, including some who had been convicted of murder and domestic violence.U.S. immigration authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in at least a half-dozen states this week in a series of raids that marked the first large-scale enforcement of President Trump s Jan. 26 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.The raids, which officials said targeted known criminals, also netted some immigrants who did not have criminal records, an apparent departure from similar enforcement waves during the Obama administration that aimed to just corral and deport those who had committed crimes.Trump has pledged to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Last month he also made a change to the Obama administration s policy of prioritizing deportation for convicted criminals, substantially broadening the scope of who the Department of Homeland Security can target, to include those with only minor offenses or those with no convictions at all.Immigration officials confirmed that agents this week raided homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina, netting hundreds of people. But Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said they were part of routine immigration enforcement actions. ICE dislikes the term raids, and prefers to say authorities are conducting targeted enforcement actions. Christensen said the raids, which began Monday and ended Friday at noon, found undocumented immigrants from a dozen Latin American countries. We re talking about people who are threats to public safety or a threat to the integrity of the immigration system, she said, noting that the majority of those detained were serious criminals, including some who had been convicted of murder and domestic violence.David Marin, ICE s field director in the Los Angeles area, said in a conference call with reporters Friday that 75 percent of the approximately 160 people detained in the operation this week had felony convictions; the rest had misdemeanors or were in the U.S. illegally. Officials said Friday night that 37 of those detained in Los Angeles has been deported to Mexico. Dangerous criminals who should be deported are being released into our communities, Marin said.A video that circulated on social media Friday appeared to show ICE agents detaining people in an Austin shopping center parking lot. Immigration advocates also reported roadway checkpoints, where ICE appeared to be targeting immigrants for random ID checks, in North Carolina and in Austin. ICE officials denied that authorities used checkpoints during the operations.For entire story-Washington Post",0 "BOILER ROOM – EP #54 – America… The End is NighTune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6 PM PST | 9 PM EST every Wednesday. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher, & Spore along with Randy J of 21Wire, Andy Nowicki from Alt Right Blogspot and Daniel Spaulding of Soul of the East and Jay Dyer from Jays Analysis. Tonight the Boiler Gang brings the internet show with more twists and turns than a Texas tornado. Spore opens the episode with shocking truths about the treatment of show dolphins and how they are manipulated, the use of Dolphins in MK Ultra backed military programs, we begrudgingly approach the bathroom topic. We pose the question: Can America or any other atlanticist country break free of the globalism goals of the New World Order and can it even be done at a national level when the financial system is already internationally globalized by technocrat oligarchs? We laugh at John Kirby dragging his reputation through the muck while blatantly engaging in Orwellian double speak to the press corp, the death of Pop/Rock Icon, Prince leads to a new radio show idea live on air, Trump gets some choice words in with regard to US failed foreign policy in the Middle East and the unfortunate DEATH of Comedy as PC becomes the way of the youth. If you want to participate, bring something interesting to throw into the boiler Join us in the ALTERNATE CURRENT RADIO chat room.BOILER ROOM IS NOT A POLICTALLY CORRECT ZONE! LISTEN TO THE SHOW IN THE PLAYER BELOW ENJOY! REFERENCE LINKS:",0 "Lebanon's Hariri on Twitter: ""I am on the way to the airport""CAIRO (Reuters) - Lebanon Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said late on Friday he is on his way to the airport in Saudi Arabia. Hariri, who sparked a crisis by resigning as Lebanese prime minister on Nov. 4 during a visit to Saudi Arabia, tweeted, To say that I am held up in Saudi Arabia and not allowed to leave the country is a lie. I am on the way to the airport... Earlier a member of his party said Hariri will leave Riyadh for France on Friday, but will not return directly to Beirut after the visit. Hariri s abrupt resignation while he was in Saudi Arabia and his continued stay there caused fears over Lebanon s stability and thrust it into the bitter rivalry between Riyadh and Iran. ",1 "Indonesia reopens Bali airport as wind clears volcanic ashDENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - The airport on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali reopened on Wednesday as wind blew away ash spewed out by a volcano, giving airlines a window to get tourists out while authorities stepped up efforts to get thousands of villagers to move to safety. Operations at the airport - the second-busiest in Indonesia - have been disrupted since the weekend when Mount Agung, in east Bali, began belching out huge clouds of smoke and ash, and authorities warned of an imminent threat of a major eruption. Bali s international airport started operating normally, air traffic control provider AirNav said in a statement, adding that operations resumed at 2:28 p.m. (0628 GMT). The reopening of the airport, which is about 60 km (37 miles) away from Mount Agung, followed a downgrade in an aviation warning to one level below the most serious, with the arrival of more favorable winds. We really hope that we actually get a flight, maybe today or tomorrow, to get back home, said tourist Nathan James, from the Australian city of Brisbane, waiting at the airport. A large plume of white and grey ash and smoke hovered over Agung on Wednesday, after night-time rain partially obscured a fiery glow at its peak. President Joko Widodo begged villagers living in a danger zone around the volcano to move to emergency centers. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho of the disaster mitigation agency said about 43,000 people had heeded advice to take shelter, but an estimated 90,000 to 100,000 people were living in the zone. The decision to resume flights followed an emergency meeting at the airport, when authorities weighing up weather conditions, tests and data from AirNav and other groups. Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 later showed there were flights departing and arriving at the airport although its general manager said if the wind changed direction the airport could be closed again at short notice. Agung looms over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet). Its last major eruption in 1963 killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages. Ash coated cars, roofs and roads to the southeast of the crater on Wednesday and children wore masks as they walked to school. Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIAL.SI) said it would resume flights while Australia s Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AX) said it and budget arm Jetstar would run 16 flights to Australia on Thursday to ferry home 3,800 stranded customers. Singapore Airlines and SilkAir were seeking approval to operate additional flights on Thursday, while budget offshoot Scoot said it would cease offering land and ferry transport to the city of Surabaya, on Java island, as it resumed flights to Bali. Virgin Australia plans to operate up to four recovery flights to Denpasar on Thursday. As the volcanic activity remains unpredictable, these flights may be canceled at short notice, it said on its website. The head of the weather agency at Bali airport, Bambang Hargiyono, said winds had begun to blow from the north to south, carrying ash toward the neighboring island of Lombok. He said the wind was expected to shift toward the southeast for the next three days , which should allow flights to operate. As many as 430 domestic and international flights had been disrupted on Wednesday. Authorities are urging villagers living up to 10 km (6 miles) from the volcano to move to emergency centers, but some are reluctant to leave homes and livestock. Those in the 8- to 10-km radius must truly take refuge for safety, Widodo told reporters. There must not be any victims. Interactive graphic: 'Mount Agung awakens' click tmsnrt.rs/2AayRVh Graphic: 'Ring of fire' click tmsnrt.rs/2AzR9jv ",1 "Huge Protests in Georgia, the people demand an explanation from the government for the mistakes of the war, which Saakashvili launched an offense to reclaim separatist South Ossetia",0 India to develop an API for entire government,0 Dead obese woman's fat sets crematorium building on fire,1 Egypt in crisis talks as Muslim mobs attack Christian churches,0 "Trump to spare U.S. 'dreamer' immigrants from crackdownWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration plans to consider almost all illegal immigrants subject to deportation, but will leave protections in place for immigrants known as “dreamers” who entered the United States illegally as children, according to official guidelines released on Tuesday. The Department of Homeland Security guidance to immigration agents is part of a broader border security and immigration enforcement plan in executive orders that Republican Trump signed on Jan. 25. Former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, issued an executive order in 2012 that protected 750,000 immigrants who had been brought into the United States illegally by their parents. Trump has said the issue is “very difficult” for him. Trump campaigned on a pledge to get tougher on the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, playing on fears of violent crime while promising to build a wall on the border with Mexico and to stop potential terrorists from entering the country. Trump’s planned measures against illegal immigrants have drawn protests, such as an event last week that activists called “A Day Without Immigrants” to highlight the importance of foreign-born people, who account for 13 percent of the U.S. population, or more than 40 million naturalized American citizens. A banner declaring “Refugees Welcome” was posted on the base of the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of American acceptance of immigrants, before park rangers removed it on Tuesday, WABC television reported. DHS officials, on a conference call with reporters, said that although any immigrant in the country illegally could be deported, the agency will prioritize those deemed a threat. These include recent entrants, those convicted of a crime and people charged but not convicted of a crime. Some details of the guidelines were detailed in a draft memo seen on Saturday. Many of the instructions will not be implemented immediately because they depend on Congress, a public comment period or negotiations with other nations, the officials said. Mexican immigration officials immediately objected to part of the new rules. The guidance also calls for the hiring of 10,000 more U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents and 5,000 more U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. The DHS will need to publish a notice in the Federal Register subject to review in order to implement one part of the plan that calls on ICE agents to increase the number of immigrants who are not given a hearing before being deported. The new rules would subject immigrants who cannot show they have been in the country for more than two years to “expedited removal.” Currently, only migrants apprehended near a U.S. border who cannot show they have been in the country more than 14 days are subject to rapid removal. The memos also instruct ICE to detain migrants who are awaiting a court decision on whether they will be deported or granted relief, such as asylum. DHS officials said they are reviewing what jurisdictions may have laws in place that prevent the amount of time immigrants can be held. The agency also plans to send non-Mexican migrants crossing the southern U.S. border back into Mexico as they await a decision on their case. The DHS officials said this plan would be dependent on partnerships with the Mexican government and would not be implemented overnight. The guidelines were released a day before U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were due in Mexico City for talks with President Enrique Pena Nieto and Mexican officials. An official from Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said the government would tell Kelly’s team to that it was “impossible” for Mexico to accept deportees or asylum applicants from foreign countries, and would ask them to explain their plan. The deportation of Mexicans would be one of the government’s major concerns at the meeting, said the official, who declined to be named. A spokeswoman from the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ",1 "Senator Shelby starts to break banking nominee logjamWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby on Tuesday started to ease the backlog of 16 Obama administration nominees stalled before the panel, scheduling a March 15 confirmation hearing for two Securities and Exchange Commission nominees. The move follows Shelby’s resounding Republican primary victory in Alabama a week ago for a sixth term in the Senate. The committee will question Lisa Fairfax and Hester Peirce for the SEC positions at the hearing as well as Matthew Jeppson to be director of the U.S. Mint. But 13 other nominations remain, including for two Federal Reserve Board governors, the U.S. Treasury’s top anti-terrorist finance official and a U.S. Export-Import Bank board member. Without the EXIM board member approved, the trade bank cannot approve large loans or guarantees above $10 million, effectively locking it out of deals for Boeing Co commercial aircraft or major power equipment made by General Electric. Conservatives, including Shelby, had waged a major campaign to close the trade bank last year, idling it for more than five months before Congress voted to renew its charter. He told Reuters in December that the EXIM nomination would be a “lower priority for him.” The Fed nominees, former community banker Allan Landon and University of Michigan economist Kathryn Dominguez, would restore the central bank’s board to its full capacity of seven members. Many had written off their chances of being confirmed, in part because of the testy relationship between Congress and the Fed, which has opposed Republican bills it says would curb its independence. ",1 Secret footage showing 'torture' of Syrians in Homs hospital ,0 Obama's $30 Billion Pledge to Israel at AIPAC,1 Extremists face tougher UK entry,1 " Mitt Romney Just Went After Donald Trump For Being EXACTLY Like Mitt Romney (VIDEO)Back in 2012, getting then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to show his back tax returns was like pulling teeth. He knew that if he showed his returns he would not only be displaying how much he truly makes, but he would be revealing how much he actually pays in taxes. Now, Romney has decided to go after present-day Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for the very same reason.Romney seems to be legitimately concerned that there may be some sort of bombshell hidden within Trump s taxes that will show something the American people won t like at all.While appearing on Fox News with Neil Cavuto, Romney said: I d like to see a number of things from the candidates, not just their positions on issues, in some detail. And some candidates are more thorough in laying out what they re going to do than others. But I d also like to see their back taxes. I d like to see where they filed their taxes in the last several years. I m not talking about their taxes this year. I m talking about the taxes that have already been filed with the IRS. And Donald Trump and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have not shown us their back taxes. You know, this was an issue in my campaign.They were all over me for my taxes, it became a big issue. But I put my taxes out in January of 2012. And that gave people a chance to digest it and decide whether I was going to be the nominee or not. If in fact Donald Trump s taxes or Marco Rubio s or Ted Cruz s have some real problems in there, let s get them out there and see them. But I think it s pretty clear that given Donald Trump s dodging and weaving and delay, I think the last time he was asked about his taxes he said, well, it s going to be a month. Look, people have a right to know if there s a problem in those taxes before they decide. Romney also said: We have good reason to believe that there s a bombshell in Donald Trump s taxes Either he s not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn t been paying taxes we would expect him to pay or perhaps he hasn t been giving money to vets or to the disabled like he s been telling us he s been doing. Now, besides just accusing Trump of random things, let s think about this for a second. Is Romney actually concerned about what s in Trump s taxes, or is he just trying to do to Trump what was done to him? Maybe it s some sort of sweet revenge for him. However you look at it, Romney looks like a giant walking and talking hypocrite, and one of the first to point that out was none other than Trump himself.Mitt Romney,who totally blew an election that should have been won and whose tax returns made him look like a fool, is now playing tough guy Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2016He s not wrong. That does seem to be exactly what he s doing.Either way, Trump should make his finances transparent to the American voting public so they can judge for themselves if they approve of the way Trump handles his finances, but Romney, especially on this issue, should probably keep his mouth shut. He s the LAST person who should be going after anybody on taxes.Watch here:Featured image via Screen capture Fox News",0 "Erdogan critic held in Spain returns to Germany denouncing 'despotism'DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Author Dogan Akhanli flew back to Germany on Thursday after he was briefly detained in Spain at Turkey s request, and lambasted Ankara for launching a failed manhunt . Turkey issued an Interpol warrant for the Turkish-German writer, a critic of President Tayyip Erdogan s government, in August. Akhanli was quickly released. But the move inflamed a row between Germany and Turkey, both NATO members. His lawyer at the time said the detention was part of a Turkish crackdown on dissidents. As Akhanli embraced loved ones at Duesseldorf airport, a man shouted at him in Turkish: This country cannot save you . The author told reporters: I would say Turkey s manhunt has failed, that might be why this man is so annoyed and feels the need to threaten me. Denouncing despotism in Turkey, he said reports that prominent activist and businessman Osman Kavala was arrested on Wednesday in Istanbul showed that if this country arrests even him, then really nobody is safe there. Akhanli, detained in the 1980s and 1990s in Turkey for opposition activities, including running a leftist newspaper, fled Turkey in 1991 and has lived and worked in the German city of Cologne since 1995. Ties between Ankara and Berlin have been increasingly strained in the aftermath of last year s failed coup in Turkey as Turkish authorities sacked or suspended 150,000 people and detained more than 50,000, including other German nationals. ",1 "Kuwait's ruler accepts cabinet resignation: state news agencyKUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait s ruling emir accepted the resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet on Monday, state news agency KUNA reported, asking them to continue important duties until a new cabinet is sworn in. Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah tendered his resignation earlier on Monday to the Emir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who has the final say in state matters. Local media, quoting members of parliament, said a cabinet shakeup had been expected. Lawmakers were preparing this week to discuss a no-confidence vote in Information Minister Sheikh Mohammed al-Sabah after he was questioned over violations of budgetary and legislative rules, Kuwait Times said in a report. The major oil producer has the oldest legislature among the Gulf Arab states and experiences frequent cabinet reshuffles. The latest government was formed in February. ",1 Revealed: Big Pharma's hidden links to NHS policy,1 "MEGYN KELLY CONTINUES HER OBSESSION With Trump…ANGRY He Won’t Apologize To Hillary’s “Khan Man” [VIDEO]We can t be certain, but it almost looked like Megyn had blood coming out of her eyes during her interview with the soft-spoken and sensible Dr. Ben Carson Megyn Kelly pressed Dr. Ben Carson to explain why the Khan family should apologize to Donald Trump, instead of the other way around.Carson said that the Khans said things that are false, like that Trump had never read the Constitution.When Kelly said that Khizr Khan was stating his opinion, Carson said that was unreasonable. Kelly said that she knew Carson as an empathetic and kind man, and asked him if he really believe that this Gold Star Family should apologize to Donald Trump that has sacrificed their son to protect this nation, that were viciously attacked by the presidential nominee that they owe him an apology? Carson responded that society has gotten itself into a tug of war where people try to demonize each other, and that Trump and the Khans need to realize that they are on the same side. Via: Fox News ",0 "SHERIFFS, LT. GOV AND IMMIGRATION EXPERTS FIGHT BACK AGAINST FED’S ATTEMPT TO MAKE TEXAS A SANCTUARY STATEHello America Are we awake yet?AUSTIN, Texas Texas Sheriffs, the Lieutenant Governor, and experts in immigration related issues met at the State Capitol on Wednesday to discuss the federal government s creation of a sanctuary state for criminal aliens through its Priority Enforcement Program (PEP).Jackson County Sheriff Aj (Andy) Louderback, immediate past president of the Sheriff s Association of Texas, told Breitbart Texas that the federal government s PEP program has created a sanctuary state for criminal aliens because it has gutted the immigration system. A press conference was held on the crisis facing Texas that was created by the new immigration policies of the federal government. The sheriffs complained that aliens are being brought into the criminal justice system in Texas but are being released into the community because of the federal policies.In the past, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) could place a 48-hour hold on illegal immigrants when they were wanted on immigration related issues. The PEP program replaced the U.S. Department of Homeland Security s (DHS) Secure Communities plan and now that is no longer possible.The policy was released by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in November, 2014. In January, the program went into effect and Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby exclusively reported leaked training documents detailing how the program would be implemented. Darby dubbed the program, Catch and Release 2.0. Breitbart Texas has reported many examples of criminal illegal aliens who have been previously deported many times only to come back and commit even more serious crimes.In July, Breitbart California s Michelle Moons reported on the murder of Katheryn Steinle. She was killed by an illegal alien who was released by the San Francisco sheriff despite an ICE detainer in effect. Her killer had been deported several times.The same week as Steinle s murder, Darby reported on the murder in Laredo, Texas, of a woman who was killed by her criminal illegal alien husband. He had been deported four times. Despite numerous domestic violence calls to the Laredo Police Department, he was allowed to remain in Laredo until he finally killed her.There have been many other such reports in the past month about violent criminal illegal aliens who commit more heinous crimes after returning from being deported.The lieutenant governor, Texas sheriffs, and the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies spoke at the press conference in Austin, Texas. Their message the federal government has placed the public in danger through its policies, and these policies have essentially tied the hands of Texas law enforcement.Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (speaking) joined Sheriff Aj Louderback; Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne; Victoria County Sheriff Michael O Conner, and Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies. (Photo: Breitbart Texas/Lana Shadwick)Sheriff Louderback told Breitbart Texas, This federal program (PEP) replaced a Congress-mandated program and replaced it with a program that now prioritizes criminal behavior and is excluding thousands of criminal aliens. He says the program is forcing Texas sheriffs to sometimes release even violent offenders.Louderback said that criminal aliens know that law enforcement officials in Texas have their hands tied because of these new federal policies. They know they can come into the country illegally and stay here with impunity.He said illegal aliens cannot be held until after there is a final conviction. He said, These criminals bond out and disappear into the country. These policies, say the immediate past sheriff s association president, mean that local jurisdictions have to deal with the costs. Victoria County Sheriff Michael O Connor said criminal aliens are traversing over the border and coming in throughout the country. He said that the sheriffs intend to connect, communicate, and collaborate with community stakeholders to deal with the problem.Victoria County, Texas, is located about halfway between Houston and the Mexico/Texas border. He said his county is a fatal tunnel between Harris County and the rest of the U.S. Sheriff Hawthorne told Breitbart Texas, This is about a secure community program. He said in 2008, law enforcement were able to do that. He said, PEP is, and will be, a failure by this [federal] administration. Lt. Gov. Patrick promised that the senate would pass legislation to deal with the problems of sanctuary cities in the next legislative session. He said that he was confident that the senate now has the votes to deal with this issue. Sanctuary cities legislation was a contentious topic in the senate this past session.Via: Breitbart News",0 Serbia re-nationalizes its steel industry buying back a sprawling steelworks from US Steel Corp.,1 Unconfirmed reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been shot by a member of his security forces,0 Greece to decriminalize drugs.,1 ISIL kills 102-year-old man and family in Syria,1 Thai censorship critic strikes back at snitch Web host,1 "JUST IN: CLOSE FRIEND of Hillary Clinton Who Planned To “Step Away From Politics” Found DEAD In Apparent SuicideHouston, Texas trial lawyer and Democrat mega-donor Steve Mostyn died on Thursday in what authorities are saying was a suicide, according to the Houston Chronicle. Mr. Mostyn was only 46, he left behind a wife and several children, and earlier this year had announced that he was going to be stepping away from politics to spend more time with his family.Details about how Mr. Mostyn allegedly committed suicide are slim. However, his family said that it happened after he suddenly became afflicted with some sort of mental illness then took his own life, although they weren t clear as to what type of mental illness he suffered from.But it is worth noting that Mr. Mostyn had never suffered from mental illness in the past, according to his family, further raising suspicions over the manner in which he died.Mr. Mostyn was a progressive powerhouse who was heavily involved in politics throughout his career. He made his fortunes off of suing insurance companies after hurricanes ravaged his state, and used his wealth to fund numerous Democrat and progressive causes, including the Super PAC Ready for Hillary, which he and his wife co-founded with Susie Tompkins Buell, a radical environmentalist and member of George Soros s Democracy Alliance.Mr. Mostyn s wife, Amber, was also a member of the Democracy Alliance and a close friend of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was the keynote speaker at a 2010 Annie s List event honoring Amber. The Mostyns were close to the Clintons in general, having held numerous high-dollar fundraisers for Hillary s failed 2016 presidential run at their Houston home.Houston Chronicle In 2012 alone, Mostyn donated $5.2 million to various pro-Democratic Super PACs ranging from Planned Parenthood to Texans for America s Future to Priorities USA Action, a pro-Barack Obama PAC, according to the Center for Public Integrity.In 2014, he and his wife donated approximately $3 million to Democratic candidates, including state Sen. Wendy Davis, who we running against Republican Greg Abbott. Davis lost. I am heartbroken, Davis tweeted Thursday. Texas has lost an extraordinary person. Steve was a committed and effective fighter for justice, a wonderful husband, father and friend. He leaves behind a lasting impact on everyone who s life he touched. Mostyn and his wife, Amber, were co-founders of the Ready for Hillary PAC, a political action committee supporting Clinton s unsuccessful campaign for president. At the same time, state campaign finance records show he also contributed to a police-affiliated PAC that supported Republican primary candidates.Mostyn also help fund the Texas Organizing Project and Battleground Texas, two Democratic comeback strategies for the party that has not won a statewide election in two decades. It s hard to really quantify the hole it leaves for progressives. He s probably the first true financial benefactor for progressives in Houston, and I say that because it s really different than supporting individual candidates the way trial lawyers have collectively in the past. He really supported the underlying causes, which is a different kind of take, and I m not sure that gets filled, certainly not immediately. Despite the Mostyns and the law firm s high-profile political activism they contributed more than $1.8 million to Texas politicians in 2016 Mostyn told the Texas Tribune in a September interview that he was growing tired of almost single-handedly funding Democratic candidates in a state that was solidly Republican.He said he intended to downscale his political giving to Democrats in Texas elections to encourage others to step forward. We ve asked other people to do it and they want to do it and I want other people to get credit for doing it, the Tribune quoted him as saying. I mean this is a giant, giant state, if we were trying to flip Vermont we d be done. However, their relationship came under stress in 2015, when ethics watchdog group Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) filed a formal complaint against Hillary and her campaign for illegal coordination with the Ready for Hillary Super PAC, the Daily Caller reported. FACT has also asked the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to look into an April 21 meeting in which Clinton campaign aides attended a weekly meeting of Senate Democrats. FACT asserts that the meeting violates ruleThis wasn t the first time the Clinton and Mostyns found themselves being questioned over unethical practices. In 2010, Hillary Clinton s State Department pushed through a multi-billion dollar deal for Boeing in Russia, and just two months later the company gave nearly a million dollars to the Clinton Foundation.Just a short time later, Boeing s top lobbyist and former Bill Clinton aide Tim Keating partnered with Mr. Mostyn s Super PAC to do a joint fundraising venture for Hillary s planned presidential campaign. America s Freedom FightersFrom FOX News When Hillary Clinton was America s top diplomat, she also appeared at times like a top salesperson for America s biggest airplane maker, Boeing.Traveling abroad on official business as secretary of state, Clinton often visited Boeing facilities and made a pitch for the host country to buy Boeing jets. During one visit to Shanghai in May 2010, she boasted that more than half the commercial jetliners operating in China are made by Boeing. A sales plug in Russia in 2009, though, may have proved especially fruitful. While touring a Boeing plant, Secretary of State Clinton said, We re delighted that a new Russian airline, Rossiya, is actively considering acquisition of Boeing aircraft, and this is a shameless pitch. In 2010, Boeing landed the Russian deal, worth $3.7 billion. And two months later, the company donated $900,000 to the Clinton Foundation.This chain of events is raising new questions for Clinton, and Boeing, as the former secretary of state launches her 2016 presidential campaign. The Boeing deal only adds to a growing list of business deals involving Clinton Foundation donors now coming under scrutiny.Boeing shareholder David Almasi recently confronted CEO James McNerney about the ethics of it. That opens the door to charges of honest services fraud, that there was a quid pro quo between the Clinton Foundation, the State Department, and Boeing, Almasi said.In prepared answers to questions posed to Boeing by Fox News, a spokesman defended the company s actions. Our contribution to the Clinton Foundation to help the people of Haiti rebuild was a transparent act of compassion and an investment aimed at aiding the long-term interests and hopes of the Haitian people, the spokesman said. The company also pointed out that it gave the American Red Cross $1.3 million after the devastating 2010 earthquake.Clinton defenders say there is no smoking gun. There s zero evidence that Hillary Clinton went to bat for Boeing for any reason other than to benefit the U.S. economy and U.S. workers, said former Clinton/Gore adviser Richard Goldstein.But the financial connections don t end there. Boeing also paid former President Bill Clinton $250,000 for a speech in 2012. It was a speech that was approved by the State Department s Ethics Office which according to an Associated Press report often approved the ex-president s speaking engagements within days.Here is a list of mysterious deaths tied to the Clinton s:1 James McDougal Clinton s convicted Whitewater partner died of an apparent heart attack, while in solitary confinement. He was a key witness in Ken Starr s investigation.2 Mary Mahoney A former White House intern was murdered July 1997 at a Starbucks Coffee Shop in Georgetown. The murder happened just after she was to go public with her story of sexual harassment in the White House.3 Vince Foster Former white House counselor, and colleague of Hillary Clinton at Little Rock s Rose Law firm. Died of a gunshot wound to the head, ruled a suicide.4 Ron Brown Secretary of Commerce and former DNC Chairman. Reported to have died by impact in a plane crash. A pathologist close to the investigation reported that there was a hole in the top of Brown s skull resembling a gunshot wound. At the time of his death Brown was being investigated, and spoke publicly of his willingness to cut a deal with prosecutors.5 C. Victor Raiser II and Montgomery Raiser, Major players in the Clinton fund raising organization died in a private plane crash in July 1992.6 Paul Tulley Democratic National Committee Political Director found dead in a hotel room in Little Rock, September 1992 Described by Clinton as a Dear friend and trusted advisor. 7- Ed Willey Clinton fund raiser, found dead November 1993 deep in the woods in VA of a gunshot wound to the head. Ruled a suicide. Ed Willey died on the same day his wife Kathleen Willey claimed Bill Clinton groped her in the oval office in the White House. Ed Willey was involved in several Clinton fundraising events.8 Jerry Parks Head of Clinton s gubernatorial security team in Little Rock. Gunned down in his car at a deserted intersection outside Little Rock. Park s son said his father was building a dossier on Clinton. He allegedly threatened to reveal this information. After he died the files were mysteriously removed from his house.9 James Bunch Died from a gunshot suicide. It was reported that he had a Black Book of people which contained names of influential people who visited prostitutes in Texas and Arkansas.10 James Wilson Was found dead in May 1993 from an apparent hanging suicide. He was reported to have ties to Whitewater.11- Kathy Ferguson, ex-wife of Arkansas Trooper Danny Ferguson, was found dead in May 1994, in her living room with a gunshot to her head. It was ruled a suicide even though there were several packed suitcases, as if she were going somewhere. Danny Ferguson was a co-defendant along with Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones lawsuit. Kathy Ferguson was a possible corroborating witness for Paula Jones.12 Bill Shelton Arkansas State Trooper and fiancee of Kathy Ferguson. Critical of the suicide ruling of his fiancee, he was found dead in June, 1994 of a gunshot wound also ruled a suicide at the grave site of his fiancee.13 Gandy Baugh Attorney for Clinton s friend Dan Lassater, died by jumping out a window of a tall building January, 1994. His client was a convicted drug distributor.14 Florence Martin Accountant & sub-contractor for the CIA, was related to the Barry Seal Mena Airport drug smuggling case. He died of three gunshot wounds.15 Suzanne Coleman Reportedly had an affair with Clinton when he was Arkansas Attorney General. Died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head, ruled a suicide. Was pregnant at the time of her death.16 Paula Grober Clinton s speech interpreter for the deaf from 1978 until her death December 9, 1992. She died in a one car accident.17 Danny Casolaro Investigative reporter. Investigating Mena Airport and Arkansas Development Finance Authority. He slit his wrists, apparently, in the middle of his investigation.18 Paul Wilcher Attorney investigating corruption at Mena Airport with Casolaro and the 1980 October Surprise was found dead on a toilet June 22, 1993 in his Washington DC apartment. Had delivered a report to Janet Reno three weeks before his death19 Jon Parnell Walker Whitewater investigator for Resolution Trust Corp. Jumped to his death from his Arlington, Virginia apartment balcony August15, 1993. He was investigating the Morgan Guarantee scandal.20 Barbara Wise Commerce Department staffer. Worked closely with Ron Brown and John Huang. Cause of death unknown. Died November 29, 1996. Her bruised, nude body was found locked in her office at the Department of Commerce.21- Charles Meissner Assistant Secretary of Commerce who gave John Huang special security clearance, died shortly thereafter in a small plane crash.22 Dr. Stanley Heard Chairman of the National Chiropractic Health Care Advisory Committee, died with his attorney Steve Dickson in a small plane crash. Dr. Heard, in addition to serving on Clinton s advisory council personally treated Clinton s mother, stepfather and brother.23 Barry Seal Drug running pilot out of Mena, Arkansas, death was no accident.24 Johnny Lawhorn Jr. Mechanic, found a check made out to Bill Clinton in the trunk of a car left at his repair shop. He was found dead after his car had hit a utility pole.25 Stanley Huggins Investigated Madison Guarantee. His death was a purported suicide and his report was never released.26- Hershell Friday Attorney and Clinton fund raiser died March 1, 1994 when his plane exploded.27 Kevin Ives and Don Henry Known as The boys on the track case. Reports say the boys may have stumbled upon the Mena Arkansas airport drug operation. A controversial case, the initial report of death said, due to falling asleep on railroad tracks. Later reports claim the two boys had been slain before being placed on the tracks. Many linked to the case died before their testimony could come before a Grand Jury.THE FOLLOWING PERSONS HAD INFORMATION ON THE IVES/HENRY CASE:28 Keith Coney Died when his motorcycle slammed into the back of a truck, July 1988.29 Keith McMaskle Died stabbed 113 times, November 198830 Gregory Collins Died from a gunshot wound January 1989.31 Jeff Rhodes He was shot, mutilated and found burned in a trash dump in April 1989.33 James Milan Found decapitated. However, the Coroner ruled his death was due to natural causes. 34 Jordan Kettleson Was found shot to death in the front seat of his pickup truck in June 1990.35 Richard Winters A suspect in the Ives / Henry deaths. He was killed in a set-up robbery July 1989.THE FOLLOWING CLINTON BODYGUARDS ARE DEAD: 36 Major William S. Barkley Jr. 37 Captain Scott J. Reynolds 38 Sgt. Brian Hanley 39 Sgt. Tim Sabel 40 Major General William Robertson 41 Col. William Densberger 42 Col. Robert Kelly 43 Spec. Gary Rhodes 44 Steve Willis 45 Robert Williams 46 Conway LeBleu 47 Todd McKeehan48 -World-renowned space economist Molly Macauly was brutally murdered in Baltimore park.49-John Ashe- The former President of the UN General Assembly was awaiting trial on bribery charges when he turned up dead in June, apparently having crushed his own windpipe while lifting weights in his home 50-Victor Thorn-Prominent CLINTON Critic VICTOR THORN Found Dead Of Apparent Suicide On His Birthday51-Seth Rich-Still No Clues in Murder of DNC s Seth Rich, As Conspiracy Theories Thicken52- Joe Montano-Filipino American activist and aide to Sen. Kaine, dies at 4753-Shawn Lucas-Death of DNC Lawsuit Processor Shawn Lucas Adds to Seth Rich Conspiracy Theories54-Seth Rich-Family s private investigator: There is evidence Seth Rich had contact with WikiLeaks prior to death55-Klaus Eberwein Found Dead Before Testifying Against Clinton Foundation in HAITI COVERUP56-Man who sought Clinton s emails from Russian hackers committed suicideDoes anyone in the media wonder why everyone around the Clinton s seems to commit suicide, disappear or dies under mysterious circumstances? The Clintons are either the luckiest people in the world, or they are guilty of taking down an awful lot of people who could either rat them out or take them down. ",0 Fund-raising appeal to save Romanian lions from being shot,0 "The German economy is rapidly improving, with many manufacturers struggling to keep up with demand. But not all are happy with the country's recovery. Many say that Germany's export gains are coming at the expense of its trading partners.",0 Sarkozy says Israel and the Palestinian Authority have accepted a truce plan for Gaza announced by Egypt on Tuesday.,1 "Spain Is Beyond Doomed: The 2 Scariest Unemployment Charts Ever. ""[A]usterity hasn't been [Spain's] path to prosperity. It's been the path to perma-slump.""",1 "Moldova, where Lenin still stands - How the Communist Party has held on to Moldovans' votes",1 Report: Vice Journalist Captured in Eastern Ukraine,0 "Five weeks out from an election, New Zealand is hit by a ""Watergate"" scandal implicating the Prime Minister.",1 "EPIC! RICK SANTELLI Calls Out Liberal Panel: ”On election night, I never saw you so unhappy!” [Video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY0ApLE6dns",0 The wreckage of a Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 has been found in Indonesia after smashing into the steep side of a volcano during a flight to impress potential buyers. All 50 people on board feared dead.,0 "British PM May meets Iraqi PM Abadi in BaghdadBAGHDAD (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May met with her Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad on Wednesday, an Iraqi government spokesman said, her first visit to Iraq since coming to power last year. Britain is a main partner in the U.S.-led coalition helping Iraq defeat Islamic State, the hardline Sunni group that overran about a third of Iraq in 2014. The British government said in September that there were around 600 British soldiers on the ground in Iraq. They are primarily involved in training Iraqi security forces in battle-winning infantry, engineering and combat medical techniques, as well as providing courses on other skills including countering improvised explosive devices. Britain provided over 1,400 military personnel as part of its three-year involvement in the U.S.-led coalition. Iraqi-British relations are witnessing a marked improvement. We thank the British government for its support of Iraq in all fields, chiefly cooperation against terrorism, air support, and intelligence, Abadi said in a news conference. Britain had also helped Iraq on the issue of those who were internally displaced as a result of the Islamic State takeover and the subsequent campaign by Iraqi forces to dislodge the militants, he said. We will continue to support Iraq as a partner in order to enforce security, building, and stability, as well as in training Iraqi forces and efforts to return the displaced, Abadi s office quoted May as saying. The two leaders discussed British investments in Iraq. May pledged in a news conference to provide 20 million pounds ($26.8 million) in support of human rights and 30 million towards stabilization efforts and reforms. Britain agreed in March to arrange 10 billion pounds in loans to finance infrastructure projects in Iraq over a 10 year period, a program that would only benefit British companies. May affirmed her support for Iraq s unity and called on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to respect a united Iraq in all fields, Abadi s office said in a statement. She said in a news conference, through a translator, that she wanted to see a united and inclusive Iraq . Iraq s Kurds voted overwhelmingly to break away from Iraq in a Sept. 25 referendum, defying the central government in Baghdad and alarming neighboring Turkey and Iran who have their own Kurdish minorities. The Iraqi government responded by seizing the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk and other territory disputed between the Kurds and the central government. It also banned direct flights to Kurdistan and demanded control over border crossings. Long-serving Kurdish president Masoud Barzani stepped down over the affair and the regional government led by his nephew Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has tried to negotiate an end to the confrontation. A KRG spokesman told Reuters there were no plans for May to visit the region s capital Erbil. ($1 = 0.7463 pounds) ",1 "Germany's FDP sees common ground with Greens on education, digitizationBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s liberal Free Democrats (FDP) see some common ground with the Greens on areas including education and digitization, party leader Christian Lindner said on Monday. There are commonalities with the Greens on the question of education reform, on questions of civil rights and certainly also on the question of the expansion of fiber optic networks, for which we need to provide more funding, he told journalists the day after Germany s national election. The FDP has set the stage for tough coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives and the Greens, saying they would not agree to a deal that did not promise a change in the German government s direction. ",1 "BUSTED: THE ULTIMATE COMMUNIST ORGANIZER…Evidence Shows George Soros Behind Ferguson Race RiotsGeorge, Barack and Hillary the axis of evil Professional race activists Deray McKesson and Johnetta Elzie (ShordeeDooWhop), pictured here in Baltimore, helped whip up the Ferguson mobs. This year Fortune Magazine named these two professional activists two of the world s greatest leaders.Many conservatives rightly smelled a rat in the supposed organic race-riot movement that sprang up so quickly in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014 after the shooting death of robber Michael Brown. After burning the Ferguson and Dellwood, Missouri business districts to the ground the radical left has relentlessly sought to recreate the same discord and disinformation in various locations around the U.S. Ferguson #BlackLivesMatter protest leaders have been flown to New York, South Carolina, Milwaukee, Selma, and more recently to McKinney, Texas and Hillary s campaign relaunch in New York.Thankfully, every day patriots and online conservative investigators still fight to shine truth, anywhere the movement tries to sow its twisted seeds to foment anger, feed bitterness, and breed division.Much has been printed about the paid protesters and Soros connections.** Nearly half of the roughly 500 businesses operating in Ferguson and adjacent communities, such as Dellwood and Jennings, suffered property damage or lost revenue as a result of the coordinated Ferguson protests and riots.In May black Ferguson activists staged a protest at the office of MORE (Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment) to complain that the group s white leaders collected tens of thousands of dollars in donations off of the Black Lives Matter movement without paying the Black participants their fair share. It was during these protests that Ferguson activists admitted that fellow protesters were making MORE THAN $5,000 a month to disrupt cities, damage property and attack police!In response to these protests MORE released a list of names and amounts paid out to protesters and protest groups who agitated and harassed police night-after-night in Ferguson last fall and winter.The list of over 80 groups and individuals was posted on Twitter by an irate protester. Via Weasel ZippersOne of the protest leaders who showed up in Ferguson shortly after Michael Brown s death was DeRay McKesson from Minneapolis. DeRay and fellow activist Johnetta Elzie (ShordeeDooWhop) were nationally recognized and celebrated by the liberal media as two of the top stars of the violent protest mob.We now know that DeRay McKesson has been working with and for Soros-funded groups since he was in junior high school. We know this because DeRay released his resume online this past weekend.DeRay says he s been living off of savings for the past nine months as he s turned up in Ferguson, Baltimore, New York City, Milwaukee, Selma, McKinney and this past weekend he was at Hillary Clinton s campaign relaunch in New York state.DeRay and Charles Wade, Solange Knowles s stylist, the founder of Op Help or Hush have known each other for three years. Wade and McKesson were regular Ferguson protesters. That means the two have been affiliated well before Michael Brown went on his crime spree. DeRay has used his capacity, as Charles calls it, to push the movement s agenda far and wide.DeRay has long been known for his skill at community organizing .He served as president of his class at Bowdoin College, as well as president of Bowdoin Student Government. While at Bowdoin, DeRay reportedly grew close to Bowdoin President Barry Mills, whose wife, Karen Gordon Mills, served in the Obama Administration. DeRay just happened to stay on the couch of an unnamed Bowdoin alum when he first descended on Ferguson.After graduating from Bowdoin, DeRay worked for the Harlem Children s Zone, run by none other than Bowdoin alums Druckenmiller and Geoffrey Canada. Coincidentally, Geoffrey served on the Open Society Institute s board.Throwback, meeting HCZ's Geoff Canada. pic.twitter.com/ocyw6Yo57q deray mckesson (@deray) February 16, 2015DeRay also worked for the movement linked Teach For America, another radical Soros-funded group.But DeRay s ties to Soros and community organizing seemingly date back even further, to McKesson s teen years, at least. Suffice it to say, DeRay has been tied to Soros for more than a decade, through many programs.Perhaps DeRay s long and numerous apparent ties to Soros explain how he was so quickly dispatched to Ferguson, Missouri to take control of the protesters and become the powerfuls approved and promoted voice on the ground. As DeRay said, People will come out into the streets to confront a system that is corrupt. Yet, DeRay seems to be molded, directed, and funded by some of the most powerful men in that very system. It looks as if someone may be pulling the strings behind the scenes to foment rage as this astroturf anti-police movement spreads from Ferguson to other points in America.Via: Gateway PunditAND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST...Here s Deray throwing his support behind Hillary on Twitter! What a surprise ",0 Baby survives being run over by a train (video) [potentially quite distressing],0 Belgians arrest 2 accused in New Year's terror plot,1 " Chuck Schumer RESPONDS To Trump With Tweet Of His Own About Putin And It’s F*cking GloriousThere s nothing sadder than when a person uses the I m rubber and you re glue defense except when it is used by the *President of the United States in an effort to deflect and divert attention from himself and his own administration.Earlier in the day, Donald Trump thought it d be a wise move to post this image he found in the depths of right-wing media to try and make it seem like Democrats are also guilty of speaking to Russia. Did you catch that also which means this pic definitely implicates himself, Sessions, and the whole gang.We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite! pic.twitter.com/Ik3yqjHzsA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2017Keep in mind, it s perfectly acceptable for a United States Senator to meet with the leader of another nation. However, it isn t okay to lie under oath about meetings with another nation like Attorney General Jeff Sessions did. Trump doesn t seem to be aware of this fact just yet.Well, not letting the moment escape him, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wasn t about to let Trump try to throw him under the bus. In fact, he responded with some tweets of his own.He said: Happily talk re: my contact w Mr. Putin & his associates, took place in 03 in full view of press & public under oath. Would you &your team? Happily talk re: my contact w Mr. Putin & his associates, took place in '03 in full view of press & public under oath. Would you &your team? https://t.co/yXgw3U8tmQ Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 3, 2017BAM! Let s see if Trump responds. Probably not. That would mean he takes the Russian story seriously, which he has said time and time again is fake news. The best part is the Schumer s next tweet:And for the record, they were Krispy Kreme donuts. Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 3, 2017Ha! Already a million times more transparent that Trump and his administration. Well played, Schumer!Featured Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick, Alex Wong/Getty Images",0 "40,000 Prostitutes Ready For The World Cup",1 "In first visit, Trump urges reform so U.N. can meet full potentialUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the United Nations for bloated bureaucracy and mismanagement on his first visit on Monday to U.N. headquarters, calling for truly bold reforms so it could be a greater force for world peace. Ahead of his maiden speech to the annual U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump hosted a short event to boost support for changes to the United Nations. In recent years the United Nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement, while the United Nations on a regular budget has increased by 140 percent and its staff has more than doubled since 2000, Trump said. The United Nations must hold every level of management accountable, protect whistleblowers and focus on results rather than on process, Trump said. I am confident that if we work together and champion truly bold reforms the United Nations will emerge as a stronger, more effective, more just and greater force for peace and harmony in the world, Trump said in his first remarks at the U.N. in New York since his inauguration as president in January. In a building where long statements are commonplace, Trump spoke for just four minutes. Some 128 countries were invited to attend Monday s reform meeting after signing on to a U.S.-drafted 10-point political declaration backing efforts by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to initiate effective, meaningful reform. U.N. Security Council veto powers Russia and China did not sign the declaration. Businessman Trump, who complained during his 2016 election campaign about the United States paying a disproportionate amount of money to the United Nations, made the point again on Monday. We must ensure that no one and no member state shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden and that s militarily or financially. The United States is the biggest U.N. contributor, providing 22 percent of its $5.4 billion biennial core budget and 28.5 percent of its $7.3 billion peacekeeping budget. The contributions are agreed on by the 193-member General Assembly. Guterres, who also took office in January, told the meeting: To serve the people we support and the people who support us, we must be nimble and effective, flexible and efficient. He agreed that U.N bureaucracy was a problem that kept him up at night. Our shared objective is a 21st century U.N. focused more on people and less on process, Guterres said. Value for money while advancing shared values that is our common goal. Trump also said that all peacekeeping missions should have clearly defined goals and metrics for evaluating success. The United States is reviewing each of the U.N. peacekeeping missions as annual mandates come up for Security Council renewal in a bid to cut costs. The United States is a veto-wielding council member, along with Britain, France, Russia and China. On Sunday night, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. When asked if the U.N. refugee agency could perform its current missions if the United States cut its voluntary contributions to the budget, according to a pool report Grandi answered: I would say no. U.S. aid is vital to what we do to support refugees around the world and to find solutions to their situations, Grandi said. ",1 North Korea withdraws from nuclear test site: Report,1 "Vietnamese dissident says prevented by police from meeting ObamaHANOI (Reuters) - A prominent critic of the Vietnamese government said he was taken by police from his home early on Tuesday so that he would be unable to meet U.S. President Barack Obama in Hanoi with other civil society figures. Nguyen Quang A said he was forced into a car by a group of police officers, driven out of the capital, and kept away for 5-1/2 hours. During this time, Obama met six civil society leaders and later said several people had been prevented from meeting him. Obama said that despite great strides made by Vietnam, Washington had concerns about the limits it puts on political freedom. ",1 "Canadian pastor escaped execution due to foreign citizenship: CBCTORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian pastor whom North Korea released this month after two years of imprisonment escaped execution and torture during his captivity because of his nationality, he told CBC News in his first interview since his return. Hyeon Soo Lim, the pastor from Toronto, said in an interview broadcast on Saturday that he was never harmed and that he would not hesitate to go back to North Korea if the country allowed him. A transcript of the interview was posted on the Canadian public broadcaster s website. If I m just Korean, maybe they kill me, Lim said. I m Canadian so they cannot, because they cannot kill the foreigners. Lim, formerly the senior pastor at one of Canada s largest churches, had disappeared on a mission to North Korea in early 2015. He was sentenced to hard labor for life in December 2015 on charges of attempting to overthrow the Pyongyang regime. He said North Korea treated him well despite forcing him to dig holes and break coal by hand all day in a labor camp. Lim told CBC News that he was coached and coerced into confessing that he traveled under the guise of humanitarian work as part of a subversive plot to overthrow the government and set up a religious state. North Korea let him go on humanitarian grounds. The announcement came during heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, although authorities have not said there was any connection between his release and efforts to defuse the standoff over North Korea s nuclear program. Lim said he felt no anger at the Kim Jong Un regime for sentencing him to prison. No, I thanked North Korea, he said. I forgive them. ",1 "Al-Qaida currently consists of ""fewer than 100 leaders, fighters and trainers and few experienced operators""",1 IAEA won't discuss Israel's 'nuclear capabilities' after Arab proposal dropped: Behind-the-scenes diplomacy at the International Atomic Energy Association leads to Arab states withdrawing their motion.,1 "Former guerrilla coalition gets mandate to form Kosovo governmentPRISTINA (Reuters) - Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla fighter who has twice stood trial for war crimes, was chosen on Thursday to form a new government in Kosovo, ending a political deadlock that has persisted since elections on June 11. President Hashim Thaci gave Haradinaj the mandate after his coalition struck an agreement with a smaller party that paved the way for them to take power. Haradinaj s coalition comprises parties made up of former guerrillas who fought Serbian forces in 1998 and 1999. That campaign led to accusations of war crimes against him, but he was acquitted twice by a United Nations war crimes tribunal. The coalition signed an agreement on Monday with the smaller New Alliance for Kosovo (AKR) party to put together a new government, an agreement that gives them 62 seats in the 120-seat parliament [nL8N1L42QO. The AKR is led by Behgjet Pacolli, whom media call the richest man in Kosovo. Haradinaj is expected to present his program to parliament on Saturday, after which the government should be elected. The new government will confront unemployment running at 30 percent and uncertain relations with Kosovo s neighbors, especially Serbia, a precondition for both countries to move forward in their efforts to join the European Union. It must also reform health and education and the tax administration system as well as include representatives of some 120,000 Kosovo Serbs who do not recognize independence. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after NATO air strikes drove out Serbian forces that had been accused of expelling and killing ethnic Albanian civilians in a two-year counter-insurgency. ",1 "Mining firm Vale sets up beehives housing 350,000 on a remediation site in Copper Cliff, Ontario, in order to promote pollination and accelerate the re-vegetation process. They have also pledged to plant 3.3 million trees around the Sudbury area.",0 "INCOMING FRESHMEN Are Put On Notice With Welcome Letter From U of Chicago Dean Of Students…”Trigger Warning” Crybabies Stay HomeWow! The University of Chicago sends impressive letter to incoming Freshman warning them that freedom of speech is alive and well at their college. This letter makes it pretty clear that they will not be joining with hundreds of other colleges across America to squelch the free speech rights of anyone who disagrees with the Black Lives Matter, progressive social justice warrior nonsense.After a student at the University of Illinois Chicago Hyde Park campus threatened to shoot up the campus and Kill White devils in November 2015, over the shooting of a young black man by police in Chicago, the school made the decision to shut down the campus for a day. Colleges need to get out in front of this social justice warrior/Black Lives Matter terror movement before it gets out of hand on college campuses this year. In a welcome letter to freshmen, the College made clear that it does not condone safe spaces or trigger warnings: pic.twitter.com/9ep3n0ZbgV The Chicago Maroon (@ChicagoMaroon) August 24, 2016Here is the video showing the shut down of the University of Chicago campus:",0 Four Israeli warplanes and one spy drone have illegally flown over Lebanon's airspace in the third day of provocative violations of the country's sovereignty.,0 "Pentagon to lease privately owned Trump Tower apartment for nuclear 'football': letterWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department is finalizing a lease on a privately owned apartment in New York’s Trump Tower for the White House Military Office to use for supporting President Donald Trump without providing any benefit to Trump or his organization, according to a Pentagon letter seen by Reuters. The Military Office carries and safeguards the “football,” the device that contains the top secret launch codes the president needs to order a nuclear attack, as well as providing him secure communications wherever he is. The White House, Secret Service, and Defense Department had no comment on whether similar arrangements have been made at other properties Trump frequents - Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump is spending this weekend. In a letter to Representative Jackie Speier, a Democrat on the House Armed Services and intelligence committees, Defense Department official James MacStravic, said the apartment is “privately owned and ... lease negotiations have been with the owner’s representatives only.” MacStravic, who wrote that he was “temporarily performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics,” said any acquisition of leased space with “an annual rental in excess of $1 million must first be approved by my office.” He “approved this action” after consulting with the White House Military Office and other officials, he said. Officials declined to reveal the cost of the lease or identify the owners of the apartment. MacStravic’s letter, dated March 3, added: “We are not aware of any means through which the President would personally benefit from a Government lease of this space.” The letter explained that the White House Military Office, a Pentagon unit, “requested approval to lease space in the Trump Tower for personnel assigned to support the President when at his private residence.” The letter said such arrangements are “typical of support provided” by the Military Office to previous U.S. presidents and vice presidents at their private residences. It is not clear, however, whether the office has ever paid to rent space to house the classified equipment presidents need when they are staying at homes they own outside Washington. A White House spokeswoman said the White House had no information on the leasing issue. The Defense Department and U.S. Secret Service declined to comment. The Trump Organization did not reply to an email requesting comment. When the Pentagon in February first acknowledged that it was seeking to lease space in Trump Tower, some Democrats questioned whether such a move would produce a financial windfall for Trump. “I am concerned by the appearance that the President of the United States will financially benefit from this deal at the expense of the Department of Defense - and ultimately, taxpayers,” Speier wrote to Defense Secretary James Mattis shortly after the Trump Tower issue became public in February. By negotiating only with representatives of the owners of a private apartment, the Pentagon said it was seeking to avoid such concerns. ",1 Almost 400 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with a collective market capitalisation of 225bn are based in offshore havens connected to the UK. Research shows that 389 companies trading their shares in London are registered in British overseas territories or crown protectorates.,1 "President Trump appoints Homan acting director of U.S. ICE(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday appointed Thomas Homan acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security said. Homan has served as the executive director of the ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, leading its efforts to arrest and removal of undocumented immigrants since 2013, DHS Secretary John Kelly said in a statement. Homan replaces Daniel Ragsdale as the acting director of ICE. Ragsdale remains deputy director at the agency where he has served for four years, ICE said in a Tweet. Kelly did not give a reason for the change in ICE leadership, only to say that Homan “will continue to serve as a strong, effective leader for the men and women of ICE.” Also on Monday, Trump fired top federal government lawyer Sally Yates after she defied the White House and refused to defend new travel restrictions targeting seven Muslim-majority countries. The White House said that Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was sworn in at 9 p.m. ET and would be acting U.S. attorney general until Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, who is awaiting Senate confirmation, is approved. ",1 "Frenchman hides Russian wife in a suitcase to sneak her into EU - Polish border guards have detained a French citizen who packed his Russian wife in a suitcase, attempting to smuggle her over the Belarus border. Officials noted later that she would've been able to enter EU legally.",0 " Prof. At Trump’s Fmr. College: He’s ‘A True Threat To Our American Democracy’Donald Trump likes to brag about the fact that he attended the University of Pennsylvania s prestigious Wharton School. However, the folks there are scared as hell as the prospect of their former student becoming president of the United States. One of the professors at the Wharton School, Eric Schoenberg, has one project between here and November: Stop Trump.According to the Huffington Post, Schoenberg says of Trump: This man, Donald Trump, represents a true threat to our democracy and our system of government. This was a statement he made to the University s student publication, the Daily Pennsylvanian. Schoenberg continued: I think Donald Trump is a potential disaster, and I m going to do everything I can to make sure he isn t president. The Democrats are the only game in town to that regard. The professor is also talking with his wallet on this one, having given the maximum allowable amount $2700 to Hillary Clinton s bid for the presidency. Further, he gave $75,000 to help bankroll the Democratic National Convention. In addition, Schoenberg has bankrolled various unnamed efforts championed by Democrats to the tune of roughly $30,000.Schoenberg isn t the only one at Trump s old school who can t stand the thought of his being president. In fact, the students at Wharton penned a blistering missive to Trump, berating his offensive remarks, saying that discriminatory statements are incompatible with the values that we are taught and we teach at Wharton. That letter gathered more than 3700 signatures from both present students at the school and those who have already graduated.The people at Wharton are right. Trump is unfit to be president. From his obvious ignorance of the Constitution, to his love affair with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, to his flirtation with the idea of abandoning America s allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and so much more, we must understand that Trump is not just a buffoon or a clown or even a bigot or an embarrassment. He is dangerous, a literal fascist and a demagogue who has risen to a position of power through his uncanny ability to tap into and manipulate the basest, darkest instincts of America s ignorant masses. Godspeed, Professor Schoenberg. Educated, sane Americans everywhere are with you. We must stop Trump.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images",0 "EU sticks to Libya strategy on migrants, despite human rights concernsBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is determined to go on preventing migrants setting off from the coast of Libya, interior ministers said on Thursday, despite criticism from rights advocates who say the strategy is aggravating human suffering. After more than two years struggling to stem the flow of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa, the EU is now showing signs of optimism that it is finally in control. A 2016 deal with Turkey effectively closed one major migratory route and this year Italy has led the EU s efforts to curb sea crossings from Libya, supplying money, equipment and training for Libya s border and coast guard, and striking deals with local groups in control on the ground in a country still largely lawless after the 2011 death of Muammar Gaddafi. Mediterranean crossings have dropped from nearly 28,000 people in June to below 10,000 in August, according to U.N. data. Sources told Reuters late last month a new armed group on Libya s coast was stopping migrant boats from leaving. Human rights groups decry the EU s support for Libya s Prime Minister Fayez Seraj and allied militias who run migrant detention centers they have compared to concentration camps. The top U.N. human rights official said the EU strategy was very thin on the protection of the human rights of migrants inside Libya and on the boats, and silent on the urgent need for alternatives to the arbitrary detention of vulnerable people. To offset that, the bloc has stepped up financing for the U.N. agencies for migration (IOM) and refugees (UNHCR) to have them try to improve conditions for migrants inside Libya. We also need to redouble our efforts to provide assistance to the migrants stranded in Libya and .... exposed to unacceptable, inhumane treatment and human rights violations, EU s migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos, told journalists. But the EU is not changing tack on keeping them there. If we look at the flows of migrants across the Mediterranean a few months ago and now, the decrease in illegal migration has been big in numbers, Estonia s Interior Minister Andres Anvelt said ahead of talks in Brussels with his EU peers. We ll have a discussion about how to have this success story going on. Avramopoulos said the bloc s executive European Commission backed a U.N. call to resettle a further 40,000 refugees from Libya, Egypt, Niger, Ethiopia and Sudan, an effort to offer legal ways into the EU instead of smuggling or trafficking. Germany s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters: I m happy that the number of people sent across the Mediterranean by the smugglers to Italy has really fallen in the last two months ... These developments need to be carried on. We really need to work to ensure that many people simply do not make the trip across the desert to Libya. The neighborhood policy with Africa is very important for a sustainable decline in migrants coming to Italy. Struggling to come up with a plan, the EU has increasingly let Libya s former colonial power Italy take the lead. Interior Minister Marco Minniti has sponsored those efforts, curbing the sea operations of non-governmental aid groups and striking deals with Libyan mayors to fight people-trafficking, among other moves. Rome has also played a central role in training the Libyan coast guard, which has been accused of abuses, including shooting at aid workers trying to rescue migrants. The EU has denied that any of its funding goes to the militia in the coastal city of Sabratha, which has often prevented migrants from departing for Europe by locking them up. But a senior EU diplomat said the EU s strategy was complex. It is hard to know exactly what is going on in Libya. We have increasingly entrusted Italy with doing the job there, we give them money. There would never be any proof of EU money going directly to some armed group somewhere, the person said. Some of the methods may seem controversial. But there is also preventing loss of life at the sea and political stability in Italy to consider. We shouldn t be too judgmental. ",1 MICHIGAN ELECTOR Receives Violent Death Threats From Angry Democrats [Video] ,0 "Latin America's ""Largest Ever"" Legal Marijuana Crop Planted in Chile: Medical marijuana advocates won a huge victory in Chile in November as the regional agriculture authority approved a 6,900-plant marijuana farm and a team of volunteers planted 20 strains of high-potency marijuana seeds",1 "Ukraine epidemic kills 189; 1,122,000 infected, and 57,286 hospitalized.",1 Police stripped woman and left her naked for 6 hours,0 Abbas withdraws from Palestinian presidential race; PA officials: decision is in protest of the US administration's failure to exert pressure on Israel to stop construction work in the West Bank settlements. ,1 Belgium's parliament removes age limit on euthanasia,1 "That Syrian ""Nuclear Facility"" that Israel bombed last year? The IAEA found no trace of radiation nor graphite in the remains.",0 "A US drone strike in northern Yemen on Wednesday killed four suspected Al-Qaeda members, including an Iraq veteran, a military official said.",0 "Myanmar has lowered its firewalls, opening access to social-media sites such as Facebook and Twitter",0 "Settlers receive 22% more budget grants than other Israelis, probe shows",0 "Greece's Golden Dawn party describes Hitler as 'great personality': Cementing its credentials as an unapologetic neo-nazi force, Greece's increasingly combative Golden Dawn party has hailed Hitler as a ""great personality"" and denounced homosexuality as a ""sickness"".",1 US labels Assange 'enemy of state',1 "South Korea to hold summit with China on Saturday: Blue HouseSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean president Moon Jae-in will hold a summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Saturday, South Korea s presidential office said in a statement on Friday. Last week, Seoul and Beijing agreed to move beyond a year-long stand-off over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, a dispute that has been devastating to South Korean businesses that rely on Chinese consumers. The two leaders will both attend the APEC summit of Asia Pacific leaders in Vietnam s central city of Danang. ",1 "To applause and boos, Kerry urges Congress to ratify Pacific trade pactCHICAGO (Reuters) - Failure to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal would be a major setback for U.S. interests in Asia as Washington seeks to deepen alliances in the region, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday, urging Congress to ratify the pact. The 12-nation Pan-Pacific trade deal championed by President Barack Obama has been pilloried by both major-party nominees in the U.S. presidential race, Democrat Hilary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. While Republicans have traditionally backed free trade deals, Trump has blamed them for U.S. job losses and threatened to rip them up or renegotiate them if he wins the Nov. 8 election. “If we see the TPP rejected, it would be a gigantic self-inflicted wound – a setback to our own interests in the region,” Kerry told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, in remarks that drew a smattering of applause and boos. “It would amount to a conscious turning of our backs on the Asia Pacific at the very moment that we ought to be linking arms – it would be an act that will hurt American workers, slow our economy, hinder our ability to advance the full range of U.S. objectives” in the fast-growing region, he added. Republican leaders have said there is no point in bringing the trade deal for a vote in the “lame-duck” session of Congress after the election. But Kerry urged Congress to approve the deal after the election, saying: “It’s the right thing to do for America – and no matter what the loudest voices may be shouting – it is also the popular choice.” There are concerns in Washington that failure to pass the TPP would prompt Southeast Asian nations to turn to China and Russia. Kerry said the trade deal was a “litmus” test of Washington’s capacity to lead and was necessary if the United States wanted a steady and reliable presence in the region. His comments came amid tensions with China over the disputed South China Sea, increased concerns over North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programs, and questions over the future of the U.S.-Philippines alliance. ",1 "North Korea petitions Russia to let workers stay despite sanctions: IfaxMOSCOW (Reuters) - North Korea has petitioned the Russian parliament to help 3,500 migrant workers from the isolated Asian country stay in Russia despite new U.N. sanctions, the Interfax news agency reported on Friday, citing a Russian lawmaker. Tougher sanctions on North Korea, imposed by the United Nations Security Council over Pyongyang s ballistic missile and nuclear programs on Sept. 11, banned countries from providing new work permits for North Korean nationals, but allowed existing workers to remain. Most of the around 30,000-40,000 North Korean migrants legally working in Russia were hired before the new sanctions entered into force and the ban will not affect them, Interfax said, quoting an earlier statement from Maxim Topilin, Russia s labor minister. But the ban could apply to 3,500 workers who only signed their contracts in September, the month when the U.N. Security Council, including Russia, voted for the new sanctions, Interfax reported. It cited Kazbek Taysayev, a lawmaker in the lower house of parliament and a member of a friendship group between the Russian and North Korean parliaments, as saying: North Korea s embassy officially addressed us. We supported them and sent our petitions in order to let these people stay so that they can work. Even if the workers signed their contracts after the ban took effect, they had started making arrangements and preparing the documents earlier and could be allowed to stay, said Taysayev. The U.N. resolution said it did not apply to work permits for which written contracts have been finalized prior to the adoption of this resolution. North Korea s embassy in Moscow was not available for immediate comment. ",1 "Italy's 5-Star launches vote for leader, Di Maio hot favoriteROME (Reuters) - Italy s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which leads most opinion polls ahead of a national election due by May next year, on Friday launched an internal ballot to choose its leader and candidate for prime minister. The hot favorite is 31-year-old lower house deputy Luigi Di Maio, the party s most high-profile and popular politician, who has made no secret of wanting the job and appears to have no rivals to worry him. The biggest problem for the maverick movement founded eight years ago may be finding credible alternative candidates in the contest, which will take the form of an online vote of 5-Star s members, in line with its credo of direct democracy. Di Maio, who is deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, is considered a good communicator and one of 5-Star s more moderate figures. A post on 5-Star s official mouthpiece, the blog of its founder Beppe Grillo, said the candidate for prime minister would also be the party s leader, something which is not always the case in Italian politics. Grillo, who founded 5-Star in 2009, has so far acted as its de facto chief, though he has never run for any office and the party has always prided itself as having a horizontal structure with no official leader. The only person considered a realistic threat to Di Maio, the fiery deputy Alessandro Di Battista, has given no indication that he plans to run. Another deputy seen as a potential challenger, Roberto Fico, who represents the left wing of the party and has recently distanced himself from Di Maio s tough positions on law-and-order and immigration, has also not yet made any move. The post on Grillo s blog said 5-Star s local and national representatives who wish to run had until Monday to present their candidacies. The timing of the online vote has not yet been set but the winner is due to be announced on Sept 23 at 5-Star s annual national meeting at the Adriatic coastal town of Rimini. ",1 Chinese TV host suspended after privately mocking Mao,1 UN rights council launches probe into Israeli violations in Gaza - only US voted against it,0 "SICKENING: ANGRY BLACK STUDENT Spray Paints RACIST Graffiti All Over UW Madison Campus…RADICAL Professors, 700 Students Cry “RACISM” When Police Arrest Him[VIDEO]It s hard to see the police officers in this video being more concerned about committing a misstep than addressing the crimes this angry black student has committed. Will police officers be forced to treat all black criminals like toddlers in a nursery school setting in order to keep their jobs? Almost 700 professors and students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have signed a letter complaining about racism after campus police located a black student during a class on Thursday and arrested him because he allegedly spray-painted politically-charged graffiti on a bunch of buildings all over campus for half a year.The student is Denzel McDonald, reports The Badger Herald, Wisconsin s campus newspaper.McDonald, 21, stands accused of spray-painting at least 11 messages across campus.One two-tone message read, in red, RACIZM [sic] IN THE AIR, DON T BREATHE. Then, in black, a signature line GOD. The first of the four police videos is a 14-minute police video which includes the in-class portion of McDonald s arrest and ends with McDonald getting handcuffed. It shows a calm, staggeringly cordial encounter.Other two-tone, graffitied statements police attribute to McDonald include THE DEVIL IZ [sic] A WHITE MAN GOD, DEATH TO THE PIGZ [sic] GOD and WHITE SUPREMACY IZ [sic] A DISEASE GOD. A FUCK THE POLICE message also defaced a taxpayer-funded building, according to Inside Higher Ed.The angry professors and students are enraged in part because police interrupted an Afro-American studies class to arrest McDonald. The class, taught by Johanna Almiron, appears to be titled Towards the Black Fantastic: Afro-futurism and Black Visual Culture. University of Wisconsin-Madison police have released video of the classroom interaction between police and McDonald along with three other videos further chronicling the arrest.The arrest of McDonald while he was in class on Thursday caused much furor among campus radicals. Almiron and other professors duly penned and published a letter of protest on Friday.The spray-painting vandalism caused over $4,000 in damages to university property, police said, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.On Friday, Wisconsin-Madison s chief of police, Susan Riseling, posted a statement addressing the uproar and profusely apologizing for arresting McDonald in class. Because of the officer s error in believing the class had not yet started, I extend my sincerest apologies to the students and the professor who were in this class and witnessed this interruption, Riseling wrote. We are initiating a review of our officer s action entering the classroom. Riseling did note that campus cops had been attempting to contact McDonald for two weeks before finally resorting to finding him in class. The officers believed they were entering class before it started, she noted.Wisconsin-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank also released a supplicating statement which promised a review of police practices. Via: Daily CallerHere is the video where Denzel McDonald was placed in the police vehicle:Here is Denzel s professor, aka his instructor LYING to the police, telling them she doesn t have his phone.",0 "Georgia Used Cluster Bombs in August War, Too",0 " REPORT: Mueller Hot On Trump’s Trail, Has Built His Own ‘Miniature Justice Department’Donald Trump is very afraid of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It has been reported repeatedly that he is completely obsessed with the Russia investigation, and it seems that he is right to be. According to a new report in the Daily Beast, Mueller has built what they are calling an army of lawyers to investigate just what went on with Russia s interference into the 2016 presidential election, and especially into any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials.The new report says that Mueller s team now includes 16 heavy-hitting attorneys, and they have space deep inside one of the most secret locations in Washington, and the space includes a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCHIF), which is the name for places no laymen and laywomen like us will ever see the inside of. The secrets kept in there are pretty much in a tomb, until those privy to them see fit to release them. On top of all of that, it seems that Mueller has pulled together what the Daily Beast is calling his own Miniature Justice Department. The Daily Beast assembled a list of the names on Mueller s team, and their resumes are nothing short of stellar. Only one has never worked as a federal prosecutor, but he is a top notch lawyer in his own right and is surely useful. You can read the lengthy accomplishments of these attorneys here.In short Trump is right to be scared out of his mind. It also bears noting that sometime ago now, Mueller actually convened his own grand jury which means he has enough to believe he will stumble upon something that will warrant criminal indictments. Further, this team of lawyers has broad authority to subpoena anyone and everyone in Trump s orbit and force them to testify under oath. Also, remember even if they aren t under oath, lying to government officials is still a crime, so these people better start learning to tell the truth unless they want to face some serious jail time.Come on, Special Counsel Mueller. We re rooting for you. With any luck, everyone in Trump s White House will be thrown out of office and in jail before the 2018 midterms.Featured image via Ann Heisenfelt/Getty Images ",0 UK - People who persistently download illegal \r\ncontent will be cut off from the net.,1 "Among many bald statements, one stuck out: Israel is now ready to destroy three or four nuclear sites out of 12 in Iran.",1 "A Hero who took a stand against torture, murder and abuse of power. Too bad he isn't American.",0 " New GOP Bills Would Let Corporations Strip Away Our First Amendment RightsWhile we re focused on the ridiculous Donald Trump tweets or the equally ridiculous Obamacare replacement bill, Republicans are debating a bill that would put us at the total mercy of corporations, no matter what they do.Currently, there are a few bills in the House and in the Senate, which are different, but identical in one way: They both strip us of our right to free speech, and, well, they do both put to rest the idea that Republicans are for the free market. There s H.R. 985, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act that Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VA) introduced in early February.It would place a slew of new restrictions on class action lawsuits, like barring judges from certifying a class action where the lawyer representing the plaintiffs is in anyway related to anyone in that plaintiff class. Not just familial relations either; if the attorney has any sort of working relationship with a class member outside of that particular lawsuit, the case would be shut down.Source: ConsumeristThink about that for a moment. While corporations might have in-house council or their usual team of lawyers to represent them, we, as consumers, would not be allowed to work with an attorney that anyone in the class action suit had worked with, or had known, before. Since most consumers don t have an army of attorneys at their disposal, this gives a serious advantage to the corporations.Other bills introduced in recent weeks by GOP lawmakers seek to limit more specific types of legal claims. One piece of legislation could make it more difficult for victims of asbestos to collect their claim by imposing new paperwork requirements on the trusts administering these funds. Another bill would preempt state medical malpractice laws and cap non-financial damages at $250,000.Democrats, thankfully, are attempting to expand consumer rights.One bill, by our current hero Al Franken (D-MN), would allow us to sue corporations instead of being forced into arbitration typically with the arbiter chosen by the corporation.Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has a similar bill, which would ensure that states follow state and federal laws.For example, Airbnb was recently able to compel arbitration in a lawsuit alleging violations of federal civil rights laws, and Wells Fargo is trying to sidestep a massive consumer fraud lawsuit by compelling the cases into arbitration. When Americans enter into agreements to obtain cellphone service, rent an apartment, or accept a new job, most are not made aware of the forced arbitration clauses that are tucked away in the legal fine print, said Leahy. But these dangerous provisions force us to abandon our Constitutional right to protect ourselves in court, and instead send hardworking Americans to face wealthy corporations behind closed-doors in private arbitration. While all of these binding arbitration and these restrictions on how complaints can be addressed are completely anti-consumer, the one that should be called a violation of our most basic rights to free speech are non-disclosure agreements, which even Republicans should object to. In fact, one Republican, former Fox host Gretchen Carlson, objects strongly, since she was a plaintiff in a sexual harassment suit against her former employer. Arbitration silences millions of other survivors who might have come forward if they knew they weren t alone, said Carlson, who contends that this should not be a partisan issue: Harassers come from all political parties. She s right and the party that favors the free market should agree. The only way a free market could even begin to work is if consumers have all the information that s available. By silencing consumers, we are not only violating the First Amendment rights, we are leaving it open for future consumers to be hurt in the exact same way.Silencing consumers in favor of corporations isn t exactly new, but it s a huge step toward fascism. Strengthening those laws aren t good for small businesses, and they are horrible for the consumer, and as with any fascist country, corporations are king.Featured image of Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images",0 "RUSSIAN HACKERS? No, We Found What Lost The Election For Hillary [Video]It wasn t a #russianhack that lost the election for Hillary. It was this. pic.twitter.com/yzT2Dzb1zp Rep. Steven Smith (@RepStevenSmith) December 12, 2016",0 "Wiwa vs Shell Oil trial postponed. Ken Saro-Wiwa, an acclaimed writer and leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), was hanged along with eight other Ogoni leaders",0 "RUSSIA Tells Sore Loser Obama To Produce Some Proof [Russian hacking of emails] Or Stop Talking About It!…Trump Tweets Brilliant ResponseThe Russians may not have hacked our elections, but that s not going stop Obama from blaming them for affecting Hillary s chances of winning. Never mind Hillary s recent use of an unsecured email server while she was serving as Sec of State, or the fact that she has spent most of her adult life under some sort of criminal investigation, or that over half of America said they didn t trust her. It s the damn Russians fault that Wikileaks leaked emails that were damaging to Hillary, her entire campaign team and the Democratic Party. Anything to taint the legitimacy of soon to be President Trump. President Obama said the United States will retaliate against Russia over its malicious cyberactivity during this year s election, in an interview that will air Friday on NPR. I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections . . . we need to take action, the president said. And we will at a time and place of our own choosing. Some of it may be explicit and publicized; some of it may not be. Speaking to Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep, Obama said there are still a whole range of assessments taking place among the agencies, and he is waiting for the report on cyberattacks he has ordered to be delivered by Jan. 20.Russia seems to be losing their patience with the Obama regime s claims that they had something to do with the hacked emails that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange shared with the world prior to our November elections.The tough talk from the White House fell flat in Moscow, where Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the accusations baseless and inappropriate. They should either stop talking about that or produce some proof at last, Peskov told reporters Friday. Otherwise it all begins to look unseemly. There has been no specific, persuasive evidence shared publicly about the extent of Putin s role or knowledge of any hackings. That lack of proof undercuts Democrats strategy to portray Putin s involvement as irrefutable evidence of a directed Russian government plot to undermine America s democratic system.But the White House pointed to a U.S. intelligence assessment released publicly in October that asserted only Russia s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities. And Obama s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, connected the dots further, saying Thursday that Putin was responsible for the Russian government s actions. I don t think things happen in the Russian government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin knowing about it, he told MSNBC.Trump struck back Friday morning, with a Twitter post mockingly asking, are we talking about the same cyberattack in which embarrassing information about the Democratic National Committee was also revealed.Are we talking about the same cyberattack where it was revealed that head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions to the debate? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2016His tweet invoked emails stolen from Clinton s campaign chairman and later released publicly in hacking that has been linked to Russia. -CBC ",0 "Civil liberties trump fight on terror, Canadians say: Large minority favour requiring citizens to carry I.D. cards at all times, poll finds",0 "BREAKING: OBAMA’S “Director Of Diversity” Donates Hundreds Of Thousands Of Tax Payer Dollars To Open Borders, Other Radical GroupsOf course anyone on Obama s Team Fundamental Transformation of America is exempt from any of the consequences the rest of America would have to face for the same unlawful actions To meet the Obama administration s goal of implementing a robust diversity strategy at the Department of Defense (DOD), the agency s director of diversity violated government rules by distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to controversial leftist groups. Adding insult to injury, a consulting firm gets nearly half a million dollars from the DOD to help distribute the money to groups even those that don t qualify that support the Pentagon s diversity strategy and program objectives. Among the recipients is the notorious open borders group League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Minority Access Inc., a Maryland-based nonprofit committed to decreasing disparities and reducing incidences of environmental injustices, and the renowned National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Others include the Society of American Indian Government Employees and the Asian American Government Executive Network. In all, the Pentagon s Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity (ODME) gave these and other groups north of $300,000, according to a DOD Inspector General report released this month. These are considered affinity groups involved with networking or professional associations that are often race, ethnic background or gender based, according to the report.The high-ranking official who violated DOD and government rules by doling out the cash to unqualified non-federal entities (NFE) is Clarence Johnson, the DOD s Director of Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity. In 2010 Johnson, a veteran Pentagon official, was assigned to assist the Army in implementing a robust diversity strategy. The position came with a hefty budget to support diversity outreach functions and Johnson launched a cash giveaway, filling the coffers of groups that should not have received public funds. In its report the DOD watchdog concludes that Johnson improperly co-sponsored NFEs that he had selected. Auditors found that Johnson spent $301,000 on NFE sponsorships and recommend corrective action. The money flowed through a company called New Concepts Management Solutions (NCMS) that was evidently handpicked by Johnson. In 2012, the Office of Diversity Management hired a consulting firm called Deloitte for $480,554 to handle the diversity outreach allocations.Here s a brief breakdown of how some of the money was divided. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund Leadership Institute Conference got $25,000, the Society of American Indian Government Employees got $12,000 for a training conference and a conglomerate called Latina Style Outreach received $20,000. LULAC and the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC) received $25,000 each. It appears that Johnson knew well that he was violating agency rules when he headed the diversity crusade because the report reveals that the DOD Office of Special Counsel has consistently said that the agency should not sponsor non-federal entities like the ones Johnson gave money to. In addition to money, Johnson provided these various groups with logistical manpower compliments of Uncle Sam.It s unlikely that Johnson will face any repercussions for his transgressions or, at most, a weak slap on the hand. He certainly appears confident in testimony to investigators probing his violations. My job is to grow, or focus on growing, the presence of minorities and women in government jobs with higher pay scales, Johnson told investigators. He added that the mission of his office is diversity outreach, which involves informing the diverse audience. This is why he seeks affinity groups that have a national reach and influence.President Obama has made it his mission to culturally transform government by teaching federal workers about diversity, race and gender, healthcare disparities and cultural competencies. The effort has affected practically every major agency, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS), among others. It s been a costly initiative for taxpayers. A few months ago a Judicial Watch investigation found that the Obama administration has paid a Chicago-based firm millions of dollars to strengthen the federal workplace with its brand of diversity consulting. This includes two recent DHS contracts for $24,000 and $10,000 and one for $8,500 from the Department of Energy (DOE). Via: Judicial Watch",0 "South Sudan's Kiir promotes three generals facing U.N. sanctionsKAMPALA (Reuters) - South Sudan s president has given top jobs to three generals facing U.N. sanctions over alleged violations during a four-year-old civil war. Campaign group Human Rights Watch called the promotions a slap in the face of justice - but the presidency said the three men were good officers who had been falsely accused. In a decree read out on state radio late on Thursday, President Salva Kiir appointed Marial Chanuong as his new head of army operations, training and intelligence, and Santino Deng Wol as the head of ground forces. Gabriel Jok Riak was named deputy chief of defense. The U.N. Security Council imposed travel bans and asset freezes on the three and others in 2015. It accused Chanuong of commanding troops who led the slaughter of Nuer civilians in and around (the capital) Juba in December 2013, including hundreds it said were reportedly buried in mass graves. I am in my country. I can do anything in my own country, Chanuong told Reuters Friday. The United Nations said Wol commanded troops who killed children, women and old men during a 2015 offensive, while Riak violated a ceasefire in early 2014. Kiir s spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, said the three generals were very genuine, obedient commanders who had been falsely accused. But Human Rights Watch said the announcement, made on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the war s outbreak, showed the impunity enjoyed by commanders accused of abuses. Having these people nominated to new positions is a slap in the face of justice and a slap in the face of the international community, the organization s Jonathan Pednault told Reuters. South Sudan plunged into civil war in December 2013 when a political crisis escalated into fighting between forces loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and rebels allied with his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer. The conflict has reopened ethnic fault lines and spread across the country, where more than a dozen armed groups are battling for land, resources, revenge, and power amid widespread reports of rape, murder and torture. Several ceasefires have been agreed but broken. Tens of thousands have been killed since the war broke out. ",1 Donetsk militants send 34 pro-Russian separatists bodies to Russia,1 "COMEDIAN SHOCKS LEFTIST COLLEGE STUDENTS With Best Liberal Smackdown You Have EVER Seen!…MUST Watch VIDEO!This video of conservative comedian Steven Crowder should be an example for every conservative in America on how to handle the well-trained Left! It should be used in training sessions for conservatives about how to fight back against the LOUD, OBNOXIOUS liberals who have been allowed to shame and disgrace conservatives into adopting their positions for way too long! If you re tired of sitting back and allowing the Left to disrupt every conservative event or rally in America by shaming you or threatening your physical well-being, you are going love this video! Comedian Steven Crowder mercilessly tore into so-called social justice warriors when they disrupted his opening remarks within seconds of him taking the stage.Here is the video showing the LOUD and OBNOXIOUS protesters who Steven Crowder was addressing:Crowder was scheduled to tell some jokes and discuss free speech at the University of Massachusetts on Monday night alongside other speakers, including conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos and former philosophy professor Christina Marie Hoff Sommers. However, the comedian quickly ditched his prepared material to give his vocal critics a reality check. Do you have any idea, sir, how pathetic it must be to be you? These people wanted to hear a few jokes, some thoughtful discussion, but your head pops off the pillow in the morning with, How can I be a professional victim today? Let me go in and screw with their act just because, oh my god, your parents didn t tell you that your opinion wasn t worth that much, Crowder said.For emphasis, he added, I m not your gender studies professor who has to cater to your trigger warning, microagression, safe space bulls**t! It wasn t long before Crowder was apparently accused of being a racist. Oh, I m a racist that s a new one. Where d you learn that, in social human studies 101? the comedian asked mockingly.But the bigger issue, Crowder explained, is that the left is now openly against free speech and the open debate of ideas. You re not fighting for free speech, you re not fighting for rights you re fighting for the right to be a p***y and not hear opinions that you don t like, he said. Alright, I m done, he concluded. Via: The Blaze",0 Dubai will one day be seen as a punctuation mark on the architectural follies of the past half century,0 Pokemon World Championship: Police seize firearms and arrest two men who promised to 'kill the competition',0 Saudi Arabia to give women right to vote,1 "Watch out frontrunners, over 1,500 candidates vying for White HouseCHICAGO (Reuters) - Michael Petyo is a carpenter, a U.S. Navy veteran, a grandfather and Russian Orthodox church cantor who likes to boast about his homemade nut rolls. He also happens to be a candidate for president of the United States. The 66-year-old Indiana man has no big financial backers, little political experience outside of two failed runs for Congress and his odds of winning are almost nil. But that has not stopped him from thinking he is the one to succeed President Barack Obama. Petyo is among a rising number of Americans who aspire to be president, due to what psychology experts describe as growing narcissism, distrust of leadership and the power of social media to reach the public. Joining more than 1,500 others, according to the Federal Election Commission, Petyo admits he is a long shot, but figures he just needs some attention: “How do they know I’m not the next guy waiting in the wings?” The number of candidates seeking the White House has more than tripled from 417 in 2012, though some entrants have penned in possibly fictitious names such as “Disco Daddy” and “Darth Vader.” Their ranks include Susan Young, a California social studies teacher aiming to give her students a lesson in democracy, Terry Jones, the Florida pastor known for organizing Koran burnings, and anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee. Another candidate, Edie Bukewihge, included her grandma’s chili recipe on her web site: www.vote4edie.org, along with the promise that the last two years of her term could be boring because she will have repaired the country’s “damages.” These hopefuls are not a factor in polls that show businessman Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas battling for the Republican nomination and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic field ahead of next month’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. But a lack of attention has not diminished Petyo’s enthusiasm. He frequently compares himself to the Bible’s David, the shepherd who God chose to be king. Like David, “words flow from my lips like honey from a hive,” Petyo said. Petyo meets the Constitutional requirements for the job - he’s at least 35 and a natural born U.S. citizen. “I don’t see how anybody can represent the people unless they’re one with the people,” said Petyo, who owns a construction company and has been handing out business cards at political events around the Midwest. He posts policy positions at www.petyoforpresident.com In an interview, Petyo espoused conspiracy theories, claiming the Internal Revenue Service’s home is in Puerto Rico, al Qaeda members who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks had help from inside the U.S. government and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is setting up detainment camps around the country. For candidates like Petyo, the important thing is finding Americans who will listen to them, said Bart Rossi, a political psychologist. “They want to get their thoughts and ideas out there,” said Rossi. “They want to be on the playing field even if they’re not going to win the game.” Michael Maccoby, a psychoanalyst and leadership expert, said the world is going through deep changes, and more people distrust current leaders. “It’s understandable that you have a lot of people thinking they’ve got the answer,” he said. Petyo is a Republican, but shuns party labels as he supports unions, a typical Democratic position, while espousing the belief that U.S. companies should pay little or no taxes. He should receive at least one vote. His long-time friend and supporter Jim Wright, a 65-year-old retired engineer who hands out flyers for the candidate, said he will vote for Petyo even though he doesn’t have a “snowball’s chance in hell.” ",1 " The Washington Post NAILS Hannity For Lying About Trump Rescuing MarinesSean Hannity told a massive lie to make Donald Trump look like a hero and he got busted for it by real journalists.In May, the Fox News host published an article on his website claiming that the Republican nominee sent his planes to give transportation home to 200 United States Marines who were stranded at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in 1991 after they returned from the Gulf War. Trump even touted the story of his supposed generosity and heroics. The Trump campaign has confirmed to Hannity.com that Mr. Trump did indeed send his plane to make two trips from North Carolina to Miami, Florida to transport over 200 Gulf War Marines back home, Hannity bragged.Not so fast, says the Washington Post.According to WAPO, not only is Trump fibbing about sending HIS plane to help the Marines, he had absolutely nothing to do with helping the troops.As usual, Hannity relied on a source who passed along rumors that Trump sent his plane to pick up the Marines. Cpl. Ryan Stickney told a story that he heard from someone else that Mr. Trump found out about it and sent the airline down to take care of us. WAPO noted, however, that Trump s private plane was certainly not involved because it was the wrong color and only had enough seats for 24 people. Basically, Trump s own plane would have had to make ten trips or he would have to have owned ten planes. And let s face it, Trump s not that rich.In fact, it was a pair of Boeing 727s from Trump s failed airline with a capacity of 130 seats each that came to save the day and those had already been contracted out to the military long before they were needed at Camp Lejeune. It turns out when Trump bought the shuttle (Trump Shuttle) from Eastern Airlines, he made a bad deal, accepting an additional five planes instead of a lower purchase price because the market had turned south, The Post reports. So some of those extra planes were contracted out to the U.S. military to ferry personnel in the United States during Operations Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-1991. So Trump is taking credit for something he had no part of and Hannity is lying in order to make the candidate he backs look good.WAPO even spoke to Lt. General Vernon Kondra, the man in charge of all airlift operations, and he didn t hesitate to swat down the claim that Trump personally came to the rescue.Kondra said the notion that Trump personally arranged to help the stranded soldiers made little sense. I certainly was not aware of that. It does not sound reasonable that it would happen like that. It would not fit in with how we did business, he told The Fact Checker. I don t even know of how he would have known there was a need. In conclusion, WAPO slammed Hannity for not doing his homework and for reporting rumors as facts and gave Trump the maximum number of Pinocchios.Despite the rumors on base, it s clear that Trump had nothing to do with the dispatch of the jet to the troops stranded at Camp Lejeune. The aircraft that ferried the troops was part of the Trump Shuttle fleet, at a time when Trump barely had control over the airline and was frantically trying to negotiate deals with bankers to prevent the collapse of his business empire.Trump Shuttle had a contract with the military, and this flight home was part of that contract. Simple as that.Sean Hannity needs to prominently correct this article. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, earns Four Pinocchios for confirming a story that is easily debunked.Thus far, Hannity has not thrown a temper tantrum about being outed as liar, but stay tuned. It s likely he may very well do so since he has a problem with facts and the real journalists who report them.Featured image via screen capture",0 Official: U.S. will not renew Iraq contract with Blackwater,0 Justin Trudeau defends deal to sell armored vehicles to the Saudis Were not a banana republic,0 "John Anderson, liberal Republican who challenged Reagan, dies at 95WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Anderson, a former Republican congressman who challenged the party’s conservative drift by taking on its chief symbol, Ronald Reagan, and ran for president as an independent in 1980, died on Sunday. He was 95. Anderson had been ill for some time, family friend Dan Johnson told Reuters in a telephone interview. Anderson’s wife, Keke, and his daughter Diane were at his side when he died in Washington, Diane Anderson said by phone. Anderson finished a distant third with almost 7 percent of the vote in the 1980 presidential election but gave almost 6 million voters an alternative to the conservative Reagan - who won the election - and the unpopular Democratic president, Jimmy Carter. But Anderson did not win a single precinct and political analysts said he ultimately may have contributed to Reagan’s electoral landslide by taking votes from Carter. Anderson’s first venture into politics came in 1956 when he was elected as a state attorney in Illinois. In 1960, he won the first of 10 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives running as a conservative. He later moved to the left, breaking with conservatives in 1968 by voting for a bill to outlaw racial discrimination in housing. Anderson served as chairman of the House Republican Conference for the next 10 years even as he became more critical of Republican President Richard Nixon, especially on his handling of the Vietnam War. He was one of the first Republican House members to call for Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal. “He’s the smartest guy in Congress, but he insists on voting his conscience instead of party,” Republican U.S. Representative Gerald Ford, who later become president, said of Anderson in 1973. In 1980, with Carter low in the opinion polls and his administration mired in the Iran hostage crisis, many Republicans, including Anderson, jumped into the party’s presidential primaries for a chance to oppose the Democrat in the November election. Reagan, who had come close to winning the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, quickly moved to the front of the race, with his main opponent being former U.N. Ambassador George H.W. Bush. Anderson dropped out of the Republican primaries in the spring of 1980 and announced he was running as an independent. When he entered the race, he was enthusiastically greeted as an alternative to the major parties, getting around 25 percent support in at least one poll. But his poll numbers began sliding, even though he was seen as having bested Reagan in surveys after a televised debate with the Republican presidential nominee. Carter boycotted that debate and refused to face Reagan if Anderson was included. Carter finally agreed to a debate with Reagan shortly before the election, when the sponsoring League of Women Voters agreed not to invite Anderson. Four years later, Anderson’s break with conservative Republicans was complete and he supported Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, who lost to Reagan in a landslide. Born in Rockford, Illinois, on Feb. 15, 1922, Anderson was educated at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Harvard Law School. He served in the Second World War and joined the foreign service, stationed in Germany, his family said in a statement. After his presidential defeat, Anderson became a visiting professor at various universities, wrote extensively and served on many boards including FairVote, a voting rights organization formerly known as the Center for Voting and Democracy. In the 2000 presidential election, Anderson was seen as a possible presidential candidate for the Reform Party founded by Texas billionaire Ross Perot, but he ended up endorsing Ralph Nader. Diane Anderson said her father believed the two-party system was broken and was appalled by what happened with the Republican Party. “Everything he wanted to prevent unfortunately came to pass,” she said. ",1 Turkish main opposition convenes over Erdoan's voice recording regarding $1 billion cash stored in several properties of Erdoan family.,0 Another school massacre in China. It's more than a coincidence now. Is this a new form of terrorism against the state?,1 Russia To Introduce Obligatory Fingerprinting For European Tourists:,0 "East Libyan commander Haftar says U.N.-backed government obsolete, hints may run in electionsBENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control parts of the country, said on Sunday the U.N.-backed government was obsolete and he would listen to the will of the people, a firm hint he may run in elections expected next year. Haftar styles himself as a strongman capable of ending the chaos of armed factions that has gripped oil-producing Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. His comments, made at a military graduation ceremony, recall those of Egyptian General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when he was testing the ground before becoming a presidential candidate. Sisi was eventually elected in 2014. Just as Sisi built up wide support after toppling Egypt s Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013, supporters of Haftar speak of a similar situation developing in Libya, with rallies held in some eastern cities calling on him to run. We declare clearly and unequivocally our full compliance with the orders of the free Libyan people, which is its own guardian and the master of its land, Haftar said in a speech. He spoke in the eastern city of Benghazi, from where his forces managed to expel Islamist militants during a three-year battle. Haftar also dismissed a series of United Nations-led talks to bridge differences between Libya s two rival administrations, one linked to him in the east and one backed by the United Nations in the capital Tripoli, which he now declared obsolete. Despite all the brilliant slogans during talks between rivals for power from the dialogue of Ghadames (Libya) and ending in Tunisia via Geneva, Skhirat (Morocco) and others, all of were just ink on paper, he said, listing host cities of U.N. talks. The U.N. has tried to find a solution including Haftar who said his command had been threatened with sanctions should he seek a deal outside the dialogue. Some 1,000 Haftar supporters rallied in Benghazi, demanding the general take over after a U.N. deal for a political solution missed what they said was a self-imposed deadline on Sunday. The U.N. says no such timeline exists and its mediation will continue. The turnout was smaller than initially expected. In Tripoli, home to a government opposed by Haftar, an unknown armed faction opened fire in the air to disperse some 150 supporters of the general on the central martyrs square, witnesses said. Nobody was hurt. The U.N. launched a new round of talks in September in Tunis between the rival factions to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections in 2018, but they broke off after one month without any deal. A formidable obstacle to progress was the issue of Haftar s own rule. He remains popular among some Libyans in the east weary of the chaos but faces opposition from many in western Libya. In his speech Haftar said his forces, known as the Libyan National Army (LNA), could only be placed under an authority that had been elected by the Libyan people - a further indication that he might take part in the election. The large North African country has been in turmoil since Gaddafi s downfall opened up space to Islamist militants and smuggling networks that have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe. Haftar is just one of many players in Libya, which is controlled by armed groups divided along political, religious, regional and business lines. Aguila Saleh, president of the eastern House of Representatives that backs Haftar, said it was time to start preparing for parliamentary and presidential elections, according to a video posted on social media. ",1 Iraqi Christians welcomed in France: Iraqi Christians reach France after fleeing Islamists,0 Police in Brazil say they have arrested two men suspected in the killings of two Amazon activists earlier this year.,0 "BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa) agree to local currency credits to ease dollar dependency",1 "Tillerson cites Russian inaction as helping to fuel Syrian poison gas attackWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday blamed Russia’s inaction for helping fuel a deadly poison gas attack against Syrian civilians last week, saying Moscow failed to carry out a 2013 agreement to secure and destroy chemical weapons in Syria. “I think the real failure here has been Russia’s failure to live up to its commitments under the chemical weapons agreements that were entered into in 2013,” Tillerson said on ABC’s “This Week.” “The failure related to the recent strike and the recent terrible chemical weapons attack in large measure is a failure on Russia’s part to achieve its commitment to the international community,” he added. Tillerson is expected in Moscow this week for talks with Russian officials. He stopped short of accusing Russia of being directly involved in the planning or execution of the attack, saying he had not seen “any hard evidence” to suggest the nation was an accomplice to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But he said the United States expected Russia to take a tougher stance against Syria by rethinking its alliance with al-Assad because “every time one of these horrific attacks occurs, it draws Russia closer into some level of responsibility.” Other than that, he added, “there is no change to our military posture” toward Syria. Tillerson’s comments came just a few days after the United States fired dozens of cruise missiles at the Syrian airbase that was allegedly used in the chemical attack. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the strikes after he blamed Assad for this week’s chemical attack, which killed at least 70 people, many of them children, in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun. The Syrian government has denied it was behind the attack. Video depicted limp bodies and children choking while rescuers tried to wash off the poison gas. Russian state television blamed rebels and did not show footage of victims. The move immediately prompted a backlash from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said it would damage U.S.-Russian relations. ",1 "U.S. hedge fund managers pour money into 2016 race and Trump is a factorWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major U.S. hedge fund managers are on pace this year to more than double the amount they gave in the 2012 election campaign, with independent fundraising groups backing Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Ted Cruz receiving the most so far. About $47 million has been lavished on presidential candidates and lawmakers and the political action committees that support them by two dozen of the industry's top managers in the first 13 months of this election season, according to a Reuters review of Federal Election Commission filings. (For a list of the top givers see tmsnrt.rs/1nlPYZv) Most of the hedge fund support going to Cruz and Clinton has come from a handful of people out of the two dozen managers studied. Robert Mercer, co-chief executive of Renaissance Technologies, for example, has given $11 million to Keep the Promise I, a Super PAC that supports Cruz. Mercer is an enigmatic computer programmer who is a powerful financial force in conservative politics. Cruz wants to abolish the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service, slash income and payroll taxes and impose a new “business transfer tax.” Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz, is a Goldman Sachs executive in Houston. Clinton’s main benefactor is billionaire George Soros, a long-time patron of Democratic and humanitarian causes and chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros alone is responsible for $7.3 million of the $11.7 million that has gone to Super PACs and other committees supporting Clinton. The hedge fund managers’ spokespersons either declined to comment or did not respond to queries from Reuters. But Whitney Tilson, a hedge fund manager who runs Kase Capital, said one reason fellow managers are spending more this election is Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. “There are some pretty heated emotions about Donald Trump,” said Tilson, who plans to support the Democratic Party nominee. Trump, who says he is self-funding his campaign, supports closing a loophole that lets some hedge fund managers pay less than the usual income tax rate on performance fees they get known as “carried interest.” Clinton supports this, too. The Managed Funds Association, an industry lobbying group, declined to comment on policy aims under the next president. There are other worries, too, about a Trump presidency.After months of campaigning and debates, Trump’s economic and financial policy positions are still sketchy or unknown. A Trump presidency could bring “tremendous uncertainty and instability,” said Gregory Wawro, a political science professor at Columbia University. Wawro speculated that Trump’s popularity with blue-collar and middle-class voters could prompt the Republican Party to reassess an approach to taxes and economic issues that has favored top earners and major corporations in recent years. The surge of hedge fund donations has had little effect on the Republican race so far. Cruz is running well behind Trump while U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who is seen by establishment Republicans as their best hope to stop Trump winning the nomination, is a distant third. Conservative Solutions, a Super PAC that backs Rubio, received $2.5 million from Paul Singer, the long-time Republican fundraiser who runs Elliott Management, and another $2.6 million in contributions from hedge fund manager Kenneth Griffin of Citadel Investment Group. Two other Republican candidates with major hedge fund backing, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, have dropped out of the race. Christie’s Super PAC, America Leads, received about $3 million from Steve Cohen of Point72 Asset Management, while Right to Rise, a PAC that supports Bush, drew $450,000 in donations from managers including Citadel’s Griffin, David Tepper of Appaloosa Management and Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital Management. In the Democratic race, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has eschewed donations from Wall Street. He has racked up a string of wins in early state nominating contests with attacks on Wall Street and calls for a more equitable distribution of the country’s wealth. Overall, hedge fund contributions to 2016 presidential candidates and lawmakers and the PACs supporting them favored Republicans over Democrats by about 3 to 2. For a list of the top hedge fund donors in 2016: tmsnrt.rs/1nlPYZv ",1 Toxic Lakes May Emerge From Alberta's Tar-Sand Projects,1 Final minutes of Polish military flight 101 carrying many of the leaders of Polish government ,0 "Trump presses fraud concerns as panel begins investigationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump pressed his unproven claims of voter fraud on Wednesday at the first meeting of a commission he created to study the issue, and implied states that did not share voter data with the panel had something to hide. The panel has faced lacerating criticism from Democrats and voting rights groups that argued it could be a vehicle for changes that would make it harder for lawful voters to cast ballots - and by a number of state governments reluctant to hand over information about their voters to the White House. Despite evidence from state officials from both parties that voter fraud is rare in U.S. elections, Trump has claimed that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the November 2016 election. “Every time voter fraud occurs it cancels out the vote of a lawful citizen,” he told the commission. “Any form of illegal or fraudulent voting, whether by non-citizens or the deceased, and any form of voter suppression or intimidation must be stopped.” Trump won the state-by-state Electoral College tally that decides the presidential race, but he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes to his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. He established the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May and assigned Vice President Mike Pence to lead it. The panel will next gather in September, and hold at least four more meetings over nine months. Some members of the panel emphasized that even small numbers of illegal votes could affect the outcome of elections. Bill Gardner, a Democrat who has been involved in almost 500 vote recounts in New Hampshire since becoming its secretary of state in 1976, said he has seen 11 end in a tie, 32 decided by one vote, and 202 by fewer than 10 votes. “I am a witness that every vote matters, and it doesn’t need to be massive voter fraud to sway the outcome,” Gardner said. Alan King, a Democrat who is a probate judge from Jefferson County in Alabama, said he has not seen evidence of voter fraud - but said local governments need help from Congress to keep up with changing technology. “We can talk about elections a lot, but if people can’t vote because the machines don’t work, we’ve got a massive, massive problem,” said King. Civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have said the commission could lead to new ID requirements and other measures making it harder to vote. “I can tell you, President Trump, that we will be watching your commission,” said U.S. Representative Terri Sewell of Alabama, an African-American whose district includes the civil rights landmarks Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham, where, she said, “people died, bled and fought for the right to vote.” The panel ran headlong into controversy last month when its vice chair, Kris Kobach, the Republican secretary of state for Kansas and an advocate of tougher laws on immigration and voter identification, asked states to turn over voter information. The data requested by Kobach included names, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, political affiliation, felony convictions and voting histories. More than 20 states refused outright and others said they needed to study whether they could provide the data. Trump questioned the states’ refusal, saying, “If any state does not want to share this information, one has to wonder what they’re worried about? ... There’s something, there always is.” Several federal lawsuits have been filed against the voting commission. The American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit alleged that the panel failed to comply with federal transparency laws, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund alleged the commission was formed with the intent to discriminate against voters of color. Other lawsuits, including one from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, raised concerns about Americans’ privacy. ",1 "Online bettors see Donald Trump as odds-on Republican nomineeNEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s chances of winning the Republican nomination for the White House shot to a record high at online betting sites around the world on Wednesday after his latest victory in voting in Nevada. Betting venues in Britain, Ireland and New Zealand show the online wagering community coalescing around Trump, once considered a rank outsider attracting long-shot odds of 200/1. Following his double-digit margin win in Nevada’s Republican caucuses on Tuesday, his third victory in the first four early nominating contests, odds have tightened all the way to 1/2 in some cases. “Mr Trump has triumphed yet again, despite political analysts almost unanimously writing him off as a serious presidential contender,” said Graham Sharpe from William Hill, adding one customer stood to collect at least $100,000 if Trump was elected to the White House on Nov. 8. William Hill and Betway make Trump 1/2 favorite to get the Republican nod, while Ladbrokes cut his odds to 4/9, the same as those shown on Ireland’s PaddyPower. His nearest rival, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio from Florida, featured odds of 6/1 on Ladbrokes. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who has been battling with Rubio for the No. 2 spot in the early voting states, has sunk to a deep longshot. Paddy Power gives Cruz odds of 33/1, its site shows. Bettors also markedly cut the odds on Trump becoming president, although he still trails Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who won Nevada’s Democratic caucuses on Saturday. Jessica Bridge from Ladbrokes said Trump was on a roll heading into Super Tuesday on March 1, when several U.S. states hold nominating contests. On PredictIt, a site operated by Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, Trump’s chances of winning the Republican nod were the highest since it started tracking the race in October 2015. A Trump bet there, on a scale of $0.00 to $1, stood at 72 cents, up 4 cents, while Rubio tumbled 7 cents to 24 cents and Cruz sank a penny to 4 cents, matching a record low. (Reporting by Michael Holden in London and Dan Burns in New York; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Howard Goller) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 Pakistan court sentences Christian man to death for blasphemy,0 "she was pinned down in a guava orchard and raped by a farmhand who wanted to cure her of her attraction to girls. She said that she was impregnated and infected with H.I.V., but that her grandmothers reaction was simply, You are too stubborn. ",1 School in Canada makes non-vaccinated students stay home to halt the spread of measles,1 "Trump urges adding anti-Obamacare provision to tax bill: lawmakerWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing Republicans to change their tax-cut bill to include a repeal of the Obamacare mandate that requires individuals to buy health insurance or pay a fine, the House of Representative’s top tax lawmaker said on Friday. House tax committee Chairman Kevin Brady said he has asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to assess Trump’s suggestion and indicated some lawmakers were considering it. Other lawmakers have expressed concern. They said adding such a divisive provision would expose the tax bill to the fierce opposition that doomed Republicans’ efforts in July to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The act was former President Barack Obama’s biggest domestic achievement. It raised taxes on wealthier Americans to fund healthcare benefits for middle- and low-income people, extending coverage to millions of previously uninsured. Democrats have defended it for years from attacks by Republicans, who see it as Washington intruding on Americans’ healthcare. Since Trump took power in January, he has pressed hard to undo much of Obama’s work. So far he has not secured any major legislative accomplishments in Congress, even though Republicans control both the House and the Senate. “The president feels very strongly about including this (the individual mandate repeal) at some step before the final process. He’s told me that twice by phone and once in person,” Brady told an event hosted by the news outlet Politico. “No decisions have been made ... Importing healthcare into a tax reform debate has consequences,” Brady said. Trump broached his idea in a tweet earlier this week, saying it would be “great” to repeal the mandate “and use those savings for further tax cuts.” Some Republican senators, such as Tom Cotton and Rand Paul, also favor this idea. Representative Tom Cole, a senior House Republican, said Friday that adding on a mandate repeal could cost the tax bill votes. “I don’t want to overload the vehicle,” Cole told reporters, adding that including the mandate repeal would probably be a “deal breaker” for Democrats. Brady also said Friday he would offer “substantive improvements” to the tax bill when his committee begins considering the legislation next week. He gave no details. The tax bill released Thursday would cut tax rates for businesses, individuals and families. Republicans hope to pass it through Congress by year’s end. Democrats oppose it as a give-away to the rich and large corporations. ",1 " Famed writer faces arrest for remarks: Arundhati Roy has expressed opinions in favor of Kashmiri separatism.",0 "Ireland slowly locates its ""disappeared"": The body of a man killed by the IRA in 1973 is found buried on a beach",0 "Indonesia condemns U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli capitalBogor, INDONESIA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo, leader of the world s largest Muslim-majority nation, onThursday condemned the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Indonesia strongly condemns the United States unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and asks the U.S. to reconsider the decision, Widodo told a news conference. This can rock global security and stability, he said. ",1 " Trump Campaign Accidentally CONFIRMS That Trump Illegally Put Money Into Fidel Castro’s HandsTrue to form, Trump and his campaign are royally pissed at Newsweek and Kurt Eichenwald for their report on one of Trump s companies that violated the Cuban embargo. Trump let loose a bunch of unrelated attacks, but the campaign s official response wasn t much of a response. That is, until Kellyanne Conway opened her mouth on The View.When the ladies of The View asked Conway about the Cuba story, she first said: Read the entire story. It starts out with a screaming headline, as it usually does, that he did business in Cuba. And then it turns out he decided not to invest there. But Trump Hotels & Casinos did spend $68,000 there, which violated the embargo. Conway either doesn t know what all the embargo banned, or she has no idea how to stick to her defense of her lord and savior. When the ladies of The View pressed her further, she said: I think they paid money, as I understand from the story, they paid money in 1998. And then, of course, she launched into a totally irrelevant diatribe about Hillary Clinton.But we digress.Whether it was 1998 or just before Obama lifted certain restrictions, Trump s hotel company illegally spent money in Cuba while he was chairman and still had a controlling interest. End of story.And that s concerning, as is the law and order candidate s denial that he ever breaks the law. In fact, Marco Rubio, who has endorsed Trump, is unhappy with Eichenwald s findings: This is something they re going to have to give a response to. I mean, it was a violation of American law, if that s how it happened, [Rubio] said on the ESPN/ABC Capital Games podcast. I hope the Trump campaign is going to come forward and answer some questions about this.' This wouldn t be nearly the huge deal it is if he and his campaign would say something like, Yes, this happened, however, it was handled and Mr. Trump and his businesses took the necessary steps to ensure this kind of thing never happened again. But Kellyanne Conway threw her boss under the bus in trying to deny this ever happened instead.Featured image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images",0 Erdogan Casts Bankers as Villain of Turkish Protests,0 "Khmer Rouge prison chief admits his staff murdered babies by smashing them against trees at a ""killing field""",1 "Syrian army fights IS in Deir al-Zor as U.S.-backed forces loomDEIR AL-ZOR, Syria (Reuters) - The Syrian army field commander standing by the Euphrates River predicted that Islamic State militants would very soon be purged from its opposite bank. Their fate is hell and the Syrian army pursues its operations step by step until the total liberation of the city, he told Reuters Television during a tour of areas of Deir al-Zor in Syria s east recently retaken by the military and its allies. Islamic State s last major stronghold, the cities, towns and farms in the fertile strip along the Euphrates are fast becoming the focus of Syria s war and a potential flashpoint for wider geopolitical tensions. The Syrian army, supported by Russia and Iran-backed Shi ite Muslim militias, reached its besieged garrison in Deir al-Zor this month after a long desert campaign and is now fighting to recapture the city and its environs. It has also crossed the Euphrates, establishing a bridgehead opposite Deir al-Zor on the east bank, where Kurdish and Arab militias backed by a U.S.-led coalition are waging a rival campaign against Islamic State. The risk of open conflict between the two offensives has mostly been avoided despite their proximity in campaigns further upstream in recent months, thanks to U.S.-Russian dialogue. But new moments of friction have shown how the danger is rising as the fight against Islamic State nears its climax and both offensives race to secure ground in the oil-rich region. The U.S.-led coalition this week accused Russia of targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance it backs, and Russia on Thursday accused the SDF of twice shelling the Syrian army, adding it would retaliate in future. The field commander standing on the Euphrates riverbank did not address those issues, but he told Reuters the army would capture the villages opposite where he stood in al-Bughilia, an area close to where the SDF is operating. Soon, the forces will be deployed toward al-Safira and al-Huseiniya and they will be purged of Daesh, he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Thursday that the army had expanded its area of control on the east bank of the Euphrates and a military media unit run by the army s ally Hezbollah said they had gained control of another village there. Above the Euphrates at Deir al-Zor, Reuters photographs showed soldiers and journalists peering over a wall to take pictures of a river along which the Syrian army has only recently gained stretches of land after an absence of years. On the other side of the pale water was flat farmland held by Islamic State. The army suddenly ordered reporters to leave the riverbank when soldiers noticed plumes of dust on the other side that might signal approaching militants. A little way downstream, there was fighting on Sakr island, opposite Deir al-Zor s southern quarters, and the al-Mayadin television channel showed live images of farmland where clashes were taking place, smoke rising among the trees. In recaptured areas of the city, Reuters photographs showed signs of Islamic State s recent presence. Its slogans were written on shopfronts. An armored vehicle, marked Army of the Caliphate , stood damaged. Daesh presents a fierce resistance and uses car bombs and heavy and medium weapons, the field commander said. There is a decision from the political leadership and the military command in the army to battle and hunt Daesh, and end their presence in Deir al-Zor and beyond. When the morning Islamic prayer broke across the city, it was at times drowned out by the sound of warplanes flying above. On the desert road back from Deir al-Zor to government-held areas in the west, a stream of military convoys was passing, according to the Reuters journalists. With war coming to the east bank of the Euphrates, the convoys were carrying amphibious armored vehicles, bridge parts and boats. ",1 "A Danish church minister has argued for the abolition of the country's blasphemy law saying it undermines democracy by limiting free speech, abuses human rights and no longer serves any purpose",1 "New Test Suggests NASA's ""Impossible"" EM Drive Will Work In Space - The EM appears to violate conventional physics and the law of conservation of momentum; the engine converts electric power to thrust without the need for any propellant by bouncing microwaves within a closed container.",1 Israeli Settlers Rally: Obama racist; his regime will fall ,1 "Romney, potential U.S. secretary of state, hails Trump after dinnerNEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney made an impassioned statement in support of President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to try to erase doubts about him among Trump’s supporters and remain in contention for U.S. secretary of state. Romney, a fierce critic of Trump during the Republican presidential primary battle, stopped short of an outright apology but his intention to wipe the slate clean was clear. The former Massachusetts governor, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 and lost, praised Trump for a “message of inclusion and bringing people together” since his Nov. 8 victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Noting the appointments Trump has made to fill key cabinet positions for his administration and his desire for greater unity among Americans, Romney said that “all of those things combined give me increasing hope that President-elect Trump is the very man who can lead us” to a better future. Romney made his remarks after a lengthy meal with Trump and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus at a French restaurant at a Trump hotel in Manhattan. They dined on garlic soup with frog legs, scallops, steak and lamb chop. Since Trump began to seriously consider Romney as a potential secretary of state, some on Trump’s team have voiced doubts about bringing in a former critic and rallied around their preferred candidate, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a long-time Trump friend and loyalist. Leading this effort in an unusually public way has been senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, who told a round of television interviews on Sunday that Trump supporters would feel “betrayed” if Romney was picked. Trump, however, has kept Romney in contention for the secretary of state position, and a Republican source close to the transition effort said Priebus has been pushing for Romney behind the scenes. “I had a wonderful evening with President-elect Trump,” Romney said in remarks to reporters after the dinner. “We had another discussion about affairs throughout the world and these discussions I’ve had with him have been enlightening, and interesting, and engaging. I’ve enjoyed them very, very much.” A senior Trump aide described Romney’s remarks as “solid.” Trump is to meet on Friday for the second time with retired Marine Corps General John Kelly as part of his secretary of state search, the aide said. Trump is also considering U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Corker met Trump at Trump Tower earlier on Tuesday and told reporters afterward that Trump “needs to choose someone that he’s very comfortable with and he knows there’s going be no daylight between him and them.” “The world needs to know that the secretary of state is someone who speaks fully for the president and again, that’s a decision he’s going to have to make,” Corker said. ",1 Poland: Workers find WWII mass grave of Germans,0 TRUMP VISITS DETROIT In Outreach To Black Community…LET’S MAKE DETROIT GREAT AGAIN! [Video]Donald Trump is visiting Detroit to promote his agenda of helping the black community. Our good friend and awesome patriot Wayne Bradley has been working in the inner city Republican office for over two years in an effort to reach out to the black community. Patty and I can t say enough great things about Wayne Bradley and his desire to succeed with the Republican party in Michigan in 2016 and beyond. His hard work might be paying off TRUMP 2016! WAYNE BRADLEY ON FOX NEWS: ,0 Generation J(obless): A Quarter Of The Planet's Youth Is Neither Working Nor Studying,1 Kiwi UN intern living in tent has resigned. His mum is proud he sparked unpaid UN internship debate,1 "US Secretary of State John Kerry has labelled intelligence leaker Edward Snowden a fugitive from justice who should ""man up"" and return home | Mr Kerry added that if Mr Snowden, 30, ""believes in America, he should trust the American system of justice"".",1 "White House delays revamped immigration order to next week: officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has pushed back the release of a new executive order to replace its directive suspending travel to the United States by citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries, a White House official said on Wednesday. The order is now expected to be issued “sometime next week,” the official said. President Donald Trump said last week he expected to release the new order this week. Trump said the new directive will address legal concerns raised in Washington state, San Francisco and elsewhere about the original order, which was issued on Jan. 27. The order, which was quickly implemented, caused chaos at airports around the world as visa holders heading to the United States were pulled off planes or turned around upon arrival at U.S. airports. Americans were deeply divided over the order, which was condemned by prominent U.S. companies and allies before being temporarily blocked by federal courts. Trump criticized the court’s action in a series of tweets, including one that read: “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” ",1 "WATCH: ANGRY PARENTS WALK OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S RACIST, ANTI-COP COMMENCEMENT SPEECH [Video]Another leftist educator uses the precious time they ve been given to deliver an inspirational speech to high school graduates to instead, deliver a radical, divisive and hateful message. A Missouri high school principal sent some parents toward the exits last week when he made a disparaging remark about police killing young black men during a graduation speech.Belton High School Principal Fred Skretta was talking about why he became a teacher when he suddenly veered off in an unexpected direction. I wanted to be a teacher because I wanted to change the world, I wanted to make it a better place, he told the audience. I m going to be honest with you, in a lot of ways I fear that we are not there yet. If we were there, we wouldn t have conflicts between police killing young black men. https://youtu.be/mQHKFGBPREUNever mind the poor sentence structure. Some parents were so offended by the commentary they got up and walked out of the ceremony, according to Fox 4 News. I found it very inappropriate, I am highly offended, a parent said. You don t use the platform of a child s graduation to push a political agenda or push your personal opinions. Your job is supposed to inspire, educate, inform and not indoctronize one way or the other. Interestingly, Fox4News reported that Skretta posted an apology on social media after the ceremony, but the Twitter account appears to have been deleted since then.The apology, according to the Fox affiliate: TY all at #BHS graduation! I apologize if my remarks were offensive. Our law enforcement have difficult jobs & I meant no disrespect #agape Doc Skretta (@Principal_BHS) May 17, 2015 Belton district deputy superintendent, Steve Morgan, later offered an apology also, Fox4News reported. Comments were made at graduation and they certainly are not reflective of the district, so we sent out an apology in a statement today that went to all patrons reflecting that, Morgan said.Via: BizPac Review",0 A glimpse of the Irish Recession 2009 - some 500 people queuing for a sales assistant job.,1 "FLASHBACK: AMERICAN PASTOR Tells What Trump Did For His Family While He Was In Iranian PrisonAnother untold story of a random act of kindness by President Donald J. Trump Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini is brimming with gratitude for one U.S. presidential aspirant: Donald Trump.In a surprising revelation, Abedini said Trump helped provide for the needs of his family in Boise, Idaho while he was locked up in an Iranian prison for his faith. The pastor said Trump gave his family $10,000 while he was imprisoned for three and a half years. I am finally free in a free country. Last year on the same day I was sick and in chains for Christ, and now I can vote to choose my next president, Abedini said in a post on his Facebook page on Sunday. And most amazingly, I can vote for someone that I know fought for me and called my name so many times. He met my family and gave them a $10,000 gift. I think his ideas are more biblical than the other candidates, he added.In contrast, Abedini said Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton did not do or say anything to help secure his release from Iranian prison. The pastor said Clinton never spoke his name or met his family. As a woman who says she stands for women s rights when she was foreign minister, she never contacted my mom, wife, sister or my daughter. She never did anything to help when I was in prison as an American pastor who was detained in Iran as a hostage, he wrote.Abedini strongly defended Trump from attacks on his character, saying God used flawed men to lead nations in the Old Testament, likening him to King Cyrus of Persia, a figure mentioned more than 30 times in the Bible. According to Bible experts, Cyrus was a great pagan king who ruled Persia from 539 to 530 B.C. Under his rule, Jews were first allowed to return to Israel after 70 years of captivity. In the past few months, we have seen how media is attacking Donald Trump s past. I have even heard so many people said he is not a Christian. Of course, only God knows this for sure, but what I see is God is using him and anointed him. It seems to me that he is the Cyrus of our modern day, but like you and me, he is a flawed man, in the process of spiritual growth, Abedini said.The pastor pointed out that those who are condemning Trump for his past are forgetting that America is also a nation saved by grace. When we hear that this candidate or that candidate is not a strong Christian or has a past that disqualifies him to be the President of the United States, my answer is that we are a nation, a people who are also sinners, saved by grace, he wrote.Last week, Abedini said he already cast an early vote for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.From Abedini s Facebook page:",0 Germans couldn't see many of the Russian meteor videos last week because a radio was playing music in the background. The German version of the MIAA wanted a penny per view.,0 "BROTHER OF SETH RICH Works For Cyber Security Firm…Reportedly BLOCKED Family’s Private Investigator From Determining If Seth Was Wikileaks Source…Refused To Let Investigator See Seth’s Computer: “I already checked it…Don’t worry about it”What the heck is going on? Why is the media, who has been virtually silent about former DNC staffer Seth Rich s death until now, coming out to attack President Trump and his administration, accusing them of pushing a false narrative about his murder? Shouldn t every American regardless of political affiliation want to get to the bottom of Rich s suspicious death? Why is there so much secrecy and mystery surrounding the staffer who was getting ready to move over to the Hillary campaign when he was murdered on the streets of DC, only blocks from his home early in the morning, after he was last seen leaving a local bar he frequented. The DC police called it a robbery. The robbers didn t take his wallet, the contents of his wallet or his expensive watch.Aaron Rich, who had reportedly been blocking his family s private investigator from looking into whether or not his brother Seth was a WikiLeaks source, works for an influential defense contractor that provides cyber security.According to a source close to the Rich family, Aaron works for Northrup Grumman, which was named as the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world in 2015. The source did not provide what his specific role is at the company. It s not just hacking and defending, there s a lot more to it, a cyber software engineer at Northrup Grumman says in a video on the company s website.As we previously reported, Aaron Rich was actively attempting to shut down anyone looking into the WikiLeaks connection according to Rod Wheeler, who was brought on as a private investigator in his brother s murder case.Wheeler said that brother Aaron Rich tried to block Wheeler from looking at Seth s computer, even though there could be evidence on it. He said no, he said I have his computer, meaning him, Wheeler said. I said, well can I look at it? He said, what are you looking for? I said anything that could indicate if Seth was having problems with someone. He said no, I already checked it. Don t worry about it. Aaron also blocked Wheeler from finding out about who was at a party Seth attended the night of the murder. All I want you to do is work on the botched robbery theory and that s it, Aaron told Wheeler, according to Wheeler s claim on the audio. Wheeler said that Seth s father Joel does not appear to have any hidden agenda. Rich was shot in the back in the early morning hours of July 10, 2016, near his home while he was on the phone with his girlfriend 12 days before the publication of the DNC emails by WikiLeaks. The police initially ruled that it was a botched robbery but his wallet, watch, and necklace were still on his person when he was discovered by police.Big League Politics has also released an audio recording of journalist Seymour Hersh stating that Seth Rich was in fact WikiLeaks source.Listen to the Seymour Hersh interview here: All I know is that he offered a sample, an extensive sample, I m sure dozens of emails, and said I want money. Later, WikiLeaks did get the password, he had a DropBox, a protected DropBox, he said. They got access to the DropBox. Hersh also states that Rich had concerns about something happening to him, the word was passed, according to the NSA report, he also shared this DropBox with a couple of friends, so that if anything happens to me it s not going to solve your problems, he added. WikiLeaks got access before he was killed. For entire story: Big League Politics ",0 "No proof torture helped US find Osama bin Laden, Senate report concludes",1 "Germany, which has taken a tough line on Greece, has profited from the country's crisis to the tune of 100 billion euros, according to a new study Monday. The sum represents money Germany saved through lower interest payments on funds the government borrowed amid investor ""flights to safety""",1 "EU unveils plan to force Facebook, Google and Amazon to pay their fair share of tax",1 "'Safer' not to defrock paedophile priests, says Catholic Church official",0 Bush 'shoe maker' hit by demand ,0 "U.S. travel ban heralds 'turbulent times' for Africa: AU chiefADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The head of the African Union said on Monday that a U.S. travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries including three in Africa heralded “turbulent times” for the continent. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma spoke after U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order halted travel by people with passports from Libya, Somalia, Sudan and four other Middle East nations for 90 days, and stopped refugee resettlement for 120 days. “We are entering very turbulent times,” Dlamini-Zuma told African leaders at the start of a summit in the 54-nation bloc’s headquarters in the Ethiopian capital. “The very country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries. What do we do about this? Indeed, this is one of the greatest challenges to our unity and solidarity,” the AU Commission chief added. Even before the travel ban was announced last week, African capitals had watched the transition from Barack Obama’s administration to Trump with some concern, fearing his focus on “America first” could push trade and other ties with the continent down the U.S. list of priorities. The new U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, also hinted at unease about the U.S. administration’s actions in his address at the summit, without mentioning Trump or the United States. “African nations are among the world’s largest and most generous hosts of refugees. African borders remain open for those who need protection, when so many borders are being closed even in some of the most developed countries in the world,” said Guterres, who took over at the U.N. helm this month. ",1 China waging war against ancient superstitions that convinced a man to steam his wife to death,1 India to give $2bn to fund bailouts in Europe,0 More Trouble For Chevron: Company Loses Latest Stage of Amazon Pollution Battle: A US appeals court unfroze an $18 billion damages award over contamination of an indigenous tribe's land in Ecuador,0 "JUST IN: Mystery Surrounds Obama Appointee Judge Who Recused Herself From Fusion GPS Case Also Handling DNC Corruption in Awan Brothers CaseA federal judge in Washington, D.C. has recused herself from a second case involving Trump dossier firm Fusion GPS.Tanya S. Chutkan, an Obama appointee, recused herself on Monday from a case involving a dispute over subpoenas issued for Fusion GPS, the firm that commissioned the dossier.This Obama appointee is like so many others controversial. Change.org has a petition calling for her impeachmentA SUPPORTER COMMENT OF THE PETITION: There is Clear and Present Danger, in our Government and to our Country. Judge Chutkin needs to do her duty, as Sworn by Oath, to let in ALL of the evidence pertaining to Imran Awan and Hina Alvi. As it stands today, 9/12/2017, Judge Chutkin is not doing her duty to protect the interests and lives of the Citizens of The United States. For this reason, I am standing with others, shoulder to shoulder, and calling for the Removal and Impeachment of Federal District Judge Tanya S. Chutkin. Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian tech executive accused in the dossier of hacking Democrats computer systems, has sought to subpoena Fusion GPS records and to depose its employees to find out more about the research firm s work on the dossier.Gubarev is suing BuzzFeed for defamation for publishing the dossier earlier this year. He denies the allegations laid out in the document, which was written by former British spy Christopher Steele.Chutkan recused herself last month from another case involving Fusion GPS. The firm had filed suit against its bank, TD Bank, to keep it from complying with a subpoena issued by the House Intelligence Committee, which sought Fusion s bank records.Chutkan presided over that case from Oct. 20 to Nov. 9. It was reassigned to Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee. Since taking over the case, Leon has indicated that he plans to allow more transparency into the court proceedings involving the battle over Fusion s bank records. He has ordered several documents be unsealed and made public.Chutkan has presided over the case involving the lawsuit against BuzzFeed since Aug. 31. Her replacement is Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee who assumed office in October.The reasons for Chutkan s recusals remain a mystery Chutkan refused to comment on the recusal but her work with a medical technology firm also represented by Fusion GPS could be the reason.In any case, this is yet another case of the Obama hand in just about everything that has to do with corruption and intel agencies.Read more: Daily Caller",0 "Bodies of Three Missing Israeli Teens Found Near Hebron, Source Says",1 Saudi Arabia engineered oil crisis: Dallas Fed chief,1 "Obama says U.S. race relations have improved, but work to be doneWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said in a commencement speech on Saturday that U.S. race relations have improved over the last three decades, but that significant work still needs to be done. “I tell you this not to lull you into complacency, but to spur you into action because there’s still so much work to do,” Obama told about 2,300 Howard University graduates in Washington, acknowledging that racism and inequality still persist. “We cannot sleepwalk through life,” he said. The United States has faced a number of racial controversies in recent years, including the 2014 shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, that sparked sometimes violent protests. The United States has a racial gap in economic opportunities, Obama said, noting that the overall U.S. employment rate is around 5 percent, but it is near 9 percent for African-Americans. Obama, the son of a white mother and African father, told the graduates to embrace their racial identity. “Be confident in your blackness,” Obama said, adding “there is no one way to be black ... There’s no straightjacket, there’s no constraints, there’s no litmus test for authenticity.” He added that “my election did not create a post-racial society,” but was one example of how attitudes have changed. Obama also urged the crowd not to try to prod colleges and universities into disinviting controversial speakers - something that has taken place regularly at campuses throughout the United States. Howard University is one of about 100 historically black colleges and universities in the United States. Obama argued that the United States and the world has progressed dramatically since 1983 when he graduated from college. “America is by almost every measure better than it was” in 1983, Obama said, noting that U.S. poverty rate is down, the number of people with college degrees is up and the number of women in the workforce have risen. Obama said today’s college graduates are better positioned than any other to address the country’s tough outstanding problems. “You need a strategy,” Obama said, adding passion and anger are not enough to effect political change and encouraging them to embrace compromise. “Not just hashtags but votes.” He noted the low voter turnout among young people in the 2014 congressional elections. He told the graduates they needed to vote “every time ... not just when you’re inspired.” But Obama noted an area that has not improved in recent decades - the U.S. prison population - currently at 2.2 million, it is up more than fourfold from 500,000 in 1983. African-American men are six times more likely than white men to be incarcerated, Obama said, and urged the graduates to lobby the U.S. Congress to pass a pending criminal justice reform measure. Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, praised Obama’s remarks on Twitter, writing “even conservatives would applaud it.” ",1 " Trump Moronically Claims Entire Russia Investigation Is A Lie Because CNN Responsibly Retracted One StoryDonald Trump went on another uncontrollable rant against the media on Tuesday morning.Days after three CNN employees resigned over a minor story about the Russia investigation that turned out to be incorrect, Trump took to Twitter to gloat about it and claimed that because this story was wrong all the other news about Russia is fake, too.Wow, CNN had to retract big story on Russia, with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017CNN responsibly retracted a story that alleged a connection to Russia by Trump adviser Anthony Scaramucci. Scaramucci even called the move classy and called for moving on. Well, Trump didn t move on. He seized the situation as an opportunity to attack the media, with the exception being Fox News, as usual, arguing that because CNN got a story wrong that it must mean every other story in the media about Russia is wrong as well. Seriously.Fake News CNN is looking at big management changes now that they got caught falsely pushing their phony Russian stories. Ratings way down! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017Trump even retweeted Fox hosts who parroted his claim that the Democrats are the ones who committed collusion.Mark Levin: The collusion is among the Democrats https://t.co/Qrca7r01BI FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) June 27, 2017Hannity: Russia allegations boomeranging back on Democrats https://t.co/lvdrpxpcp9 FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) June 27, 2017Keep in mind that these CNN staffers actually resigned over an insignificant error. Meanwhile, Sean Hannity has been lying for weeks about the death of Seth Rich and he still has a job.Trump is apparently so desperate to stop the Russia investigation that he will do or say anything.Trump is also a hypocrite because most of what he has said since taking office is false, yet he refuses to resign.Twitter users even pointed out this hypocrisy and proceeded to mock him.Hmm, pot, kettle President Trump s Lies, the Definitive List https://t.co/6vqAmJlTTf pic.twitter.com/Ogwy1wuXnl Michael Vine (@mpvine) June 27, 2017Wouldn t a true fake news network not retract the story and keep the fake story going? Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) June 27, 2017Something like taping Comey or Obama s birth certificate or crowd size at the 2017 inauguration? Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) June 27, 2017The @nytimes isn t failing, Donald. Digital subscriptions up by MILLIONS. Stock near a 52 week high. Not failing at all, Donald. SOARING. pic.twitter.com/TpGXONOtK3 MatthewDicks (@MatthewDicks) June 27, 2017You re spewing the fake news. The 1st Amendment is there, in part, so the media can explain that.Attacking ALL media is what dictators do David Pepper (@DavidPepper) June 27, 2017Donald Trump must be truly insane if he really thinks one retracted story means he is vindicated.Featured Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images",0 "BUSTED! MEDIA Caught Red-Handed Trying To Demoralize Trump Supporters With Phony PollsIn their desire to push Hillary Clinton across the finish line, the mainstream media and RINO pundits continue to ignore that one little important factoid; like the massive turnout for Trump in almost every state during the primaries. They also intentionally ignore the parallels between Ronald Reagan and Donald J. Trump going into the general election. Most Americans however, are unaware of the tricks our media plays so it s up to us to make sure we share these facts and inform friends, family, neighbors and co-workers about the truth. A new Reuters poll has many Republicans worried about the outcome of the 2016 presidential race and many on the Democratic side ready to pop the champaign corks.The poll shows presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton leading by a shocking 14 percent over her Republican rival Donald Trump: 47 percent to 33 percent.Unfortunately there s one problem with the poll. It is heavily skewed.The Gateway Pundit reports that of Reuters 1,201 respondents, 626 were Democrats and only 423 were Republicans.In other words, 52 percent of Reuter s respondents were Democrats and only 35 percent were Republican a huge 33% advantage for Democrats!According to AllenBWest.com, Reuters isn t the only misleading presidential poll. A new ABC News/ Washington Post survey found voters preferred Hillary 51 percent to 39 percent. In that sample, 36 percent of respondents were Democrats and only 24 percent were Republicans.The skewed polls are made less believable by the fact that Republican turnout in 2016 is likely to be higher than in previous years. As NPR noted in March, Republicans far outstripped Democrats in primary turnout, due in part to the insurgent nature of the Donald Trump candidacy. Hannity.comIt s not just the leftist media who is beating the drum of doom for Trump, while (falsely) pushing the narrative that he can t beat Crooked Hillary in the general election. FLASHBACK: You hear the establishment types talk about it nearly every day on the FOX News Channel.For his part, Donald Trump says he has not even started on Hillary Clinton.The elites also worried about Ronald Reagan s chances back in March 1980. Ronald Reagan was down 15 points in the polls in March. Here is the map showing how many states he won in the general election compared to Jimmy Carter who was polling at 15 points ahead of Trump:The CSMonitor reported, via Free Republic:The nation s Republicans are working against the clock to answer two key questions: Can conservative Ronald Reagan possibly attract enough independent and Democratic votes to win in November?An if he is likely to lose, has former President Gerald Ford time enough to challenge him for the GOP nomination?The consensus among political experts is that time has probably already run out for Gerald Ford, though he still appears the stronger choice to beat Jimmy Carter in November.But some experts caution: Don t count Ronald Reagan out as a national candidate for the fall. He is not, they say, a McGovern or a Goldwater fringe candidates who led their parties to one-sided defeats in 1972 and 1964. Intellectuals don t want to take him seriously, but he does well with working-class voters. He would take the West, challenge President Carter in the South, and do well in the pivotal Midwest states like Ohio and Illinois, whose southern regions titled toward Carter in 1976, they say.Back in March 1980 the establishment the establishment said the same thing about Ronald Reagan.They said he could never defeat Jimmy Carter.He was too divisive. Gateway PunditHere are a few inconvenient facts you won t see in the mainstream media:The Republican Party started the year with 17 bona fide candidates for President. This was more candidates than any major party in history.Trump has more wins than any other Republican or Democrat candidate in this year s race with 36. He also has more primary wins with 33 and leads all candidates in percent of overall wins and in percent of primary wins.Trump surpassed the number of delegates needed to win the Republican nomination for President a couple weeks ago.This may be more delegates than any other Republican candidate and a higher percentage of delegates than any Republican or Democrat candidate in the race.Trump received 13,406,108 votes to date in the elections according to www.thegreenpapers.com.As a result Trump has more votes than any candidate in Republican history.Trump shattered the previous record by 1.4 million votes and that was with 17 candidates in the raceGeorge W. Bush had 12 million votes in 2000. The Republican Party also set a party record this year in pre-convention state election turnout with over 28 million votes to date which is 139% of the record high voter turnout in 2008. This increase in votes can be attributed to Donald Trump.Via: Gateway Pundit ",0 "Canadian trucker fined for smoking in the workplace. That being, of course, the cab of his truck. Which he owns.",1 Median CEO Pay Crosses $10 Million in 2013,0 "Ehud Olmert, former Israeli prime minister, found guilty of bribery: Israel's former prime minister is expected to go to jail after a judge convicted of him of receiving 190,000 in bribes and accused him of lying in court",1 "Car getting effortlessly washed down the street as a result of the flooding in Queensland, Australia [vid]",0 """They are basically importing cheap labour, for cooking, cleaning and driving cabs, in the guise of education."" Costly lesson for Indians in Australia.",1 "Bolivian judge defends divination technique - has rejected calls to resign after he admitted ""reading"" coca leaves to help him make decisions.",1 "Autocrats Gain Ground in Middle East --- Burning churches in Cairo, dead and wounded in Syria, Libya and Yemen, and a deathly silence in Bahrain. The Arab protest movement has come to a standstill, and the kings, emirs and sultans are rallying to launch a counterrevolution.",1 """Let them slash their wrists"". Undercover footage shows conditions in immigration detention centre",1 Ukraine to apply for EU membership candidacy,0 "Obama meets with security advisers on Islamic State threatWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met on Monday with a team of national security advisers to discuss U.S. efforts to combat Islamic State following last week’s attacks on Brussels, the White House said. “The President was briefed that there is currently no specific, credible intelligence of any plot to conduct similar attacks here in the United States,” the White House said. Obama was told of expanded U.S. efforts to share threat information with international partners, and he directed his team to ensure the United States is doing everything possible to disrupt any plots by Islamic State, the White House said. ",1 " BOMBSHELL: Information Suggests Trump Associates DID Collude With Russia, According To OfficialsWednesday was not a good day to be Donald Trump. In the aftermath of the disastrous Comey hearing where it was confirmed that The Donald s team was indeed being investigated and of Rep. Nunes decision to skip informing his fellow congressional Russia investigators of perfectly legal incidental collection of information about Trump associates and possibly the President* himself and run to The Donald with it instead Trump has been flailing, attempting to distract from the whole Russia thing as much as possible.That s going to be very hard now, as U.S. officials have now confirmed that the facts suggest that members of his team were indeed working with the enemy. CNN reports:The FBI has information that indicates associates of President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton s campaign, US officials told CNN.",0 "ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE IN FRANCE…How socialism and political correctness are destroying a nation We reported about the crime and chaos taking place in France, as Muslim migrants who have no intention of assimilating, have flooded their country. The border town of Calais is a disaster, with migrants camping in the jungle hoping to catch a ride across the border into the UK. France is also seeing a massive increase in rapes and sexual assault crimes by the grateful refugees. Every day 33 rapes are reported in France, that s one every 40 minutes! So far today, 20 have been arrested in French taxi driver, air traffic controller and teacher protests as riots are taking place in 2 major cities. Farmers blocked roads and burned tires, as they protested only yesterday against the prices of dairy and meat products in the province of Brittany. It would appear to the casual observer, that socialism and political correctness are not working out too well for France. What do you think? Taxi drivers in France are blockading roads with burning tires in protest at the low-cost Uber app, resulting in at least 20 arrests. Air traffic controllers are also staging a demonstration, leading to dozens of canceled flights.At least 20 arrests had already been made by 10 a.m. local time, following taxi driver protests around major cities including Paris and Marseille.Drivers blocked roads with burning tires, prompting the arrival of riot police and firefighters. Some drivers had set pre-dawn bonfires which authorities had to put out.Des pneus br lent sur le p riph rique #PorteMaillot pic.twitter.com/CfMyOKhyJQ Paul Louis (@paul_louis11) January 26, 2016Hundreds of taxis, joined by a few from Belgium and Spain, blocked a massive intersection leading into western Paris, causing huge disruption to the area.The taxi drivers are protesting over working conditions and competition from non-traditional services such as Uber.Uber drivers vandalize professionals who are paying taxes, who respect the rules, Rachid Boudjema, president of the taxi drivers union in Marseille, told AP.In response to the protests, Uber sent a message to its French customers which said that the goal of the demonstrations was to put pressure on the government to limit competition. Here is an example of a violent clash today in Paris:Meanwhile, a planned walkout from air traffic controllers prompted the French civil aviation authority, DGAC, to call on airlines to cancel one in five flights.EasyJet said it had cancelled 35 flights, although Air France said it would operate more than 80 percent of its short and medium-haul flights in France and Europe. It did, however, stress that last-minute delays or cancellations cannot be ruled out. Hundreds of thousands of civil servants and teachers also went on strike on Tuesday, protesting against a pay freeze and poor salaries. Teachers are scheduled to march in cities across the country on Tuesday afternoon.It s the newest challenge to Francois Hollande s Socialist government and its stop/start efforts to modernize the economy, in response to low economic growth and record-high unemployment. Earlier this month, Hollande announced what he called a state of economic and social emergency, involving a 2 billion (US$2.1 billion) plan to revive hiring and catch up with the world s economy.The protests come just one day after French farmers demonstrated against the prices of dairy and meat products in the province of Brittany, blocking roads and burning tires. The farmers demanded that prices be increased because the proceeds from their sale don t cover the cost of production. Via: RTWatch shocking video of Calais residents attacked by migrants in front of their home: ",0 VIRAL VIDEO: UNIV OF WI Students Busted Agreeing With Discrimination Against Christians…But NOT OKAY With Discrimination Against MuslimsWatch the hypocrisy in action:,0 Donetsk Peoples Republic will start its own anti-terrorist operation in Donetsk region against Ukrainian military forces if they dont leave in 48-hours,1 "Will The IMF Save The World? --- ""A potential recession in the eurozone and a weak recovery in the United States does not make for a world crisis. Beware people who demand that the world be saved usually they are making the case for a bailout of some kind""",1 TED: Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen,0 Danish firm launches vitamin-rich chewing gum for 3rd world kids to help fight malnutrition and blindness,1 "May sides with Madrid in Catalonia stand-offBRUSSELS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday people should be abiding by the rule of law and uphold the Spanish constitution , clearly siding with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the central government s standoff with Catalonia. I have spoken to Mariano Rajoy this morning as I did earlier this week and made clear that the United Kingdom s position is very clear, May told reporters after two days of talks between EU leaders in Brussels. We believe that people should be abiding by the rule of law and uphold the Spanish constitution, May said in Brussels, were EU leaders showed little political support for Catalonia. ",1 "Russia invites Syrian Kurds to people's congress: Kurdish officialBEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia has invited the Kurdish-led authorities in northern Syria to its proposed congress of Syria s rival parties in November, a senior Kurdish official said on Tuesday, as Moscow seeks to launch a new initiative to end the Syrian conflict. We are studying the issue and our stance has been positive so far, Badran Jia Kurd, an adviser to the administration that governs Kurdish-led autonomous regions of Syria, told Reuters. It would mark the first time Syria s main Kurdish groups have been brought into peace talks. Although they now control at least a quarter of Syria, Kurdish authorities have so far been left out of international talks in line with Turkish wishes. After intervening decisively in favor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia has sought to spearhead diplomatic efforts among the various combatants over the past year. Moscow has said the congress will focus on compromise solutions towards ending the conflict, which began more than six years ago with street protests against the Syrian leader. A spokesman for the Syrian opposition, which wants peace talks to take place under U.N. supervision, described the proposed congress as really worrying . It was unclear what the aims were and who would join, said Yahya al-Aridi. Aridi also said he feared the congress would be used as fabricated evidence of reconciliation to mislead both the Syrians and foreign countries. Several rounds of U.N. talks in Geneva between the Damascus government and the anti-Assad opposition have gone nowhere. Russia invited 33 Syrian groups and political parties on Tuesday to a Syrian Congress on National Dialogue which it will host on Nov. 18 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. They include Kurdish groups and anti-Assad rebel factions. The Kurdish-led administration received the invitation at meetings with Russian officials in northern Syria last month and favor the idea as it strives for a political solution, Jia Kurd said. Kurdish officials say they have been in talks with Russia to assess the prospects for dialogue with the Syrian government. Since 2011, the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and its allies have carved out autonomous cantons in the north. Their territorial grip has expanded since they joined forces with the United States to fight Islamic State militants. But Turkey views Syrian Kurdish power as a national security threat along its border. Ankara considers the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdish PKK movement that has waged a three-decade insurgency inside Turkey. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sent warplanes to help Assad s military against mostly Sunni rebels in 2015, first mentioned the congress earlier this month. Putin has said it would include all ethnic and religious groups, and the government, and the opposition . Syria s U.N. ambassador, Bashar al-Jaafari, said Damascus was ready to take part in the congress and that the time was now more appropriate to join such talks after its military victories. Since Russia s intervention in 2015, the government has taken back significant territory from rebels opposed to Assad and has this year recaptured swathes of central and eastern Syria from Islamic State. Alexander Lavrentyev, a senior Russian negotiator on Syria, urged Syrian rebel groups to join the congress, provided they support Syria s integrity and sovereignty and status as a secular, democratic state. If someone is against these principles,.. they will of course not go there, he told reporters after a round of talks with Turkish and Iranian delegations in Kazakhstan. But then we think they will risk being sidelined in the political process. The Kazakhstan talks did not produce an anticipated document on prisoner swaps. Lavrentyev said the sides had spent a lot of time discussing the situation in Idlib where Damascus accuses Ankara of acting in coordination with Islamist militants. ",1 "It's not just the Vatican, Jehovahs Witness paedo carried out 40 years of rape",0 "SUNDAY SCREENING: Operation Hollywood (2004)Our weekly documentary film curated by our editorial team at 21WIRE.How many of your favorite movies have been shaped and directed by the Pentagon? Since the 1970 s, a number of successful Hollywood blockbuster hits, including Patton, Apocalypse Now, Top Gun, Three Kings, Saving Private Ryan, Blackhawk Down and others have had their productions and budgets augmented by the US military machine including the use military bases, heavy weaponry, submarines aircraft and aircraft carriers generously made available to the studios but at a price. The quid pro quo is that Pentagon s experts are then allowed to vet hundreds of screenplays each year, and even have direct input into the story lines.Operation Hollywood explores the cozy relationship between the big entertainment studios and the military industrial complex, and asks why Americans, and the world, accept that the Pentagon will use movies to promote its own brand of propaganda in the furtherance of a US-centric global agenda of militarization. Watch:. Run time: 52 min Director: Emilio Pacull Distributor Arte France and Les Films d Ici (2004)For additional background on this topic, listen to author Jay Dyer s highly informative lecture on the subject.SEE MORE SUNDAY SCREENINGS HERESUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV",0 "Unhinged NBA Coach: ‘White People Especially’ Need To Be Made ‘Uncomfortable’ [Video]San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is a total ass. There is no other way to say it! This jackwagon claimed on ESPN2 s The Paul Finebaum Show Monday that people have to be made to feel uncomfortable, specifically singling out white people. It s no secret that he doesn t like President Trump and has made disparaging remarks about the president in the past. Now he says he thinks all white people should be made to feel uncomfortable? What a way to piss off your white fans! Wow!WHO MADE THIS GUY THE ONE WHO DECIDES WHO S COMFORTABLE AND WHO ISN T? Well, because it s uncomfortable, and there has to be an uncomfortable element in the discourse for anything to change. Whether it s the LGBT movement, women s suffrage, race, it doesn t matter. People have to be made to feel uncomfortable, and especially white people because we re comfortable. We still have no clue of what being born white means, he stated.POPOVICH RESPONDS TO SPURS BEING UNINVITED TO THE WHITE HOUSE:Popovich on #Warriors White House visit being rescinded #Spurs #NBA pic.twitter.com/aY3KyV3uJL Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) September 25, 2017NBA COACH IS A SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR? WHO KNEW? If you read some of the recent literature, you ll realize there really is no such thing as whiteness, but we kind of made that up. That s not my original thought, but it s true, Popovich said.He added, Because you were born white, you have advantages that are systemically, culturally, psychologically there. And they have been built up and cemented for hundreds of years. But many people can t look at it. It s too difficult. It can t be something that is on their plate on a daily basis. People want to hold their position, people want the status quo, people don t want to give that up. And until it s given up, it s not going to be fixed, the coach stated.REALLY???Read more: Daily Caller",0 "THUG VIOLENTLY ROBS 81-YEAR OLD WOMAN…But She Gets Her Revenge! [Video]Security camera footage captured Mary, an 81-year-old woman, being assaulted by a man at a bank ATM machine in Aurora, Ontario.The man waited for Mary to finish her transaction, then went for her money. Mary fought back with spunk, in an effort to make sure security cameras captured his image. Her attacker has since been arrested.Statement from York Regional Police:THIS GUY, WHO VIOLENTLY ROBBED AN 81-YEAR-OLD LADY IS STILL ON THE LOOSE. We need your help to ID him. If you have any information on who this violent suspect might be, please call our investigators at 1-866-876-5423 x7141. Investigators with the York Regional Police #1 District Criminal Investigations Bureau are releasing surveillance video of a violent robbery of an 81-year-old lady and seeking public assistance to identify the suspect. On Monday, July 31, 2017, shortly before 7:30 p.m., police were called to a bank located at 15252 Yonge Street, which is in the area of Yonge Street and Wellington Street, in the Town of Aurora for a report of a robbery. Investigators have learned that the 81-year-old victim used an automated teller machine to withdraw money. When the transaction was complete, an unknown man approached the victim and tried to grab her money. The victim resisted and the man pushed her to the ground and stole her money. The suspect fled the area on foot. The victim was taken to hospital suffering from non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators are releasing surveillance video of the attack and images of the suspect and are seeking public assistance to identify him. Suspect: Male White 5 7 Brown hair Wearing a white T-shirt, dark-coloured cargo shorts and black sunglasses Anyone with information is asked to contact the #1 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 1-866-876-5423, ext.7141, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, leave an anonymous tip online at www.1800222tips.com, or text your tip to CRIMES (274637) starting with the word YORK. ",0 "Michael Ignatief, Canada's ex Liberal Party leader, predicts the province of Quebec's secession in a near future, likely to be accelerated if Scotland votes for independence",1 "Honduran helicopter crash kills six, including president's sisterTEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The sister of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and five others died when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed on Saturday, the Honduran military said. Hilda Hernandez, 51, was a close advisor to her brother, who is embroiled in political turmoil in the wake of a Nov. 26 presidential election, which remains unresolved. She was previously the government s communications secretary. Two reconnaissance helicopters were sent to comb the missing Eurocopter AS350 Ecureuil helicopter s planned flight path from Toncontin international airport in capital city Tegucigalpa to Comayagua, some 50 miles (80 km) northwest, but because of inclement weather conditions land teams were sent in, the Honduran armed forces said in the statement. The remains of the aircraft were located and no survivors were found, the armed forces said, adding it would investigate the causes of the crash. A government source, who asked not to be named said: The six people aboard the aircraft, including Hilda Hernandez have been found dead. Honduras has been roiled by political instability following the presidential vote, with center-left Salvador Nasralla, a TV star, trailing conservative incumbent Hernandez by 1.6 percentage points according to the official count. The tally has been questioned by the two main opposition parties and a wide swathe of the diplomatic corps. ",1 Pakistan population time bomb,0 "25,000 people protest in Bucharest against corruption",0 "Sunken Ruins of Alexandria Set to Become Worlds First Underwater Museum - the associated 270,000 square foot area of Alexandria Bay includes the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world",0 Wealthy elite are worried about their Cayman Islands tax haven.,1 "Russia outlaws films that 'threaten national unity' or 'defile culture': defiling the national culture, posing a threat to national unity and undermining the foundations of the constitutional order will not be allowed to be screened in cinemas",1 "After murders, Bangladesh police blames bloggers, asks them not to 'cross limit'",1 " New Study Shows Why Major Insurers Hate The ACA – It Actually Forces Them To Help Sick PeopleMajor insurers everywhere have dumped massive cash into lobbying against the ACA. Their corporate-owned Republicans have insisted it would destroy America in any number of strange and unusual ways. Now a new study reveals why they say helping sick people afford to see a doctor is bad for the country.Data has become available for 2014 and 2015 enrollees to Blue Cross and Blue Shield, who were picked up through the Affordable Care Act s health insurance exchanges. It shows that the people who the ACA was specifically created to help are actually going to the doctor and using medical services. Huge shock, right? The entirety of the Republican and corporate establishment s opposition to the ACA resides in a single thing money. More for them, and none for regular people. If the poor and middle class suffer and die needlessly, that s just their cost of doing business.People who got back into the insurance market, thanks to the ACA, were shown to have a 22 percent higher medical cost than those with employer-based coverage in 2015. The average monthly spending numbers for the new enrollees was $559 in 2015 compared to $457 for group members who had it through an employer. The same new enrollee segment increased from $501 in 2014 to the previously mentioned $559 in 2015.The irony of the situation is that the very corporations who are whining about having to pay the bills of sick people were the primary engineers of their own self-imposed disaster. These are the same corporations that spiked health insurance costs, causing people to be unable to afford it. They are also the same corporations that outright refused to sell people coverage, because of pre-existing conditions. Pre-existing conditions that could be literally anything they wanted them to be. After sometimes decades of unmanaged health issues, these new enrollees are consuming services at elevated rates. Insurers basically screwed themselves for short-term profits, and now they have to pay some of it back. Pardon me if I am less than sympathetic towards them.This shows just how desperately needed the ACA is, and how incredibly dishonest health insurers are about their business model. The fact insurance payouts rose as much as they did in as short a time is proof just how many Americans were suffering without need. That is where the darker truth of the health insurance industry comes into plain view. These companies are still wildly profitable. They just want to keep more money for themselves. Simply put, they ve become a caricature of their own greedy reputations.The tragedy of this all is that the same data showing how desperately needed the ACA is, also is being used as misinformation to completely lie to America about how bad it is for the country. The only tidbit being presented is that it is increasing costs to insurance companies, which does mean their premiums might go up. However, the overall increase in premiums is at a slower rate than before Obamacare became law, even with the increased payouts for more consumption of services.Right wingers and unscrupulous insurance companies are taking the very truth about why it is a good law, and perverting it into a lie about how it is bad by purposefully omitting all context until the truth is whatever they want it to be. If you add in the fact that initial expenditures are going to be higher until we catch up with decades of a lack of care, you can argue a case that premiums would have actually dropped if all other things were equal, due to massive amounts of new customers spreading out the cost burden.As more new data becomes available, and initial over-consumption tapers off, the last arguments to be made against the law will ultimately boil down to profit over people. If anything will prove how obsolete the American health insurance industry is, and why single-payer is needed, that will be it.Featured image via Joe Raedle / Getty",0 "WRONG COLOR: If Left Really Cared About Police Brutality, They’d Be Protesting Death Of White 6 Yr Old Autistic Boy Whose Dad Was Unarmed With “Hands Up” [VIDEO]As it turns out, police brutality really isn t the issue at all. It s about dividing a nation down racial lines and the good police men and women are just part of a scheme by the Left that is being orchestrated in the highest office of our nation Police investigating the fatal shooting of a six-year-old autistic boy by two Louisiana state marshals are looking into whether one of the cops had a grudge with the child s father.Jeremy Mardis was shot five times in the head and chest as he sat in the passenger seat of his father Chris Few s car last week by officers Derrick Stafford, 32, and Norris Greenhouse.Investigators are exploring the possibility that Greenhouse, 23, had a personal issue with Few, after Few s fianc e Megan Dixon said the marshal had been messaging her on Facebook and coming round to their home.Ms Dixon has previously said she was the reason this all started , adding that she knew what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting.Few and Ms Dixon were drinking Budweisers and shots of tequila in T.J. s Lounge and pool bar that evening before getting into an argument, the Denver Post reported.She announced to the bar that they were not seeing each other any more and started dancing with one of the barmen.Few reportedly stormed out of the bar, kicking a door as he left, before getting into a blazing row with Ms Dixon in the parking lot.They drove off in different vehicles and someone called 911.A short while later, after Few had picked up Jeremy, he pulled up next to Ms Dixon at a red light and asked her to come home with him. She said she declined because she was stubborn .As she pulled away, Ms Dixon said she saw two marshals cars approaching from behind with their lights flashing.She said she saw Few was pointing at his son s head, showing that he was in the car and he wasn t sure what to do.According to investigators, Few drove down a cul-de-sac as marshals Greenhouse and Stafford came round the corner.Police say Few started reversing and at this point the men opened fire, pumping 18 bullets into the SUV, five of which hit Jeremy in the head and chest.Police are investigating whether Greenhouse (left) had a grudge with Few, who was said to have confronted the cop over Facebook messages and visit to his fiancee. Pictured right, StaffordFew s attorney says footage from a bodycam worn by one of the cops shows the father putting his hands up before the officers started firing.Col. Edmonson on Friday described the footage as the most disturbing thing I ve seen .He added: That video was incredible. I mean, as a father, much less head of the state police, I looked at that tape, I said this is incredibly disturbing. Initial reports suggested the marshals had a warrant but it was subsequently discovered that they did not, and it is not known why they pursued Few.Greenhouse and Stafford were charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. They are being held on $1million bonds.As you can see here, these two cops were about as bad as two cops can be. Since neither of them are white, and the victim is white, this is a non-story to the citizens who are reportedly so concerned about police brutality: Via: Daily Mail ",0 "KEY DEMOCRATS MOCKED In Saturday Night Live Skit: ‘We’re Baaack!’ [Video]Saturday Night Live usually hits the Republicans with mocking skits Usually it s something about President Trump, Sarah Sanders or Sean Spicer Former Press Secretary Sean Spicer was brutalized on on the show. He even remarked about how it stung when he was mocked mercilessly in skit after skit. Alex Baldwin usually plays President Trump in skits that really are unfunny. When it crosses the line to nasty , you ve lost your audience. The president is not a fan tweeting last year that the impression just can t get any worse and calling the show unwatchable. Maybe keeping politics out of the show would be a smart tactic but they just can t seem to do that What they did do last night was surprising They flipped the script to bash the DNC. Shocker! Tell us what you think about this mocking skit aimed at the key players in the Democrat Party:MELANIA TRUMP JUST ZINGED ALEC BALDWIN:MELANIA TRUMP never hesitates to call someone on the carpet for lying about her Alec Baldwin knows now that he can t mess with the First Lady!A spokesperson for the first lady fired back at the actor after he claimed that she loves my impersonation of President Donald Trump. That is not true, which is why Mr. Baldwin has no actual names to go with his bizarre assertion, the spokeswoman told The Hill on Monday.The Saturday Night Live star had made the remarks on WYNC s The Brian Lehrer Show Monday. Someone told me who s friends with someone in the White House, or formerly in the White House that Melania Trump loves SNL and she loves my impersonation, Baldwin said in the interview.The 59 year-old actor claimed the first lady told this person, very high up in the White House brass there, that, That s exactly what he s like. Baldwin has been doing his impersonation of Trump for well over a year now on NBC s late-night sketch comedy show and won an Emmy Award in September for his portrayal of Trump.The president is not a fan, however, tweeting last year that the impression just can t get any worse and calling the show unwatchable. in a tweet from December of last year:Just tried watching Saturday Night Live unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse. Sad Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2016THE BIG LIE FROM BALDWIN: Apparently, Trump is horrified and beside himself that his wife actually thinks it s funny, Baldwin claimed Monday.The 30 Rock star was promoting his new book, You Can t Spell America Without Me: The Really Tremendous Inside Story of my Fantastic First Year as President Donald J. Trump. (A So-Called Parody). READ MORE: BPR",0 "FAIR calls out NYT, WPost, LATimes, AssocPress for ignoring the facts and believing Israel's spin.",0 " Democrats Are Spending MILLIONS To Destroy Trump With These 2 Ads (VIDEO)Democrats are days away from launching a multi-million dollar advertising campaign designed to completely destroy Donald Trump and render him impotent in the general election. The organization leading the charge will be Priorities USA, the Super PAC that backed President Obama s re-election campaign in 2012.The original plan was reportedly to start releasing ads after the California primary, but now the timetable has been moved up.Priorities USA will spend $6 million on ads between May 18 and June 8, hitting Trump in Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Nevada, all general election battleground states. The ads will try to do what no Republican could: Take down the businessman who beat a scrum of veteran politicians to all-but-win the Republican nomination. Respect is a more traditional ad, highlighting Trump s divisive speech, including his campaign rallies where he has gone after minorities, women, and Muslims among others. Speak showcases Trump s anti-woman comments, many of them from his appearances on shock jock Howard Stern s radio show. In the ad women are shown, sometimes with their families, mouthing along with Trump.Guy Cecil, the Clinton campaign veteran who runs the super PAC, appeared on MSNBC s The Rachel Maddow Show to debut the ads. He explained that while ads in the Republican primary had not stopped Trump, the effort began far too late in the process and often Republicans had been far too reluctant to go after the candidate.Priorities USA, in addition to its own focus groups and research, has also been using the Republican primary as a testing ground for what has and hasn t worked against Trump in the hopes of hitting on the winning formula that will hurt him as much as a similar campaign did against Mitt Romney in 2012.The group reportedly plans to spend at least $130 million in advertising over the next six months.Featured image via YouTube",0 A smoking gun letter reveals Vatican directly ordered pedophiles be protected,1 Tehran plays games with jailed hikers,0 " Megyn Kelly Desperately Attempts To Rescue Kasich From His Sexist Comments (VIDEO)The Republican party has been good at one thing thus far this election year: They ve managed to assemble a group of individuals who ve made the Party of Lincoln seem comical. Whether its Trump s antics, Cruz s lies, or Rubio s roboticism, it s not looking to good for the party to take back the presidency. The latest comic book tale comes from one John Kasich who said that women left the kitchen to vote for him when he first ran for office in 1978.In a sign that Fox News is desperately trying to resurrect an establishment candidate for the nomination, host Megyn Kelly, who has earned a reputation for being straightforward and even tough on candidates when they say stupid things, was surprisingly playful with Kasich. After playing a clip of Kasich s kitchen remark, Kelly was friendly and self-deprecating: I can certainly say that if it were my husband, he d say, For the love of God, get out of the kitchen! No one wants you in here! You do bad things in here! The two then had a creepy chuckle which immediately put Kasich at ease. She even went as far as to rationalize his women in the kitchen comment, saying: Back in 1978 when you first ran for office, 70% of women were not working out of the home full time, they just weren t. The vast majority of women were at home and things have changed a lot since then. These comments put Kasich at ease and he then went on to say how much he supposedly respects women by giving examples. He said: But let s be real about this. You know, my campaign manager is a woman, she used to be my chief of staff and if I m president, who knows? She ll have one of the highest positions in the country. I have a lieutenant governor who s a woman. You know, the situation is, I appointed a lady to the Ohio Supreme Court, you know, obviously a woman. And I ve a number of very influential women cabinet members. Not only did Kelly let him off the hook with his comments and rehabilitated him, but she conveniently forgot to ask Kasich about signing a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood in his home state of Ohio.After Kelly had admirably grilled Trump about his comments about women, she disappointingly let Kasich off the hook. This is a sign Fox News is playing favoritism in its quest to rehabilitate an establishment candidate for the nomination.Here s the video:Featured image via screenshot",0 Corruption taints every facet of life in China.,0 " Trump Supporters Give Nazi Salute, Tell Reporters To ‘Go To F*cking Auschwitz’ (VIDEO)Donald Trump may deny that his appeal among right-leaning individuals is deeply rooted in Nazism, but it s becoming more and more difficult for him to distract from who his supporters really are. The billionaire, who has made headlines for tweeting out white supremacist propaganda and for gaining the unwavering support of racists across the nation, repeatedly says the things that many conservatives wish they could say without getting kicked out of a restaurant or losing their jobs Muslims should not be allowed to enter the country, Mexicans are all rapists, beating up black people is perfectly fine as long as it s done in his name (he ll even pay the legal fees for anyone who does it).In January, an analysis of Trump s Twitter traffic revealed that not only were 68 percent of the people he retweeted the week of January 26 white supremacists, but that 58% of the top 50 white supremacist Twitter accounts follow Trump figures even The Donald s most die-hard detractors likely did Nazi coming. White supremacist groups campaign for Trump fairly regularly, so it is unsusprising that many Nazis feel quite at home at his rallies especially since Trump recently worked the good ole Sieg Heil into his events in the form of a f*cked-up loyalty pledge.On Saturday, video surfaced of Trump s supporters doing what they do best. The footage, apparently shot as Trump fans were leaving the event and were full of Trumpitude, shows numerous supporters tossing up the Nazi salute that has almost become a symbol for the 2016 hopeful.One man, wearing a backward baseball cap and a New York Yankees t-shirt, took things a goose-step father than a simple salute, though.If you can identify this man, please message me via any of the methods of contact in my bio. JohnThe unidentified man told a Dutch reporter and protesters:Other supporters followed up with their own Hitler salutes, and all the while the crowd chanted, Trump, Trump, Trump. While, surely, these individuals simply want to make America great again, one must question why they feel it necessary to emulate one of history s most horrible dictators while doing so.These supporters aren t the first, nor will they be the last, to Sieg Heil for The Donald as they scream for black people to Go back to Africa. Recently, a 69-year-old woman in a Trump t-shirt was photographed tossing up her own Nazi salute, though she says she was simply showing protesters how to perfom the action properly. She s totally not a Nazi. Neither are the folks who tossed up their own salute as they screamed for people to be thrown into concentration camps.They just love America. Right? RIGHT?Watch the chilling scene unfold below:Featured image via screengrab",0 "SECRET GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE Program In Public Spaces EXPOSED: “They put microphones under rocks, they put microphones in trees” [VIDEO]Imagine standing at a bus stop, talking to your friend and having your conversation recorded Hidden microphones that are part of a clandestine government surveillance program that has been operating around the Bay Area has been exposed.Imagine standing at a bus stop, talking to your friend and having your conversation recorded without you knowing. It happens all the time, and the FBI doesn t even need a warrant to do it.Federal agents are planting microphones to secretly record conversations.Jeff Harp, a KPIX 5 security analyst and former FBI special agent said, They put microphones under rocks, they put microphones in trees, they plant microphones in equipment. I mean, there s microphones that are planted in places that people don t think about, because that s the intent! FBI agents hid microphones inside light fixtures and at a bus stop outside the Oakland Courthouse without a warrant to record conversations, between March 2010 and January 2011.Federal authorities are trying to prove real estate investors in San Mateo and Alameda counties are guilty of bid rigging and fraud and used these recordings as evidence.Harp said, An agent can t just go out and grab a recording device and plant it somewhere without authorization from a supervisor or special agent in charge. The lawyer for one of the accused real estate investors who will ask the judge to throw out the recordings, told KPIX 5 News that, Speaking in a public place does not mean that the individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy private communication in a public place qualifies as a protected oral communication and therefore may not be intercepted without judicial authorization. Harp says that if you re going to conduct criminal activity, do it in the privacy of your own home. He says that was the original intention of the Fourth Amendment, but it s up to the judge to interpret it. Via: SF CBS Global",0 "Peru's Congress prepares to oust President KuczynskiLIMA (Reuters) - President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski s chances of surviving the political crisis gripping Peru faded on Friday after Congress passed a motion to start presidential vacancy procedures with enough votes to unseat him within a week. The opposition-controlled Congress voted 93-17 on Friday to seek his removal from office over graft allegations, which he denies. Eighty-seven votes will be needed to oust him in a session scheduled for Dec. 21, when he will be asked to defend himself. A Brazilian construction company at the center of Latin America s biggest graft scandal disclosed this week payments totaling $4.8 million to companies owned by Kuczynski or a close friend, triggering calls for him to resign. Kuczynski had previously denied any links to the Brazilian company, Odebrecht, and said on Thursday there was nothing improper about the payments. Flanked by his Cabinet, Kuczynski vowed not to resign in a defiant message to the nation. However, Kuczynski was aware his chances of surviving the scandal were slim, said a government source who asked not be identified. By resisting calls to step down, he hopes to clear his name and defend due process as the Odebrecht graft investigation widens, the source said. This is a national disgrace, said opposition lawmaker Lourdes Alcorta. The less harmful option for Peru would be his resignation. He s forcing us to impeach him. Odebrecht has rocked politics in Latin America since agreeing a year ago to provide details on bribery schemes across the region - landing elites in jail from Colombia to the Dominican Republic and nearly toppling a president in Brazil. Two former presidents in Peru, Ollanta Humala and Alejandro Toledo, have been ensnared in the Odebrecht probe over alleged payments they deny. Humala was jailed pending trial in July and authorities are seeking Toledo s extradition from the United States. Opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, whom Kuczynski unexpectedly defeated in last year s presidential election, is also under investigation and denies wrongdoing. If Kuczynski is forced out, he would be replaced by First Vice President Martin Vizcarra, a former governor of a copper-rich mining region and Peru s current ambassador to Canada. Kuczynski was once lauded by many as a brilliant technocrat who would help uproot widespread corruption in Peru. But his 16 months in office have been marked by clashes with the right-wing opposition party that controls Congress. Kuczynski said late on Thursday he was the owner, but not the manager, of a company paid by Odebrecht while he held senior government posts. He also acknowledged providing financial services for an Odebrecht project as a consultant for a friend s firm when he did not hold public office. The opposition slammed the explanation as too little, too late. It s really unfortunate that President Kuczynski has put the country in this situation, said congresswoman Cecilia Chacon. ",1 Backgrounder: Basic facts about Abkhazia,1 EU: Illegal downloads are NOT so harmful to the music industry [PDF Alert],1 "Exclusive: Mexico unlikely to find more quake survivors, emergency chief saysMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico will search another three days beneath the rubble for possible survivors of the September 19 earthquake even though it is unlikely rescuers will find anyone alive, the country s chief of emergency services said on Monday. Luis Felipe Puente, coordinator of Mexico s Civil Protection department, also told Reuters that the government has instructed prosecutors to investigate newly constructed buildings that collapsed in the quake for code violations, including a school where 19 children and seven adults died. I can say that at this time it would be unlikely to find someone alive, Puente said in an interview, referring to 43 missing people being sought at four disaster sites in Mexico City. The 7.1 magnitude quake struck one week ago, killing 326 people including 187 people in Mexico City, damaging 11,000 homes, of which about 1,500 will need to be demolished, Puente said. About 10 percent of damaged buildings were constructed after strict building codes were enacted in the wake of the devastating 1985 earthquake that killed an estimated 10,000 people, Puente said, leading officials on Monday to instruct prosecutors to open investigations. The Mexico City mayor and the national government have already ordered judicial investigations to determine who was responsible for new construction that did not meet the requirements, Puente said from Civil Protection headquarters, where a roomful of technicians monitored seismic activity and tropical storms on an array of screens. A school that collapsed in southern Mexico City, killing 19 children and seven adults, will be among the subjects of the investigations, Puente said. Officials who approved the school building, the construction company and the owner of the property all could be held accountable if any violations are discovered, Puente said. The largest search and rescue effort was under way at an office building in the Roma section of Mexico City where 40 people may be buried, based on families who have reported their relatives missing, Puente said. A person was believed missing at each of three other buildings in the capital where search operations are in progress, Puente said. Dogs trained to pick up the scent of survivors have yet to find any signs of life at the search sites, he said. Asked how mucher longer search and rescue operations would continue, Punete said, As of today, we have agreed to another 72 hours. ",1 "North Korea: Nuke test just a ""first response"" aimed at U.S.",1 "Error & Trial: Are 6 Italian Scientists Facing Manslaughter Charges & Prison for Failing to Predict an Earthquake, or Failing to Clearly Communicate Their Findings? - Their Hearing Resumes This Weekend ",0 " Even Angela Merkel’s Top Political Rival Is Livid With Trump – SLAMS His Treatment Of HerGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel is up for reelection in September, and she s locked in a pretty tight race against Martin Schulz, the former president of the European Parliament. Following the G7 summit, where Trump s childish arrogance was on full display, Schulz simply shredded Trump for his treatment of Merkel: Election campaign or no election campaign, in this situation let me be entirely clear: the chancellor represent all of us at summits like these. And I reject with outrage the way this man takes it upon himself to treat the head of our country s government. That is unacceptable. It is, but it s hard to expect Trump to understand that at this point. In his mind, he s the most important person ever to walk the planet. As such, he was, more or less, a complete asshole during his visit to Europe. He called Germany who, up until now, was our most powerful European ally bad, very bad, for their trade policies. He said that German sells millions of cars in the U.S. and implied that we get nothing from it, so it is going to stop. He proved with those statements that he has no idea that German automakers actually employ thousands of U.S. workers inside U.S. borders.Trump had the gall to castigate NATO, too, for allegedly freeloading off the U.S. as though we make up for the money they aren t spending (in truth, that two percent mark that NATO allies are supposed to reach refers to the percentage of their individual GDPs they need to commit to their national defenses). He also yelled at them for the cost of their new headquarters, almost acting as though we paid for it without voting for it.For her part, Merkel has since said that Germany (and probably NATO) can t rely on us as a partner anymore. That s a dangerous position for us to be in Trump is throwing away everything we ve worked towards with Europe because he s a dickbag.Elsewhere, he showed his total asshattery by shoving the prime minister of Montenegro aside to get to the front of a photo op. His body language there read, Do you know who I am? according to one body language expert who analyzed his postures during that and two other incidents at the summit.Those other two incidents involve French President Macron. The first is when Macron arrived in Italy as he was walking towards the leaders who were already there, Trump stuck his hands out to greet him, but Macron veered toward Merkel to greet her first. He greeted two other leaders before making it to Trump, who then yanked him toward him as though to show him who was boss.Then there was the now-famous white-knuckled handshake with Macron, who admitted that wasn t totally innocent. He wanted to show Trump that France, and by extension, Europe, would not allow Trump to bully them.Some have interpreted Schulz s comments as an attack on Merkel he did appear to also say that she shouldn t have allowed Trump to treat her the way he did but the bottom line is this: When someone s chief political rival takes their side against someone else, that someone else has royally screwed up.Featured image by Olivier Douliery Pool via Getty Images",0 A French company that was awarded the right to build Australia's $50 billion submarine fleet is tied up in a deadly multi-million dollar bribery scandal.,1 Thousands of Tunisians marched through the capital Tunis Sunday in a show of support for a television station subjected to violence after airing a controversial film that offended Muslims. ,0 Children in Sweden have best lives ,0 "Large sharks to be baited, killed, and dumped offshore to keep Western Australian beaches ""safe.""",1 "Trump vows appeal up to Supreme Court after loss on travel banHONOLULU/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A defiant President Donald Trump has pledged to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary to fight for his revised travel ban, parts of which were halted by two different federal judges in recent days. The legal path forward will be challenging, though, as lawsuits work their way through federal courts on opposite sides of the country, in Hawaii and Maryland. On Thursday, a federal judge in Washington state said he was also weighing a temporary restraining order. The Justice Department’s first step would likely be filing an appeal in either or both of the cases it lost this week, an action likely to come within days. Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores declined to comment on the administration’s intentions. In granting a temporary restraining order against the ban challenged in a lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaii, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson found on Wednesday that “a reasonable, objective observer ... would conclude that the executive order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion.” Trump’s executive order would temporarily ban refugees as well as travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries. The president has said the ban is needed for national security. Early on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang issued a nationwide preliminary injunction in a case in Maryland brought by refugee resettlement agencies represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center. Chuang ruled that the groups were likely to succeed in showing that the travel ban portion of the executive order was intended to be a ban on Muslims, and as a result, violates the U.S. Constitution’s religious freedom guarantee. He did not enjoin the refugee portion of the ban. “To avoid sowing seeds of division in our nation, upholding this fundamental constitutional principle at the core of our nation’s identity plainly serves a significant public interest,” Chuang wrote in his ruling. The court orders, while victories for the plaintiffs, are only an early step in litigation and the government could ultimately win its underlying case. Watson and Chuang were appointed to the bench by former Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump, speaking after the Hawaii ruling at a rally in Nashville on Wednesday, called his revised executive order a “watered-down version” of his first. The president said he would take the case “as far as it needs to go,” including to the Supreme Court, in order to get a ruling that the ban is legal. The Trump administration won a small legal victory later on Thursday. U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle, who last month blocked Trump’s first travel ban, ruled that the second travel ban was different enough from the first that he would not simply apply a preliminary injunction he issued against the first ban to the second one. He said he was weighing a request for a temporary restraining order on the new travel ban. The likely next stops if the administration decides to contest the two rulings that it lost this week would be the 4th and 9th U.S. circuit courts of appeal. Both may be frosty venues for Trump’s arguments, with majorities of the judges in each appointed by Democratic presidents. Three judges on the 9th Circuit upheld Robart’s order last month on the first travel ban. Rather than appeal further, the administration withdrew the ban, promising to retool it in ways that would address the legal issues. The Supreme Court is currently split between four conservative and four liberal justices, with no ninth justice since the death of Antonin Scalia more than a year ago. Trump’s nominee to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat, Neil Gorsuch, a 49-year-old conservative, is likely to be asked about the travel ban next week when he goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing. Republicans are hoping that the Senate votes to confirm Gorsuch for the court by mid-April, which would likely be too late for him to weigh in on an emergency appeal about the travel ban. Trump signed the new ban on March 6 in a bid to overcome legal problems with his January executive order, which caused chaos at airports and sparked mass protests before Robart stopped its enforcement in February. Watson’s order is only temporary until the broader arguments in the case can be heard. He set an expedited hearing schedule to determine if his ruling should be extended. ",1 "IF AMERICA ELECTS HILLARY, She Promises To Reward Voters By Forcing Them To Pay DOUBLE For SodaHillary s over-the-top plan to tax the consumer for sugary drinks and soda makes former Mayor Michael Bloomberg look like a chump. Hillary knows what s good for you and what s not now shut up and pay Hillary Clinton on Wednesday came out in favor of a tax on soda that is three times larger than the one floated by Michael Bloomberg when he was mayor of New York City.Speaking at a forum in Philadelphia, Clinton said she was very supportive of a proposal unveiled last month by the city s mayor, Jim Kenney.The Democrat is calling for a tax of three cents per ounce on soda and other sugary beverages. The additional revenue which Kenney estimates to come in at $400 million over the next five years will help pay for pre-kindergarten education.Kenney s lofty proposal is three times the amount of the tax proposed in 2010 by Bloomberg a measure which was shot down and made the billionaire the butt of many jokes.Berkeley, Calif. is the only other major U.S. city to enact a soda tax. That liberal enclave has a one-cent tax on sugary beverages.A group called Philadelphians Against Grocery Tax says that the Clinton-backed tariff would double the cost of some grocery items.A 12-pack of 12-ounce sodas would cost an additional $4.32, nearly doubling the price of the item for consumers, according to the group, which is backed by the American Beverage Association.A 2-liter bottle of soda, which contains roughly 68 ounces and costs around $1.50, would more than double in price. The tax would run $2.04. Via: Daily Caller ",0 "U.S. extends overtime pay to 4.2 million salaried workers(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled the final version of a long-awaited and controversial rule to extend overtime pay to 4.2 million U.S. workers, which marks one of the administration’s most significant moves to address stagnant wages. The rule, which has drawn intense criticism from business groups and Republicans, doubles the maximum annual income a salaried worker can earn and still be automatically eligible for overtime pay from $23,660 to $47,476 and requires that threshold to be updated every three years. It takes effect Dec. 1. Officials said many workers will earn more money, an estimated total of $12 billion over the next decade, while others will work fewer hours for the same pay. “More than 4 million workers are either going to be paid more or get time back to raise their family, go to school … or retrain to get a better job,” Vice President Joe Biden said during a phone call with reporters on Tuesday. The rule will likely touch nearly every sector of the U.S. economy but is expected to have the greatest impact on nonprofit groups, retail companies, hotels and restaurants, which have many management workers whose salaries are below the new threshold. Business groups, which lobbied heavily against the changes, say companies will be forced to cut wages and hours and may slow hiring. The Obama administration and supporters of the new rule say the $23,660 threshold allowed companies to hold down labor costs by requiring workers with relatively low incomes to work well over 40 hours per week without additional pay. The rule will likely face legal challenges, including claims that the U.S. Labor Department flouted legal requirements for creating new regulations. Republicans in Congress have said they will move to block the rule, but they would need to overcome a veto from President Barack Obama. The new threshold was lower than the $50,440 standard proposed by the Obama administration last year, but the last-minute change to lower it, which was widely expected, did little to appease critics. Any federal standard above the $35,100 overtime threshold in New York, which has a high cost of living, will inhibit economic growth in more rural states in the South and Midwest, Tammy McCutchen, a Washington D.C. lawyer who works with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said on Tuesday before the final rule was announced. The threshold also disappointed proponents of the new rule, including Ross Eisenbrey of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, who first pitched an overhaul to the White House in 2013. “It means a million fewer employees will be helped,” he said before the rule was released. ",1 "Kurdish rebel leader Talabani sought Iraqi unity as presidentERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, who died on Tuesday aged 83, spent decades fighting for his people s independence but then became president of Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and struggled to unite the deeply fractured country. His death, in Germany, came barely a week after the Kurds of northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum condemned by Baghdad and Iraq s powerful neighbors Turkey and Iran who fear it will destabilize the wider region. A veteran of the Kurdish guerrilla movement, Talabani survived wars, exile and political infighting among the Kurds to become Iraq s first non-Arab president in 2005, two years after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam. The Iraqi presidency post-Saddam is a largely ceremonial post, but Talabani, forceful yet charming, proved a pivotal mediator among Iraq s fractious Shi ite, Sunni and Kurdish parties, and he stayed on as head of state until 2014. Despite his calls for Iraqi national unity, the man known affectionately among Kurds as Mam or uncle was always a fierce champion of the Kurdish cause, fighting Saddam for decades and pushing for federalism to benefit the semi-autonomous region in the north. While sectarianism and attacks by al Qaeda engulfed most of Iraq after 2003, triggering a civil war between Shi ites and Sunnis, the Kurdish north remained relatively stable and safe. Iraq s Kurds are now closer than ever to realizing their dream of independence after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein, followed by years of tensions with the Baghdad government over oil and other issues. However, Talabani s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) - and his wife and companion in political struggle, Hero - voiced only lukewarm support for the Sept. 25 referendum. Talabani was too ill by then to comment publicly on the vote. The referendum was organized by Talabani s longtime rival Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The split between Barzani s Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and Talabani s PUK raises questions over the future of Iraqi Kurdish politics. Talabani s PUK, unlike Barzani, has traditionally good ties with Tehran. Iranian-backed Shi ite groups wield considerable power in Iraq. Born in 1933, Talabani studied law at Baghdad University, joined the KDP in 1946 and by his mid-twenties was a member of the inner circle, a top lieutenant to the independence movement s patriarch, Mullah Mustafa Barzani. He split from the party and formed the PUK in 1974. A damaging rivalry developed with Barzani and his son, Massoud. Talabani regarded himself as a modern, socialist and urban alternative to the tribal authority wielded by the elder Barzani and much of the PUK s support comes from the urban elite. Talabani s harshest lesson came in 1988 when Iraq gassed Kurdish towns near the Iranian border during an Iranian-PUK offensive in the waning days of the Iran-Iraq war. In the brutal seven-month Anfal campaigns, Kurds accused Iraqi forces of killing tens of thousands of men, women and children and relocating many more. Many remain missing, despite the discovery of mass graves, and no one knows for sure how many were Anfalised as Kurds call the killings and disappearances. Most independent estimates put the figure at about 100,000. Many Kurdish leaders put it at more than 180,000. Following their uprising against Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf war, Iraqi Kurds saw their first shot at self-rule go up in smoke when Talabani and Barzani sparred over control of a provisional north Iraq government elected in 1992. That bickering escalated into a civil war that saw the KDP enlist Baghdad s help against the Iranian-backed PUK. A U.S.-sponsored truce backed with the threat of a diplomatic embargo took hold in 1998 and the two factions developed parallel, cooperating administrations. Talabani s speeches often reminded Kurds of their suffering at the hands of Saddam Hussein. But he and other Kurdish leaders faced unrest from Kurds more concerned with poor services in their towns and villages than the painful past. Talabani suffered a stroke in 2012 while still serving as Iraqi president and underwent lengthy medical treatment, mostly in Germany. One of his sons, Qubad, is the current deputy prime minister of the KRG in northern Iraq. ",1 "Taiwan's pig farmers threaten large-scale protest over US pork containing ractopamine, a drug fed to promote rapid weight gain",0 "A soldier in Somalia has avenged the killing of his wife by shooting dead five women related to militant Islamists, an official has said. He suspected that the women had colluded with the murderers of his wife, who was also a soldier, he added.",1 "AL GORE DECLINES ENDORSEMENT OF HILLARY FOR NOW…WHAT’S HE WAITING FOR?It s too early to endorse Hillary? What s Al Gore waiting for? It s clear that Hillary is the anointed one for the Democrats so why would he wait and who would he be waiting for if not HRC?Al Gore declined to back Hillary Clinton for president when asked who he thinks would be next in the White House.When questioned by WPP founder Sir Martin Sorrell at the Cannes Lions festival of creativity about whom he would back for 2016, Gore Bill Clinton s vice president from 1993 to 2001 notably didn t take the chance to praise Hillary. In a packed Cannes Lions session Friday, Sorrell asked Gore, Would you refuse to answer the question [who will be the next president of the United States]? Gore responded, I wouldn t refuse to answer that question, I would try to cleverly dodge the question I would say it s actually too early. Gore merely smiled, but didn t comment further, after Sorrell added, I think Hillary will win and it would be great to have a female president of the most powerful nation on the planet. Gore has reportedly had a complicated relationship with the Clintons since 2000. Political insiders speculate Gore may be remaining neutral for now but would eventually back the Democratic nominee. Gore last October described Hillary in an interview with Bloomberg as an extremely capable person, adding she did an excellent job as secretary of state and a New York senator. But he also said it was too early and I am not going to engage in horse race analysis before the horses even go to the gate. The former vice president used his speech at Cannes to call on the ad and creative world to help him in his fight against climate change. When asked about climate deniers, Gore said it was a campaign run by polluters and compared their actions to the tobacco industry, which employed actors posing as doctors to reassure consumers that smoking was safe: It was deeply unethical, immoral, destructive, really evil, and that is exactly what the climate denial industry is doing. Gore believes global warming would be a big issue at the next election: The age of fossil fuels is beginning to end years ago a Saudi minister once said, The stone age didn t end because of a shortage of stones. Read more: NYP",0 Clinton criticizes Russia for occupying Georgia,1 Obama lambasts Putin: you're wrecking Russia to recreate Soviet empire,0 "THE DOJ TOOK $7 MILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS AND STARTED A BONFIRE…’Russian Meddling’ Probe Goes off The RailsThe DOJ is reporting that they basically took American taxpayer dollars and started a bonfire with it In light of the fact that key investigators are severely compromised, this case is just a witch hunt that s gone off the rails. A few key details about the fired anti-Trump investigator who wasn t fired but moved to Human Resources by Comey:Peter Strzok sent anti-Trump messages to his girlfriend aka mistress then was just moved to HR. He s a part of the Comey/McCabe group. He handled the Fake Trump Dossier inside the FBI alongside McCabe. He was hand-picked by Comey to run the Hillary e-mail investigation. He was also hand-picked by Mueller for the senior investigative staff. Coincidences like this simply don t exist .BURNING YOUR HARD-EARNED DOLLARS:The Department of Justice revealed on Tuesday that nearly $7 million has been spent so far on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.The costs cover a five-month period from May 17, when the Department of Justice appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel for the Russia investigation, to Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, CNN reports.Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentstein authorized the budget for the probe.The expenditures can be divided into two main categories: approximately $3.2 million spent by Mueller, and an additional $3.5 million spent on other Department of Justice components to support the investigation, including investigators from the FBI. Tuesday s revelation marks the first time the public has learned about how much taxpayer money has been spent on the Russia investigation.Congress has also been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, with multiple congressional committees conducting their own probes in both the House and Senate.Mueller s investigation has so far resulted in President Donald Trump s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., and the indictment of Trump s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, along with a longtime business associate.",0 "Don't know if you noticed already, but there is some heavy anti-nuclear protest going on in Germany this weekend. (50.000+ protesters)",0 "Jerusalem council set to approve Jewish housing in Arab neighborhood - ""it will be necessary to evict a number of Palestinian families living on the site in order for construction to commence""",1 Mexican police implicated in mass graves.,1 PROMISES BROKEN: Hundreds of fishermen dont get their BP checks,1 "Surveillance, Not Waterboarding, Led to bin Laden",0 "UPDATE: FATHER HELPS STUDENTS After Lefties Censored Photos with Pro-Trump SlogansYou may remember the story of a New Jersey high school that came under fire after President Trump s campaign logo and slogan were digitally removed from two students yearbook photos and another student s quote from the president was also excluded.The students complained about Wall Township High School s censorship, which led to an outpouring of support including from the president himself and the eventual suspension of the school s yearbook club adviser.200 copies of the yearbook were reissued with the photos and quote intact, at a cost of $10,000.Now, it s been revealed that the father of one of the students footed a majority of the bill for the reprint.Joseph Berardo, father of Grant Berardo, donated $5,279 out of his own pocket.Another $3,000 was given by Lors Photography, which was hired by the school district to take yearbook photos.Jostens, the yearbook publisher, will issue a credit to the district for any further costs.Berardo said he put money toward the reprint because he felt it was the right thing to do. I didn t want there to be some other program that didn t get funded because of this, he said. They responded appropriately and corrected it. Supporting the kids of Wall Township seemed like the right thing to do. Read more: Asbury Park Press ",0 "IBM and MS deciding New Zealand legislation: In 2010, Microsoft and IBM convinced the Ministry of Economic Dev to abandon plans to exclude software from patentability, as seen in the new version of the text published on Aug 2012",1 "South Korea, China warn Japan not to backtrack on apology over wartime past",0 "Ex-Nusra vows to fight on in Syria, denounces de-escalation dealBEIRUT (Reuters) - The former al Qaeda branch in Syria has pledged to keep fighting government forces and their Russian and Iranian allies, and denounced ceasefire talks in Kazakhstan. Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed on Friday to deploy observers on the edge of a de-escalation zone in Syria s Idlib province, which is largely under the control of Islamist insurgents. While they hailed the agreement as a breakthrough after months of talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, they gave few details. The move falls under a broader deal in which they would set up four such zones across Syria. The de-escalation plan has eased fighting in parts of western Syria between rebel factions and government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. But the ex-Nusra Front said the Astana process amounted to the surrender of rebel-held pockets, and what had started with a ceasefire would end with restoring Bashar s rule to the areas . The group cut ties with al-Qaeda last year, rebranded, and now spearheads the Tahrir al-Sham jihadist alliance, controlling parts of the northwestern Idlib province, on the border with Turkey. At least two million people live in Idlib, the largest populated area held by rebels - including some nationalist Free Syrian Army factions that have taken part in the Astana talks. Idlib s has population ballooned as thousands of civilians and fighters have left areas the Syrian army seized, with the help of Russian jets and Iran-backed militias. Tahrir al-Sham criticized FSA rebels who have attended the Astana meetings, which began with Moscow-led diplomatic efforts separate from U.N.-based peace talks in Geneva. We fear the day will come when those factions will line up alongside Russian warplanes and fight those who reject Assad and his regime, it said in its statement. Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior aide to Assad, said on Friday that attempts to divide Syria had failed, and repeated the government s vow to take back the entire country, including Idlib and other areas . Assad has gained the military upper hand against an array of rebel groups, including some that have received backing from the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies. Damascus views any presence of Turkish forces as illegitimate, Syrian state news agency SANA cited a foreign ministry source as saying on Saturday. The deal for Idlib is temporary. Its main goal is reviving the old Damascus-Hama-Aleppo road...and for all kinds of traffic to flow to Aleppo, the source said. The government took full control of Aleppo city, east of Idlib, last year in a major blow to rebels. Critics have described the de-escalation plan as de facto partitioning of Syria after years of multi-sided conflict. Moscow, Tehran, and Ankara deny this and say the zones will be temporary, although they could extend beyond the initial six-month term. ",1 "U.S. taps ex-envoy to NATO to resolve Ukraine crisisWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Friday he had chosen an envoy to lead U.S. diplomacy on the Ukraine crisis, adding that he had moved to fill the position at the urging of Russia’s leader. Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker, a longtime diplomat, will be responsible for advancing U.S. interests as set out in the 2015 Minsk agreement to curb the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbass region. He will accompany Tillerson to Kiev on Sunday, the State Department said. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014, and Kiev accuses it of backing pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, an allegation the Kremlin denies. The Minsk agreement called for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and constitutional reform to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy. “At the request of President (Vladimir) Putin, the United States has appointed ... a special representative for Ukraine, Ambassador Kurt Volker,” Tillerson told reporters after a meeting between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko welcomed the choice, writing in a message on Twitter that it would help end what he called Russian aggression and restore Crimea to Ukraine. “Important & timely move in the interests of ending Russian aggression and restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including Crimea,” Poroshenko tweeted. Volker was a career diplomat who served as permanent representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization under Republican President George W. Bush and Democratic President Barack Obama. He is currently a foreign policy and national security expert at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University. “Kurt’s wealth of experience makes him uniquely qualified to move this conflict in the direction of peace,” Tillerson said in a statement. “The United States remains fully committed to the objectives of the Minsk agreements, and I have complete confidence in Kurt to continue our efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine.” Julie Smith, a former Pentagon official who worked on European and NATO policy during the Obama administration, praised the choice of Volker as Ukraine envoy, but said she was puzzled at Tillerson’s statement that he filled the position at Putin’s request. “So Ukraine didn’t matter enough to this administration to have them appoint a special envoy in the first place?” said Smith, now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “It was a bizarre word choice.” ",1 (VIDEO) HILLARY CLINTON: RELIGIOUS BELIEFS MUST BE CHANGED TO ACCOMMODATE ABORTION ,0 " WATCH: Obama Just EMBARRASSED The NRA By Ripping Apart Every Single Pro-Gun MythFor the first four years of Barack Obama s presidency I chided him for being too nice to the Stupid Part of America. As they spread ridiculous conspiracy theories about him that he s really from Kenya, that he once worked as a gay prostitute to support his cocaine habit, that he s secretly a shapeshifting lizard person, and, yes, that he is coming for every single gun any day now the President opted to sit back and absorb the attacks as he focused on more important issues. Eventually, it seems, he realized that as long as he entertained such monumentally stupid notions without taking a few minutes of his time to obliterate them those who spend their lives spewing such nonsense will not give him the opportunity to focus on what is actually important.Lately, the claws have come out. The President is no longer willing to simply accept the lies spread by the NRA, Fox News, Republican politicians, and other right-wing groups without stepping in to correct the record. Gun shop owner Doug Rhude is a product of the misinformation throws around by the Right. During a Q+A session following PBS News Hour, we were treated to the perfect example of what happens when misinformation, lies, and bigotry are allowed to bounce around a bubble for the better part of a decade:Knowing that we apply common sense to other issues in our society, specifically like holding irresponsible people accountable for their actions when they drink and drive and kill somebody, and we do that without restricting control of cars and cells phones to the rest of us, the good guys, why then do you and Hillary want to control and restrict and limit gun manufacturers, gun owners and responsible use of guns and ammunition to the rest of us, the good guys, instead of holding the bad guys accountable for their actions?As is customary, Rhude used Chicago as his go-to example of something, demanding to know why thugs (the go-to conservative replacement word for n*ggers ) in the city are hell-bent on murdering each other. After taking a moment to process the almost off-the-scale stupidity contained in Rhude s statement/question, Obama politely yet brutally hit him with a massive truth bomb:First of all, the notion that I or Hillary or Democrats or whoever you want to choose are hell-bent on taking away folks guns is just not true.And I don t care how many times the NRA says it. I m about to leave office. There have been more guns sold since I have been president than just about any time in U.S. history. There are enough guns for every man, woman and child in this country.And at no point have I ever, ever proposed confiscating guns from responsible gun owners. So it s just not true. What I have said is precisely what you suggested, which is, why don t we treat this like every other thing that we use? Obama continued, pointing to another favorite right-wing go-to topic: auto fatality rates. Previously, conservatives were able to mindlessly point out that more people are killed by cars than guns. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for the rest of us, regulations and laws have decreased the automobile fatality rate to beneath the level of gun violence. The auto fatality rate has actually dropped precipitously, drastically, since I was a kid, Obama said, asking rhetorically what is the cause of that. The President informed Rhude that thanks to numerous regulations, lots of studies, and a strong and continuing effort we have been able to reduce the number of people who die in cars. No one took everyone s cars away we simply arrived at the common sense decision to actually deal with the problem. We are not allowed to do any of that when it comes to guns because if you propose anything, it is suggested that we re trying to take away gun rights and impose martial law, Obama pointed out, adding that we can t so much as study gun violence because Republicans in Congress have actually passed laws preventing this public health issue from being researched. The notion is that by studying it the same way we do with traffic accidents somehow it s going to lead to everyone s guns being confiscated, Obama pointed out. I just came from a meeting today in the Situation Room in which I got people who we know have been on ISIL Web sites, living here in the United States, U.S. citizens, and we re allowed to put them on the no-fly list when it comes to airlines, but because of the National Rifle Association, I cannot prohibit those people from buying a gun, the President told Rhude. This is somebody who is a known ISIL sympathizer. And if he wants to walk in to a gun store or a gun show right now and buy as much as many weapons and ammo as he can, nothing s prohibiting him from doing that, even though the FBI knows who that person is. Then he dropped the hammer:So, sir, I just have to say, respectfully, that there is a way for us to have commonsense gun laws. There is a way for us to make sure that lawful, responsible gun owners like yourself are able to use them for sporting, hunting, protecting yourself, but the only way we re going to do that is if we don t have a situation in which anything that is proposed is viewed as some tyrannical destruction of the Second Amendment. And that s how the issue too often gets framed.While it is unlikely that Rhude, or any other right-wingers who heard the President s words, learned a single thing, one thing is for certain: It s nice to see Barack Obama standing up for himself.Watch it yourself below: Featured image via video screen captures",0 Japan transfers $1 billion in frozen oil money to Iran,1 Vladimir Putin says 'unsanctioned' protesters can expect police brutality,0 "Detained Reuters journalist wrote children's book on nature and absenceYANGON (Reuters) - At the end of an illustrated book written for children in Myanmar, a much-loved village teacher who has planted many trees and a beautiful garden tells his students that the time has come for him to leave them. Oh students, he says. I won t be here but you will still have the trees to give you fruit and shade and take care of you every year. So you will remember me and not be so sad. The author of The Gardener was Wa Lone, one of two Reuters journalists who were arrested in Yangon last week and accused of violating the country s colonial-era Official Secrets Act. Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis that has seen some 650,000 Rohingya Muslims flee from a fierce military crackdown on militants in the western state of Rakhine. They have not been seen for a week. The Gardener is one of a series published by The Third Story Project, a venture co-founded by Wa Lone that produces books in Burmese, other Myanmar languages and English and distributes them free to children across the country. On the project s website, Wa Lone says the aim was to promote tolerance and harmony in an increasingly multicultural and diverse world. Lack of understanding has led to conflicts between different communities and finally destroyed peace and stability, he wrote. I love every Third Story book because they address important issues for future generations. In Wa Lone s story, which also carries a message of the importance of protecting the environment, the teacher scatters seeds from his bicycle on the journey to school and years later they have grown into huge trees. He also plants a garden with his students and, there, he tells them stories. He leaves them one day to help another village, where all the trees had been cut down and there was no fruit, water or shelter for the people and animals. The last page of the story shows a figure in the distance and the words: The teacher said goodbye to his students and rode his old bicycle down the road toward the other village. ",1 Syria troops 'have killed 250 children',1 "Trump agrees to pay $25 million to settle Trump University lawsuitsNEW YORK/SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Donald Trump agreed on Friday to pay $25 million to settle fraud lawsuits over his Trump University real estate seminars, in what New York’s attorney general called a “stunning reversal” for the U.S. president-elect. The lawsuits had dogged Trump, who denied any wrongdoing, throughout his campaign. They led to one of the more controversial moments of his run when he claimed the judge overseeing two of the cases was biased because he was of Mexican ancestry. The settlement was announced by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who said it followed repeated refusals by Trump “to settle for even modest amounts of compensation for the victims of his phony university.” Lawyers for Trump had argued against students, who claimed they were they were lured by false promises into paying up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s real estate investing “secrets” from his “hand-picked” instructors. Three lawsuits relating to Trump University will be covered by the deal: two class actions suits in California and a New York case brought by Schneiderman. The agreement must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego. Trump will not admit any wrongdoing under the agreement. His attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, acknowledged Trump had previously vowed to fight the case. The settlement demonstrated Trump’s desire to set his personal feelings aside in order to work on issues facing the county, Petrocelli said. “President-elect Trump has laser focus on moving forward. It’s time to move on,” Petrocelli told reporters on Friday. Schneiderman and attorneys for the students praised the deal. “Today’s $25 million settlement agreement is a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university,” Schneiderman said in a statement. At a court hearing on Friday, students’ attorney Jason Forge said that out of the $25 million proposed settlement, $4 million will be earmarked for students represented by Schneiderman who were not part of the California class actions, as well as administrative costs. Class action lawyers for the students will not seek attorneys fees, but reimbursement for costs, he said. Curiel, who is presiding over the two California cases, had urged both sides to settle. Trump said during his election campaign that Curiel, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents, could not be impartial because of Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to control illegal immigration. In court on Friday, Trump lawyer Petrocelli praised Curiel for his hard work on the case. Curiel said he hoped the settlement could be part of a healing process after the U.S. election “that this country very sorely needs.” ",1 "House, Senate letters back Asia military funding proposalWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. members of Congress has backed a proposal for $7.5 billion of new military funding for U.S. forces and their allies in the Asia-Pacific region, where tensions have risen over China’s territorial ambitions and military buildup. Five members of the U.S. House of Representatives and eight senators from both the Democratic and Republican parties wrote to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to support the Asia-Pacific Stability Initiative (ASPI) proposed in January by John McCain, chair of the Senate Armed Service Committee. Copies of the letters were seen by Reuters. Their signatories include members of the armed services committees in both houses of Congress. McCain’s proposal calls for $1.5 billion annually for five years to 2022 to boost U.S. munitions stocks in the region, build new military infrastructure, such as runways, and help allies and partners increase their capabilities. The House letter urged Mattis to incorporate McCain’s proposal in the fiscal 2018-22 defense budgets. “The Asia-Pacific region holds many interests for U.S. foreign policy that will require our government to continue to prioritize our time, energy and resources there,” it said. The letter called former President Barack Obama’s policy of giving precedence to the Asia-Pacific “sound” and it was “critical” that this be continued under President Donald Trump. It expressed concern about “the eroding military and economic balance that is the result of the People’s Republic of China’s two-decade military modernization, combined with the effect of years of sequestration on the U.S. military and our foreign policy apparatus.” The Senate letter also expressed concern about increasing Russian activity in the region and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. “ASPI will show both allies and adversaries that the U.S. remains committed to ensuring peace and security in a region that contains the world’s three largest economies, four most populous countries, six of the world’s largest armies, and five of the seven U.S. mutual defense agreements,” it said. Trump has vowed to take a tougher line with China and to build up the U.S. military, although it is unclear whether he will succeed in lifting caps on defense spending that have been part of “sequestration” legislation. China is due to announce its defense budget for this year this weekend, and its navy is likely to secure significant new funding as Beijing seeks to check U.S. dominance of the high seas and step up its projection of global power. ",1 Lucky couple - Gone missing after bank mistakenly give them millions of $,0 "In Israel, at least 7 people have set themselves on fire over the last two weeks.",0 "Judicial panel members consider legal brief in Apple case: sourcesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the House Judiciary Committee are considering filing a “friend of the court” brief in Apple Inc’s [AAPL.O] encryption dispute with the U.S. government to argue that the case should be decided by Congress and not the courts, five sources familiar with the matter said. The sources cautioned that no final agreement had been reached on what would be an unusual intervention by congressmen in a legal proceeding. Any filing would occur after a panel hearing on Tuesday that will include FBI Director James Comey and Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell. The court deadline is Thursday. The filing would argue that the Feb. 16 order from a federal court in California that instructs Apple to write special software to unlock an iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino shooters threatens the constitutional separation of powers, the sources said. They said the brief would come from individual committee members of both Republican and Democratic parties but not the judiciary committee itself. Reuters could not determine which members were likely to be included. Lawmakers could wait until the appeals process before intervening, the sources said. Apple last week formally opposed the order in court, calling the case “unprecedented” and a violation of free speech rights that would override the will of Congress. On Monday, a judge in a related New York case sided with Apple in agreeing that the courts did not have the authority to order Apple to unlock a phone. The San Bernardino case has come to represent a broader debate over how much authority law enforcement should have to compel companies to assist in monitoring digital communications. The encryption debate does not divide along party lines, with liberal Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans both supporting Apple’s stance. Many pro-law enforcement lawmakers of both parties, and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, support the government’s position. The unusual Congressional intervention would come on top of a wave of support for Apple among its Silicon Valley brethren. Some two-dozen companies and civil liberties groups are expected to weigh in on Apple’s side. Relatives of some of the shooting victims are planning to back the government’s case, said their lawyer, Stephen Larson. The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this month sought and obtained a court order requiring that Apple write new software and take other steps to unlock an iPhone 5C that was used by Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife went on a shooting rampage on Dec. 2 in San Bernardino that killed 14 and wounded 22. The government has said the attack was inspired by Islamist militants and the FBI wants to read data from the phone to investigate any links the couple might have had with militant groups. Apple is concerned that the order would lead to endless similar requests in the U.S. and overseas and ultimately undermine the security of all Apple phone. A number of large tech firms have publicly said they will file briefs supporting Apple. Google, Facebook and Microsoft are expected to file jointly and be represented by Neal Katyal, a Georgetown law professor and former acting U.S. solicitor general for the Obama administration, according to a source familiar with the companies’ plans. Amazon, LinkedIn, Twitter, the Mozilla Foundation, and the cloud storage firm Box, along with advocacy groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, are also expected to support Apple. Still, some major companies, including IBM, are expected to sit out the fight. Telecom carriers have also been notably reluctant to get involved; Verizon is unlikely to file a friend of the court brief, despite comments from its CEO that the company supports encryption with no backdoors, sources familiar with the matter said. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined comment on Sunday about what other briefs were expected.   Apple’s high-profile standoff with the U.S. government is being played out as many of the Obama administration’s most senior officials are traveling to San Francisco this week to attend the world’s largest cyber security conference. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, National Security Director Michael Rogers and Defense Secretary Ash Carter are all scheduled to speak at RSA conference, where the iPhone fight and encryption more broadly are expected to dominate conversation. ",1 "Arkansas court strikes down a medical marijuana proposal on ballot(Reuters) - The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down on Thursday one of two proposals in the November election to allow for the use of medical marijuana in the state, saying the proposal did not receive the required number of signatures to be on the ballot. Voters in the Nov. 8 election in Arkansas will still be able to vote on a separate measure that would allow for the regulated use of marijuana for certain medical conditions, where a state commission oversees plant growth and marijuana distribution. The ballot proposal that was struck down was called the “Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act.” It had a provision for patients to apply for permission from state authorities to grow their own marijuana plants if they lived more than 20 miles (32 kms) away from an authorized dispensary. Four years ago, voters in socially conservative Arkansas narrowly rejected a proposal allowing for the use of medical marijuana. Some 24 states and Washington D.C. currently allow some type of medical marijuana use, and a handful of states allow its recreational use. ",1 The UK wants to ban packed lunches. It's a step too far,1 "COMMUNIST VIETNAMESE LEADER THANKS U.S. Anti-War Activists For Helping With Their Victory Only Days Before Obama’s VisitObama s historic Embracing the Communists Tour wouldn t be complete without a stop in Vietnam All on the American taxpayers dime, of course In the weeks leading up to Memorial Day and President Barack Obama s scheduled trip to Vietnam, a prominent Vietcong communist leader privately thanked American anti-war activists for helping defeat the U.S.-allied government in Vietnam in the 1970s, saying protest demonstrations throughout the United States were extremely important in contributing to Vietnam s victory. For Vietnamese guerrilla leader Madam Nguyen Thi Binh, who sent the private letter from Hanoi dated April 20, victory meant the communist takeover of South Vietnam. The letter addressed veteran American anti-war activists who gathered in Washington, D.C., at a May 3 reunion of radical May Day anti-war leaders.The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained a copy of the letter at the meeting.Binh, now age 90, originally served as the highest ranking Vietnamese delegate to the Paris Peace Talks that imposed a ceasefire in the country in 1973.The Vietcong was a ragtag group of communist guerrillas who were allied with the official communist government in North Vietnam. The country was cut in two in 1954, with the south seeking to build a democratic state allied to the West.Binh s frank admission highlights a secret side of the communist s effective lobbying influence in the United States. Rather than live in the southern part of the country, which for decades she represented as a diplomat, it appears after the war Binh was living in Hanoi, the original capital of North Vietnam.In her letter, she extolled the American anti-war movement, saying it was a key component that advanced the communist takeover of South Vietnam. The Vietnamese people have great appreciation for the peace and antiwar movements in the United States and view those movements contribution as important in shortening the war, she wrote and which was read to an assembled group of May Day anti-war activists in Washington, D.C.The May Day tribe consisted of thousands of radical anti-war protesters bent on shutting down Washington, D.C., in May 1971 through three days of massive civil disobedience. More than 12,000 protesters were arrested, for filling the streets to block feds from getting to work.The Nixon administration was so fearful of violence against federal employees, it deployed 5,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division and thousands more from the Marine Corps barracks to protect the 14th Street Bridge, a major thoroughfare into the nation s capital from Virginia.The protesters rallying cry was, if the government won t stop the war, we ll stop the government. The war temporarily ended in 1973 when the Paris Peace Treaty was signed that imposed a ceasefire on all parties.That ceasefire was abruptly broken in 1975, however, when the North Vietnamese forces launched a surprise Spring Offensive. Leading the offensive were hundreds of T-54 and T-55 heavy Russian tanks that left secret sanctuaries in neighboring Cambodia and flooded into South Vietnam. Regular North Vietnamese troops spearheaded the offensive, along with guerrillas tied to the Vietcong, which also called themselves the National Liberation Front of Vietnam.By the time the Russian tanks were about to drive into Saigon, a liberal Congress filled with anti-war lawmakers already had hamstrung their South Vietnamese allies. Congress cut military aid to Saigon by 50 percent and handcuffed the South Vietnamese military facing the communist onslaught by barring any U.S. air support or other meaningful military assistance to the government.The offensive was relatively quick, trapping hundreds of thousands of pro-American Vietnamese troops and millions of civilians who had trusted Washington and openly supported the United States.The lasting images of those dark, chaotic days were captured by American news networks, which showed the panic in the capital city.Harrowing pictures depicted U.S. helicopters frantically trying to ferry thousands of panic-stricken Vietnamese citizens and U.S. officials off the roof of the American Embassy. The videos depicted Vietnamese clinging from helicopters in a desperate effort to escape the onrushing communist army.The defeat ultimately triggered an international humanitarian crisis where at least 800,000 Vietnamese boat people fled their communist conquerors. Many bravely undertook perilous journeys in small boats across the Gulf of Thailand to escape the new communist warlords. An unknown number of refugees drowned in the exodus.After the communists defeated the South Vietnamese army, more than 1 million South Vietnamese citizens who had supported the United States were left behind and imprisoned in re-education camps. About 100,000 faced summary execution by the communist victors.Bill Cowan, who was a Purple Heart Marine platoon leader in Vietnam, told TheDCNF that U.S. troops were demoralized when the U.S. media only highlighted anti-war protesters and not the heroism of many of the Vietnamese who were trying to keep their country free. The media fueled the anti-war movement, empowering the protestors, the North Vietnamese, and the Vietcong, he told TheDCNF. It was rare to have a good news story about what was happening there, Cowan said. I recall a reporter coming to interview me at the village I was living at and apologizing after she was done by saying, You know, this story will probably never see the light of day. My editors will quash it because it has too many good things in here about what you guys are doing. Cowan told TheDCNF.Fred Rustmann, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was deployed in Vietnam for two years and later assigned to cover the Paris Peace Talks where Binh was the chief Vietcong delegate, called her a great propagandist. She was really the propaganda arm of the Vietcong. And she was very effective. She was living in a villa in Paris in the southern suburbs, which was a very communist, socialist neighborhood, Rustmann told TheDCNF in an interview. He said ironically Binh spent more time in Paris than in Vietnam.In Paris, she was regularly interviewing with leftist news organization. She had these leftist kids and try to influence them. I believe she met several times with Jane Fonda. Binh actually recalled in her latest letter many meetings she had with American anti-war activists. She wrote, The first time I met representatives of the American anti-war movement was at a week-long conference held in Bratislava in 1967, with the attendees of about forty Americans. Before parting, we were shaking hands, holding hands, she recalled in her letter, adding, During the war years, I also met many other Americans in different places organized by U.S. citizen groups opposed to the war. Obama visited Vietnam last week for a three-day trip, and hailed its communist leadership and downplayed the human rights problems that persist.Hours before Air Force One touched down, Vietnam had scheduled national elections for its one-party National Assembly. Reminiscent of previous old communist regimes from the Soviet Union days, the state-run press reported that 98.77 percent of the public voted in the election.Only one sentence in Obama s main speech to the Vietnamese public made any reference to human rights problems in the country.Vietnamese government officials also blocked dissidents from meeting with Obama or his advisers when the American delegation arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said it shows the meeting was the source of significant discomfort for Vietnam s rulers. Via: Daily Caller",0 "Sri Lankan doctors have been freed from jail, though they may not yet be free to speak openly",1 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has started his own video blog ,0 "TRUMP BEGINS DISMANTLING Of OBAMACARE With Today’s Executive Order…Nancy Pelosi’s Response Is Hilarious!Today, President Trump came one step closer to dismantling Obamacare. He signed an executive order that would allow Americans to purchase insurance across state lines. The time has come to take action to IMPROVE access, INCREASE choices, and LOWER COSTS for HEALTHCARE! https://t.co/mz5fdveTVh pic.twitter.com/dDZLsKuNSe Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2017Congressional Democrats said Thursday that President Trump s executive order to relax insurance rules is the latest evidence of Republican sabotage against Obamacare.The president signed the order that directs federal agencies to examine regulations that would make it easier for people to band together to get association health plans and buy more short-term insurance. Democrats quickly criticized the order as a back door to attack protections for people with pre-existing conditions and increase junk insurance plans. I do know it is a sabotage of the Affordable Care Act and quite frankly a disservice to the American people, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a press conference Tuesday.She also said Trump knows very little about healthcare legislation. Washington ExaminerPerhaps a little trip down memory lane is in order for Nancy. Remember when Nancy Pelosi coined her most memorable line in the long list of memorable Nancy Pelosi lines? Remember when Nancy attempted to explain the Obamacare legislation to a large audience, telling them, But we have to pass the bill, so that you can, uh, find out what s in it. ?Even one of her most reliable media allies, David Gregory of NBC News, who was clearly on the same team as Nancy, questioned her sanity and most especially, her knowledge of what was in the Obamacare bill, following her curious remarks:We re pretty sure that most Americans are more confident in President Trump s knowledge of the benefits to Americans, once they are able to purchase insurance across state lines than they were in Nancy s ability to understand the 20,000 page Obamacare legislation.",0 "GERMAN RESIDENTS FIGHT BACK: Anti-Islamic Song With No Words Knocks Adele Off Top SpotApparently these Germans are not interested in becoming another Sweden A wordless anti-Islamist hymn knocked chart-buster Adele off the top of the charts in Germany.A wordless hymn by the anti-Islamic group Pegida called Together we re strong has knocked pop diva Adele off the top of the Amazon singles chart.The song has been available to buy on Amazon since December 21st and has been among the top 100 best selling singles for four days.German media picked up on the songs emerging success on Tuesday when it was still at number 26 in the chart. Die Welt reported that despite widespread ridicule, the hymn, which contains no words, was selling well.Since then it has leaped up to overtake Adele s hit single Hello. It has also jumped above successful German recording artists Robin Schulz and Sido, who have been knocked down to places three and four, respectively.On YouTube the hymn has also clocked up over 100,000 views so far. However, most of the commentaries underneath ridicule it for its banality.A PEGIDA activist put video of the German anti-Islamist protester to the hymn by Peggy Sounds, Germainsam Sind Wir Stark. Via: Local h/t Gateway Pundit",0 "Factbox: Key players in South Africa's ANC leadership raceJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa s ruling African National Congress elects a new party leader to succeed President Jacob Zuma at a conference starting on Saturday. The winner will be favorite to become president of the country after a 2019 national election. Below are the main ANC leadership hopefuls. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa are the two front runners. NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA The former minister and chairwoman of the African Union Commission has served in the cabinets of every South African president in the post-apartheid era. Dlamini-Zuma was married to President Zuma for over a decade and has four children with him. She is backed by the ANC s influential women s and youth leagues, as well as by Zuma and provincial party leaders close to him. For a profile of Dlamini-Zuma, see. The deputy president and former trade union leader is one of South Africa s richest people. Ramaphosa played an important role in the negotiations to end apartheid and in the drafting of South Africa s progressive 1996 constitution. He is supported by a diverse group of labor unions, communists and ANC members disillusioned with Zuma. For a profile of Ramaphosa, see. The ANC s treasurer general is one of the ruling party s top six senior leaders. A medical doctor by training, Mkhize also served as a party boss in the KwaZulu-Natal province, from where Zuma and Dlamini-Zuma hail. Some analysts see Mkhize as a compromise candidate for ANC leader who could reconcile the opposing factions supporting Dlamini-Zuma and Ramaphosa. For a Reuters interview with Mkhize, see:. The human settlements minister is the daughter of anti-apartheid activist Walter Sisulu, a close friend of Nelson Mandela. Sisulu says Ramaphosa approached her to be his running mate but she turned down the offer. The minister in the presidency has also held senior cabinet positions including public enterprises minister. He served in underground structures of the ANC during white minority rule and was imprisoned on Robben Island, where the apartheid government kept political prisoners. The former premier of the Mpumalanga province has also worked as the ANC s treasurer general. Phosa has demanded that nominations for ANC leader in Mpumalanga be re-run, as he says he has proof that party members were told how to vote. Mpumalanga s current premier is a Zuma loyalist, David Mabuza, who is viewed by some as a kingmaker in the ANC race. The speaker of South Africa s lower house of parliament also briefly served as deputy president. She has said she has held talks with other leadership hopefuls to discuss the possibility of working together. ",1 "U.S. senator says panel could take up Russia sanctions bill this summerWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Thursday the panel could take up a bill as soon as this summer to impose new sanctions on Russia over its alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Senator Bob Corker said the panel could move forward on sanctions after hearing from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Some members of the committee, particularly Democrats, had wanted to act more quickly on sanctions over Russian activities that U.S. intelligence agencies concluded were intended to help get Republican Donald Trump elected. Corker said he expects Tillerson to report to the committee within weeks about the Trump administration’s policy toward Russia and the situation in Syria. Corker said he would be willing to consider a sanctions bill soon after that if, as he expected, Tillerson does not demonstrate to the panel that there has been significant change by Russia in Syria, where Moscow has been supporting President Bashar al-Assad in that country’s six-year-old civil war. “I’ve committed to mark up Russia sanctions legislation in the event, the probable event, that the secretary of state cannot show us that there’s a change of trajectory,” Corker said at a committee business meeting. A mark up is a session in which a committee debates legislation and possible amendments. Later in the meeting, the panel overwhelmingly passed legislation to condemn Russian activities including its effort to influence other countries’ elections, aggression in Ukraine and support for Assad. That measure did not include sanctions. Corker and other senators had suggested it would be prudent to wait on sanctions at a delicate time in dealings with Moscow, especially over Syria. Democrats were not pleased at the delay, but said they were willing to wait to hear from the Trump administration. “I do look forward to Mr. Tillerson explaining to us the administration’s Russian policy and what he has seen its impact to be,” said Senator Ben Cardin, the committee’s senior Democrat. If the panel eventually approves sanctions legislation, it would require passage in the full Senate and the House of Representatives before it could go to Trump to sign into law. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to tilt the 2016 election in Trump’s favor, including by hacking into the emails of senior Democrats. Russia has denied the allegation. Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Moscow, but Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional probes into the matter have dogged the early months of his presidency. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said it gives many committee members “great pause” that the Trump administration has not acted against Russia for its efforts to influence the election. The United States, under Democratic former President Barack Obama, imposed sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine and in December imposed fresh sanctions and ordered the expulsion of Russian suspected spies over the election meddling. ",1 " Racist GOP Rep. Steve King Goes BALLISTIC Over Trump’s DACA DealThis is what happens when racists don t get their way.With a single deal, Donald Trump enraged his racist base, including Iowa GOP Rep. Steve King.On Wednesday, Democrats announced that they had struck a deal with Trump to revive the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program put in place by President Obama to prevent the deportation of 800,000 people who were brought to the United States as children by their undocumented parents.When Trump first scrapped the program, his conservative base cheered while the rest of the nation expressed revulsion.But Trump also left the issue to Congress, thus opening the door for legislative action to save the program. So, Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi offered Trump a deal. DACA will be restored and enshrined in law and Trump will get some enhanced border security that does not include a giant useless expensive wall.Trump took the deal and now conservatives are furious.In fact, Steve King went on CNN to whine about the deal and even threatened Trump with political ruin. The base will leave him they can t support him anymore. I am talking about my constituents in Iowa that will say you need to be behind trump. I am. I support his entire agenda I support the agenda Trump had when he went into office and I support almost every piece of the agenda except the amnesty piece being dangled, and that s so destructive to a first world country. If you do not have the rule of law or respect for that law, the people writing the immigration laws are the people breaking them. We had a protest here, DREAMers coming up demanding we give them amnesty. What right do law breakers have to make demands from the citizens of the United States of America. If anything, they should be pleading for it and not demanding. King also predicted that, Things are going to be going downhill real fast or the Republicans will be done for 2018 and 2020. Here s the video via YouTube.Amnesty is term used for people who broke the law. These 800,000 people did not break any law. Their parents did. These children had no control over their parents actions and did not understand that a law was being broken. Therefore, these children should not be forced to go back to a country they know nothing about. America is their home.Furthermore, King is a seriously depraved individual if he thinks these people should have to beg to stay in the country. They did nothing wrong. But King is clearly showing that he lacks compassion and is nothing more than a racist who has no business being a member of Congress.Featured image via screenshot ",0 "Trump on rival Bush's exit: Don't look at meWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has for months rained withering ridicule on onetime party favorite Jeb Bush, on Sunday refused to take responsibility for the former Florida governor’s exit from the 2016 White House race. “I just don’t know what did him in,” Trump, who won South Carolina’s Republican primary election handily on Saturday, said in an interview on CNN. Trump had repeatedly made Bush the target of pointed attacks throughout his campaign for the Republican nomination to run in the Nov. 8 general election, labeling him “weak,” “low-energy” and “an embarrassment” to the Bush political dynasty. On Sunday, Trump denied any role he may have played in taking down Bush, who ended his campaign on Saturday night after a fourth-place finish in South Carolina. “Jeb fought very hard,” the billionaire businessman said. “It wasn’t his time. That’s all.” Bush, the brother of one president and the son of another, had prided himself as the only candidate to attack Trump head-on throughout the campaign and frequently accused him of lacking ideas. He appeared to take one last jab at Trump in his concession speech on Saturday, saying: “Despite what you may have heard, ideas matter. Policy matters.” Sounding less like his normally combative self, Trump on Sunday credited Bush in a pair of interviews with having fought hard in the campaign and called him “very capable.” “Those last couple of weeks he was on television so much, I was looking, I’d say, ‘Man, I’ve never seen anything like this,’” Trump said on CNN. He did, however, chide Bush for having run “brutal” negative ads against him, saying he was “a little bit offended.” “So, you know, this is a tough business, I will tell you,” the billionaire real-estate mogul said of presidential politics. “I think real estate in Manhattan is a lot easier.” (Reporting by Megan Cassella; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.",1 Africa's Western black rhino declared extinct,1 Turkish President Erdogan says women and men cannot be equal in a meeting of an association promoting women rights.,1 Game Over for the Climate: Canadas tar sands contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history.,0 Montreal's Massive Dump (of Raw Sewage into St. Lawrence) Begins,0 Asylum for gay Saudi diplomat? ,1 UN gives Qatar a year to end forced labour of migrant workers,1 " Amy Schumer Is All Out Of F*cks To Give, Releases Forbidden Gun Violence Sketch Anyway (VIDEO)On Friday, Amy Schumer released a sketch that had been cut from her Comedy Central show, Inside Amy Schumer. It s a simple but incredibly dark set up: A commercial for an injury lawyer that has given up on helping the victims of mass shootings because the gun industry is almost completely protected by the law.H. Jon Benjamin, the voice of Sterling Archer on FX s Archer, introduces himself: Have you ever been injured in a mass shooting or other gun crime? Do you want justice? Hi, I m Toby Shrak of the law firm of Shrak and Murphy, but don t call me, because there s nothing I can do. And it gets darker from there. We re introduced to Shrak s twin brother that was killed in a mall shooting. We also meet two victims of gun violence that were, shit out of luck. One of them even had to pay for the ammo company s legal costs because the law prevents them from being sued in the first place! Isn t America grand?Schumer, fed up with the inaction of the GOP, felt it was time for this particular sketch to be seen. It highlights the cruel absurdity of American gun laws that protect an entire industry from the consequences of their actions while they rake in billions from selling death and promoting a culture of violence. It s dark satire at its finest and most necessary.Shrak closes out the commercial with a perfect depiction of the miserable despair the country is forced to live with because Republicans have whored out their souls to the NRA and gun lobby: I ll get the money you deserve. Unless it s a gun tragedy. In which case, you can call me just to talk. I m here and my brother s chair is always empty. Because he s dead. And I am getting old. As funny as it is, it s hard to laugh because the commercial simply cuts too close to the truth:Inside Amy SchumerFeatured image via screen capture",0 "CBO estimates ending Obamacare mandate would increase uninsured, premiumsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday said that repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate for health insurance would increase the number of uninsured by 13 million in 2027. The CBO, the nonpartisan budget-scoring agency, said in a statement on its website that eliminating the mandate in the Affordable Care Act, also often dubbed Obamacare, would also raise average premiums in the individual market by about 10 percent annually over next decade. It said earlier on Wednesday that repealing the mandate would lower the deficit by $338 billion over the next decade. ",1 "You know you are an Asshole Country when the only other time someone else did it, It was Hitler's Germany.",1 "France tells Libya to act over migrant ""crimes against humanity""PARIS (Reuters) - France demanded on Wednesday an urgent U.N. Security Council session on human trafficking in Libya and raised the possibility of sanctions on the country after a video appearing to show African migrants sold as slaves there sparked global outrage. Convened by Italy, which struck a deal with Libya to slash the number of migrants reaching its shores, the Council on Tuesday unanimously backed a resolution urging tougher action to crack down on human trafficking and modern slavery worldwide. Speaking to lawmakers, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian suggested Paris wanted to take things further and called for an urgent session of the Council to specifically discuss the situation in Libya. Libyan authorities, who have been alerted several times, including by myself because I was there in September, have decided to open an investigation into the facts, Le Drian said. We want it to go fast and if the Libyan justice system can not carry this procedure through then we should open international sanctions, Le Drian said. Footage appearing to show African migrants sold as slaves in Libya has sparked an international outcry with protests erupting across Europe and Africa, while artists to soccer stars to U.N. officials have made pleas for the abuse to end. The video broadcast by CNN showed what it said was an auction of men offered to Libyan buyers as farmhands and sold for $400, a chilling echo of the trans-Saharan slave trade of centuries past. What has been revealed is indeed trafficking of human beings, it s a crime against humanity, Macron said during a news conference with African Union President Alpha Conde. Macron said he wanted the U.N. Security Council to discuss what concrete steps could be taken to tackle the issue. A French diplomat said the U.N. session would likely be in coming days, probably next week, and would see what concrete measures could be taken to improve the situation. Despite events in Libya, Conde put the blame firmly on the European Union, accusing it of encouraging the Libyans to keep migrants in the North African country despite there being no government. What happened in Libya is shocking, scandalous, but we must establish the responsibilities, said Conde. In Libya there is no government, so the European Union can not choose a developing country and ask that country to detain refugees (...) when it doesn t have the means to do so, he added. The refugees are in terrible conditions ... so our European friends were not right to ask Libya to keep the migrants. The European Union is responsible. Le Drian said he wanted the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. Refugee Agency to publish details about the trafficking of migrants in the country. Libya splintered along political, ideological and tribal lines during and after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that unseated former leader Muammar Gaddafi. In 2014 a battle for the capital led to rival parliaments and governments being set up in Tripoli and the east. ",1 Saudi Arabia may face 65C (149 Fahrenheit) temperatures during Ramadan,1 UN official to Israel: You must criminalize torture,1 "REINCE PRIEBUS Embarrasses Snarky NBC Meet The Press Host For Promoting FAKE Russian RNC Hacking Story [VIDEO]The entire premise for Chuck Todd s position is two media reports. One of those media reports (NYT) is demonstrably false; the second (WaPo) is specifically constructed to target and undermine the Trump presidency. The Washington Post was previously cited, on the record, with their own statements, claiming their intention and motivation to oppose the Donald Trump candidacy.Incoming White House Chief-of-Staff Reince Priebus pushes back against reports from both publications based on his personal knowledge one is false; and no indication the second is anything other than false. Conservative TreehouseReince Priebus was almost laughing out loud at the obviously flustered Chuck Todd after he became overly emotional when Preibus demanded the accusations that the RNC was hacked by the NYT s and the Washington Post were NOT TRUE: I don t know why you re so hot about this? The fact of the matter is, you should be happy the RNC was not hacked. The RNC was not hacked Chuck! Then why was the FBI there? , Todd whines Priebus is finally fed up with Chuck Todd s obsession with getting him to admit that the RNC was hacked: So you tell me, why would the press run with something that wasn t true? No response was given to Priebus question.Todd presses on: Do you not believe Russia was involved? Priebus: Here s what I m saying, you don t have a single source. You tell me who the specific source is who said the RNC was hacked? https://youtu.be/zPPZbrouq-8",0 7 year old South Korean girl killed by a falling suicide jumper.,0 Kuwait jails youth for five years for insulting emir on Twitter.,0 "15,000 crocodiles escape from South African farm - Telegraph",1 "BOOM! SHAREHOLDER Confronts Liberal Starbucks CEO Over Damage To Stock Value After Saying He’ll Hire 10,000 Refugees…Questioned Why Schultz Ignored Obama’s Travel Ban [VIDEO]Americans who are sick and tired of leftist CEO s using their public positions to attack President Trump and his efforts waged a huge boycott against Starbucks and the Starbucks brand: Kudos to this shareholder for standing up and confronting Schultz over his selfish decision to publicly shame President Trump in his efforts to keep terrorists from entering our country With Starbuck s stock underperforming, its about time someone questioned Starbucks s liberal agenda. Just don t expect the media to care.A conservative think tank, The National Center for Public Policy Research, confronted outgoing controversial Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. As an owner of Starbucks stock, the group sent its General Counsel Justin Danhof to Starbucks s annual shareholders meeting on March 22. There, he questioned Schultz for his public liberal opinions that may have hurt the company s stock price.In reference to Schultz s Jan. 29 decision that Starbucks would hire 10,000 refugees, Danhof asked Schultz How much will Starbucks investors have to spend so that the company can properly vet refugees that the federal government admits it can t afford to vet? He also asked Schultz why he condemned President Donald Trump s immigration order but lacked the courage to speak out against the Obama-Clinton travel ban? Watch:",0 "James Murdoch resigns as director of Sun, Times and Sunday Times",0 "Dirty War Against Africa's Rhinos - In 2007, 13 rhino were poached in S Africa. This year, 585 were slain by organized gangs smuggling horns to Asia. They recruit triggermen with military backgrounds equipped with silencers & night vision. Helicopters, flying below radar, get poachers in & out. ",1 "Robert Parry: US Intel Report on ‘Russian Hack’ Still Lacks ProofConsortium News Exclusive: Despite mainstream media acceptance, the U.S. intelligence community s assessment on alleged Russian hacking still lacks hard public evidence, a case of trust-us by politicized spy agencies, writes Robert Parry.By Robert ParryRepeating an accusation over and over again is not evidence that the accused is guilty, no matter how much confidence the accuser asserts about the conclusion. Nor is it evidence just to suggest that someone has a motive for doing something. Many conspiracy theories are built on the notion of cui bono who benefits without following up the supposed motive with facts.But that is essentially what the U.S. intelligence community has done regarding the dangerous accusation that Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated a covert information campaign to influence the outcome of the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election in favor of Republican Donald Trump.Just a day after Director of National Intelligence James Clapper [image, left] vowed to go to the greatest possible lengths to supply the public with the evidence behind the accusations, his office released a 25-page report that contained no direct evidence that Russia delivered hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton s campaign chairman John Podesta to WikiLeaks.The DNI report amounted to a compendium of reasons to suspect that Russia was the source of the information built largely on the argument that Russia had a motive for doing so because of its disdain for Democratic nominee Clinton and the potential for friendlier relations with Republican nominee Trump.But the case, as presented, is one-sided and lacks any actual proof. Further, the continued use of the word assesses as in the U.S. intelligence community assesses that Russia is guilty suggests that the underlying classified information also may be less than conclusive because, in intelligence-world-speak, assesses often means guesses. The DNI report admits as much, saying, Judgments are not intended to imply that we have proof that shows something to be a fact. Assessments are based on collected information, which is often incomplete or fragmentary, as well as logic, argumentation, and precedents. But the report s assessment is more than just a reasonable judgment based on a body of incomplete information. It is tendentious in that it only lays out the case for believing in Russia s guilt, not reasons for doubting that guilt.A Risky BetFor instance, while it is true that many Russian officials, including President Putin, considered Clinton to be a threat to worsen the already frayed relationship between the two nuclear superpowers, the report ignores the downside for Russia trying to interfere with the U.S. election campaign and then failing to stop Clinton, which looked like the most likely outcome until Election Night.If Russia had accessed the DNC and Podesta emails and slipped them to WikiLeaks for publication, Putin would have to think that the National Security Agency, with its exceptional ability to track electronic communications around the world, might well have detected the maneuver and would have informed Clinton.So, on top of Clinton s well-known hawkishness, Putin would have risked handing the expected incoming president a personal reason to take revenge on him and his country. Historically, Russia has been very circumspect in such situations, usually holding its intelligence collections for internal purposes only, not sharing them with the public.While it is conceivable that Putin decided to take this extraordinary risk in this case despite the widely held view that Clinton was a shoo-in to defeat Trump an objective report would have examined this counter argument for him not doing so.But the DNI report was not driven by a desire to be evenhanded; it is, in effect, a prosecutor s brief, albeit one that lacks any real evidence that the accused is guilty. Further undercutting the credibility of the DNI report is that it includes a seven-page appendix, dating from 2012, that is an argumentative attack on RT, the Russian government-backed television network, which is accused of portraying the US electoral process as undemocratic. The proof for that accusation includes RT s articles on voting machine vulnerabilities although virtually every major U.S. news organizations has run similar stories, including some during the last campaign on the feasibility of Russia hacking into the actual voting process, something that even U.S. intelligence says didn t happen.The reports adds that further undermining Americans faith in the U.S. democratic process, RT broadcast, hosted and advertised third-party candidate debates. Apparently, the DNI s point is that showing Americans that there are choices beyond the two big parties is somehow seditious. The RT hosts asserted that the US two-party system does not represent the views of at least one-third of the population and is a sham, the report said. Yet, polls have shown that large numbers of Americans would prefer more choices than the usual two candidates and, indeed, most Western democracies have multiple parties, So, the implicit RT criticism of the U.S. political process is certainly not out of the ordinary.The report also takes RT to task for covering the Occupy Wall Street movement and for reporting on the environmental dangers from fracking, topics cited as further proof that the Russian government was using RT to weaken U.S. public support for Washington s policies (although, again, these are topics of genuine public interest).Behind the CurtainThough it s impossible for an average U.S. citizen to know precisely what the U.S. intelligence community may have in its secret files, some former NSA officials who are familiar with the agency s eavesdropping capabilities say Washington s lack of certainty suggests that the NSA does not possess such evidence.Binney, in an article co-written with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, said, With respect to the alleged interference by Russia and WikiLeaks in the U.S. election, it is a major mystery why U.S. intelligence feels it must rely on circumstantial evidence, when it has NSA s vacuum cleaner sucking up hard evidence galore. What we know of NSA s capabilities shows that the email disclosures were from leaking, not hacking. For instance, that s the view of William Binney, who retired as NSA s technical director of world military and geopolitical analysis and who created many of the collection systems still used by NSA.There is also the fact that both WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and one of his associates, former British Ambassador Craig Murray, have denied that the purloined emails came from the Russian government. Going further, Murray has suggested that there were two separate sources, the DNC material coming from a disgruntled Democrat and the Podesta emails coming from possibly a U.S. intelligence source, since the Podesta Group represents Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments Continue this article at Consortium NewsREAD MORE RUSSIAN HACK NEWS AT: 21WIRE Russia Files",0 "Plane crash in Russia's far east kills six: reportMOSCOW (Reuters) - Six people were killed when a small plane crashed in Russia s far eastern region of Khabarovsk early on Wednesday, Russian news agencies said. There were seven people on board the L-410 aircraft including two crew, RIA said, adding that one passenger, a child, had survived the crash, but was in grave condition. ",1 "BREAKING WIKILEAKS BOMBSHELL! Murdered DNC Staffer Seth Rich Was DNC LEAKER: “He Was My Whistleblower”Conspiracy theories have been surrounding the murder of Seth Rich. They reached a new frenzy after the hacking of DNC e-mails led to the resignation of its chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.Rich was beaten, shot and killed early on the morning of July 8 while he was walking home and talking on the phone to his girlfriend. Police have said they haven t determined if his murder was a botched robbery or something else. The killer or killers appear to have taken nothing from their victim, leaving behind his wallet, watch and phone.Wikileaks just confirmed murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich was the source of the DNC leak.Wikileaks released a series direct messages from US alleged Russian spy Guccifer 2.0 to actress model Robbin Young (according to Young).In the stream of texts the discussion leads to the DNC leaker.His name is Seth ** In November Julian Assange said Russia did not hack into the DNC servers. -h/t GP Here s the proof:Direct Messages from U.S. alleged Russian spy @GUCCIFER_2 to actress-model @robbin_young (according to the latter) https://t.co/uMsB9WgxRQ WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 8, 2017Actress Robbin Young claims she had given this information she received from Guccifer 2.0 to the authorities but, no one cared :https://twitter.com/Robbin_Young/status/850743524953702404Actress Robbin Young states that Guccifer 2.0 told her, i m eager to find facts about seth, i m sure it wasn t just a robbery. seth was assassinated. :Guccifer 2.0 said, ""i'm eager to find fact about seth, i'm sure it wasn't just a robbery. seth was assassinated."" #SethRich Robbin Young (@Robbin_Young) March 29, 2017In June 2016,the hacker Guccifer 2.0 claimed responsibility for breaking into the Democratic National Committee s servers, lifting opposition research the DNC had gathered, including a 200-page document focused on presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.The hacker s moniker is an homage to Guccifer, the nom de guerre of Romanian hacker Marcel Lazar who claimed a previous hack into Hillary Clinton s private email server and is now awaiting prosecution for cybercrimes. RTWhile Wikileaks Julian Assange was being interviewed by John Pilger, he brought up the death of Seth Rich. Watch Assange s strange and somewhat cagey reply.Here is part of the conversation:Julian Assange: Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks. As a 27 year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington.Reporter: That was just a robbery, I believe. Wasn t it?Julian Assange: No. There s no finding. So I m suggesting that our sources take risks.Watch it again in slow motion below:Watch Assange answer question about Seth Rich s murder again in slow-motion: THE RUSSIA HOAX: Julian Assange acknowledges murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich was Wikileaks source. Why is MSM covering this up? #Trump pic.twitter.com/FS297JooQI ViveLaFrance (@vivelafra) December 11, 2016Seth Rich s parents explain what happened only moments before his death. He was the Voter Expansion Data Director for the DNC. His parents say he was, Making sure everyone who wanted to vote, had the opportunity :Shortly after the killing, Redditors and social media users were pursuing a lead saying that Rich was en route to the FBI that fateful morning, apparently intending to speak to special agents about an ongoing court case possibly involving the Clinton family.More recently, Wikileaks s thousands of DNC emails and voice mails have piqued Reddit s interest, with Redditors combing through years of communications looking for any clue to Rich s murder.The theory is apparently based on Julian Assange s recent ITV appearance, where he scoffed at the idea that Russian hackers could be responsible for the data dump, and said that anyone within the Democrats organization could easily have sent Wikileaks the offending messages.Given that Rich as a DNC staffer presumably would have had some access to its servers, Reddit is absolutely positive Rich paid the ultimate price for exposing Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DNC s crusade against Bernie Sanders. HeatstreetGo HERE for fascinating timeline of events leading up to the brutal murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. ",0 "Ruling Nationals recover support in jittery New Zealand election campaignWELLINGTON (Reuters) - Support for New Zealand s National Party has surged, a poll published on Tuesday suggests, indicating the ruling party will grab enough votes at looming national elections to govern. The Newshub-Reid poll is the latest twist in the rollercoaster ride of New Zealand s electoral campaign, coming just weeks after a separate poll showed support for the opposition Labour Party surging above the Nationals. That had given rise to speculation that Labour would return to power as the lead of a coalition government after almost a decade in opposition. The unusual volatility has been giving investors jitters.. The New Zealand dollar, the 11th most traded currency in the world in 2016, jumped to $0.7265 after the poll was released from $0.7224. The Newshub-Reid poll showed backing for the National Party up 4 points at 47.3 percent and, in a double whammy for Labour, showed the opposition party s support down 1.6 points at 37.8 percent. It s a huge setback for Labour, said Bryce Edwards, Wellington-based analyst at Critical Politics. It really just shows how volatile this election campaign is. The National Party has vowed to support free trade as global protectionism rises, in particular, by championing the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, which Labour has said it would renegotiate. The surprisingly strong result for National suggested it might not need the nationalist New Zealand First Party, long considered the likely kingmaker, to form a government at the Sept. 23 election. Labour changed its leader last month in a bid to jolt life into its struggling campaign, appointing 37-year-old Jacinda Ardern. That last-minute gamble had appeared to be paying off with Labour climbing dramatically in previous polls. An average of previous polls, compiled by Radio New Zealand on Friday, showed Labour s support had surpassing National s. The latest Newshub-Reid poll suggested that the two minor parties traditionally needed to form a coalition government would not have a role to play this time around. New Zealand First, led by populist politician Winston Peters, slipped 0.6 points to 6 percent. The Green Party, which is aligned with Labour for a potential coalition, fell to 4.9 percent, below the 5 percent threshold needed to gain seats in parliament. ",1 "Algeria prepares for day of protests: Pro-democracy alliance expected to defy ban on demonstrations. ",1 "ISIS suspect: ''The Turkish Intelligence Agency, MT, helped us smuggle arms to radical groups in Syria''",1 "THIS COMPANY PUTS UP A BILLBOARD THAT FINALLY GETS #BlackLivesMatter RIGHT… WITHOUT THE RACIST CONNOTATIONBlack lives matter but only when white cops are responsible for their deaths. When blacks kill other blacks not so much. Kudos to the Fred L. Davis Insurance Company for telling the truth about who s really doing the killing in black communities.That s the statement on a billboard in Memphis, Tennessee. However, there s more to it.The full message reads: Black lives matter. So let s quit killing each other. It s a statement directed against black-on-black crime.Normally, liberals take umbrage at the idea that somebody might evaluate problems caused within the black community by other blacks because it doesn t suit the narrative. However, the author of this message has a background that will make it difficult for people to attack him like that.Fred Davis is a civil rights activist who reportedly marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He s also the man behind the message. We re going to have to wake up, Davis said. We re going to have to say to ourselves that black lives matter, and we re going to have to refrain from killing each other out of our own frustration. I can speak, not from reading a book about the history, because I was a part of the history, he said. I think that gives me a license as an experienced observer to push and to advocate to the black community let s stop it. Fred L. Davis is no stranger to controversy. Here is one of his previous billboards:Via: DownTrend",0 "Top Republican Ryan distances himself from Trump White House bidWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Ryan, the top Republican in the U.S. Congress, took the extraordinary step on Monday of distancing himself from Donald Trump, stirring a backlash from some lawmakers and deepening a crisis over his party’s struggling presidential nominee. In a conference call with congressional Republicans, Ryan all but conceded that Democrat Hillary Clinton was likely to win the White House on Nov. 8 and said he would put his full energy into preserving Republican majorities in Congress so as not to give her a “blank check.” Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives, said he would not defend Trump or campaign for him after the uproar over the New York businessman’s sexually aggressive comments that surfaced on Friday. Ryan’s announcement added to the party’s worst turmoil in decades and reinforced the growing sense of isolation around Trump, who has never previously run for public office. Clinton has led Trump in most national opinion polls for months and Trump’s poll numbers have begun to drop further since the emergence on Friday of a video from 2005 showing the former reality TV star bragging crudely about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. Trump hit back at Ryan, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, who has frequently been critical of him. “Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee,” Trump wrote on Twitter. Ryan, who had expressed disgust over the tape and canceled a campaign event with Trump over the weekend, did not completely cut ties to Trump. The speaker went back on the Republican conference call later to clarify he was not withdrawing his endorsement. Many Republican members of Congress are concerned that Trump’s chaotic campaign could ruin their chances of holding their majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in the November election and could inflict long-term damage on the party. During a weekend dominated by criticism of Trump over the lewd remarks, a string of members of Congress, governors and other prominent Republicans called on him to drop out of the race. House Republicans gave Ryan a rough ride on the call, according to some participants. “There was an undeniable opposition to the speaker’s tepid support of our nominee,” said U.S. Representative Scott DesJarlais, a Trump supporter, in a comment passed on by an aide. Many other lawmakers, some of whom did not want to be named publicly criticizing the speaker, said members frequently told Ryan on the call to stand by Trump. Nonetheless, nearly half of all 331 incumbent Republican senators, Congress members and governors have condemned Trump’s remarks, and roughly one in 10 has called on him to drop out of the race, according to a Reuters review of official statements and local news coverage. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus used an afternoon conference call with RNC members to emphasize there was no rift with Trump and that the committee, the party’s leadership and fundraising arm, still backed the nominee, two RNC members who spoke on condition of anonymity said. “Any suggestion that the RNC isn’t fully supporting the Trump-Pence ticket is wrong,” one RNC member said, describing the message. “We are fully on board. We are going to devote every ounce of effort and resource into helping the Trump-Pence ticket win and all the other candidates up and down the ballot.” Any attempt to replace Trump on the ballot this close to Election Day would face huge legal and logistical hurdles. A defiant Trump went on the offensive in a vicious presidential debate on Sunday, saying Clinton, a former secretary of state would go to jail if he were president and attacking her husband, former President Bill Clinton, for his treatment of women. The debate, the second of three before the vote, was remarkable for the brutal nature of the exchanges between the two. Trump stayed on the attack on Monday, describing Bill Clinton as “a predator” and saying: “If they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we’ll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things. There are so many of them.” “She goes out and says: ‘I love women, I’m going to help women.’ She’s a total hypocrite,” he told supporters in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. Clinton accused Trump of brushing off criticism of his comments about women. “On Friday, the whole world heard him talking about the terrible way he treats women. And last night when he was pressed about how he behaves, he just doubled down on his excuse that it’s just locker room banter,” she told a rally at Wayne State University in Detroit. The television audience for the debate fell sharply from their first, record-breaking encounter in September. Nielsen data supplied by CNN for 10 broadcast and cable channels on Monday showed that 63.6 million Americans tuned into the 90-minute debate on Sunday, well below the record 84 million that watched the first face-off. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal opinion poll released on Monday showed Clinton increasing her lead. The survey, conducted after the video release but before the debate, showed Clinton with 46 percent support among likely voters in a four-way matchup including two minor party candidates, compared with 35 percent for Trump. The Reuters/Ipsos State of the Nation project released on Monday estimated that Clinton had at least a 95 percent chance of winning the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become president. The polling did not capture reaction to Trump’s performance in Sunday’s debate or the release of the Friday videotape. ",1 "MEGHAN MCCAIN Cut-Off After Saying the Florida Shooter was “Flagged by the FBI” [Video]It clear that common sense isn t what these hens want to hear. Common sense would tell anyone that the FBI dropped the ball with the Florida shooter. watch as Meghan McCain is shut down after making the best argument for how the Florida shooting could have been avoided:Meghan McCain got cut off on The View Friday after telling her co-hosts that the Florida school shooter was flagged by the FBI and nothing happened.The comment came during a discussion about gun control following the deadly shooting Wednesday in Parkland, Florida, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a 19-year-old man opened fire at school killing 17 people, including teachers and students before being taken into custody.Daily caller reports: The argument from NRA members and Second Amendment supporters is much like abortion. Not a lot of trust on both sides for compromise, McCain explained. I m like okay, we can talk about assault weapons. That being said, I know people who own them who obviously aren t mass murderers. They re hunters and use they them for target practice and hunting. And it s like if you give a mouse a cookie then we are going to go to..it s a slippery slope going forward. Much like abortion, It s so emotional on both sides, I think it s hard for people on both sides to have faith that we can meet in the middle. With all due respect you didn t grow up in gun country, McCain explained.A short time later, McCain said no one is in support of people with mental illness having guns and that this shooter was flagged by the FBI and still nothing happened. ",0 "Somali man, aged 112, weds girl, 17. Man already has 18 children by five wives, says he would like to have more with his new wife.",0 An investigation by an anti-government Myanmar \r\nbroadcaster has found evidence that it says shows \r\nthe country's military regime has begun a \r\nprogramme to develop nuclear weapons.,0 "SHE GREW UP BELIEVING BLACKS Could Only Support Democrats…Until She Took A Job With ACORN: WATCH The INCREDIBLE Story Of A Woman Who Took On Obama’s LEFTIST MACHINE [VIDEO]Keep your eye on Anita Moncreif If knowledge is power she is the Democrat Party s worst nightmare. When you re on the left, and all of your friends are leftists, and your parents are leftists, you don t hang around with other people, and you only get the view of folks as what you see on TV, and how they present it to you. And you guys are seen as racist, angry people. Every time they get a chance, that s the image they push out there on TV. They try to find that one crazy Tea Party person and they try to get them to say something, and they make sure they play it on all the black stations. And you see that and you say, Okay, these people are nuts. So I didn t expect to find any kind of support from the Right. Everything Anita Moncreif believed to be true about the Left changed when she took a job with ACORN and quickly discovered the Democrat Party was not really looking out for the interests of the Black community or low income neighborhoods. When she began to understand they would do anything, including breaking the law, to grow the Democrat Party, she made the decision to expose them. She quickly found out how the mainstream media will go to any length to keep the truth about the criminal Left from the American people.Watch her amazing story here: Decades after his death, Saul Alinsky s vision has become reality. From Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton to ACORN to Black Lives Matter, Alinsky is more alive in his death now than in his four decades of community organizing.Anita is asking for the help of conservatives to make this movie a reality. She needs YOUR help to build momentum for this film.Please consider giving whatever you can today. Click HERE to donate $1, $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can afford. This is an independent fund. We have no big funders or organizations backing us yet. That s why we need you. We need to start shooting now. Reaching our goal will allow us to begin shooting footage at the two party conventions and buy us time to raise awareness to raise the production, administrative, and promotional budgets for this much-needed film.We re going to communicate with you the audience. Some of the footage we ll release before the film s debut. We ll also communicate some of our successes and our challenges along the way. Together, we can change the way films are produced and promoted.The American Left and the Right need to see this film and decide where we go from here.If the necessary funds aren t raised on Kickstarter, account funds won t be unlocked.Eight years after exposing ACORN, I have been immersed in training, speaking, and examining the effectiveness of the grassroots on both sides of the aisle. I felt that my journey was not over, and I had many more truths to tell. I am finally ready to offer a movement eye view of the legacy of Alinsky, and the rise of grassroots movements across the nation. It s a huge effort, it s expensive, and the stakes are high, so please chip in $15, $50, $500 or more to fund our efforts to film at the DNC and RNC conventions in the next few weeks.Donate now to The Children of Alinsky (Phase 1)Together, we can do great things and the possibility of a documentary filmed and funded by ordinary people determined to implement change will be a major step toward illustrating how bottom-up change is done.Your friend, Anita MonCriefHere is Part II of Anita s amazing story:",0 "NEW REPORT: OBAMAPHONE Program Stashed $9 BILLION In Private Bank Accounts…Exposes Massive Windfall For Phone CompaniesWho could forget the Obamaphone Lady from Cleveland, OH, who unashamedly told an interviewer she was voting for Obama because all minorities in Cleveland get a free Obamaphone from Obama, and He s gonna do more! She actually woke up and admitted that she, and other minorities had been played by Obama in a follow-up video at the bottom of the page.The controversial Obamaphone program, which pays for cellphones for the poor, is rife with fraud, according to a new government report released Thursday that found more than a third of enrollees may not even be qualified.Known officially as the Lifeline Program, the phone giveaway became a symbol of government waste in the previous administration. Now a new report from the Government Accountability Office bears out those concerns.The report, requested by Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat, also says the program has stashed some $9 billion in assets in private bank accounts rather than with the federal treasury, further increasing risks and depriving taxpayers of the full benefit of that money. A complete lack of oversight is causing this program to fail the American taxpayer everything that could go wrong is going wrong, said Mrs. McCaskill, ranking Democrat on the Senate s chief oversight committee and who is a former state auditor in Missouri. We re currently letting phone companies cash a government check every month with little more than the honor system to hold them accountable, and that simply can t continue, she said. The program, run by the Federal Communications Commission, predates President Obama, but it gained attention during his administration when recipients began to associate the free phone with other benefits he doled out to the poor. Washington TimesThe Daily Caller reported:A massive portion of Obamaphone recipients are receiving the benefit after lying on their applications, according to a new 90-page report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).An undercover sting operation showed ineligible applications were approved 63 percent of the time, and a review that found that 36 to 65 percent of beneficiaries in various categories had lied in easily-detectable ways but were approved anyway.The fraud reached unheard-of proportions because the Federal Communications Commission let the task of screening for eligibility fall to phone companies that profit off of enrolling as many people as possible.GAO undercover investigators applied for free government phones 19 times using criteria that should have been rejected, and we were approved to receive Lifeline services by 12 of the 19 Lifeline providers using fictitious eligibility documentation. All someone has to do to apply for free cell phone service is say that they are on another welfare program, such as food stamps or disability, known as SSI.When Congress considered reforms, phone companies took out daily full-page ads in publications read by Capitol Hill staffers. The wife of the CEO of TracFone, the largest beneficiary of Obamaphones, was a mega-fundraiser for former President Barack Obama.The cause of the fraud rates, shocking even by federal government standards, was always clear: The FCC allowed companies with a profit motive to sign up as many people as possible to determine eligibility.Phone companies swooped into housing projects in vans with neon flashing lights to register users. A woman approached by one such representative outside of a welfare office told The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group the man encouraged her to enroll her two-year-old.The companies weren t checking eligibility, and the FCC wasn t ensuring they did or punishing those who didn t. Additionally, the FCC failed to provide many companies with the intra-government databases that would give them the ability to perform some checks, the GAO found.The Obamaphone Lady aka Michelle Dowry made an appearance on Alex Jones show where she admitted to finally waking up, as she discovered that Barack Obama s presidency was a giant hoax. The only thing that Michele and the rest of the the minority community Obama promised to help got during his 8 years in office was a tax-payer funded free phone:",0 Egyptian writer to face trial for 'insulting Islam',0 "Ron Paul Highlights Real List of Mainstream ‘Fake News’ Journalists RTFormer congressman Ron Paul revealed a list of fake news journalists he claims are responsible for bogus wars and lies about Hillary Clinton s chances of winning the election. Journalists from CNN, the New York Times, and the Guardian are included. This list contains the culprits who told us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and lied us into multiple bogus wars, according to a report on his website, Ron Paul Liberty Report. Paul claims the list is sourced and holds a lot more water than a list previously released by Melissa Zimdars, who is described on Paul s website as a leftist feminist professor. REVEALED: The Real Fake News List https://t.co/1CkOSe25LU pic.twitter.com/lqb9Uze1pi Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 19, 2016@RonPaul @The_NewRight pic.twitter.com/HntdHZbnkm Stavros (@ubipages) November 19, 2016 These are the news sources that told us if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, he said. They told us that Hillary Clinton had a 98% of winning the election. They tell us in a never-ending loop that The economy is in great shape! Paul s list includes the full names of the fake news journalists as well as the publications they write for, with what appears to be hyperlinks to where the allegations are sourced from. In most cases, this is WikiLeaks, but none of the hyperlinks are working at present, leaving the exact sources of the list unknown.CNN is Paul s biggest alleged culprit, with nine entries, followed by the NY Times and MSNBC, with six each. The NY Times has recently come under fire from President-elect Donald Trump, who accuses them of being totally wrong on news regarding his transition team, while describing them as failing. The failing @nytimes story is so totally wrong on transition. It is going so smoothly. Also, I have spoken to many foreign leaders. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2016The publication hit back, however, saying their business has increased since his election, with a surge in new subscriptions.CNN s Wolf Blitzer is also amongst those named on the list. In an email from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) released by WikiLeaks, the DNC staff discusses sending questions to CNN for an interview with Donald Trump.Also listed is NY Times journalist Maggie Haberman, whom leaked emails showed working closely with Clinton s campaign to present the Democratic candidate in a favorable light.READ MORE: New leak reveals extent of Clinton ties with US mediaSo-called fake news has been recently attacked by US President Barack Obama, who claimed that false news shared online may have played a role in Donald Trump s victory in the US presidential election.Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg has now said that the social media site may begin entrusting third parties with filtering the news.READ MORE: Zuckerberg hints at third-party news verification to fight fake news on FacebookREAD MORE ABOUT MSM FABRICATING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire MSM Watch FilesShare on FacebookShare on Twitter",0 "U.N. assisting thousands of migrants in Libyan smuggling hubTUNIS/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - U.N. agencies said on Monday they were trying to provide urgent help to large numbers of migrants held and then stranded in the smuggling hub of Sabratha as rival factions battled for control of the city. At least 4,000 migrants, including pregnant women, newborn babies and unaccompanied children, have been transferred from informal camps and housing to a hangar in the city since the clashes ended on Friday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said some 6,000 had been held at the informal sites. Hundreds of migrants who had left Sabratha arrived in Zuwara, about 25 km (15 miles) to the west, on foot along the beach, said Sadeeq Al-Jayash, head of Zuwara s emergency committee. They come walking in groups ... for example there were various groups that came on Sunday 50, then 100 and 200 at night, said Jayash. There were about 1,700 migrants currently in Zuwara in desperate need of help , he said. Sabratha has been the most common point of departure for mostly sub-Saharan African migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean by boat from Libya. But the number of crossings dropped sharply in July after an armed group struck a deal with officials from the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli to block departures, under pressure from Italy and other European Union member states. That set off three weeks of fighting among rival factions that left at least 43 dead and 340 wounded, according to a new health ministry toll, and ended with the withdrawal of the armed group. The migrants who have since been rounded up were being held at sites that the group had controlled, local officials said. We are seriously concerned by the large number of migrants caught up in recent developments in Sabratha, Othman Belbeisi, IOM Libya chief of mission, said in a statement. Some migrants are being sent on to detention centers elsewhere in western Libya that are nominally under the control of the Tripoli government. IOM officials say those centers, which were housing some 5,000 migrants, risk being overwhelmed by the new arrivals. Conditions in the centers are often dire and abuse widespread. Alternatives to detention must be found for migrants in Libya. In the meantime, IOM continues to provide direct humanitarian, health and psychosocial assistance to meet the urgent needs of the thousands of migrants being affected, Belbeisi said. Local sources have previously said that an estimated 10,000 migrants were being held in the Sabratha area. The head of Sabratha s department for countering illegal migration told Reuters on Saturday that help was badly needed as some migrants had received no food or water for six days. The UNHCR said it had approached Libyan authorities to ensure that refugees among the migrants were freed from detention. ",1 " WATCH: Trump’s Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin Says NFL Players Have No Right To Free SpeechDonald Trump is clearly violating the free speech rights of NFL players, and his weaselly Treasury Secretary supports it.As we all know, Trump has been waging a war against the NFL since calling quarterback Colin Kaepernick a son of a bitch on Friday night and demanding that NFL team owners fire players who kneel during the national anthem. On Saturday night, and into Sunday morning, Trump lashed out at the NFL in a tirade that made it clear that Trump opposes free speech and the Constitution that protects it.If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect . Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017 our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU RE FIRED. Find something else to do! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017Roger Goodell of NFL just put out a statement trying to justify the total disrespect certain players show to our country.Tell them to stand! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017 NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back U.S. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017That s right. Trump accused an American business of being anti-American for not firing players who kneel during the anthem in protest of police brutality and racial injustice. In short, Trump ordered the NFL to fire players who exercise their freedom of speech and expression. That means the government is now actively trying to force private institutions to silence and punish free speech.And Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin agreed with what Trump is doing, and even went full hypocrite by defending Trump s vile language. The owners should have a rule that players should have to stand and have respect for the national anthem, Mnuchin told ABC host Martha Raddatz. This isn t about Democrats, this isn t about Republicans, it s not about race, it s not about free speech. They can do free speech on their own time. The Constitution protects freedom of speech. This is something that Mnuchin clearly does not understand, which should automatically disqualify him from being in government.When asked about Trump s language, Mnuchin argued that the president can use whatever language he wants to use. In other words, white racists like Trump have freedom of speech, but black NFL players do not.Mnuchin then butchered the First Amendment even further by claiming that NFL players only have the right to have the First Amendment off the field. And that s complete bullshit. Clearly, Mnuchin failed basic civics in school.Here s the video via YouTube.The government, including the president, can t order a business to violate the free speech rights of their employees. Donald Trump owes an apology to the players whom he offended with his outrageously divisive remarks. No one can be forced to stand for the national anthem, just as no child can be forced to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It s unconstitutional.Featured image via video screen capture ",0 "China's Xi tells Trump maintaining peace in Korean peninsula is China's unswerving goalSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping told his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump that it is Beijing s unswerving goal to maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia and denuclearize the Korean peninsula, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. Xi made the comments in a phone conversation with Trump, who urged the Chinese leader to exert pressure on North Korea after Pyongyang said it successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile. ",1 Indian govt shortlists 1500 yoga asanas to prevent them being patented abroad,1 Iranian Official Denies That Nuclear Reactor Was Sealed,1 " ‘Responsible’ Texas Father Shoots His 9-Year-Old Daughter While Showing Her His GunRepublicans talk a good game about their supporters being responsible gun owners. As a matter of fact, to listen to them you d almost believe that every gun owner in America is super responsible, only concerned about protecting themselves and their family. However, when you turn on the news it becomes very obvious that this isn t the case at all. Actually, more often than not we hear stories that sound a little something like this one out of Texas.A 9-year-old girl who was wounded when a 9-mm gun her father was showing her discharged was in critical condition Friday in a Temple hospital. The girl, whose name has not been released, was struck in the left shoulder in the shooting at around 9:30 p.m. Thursday One officer said authorities believe the shooting was accidental.Let me be clear: A gun does not just discharge. Period.This ammosexual was showing off his gun to his 9-year-old daughter and he shot her because he is a f*cking idiot who does not know how to handle a gun. He didn t look to make sure there was not a bullet in the chamber of this gun he thought was so awesome.The same people who say that all of their supporters are responsible also say that we want to take their guns away. First of all, we don t but if we did could you blame us? According to Every Town, a gun control advocacy group:From December 2012 to December 2013, at least 100 children were killed in unintentional shootings almost two each week, 61 percent higher than federal data reflect. And even this larger number reflects just a fraction of the total number of children injured or killed with guns in the U.S. each year, regardless of the intent.That s an astronomical amount of kids and the right-wing thinks there isn t a problem in this country. When hundreds of our kids are dying and thousands of adults are meeting the same fate in what is arguably the most powerful nation on earth, we clearly have an issue. What s worse is that the vast majority of accidental shootings could be prevented if people, like this father, just used common sense and took a safety course. Featured image from Whudat",0 "Nearly 13,000 tortured to death in Syria",0 "For the past two years, Sudanese-born cellphone magnate Mo Ibrahim has given out $5 million prizes to outstanding African presidents who had served their country with good sense. Today, Mr. Ibrahim announced that his team was unable to agree on a candidate for this year's prize.",1 Says House Democrats voted to use your tax dollars for abortions by voting against bill defunding Planned Parenthood.,0 Pentagon report: China extending military reach,1 "ANTIFA BEWARE! BIKERS FOR TRUMP Makes Huge Announcement On Tonight’s Phoenix Rally [VIDEO]BIKERS FOR TRUMP announced their support for Pro-Trump attendees at tonight s Phoenix Rally for Trump. This just got more interesting because the bikers will not put up with the Antifa violence. Check out the announcement below:The statement released by bikers for Trump s Steven emery:This group of brave Patriots deserves our support! Please check out the Go Fund Me for bikers for Trump.Don t forget that violence against trump supporters has been over-the-top since last year. How could we forget the Chicago, San Diego and other cities that brought out the leftists who only wanted violence.It s a good thing Bikers for Trump will be a presence in Phoenix tonight. Please pray for their safety.IN CASE YOU FORGOT ABOUT WHAT THE LEFT DID LAST YEAR:When will the media report on this nice group of illegal aliens and racist American thugs SINCE THE MEDIA WON T REPORT ON ATTACKS ON CONSERVATIVE TRUMP SUPPORTERS, WE VE GOT THE LIST FOR YOU: Pro-Trump supporters have known the truth for a long time that conservatives are being attacked. Do you have any idea of the number of attacks? You might be shocked to see the list created by The Daily Caller.We feel like it s even more important to know who s behind the effort to attack and silence conservatives in America. There are groups like MoveOn.org and Black Lives Matter that have been instigating violence in a big way. Antifa is the worst with their tactics of extreme violence and destruction.Just as destructive as the violence is the left s effort to hijack the narrative anytime something happens between both sides. It s an Alinsky tactic that the left has been using long before President Trump came on the scene. The only difference now is that they re on overdrive with the attacks on Trump! It s downright scary!Take the The Huffington Post s recent article calling for the execution of Trump and everyone assisting his agenda. If you ve noticed a hijacking of the narrative on just about everything to do with President Trump then look no further than the attack on his comments yesterday. Trump s words were twisted, replaced and totally misinterpreted. So it shouldn t surprise anyone that you haven t heard much about physical attacks on conservatives what s the left got to gain by telling the truth? Suppression of information is right up there with lying A low as you can get!HERE S THE TRUTH AND IT S SHOCKING: Protesters jumped on cars, stole hats, fought with and threw eggs at Trump supporters outside a Trump rally in downtown San Jose, Calif. Trump supporters sued San Jose over the violence.July 2016:-A Hillary Clinton supporter lights a flag on fire and attacks a Trump supporter in Pittsburgh.August 2016:-Anti-Trump protesters attacked pushed, spit on and verbally harassed attendees forced to walk a gauntlet as they left a Trump fundraiser in Minneapolis, Minn., and beat an elderly man. Protesters also attacked Trump s motorcade. A Tennessee man was assaulted at a garage sale for being a Trump supporter.-A Trump supporter in New Jersey was attacked with a crowbar on the street.September 2016:-Protesters in El Cajon, Calif., chased and beat up a Trump supporter.October 2016:-A GOP office in North Carolina was firebombed and spray painted with Nazi Republicans get out of town or else. November 2016:-A high school student was attacked after she wrote that she supported Trump on social media. The perpetrator ripped her glasses off and punched her in the face.-The president of Cornell University s College Republicans was assaulted the night after Trump won the election.-Students protesting Trump punched and kicked a Maryland high school student wearing a Make America Great Again hat.-A high school student was arrested in Florida after he punched a classmate for carrying a Trump sign at school.-A group of black men in Chicago attacked a white man while raging against Trump.-Maryland high school students punched a student who was demonstrating in support of Trump, and then kicked him repeatedly while he was on the ground.- You support Trump. You hate Mexicans, a California high school student yelled at a Trump supporter, before viciously beating the girl.-An anti-bullying ambassador was arrested for shoving a 74-year-old man to the ground in a fight outside Trump tower where people upset over his win had gathered. The woman tied to Black Lives Matter caused the man to hit his head on the sidewalk.-A Texas elementary school student was beaten by his classmates for voting for Trump in a mock election.-Two men punched and kicked a Connecticut man who was standing with an American flag and a Trump sign.December 2016:-A Trump supporter was beaten and dragged by a car.January 2017:-A Trump supporter was knocked unconscious after airport protesters repeatedly beat him on the head.-A Trump supporter was attacked after putting out a fire started by anti-Trump protesters.-When Trump protesters encountered a driver with a pro-Trump flag on his car, they surrounded the vehicle, ripped off and began burning the flag, and pounded the car. They also punctured the tires.February 2017:-California GOP Rep. Tom McClintock had to be escorted to his car after a town hall because of angry protesters. The tires of at least four vehicles were slashed.-Protestors knocked a 71-year-old female staffer for California GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher unconscious during a protest outside the representative s office.-Milo Yiannopoulos speech at the University of California-Berkeley was cancelled after rioters set the campus on fire and threw rocks through windows. Milo tweeted that one of his supporters wearing a Trump hat was thrown to the ground and kicked.March 2017:-Masked protesters at Middlebury College rushed AEI scholar and political scientist Charles Murray and professor Allison Stranger, pushing and shoving Murray and grabbing Stranger by her hair and twisting her neck as they were leaving a campus building. Stranger suffered a concussion. Protesters then surrounded the car they got into, rocking it back and forth and jumping on the hood.April 2017:-A parade in Portland, Ore.,was canceled after threats of violence were made against a Republican organization.-Fears of violent protests shut down Ann Coulter s UC Berkeley speech. Campus police had gathered intel on protesters who were planning to commit violence.May 2017: Republican Rep. Tom Garrett, his family and his dog were targeted by a series of repeated death threats deemed credible by authorities.-FBI agents arrested a person for threatening to shoot Republican Rep. Martha McSally over her support for Trump.-Police in Tennessee charged a woman for allegedly trying to run Republican Rep. David Kustoff off the road.-Police in North Dakota ejected a man after he became physical with Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer at a town hall.-A former professor was arrested after police said they identified him on video beating Trump supporters with a U-shaped bike lock, leaving three people with significant injuries. June 2017:-James Hodgkinson opened fire on a congressional GOP baseball practice, injuring five, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.-Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney received an email threat that read, One down, 216 to go, shortly after the shooting at the Republican congressional baseball practice.-A man driving a white Malibu reportedly fired several shots at a man driving a truck displaying a Make America Great Again flag in Indiana.",0 Britain admits 'fake rock' plot to spy on Russians,1 "Obama administration forces Palestinian Authority to drop Demand for Vote on Gaza Report - ""This report would have finally eliminated the impunity Israel enjoys in international law and would have held them accountable for the war crimes that took place in Gaza.",0 "Trump administration would ignore WTO rulings it sees as anti-U.S.: FTWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to ignore any rulings by the World Trade Organization that it sees as an affront to U.S. sovereignty, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing a report prepared by officials. The draft document, due to be sent to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, marks the first time the new administration has laid out its trade plans in writing, the Times said. “Ever since the United States won its independence, it has been a basic principle of our country that American citizens are subject only to laws and regulations made by the U.S. government — not rulings made by foreign governments or international bodies,” the report said, according to the Times. “Accordingly, the Trump administration will aggressively defend American sovereignty over matters of trade policy,” the report said, according to the Times. The Wall Street Journal, which also said it reviewed the document, said the policy represents a dramatic departure from the Obama administration, which emphasized international economic rules and the authority of the WTO, a body that regulates trade and resolves disputes among its members. By contrast, the Trump administration will more assertively defend U.S. sovereignty over trade policy, ramp up enforcement of U.S. trade laws, and use “all possible sources of leverage to encourage other countries to open up their markets,” the document said, according to the Journal. The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Congress requires the president to submit the administration’s trade policy annually by March 1. In the face of Republican concerns, a congressional aide said language in the draft challenging the WTO could still be toned down in a final, public version, the Journal reported. Washington is facing several important WTO decisions, particularly involving China. Potentially the most important is a WTO complaint filed in December by Beijing against the EU and the United States for blocking China’s request to be treated as a “market economy” under the institution’s rules. A final ruling could still be years away. But were the U.S. to ignore a finding in China’s favor it could have major consequences for the WTO as a venue for resolving trade disputes before they fester into destructive trade wars, the Times said.  ",1 "Madoff Charged With 11 Felonies, Faces 150 Years in Prison",1 "South Korean opposition lawmakers have ended a parliamentary filibuster that lasted 192 hours, which is believed to have set a new world record. They were trying to block an anti-terrorism bill which they said threatened personal freedoms.",1 "Mayor says Atlantic City may face bankruptcy after bill vetoed(Reuters) - Atlantic City’s mayor said on Tuesday that bankruptcy was “back on the table” after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed legislation considered essential to the distressed gambling hub’s tax base and cash flow. “If the state is not able to come up with the funding we need within the next few weeks, we will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy,” Mayor Don Guardian said in a statement. The seaside city’s gambling industry, facing increased competition from neighboring U.S. Northeastern states, lost four of its 12 casinos in 2015. The legislation called for casinos to make fixed payments in lieu of taxes and would have added a measure of stability to the city’s rapidly shrinking property tax base. Lawmakers first passed it in June. Nearly five months later, Christie vetoed it but said he would consider signing it with certain changes he required. The Democratic-led legislature then amended the measure, which was part of a package of bills, passed it, made yet more changes and passed it again. Christie, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, also declined on Tuesday to sign the other bills in the package. The city’s emergency manager, Kevin Lavin, who was appointed by Christie a year ago, said in a report on Friday that without the revenues generated in the package, the city’s cash flow would run dry by April. Legislative leaders, who have proposed a takeover of the city, will have to reintroduce the bills if they want to keep pushing for them. Democratic Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, whose district includes Atlantic City, said in a statement that Christie’s vetoes showed a “brazen disregard” for Atlantic City’s fiscal recovery and added he would move forward on measures to restore the region’s economic security. Asked why Christie vetoed the bills, the governor’s office referred to comments he made on Saturday when he was campaigning in Iowa. “If I don’t think the total package makes sense, I won’t (sign it),” he said, according to the remarks. He has been discussing “some accommodation on this” with Senate President Steve Sweeney and other legislative leaders. Sweeney, a Democrat, originally championed the legislation but is now pushing for a takeover of the city’s operations. “We cannot afford to let Atlantic City go bankrupt,” Sweeney said in a statement. “The best way out is for the State of New Jersey to take control of Atlantic City’s finances and the best way to do it is to act quickly.” ",1 The mystery of Ireland's worst driver,1 Brazilian Politicians Want To Offer Snowden Asylum After Learning Of US Spying On Brazilians,1 "If you truly support WikiLeaks, why not support Bradley Manning, the US solider who leaked the documents in the first place?",1 Israel to brand anti-assimilation group Lehava as terrorists,0 "WHATEVER HAPPENED To Trump’s Second Wife? [VIDEO]It s a pretty safe bet that the press isn t able to reveal any bad blood between Donald and his second wife or we wouldn t even have to ask, Whatever happened to Trump s second wife? ",0 "Israeli media sources have confirmed that an Israeli soldier shot and killed a handcuffed Palestinian youth on Tuesday morning in Tel Aviv. Soldier says that he ""was shot accidentally from his weapon."" The 18 yr old Palestinian was killed instantly as a result of the shot in the back.",1 A new study says that Israelis and Palestinians would gain billions of dollars from peace,0 "While they're trying to pass a law making it legal to kill gays, Uganda has passed another law banning female circumcision...",1 Malawi to review homosexuality ban after US aid threat,1 "U.S., UK likely to charge multiple banks in Libor rigging: WSJ",1 Google promised change to avoid $5bn fine by the European Commission. Google has been unethically favoring its products in internet searches.,1 "CHILLING: How America Looks After 8 Long Years With An Anti-American PresidentThe shocking truth about how close we are to becoming a one-party fascist stateThis is the most brilliant and scary analysis of where we, as a nation are today Last year a retired Border Patrol Officer by the name of Zach Taylor went on camera to explain the driving force behind the unprecedented surge in illegal immigration happening on our southern border. Taylor went on to note that what was happening at our border was not due to a spur of the moment event, or a humanitarian crisis , but asymmetrical warfare. The surge we saw at the border was apart of a larger more chilling event that served one purpose and one purpose only, to show our enemies that our southern border had been compromised and the government wouldn t do a damn thing about it.The border was destroyed because of the actions taken by President Barack Obama under the guise of his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) plan. Simply put, DACA rewrote our immigration laws and created the incentive for illegal aliens to break our laws as Obama deliberately undermined our nation s sovereignty by simply creating his own. The culmination of Obama s DACA has resulted in over 790,000 illegal aliens entering the country from the middle of 2013 to May of 2015, for a total of 2.5 million new illegal immigrants since Obama took office in January of 2009.While the threat comes from without, in this case millions of illegal immigrants, it could not have been possible without the enemy already being inside of the United States. As Mr. Taylor states, If asymmetrical warfare is going to be successful, the first thing that has to be done is to compromise America s defense against invasion because they have to have their personnel inside the United States to affect the infrastructure our hospitals, our schools, our electric grid, our power supplies, our water supply basically what we call infrastructure [which] effects the degeneration from inside the United States. By drawing away the resources that are intended to protect the United States border in order to care for the illegal immigrants, the border is now wide open and our infrastructure is overloaded. Yet, the crisis on the border is only a small part of the larger warfare that s being waged against our country at the hands of our own president. Today the Obama juggernaut is systematically bankrupting our country, and undoing the constitutional arrangements our Founders left to us , writes David Horowitz in his book Fight Fire With Fire. The contempt of the Obama party for consultative and representative government is relentlessly on display. Horowitz goes on to give the example of what our enemy represents with the following statement uttered by then Senate Majority leader Harry Reid as he defended his refusal to negotiate with Republicans over Obamacare and the debt crisis. Reid stated in these words: We are here to support the federal government. That s our job. End quote. You ll notice that representing the people for whom our Constitution makes sovereign is not included in Reid s statement.Horowitz then writes the following: My years as a radical prepared me to see much of this coming. But even I never thought we would be looking so soon at the prospect of a one-party system and a fascist state. Those words may sound hyperbolic, but take a moment to think about it. If you have transformed the taxing agency of the state into a political weapon and Obama has; if you are setting up a massive government program to collect and file the financial and health information of every citizen, and also to control their access to care; and if you have a spy agency that can read the mail and listen to the communications of every individual in the country, you don t really need a secret police to destroy political opponents. You already have the means to do it. This is all the more troubling when you look at the sheer amount of data the Obama administration, or shall I say the Obama government, is collecting on each and every individual living in the United States. To effect the degeneration of the country from within the Obama administration has weaponized the IRS, DOJ, and FBI to target Americans who oppose their agenda. Now, the White House has added a key tool in their arsenal by prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of racial and economic justice. On Saturday, Paul Sperry of the New York Post, uncovered the latest Obama plan that is aimed at collecting personal data for a secret race database. Sperry writes, Unbeknown to most Americans, Obama s racial bean counters are furiously mining data on their health, home loans, credit cards, places of work, neighborhoods, even how their kids are disciplined in school all to document inequalities between minorities and whites. It may sound conspiratorial but under this government the only conspiracy is that being committed against Americans who are too distracted by today s latest ginned up political crisis.Sperry continues by noting that, this Orwellian-style stockpile of statistics includes a vast and permanent network of discrimination databases, which Obama already is using to make disparate impact cases against: banks that don t make enough prime loans to minorities; schools that suspend too many blacks; cities that don t offer enough Section 8 and other low-income housing for minorities; and employers who turn down African-Americans for jobs due to criminal backgrounds. Big Brother Barack wants the databases operational before he leaves office, and much of the data in them will be posted online. This means that so called civil-rights attorneys like those working for the ACLU and urban activist groups will be able to exploit them to show patterns of racial disparities and segregation, even if no other evidence of discrimination exists. Such databases have never before existed. Obama is presiding over the largest consolidation of personal data in US history. He is creating a diversity police state where government race cops and civil-rights lawyers will micromanage demographic outcomes in virtually every aspect of society , concludes Sperry. If you were to add all the databases created under this administration, including the Obamacare database, known as MIDAS, which retains tens of millions of Obamacare enrollees information, you could quiet literally make the claim that the federal government has data on every single American citizen. In the hands of someone like Obama this becomes of grave concern given his willingness to use such information against his opponents. Now that this information will be made public in order to extort communities deemed too segregated . Whether it be through the withholding of federal funds for a local community showing a pattern of racial disparity or lawsuits against a school that disciplines minorities more than whites, it doesn t much matter. The government will be able to force you to act in a way that it deems socially acceptable as Obama drastically changes the racial makeup of America by enshrining an infrastructure that will continue long after he s gone.All the while this is happening below the surface and under the radar from most Americans, we remain and for good reason, distracted by the latest crisis of the day. A Christian owned Oregon bakery is forced by the state to pay a fine for not baking a cake for a lesbian couple, a woman is killed by an illegal immigrant and 7-time convicted felon in San Francisco, four Marines and one Navy Officer are executed by an Islamic jihadist; none of this would be happening but for Obama s actions. He knew that ISIS had put out a hit list specifically targeting our military, and he did nothing. He cheered on the Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage knowing that it would be used in a way to exploit and destroy businesses specifically owned by Christians. He created the sanctuary city policy that has served to protect illegal immigrants while they rape, murder, and assault American citizens like Kate Steinle in San Francisco.All of this is happening because of the enemy we have in the White House. The country is being brought to its knees by overt acts such as the jihadist attack that was met with no response, to covert acts such as the Obama race database. Yet, no resistance is met to counter the agenda of the Obama adminstration. Even the capacity of the American people to determine their own national interests are being torn asunder without any fight, without even so much as a whimper from Congress. Without a pushback, the adminstration goes about acting without repercussion held to no degree of accountability. With impeachment and the power of the purse both taken off the table by Congress, America is literally at the whim of Obama as the only checks that exist today on what the president can do is what he personally thinks he can get away with and what his political incentives are.So the adminstration pushes full steam ahead without any concern for the American people themselves. Nowhere is this more apparent, on a foreign policy scale, than with the adminstration s nuclear deal with Iran. As Andrew McCarthy of National Review writes, At the U.N. today, the Obama administration is colluding with our enemies and other foreign sovereigns to deprive the American people through their elected representatives of the power to determine what obligations they will accept under international law. The Obama administration has taken the position that Russia, China, and, yes, Iran, have a vote on our national security, but we do not. And in this betrayal, Congress has, at best, been a witless aider and abettor. At worst, they ve gone along with the adminstration in committing treason against the United States of America.I believe in the latter.Via: Politically Short",0 "SHOCKING VIDEOTAPED INTERVIEW WITH BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA’S “BROTHER”MALIK: ‘I’d like to see him (Barack) be for real, not so deceptive’In a shocking interview with Joel Gilbert, producer of Dreams From My Real Father, Malik talks about having to come through the back door at the White House or being asked to come at night so no one sees him. He talks about everything that Barack s Aunt Zetouni did for him when he needed her, and how he wouldn t contribute a penny for her funeral. He left it up to the poor villagers in Kenya to figure out how to get her body back to her home country. He also reveals how Barack has never contributed a dime to help a family member in Kenya. Ever since President Barack Obama was elected president, many have wondered who Obama really is and what he stands for. Undisclosed and unreported to the mainstream media, Joel Gilbert, who produced the film, Dreams From My Real Father: A Story of Reds and Deception, has released an interview with Obama s brother Malik Obama, the Freedom Post reported on Friday. Gilbert conducted the 12-minute interview with Malik Obama on April 10, 2015 and was published on April 22, 2015.The interview shows clips of President Obama speaking of how his father grew up and herded goats and then Gilbert told Malik that Obama had deceived Americans when Obama stated that he would cut the deficit, support Israel, and that Obamacare is not a tax and how he felt about it. Malik responded to Gilbert and said, Well, the way that he s turned and become a different person with the family is the same way that I see him behaving politically. He says one thing and then he does another. He s not been an honest man, as far as I m concerned, in who he is and what he says and how he treats people. Gilbert then asked Malik on how he felt about being the oldest brother in the family, Malik responded with disappointment and said, Disappointed disappointed, used, used and also betrayed. In the beginning, I didn t think that he was a schemer. His real character, his real personality, the real him, is coming out now. Malik also spoke on how he and Obama s family back in Kenya feel no respect from Obama and was hurt and crushed that Obama would act that way to them. I don t understand how somebody who claims to be a relative or a brother can behave the way that he s behaving, be so cold and ruthless, and just turn his back on the people, Malik said. He said were his family. WATCH INTERVIEW HERE:Joel Gilbert came to the front lines of Obama really is when his book and film was released. The film and book chronicles the life of President Obama, based in part on two years of research, interviews, newly unearthed footage and photos, and the writings of alleged real father of President Obama, Frank Marshall Davis as well as Obama himself. The film and book also chronicles Barack Obama s life journey in Socialism and Marxism, from the day he was born through his election to the Presidency.Via: The Examiner",0 Sky Films Troops 'In Russian Gear' In Ukraine,0 Russia to Prosecute Crimean Tatar Protesters Over Unrest,1 "Charges against Edward Snowden stand, despite telephone surveillance ban",0 "ANGELA MERKEL Running For Re-Election Makes Stunning Announcement To BAN BURKAS, After Flooding Nation With 2 Million (Mostly Muslim) MigrantsANGELA Merkel today completed an astonishing U-turn as she formally endorsed a full burka ban following a backlash over her open-door migration policies.The German chancellor made the comments at a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) conference having recently declared she will seek re-election.She told the annual congress that it was legitimate to expect integration from newcomers, underlining her party s bid to ban the full face veil. The full veil must be banned wherever it is legally possible, she said to a large round of applause.Merkel also stressed her determination to ensure that there s no repeat of last year s huge migrant influx as she seeks a new two-year term in charge of her conservative party. Sun UKAn official within the ruling CDU/CSU coalition said regional states have to obey the law and warned those who didn t would lose funding.This comes in spite of German Chancellor Angela Merkel s long-standing open-door migrant policy, which began last year and has seen more than one million migrants enter the country since.The country is now home to more than 200,000 failed asylum seekers, who continue to live in Germany despite officials confirming they would be at no risk if they were forced to go back to their home countries. Express UK",0 Robert Fisk: Was he betrayed? Of course. Pakistan knew Bin Laden's hiding place all along | The Independent,0 "Sanders supporters seethe over Clinton's leaked remarks to Wall St.NEW YORK (Reuters) - Supporters of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday expressed anger and vindication over leaked comments made by Hillary Clinton to banks and big business that appeared to confirm their fears about her support for global trade and tendency to cozy up to Wall Street. Clinton, who needs Sanders’ coalition of young and left-leaning voters to propel her to the presidency, pushes for open trade and open borders in one of the speeches, and takes a conciliatory approach to Wall Street, both positions she later backed away from in an effort to capture the popular appeal of Sanders’ attacks on trade deals and powerful banks. The excerpts of remarks by the former secretary of state, made in 2013 and 2014 in closed-door meetings where audiences paid to attend, were published online on Friday by WikiLeaks, which sourced them to the email account of John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the speech transcripts. Clinton has previously declined to release any such transcripts. “This is a very clear illustration of why there is a fundamental lack of trust from progressives for Hillary Clinton,” said Tobita Chow, chair of the People’s Lobby in Chicago, which endorsed Sanders in the primary election. “The progressive movement needs to make a call to Secretary Clinton to clarify where she stands really on these issues and that’s got to involve very clear renunciations of the positions that are revealed in these transcripts,” Chow said. The revelations were quickly overshadowed by the release of an 11-year-old recording of Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, making lewd comments about women. Clinton has worked hard to build trust with so-called progressives, adopting several of Sanders’ positions after she bested him in the primary race. The U.S. senator from Vermont now supports his former rival in the Nov. 8 general election against Trump. Still, Clinton has struggled to win support from young “millennials” who were crucial to Sanders’ success, and some Democrats expressed concern that the leaks would discourage those supporters from showing up to vote. “That is a big concern and this certainly doesn’t help,” said Larry Cohen, chair of the board of Our Revolution, a progressive organization formed in the wake of Sanders’ bid for the presidency, which aims to keep pushing the former candidate’s ideas at a grassroots level. “It matters in terms of turnout, energy, volunteering, all those things.” The Clinton campaign said it would not confirm the accuracy of the documents released by WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange. “We are not going to confirm the authenticity of stolen documents released by Julian Assange, who has made no secret of his desire to damage Hillary Clinton,” said Glen Caplin, a campaign spokesman. “Guccifer 2.0 has already proven the warnings of top national security officials that documents can be faked as part of a sophisticated Russian misinformation campaign,” he said, referring to the hacker or hacking group that altered some data stolen from the Democratic National Committee before making it public earlier this year. The U.S. government on Friday formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations ahead of the election. The origin of the leaks did not dampen social media criticism of the speeches by some. “Bernie was right about Hillary,” wrote Facebook user Grace Tilly, “she’s a tool for Wall Street.” “Clinton is the politicians’ politician - exactly the Wall Street insider Bernie described,” wrote Facebook user Brian Leach. Spokesmen for Sanders did not respond to requests for comment. NBC News quoted a statement from Sanders saying he would work to advance the Democrats’ policy platform. “Whatever Secretary Clinton may or may not have said behind closed doors on Wall Street, I am determined to implement the agenda of the Democratic Party platform which was agreed to by her campaign,” the statement said. Democratic strategist Steve Elmendorf said progressive voters would still choose the former first lady, even with misgivings. “I’d like to meet the Bernie Sanders supporter who is going to say, ‘Well I’m a little worried about her on international trade, so I’m going to vote for Donald Trump’,” he said. ",1 "“GREXIT”? GREEKS VOTE NO ON MORE AUSTERITY IN RETURN FOR RESCUE LOANS A number of European politicians, including Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the top eurozone official, have said a no vote would jeopardize Greece s place in the 19-nation eurozone. Investors are also likely to believe a no win increases the chance of a so-called Grexit , where Greece returns to its own old currency. ATHENS, Greece (AP) Greeks overwhelmingly rejected creditors demands for more austerity in return for rescue loans in a critical referendum Sunday, backing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who insisted the vote would give him a stronger hand to reach a better deal.Tsipras gambled the future of his 5-month-old left-wing government on the vote. The opposition accused him of jeopardizing the country s membership in the 19-nation club that uses the euro and said a yes vote was about keeping the common currency.With 70 percent of the votes counted, the no side had more than 60 percent. The interior ministry predicted that margin would hold.Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Sunday night that creditors planned from the start to shut down banks to humiliate Greeks and force them to make a statement of contrition for showing that debt and loans are unsustainable.On Sunday night s result, he said that no is a big `yes to democratic Europe. It s a no to the vision of Europe an infinite cage for its people. It is a loud yes to the vision of the Eurozone as a common area of prosperity and social justice. Thousands of government supporters gathered in central Athens in celebration, waving Greek flags and chanting No, No, No. Governing left-wing Syriza party Eurodeputy Dimitris Papadimoulis said that Greek people are proving they want to remain in Europe as equal members and not as a debt colony. The referendum was Greece s first in 41 years.Minister of State Nikos Papas, speaking on Alpha television, said it would be wrong to link a `no result to an exit from the eurozone. If a `no prevails that will help us get a better agreement. Read more: AP",0 Julian Assange wins the right to take his case against extradition to the UK supreme court.,1 Jewish settlers set fire to Palestinian home,1 "Appeals court to weigh rehearing of Trump travel ban(Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday asked the Justice Department and the state of Washington to submit briefs on whether a larger panel of judges should decide if President Donald Trump’s travel ban should remain on hold. A three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Thursday refused to reinstate the ban, which temporarily halts travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, while litigation over its constitutionality is proceeding. ",1 "Two Senate Republicans critical of party's tax planWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate Republican tax plan that would repeal the Obamacare mandate and give permanent tax cuts only to U.S. corporations drew fire from two Republican lawmakers on Wednesday in what could be a sign of trouble for the sweeping measure. Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said he would not support the current Senator proposal, or a separate tax bill being debated in the House of Representatives, because he believes they unfairly benefit corporations over other kinds of enterprises, including small businesses. Senator Susan Collins, one of three Republicans who opposed a Republican Obamacare repeal effort earlier this year, warned that some middle-income taxpayers could see tax cuts wiped out by higher health insurance premiums if the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate goes through. Their views could signal problems for Senate Republicans, who want to pass tax legislation by December but can afford to lose no more than two votes from their ranks because they have only a 52-48 majority in the Senate. Democrats have called the Republican tax plans a giveaway to the rich and corporations. “Neither the House nor Senate bill provide fair treatment, so I do not support either in their current version,” Johnson said in a statement, adding he would still work with his Republican colleagues to produce better legislation. Senate Republicans produced a new plan late on Tuesday that would guarantee permanent tax cuts for corporations but only temporarily lower tax bills for individuals and small businesses, while tying the overall package to an effective repeal of a key part of Obamacare, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. Exposing the tax-cut initiative to the same political risks that wrecked a mid-2017 anti-Obamacare push by Republicans, Senate tax committee chief Orrin Hatch unveiled an amendment that he defended as helpful to the middle class. Collins, a Maine Republican, told reporters that adding the mandate repeal was a mistake. “This is going to be difficult and I just don’t know why we had to complicate it by bringing up the ACA,” she said. Several moderate Republicans including Collins and John McCain have not said if they support the tax plan. The new Republican plan, Hatch said at a committee meeting, would expand the child tax credit and slightly reduce some middle-class tax rates. Taken together, those changes “will let us channel even more tax relief to the middle class,” he said. But those changes would be temporary, while a deep cut in the corporate tax rate would be permanent under Hatch’s plan, which was widely expected to become the main vehicle for Republicans efforts to revamp the tax code before year end. The effort is seen by Republicans as critical to their prospects of retaining power in Washington in the November 2018 congressional elections. So far, Republicans and President Donald Trump have no major legislative victories from 2017 to show voters despite controlling the White House and Congress. They are hoping the tax cut will fix that problem and have made progress in recent days while Trump toured Asian capitals. He returned late on Tuesday and was scheduled to meet with lawmakers on Thursday. The House began debating its tax bill on Wednesday, with a full vote expected on Thursday. The Senate and House tax plans must eventually be reconciled and merged into a final plan that can pass both chambers before it goes to Trump to sign into law. By including an effective repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate, Senate Republicans likely ended any possibility of gaining support from Democrats. “This is not just another garden variety attack on the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. This is repeal of that law,” said Senator Ron Wyden, the finance committee’s top Democrat. He blasted Republicans for setting a “double standard” by guaranteeing permanent tax cuts only for corporations. The individual mandate clause of Obamacare requires healthy younger people to buy insurance or pay a federal penalty. The aim is to hold down coverage costs for those sick or older. By repealing that penalty, Republicans would raise more than $318 billion over a decade to pay for tax cuts, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan unit of Congress. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office separately estimated last week that repealing the mandate would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 13 million by 2027. Trump backed the inclusion of the mandate repeal in the tax bill, as do Republican conservatives in the Senate and House. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan told CNBC on Wednesday that while the House tax plan did not repeal the mandate, Republicans in that chamber would likely approve a final measure hammered out with the Senate that included it. Hatch’s Senate plan would also expand access to deductions for “pass-through” businesses and increase the child tax credit to $2,000 from the earlier proposed $1,650. But those benefits would expire at the end of 2025. The changes would still allow the measure to comply with a deficit requirement that must be met if Senate Republicans are to pass the legislation with a simple majority. The Senate tax plan is required to add no more than $1.5 trillion over 10 years to the federal deficit and national debt. Otherwise, Senate Republicans would need 60 votes. ",1 "Greek archaeologists made another find on Tuesday as they unearthed the missing head of one of the two wingless sphinxes guarding the large and mysterious burial site in Amphipolis, in Greeces northeastern Macedonia region.",0 "Fast-food restaurant employees are to hold a global day of protest and strike action next week. Planned under the banner of an international trade union, the workers agreed to launch their movement on May 15 with strikes in 150 US cities and protests in 33 countries.",1 "Papua New Guinea police order protesting asylum seekers out of Australian-run campSYDNEY (Reuters) - About fifty asylum seekers departed an Australian-run detention camp in Papua New Guinea on Thursday after police moved into the complex, confiscating food, water and personal belongings from the roughly 310 who remained. The Manus Island center was sealed off after a three-week standoff the United Nations has called a looming humanitarian crisis as detainees defied attempts by Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) to close it. Right now we have no water, one of the asylum-seekers in the camp said in a mobile telephone message. I came back to my room and they took my laptop and money and cigarettes. Video images shot and posted on social media site Facebook by Sudanese refugee Abdul Aziz showed police using a megaphone to tell asylum seekers to leave because their stay at the camp, located on land used by the PNG navy, was illegal. Men boarded buses in footage he posted later on social network Twitter. The buses took the men to alternative accommodation, three sources said. In Geneva, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said it had received reports of force being used to remove the refugees and asylum seekers and called for calm. We urge both governments to engage in constructive dialogue, to de-escalate the tensions and work on urgent lasting solutions to their plight, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement noting it lacked full access to the shuttered facility. A police blockade of the camp was still in place, Tim Costello, chief advocate of aid group World Vision Australia, said by telephone from outside, adding that he had seen buses leave and that the accommodation he had visited was unfinished. PNG immigration and police officials did not return telephone calls from Reuters to seek comment. The camp in PNG, and another on the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, have been the cornerstones of Australia s controversial immigration policy, which has been strongly criticized by the United Nations and rights groups. Australia opened the camps in a bid to stem a flow of asylum seekers making dangerous voyages by boat to its shores. Under its sovereign borders immigration policy, Australia refuses to land asylum seekers arriving by sea, and sends them to the offshore camps instead. At the camp, witnesses said officials in army fatigues led away Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani, a resident for four years who posts regular social media messages on conditions there. Boochani later posted that he had been released after being handcuffed for several hours and had left the camp. My understanding is that a number of people, a small number of people, have been arrested, including the individual, Australia s Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton told SKY News, referring to Boochani. Pictures sent via a messaging service showed upturned boxes of food and torn packets of rice and instant noodles and smashed furniture, including broken beds. Last year PNG s Supreme Court ruled that the center, first opened in 2001, breached its laws and fundamental human rights, leading to the decision to close it. But the asylum seekers say they fear for their safety if moved to a transit center on the island, and risk being resettled in PNG or another developing nation permanently. We don t want another prison. We want to leave this place, but they need to give a good solution for us, the first asylum-seeker said. We don t want another prison. We want a third country. Most of those in the camp are from Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Syria. The transit centers had food, water, security and medical services, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. They think this is some way they can pressure the Australian government to let them come to Australia, Turnbull told reporters in the capital, Canberra. Well, we will not be pressured. ",1 "U.S. Energy Department grid study calls for boost to coal, nuclear powerWASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. Energy Department report calls for incentives to boost coal-fired and nuclear power plants following a slew of closures that it said undermined reliable sources of electricity. The findings of the study, released late on Wednesday, drew praise from the coal and nuclear industries and a mixed reaction from renewable energy groups - some of which said the report’s recommendations could help them too. President Donald Trump has promised to revive the ailing coal mining sector but has also said he welcomes all forms of energy development to shore up domestic production. Energy Secretary Rick Perry commissioned the grid study in April to evaluate whether “regulatory burdens” imposed by past administrations, including that of former President Barack Obama, had hurt the grid by forcing shutdowns of baseload plants, which provide nonstop power, like those fired by coal and nuclear fuel. Obama introduced regulations intended to slash emissions of carbon dioxide, which are blamed for climate change. This accelerated the retirement of coal-fired power plants and bolstered the nascent solar and wind sectors, which depend heavily on weather conditions for their power output. “It is apparent that in today’s competitive markets certain regulations and subsidies are having a large impact on the functioning of markets, and thereby challenging our power generation mix,” Perry said in a letter introducing the study. “It is important for policy makers to consider their intended and unintended effects.” The study, conducted by the department’s staff, said cheap natural gas was the main driver of the closure of baseload coal and nuclear plants, a trend that was putting areas of the country at greater risk of power outages. The department recommended giving baseload plants pricing advantages for their power, as well as making it easier and cheaper to get permits to build more such projects. The report differed from an earlier draft, which had said big increases in renewable power generation remained possible without undermining grid reliability, and which did not propose added support for baseload producers. The administration had not yet reviewed the earlier draft, which was written by department staff. Some coal and nuclear energy groups welcomed the final report’s findings. “This is a much-needed, pragmatic look at U.S. electricity reliability and resilience, including the priority of maintaining critical clean baseload power as electricity markets change,” said Rich Powell, director of ClearPath, which advocates for nuclear and hydropower. Renewable fuels supporters had a wide range of reactions. The Center for Biological Diversity called the report’s recommendations “dangerously misguided,” and the Sierra Club also bashed the study. But America’s biggest solar and wind power associations said they felt the study contained elements that were positive such as not singling out renewable energy as a big problem. “The report did not... lay the demise of coal at the feet of renewable energy, and that is an important finding,” Abigail Ross Hopper, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, wrote in an email to the trade group’s members on Thursday. SEIA and other groups, including the American Wind Energy Association, said wind and solar could benefit from some of the report’s recommendations, such as a call for infrastructure development and market reforms. AWEA said in a blog post that technological advances could allow wind energy to provide reliability services, such as fast ramping to regulate the grid’s frequency signal. ",1 "MEDALS OF VALOR: President Trump Honored Agents and Officers Who Took Down Gunman at GOP Baseball Practice Shooting [Video]It s great to have a president who appreciates our special agents and police officers! Trump honored the police officers and special agents who took down the lunatic who shot Steve Scalise last month during a baseball practice for a charity game:Remember the horrible day that the lunatic opened fire trying to kill Republicans?Here s our report on the shooting:Rep. Steve Scalise was shot Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Virginia, in a deliberate attack. A congressional staffer was also shot. Scalise is in surgery right now and is expected to recover.Rand Paul said Scalise being there likely saved everyone because his presence meant Capitol Police were there.Scalise, a member of the House Republican leadership as the majority whip, appeared to have been shot in the hip and it appeared two Capitol Hill police agents were shot, according to Rep. Mo Brooks who was on deck when the shooting occurred. The shooting took place at a practice for the GOP congressional baseball team.NBC News Special Report: Congressman Scalise, aides shot at baseball practice in Virginia https://t.co/KD9i1iP9MZ Jason Calabretta (@JasonCalabretta) June 14, 2017In a statement, Texas Rep. Roger Williams, one of the team s coaches, said one of his staff members was shot during the incident and is receiving medical attention. There was no information on the staffer s injuries.According to both congressional and law enforcement sources, the shooting appears to be a deliberate attack. Two law enforcement sources say the suspect is in police custody, has been taken to a hospital.Lawmakers who spoke at the scene to reporters described a normal morning practice, at a field where they ve practiced for years, when all of a sudden shots rang out. Lawmakers, staff members and even the young son of one of the members ran for cover, jumping into dugouts and over fences to avoid the gunshots.Congressmen in attendance described an injured Scalise dragging himself roughly 15 yards away from second base and lying there until the shooter was shot. The Congressmen then ran to help him. Once they were able, Sen. Jeff Flake said he and Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who is a physician, went out to where Scalise was lying to apply pressure to the wound. Nobody would have survived without the Capitol Hill police. It would have been a massacre without them. -Rand Paul We had nothing but baseball bats to fight back against a rifle with. Congressman Mo BrooksArizona Sen. Jeff Flake added that he saw a member of Scalise s security detail return fire on the gunman for what felt like 10 minutes, even though the police officer was wounded in the leg. 50 shots would be an understatement, I m quite sure, Flake said when asked about the total amount of gunfire, including police returning fire. Flake said two members of Scalise s security detail were wounded, and another man was wounded in the chest. Brooks said the shooter appeared to be a white male but added that I saw him for a second or two. He said the shooter was behind the third base dugout and didn t say anything. The gun was a semiautomatic, Brooks said, adding that he was sure it was a rifle but unsure what kind. It continued to fire at different people. You can imagine, all the people on the field scatter. It s come to this How will we bring America together if the Democrats keep fanning the flames of division?Read More: FOX News",0 50 dead in seven days in Mexico's drugs war,0 "Trump considering how move of U.S. Embassy in Israel could affect Mideast peaceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is trying to determine how keeping his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem could affect his hopes of brokering a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, his secretary of state said on Sunday. Since taking office in January, Trump has shown signs of shelving his campaign pledge to move the embassy from Tel Aviv, while vowing to do what is necessary to clinch a Middle East peace agreement. “The president is being very careful to understand how such a decision would impact a peace process,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He spoke just days before Trump starts a Middle East trip that includes meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Israel regards Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all foreign countries to base their embassies there. The relocation is strongly opposed by many U.S. allies as the Palestinians also claim the city as their capital. Tillerson said Trump’s decision would depend greatly on how it is seen by governments in the region, including “whether Israel views it as being helpful to a peace initiative or perhaps a distraction.” His comments drew a quick response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Israel’s position has been stated many times before to the American administration and the world,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “Moving the American embassy to Jerusalem will not harm the peace process, it will do the opposite. It will advance it by righting a historical wrong and by shattering the Palestinian fantasy that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel.” ",1 Clandestine photos from Syria Some of the few that made it out of the country,0 Ukraine conflict: At Least Nine Civilians killed as truce collapses,1 "Trump gains on Clinton despite furor over women, election commentsNEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump gained on Hillary Clinton among American voters this week, cutting her lead nearly in half despite a string of women accusing him of unwanted sexual advances and the furor over his disputed claims that the election process is rigged, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday. The survey also showed that 63 percent of Americans, including a third of Republicans, believe the New York real estate mogul has committed sexual assault in the past, though the Republican presidential candidate has denied the recent accusations. Clinton, the Democratic former secretary of state, led Trump 44 percent to 40 percent, according to the Oct. 14-20 poll, a 4-point lead, with the Nov. 8 election fast approaching. That compared with 44 percent for Clinton and 37 percent for Trump in the Oct. 7-13 poll released last week. Clinton’s lead also shrank in a separate four-way poll that included alternative party candidates: 43 percent supported her, while 39 percent supported Trump, 6 percent supported Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, and 2 percent supported Jill Stein of the Green Party. Support for Clinton had been mostly rising in the seven-day tracking poll since the last week of August, when the candidates were about tied. The latest reading showed that Trump’s deficit narrowed to what it was before a video surfaced on Oct. 7 featuring him bragging about groping and kissing women. Several women have since accused him of making unwanted sexual advances in separate incidents from the early 1980s to 2007. Trump has denied the allegations, calling them “totally and absolutely false.” The latest poll included a separate series of questions that asked people what they thought of Trump’s conduct around women. It found 63 percent of American adults, including 34 percent of likely Republican voters, agreed with the statement “I believe Donald Trump has committed sexual assault in the past.” Reuters contacted a few of the poll respondents who said they felt that Trump had “committed sexual assault” but were still supporting his candidacy. Their answers were generally the same: Whatever Trump did with women in the past is less important to them than what he may do as president. “I’m embarrassed that our country can’t come up with better candidates, to be honest with you,” said Evelyn Brendemuhl, 83, of Hope, North Dakota. But “he’ll appoint more conservative judges, and she’s (Clinton) pro-abortion, and I’m not for that.” Gary Taylor, 59, a Republican from Colorado said his support stemmed mostly from a desire to see “something different than the last eight years” in the White House. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It included 1,640 people who were considered likely voters, given their voting history, registration status and stated intention to vote. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points, meaning results could vary by that much either way. The poll questions on Trump’s unwanted sexual advances scandal were asked of 1,915 American adults, including 546 likely Republican voters. It had a credibility interval of 3 percentage points for all adults and 5 points for Republican voters. ",1 Policeman who shot and killed a pregnant restauranteur for not serving him milk tea gets the death sentence,0 Barclay's Diamond Threatens to Reveal Secrets and Name Names If Investigation Is Too Aggressive,1 "Nearly 46 Million People Trapped in Modern Slavery, Report Finds",0 "Chechen poet Ruslan Akhtakhanov shot dead in Moscow: A prominent poet from Chechnya, Ruslan Akhtakhanov, has been shot dead in Moscow. ",0 "MAINSTREAM MEDIA IGNORES MASSIVE PROTEST Against Obama’s Sweetheart Deal For Corporations: “Biggest protest this country has seen for many, many years”Wait we thought Obama and the Democrats were supposed to be standing up to the evil corporations and standing up for the every day American?When it comes to official and media opinion on Obama s crowning trade achievements , the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership (TTIP), the party line is united. As previously noted, Barack Obama has assured the population that this treaty is going to be wonderful for everyone:In hailing the agreement, Obama said, Congress and the American people will have months to read every word before he signs the deal that he described as a win for all sides. If we can get this agreement to my desk, then we can help our businesses sell more Made in America goods and services around the world, and we can help more American workers compete and win, Obama said.The mainstream media s chorus of support for these trade deal is likewise deafening: here are some indicative headlines from this past Monday:Time Magazine: Pacific Trade Deal Is Good for the U.S. and Obama s Legacy The Washington Post: The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade deal worth celebrating The far less popular opposing view, one repeatedly presented here, is that like with every other free trade agreement that the U.S. has entered into since World War II, the exact opposite is what will actually happen: the outcome will be that the US trade deficit (which excluding petroleum is already back to record levels) will get even larger, and we will see even more jobs and even more businesses go overseas, thus explaining the secrecy and the fast-track nature of the TPP and TTIP s passage through Congress.And while the US population, which is far more perturbed by what Caitlyn Jenner will wear tomorrow than D.C. s plans on the future of world trade, has been mute in its response to the passage of the first part of the trade treaty, the TPP after all the MSM isn t there to tell it how to feel about it, aside to assure it that everything will be great even as millions of highly-paid jobs mysteriously become line cooks other countries are standing up against globalist trade interests meant to serve a handful of corporations.Case in point Germany, where today hundreds of thousands of people marched in Berlin in protest against the planned free trade deal between Europe and the United States which they say is anti-democratic and will lower food safety, labor and environmental standards.TTIP critics fear that it would lead to worse safeguards in Europe, bringing down standards for consumer safety, food and health or labor rights down to those in America. European nations have stricter regulations for things like genetically modified foods or workers benefits than the US does. There is also discontent with the secretive nature of the negotiations, which prompts skeptics to assume the worst about the document they would eventually produce.The organizers an alliance of environmental groups, charities and opposition parties claimed that 250,000 people were taking part in the rally against free trade deals with both the United States and Canada, far more than they had anticipated. This is the biggest protest that this country has seen for many, many years, Christoph Bautz, director of citizens movement Campact told protesters in a speech.According to Reuters, opposition to the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has risen over the past year in Germany, with critics fearing the pact will hand too much power to big multinationals at the expense of consumers and workers. Popular anger appears to be focused on the encroachment by corporations into every corner around the globe: What bothers me the most is that I don t want all our consumer laws to be softened, Oliver Zloty told Reuters TV. And I don t want to have a dictatorship by any companies. Via: Zero Hedge",0 "Soyinka shreds U.S. greencard in anger over Trump victoryJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Nigeria’s Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka has torn up his United States green card and renounced his American residency in protest at Donald Trump’s U.S. election win, the writer told news channel eNCA on Thursday. “I’ve done it,” said Soyinka, 82, when asked if he had followed through on an earlier vow to leave the United States if Trump triumphed in the race for the White House. “When I was ready, when I’d finished, I negotiated my departure,” the Nigerian born author said in Johannesburg on the sidelines of a university conference. Soyinka has had regular teaching stints at America’s ivy league universities since the mid 1990s following his Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He was the first African writer to win the award. A frequent and fierce critic of his own government, particularly over the carnage being inflicted by Boko Haram militants in northeastern Nigeria, Soyinka said he felt ill at ease in the wake of Trump’s shock victory. “We on the African continent could boast that we had a contemporary descendent ruling the United States,” Soyinka said referring to outgoing President Barack Obama, whose father was a Kenyan. “Suddenly, somebody is making speeches which are meant to reverse those gains.” ",1 "Scotland Headed Towards Being Fossil Fuel-Free by 2030 - Renewable energy projects combined with energy savings could decarbonise the countrys power sector. ""We need to see the phasing out of conventional generation in Scotland.""",0 "Senate Committee backs Trump pick to run Medicare, MedicaidWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the department overseeing the U.S. government’s health programs for the elderly and disabled won the backing of a Senate committee on Thursday, paving the way for a full vote in the Senate. The Senate Committee on Finance voted 13-12 to support Seema Verma to run the $1 trillion Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Verma is the owner of SVC, a healthcare consulting firm, and has helped redesign Medicaid programs in several states, including Indiana. She worked in Indiana to expand Medicaid to include thousands of additional low-income residents. Those residents are required to make small monthly payments toward their care through health savings accounts. It is a model that could influence how the Trump administration thinks about providing health care to low-income people. In a speech to Congress on Tuesday, Trump said the government should help Americans buy health insurance through the use of tax credits and expanded health savings accounts. Verma has worked closely with Vice President Mike Pence, who as governor of Indiana awarded her the Sagamore of the Wabash award, typically bestowed on those who have rendered distinguished services to the state or to the governor. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah said in a statement that addressing the challenges facing Medicare and Medicaid will require a strong partnership with the administration. Verma, he said, “will help facilitate that partnership and as we work to repeal and replace Obamacare, she will play a vital role in realigning the focus on patient-centered solutions.” Speaking before a preliminary vote on Wednesday, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon expressed concern that in her confirmation hearing last month, Verma had failed to answer questions about how she would tackle high drug prices. He also said that while helping manage the state of Indiana’s health program, her firm was being paid by companies that were providing services and products to the program. “She was on both sides of the deal,” he said. Verma has denied any wrong-doing. In a Jan. 31 letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, she outlined various steps she would take to avoid any conflicts of interest if confirmed as administrator of CMS, including divesting her financial interest in SVC Inc within 90 days of confirmation. ",1 India: Angry snake charmer lets loose snakes in a govt. office after being denied land,0 Scientists studying the DNA of Neanderthals say they can find no evidence that this ancient species ever interbred with modern humans,1 "Tourists, authorities feel the heat as Bali volcano keeps airport closedKARANGASEM, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia kept the airport on Bali closed on Tuesday as ash from an erupting volcano swept the holiday island, leaving thousands of tourists stranded as authorities tried to persuade villagers living nearby to leave their homes. A total of 443 flights, both domestic and international, were affected by the closure of the airport, about 60 km (37 miles) from Mount Agung which is spewing smoke and ash high into the sky. Aircraft flight channels are covered with volcanic ash, the transport ministry said in a statement, citing aviation navigation authorities. The airport - the second-biggest in Indonesia - will be closed at least until 7 a.m. on Wednesday (2300 GMT on Tuesday), the ministry said. Frustration at the airport was starting to boil over, with an estimated 2,000 people attempting to get refunds and reschedule tickets. There are thousands of people stranded here at the airport, said Nitin Sheth, a tourist from India. They have to go to some other airport and they are trying to do that, but the government or authorities here are not helping. Others were more relaxed. No, there s not a lot of information ... very little. (But) it s all right. We re on holidays so it doesn t matter. We don t know what s going to happen but we can get back to the bar and have another drink, said Matthew Radix from Perth. The airport operator said 201 international flights and 242 domestic ones had been hit. Ten alternative airports had been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighboring provinces, the operator said, adding it was helping people make alternative bookings and helping stranded travelers. The airport on Lombok island, to the east of Bali, had reopened, authorities said, as wind blew ash westward, towards the southern coast of Java island. Agung towers over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet). Its last eruption in 1963 killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages. On Tuesday, however, life went on largely as normal in surrounding villages, with residents offering prayers as the volcano sent huge billows of ash and smoke into the sky. Some villagers who fled in September, when the alert was last raised to the highest level, have gone home despite government warnings. On Monday, authorities said 100,000 residents living near the volcano had been ordered to get out of an 8-10 km (5-6 mile) exclusion zone, warning a larger eruption was imminent . While the population in the area has been estimated at anywhere between 63,000 and 140,000, just over 29,000 people were registered at emergency centers, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the Disaster Mitigation Agency. Not all people in the danger zone are prepared to take refuge, he said. There are still a lot of residents staying in their homes. Indonesia s Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center has warned that an eruption of a size similar to that seen in 1963 could send rocks bigger than a fist flying a distance of up to 8 km (5 miles), and volcanic gas a distance of 10 km (6 miles) within three minutes. Monitoring has shown the northeastern part of Agung s peak had swollen in recent weeks indicating there is fairly strong pressure toward the surface , the center said. For interactive package on Agung eruptions, click: tmsnrt.rs/2hYdHiq For graphic on the Pacific Ring of Fire, click: tmsnrt.rs/2BjtH6l ",1 Real IRA chief to blame for Omagh,1 Study finds thousands of forced marriages in Germany - The German family ministry has for the first time published a study of forced marriage in Germany. The report is based on the findings of hundreds of consultation centers across the country.,1 "'Useless, useless, useless': the Palestinian verdict on Tony Blair",1 HILLARY’S CAMPAIGN MANAGER Deflects And Dodges Questions On Clinton E-mail Scandal And Sanctuary Cities [Video]He also dodges the question of sanctuary cities:,0 Facebook Wants To Listen In On What You're Doing.,0 Israel's national security aide barred from U.S. -- Former Israeli spy linked to Pentagon leak,0 "REVEALED: HOW BARACK OBAMA IS FUNDING The “Resistance” Movement Against President TrumpWall Street might be shocked to learn it is helping bankroll the anti-Trump resistance movement that s aggressively fighting policies it favors including corporate tax cuts and the repeal of Obama-era banking and health-care regulations.The payola is potentially earmarked for third-party interest groups approved by the Justice Department and HUD without requiring any proof of how the funds will be spent. Many of the recipients so far are radical leftist organizations who solicited the settlement cash from the administration even though they were not parties to the lawsuits, records show. During the Obama administration, groups committed to revolutionary social change sent proposals and met with high-level HUD and Justice Department officials to try to get their pieces of the settlement pie, Cause of Action Institute vice president Julie Smith told The Post.Some of the chosen beneficiaries are now actively militating against the Trump administration and its policies, including:The Hispanic-rights group strenuously protested the Republican-led skinny repeal of the Affordable Care Act after receiving at least $1.5 million from the Obama regime s bank settlement funds, congressional researchers say.La Raza works closely with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and has teamed up with the anti-Trump resistance group, Indivisible, which was co-founded by La Raza alumnus Angel Padilla. Indivisible is working with La Raza and its affiliates to make sure any bill that punishes sanctuary cities never goes to Trump s desk to become law. They are encouraging activists to send postcards with pre-printed messages on immigration and health care to moderate GOP senators.NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUEAfter receiving at least $1.2 million from the bank-settlement slush fund, the African-American advocacy group solicited its supporters to oppose efforts to repeal ObamaCare by signing a letter to senators arguing African-Americans stand to be disproportionately impacted. It claimed more than 5 million black people would lose coverage under repeal legislation.NATIONAL COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT COALITIONSince hauling in at least $2.6 million in funds under settlement in the Obama-era mortgage suits, the liberal housing-rights group has slammed tax-reform proposals by the Trump administration as unfair, while trying to block efforts to privatize mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, claiming doing so would deepen the racial wealth gap. NCRC is also actively lobbying against regulatory repeal of many provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.The Washington-based group boasts more than 600 member organizations who lobby lawmakers through list-serves, mailings, sign-on letters and conference calls. Though it s assumed that funds distributed to such qualified organizations will be used for housing assistance, the bank-settlement agreements do not enforce how the funds are spent. It stands to reason that some of the settlement funds have helped bankroll the resistance bent on stopping the Trump agenda for America, Competitive Enterprise Institute senior fellow John Berlau said.It s not clear how much money, in all, has been diverted from settlement funds to these and other left-wing organizations. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered a full audit of the funds while discontinuing the practice of funneling Justice Department settlements to third-party groups. Any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American people [through the US Treasury] not to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power, Sessions said in a recent statement.Still, The Post has learned that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues to force financial institutions it prosecutes to donate to third-party community organizers. More, penalties in such cases are deposited into the Bureau s now-$170 million-plus Civil Penalty Fund, which has, in turn, channeled almost $30 million to consumer advocacy groups.For entire story: NYP ",0 Turkey pulls out of Munich security conference to avoid Israeli delegation,0 "A divided Iraq tests U.S. influence as fight against Islamic State wanesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - After years of focusing divided Iraq on a shared fight against the Islamic State group, the United States is now straining to leverage its limited influence to avoid a full-blown conflict between the Iraqi and Kurdish forces it has armed and trained. Experts say that a path toward reconciliation, in some form, exists. But it will be a long, arduous test of nerves that could expose the U.S.-backed war effort in Iraq to risks from insurgents and from militia backed by neighboring Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump declared on Monday that the United States was not taking sides in the internal conflict between Baghdad and independence-seeking Kurds, as Iraqi government forces captured the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk. We don t like the fact that they re clashing. We re not taking sides, Trump told reporters at the White House. We ve had for many years a very good relationship with the Kurds as you know and we ve also been on the side of Iraq, he said. That neutral approach met a cool reception from the Kurdish government representative in Washington, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman. In particular, she said the United States had already helped isolate the Kurds by publicly calling for them to postpone the Sept. 25 referendum on independence that triggered the dispute with Baghdad. With every step (Washington) emboldened Baghdad, Iran and Turkey ... each one of them thinking: Well, so the Kurds are on their own, we can do whatever we like , she told Reuters. The Iraqi government s capture of Kirkuk was the most decisive step yet by Baghdad to block the Kurd s independence bid. It also put Washington in the awkward position of recognizing the Iraqi government s authority while maintaining ties with its close Kurdish allies. Kurdish Peshmerga forces said Baghdad would be made to pay a heavy price for triggering war on the Kurdistan people. U.S.-led coalition military support for Iraqi and Kurdish forces was decisive during the most critical phases of the war against Islamic State. However, Washington s leverage has yet to be fully tested after the recapture of major cities from the militant group. It is unclear, in particular, how much influence the United States has with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani after already failing to delay the independence referendum, in which the Kurds voted to secede. Paul Salem, from the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington, said Barzani was learning that he had very few friends and he is a much weaker player than he thought before the Sept. 25 vote. (The U.S.) has some leverage, Salem said. Michael Knights, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the United States needed to take steps to avoid alienating the Kurds in the region. Those steps included sending a U.S.-led military coalition officer to a key military base there and pressing for an interim Kurdish governor of Kirkuk. This would maintain the basic power-sharing compact negotiated by Kirkuk community leaders in 2007, Knights said. The Pentagon confirmed that U.S. forces had a presence in the vicinity of Kirkuk but declined to say where. Such a presence could help deter further conflict, a tactic it used in Syria to keep Kurds and Turks from fighting each other. The U.S. State Department urged all sides to restore calm and warned that the dispute was distracting from the battle against Islamic State, which swept through Iraq in 2014 by exploiting the country s vast ethnic and political divisions. We strongly urge all parties to avoid provocations that can be exploited by Iraq s enemies who are interested in fueling ethnic and sectarian conflict, it said in a statement. Former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, James Jeffrey, said he believed Iran - which backs Shi ite Iraqi militia - was positioned to gain influence because of the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict. He said the United States needed to make certain that Iranian-backed forces don t surge forward into the Kirkuk area to challenge Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. The United States has to make it very clear: We are not going to defend Kirkuk ... but if the Iranian militias move forward, then we will help the Peshmerga, if necessary, Jeffrey said. Trump unveiled last week a more aggressive U.S. approach to Iran, whose elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps backs the militias in Iraq. Abdul Rahman was wary of Iran s role in the unfolding crisis and criticized the U.S. military s characterization of an exchange of fire early on Monday as a misunderstanding, downplaying the loss of life. I think the U.S. needs to be very, very aware of the statements that it makes and the statements that it doesn t make, she said. The threat of Iraqi and Kurdish forces turning U.S.-supplied weapons against each other has raised alarms in Congress. Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned Iraq s government of severe consequences over any further misuse of U.S.-provided weaponry against Kurdish forces. The United States provided equipment and training to the government of Iraq to fight (Islamic State) and secure itself from external threats - not to attack elements of one of its own regional governments, McCain said. ",1 "The Adoration Of Kim Jong UnPYONGYANG - North Koreans stage a demonstration of devotion to their leader Kim Jong Un at least once a year, in a large ceremonial square in Pyongyang. Mansae! the people call as they parade past the 33-year old, who stands on a balcony above them: Live long! This December, Kim will mark six years in power. In that time he has purged or executed around 340 people, according to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank of South Korea s National Intelligence Service (NIS). The people on parade carry flowers including North Korea s national blooms, Kimilsungia and Kimjongilia, which were specially created in honor of Kim s grandfather and father, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. North Korea is the only socialist country to have passed power down the family line. Images of former presidents are pinned on the left side of every jacket and dress. They are worn there to be close to the wearers hearts. In private conversations, some North Koreans quietly lament the shortcomings of their system: It s too bureaucratic, takes too long to get things done, is disorganized, they say. But few dare to openly criticize the Supreme Leader. North Korea s GDP per capita, estimated at $1,700 in the CIA Factbook, places it 215th in the world it is poorer than Haiti, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. Defectors say many North Koreans lead double lives, earning money in unofficial market places to supplement state incomes. The leadership turns a blind eye to this. Traditionally, Pyongyang has been the home of North Korea s elites. But the inhabitants of the capital must also prepare for the parades. Around this time, everyone everywhere must increase production in a process known as a battle. People, organized into work units, are assigned duties on top of their usual jobs. The 70-day battle ahead of a Party congress in 2016 meant long after-work hours sprucing up the capital. State media released a report: Some work units had delivered 110 percent of their quotas. The fatigue shows in some flower-wavers faces. On June 1, 2016, the country announced that a new campaign of celebration was to be held. This time, it said, the battle would last 200 days. ",1 "Russia agrees to mediate Gaddafi exit; Moscow changes tack at the G8 meeting in France, saying Gaddafi has 'forfeited legitimacy' to rule Libya",1 NEIL CAVUTO Gives A HUGE Reality Check To College Activist Who Wants Free College [Video]This is awesome! Cavuto rips into this activist big time! ,0 " Trump Gets HILARIOUSLY Mocked For Looking Over His Wife’s Shoulder While She VotedDonald Trump showed up to vote in New York City with his wife Melania and hilarity ensued.When the Trump s walked through the doors they were greeted by a round of boos and jeers. Clearly, New York voters are not Trump fans.But Trump s day got even worse when he tried to sneak a peek at Melania s ballot, apparently just making sure she votes for him.Well, a photo of the moment was captured and now the Internet is having a field day mocking the Republican nominee.This picture is everything. pic.twitter.com/m9Blodj90f Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) November 8, 2016 Donald Trump leads by example, closely poll watching as a suspected illegal immigrant attempts to vote. pic.twitter.com/dykNWdsUXx Dan Baulch (@DaRealDanBaulch) November 8, 2016trump panicked and had to copy melania s ballot. now both are voting for hillary pic.twitter.com/fiFO5tSrMh daddy s lil psycho (@tannermuro) November 8, 2016Melania, it s Trump .. no, Trump .. what re you .you re marking the wrong box. Melania. MELANIA pic.twitter.com/GD99GYRYNQ Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) November 8, 2016Trump wondering who Melania is voting for: https://t.co/O5hh8yqHl5 Michael Moore (@MMFlint) November 8, 2016s/o to this golden moment where Trump let us all know that he doubted his own wife would vote for him. pic.twitter.com/rDdUtlxvsu JamesMichael Nichols (@jamesmichael) November 8, 2016Trump reusing the strategy that got him through an Ivy League school. pic.twitter.com/0Gf8of9PFy cam (@goethelife) November 8, 2016Holy Shit! Is there nothing Trump won t allow a woman to do on her own? #ControlFreak @realDonaldTrump @HillaryClinton #usa #nyc #shame #yyc pic.twitter.com/W7kpWfKOzF Unite Alberta (@UniteAlbertans) November 8, 2016Either Trump doesn t trust her, or he s trying to work out how to vote pic.twitter.com/CimZAQl82a Rupert Myers (@RupertMyers) November 8, 2016Trust, but verify (via @AmandaMarcotte) pic.twitter.com/pzTvipeW1p Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) November 8, 2016In fact, Donald isn t the only male Trump who watched their spouse vote.Like father, like son pic.twitter.com/dqnoEZF4xf Nathan McDermott (@natemcdermott) November 8, 2016So not only did Trump get booed at his polling location, he feared that his own wife would vote against him. Talk about being a paranoid control freak. And it would be completely understandable if she didn t vote for her husband, especially considering he has treated women like shit his whole life.Featured image via screenshot",0 "Russia denies Syrian opposition allegation over civilian deathsMOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Defence Ministry on Thursday denied allegations that Russian and Syrian jets had killed at least 150 civilians in over a week of bombing, saying it had been careful not to hit civilians. The ministry was responding to comments made on Wednesday by opposition rescue workers who accused Moscow and Damascus of killing at least 150 civilians and of injuring dozens in air strikes in Idlib Province. Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement that the opposition-run Civil Defence group which made the allegations was made up of charlatans who could not be regarded as objective sources of reliable information. Russian air force planes do not strike residential districts in populated areas in order to avoid casualties, Konashenkov said. Targets are terrorist bases, armored vehicles and ammunition stories which are always identified by drones and always confirmed by other channels beforehand. He said Russian planes operating in Idlib Province had only targeted militant fighters and their equipment in the last week. ",1 "DESPERATION OR STUPIDITY? GERMAN State Recruits REFUGEES With No Passports For Police Officer JobsIt s too late for these countries who ve been invaded by mostly young Muslim male refugees to turn back the clock. Bavaria is now being forced to do whatever they can to fight back against terrorism in their own backyards. You can t allow millions of unchecked Muslim men to invade your sovereignty without paying an enormous price. Asking refugees to police refugees is like asking prisoners in a jail to police themselves. When mostly Muslim men have invaded a majority Catholic state, and are now being asked to police its citizens, what could possible go wrong?Migrants will be increasingly recruited as police officers those with and without German passports. Interior Minister Herrmann hopes this will produce a greater clear-up rate and a de-escalation of violence. The failures in the investigations of the NSU terror group have increased these efforts.Bavaria will increasingly employ police officers with foreign roots. Experience has shown that they have a more direct line to people of immigrant origin, as they speak their language and know their mentality better, said Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) on Monday in Nuremberg. I hope this will help police achieve better clear-up rates and conflict resolution. Via: Merkur.deThis is insane. I can see many Europeans rightly refusing to acknowledge the authority of police officers who are foreigners and don t even have citizenship.RT In October, 2015, Bavarian Interior Minister threatened to file a constitutional complaint against the federal government unless it would implement efficient measures to curb the influx of refugees.The Bavarian government stepped up pressure on Angela Merkel s cabinet, demanding that the German government drop its policy of welcoming an unlimited number of refugees.If effective measures are not taken to deal with the crisis, Bavaria will take the matter to the Constitutional Court and charge the German government with endangering the legal capacity of the German states to act independently, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann announced after an emergency meeting of the Bavarian government on Friday. One [the German government] does not comply with the law and the other [Bavaria] wants the law to be complied with, Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer said, commenting on the decision at the press conference following the meeting.Listen here:",0 " Elizabeth Warren Has Some News As To Who She’s EndorsingIf there s one person who is loved by all in the Democratic Party, it s Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. Her no-nonsense attitude and get it done approach to policy and politics are things that cannot be matched. She is so loved that her endorsement of any particular candidate is one that is sought after and coveted.People have been waiting on pins and needles to see who Warren will endorse in the Democratic primary. Will it be Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton? And after the Iowa caucuses, where Hillary and Bernie were in a statistical tie, people would like to know now, more than ever, who she will pick in hopes that it will push one candidate ahead over the other.However, Warren, being the magnificent person that she is, is choosing to focus on the issues and not to politicize things by muddying the waters with support for any one candidate, said: No endorsements now. I think that what the Democrats are doing is terrific. We re out talking about the issues. I look at the Republican debates and the difference between what they re doing and what the Democrats are doing that really shows who s on whose side. Warren knows that when you pick a particular side of the debate the message can sometimes be lost. Both Hillary and Bernie are talking about the economy. Both Hillary and Bernie are talking about making healthcare and college affordable. Both Hillary and Bernie are seeking to continue progress in the United States and not let the reins fall back in to the hands of Republicans. Warren is letting the issues be explored, and solutions be offered, while letting the people decide for themselves.Both candidates running would love a Warren endorsement. She s showed support for both Sanders and Clinton in their approach to Wall Street and what needs to be done. So, while many supporters of either candidate will love to say that she s hinted at one candidate or the other, cases can be made for both. So, like Warren said in regards to if she ll announce who she s endorsing, we ll see. And everyone knows that s code for, I m not telling you either way. Featured image: Flickr",0 Israeli Researchers: We Can Detect Breast Cancer With Simple Blood Test,1 "U.S. military probing more possible civilian deaths in Yemen raid DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday it was looking into whether more civilians were killed in a raid on al Qaeda in Yemen on the weekend, in the first operation authorized by President Donald Trump as commander in chief. U.S. Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens was killed in the raid on a branch of al Qaeda, also known as AQAP, in al Bayda province, which the Pentagon said also killed 14 militants. However, medics at the scene said about 30 people, including 10 women and children, were killed. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that an investigating team had “concluded regrettably that civilian non-combatants were likely killed” during Sunday’s raid. It said children may have been among the casualties. Central Command said its assessment “seeks to determine if there were any still-undetected civilian casualties in the ferocious firefight.” DON’T MISS Trump tightens Iran sanctions, Tehran hits back Business Watch - Panic in Silicon Valley Reuters TV - Inside a Mexican migrant shelter  U.S. military officials told Reuters that Trump approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations. As a result, three officials said, the attacking SEAL team found itself dropping onto a reinforced al Qaeda base defended by landmines, snipers, and a larger than expected contingent of heavily armed Islamist extremists. The Pentagon directed queries about the officials’ characterization of the raid to U.S. Central Command, which pointed only to its statement on Wednesday. “CENTCOM asks for operations we believe have a good chance for success and when we ask for authorization we certainly believe there is a chance of successful operations based on our planning,” CENTCOM spokesman Colonel John Thomas said. “Any operation where you are going to put operators on the ground has inherent risks,” he said. The U.S. officials said the extremists’ base had been identified as a target before the Obama administration left office on Jan. 20, but then-President Barack Obama held off approving a raid ahead of his departure. A White House official said the operation was thoroughly vetted by the previous administration and that the previous defense secretary had signed off on it in January. The raid was delayed for operational reasons, the White House official said. The military officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said “a brutal firefight” killed Owens and at least 15 Yemeni women and children. One of the dead was the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a militant killed by a 2011 U.S. drone strike. Some of the women were firing at the U.S. force, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters. The American elite forces did not seize any militants or take any prisoners offsite, but White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Wednesday the raid yielded benefits. “Knowing that we killed an estimated 14 AQAP members and that we gathered an unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil – is something that I think most service members understand, that that’s why they joined the service,” Spicer said. A senior leader in Yemen’s al Qaeda branch, Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, and other militants were killed in the gunbattle, al Qaeda said. One of the three U.S. officials said on-the-ground surveillance of the compound was “minimal, at best.” “The decision was made ... to leave it to the incoming administration, partly in the hope that more and better intelligence could be collected,” that official said. As Sunday’s firefight intensified, the raiders called in Marine helicopter gunships and Harrier jump jets, and then two MV-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to extract the SEALs. One of the two suffered engine failure, two of the officials said, and hit the ground so hard that two crew members were injured, and one of the Marine jets had to launch a precision-guided bomb to destroy it. Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday in an unexpected visit to meet the family of Owens, who had been a chief special warfare operator. ",1 " REPORT: Trump Blocked HIS OWN CAMPAIGN From Vetting His PastWhen one becomes any sort of public figure especially a political public figure one s past is often scrutinized. Therefore, it is pretty much standard practice for potential campaign officials to vet the potential candidate prior to launching any sort of run for public office. However, when GOP nominee Donald Trump s original campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, sought to do this, Trump himself pulled the plug on any such endeavor.According to Bloomberg Politics, Lewandowski requested that Trump s past be looked into before he even filed to run for president. However, Trump refused, which means that his campaign officials have been caught completely off guard by things like the lewd tape from the Access Hollywood bus, as well as by the subsequent allegations that he groped multiple women without their consent over the years. Apparently, the same thing happened with Trump s second campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Allegedly, Manafort wanted to vet Trump just like Lewandowski did, but was rebuffed. As a result of this, the only things Lewandowski was prepared to combat were Trump s monetary contributions to Democratic causes and politicians, and his Iraq war comments. All the rest was off limits.This is exceedingly odd, considering that any information found on the part of Team Trump would be used to prepare for any backlash relating to things that might come out from the candidate s past, as has happened in the last week and a half or so. Such secrecy would lead one to believe that there is something out there so bad that Trump feared people bailing on his then-fledgling campaign if they should find out about it.As for Trump s current spin master campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway? Well, she s just as in the dark as her predecessors were. She went on Fox News on Thursday and said of the dumping of information on Trump s past: I don t know what s out there. There s no way to know what is and isn t out there. Ohhh, Kellyanne. Dear, dear Kellyanne. You might not know exactly what else is out there, but you seem to be an intelligent pollster/GOP operative. You can figure it out. And, as a woman and as a mother, you should be ashamed of yourself for continuing to deflect and defend a man whose past includes such behavior.Featured image via Scott Olson/Getty Images",0 "THE TALLY IS IN: Total Number Of Lies Told By Queen Of The Clinton Crime Syndicate During DebateThanks to Ben Shapiro of Breitbart News, we now know the answer to that question:Tuesday night s debate featured a master class on lying from the lying liar who lies about her lies, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.She spoke for approximately 24 minutes, and aside from her opening statement I m Hillary Clinton virtually every word that exited her mouth was untrue. But because Hillary appeared to be lady with mild socialist depression in a full-blown socialist insane asylum, nobody laid a glove on her.Thus it is left to us to debunk her various obfuscations and untruths. Here we go. I have spent a very long time my entire adult life looking for ways to find the ways for each child to live up to his or her God-given potential. Well, unless you re an unborn child. Then, get ready for a trip down the sink. Yes, finally, fathers will be able to say to their daughters, you, too, can grow up to be president. Technically, you ll have to marry a president first, however. Actually, I have been very consistent. Anderson Cooper asked Hillary about her shifting positions on issues ranging from the Iraq war to same-sex marriage to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. She then dropped that whopper. Hillary has been one of the least consistent major party candidates in American history. She then dropped a series of lies about her own positional changes. And then she finally concluded that she had a range of views, but they are rooted in my values and my experience. Those values are becoming president and her experience is reading the polls. I did say, when I was secretary of state, three years ago, that I hoped it would be the gold standard. It was just finally negotiated last week, and in looking at it, it didn t meet my standards. This is plainly untrue. Here s what she said in 2012 about the TPP: This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field. She didn t hope it would be the gold standard. It was the gold standard. Naturally, PolitiFact labeled this statement half-true. That means it s a huge, glaring lie. I m a progressive. But I m a progressive who likes to get things done how to find common ground, and I have proved that in every position that I ve had, even dealing with Republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly. Nope. As Senator from New York, Hillary accomplished virtually nothing. Her name was attached to exactly zero legislation. Her only major impact on policy came in the form of Hillarycare, which drove Republicans to massive electoral victory in 1994. When I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started The media drooled over the exchange between Hillary and Bernie over capitalism. But there is no distinction between the economic philosophy of Sen. Bernie Sanders and that of Hillary Clinton. She said she wanted to use government to force companies to share profits with the workers a line straight from the Marxist playbook. She said she wanted the wealthy to pay their fair share which meant everything. She said she wanted paid family leave, universal college tuition availability, and a bevy of other free goodies. It was pretty straightforward to me that [Sanders] was going to give immunity to the only industry in America. Everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. There is no special immunity for gun manufacturers. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 was designed to prevent ultra-leftist jurisdictions from twisting tort law to make gun manufacturers liable for public nuisance in the way that manufacturers are liable for their pollution. The law does not stop lawsuits against manufacturers or dealers from being sued if they knowingly sell a product to a criminal. They can still be sued for design flaws, or negligence. Well first of all, we got a lot of business done with the Russians when Medvedev was the president, and not Putin .There s no doubt that when Putin came back in and said he was going to be President, that did change the relationship. Nonsense. Putin was always the leader of Russia, even when Medvedev was his puppet. Hillary knew Putin ran the country when Medvedev was president; Medvedev, for example, was president when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008. Hillary handed the Russians a reset button anyway. Hillary also advocated for taking on Bashar Assad the same man she once called a reformer. I think while you re talking about the tough decision that President Obama had to make about Osama bin Laden, where I was one of his few advisers, or putting together that coalition to impose sanctions on Iran Glomming onto the kill of Osama Bin Laden in order to explain her vote for the Iraq war was simply nonsensical. But the idea that she put together the coalition to impose sanctions on Iran is simply untrue. International sanctions against Iran have been on the books for decades. And Hillary was integrally involved in negotiating the end of those sanctions, as well as letting Iran enrich uranium. We had a murderous dictator, Gadhafi, who had American blood on his hands, as I m sure you remember, threatening to massacre large numbers of the Libyan people Our response, which I think was smart power at its best, is that the United States will not lead this. Hillary reportedly manufactured the Libyan genocide story out of wholecloth, and overrode US intelligence in order to push that narrative. If Libya was smart power at its best, it would be incredible to find out what smart power at its worst would be (well, other than Syria, Ukraine, Iran ). Libya became a haven for terrorists because we deposed a dictator who posed no threat to us. The notion that Iraq was a disaster area of American foreign policy but Libya is a great success story is patently insane. Hillary s lies about Libya didn t end there. I ll get to that. Hillary said this with regard to Benghazi. She never did, of course. Her response mirrored her response in Benghazi, by the way: I ll get back to that, she said to our Libyan staff, then proceeded to do nothing. I think it has to be continued threat from the spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands. I know the terrorists are constantly seeking it, and that s why we have to stay vigilant, but also united around the world to prevent that. Hillary said the spread of nuclear weapons represented the chief threat to the United States. She also negotiated the Iran nuclear deal. The statement that people around the world are united to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons is a plain lie, given the acceptance of the Iran deal, which makes Iranian nuclear development inevitable. Well, I ve taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department, but it wasn t the best choice. And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be made public. And you re right. I am going to be testifying. I ve been asking to testify for some time and to do it in public, which was not originally agreed to. Lies, lies, and more lies. She did not take responsibility for her email scandal any more than she took responsibility for Benghazi: she said she took responsibility but never admitted to having done anything wrong. Her email scheme was not allowed by federal law, but she was the head of the State Department and thus waived rules for herself. She may have been as transparent as she knows how to be, but that transparency involved setting up a private server, loading it with classified information, and then deleting some 30,000 emails. She only asked to testify after Congress demanded she testify. Fortunately, none of this mattered, since Bernie Sanders intervened to hand her his testicles in a jar by saying nobody cared about her emails. This inequality challenge we face, we have faced it at other points. It s absolutely right. It hasn t been this bad since the 1920s. But if you look at the Republicans versus the Democrats when it comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House and that s why we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017. If Democrats are so great at economics, why is inequality as bad as it has been in a century? And saying that Democratic presidents preside over good economies seems to neglect the fact that Bill Clinton, for example, presided over a Republican Congress. We have to deal with the problem that the banks are still too big to fail. We can never let the American taxpayer and middle class families ever have to bail out the kind of speculative behavior that we saw. In this debate, Hillary Clinton also backed Dodd-Frank, which legally enshrines too big to fail. Bailouts are now mandated by federal law, thanks to Hillary Clinton and Democrats. And Democratic policy loves bailouts they are huge fans of crony capitalism, endless bailouts through stimulus packages and taxpayer giveaways. I think that it was necessary to make sure that we were able after 9/11 to put in place the security that we needed. And it is true that it did require that there be a process. What happened, however, is that the Bush administration began to chip away at that process. And I began to speak out about their use of warrantless surveillance and the other behavior that they engaged in. Hillary Clinton voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act in 2006. And Hillary s supposed leadership against Bush-era abuses of the Patriot Act didn t stop President Obama from expanding the use of surveillance far beyond what Bush ever did. Well, I can t think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I m not just running because I would be the first woman president .Well, I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. False and false. California has had a paid leave program for a number of years .And it has not had the ill effects that the Republicans are always saying it will have. California uses employee payroll taxes to finance paid family leave. That means all the costs of the program are hidden, rather than explicit. Businesses leave California and employment declines because of its high tax rates. Businesses hire fewer women if forced to pay higher taxes in order to do so. They don t mind having big government to interfere with a woman s right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They re fine with big government when it comes to that. I m sick of it. Republicans want to defund Planned Parenthood. That s not big government. That s small government. Further, it s not big government to protect human life through force of law any more than it is big government to have murder laws on the books. I know we can afford it, because we re going to make the wealthy pay for it. That is the way to get it done. This myth, repeated ad nauseum by Democrats, is truly reprehensible. Rich people cannot pay for all the utopian programs proposed by the left. As John Stossel points out, If the IRS grabbed 100 percent of income over $1 million, the take would be just $616 billion. Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton worshipped at the altar of Denmark last night, but Denmark has lower corporate tax rates than the United States, and far higher taxes on the middle class. You pay a 200 percent tax on cars in Denmark everyone. Socialism isn t built on the backs of the rich. It s built on the backs of everyone who earns, and that includes the middle class. Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians. The Iranians are not Hillary s enemies. They love her.For entire list of lies, go to Breitbart NewsHillary s a liar. But Democrats don t care, because liars prosper in a world where hard work and honesty are punished in the name of equality and the Great Socialist Utopia.",0 EU votes in favor of universal mobile charger -- 550 votes to 12 says that chargers need to be standardized,1 "Secrecy around TPP trade deal fuels suspicions, worries. ""Higher costs for needed generic drugs. Longer copyright protections than the global standard. Foreign investors empowered to overrule governments. A more tightly-regulated internet.""",1 Olbermann Bushed:Bush and Rumsfeld investigated by UN for torture,1 " Trump-Loving Pastor Absurdly Says Mexico Will Fund Border Wall Or Get Its ‘Legs Broken’ (VIDEO)Much like the Republican front runner himself, Donald Trump s supporters also have a tendency to invoke violence any chance they get, as we ve seen proven time after time.On Tuesday, Ohio pastor and Trump fan Darrell Scott went on CNN to discuss Trump s plan for the U.S. border wall, and in no time caused the segment to completely derail. In speaking to fellow panelists Ben Ferguson and Margaret Hoover, Scott started by giving an absurd example of how Trump would force Mexico to pay for the wall (even though Mexico s president has flat-out refused and basically told Trump to f*ck off). Scott said: Mexico is going to pay directly, or Mexico is going to pay indirectly. It reminds me of a friend that I had years ago, OK? Let me say this for the record. He said, You re going to give me my money or I m going to break your legs and you re going to give me my money. Mexico will pay for the wall or Trump will break them down. Ferguson was quick to point out just how ridiculous Scott s example was as he fired back, We re not 12 years old. This is not your lunch money. Scott completely missed the valid point and continued on: I m tired of that 12-year-old stuff. They re gonna pay it directly, or they re gonna pay it indirectly. And putting a tax on Western Union transfers is not unreasonable. These comments came just shortly after Trump s campaign stated that if the business mogul wins the election, the candidate would ban money transfers from the United States into Mexico unless Mexico contributed $5-10 billion for his precious wall.Scott and Ferguson got into a heated back-and forth, and Ferguson told the ignorant pastor, You have no idea what you re talking about. You can watch the chaotic segment below, in which all the panelists get themselves all worked up over Trump: Featured image via screenshot",0 "Spain's Rajoy calls on Catalonia leaders to cancel referendumMADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday called on Catalonia regional leaders to cancel a planned referendum on splitting from Spain because it goes against the country s laws. Don t go ahead. Go back to the law and democracy. This referendum is a chimera, Rajoy said in a televised speech. ",1 Iran is open to shared role with U.S. - senior Iranian official,1 "U.S. appeals court ruling on Trump's revised travel ban imminent(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court is set to rule on Monday on whether to uphold President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban, a court official from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said. The court is reviewing a March ruling by a Hawaii-based federal judge that blocked parts of Trump’s order that aimed to temporarily halt the entry of people from six Muslim-majority nations and refugees. ",1 "Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset and member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus ruling Likud Party, Moshe Feiglin, has called for the use of concentration camps for the conquest of the entire Gaza Strip.",0 "U.S. chief justice uses sign language as deaf lawyers sworn inWASHINGTON (Reuters) - In an historic first, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts used sign language from the Supreme Court bench on Tuesday as he welcomed a dozen deaf and hard-of-hearing lawyers who took part in a ceremony authorizing them to argue cases before the court. The 12 members of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bar Association were sworn in as members of the Supreme Court bar. After they were presented to the court for admission, Roberts signed in American Sign Language: “Your motion is granted.”Membership in the Supreme Court bar allows a lawyer to argue cases before the justices but most of its members never actually do so. Roberts, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2005, is believed to be the first U.S. chief justice to use sign language from the bench. It was also the first time members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bar Association took part in a swearing-in ceremony at the court. The lawyers then stayed for oral arguments in two cases in the ornate courtroom, assisted by an interpreter standing in front of the mahogany bench where the eight justices sit. The lawyers were permitted to use an instant transcription service that was transmitted to electronic devices. Normally, no electronic devices are allowed in the courtroom. One of the attorneys, Teresa Curtin of the Weitz & Luxenberg law firm, said in a statement the event was aimed at encouraging more people with disabilities to embark on legal careers. When she began her law career in the late 1980s, there was only a handful of deaf lawyers in the United States, while now there are around 250, Curtin said. In 1982, a deaf lawyer, Michael Chatoff, argued a case before the Supreme Court, assisted by a real-time transcription system. That case concerned whether a school board was required to provide a deaf student with a sign-language interpreter. Chatoff lost the case in a 6-3 ruling. ",1 NATO backs Turkey over Russian aircraft,1 " Republican Stuns CNN Host, Wants To Starve Americans To Pay For Trump’s Border Wall (VIDEO)As if the Republican Party couldn t possibly look any worse thanks to Donald Trump s exploding Russia scandal, some of the party s top members are hellbent on destroying conservatives reputation even further.On Wednesday morning, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) went on CNN to propose a heartless, revolting solution to getting Trump s border wall paid for. King is apparently accepting Mexico s refusal to pay for Trump s moronic border wall (even as Trump still insists that the country will pay) and has come up with another solution cutting food assistance to low-income Americans! And while he s at it, he d also like to slash Planned Parenthood funding.This disgusting suggestion came up when Alisyn Camerota asked King if he would be comfortable with providing $1.6 billion of taxpayer money not from Mexico to bill that wall? This question was prompted by the House Republicans threat to Democrats on Tuesday, where they suggested a government shutdown if $1.6 billion for the border wall wasn t included in the 2018 budget. King responded: Absolutely yes and more. And I d throw another $5 billion on the pile, and I would find half of a billion of dollars of that right out of Planned Parenthood s budget. And the rest of it could come out of food stamps and the entitlements that are being spread out for people who have not worked in three generations. Camerota, of course, was speechless. She did a double take and asked: You want to take food from people who are on the lowest rung in terms of the nation s safety net and their children, in terms of foot stamps you re happy to take money from them in order to give the $1.6 billion for the border wall? King tried to defend himself, stating that the border wall would create jobs. Then, he jumped to the school lunch program that Michelle Obama had created. He said: I would just say let s limit it to that anybody who wants to have food stamps, it s up to the school lunch program, that s fine. You can watch King turn into an absolute piece of sh*t below:These food stamps provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are responsible for assisting 45 million people. Trump has already proposed that this program be cut 25% over the next 10 years, and King wants to cut it even more to support an ineffective border wall that most Americans strongly oppose. By cutting SNAP and Planned Parenthood funding, King is solidifying himself as a conservative who doesn t care about low-income Americans. He s truly living up to the GOP s reputation.Featured image via Justin Sullivan / Getty Images",0 Japan says it's not decided on whaling in Southern Ocean next year - Tokyo deeply disappointed UN declared its whaling a commercial activity disguised as science. Has filed US court briefs saying it intends to hunt whales 2015-16 with new research program.,1 Blockupy Frankfurt is already somewhat succesful in blocking the inner city,0 "U.S. not coordinating Syria military operations with Russia: White HouseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is not coordinating its military operations in Syria with Russia, the White House said on Thursday. “At present, the United States is not conducting or coordinating military operations with Russia,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing. “I know there’s some speculation that an agreement may be reached to do so, but it’s not clear that will happen.” ",1 Obama aims oil weapon at Putin but will he pull the trigger? Oil prices heading for major correction after Russia's attempt to use crude as a weapon to bully Western powers backfires,1 "Chvez declares Angel Falls is no more: World\'s tallest waterfall gets new name, Kerepakupai-Mer, which in indigenous Pemon language means ""waterfall of the deepest place.""\n",1 Rupert Murdoch must step down as News Corporation chair shareholders,0 "DR Congo frees 11,506 children from mines",1 Ukrainian government forces are preparing for the final stage of recapturing the city of Donetsk from pro-Russian separatist rebels.,1 " McConnell Says He’ll Obstruct ANY Effort To Hire Independent Special ProsecutorSiding with Trump s Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Trump s spokesperson, McConnell told America from the floor of the Senate that he sees no reason to assign an independent special prosecutor or create a bipartisan committee to get to the bottom of Trump s relationship to Russia.JUST NOW: McConnell says new investigation will only impede current work on Russia investigations.(so no special prosecutor or committee) John Berman (@JohnBerman) May 10, 2017McConnell was rebuffing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer s renewed call for an independent investigator. I have said from the get-go that I think a special prosecutor is the way to go, but now with what s happened it is the only way to go, Schumer told reporters on Tuesday.Instead, McConnell said he would leave that up to the FBI and let Jeff Sessions handpick Comey s interim (read: non-confirmed) FBI head, something that is not standard procedure.News: AG Sessions & Deputy AG Rosenstein interviewing potential interim FBI directors today, according to a DOJ official (@LauraAJarrett) David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) May 10, 2017Another deeply disturbing sign they need a handpicked interim Director? Why is the default, Andy McCabe, not sufficient? https://t.co/92pagYV5e7 Ned Price (@nedprice) May 10, 2017By picking the next FBI director outside of the typical process and circumventing a confirmation hearing the White House hopes to get an ally in the middle of the investigation another strong motive for firing Comey in the first place. Even if a full-time replacement eventually comes along, the dysfunction and partisanship created in this scenario could make the entire case dissolve. If you were a witness who knew of criminal wrongdoing from someone on Trump s team and you just watched the FBI director get fired and replaced by someone handpicked by Trump s close friend would you want to come forward? It s clear Trump sure hopes not.McConnell is enabling all of this. As usual. In a show of loyalty to the president, McConnell slammed Democrats who had called for an independent investigation and instead went on a lengthy rant about Obamacare and what he thought of as Democratic hypocrisy. Senator McConnell has decided to side with the White House in their spin that they fired Director Comey as a favor to Democrats. Matt House (@mattwhouse) May 10, 2017In a moment where the country can be said to be facing a real constitutional crisis, McConnell is choosing to smear his Democratic enemies and stand with undemocratic strongarm tactics from a president. It was a disgusting display of partisanship in the face of an unprecedented move by a sitting president to silence his critics and kill an investigation into his own wrongdoing. Having watched McConnell spend a decade refining the art of obstruction, it appears that this final act of obstruction of justice will be his masterpiece.Featured image via Aaron P. Bernstei /Stringer via Getty Images",0 Dear United States: How many countries do you have to be at war with to be disqualified from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize?,1 "Trump to nominate retired General Mattis for PentagonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday night he would nominate retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, known as “Mad Dog” and renowned for his tough talk and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, to lead the Pentagon. “We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense,” Trump told a rally in Cincinnati. He said the formal announcement would be made on Monday. The choice of a seasoned military strategist would be another indication that Trump, a Republican, intends to steer U.S. foreign policy away from Democratic President Barack Obama’s increased reliance on U.S. allies to fight Islamist militants and to help deter Russian and Chinese aggression in Europe and Asia. Mattis is a revered figure in the Marine Corps and known for his distrust of Iran. The Washington Post and CNN reported earlier that Trump had chosen Mattis, but Trump spokesman Jason Miller said earlier on Twitter that “no decision has been made yet with regard to Secretary of Defense.” While the nomination of the 66-year-old Mattis would likely be popular among U.S. forces, it would have to clear a bureaucratic hurdle. Because he retired only in 2013, Mattis would need the U.S. Congress to waive a requirement that a defense secretary be a civilian for at least seven years before taking the top job at the Pentagon. His impressive combat record, however, may deter some Senate Democrats from trying to block his nomination. Trump has described Mattis as “a true general’s general.” The New York real estate magnate famously asserted last year: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do.” Mattis, whose past assignments include leading Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, is known for his colorful expressions that unashamedly embrace the job of the U.S. armed forces: fighting wars. In one famous line in 2003 attributed to Mattis, the general told Marines in Iraq: “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” In a 2016 question-and-answer session, Mattis appeared to be moved by a Marine’s question about how far out he could inflict casualties with his knife hand, known as a “kill-casualty radius.” “Once you get to be a high-ranking officer, the kill-casualty radius is whatever your Marines make it, and by the time I got up to the senior ranks it was hundreds of miles,” he said in a video for the Marine Corps. Still, such tough talk has gotten him in hot water. He was once rebuked for saying in 2005 that “it’s fun to shoot some people.” His talk, however, belies a more thoughtful side. Mattis once said the most important 6 inches in a combat zone was “between your ears.” Now a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Mattis is also a scholar who was praised by then-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2010 as one of the country’s great strategic thinkers. Mattis reads avidly, frequently quotes history and is proud that he grew up with a large library and no television. After meeting Mattis on Nov. 19, Trump described him as a strong, dignified man who persuasively argued against waterboarding, an interrogation tactic that involves pouring water over someone’s face to simulate drowning. Trump had promised during the campaign he would not only revive use of waterboarding, which is widely regarded as torture and was banned under President Barack Obama, but bring back “a hell of a lot worse” if elected. “(Mattis) said: ‘I’ve always found, give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I do better with that than I do with torture.’ And I was very impressed by that answer,” Trump told The New York Times. The Senate Armed Services Committee will consider Mattis’ nomination. In a statement on Thursday night, its chairman, Republican John McCain, called him “one of the finest military officers of his generation and an extraordinary leader.” Mattis would be the first former U.S. general to become defense secretary since George C. Marshall took the job in 1950. The decision adds to Trump’s national security team another Pentagon veteran who served during the Obama administration but often had a testy relationship with it. Officials who knew him before he retired in 2013 said Mattis clashed with top administration officials when he headed Central Command over his desire to better prepare for potential threats from Iran and to win more resources for Afghanistan. Trump has given the job of national security adviser to Michael Flynn, a retired three-star Army general who was pushed out of the top job at the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 by Obama’s administration. Flynn was fiercely critical of Obama during the 2016 campaign, adopting much of Trump’s rhetoric. Along with Flynn and Trump’s choice for CIA director, U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo, Mattis has been critical of the deal to curb Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program, saying the threat from Tehran should outrank more immediate concerns about Islamic State or al Qaeda. “The Iranian regime, in my mind, is the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East,” Mattis said. Speaking about the Iranian nuclear deal, Mattis said: “Hoping that Iran is on the cusp of becoming a responsible, modern nation is a bridge too far.” If Mattis wins Senate confirmation, he will work side by side with another Marine - General Joseph Dunford, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Having two Marine generals in those top jobs would be highly unusual for a service that prides itself on being the most elite U.S. fighting force. It would also raise questions about how Mattis and Dunford might divide up tasks. Both Dunford and Mattis share battlefield experience, including in Iraq. In 2003, Mattis led the 1st Marine Division during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. He has said one of the toughest things he had to do was oversee the retreat of his forces from the city of Falluja in 2004, something he feared would hurt morale, but did not. “We just don’t take refuge in self-pity or any of that kind of stuff. And so as a result, the Marine Corps remains a very feared organization in this world. As it should be,” he said. ",1 "Nobel Peace Prize winners critique Trump's immigration policyBOGOTA (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winners meeting in Colombia criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policies on Thursday, accusing him of xenophobia and discrimination. Last week Trump issued an executive order that put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee program, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and imposed a 90-day suspension on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The measure, which Trump says is aimed at protecting the country from terrorist attacks, has drawn protests and legal challenges. “We need to fight to find peace and civil justice. We want to end this discussion of violence, of racism,” said Tawakkul Karman, a Yemeni journalist who won the 2011 prize for her work on women’s rights. “We can’t isolate Muslims because they are from a different religion, Mr. Trump,” she said at the opening of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Bogota, Colombia. Some 30 winners of the prize are attending the two-day event. “It’s with great incredulity that we’re seeing how leaders of the biggest democracy in the world lack respect for human rights and international diplomacy,” said former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who won the 1987 prize for his work in putting an end to the civil wars in four Central American countries. Arias said he was worried about growing xenophobia and hate in the United States. Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi, who won the 2003 prize for efforts to improve democracy and human rights, criticized Trump for calling citizens from her country “terrorists,” while U.S. activist Jody Williams, the 1997 winner for her work against land mines, said Trump was “racist and sexist.” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, the 2016 Nobel winner for his work on a peace deal with Marxist rebels, did not name Trump in a speech to attendees, but said the current rhetoric around terrorism, war, discrimination and refugees should be changed. ",1 " Tomi Lahren RUSHES To Delete Hypocritical, Sexually-Charged Tweets (DETAILS)White grievance queen Tomi Lahren was sent into full panic mode after someone discovered a bunch of tweets she forgot about when she apparently stopped popping p*ssy after a nice rousing chugging contest and tweeting about it. Lahren made a name for herself by proving to be one of the dumbest people in the universe though her appearances on Glenn Beck s can you even call it a TV station? Fine, for lack of a better phrase we ll go with tv station. Before she worked for The Blaze, Lahren was a completely different person. She might complain about people taking their damn handouts now, but here s her reaction to her first job. Don t worry, she worked for her mommy and it was chill as F with a capital F. This website is free pic.twitter.com/fTZPR7Jbus med ? (@med11n) January 10, 2017How about those views on student loans?She is a national treasure pic.twitter.com/Bz408h5Gbb med ? (@med11n) January 10, 2017Others on Twitter found some more interesting tweets. Did you know, for example, that she likes tweeting about the moisture level of her vagina and the importance of ensuring that someone trained in CPR being nearby at all times? Many of her other tweets are sure to be a hit with her conservative Christian audience:Honestly Tony I don't know what you're referring to but you're 100% right @TomiLahren pic.twitter.com/qZo0boZizV med ? (@med11n) January 10, 2017Something tells me Tabitha was a lot more fun back in the day when she was in the club getting White girl wasted. What happened @TomiLahren? pic.twitter.com/Kb9MJ2RhhA #J20 (@Delo_Taylor) January 10, 2017Get you a girl who's as lonely as @TomiLahren is on Valentine's Day pic.twitter.com/Lnirqog4VA conor (@CDthaSad) January 10, 2017Now, there s nothing wrong with these tweets. She can pop as much p*ssy as she wants and drink herself into oblivion. But watching her scramble through her timeline deleting posts in a panic is hilarious, as is her anger. She s mad at all of you. Like, really mad:Ok tommy pic.twitter.com/1Ooq98EXSg med ? (@med11n) January 10, 2017On Thursday, Lahren released a video to address her old tweets and It. Is. Hilarious. We re not going to ruin it for you, but you get to watch her throw a tantrum and go off on people in the background for making too much noise as she tried to explain what she meant by pop that p. Oddly, she did not address what she meant when she said she can t promise she won t drown you if you get her wet. What a shame. Watch it below:(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ""//connect.facebook.net/ar_AR/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3""; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Keep scrolling haters.I address my old college 'scandalous' tweets. Tomi Lahren 12 2017Featured image via screengrab",0 US refuses to sign anti-landmine treaty,1 Kenyan human rights activists killed after accusing the Kenyan police of running death squads ,1 The Fritzl fiasco ... Or how the police can be useless as hell when it come to saving people (like it is supposed to do),0 Finland: a country of extremes. Newsweek has proclaimed Finland the best country in the world. But some Finns disagree,0 " WATCH: Fox News Host Calls President Obama Weak For Not Declaring War On ISISLast time I checked, the Constitution still says declaring war is Congress job.As a former lawyer and judge, one would think Jeanine Pirro would know what the Constitution says, but during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Friday morning, she demonstrated why she should never have been allowed to be in the legal profession.In response to the devastating terrorist attack in Nice, France in which 84 people have been confirmed dead and 2020 injured, Pirro trotted out the Republican talking-point of blaming President Obama for the attack and claimed that he apologizes for America and persecutes Christians. If this President would stop apologizing for what we do and what we are and stop saying you Christians, it s your turn as he did at a prayer breakfast then maybe American would be united in a way that we understand that they re coming. They re here. I gotta tell ya. I m as aggravated as everyone who has sat in this chair today. We ve got a problem at the top of this country, Pirro continued before summing President Obama s legacy as weak. One word: Weak, she said. He just doesn t have a plan. He doesn t have a policy. He should be in academia. We ve got to declare war on them. We ve got to start having a conversation about surveillance on mosques they just want to kill us! Here s the video via YouTube:President Obama has never apologized for America. Nowhere is this clearer than when he visited Hiroshima, Japan and refused to apologize for the United States dropping the atomic bomb during World War II. President Obama is also not persecuting Christians. His policies include all Americans and do not target a specific religious sect.Furthermore, President Obama has done the best he can to fight ISIS with the authority and resources he has available and that has resulted in 26,000 ISIS fighters and half of their commanders being killed by United States and coalition forces.And if Pirro really wants to blame someone for being weak against ISIS, she should point her finger at Republicans in Congress who refuse to exercise their power to declare war on ISIS, which would give President Obama the full power to wage war against ISIS. But Republicans don t want to do that because they would rather put all the responsibility on President Obama so they can continue blaming him for each and every terrorist attack that occurs around the world for cheap political points.Just so Pirro and every other conservative out there understands what the separation of powers means, here s the part of the Constitution you are blatantly ignoring. Because it s either that or you ve never actually read the document you claim to love so much.Article I, Section 8: To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water.Seriously, Republicans need to grow a pair and do their jobs if they really believe ISIS is a major threat to our country. If not, they should shut the hell up and stop attacking the only man in our government who is doing something.Featured Image: Screenshot",0 "Trump: 'somewhat' vindicated by lawmaker's statement on surveillanceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he felt “somewhat” vindicated by Republican congressman Devin Nunes’ announcement that it was possible that some of Trump’s communications had been picked up by government surveillance. “I somewhat do,” Trump said, when asked by a reporter whether he felt vindicated by Nunes’ statement. Trump said on Twitter on March 4 that he was “wiretapped” by his predecessor, President Barack Obama, an accusation Obama denied through a spokesman. ",1 " McDonald’s Brings Conservatives’ Nightmares To Life With New Ad That Has Them Fuming (VIDEO/TWEETS)Over the past few months, McDonalds has been a target for protests in favor of the fast food franchise raising its minimum hourly wage. Now, the company has once again angered the public but for a much more noble cause.This time, McDonald s is taking hits from anti-gay religious groups that are absolutely fuming after McDonald s Taiwan posted an LGBT-friendly advertisement for McCafe onto its Facebook page.The ad, which features a young man coming out to his father, is 90 seconds of pure emotion, capturing a moment that is extremely scary and heart-wrenching for many LGBT youth and adults. In the ad, the young man passes a coffee cup to his father that says, I like boys. The father gets upset and jumps up from the table, leaving his son alone and fighting back tears. A few seconds later the father returns, picks up the same cup of coffee and writes on it I accept that you like boys, as translated by the Shanghaiist.Watch the subtitled ad called Acceptance below:The ad touched the hearts of many and went viral, with over 3.6 million views, more than 92,000 likes and thousands of shares. Unfortunately, not everyone enjoyed or appreciated the ad s accepting and equality-driven message. Chang Shou-yi, the secretary general of the Alliance of Taiwan Religious Groups for the Protection of Family, is actually calling for a boycott on the restaurant after seeing the ad. Shou-yi said: Because McDonald s is frequented by many children, it is especially important to oppose the promotion of same-sex behavior. The secretary general added that the religious group rebukes and boycotts all enterprises that are polluting the next generation. Now, even if you want to just take a leak at a McDonald s bathroom, you can t help but feel polluted. But regardless of the backlash against the ad, the social media response has been extremely supportive:TwitterFacebookIf religious groups want to keep opposing businesses that support LGBT rights, they re going to have very limited places to do business with it s a list that keeps getting shorter as the world moves further away from bigotry and the hateful conservative rhetoric. Even Chick-fil-A, a brand that infamously boasted its opposition to gay marriage, has a franchisee that donated food to a gay pride picnic last year. The religious right is seriously running out of places where their bigotry is welcome.Featured image via video screen capture",0 Snowden docs had NYTimes exec fearing for his life,0 China builds huge solar power station which could power a million homes. The proposed power station will measure 10 square miles and generate 200 megawatts of solar energy,0 "Troubled Greece: ""Greece is broke and close to being broken. It is a country where children are fainting in school because they are hungry, where 20,000 Athenians are scavenging through waste tips for food, and where the lifeblood of a modern economy -- credit -- is fast drying up.""",0 "South American leaders demand apology in plane row - The presidents of Argentina, Ecuador, Suriname, Venezuela and Uruguay joined Morales in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba late Thursday to address the diplomatic row. Morales warned that he would close the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia if necessary.",1 "Special Counsel Mueller has enough evidence to charge Flynn, son: NBCWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller has collected sufficient evidence to charge Michael Flynn, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, and his son, NBC News reported on Sunday, citing multiple sources familiar with the investigation. NBC News said Mueller's team was looking at possible money-laundering charges, lying to federal agents, and Flynn's role in a possible plan to remove an opponent of the Turkish president from the United States in exchange for millions of dollars. (nbcnews.to/2ywXzPC) Mueller is increasing pressure on Flynn following his indictment of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, NBC News said. Flynn served 24 days as Trump’s national security adviser but was fired after it was discovered he had misrepresented his contacts with a Russian diplomat to Vice President Michael Pence. Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller’s office, declined to comment. Robert Kelner, Flynn’s lawyer, also declined to comment. Barry Coburn, a lawyer for Michael Flynn Jr., declined to comment, although the younger Flynn appeared to address the report in a tweet. “The SJW are out in full this morning....the disappointment on your faces when I don’t go to jail will be worth all your harassment...,” the younger Flynn wrote, using an acronym for “social justice warriors,” a pejorative often used in reference to liberals. ",1 U.S. Plummets in Global Press Freedom Rankings,0 "Flint’s #CrookedMayorWeaver Tells Trump He’s Not Welcome In Broken, Jobless, Violent Democrat Ruled CityFlint s Democrat Mayor Karen Weaver is throwing a hissy fit over Trump s unannounced visit to the broken, violent city of Flint, MI. Mayor Weaver is currently embroiled in a lawsuit after former City Administrator Natasha Henderson blew the whistle on her for allegedly trying to steer money from a charity for local families into a campaign fund. Henderson claims she was wrongfully fired for blowing the whistle on Hillary s loyal minion, the mayor of the city of Flint. Donald Trump will be visiting the broken, violent city of Flint today, where he plans to visit a church and the Flint Water Treatment Plant. But one of Hillary s biggest cheerleaders won t be throwing out the welcome mat Flint Mayor Karen Weaver says she s baffled by the visit, and didn t receive a call from Trump s campaign ahead of time.Does Trump need to get clearance from Hillary s de facto Flint campaign manager before he can visit a violent and broken city that s been destroyed for decades by Democrats? I would think, if you are very concerned about Flint and the people, you would contact the mayor and want to have a conversation about what s going on so that puts a question mark in my mind that I wasn t even contacted or notified about something today about something tomorrow, says Weaver.Weaver is in Washington D.C. and will not be in Flint during Trump s visit. I had not been notified by Donald Trump or his people finally, this afternoon, a call to my press person, but I did not know. These plans were made without contacting me. Her reaction when she was contacted by Trump s campaign? That s kind of not the way it s supposed to go I wish that he had come when things were in more dire straits maybe before we had even received help when the debates were going on. We were crying out for a long time. The fact that Trump didn t rush to Flint, MI for a photo-op when Hillary and Bernie were making regular visits as part of their pandering for the Black vote effort in a city ignored for decades by Democrats, speaks volumes about Trump s serious nature. Americans are getting to see firsthand how a successful businessman approaches serious issues vs. how a career politician promises to fix issues with no real plan to ever come back once the press packs it up and leaves these broken neighborhoods. Trump s desire to create jobs for people who have been unemployed for decades is real and the Democrats biggest fear is that his message is resonating in these forgotten neighborhoods. ",0 HYSTERICAL! Jimmy Kimmel Reads “WINNERS AREN’T LOSERS” To Donald Trump [VIDEO]This is hysterical!Here s the entire interview:,0 "European Court of Justice: Ban on Gay men giving blood ""may be justified""",0 The Price of an Afghan Life [graphic pic],0 "BREAKING: NORTH KOREA Can Now Fit Missiles With Nuclear Warheads…Thanks ObamaIt s being reported that the markings of China s involvement in the ability of North Korea to get a nuclear warhead are there. This is disturbing to say the least!North Korea has successfully created a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside missiles, a key step in the rogue regime s ambitions to become a nuclear power, a report on Tuesday said.The findings were contained in a study by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Washington Post reported.The newspaper also said the US calculated that North Korean President Kim Jong Un s regime now controls as many as 60 nuclear weapons.The findings show that North Korea s efforts to develop a long-range missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and strike the mainland United States is progressing more rapidly than experts had predicted.On Saturday, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose severe economic sanctions on North Korea for launching two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July.Read more: NYP",0 "PRICELESS! Nancy Pelosi Complains Trump Not Visiting Countries in Alphabetical Order [Video]Now we know for sure that Nancy Pelosi has lost it!During a press briefing on Thursday, Pelosi criticized the President Trump s visit to Saudi Arabia first during his inaugural foreign trip. I thought it was unusual for the President of the United States to go to Saudi Arabia first. Saudi Arabia! Pelosi said. It wasn t even alphabetical. I mean, Saudi Arabia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K8CJQq3YnQ Our friends and neighbors What was the decision-making process to go to Saudi Arabia first? That is a question that I have. This is just the latest odd thing Pelosi has blurted out during press briefings. This is beyond embarrassing for the Democrats Civil society blah, blah, blah word salad from Nancy Pelosi",0 WATCH WHAT OUR US MILITARY DOES TO PEDOPHILIC MONSTERS Who Prey On Innocent Christians and YazidisTake that you filthy animals!,0 """What is fragile should break early while it is still small. Nothing should ever become too big to fail."" (author of Black Swan)",1 "Schumer calls on Trump to appoint official to oversee Puerto Rico reliefWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Charles Schumer, the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, called on President Donald Trump on Sunday to name a single official to oversee and coordinate relief efforts in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Schumer, along with Representatives Nydia Velàzquez and Jose Serrano, said a “CEO of response and recovery” is needed to manage the complex and ongoing federal response in the territory, where millions of Americans remain without power and supplies. In a statement, Schumer said the current federal response to Hurricane Maria’s impact on the island had been “disorganized, slow-footed and mismanaged.” “This person will have the ability to bring all the federal agencies together, cut red tape on the public and private side, help turn the lights back on, get clean water flowing and help bring about recovery for millions of Americans who have gone too long in some of the worst conditions,” he said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Democrats contended that naming a lone individual to manage the government’s relief efforts was critical, particularly given that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is already stretched thin from dealing with other crises, such as the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and the wildfires in California. The severity of the Puerto Rico crisis, where a million people do not have clean water and millions are without power nearly a month after Hurricane Maria made landfall, demand a single person to focus exclusively on relief and recovery, the Democrats said. Forty-nine people have died in Puerto Rico officially, with dozens more missing. The hurricane did extensive damage to the island’s power grid, destroying homes, roads and other vital infrastructure. Now, the bankrupt territory is struggling to provide basic services like running water, and pay its bills. “It’s tragically clear this Administration was caught flat footed when Maria hit Puerto Rico,” said Velàzquez. “Appointing a CEO of Response and Recovery will, at last, put one person with authority in charge to manage the response and ensure we are finally getting the people of Puerto Rico the aid they need.” On Thursday, Trump said the federal response has been a “10” on a scale of one to 10 at a meeting with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello. The governor has asked the White House and Congress for at least $4.6 billion in block grants and other types of funding. Senator Marco Rubio called on Congress to modify an $18.7 billion aid package for areas damaged by a recent swath of hurricanes to ensure that Puerto Rico can quickly access the funds. ",1 BBC News - Why Irish soldiers who fought Hitler hide their medals,0 "90% Of Hollywood Political Contributions Have Gone To This One CandidateNothing says Hollywood like supporting a serial liar who s managed to keep herself in the spotlight by clinging to the coattails of her husband, fellow grifter, serial philanderer and former President, Bill Clinton According to the Los Angeles Times, Hollywood donors have given $5.5 million to candidates on both sides of the 2016 presidential race. Of those donations, 90 percent have gone to Hillary Clinton s campaign.Hillary Clinton and die hard progressive singer Katy Perry While talk of Vice President Joe Biden jumping into the race had swept Hollywood in recent months, with donors previously announcing they would be ready to back him financially, Biden announced this week he would not run for a third time.That leaves the door open for Clinton to consolidate the industry s financial backing, which she largely has accomplished.Aside from a number of artists and other entertainment figures standing behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)16% , Clinton has not only garnered support from most democrats, but has received about $5 million of the total $5.5 million given by Hollywood this cycle.Danny DeVito, who gave $2,700, and Jackson Browne, who pledged $1,350, are supporting Sanders. Others, such as Sarah Silverman, Will Ferrell, and Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, are also supporting Sanders.Meanwhile, Clinton has collected maximum personal donations from Kanye West, Usher, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks, and Barbra Streisand.Clinton has also received $2,700 apiece from Dana Walden, head of Fox Television Group; Patrick Wachsberger, co-chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group; and HBO s president of programming, Michael Lombardo, according to the LA Times.On the GOP side, Jeb Bush has received $5,400 from CBS sports commentator Jim Nantz and $2,700 from producer Jerry Bruckheimer.Bush leads the Republican Party with roughly $165,000 in donations from Hollywood, while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie comes in second with almost $90,000. Via: Breitbart News",0 Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered that all Afghan children in Iran be permitted schooling regardless of their residency status. This decision impacts hundreds of thousands of children and can help improve the precarious status of the approximately 3 million Afghans in Iran.,0 Evacuees cringed and fled for cover Monday as an erupting volcano one of 22 showing increased activity in Indonesia let loose booming explosions of hot gas and debris in its most powerful blast in a deadly week,1 "Emboldened by the successes in Tunisia and Egypt, Gabon's people took to the streets this weekend to demand the resignation of President Ali Bongo",0 "Australia records biggest emissions drop in a decade as carbon tax kicks in. Greens and conservation group say significant drop in annual emissions shows the carbon price, which was scrapped by the Abbott government, was effective",1 Egypt's Coptic Christians say they are 'no longer safe' in Egypt,0 "Explosion in southeast Turkey kills two soldiers: CNN TurkISTANBUL (Reuters) - Two Turkish soldiers were killed on Monday in the southeastern province of Hakkari after an improvised explosive device detonated, Turkish broadcaster CNN Turk said. The bomb was set off as a Turkish army truck drove past it near the Iraqi border. ",1 " Trump Campaign Manager Won’t Be Prosecuted For Assaulting A WomanOnce again, it seems as though someone associated with the Trump campaign will receive special treatment. According to reports, the billionaire s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, will not face the music for manhandling former Breitbart reporter (we use that term loosely, given the nature of the right-wing garbage dump), after roughly grabbing her during a campaign event after mistaking her for a member of the liberal media. Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg says that, despite the attack being caught on video, the billionaire s right-hand man will not be prosecuted for what is clearly a crime because reasons.After Fields asked Trump a question, Lewandowski grabbed her, apparently attempting to throw her to the ground. Fields says she was able to maintain her balance, but she was left with bruises after the attack.Lewandowski initially denied the allegations, but after video surfaced he had no choice but to admit to what he did. But, of course, he says it was OK to physically assault a woman because he thought she was a member of the mainstream media he hates so much. Prosecutor s office told me they would inform me of decision tomorrow. If reports true, guess they decided to leak to reporters first. Ugly, Fields tweeted after news of the decision leaked. For those asking, office of prosecutor asked 2 weeks ago if I d be ok with an apology from Corey. I said ya but haven t heard back about it. With evidence of the attack, an admission, and a video that clearly shows the assault, one must wonder why Aronberg would refuse to prosecute Lewandowski, who was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery last month.You can bet that if it was anyone else, that person would have had to face what he did.Watch the attack below:Featured image via CNN",0 "TV Host Buys and Forgives $15m Worth of U.S. Medical Debt21st Century Wire says This latest stunt only goes to show what a complete rip-off the US healthcare industry truly is.This week, John Oliver, host of HBO s Last Week Tonight trumped media mogul and billionaire Oprah Winfrey by announcing he will forgive the medical debt of 9,000 people. Presently, the US healthcare industry has the world s highest and most inflated medical pricing on goods and services pushing millions of Americans into debt over health treatments which should not cost the same as a brand new Lexus SUV or Land Rover. Despite the hype, Obamacare did nothing to address this fundamental flaw in the US system. In fact, it made the situation worse, and has turned out to be absolute boon for the corporate insurance racket.If Obamacare was really all it was cracked up to be, then it would ve done en mass what John Oliver demonstrated on his show buying up medical debt at a merger one half cent on the dollar, and then putting that into cold storage. Instead, Obamacare only succeeded in RAISING the cost (and debt) of healthcare for individual payers.More on this story here Watch out, Oprah Winfrey. John Oliver, host of HBO s Last Week Tonight, outdid TV s biggest gift giver on Sunday when he forgave nearly $15m worth of medical debt on his show.Oliver s giveaway came at the end of a 20-minute segment on debt collectors. The segment focused on the bad actors in the industry, who buy debt from banks for cents on the dollar. These predatory collectors attempt to recoup the debt they purchased using threats and other aggressive tactics without first verifying the exact details of the debt. Once the company has bought your debt, whether the information is accurate or not, they are going to try to collect on it, Oliver explained on Sunday.Last Week Tonight spent about $50 to create a debt-acquisition company in Mississippi. The corporation s name is Central Asset Recovery Professionals Inc also known as Carp. According to Oliver, soon after its creation, Carp was offered a portfolio of medical debt worth $14,922,261.76 at a cost of less than half a cent on a dollar, which is less than $60,000 .( ) Thanks to this 5 June airing of the HBO comedy series, Last Week Tonight show with John Oliver, there are a lot more of us now privy to this collection industry practice and the debt treadmill it creates, said Craig Antico, co-founder of RIP Medical Debt. In a painfully hilarious (debt as funny? Somehow, yes) piece, John Oliver triumphantly out-Oprah s Oprah in giving away valuable gifts. Continue this story at The GuardianREAD MORE HEALTH NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Health Files",0 Thailand braces for mass protests,1 "Edward Snowden not safe in Hong Kong, warns human rights chief - Hong Kong authorities have co-operated with the CIA in the past to remove enemies of US, says Human Rights Watch director",0 Hosni Mubarak to Face Trial for Killing of Protesters,0 World's first malaria vaccination approved,0 " Robert De Niro Just Told The World He Wants To Punch Trump In The Face (VIDEO)Robert De Niro was supposed to appear in a non-partisan public service announcement for the get out the vote organization, Vote Your Future, but the actor had a difficult time staying on script. Instead, he used the opportunity to go off on Trump in one of the most passionate anti-Trump videos to date. He s so blatantly stupid, the video beings. He s a punk. He s a dog (please don t insult dogs, Robert), he s a pig, he s a con, a bullshit artist, a mutt (again with the dog insult) who doesn t know what he s talking about. He doesn t do his homework, De Niro continued, doesn t care. He s gaming society, doesn t pay his taxes. He s an idiot. Colin Powell said it best, he s a national disaster, he s an embarrassment to this country.' It makes me so angry, added De Niro, that this country has gotten to this point that this fool, this bozo, has wound up where he has. He talks how he wants to punch people in the face, a visibly angry De Niro said,Vote Your Future chose not to include the video in their campaign, since they are non-partisan. Oddly, though, Fox News Megyn Kelly did air the segment, in fact, it was giving specifically to her. Here it is:The video was recorded before Friday s game changing video of Donald Trump talking about groping women, but the timing coincided very well. You can be sure that De Niro s opinion hasn t changed.Is the fact that Kelly, on Fox News, was the person to release this video a sign that Fox News is turning on the GOP candidate or is this just another shot in Kelly s war against Trump?As for De Niro, bravo, although it s not a huge risk to turn on Trump these days. Everyone in Hollywood, from Republican politicians to evangelical Christians, are turning on Trump. The only remaining mystery is why people still support this narcissistic, thin-skinned, racist, nationalistic, misogynistic monster.Featured image via Kevin Winter/Getty Images. ",0 Ukraine is officially in a war - assessment by The Red Cross,0 " Criminal Complaint Shows Tie Between Alex Jones And ‘Pizzagate’ Shooter – Jones TERRIFIEDConspiracy theorist Alex Jones isn t known for having a solid grasp of the truth. He takes ordinary news items and turns them into something completely bizarre, and he promotes things that have already been changed into something completely bizarre. Such was his involvement in perpetuating the lie that Comet Ping Pong, in D.C., was the site of a massive child trafficking operation involving Hillary Clinton.Now that that conspiracy theory has led to near-tragedy, Jones seems to be desperately trying to scrub any evidence he might have influenced Edgar Maddison Welch to fire his assault rifle in the restaurant in an insane attempt to investigate the place, and free the children allegedly being kept there. He thought he was doing a public service based in part on what Jones had been saying on the matter.Instead, he put innocent customers and restaurant staff in danger because he believed a conspiracy theory that Jones actively and openly promoted.The criminal complaint against Welch actually mentions a video carrying a headline from InfoWars called, Watch PIZZAGATE: The Bigger Picture, which Welch sent to a friend on Dec. 1. He had been watching YouTube videos in an attempt to research Pizzagate and he said it was making him sick, because why try and actually look for the truth when you d rather believe in conspiracy nonsense?Alex Jones site, InfoWars, heavily promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. Jones posted a video called Pizzagate is Real: Something Is Going On, But What? to his YouTube channel in late November, but now that video has been removed by the user, although nobody really knows when that happened.Jones has also deleted the video from his Facebook account, and InfoWars deleted an article that promoted Jones Pizzagate video. Some things remain, but who knows for how long. It certainly seems like Jones wants to at least look innocent in the whole thing. When you peddle baseless conspiracy theories, though, this is what can happen. Jones needs to own up to his part in this near-tragedy.Featured image by Ben Jackson via Getty Images for SiriusXM",0 "To Back Democracy, U.S. Prepares to Cut $1 Billion From Egypts Debt",0 " Robert Reich’s Conversation With A Fmr. GOP Rep. Exposes Just How Much Of A Fascist Trump IsRobert Reich is one of the most respected voices in politics. He also has many friends who are current and former elected officials. He recently posted a most disturbing conversation he had with a friend who just happens to be a former GOP congressman on Facebook, and it exposes just how crazy the Donald Trump phenomenon is, and how much control Trump and his crazy supporters have over the Republican Party. Here is the transcript of that post:Yesterday I spoke with a former Republican member of Congress whom I ve known for years.Me: What do you think of your party s nominee for president?He: Trump is a maniac. He s a clear and present danger to America.Me: Have you said publicly that you won t vote for him?He (sheepishly): No.Me: Why not?He: I m a coward.Me: What do you mean?He: I live in a state with a lot of Trump voters. Most Republican officials do.Me: But you re a former official. You re not running for Congress again. What are you afraid of?He: I hate to admit it, but I m afraid of them. Some of those Trumpistas are out of their fu*king minds.Me: You mean you re afraid for your own physical safety?He: All it takes is one of them, you know.Me: Wait a minute. Isn t this how dictators and fascists have come to power in other nations? Respected leaders don t dare take a stand.He: At least I m no Giuliani or Gingrich or Pence. I m not a Trump enabler.Me: I ll give you that.He: Let me tell you something. Most current and former Republican members of Congress are exactly like me. I talk with them. They think Trump is deplorable. And they think Giuliani and Gingrich are almost as bad. But they re not gonna speak out. Some don t want to end their political careers. Most don t want to risk their lives. The Trump crowd is just too dangerous. Trump has whipped them up into a g*ddamn frenzy.And here is the embed:This is what has happened to one of America s two major political parties. They have propped up a literal fascist and are currently doing all they can to put him in the Oval Office and give him control of the most dangerous nuclear arsenal in the world. That is frighteningly, chillingly irresponsible. If we all die, you know who to thank.These people are cowards, and you cannot be a leader and a coward at the same time. They have no leadership skills. Part of being a good leader is doing the right thing when it counts, and it s clear that the current GOP leadership is incapable of doing that.All I can hope is that the entire GOP is just like Reich s friend and when they enter the privacy of the voting booth, they vote to save the world from that lunatic that somehow rose to the top of the GOP presidential ticket, rather than voting to save their own political hides.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images",0 "Kenya votes on new constitution amid high security ",1 What a freaking outrage - child stars of $100 million Slumdog movie still live in slums,0 "U.S. election was fair, despite voting obstacles: OSCE rights groupWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Wednesday that human rights were respected during Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election and there were few cases of intimidation, despite recent changes to election rules in several states that created unnecessary burdens for voters. “Some legal and administrative decisions appear to have had a partisan flavor,” Ambassador Audrey Glover, head of the OSCE election observation mission to the United States, said at a news conference on Wednesday. “These recent changes ... led to a lack of clarity regarding the rules.” Tuesday’s astonishing contest, in which Republican candidate Donald Trump beat his long-favored opponent, Hillary Clinton, to become the 45th president of the United States, was the first election to occur in the United States in more than 50 years without the full protections of the landmark Voting Rights Act. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 struck down a provision of the law that had allowed federal oversight of states with a history of racial discrimination, prompting the U.S. federal government to reduce its own election monitoring program. The OSCE deployed nearly 300 observers to polling stations in 33 states, although they were not allowed to freely observe early voting and Election Day in 19 of those states, according to the international rights group. At almost half of the polling sites observed by the OSCE delegation, some citizens who wanted to vote were not found on the voter list, causing “systemic concern regarding the effectiveness of voter registration methods,” according to the group. Despite concerns that voters would be intimidated at the polls, the OSCE said, its observers did not see any serious incidents. However, U.S. civil rights groups logged unusual levels of voter intimidation complaints, receiving about 35,000 calls through a national voter complaint hotline as of Tuesday evening. Revised voting laws and lengthy court battles in many states also left voters uncertain about when and where they could cast their ballot and whether they would need to present photo identification. ",1 The Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the revival of a Soviet-era physical evaluation programme that required all schoolchildren to pass fitness test,1 Pope: Kids have a right to both mums and dads,1 "450 people from 21 countries, including 30 from the USA, have traveled for 3 weeks all the way from London to Jordan in a 210 vehicle convoy loaded with humanitarian relief supplies for the people imprisoned in Gaza.",1 "Oops, Sunken 'pirate ship' was actually Thai trawler, owner says ",1 "Attackers in Mexico blow up nine electrical plants west of the capital, triggering blackouts that gunmen then used as cover to torch gasoline stations.",0 "BUSTED: YOUNG NJ DEMOCRAT CHAIRMAN CAUGHT PUNCHING 75 YR OLD BLIND VETERAN VOLUNTEERING AT POLLS [Video]As a poll challenger who has witnessed unbelievable blatant voter fraud by Democrats, I can only imagine what this poll worker might have done to cross this Democrat chairman.The chairman of the Essex County Democratic Committee in New Jersey is accused of punching a blind Army veteran following an argument at a polling location during East Orange s council primary last month.Video was released purportedly showing Leroy Jones punching 75-year-old Bill Graves, who was volunteering as a poll worker during the incident on primary day, June 2. I hear this rumbling, Where the blank is Bill Graves? I m gonna kick his butt! Mr. Graves told a local ABC affiliate. You can see on the tape it was intentional. The suspect, identified by Essex County Prosecutors as Mr. Jones, is seen throwing several punches at Mr. Graves following what appears to be a heated confrontation.Mr. Graves and his friends said Mr. Jones attacked him because he was backing a political candidate that Mr. Jones did not support, ABC reported.Mr. Jones, however, said he was defending his wife, who was also working at the polls. Mr. Jones said the veteran got aggressive with his wife during an argument, and she called her husband for help, a local CBS affiliate reported. This man threatened my wife. This man assaulted my wife. This man charged at my wife, Mr. Jones said.Mr. Jones has been charged with simple assault, reports said. Mr. Graves was not charged.Mr. Graves, who is completely blind in one eye and legally blind in the other, said his vision has gotten worse since the attack. Angry, disgusted, because why should I have to run back and forth to the doctor because someone decided to hit me, he told ABC. It s not good, that s all I can say. I m smiling, but I m not laughing. Via: Washington Times",0 LIBERAL BIGOT Destroyed by Legendary Democrat Alan Dershowitz in Discussion on Trump’s Travel Ban: “You’re lying through your teeth!” [Video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-TBfkqk7gU,0 The Iranian oil embargo: does this mean war?,0 "Lawsuit claims Trump travel ban discriminates against Muslims(Reuters) - The American Civil Liberties Union accused the Trump administration in a lawsuit filed on Thursday of violating the religious freedom of some nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries who have been barred from entering the United States. The ACLU filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Northern District of California on behalf of three student visa holders, including one Yemeni who left the United States and is unable to come back, according to court documents. The lawsuit is a proposed class-action brought on behalf of nationals who are living or have lived in the United States and are originally from the Muslim-majority nations whose citizens President Donald Trump has temporarily banned from entering the United States, with some exceptions. The suit is the latest in a series of legal actions challenging the executive order that was issued last Friday. Federal judges in several states have placed limits on the order. The order set off protests over the weekend at several major airports as immigration and customs officials struggled to interpret the new rules. The plaintiffs and the members of the class “fear that, in the event they attempt to enter or re-enter the United States, they will be denied permission to do so,” the lawsuit said. It accuses Trump and his administration of violating the free speech, religious freedom and due process rights of those affected by the order, and says it is an attempt to fulfill a campaign promise made by Trump to ban Muslims from entering the United States. “Senior advisers to defendant Trump have engaged in anti-Muslim rhetoric that provides additional support for the notion that the executive order was prompted by animus toward Islam and Muslims,” the suit said. Department of Justice officials could not be reached for comment late on Thursday. The ACLU asked the court to rule that the executive order violates the rights of the students and class members and to order the administration not to enforce the travel ban, according to the suit. ",1 "NEW HANDGUN DESIGN Folds Up Like Smartphone…But Is This Really A Good Idea?Tell us your thoughts about this new gun design in the comment section below. Is this compact, folding gun a great idea or will it make going through security a nightmare? While gun control remains one of the biggest debates in the country, one man wants to make concealing guns easier. He created a pistol that folds into what looks like a smartphone easy to carry and hard to detect.CNN Money spoke with the creator of the Ideal Conceal Pistol, Kirk Kjellberg of Minnesota, who said he got the inspiration for the handgun after a little kid saw his concealed pistol in a restaurant and told his mom, bringing unwanted attention to the fact that he was packing heat.The problem with his product is it may stoke fears rather than quell them.The pistol itself is a double-barreled .380-caliber derringer that only holds two bullets and can only be fired when it is folded out. It isn t available for sale yet and the patent is still pending, but it looks like Ideal Conceal has the intention of producing it.Because the gun is disguised even when it isn t concealed, it may require a concealed carry permit even if you aren t hiding it depending on your state s laws. In New York, weapons that are disguised to look like something other than a firearm are illegal.While this may seem like a great idea for gun owners who don t want to alarm people with the presence of their firearm, what about the people who have bad intentions? The Ideal Conceal Pistol can easily be brought anywhere, making it past metal detectors and security pat downs under the guise of being a phone. If anything, the existence of this weapon could make security even more of a pain to get through imagine if everybody s smartphones had to be inspected on top of everything else. Via: Mashable",0 "Randi Zuckberg: ""I think anonymity on the Internet has to go away""",1 "Turkey's Erdogan says Kurdish independence vote risks regional crisisUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Tuesday said a Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq could lead to fresh conflicts in the Middle East. New crises in the region, such as bids for independence, could spark new conflicts and must therefore be avoided at all costs ... We urge Iraq s Kurdish Regional Government to abort the steps they have taken in that direction, Erdogan told the United Nations General Assembly. ",1 "Vietnam Era Weapon, Agent Orange, Being Used to Clear the Amazon",1 Ukraine Just Passed Protections For LGBT Employees,0 German Politicians Demand to See Gold in US Federal Reserve - SPIEGEL ONLINE,0 "Canada finance minister says will adopt blind trust, divest assetsOTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada s Finance Minister Bill Morneau said on Thursday he will place his assets in a blind trust and divest all his stock in a publicly traded family business, amid opposition allegations that these holdings put him in a conflict of interest. Questions about the assets of Morneau, the multimillionaire former chief executive officer of human resources management firm Morneau Shepell, have dogged the minister and led some to question whether he would be forced to resign. His plan to adopt a blind trust follow weeks of backlash over a government attempt to reform small business taxes, which have become a major stumbling block for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau s two-year-old Liberal government. Morneau said he had initially intended to put his assets in a blind trust - as Trudeau has - but had changed his mind after consultations with the ethics watchdog. He said he had naively believed that following the advice of the ethics commissioner was a high enough standard. What we ve seen over the last week is that I need to do more. As minister of finance, in this role, it s important to make sure people have absolute confidence, he told a news conference, adding he has about a million shares in the company and would work with a trustee to divest his and his family s holdings. Shares of Morneau Shepell Inc fell nearly 2 percent on Thursday to C$20.63, shedding about C$21.6 million in market value. Morneau was elected in 2015 when the left-leaning Liberals were vaulted to a surprise majority under Trudeau, becoming one of the many rookie ministers in Trudeau s cabinet. In a heated session of parliament after the news conference, opposition politicians said Morneau s 2016 legislation on pension reform increased the profits of Morneau Shepell. The finance minister and his company, Morneau Shepell, have benefited from the minister s actions, said Conservative member of parliament Maxime Bernier. Morneau said he had been pulled out of government meetings at least twice since becoming finance minister to guard against conflicts of interest between policy decisions and his company. I don t know the total number of times, but I can remember at least two times being taken out of meetings because of that conflict-of-interest screen, I believe. Of course I don t know what happened in those meetings, he said. Separately, Morneau said the government s autumn fiscal update will be released on Oct. 24. ",1 Assad: We'll give up chemical weapons once U.S. stops arming rebels - Middle East Israel News,1 "50 years on, Belgians face trial for Congo war crimes",0 " ‘Not Funny!’: Sean Spicer Whines About SNL After Baldwin Returns As Trump (VIDEO)The thin-skinned president-elect took his angry little fingers to his Twitter account to moan about Saturday Night Live s skit this weekend. Alec Baldwin knows how to get under Donald Trump s skin and it s glorious to watch.Incoming press secretary Sean Spicer was upset as he spoke with Tamron Hall and Willie Geist of the NBC TODAY Show Monday about the comedy skit.Alec Baldwin returned to play the part of Donald Trump this weekend to hit on the 35-page dossier alleging that Trump paid prostitutes to take part in Golden Showers at a hotel in Moscow. I d like to ask you about your big Russian pee-pee party, the reporter said. No, no, Baldwin s Trump told the reporters. I m not talking about the pee-pee. It didn t happen. It wasn t as cool as it sounds. Next question. But that was too much for Spicer to handle. He called the comedy show disappointing and not funny. It was not funny; it was mean-spirited, Spicer said. And it s gone from being a show you could sit back and get a good laugh out of to being something that s frankly mean and bad television, he continued.It was funny, though.Watch:The Twitter-addicted president-elect took to Twitter to cry about the show. @NBCNews is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!, he tweeted.It s a comedy skit and the more Team Trump rants against it, the more the show s ratings will peak. Somewhere, Alec Baldwin is smiling because again, he got under Donald J. Trump s skin simply by impersonating him on a late night comedy show.In Barack Obama s final interview with 60 Minutes as president, he said thick skin is an important quality to have when serving as the commander-in-chief. Thick skin helps in getting the job done, the president said.Grow up, Donald. Life is hard. We can t wait to see the SNL skit after Trump s impeachment hearings.Featured image via screen capture. ",0 "LAWS ARE FOR THE COMMON MAN…NOT FOR BARRY SOETORO: Obama Gives Work Permits To 2,000 After Judge Ordered Him To StopIt was all an accident. It s good to King The Obama administration continues to ignore the law and do pretty much whatever the hell it wants.From The Hill:The government erroneously doled out about 2,000 expanded immigrant work permit authorizations under President Obama s controversial executive actions, even after a federal judge blocked the move, the Justice Department says. The Government sincerely regrets these circumstances and is taking immediate steps to remedy these erroneous three-year terms, the Department of Justice wrote in a court advisory filed late Thursday in the Southern District of Texas.The advisory comes after District Court Judge Andrew Hanen halted the implementation of the executive actions, which defer deportations for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and provide them with expanded access to work permits, until the courts could decide whether the policies are constitutional.While the old policies authorize a two-year renewal of work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the new program would allow for a three-year renewal.The DOJ added in the advisory that the Department of Homeland Security is converting the three-year renewals into two-year terms and that DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson has asked the agency s inspector general to investigate.Oh good they re investigating, I m sure they ll be fair and honest, right? If we can t trust them to follow a judge s ruling then why should we trust them about any immigration policy they might seek in the future? This is just pathetic. And of course it s released on Friday afternoon, knowing that the complicit moron media will barely report it.Via: The Right Scoop ",0 "HOT OR NOT? Are Trump Properties Selling Like Hotcakes? [Video]One agent Gilad Azaria has 7 listings in Trump buildings, and since the election he s had 4 serious buyers in the $3 million range. He also says 2 of his clients who already live in Trump properties want to trade up in the same buildings to more expensive places. The agents with whom we spoke say the Trump properties are top quality, and the brand is now stronger than ever. Celeb agents Josh and Matt Altman say it s a no-brainer living in a building owned by the president is awesome and a super good investment. Via: TMZ",0 "Apple confirms its culture of censorship and joins Bank of America, Paypal, Mastercard, Visa, Amazon and others to be Boycotted! Freedom of Information prevails!",1 Roman gladiator cemetery found in England,1 David Cameron to tell voters that (contrary to previous promises) the Conservative party will NOT hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if it has already become law.,1 Death toll at 57 in Philippine massacre ,1 "A week after a largely right-wing Israeli government took power, differences are emerging with main ally Washington over Middle East peace efforts that could develop into an all-out confrontation.",1 Thousands of unopened letters dating to the 17th century where hoarded away by a postmaster and only recently discovered by academics hoping to shed light on the period of history,0 "Philippines scrambles to soothe tensions after Obama slurVIENTIANE (Reuters) - (Note: paragraphs 1, 6 and 19 contain language that may offend some readers) New Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte sought to defuse a row with the United States on Tuesday, voicing regret for calling President Barack Obama a “son of a bitch”, a comment that prompted Washington to call off a bilateral meeting. The tiff between the two allies overshadowed the opening of a summit of East and Southeast Asian nations in Vientiane, Laos. It also soured Obama’s last swing as president through a region he has tried to make a focus of U.S. foreign policy, a strategy widely seen as a response to China’s economic and military muscle-flexing. Diplomats say strains with longtime ally the Philippines could compound Washington’s difficulties in forging a united front with Southeast Asian partners on the geostrategic jostle with Beijing over the South China Sea. Duterte has bristled repeatedly at criticism over his “war on drugs”, which has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, and on Monday said it would be “rude” for Obama to raise the question of human rights when they met. Such a conversation, Duterte told reporters, would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase “putang ina” which can mean “son of a bitch” or “son of a whore”. He has previously used the epithet against Pope Francis, although he later apologized, and the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. After Washington called off Tuesday’s bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte in response to his latest comment, the Philippines issued two statements expressing regret and also briefed reporters. “President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would ‘lecture’ him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern,” the Philippines government said in a statement. “He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy,” it added. “He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations.” Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said the focus on Duterte’s comments leading into the summit had not created a constructive environment for a bilateral meeting. “All of the attention frankly was on those comments, and therefore not on the very substantive agenda that we have with the Philippines,” he told reporters. Officials from both countries said there would be no formal meeting rescheduled in Laos but a short conversation between the two presidents was possible. Instead of the Duterte meeting, Obama held talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, a day after North Korea fired three medium-range missiles into the sea. He urged a full implementation of sanctions against North Korea, adding that the missile test demonstrated the threat that Pyongyang posed. Obama is also likely to hold an unscheduled meeting in Laos with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss North Korea, Rhodes said. He said Washington needed to maintain a sense of urgency within the international community on sanctions against Pyongyang. Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos, said on Tuesday he wanted to address the legacy of U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War. He announced that Washington would provide an additional $90 million over three years to help clear unexploded ordnance, which has killed or wounded over 20,000 people. But the unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos, which run until Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will also meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. Duterte won the presidency in May after promising to suppress crime and wipe out the illegal drug trade in a country where the number of methamphetamine users is estimated to be at least 1.3 million in a population of 100 million. About 900 people linked to drugs have been killed in police operations since July 1 and a further 1,500 have been classified as “deaths under investigation”, a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for extrajudicial killings. Duterte has poured scorn on critics of his uncompromising campaign, usually larding it with curses. He lambasted the United Nations after it criticized the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit. He has accused a senator heading an inquiry into the killings of getting payoffs from drug lords. Manila has been aligned with the United States in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarizing a vital global trade route and jeopardizing freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations and accuses the United States of ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China’s territorial claims after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling Beijing refuses to recognize. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration court’s ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. ",1 "Merkel says good chance to start next phase of Brexit talksBRUSSELS (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she believed there was a good chance that the next phase of Brexit negotiations could begin. Progress has been made regarding the exit of Great Britain, but there are some open questions so it is good that we will talk about it tomorrow, she said before a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels. She said she welcomed the work the EU s chief Brexit negotiator had made on agreeing an outline deal on divorce issues. Therefore I see a good chance that we can now begin phase two, she said. ",1 "Rolling back Taliban grip on Afghan territory key aim of Trump plan: officialWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rolling back territorial gains by the Taliban and strengthening the Afghanistan army’s ability to fight will be two key objectives of President Donald Trump’s new strategy for the country, a senior administration official said on Tuesday. Trump, in a televised speech on Monday, promised a stepped-up military campaign against Taliban insurgents who have gained ground against the U.S.-backed Afghan government. In outlining his strategy to give the U.S. military more authority to make battlefield decisions, Trump did not provide a timetable for determining whether the mission is a success or how commanders would be able to judge progress. The senior administration official said, however, that one general measure of progress was assessing how much and what territory is controlled by the Afghan government or by the Taliban and other extremist groups such as Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate. “It’s also the estimated number of fighters, the presence of al Qaeda and ISIS, how strong are they, how many fighters do they have, how are their training camps, what are their finance networks like,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Also key will be the effectiveness of the Afghan army and whether U.S.-led armed forces can help it seize control of some territory held by the Taliban, the official added. Trump, who was reluctant to approve a deeper engagement in Afghanistan after 16 years of war, wanted to keep a close eye on whether progress is being made, the official said. “I think we’re going to be taking the temperature continuously,” the official said. “I don’t think we expect to see any real gains materialize for at least six months. But from that point on, it’s going to be something that we essentially never stop evaluating.” U.S.-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban’s hard-line Islamist government in late 2001 because it sheltered al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington that year. U.S. forces have been bogged down since in a war that has vexed three American presidents. About 2,400 U.S. troops have died there in America’s longest military conflict. Three U.S. officials said on Tuesday the administration had yet to settle on specific metrics to measure progress in Afghanistan and assess the contributions of the Afghan government, Pakistan, India and America’s NATO allies. One of the officials said there was no point “in setting specific targets, much less making them public, because that would risk making our partners think that once they had met those marks, they didn’t have to do more.” “What we’re after is a progressive process,” the official said, “so for example the Afghan security forces keep improving their capabilities until they don’t need us anymore, the government in Kabul keeps improving its record on eliminating corruption and improving local, regional and national governance.” But Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, struck a critical tone on Tuesday. “While a ‘conditions based’ approach is appealing to military leaders because it gives the Taliban less certainty about how long it will take to wait us out, it also diminishes pressure on the Afghan government to reform itself and give the Afghan people something worth fighting for, since it indicates a willingness to bail them out indefinitely,” Schiff said in a statement. ",1 "U.S. Senate majority leader: Looking at ways to help Puerto RicoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday said he was weighing options to help deal with Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis but that any move by Congress to help the territorial island cannot cost U.S. taxpayers any money. McConnell, whose comments follow a letter sent earlier by Senate Democrats and independents, did not commit to any legislative action. ",1 "Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing",1 "FORMER OBAMA SPOKESLIAR To Join NBC As Paid Fake News Host…We’ve Got A Few Clips Of His Best Lies To The Press [VIDEO]President Obama s White House press secretary spokes liar Josh Earnest has joined NBC News as a political analyst.NBC announced the addition of Obama s spokesliar to their lineup in a memo form NBC News president Noah Oppenheim and MSNBC president Phil Griffin:We are pleased to announce that Josh Earnest will join NBC News and MSNBC as a Political Analyst. As you may have seen, he made his debut this morning on TODAY and Morning Joe.Josh recently completed a ten-year run with President Obama, most recently serving as White House Press Secretary from 2014-2017.Josh joined the Obama presidential campaign in March 2007 as the Iowa communications director, and went on to serve as deputy communications director during the 2008 general election. Josh has also worked on numerous national, statewide and local campaigns over the course of his twenty years in politics.A native of Kansas City, Josh graduated from Rice University with a degree in political science and policy studies.With his wealth of experience and insight, Josh will be a great addition to our roster of contributors and will be an asset for our two networks as we continue to cover the White House, Congress and politics beyond the Beltway.Please join us in welcoming Josh.Noah and PhilHere s Obama s spokesliar Josh Earnest lying about the time Obama clearly identified ISIS as a JV team Watch Josh Earnest refer to lies being told by the Obama regime about Iran deal, cross-talk. Cross talk? What the heck is cross-talk? Isn t that just cross-talk for LYING?Here s Josh Earnest lying to reporters, where he states clearly that Obama didn t pay ransom to Iran for the release of American hostages. Watch him as he tries to turn the conversation to right-wingers in US working with right wingers in Iran. Really? ",0 "Senator seeks ethics probe of Mnuchin's 'Lego Batman' commentWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee asked the government ethics watchdog on Monday to review comments by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plugging “The Lego Batman Movie,” a film one of his companies produced, for a possible ethics violation. In a letter to Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub, Senator Ron Wyden said he was concerned that Mnuchin had violated his ethics agreement signed in January in his comments on Friday at the end of a live interview with the Axios news website. Mnuchin had agreed to divest his interests in Ratpac-Dune Entertainment Holdings LLC within 120 days of his confirmation, and “not participate personally and substantially in any matter that has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of the entity” unless first obtaining a waiver. RatPac-Dune, co-founded by Mnuchin with producer-director Brett Rattner and media billionaire James Packer, has produced and financed a number of Hollywood hits in recent years, including “Avatar,” “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Lego Batman Movie.” At the Axios event, Mnuchin was asked in a question from a reader for a movie recommendation. “I’m not allowed to promote anything that I’m involved in. So I just want to have the legal disclosure, you’ve asked me the question, and I am not promoting any product,” Mnuchin said. “But you should send all your kids to ‘Lego Batman.’” The comment drew laughter from the audience at the Washington event. Wyden said the Finance Committee had received no notifications regarding Mnuchin’s holdings in RatPac-Dune and assumed the Treasury chief still held that interest. “I am concerned that Sec. Mnuchin’s comments, may be seen to have a predictable effect on the financial interests” of RatPac-Dune, Wyden said in his letter. In a statement, a Treasury spokesman said: “As his statement reflects, the Secretary clearly recognized that he generally may not promote private interests and specifically gave the legal disclosure that he was not promoting a movie, but answering a question he was asked directly.” The OGE recommended last month that the White House should consider disciplinary action against President Donald Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway for her on-air comment on Fox News Channel promoting the clothing and jewelry line of Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump. Conway said people “should go buy Ivanka’s stuff.” The White House later told the ethics watchdog that Conway had acted “inadvertently” and without “nefarious motive or intent to benefit personally.” ",1 "Two Russian fighter jets have violated Japanese airspace, prompting Tokyo to scramble its own aircraft, reports say. ",0 Chinese Woman Left Humiliated After Fake Baby Bump Tube Seat Con Is Exposed,0 "EU MPs threaten Cambodia aid and trade over crackdownPHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A European Parliament delegation warned on Tuesday that Cambodia could face EU action over aid and vital trade preferences if the human rights situation worsened further. The delegation s statement was the strongest threat of action from representatives of any Western donors since the arrest of opposition leader Kem Sokha in September and steps by Prime Minister Hun Sen s government to dissolve his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Delegation of the European Parliament called for the release of Kem Sokha and an end to the process of dissolving his party. The government of Cambodia should be aware that the European Parliament is a co-legislator for budgetary and trade issues, said the delegation s chairman, Werner Langen, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel s Christian Democrats party. A serious deterioration of the human rights situation might have implications for development assistance programs and trade preferences, he said after a two-day visit. Huy Vannak, undersecretary of state at Cambodia s Interior Ministry, said the European Parliament should keep trade and politics separate. Some members of the European Parliament should distinguish between political agenda and trade for the interests of the people. We need to create many choices rather than make the interests of the people a hostage of a political agenda, Huy Vannak told Reuters. Without economic prosperity, democracy will just be an illusion, he said. European Union countries accounted for around 40 percent of Cambodia s exports in 2016. Its exports, mostly of clothing, get fully duty free access under a scheme to help the world s poorest countries. Western diplomats say in private it would be difficult to secure EU agreement for limiting trade preferences because of the harm it could do to some 700,000 low-wage garment workers employed in Cambodian factories. The European Union and its member states also gave Cambodia nearly $170 million in development aid last year, according to Cambodian government figures. That was still well short of the $265 million it got from China, which is now by far the biggest donor and investor and voiced support for Hun Sen s government after the arrest of Kem Sokha. The government has intensified a crackdown against political opponents, independent media and human rights groups in recent months ahead of an election next July in which Hun Sen s rule of more than 32 years will be at stake. Cambodia s Supreme Court rejected an appeal to free Kem Sokha on Tuesday, saying his release could be a public risk as the threat of dissolution looms over his party. Lawyers for Kem Sokha had asked the Supreme Court to rule that his detention was illegal and said he should be granted parliamentary immunity from prosecution. The Supreme Court is due to rule on Nov. 16 whether to dissolve the CNRP after the government last month filed a lawsuit asking to dissolve it on grounds it was involved in a plot to topple the government. Kem Sokha was not brought to the court hearing on Tuesday. The hearing seems fake, Hem Socheat, a lawyer for Kem Sokha, told the court. Hun Sen has said his rival was getting help from the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh has rejected any suggestion of interference in politics. ",1 "BREAKING: A Third Democrat Senator To Vote For Supreme Court Nominee Neil GorsuchAssuming all Republicans support Gorsuch, the nominee would need the votes of five more Democrats to achieve the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. If the number does not hit 60, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he will invoke the nuclear option to end filibusters of Supreme Court nominees and require only a majority vote for confirmation.Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Joe Minchin, D-W.Va., announced Thursday they would vote to confirm Gorsuch to the Supreme Court: Senators have a constitutional obligation to advice and consent on a nominee to fill this Supreme Court vacancy and, simply put, we have a responsibility to do our jobs as elected officials, Manchin said in a statement Thursday. I will vote to confirm him to be the ninth justice on the Supreme Court. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csE04bREOAEHeitcamp of North Dakota also pledged her vote for Gorsuch and released a statement to confirm: After doing my due diligence by meeting with Judge Gorsuch and reviewing his record and testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I ve decided to vote in favor of his confirmation. He has a record as a balanced, meticulous, and well-respected jurist who understands the rule of law, . ",0 "Afghans send sympathy and love to Boston, whose pain they know all too well",1 "ALT-LEFT PLANS TO HIJACK PRESIDENT TRUMP’S AZ RALLY…Will He Really Make Them Crazy By Announcing Pardon For America’s Toughest Sheriff on Illegal Immigration?The pieces are in place ahead of President Donald Trump s rally in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday, with the nation waiting to see how it will play out.Officials are bracing for a deluge of tens of thousands of supporters and protesters, leading law enforcement to close roads and also for many businesses, offices, schools and even state courts to close their doors early.Although Trump visited Arizona seven times during his campaign, this is his first visit as president and likely to be a very different affair. AZ CentralOn August 14, President Trump on Tuesday retweeted a Fox News story saying he was seriously considering pardoning former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio.FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: President Trump 'seriously considering' a pardon for ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio https://t.co/Rgw8l7i9Xl FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) August 14, 2017President Trump may soon issue a pardon for Joe Arpaio, the colorful former Arizona sheriff who was found guilty two weeks ago of criminal contempt for defying a state judge s order to stop traffic patrols targeting suspected undocumented immigrants. In his final years as Maricopa County sheriff, Arpaio had emerged as a leading opponent of illegal immigration. I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio, the president said Sunday, during a conversation with Fox News at his club in Bedminster, N.J. He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him. Trump said the pardon could happen in the next few days, should he decide to do so.Arpaio, 85, was convicted by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton of misdemeanor contempt of court for willfully disregarding an Arizona judge s order in 2011 to stop the anti-immigrant traffic patrols. Arpaio had maintained the law enforcement patrols for 17 months thereafter.The man who built a controversial national reputation as America s toughest sheriff admitted he prolonged his patrols, but insisted he did not intend to break the law because one of his former attorneys did not explain to him the full measure of restrictions contained in the court order.He is expected to be sentenced on Oct. 5 and could face up to six months in jail. However, since he is 85 years old and has no prior convictions, some attorneys doubt he will receive any jail time.Citing his long service as an outstanding sheriff, the president said Arpaio is admired by many Arizona citizens who respected his tough-on-crime approach.Arpaio s widely publicized tactics included forcing inmates to wear pink underwear and housing them in desert tent camps where temperatures often climbed well past 100 degrees Fahrenheit. He also controversially brought back chain gains, including a voluntary chain gang for women prisoners. FOX News ",0 Israeli Right Wing Set to Win Elections on Back of War,0 "“DIFFICULT” CHELSEA CLINTON CAUSES HIGH TURNOVER AT CLINTON FOUNDATIONLike mother like daughter? Chelsea is very difficult according to insiders. We know from former Clintonites that Hillary can cuss like a sailor and really hammer people so perhaps this is a case of YOU ARE WHAT YOU KNOW CHELSEA KNOWS BEING DIFFICULT TO WORK WITH Chelsea Clinton is so unpleasant to colleagues, she s causing high turnover at the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, sources say. Several top staffers have left the foundation since Chelsea came onBoard as vice chairman in 2011. A lot of people left because she was there. A lot of people left because she didn t want them there, an insider told me. She is very difficult. Onetime CEO Bruce Lindsey was pushed upstairs to the position of chairman of the board two years ago, so that Chelsea could bring in her McKinsey colleague Eric Braverman. He [Braverman] was her boy, but he tried to hire his own communications professional and actually tried to run the place. He didn t understand that that wasn t what he was supposed to be doing, said my source. He was pushed out. Matt McKenna was Chelsea s spokesman, and then he wasn t. Now he works for Uber. Ginny Ehrlich, the founding CEO of the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, now works for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.Via: NY Post",0 "Palestine secures seat in UNESCO despite US threats: The US, Canada, Germany and Israel voted against the bid. Russia, China and France voted in favor... and the UK abstained",0 Headteacher apologises after ordering pupils to attend Islam awareness trip or face punishment for 'racism',1 "THE SMARTEST WOMAN In Politics: “How Trump Can Knock Out Hillary In The First Debate”Monica Crowley offers some of the most brilliant political analysis in conservative media. She is brilliant, witty, and has incredible insight. When Monica Crowley gives Trump a plan on how to knock out Hillary in the first debate, he would do well to listen to her It promises to be the greatest show on earth: the first presidential debate to be held Monday night at Hofstra University in New York. Rarely has a political event attracted this kind of Super Bowl-level excitement, curiosity and anticipation. Then again, rarely have we had two presidential candidates who light up the political sky like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.Mrs. Clinton has been on the national scene for nearly 30 years and carries all of the baggage of those tumultuous decades: endless scandals, ethical tightrope-walking, legal dodge ball, compulsive lying, slimy blame-shifting, bunker paranoia, the systematic selling of her offices for personal enrichment and the deliberate jeopardizing of the nation s most sensitive secrets for her family s gain. We know what Mrs. Clinton will do, which is what she s always done: lie, fabricate, deflect and distract. Boring and predictable. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is neither and he has the advantage of being shiny and new. What he does with that opportunity is anyone s guess. I suspect he s been rope-a-doping everybody with the we re not doing debate prep, we re just hanging out eating cheeseburgers line and will, in fact, knock out Mrs. Clinton with his command of policy, her long record of failure and the positive agenda he embraces.For a full TKO, Mr. Trump should do four main things.First, he should emphasize his pragmatic vision for turning America around: moving to pro-growth economics, restoring law and order, rebuilding the military and a strong national defense, reigniting America s influence and prestige internationally, and defeating the corrupt, rigged system (as embodied by Mrs. Clinton).As a successful presidential candidate, he must offer voters a positive, compelling reason to vote for him, rather than just against his opponent. That s why it s critical for Mr. Trump to focus on his restorative agenda for the country.Second, as a compliment to his optimistic vision, he must smash Mrs. Clinton, both as a failed leader pushing failed policies and a destructive leftist ideology and as a deeply corrupt individual who cannot must not be trusted with the presidency.She will try to swarm him with policy details to try to demonstrate that he s unprepared for the highest office in the land. She ll try to sit above the fray, winking that she s been there, done that. Well, yes. But the question is not whether she was in the game. It s how she played it and what results she produced. For her, the result was evermore power and a net worth of over $125 million. For the country, the result is that we are less wealthy, less prosperous, less safe, less secure, less powerful.Mr. Trump doesn t have to show an encyclopedic knowledge of every policy nuance. He simply has to point to the wreckage of the Obama economy and foreign policy and say: We tried it your way. Mic drop.Third, he should gaslight her (hat tip to Alfred Hitchcock) by remaining totally cool and unflappable while calmly pushing on her vulnerabilities, from her disgraceful lack of integrity to her hypocrisy concerning women to standing by silently if she s seized by one of her interminable coughing attacks.This must be done with the greatest care, taking the Reagan approach of regarding her more in sorrow than in anger: There you go again. And he should call her Mrs. Clinton in order to link her to the deeply flawed boy who brought her to the dance. For all of the talk about Mr. Trump s alleged thin skin, she is extraordinarily prickly. She has never faced a tough election fight or been questioned aggressively or criticized to her face. If Mr. Trump can get under her thin skin, he could provoke a caustic response that will reveal the cosseted elitist behind the frozen smile. Witness candidate Barack Obama s calmly delivered 2008 crack, You re likeable enough, Hillary. The steam came out of her ears for days.Finally, Mr. Trump must be a happy warrior. Most voters want to believe that he s the guy not just to fix the country but to restore their optimism with it. They want to know that he will fight the war for America s future not as a burden but as a joyful privilege. If he can exuberantly convey that America can be saved and that she is worth saving he will not just win the debate but perhaps the election.For entire article: Monica Crowley, Washington Times",0 MEDIA COULDN’T BE FOUND DURING BENGHAZI SCANDAL…But Watch Them Sprint After Hillary’s “Scooby” Van To Catch Her First Campaign StopNot that anyone should be surprised by the lap dog mentality of these second rate liberal hack journalists. They re the reason the most crooked woman in America is even a contender in this race.,0 " Trump Administration In FREE FALL After ‘Concrete Evidence’ Linking Trump To Russia Emerges (DETAILS)Donald Trump s undeserved time in the White House may soon come to a gloriously relieving end as one of his biggest scandals threatens to blow up in his face.According to a source close to the investigation examining the ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, there is now specific concrete and corroborative evidence that Trump s inner circle colluded with Russian operatives during the presidential election. The Guardian reported that the U.K. s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which has been watching over the Trump campaign since 2015, has noted several shady interactions going on between Trump s people and Russian agents.The GCHQ hadn t been necessarily looking for this information but picked it up during routine surveillance. It wasn t long before other intelligence agencies began to see the same pattern. The U.S. also received information from the Five Eyes alliance (U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and European agencies in Germany, Estonia, and Poland. The Guardian reported: It is understood that GCHQ was at no point carrying out a targeted operation against Trump or his team or proactively seeking information. The alleged conversations were picked up by chance as part of routine surveillance of Russian intelligence assets. Over several months, different agencies targeting the same people began to see a pattern of connections that were flagged to intelligence officials in the US. With all of this gathered intelligence taken into consideration, the source close to the investigation said: They now have specific concrete and corroborative evidence of collusion. This is between people in the Trump campaign and agents of [Russian] influence relating to the use of hacked material. They [the European agencies] were saying: There are contacts going on between people close to Mr Trump and people we believe are Russian intelligence agents. You should be wary of this. The message was: Watch out. There s something not right.' As this investigation continues and collusion is confirmed, we might be looking at the end of Trump and his corrupt administration.Featured image via Pool/Getty Images",0 "JUST IN: OBAMA APPOINTED JUDGE Presiding Over Michael Flynn’s Case SUDDENLY Recuses Himself…CLINTON Appointed Judge Will Sentence FlynnNow, a Clinton appointed judge who took Flynn s guilty plea has suddenly recused himself and Flynn will now face an Obama appointed judge for his sentencing. Hmmm Politico President Donald Trump s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, will face a different judge to be sentenced than the one who took Flynn s guilty plea to a felony false statement charge last week, court records show.Judge Emmet Sullivan was randomly assigned to take over the case after Judge Rudolph Contreras recused himself.A court spokeswoman confirmed to POLITICO that the reassignment of the case was due to Contreras recusal, but did not immediately respond to a query about the reason.Sullivan is an appointee of President Bill Clinton, while Contreras was appointed by President Barack Obama.Flynn pleaded guilty last Friday to a false statement charge brought by prosecutors from the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. ",0 Canada to claim north pole as its own - UN submission will seek to redefine Canada's continental shelf to capture more Arctic oil and gas resources.,0 "China hopes U.S. will not allow transit by Taiwan presidentBEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it hoped the United States would not allow transit by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen when she visits Guatemala next month. China hopes the United States “does not allow her transit, and does not send any wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ forces”, the ministry said in a statement sent to Reuters. ",1 "Trump threatens German carmakers with 35 percent U.S. import tariffFRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S President-elect Donald Trump warned German car companies he would impose a border tax of 35 percent on vehicles imported to the U.S. market, a plan that drew sharp rebukes from Berlin and hit the automakers’ shares. In an interview with German newspaper Bild, published on Monday, Trump criticized German carmakers such as BMW (BMWG.DE), Daimler (DAIGn.DE) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) for failing to produce more cars on U.S. soil. “If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax,” Trump said in remarks translated into German. “I would tell BMW that if you are building a factory in Mexico and plan to sell cars to the USA, without a 35 percent tax, then you can forget that,” Trump said. Volkswagen (VW) shares closed down 2.2 percent, while BMW and Daimler’s shares ended 1.5 percent lower. Under pressure to deliver on campaign promises to revive U.S. industrial jobs, Trump has turned his fire on carmakers that use low-cost Mexican plants to serve the U.S. market. He has also warned Japan’s Toyota (7203.T) it could be subject to a “big border tax” if it builds its Corolla cars for the U.S. market at a planned factory in Mexico. All three German carmakers have invested heavily in Mexico, but also pointed out on Monday that they manufacturer in the United States as well. BMW executive Peter Schwarzenbauer told reporters the company was sticking to plans to invest around $1 billion in a new plant in Mexico, which is due to go into production in 2019 and create at least 1,500 jobs. “The president’s powers are considerable. He can legally impose tariffs of up to 15 percent for 150 days. Trump is not constrained by Congress,” said Simon Evenett, professor of international trade at Switzerland’s University of St Gallen. “Even if foreign companies object and seek to challenge the legality of tariffs, it will take at least 18 months to get decided. Corporate strategies will be disrupted by then.” While investing in Mexico, German carmakers have quadrupled light vehicle production in the United States over the past seven years to 850,000 units, more than half of which are exported from there, Germany’s VDA automotive industry association said. “In the long term, the United States would be shooting itself in the foot by imposing tariffs or other trade barriers,” VDA President Matthias Wissmann said in a statement. German carmakers employ about 33,000 workers in the United States and German automotive suppliers about 77,000 more, the VDA said. Speaking in tabloid newspaper Bild, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that rather than trying to penalize German carmakers, the United States should instead respond by building better and more desirable cars. Norbert Roettgen, head of Germany’s foreign affairs committee, said Berlin needed to take Trump’s comments seriously. “He seems to be absolutely focused on short-term job interests and security interests ... not that he is looking for free trade so much, but more for protection,” he told Reuters. Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz and BMW already have sizeable factories in the United States where they build higher-margin sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for export to Asia and Europe. Around 65 percent of BMW’s production from its factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is exported overseas. BMW builds the X3, X4, X5 and X6 models in the United States. “It is surprising that Trump singles out the carmaker that exports more vehicles from the United States than any other manufacturer,” Evercore ISI analysts said. A BMW spokeswoman said the planned plant in the central Mexican city of San Luis Potosi would build the BMW 3 Series from 2019, with the output intended for the world market. The plant would be an addition to existing 3 Series production facilities in Germany and China. In June last year, BMW broke ground on the plant, pledging to invest $2.2 billion in Mexico by 2019 for annual production of 150,000 cars. Daimler has said it plans to begin assembling Mercedes-Benz vehicles in 2018 from a $1 billion facility shared with Renault-Nissan (RENA.PA) (7201.T) in Aguascalientes in Mexico. A spokesman for Daimler declined to comment on Trump’s remarks. Last year, VW’s Audi division inaugurated a $1.3 billion production facility with 150,000 vehicle production capacity near Puebla, Mexico. Audi said it would build electric and petrol Q5 SUVs in Mexico. Audi declined to comment on Monday. VW also declined to comment on Trump’s remarks but noted it was investing another $900 million in its U.S. plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Trump called Germany a great car producer, saying Mercedes-Benz cars were a frequent sight in New York, but claimed there was not enough reciprocity. Germans were not buying Chevrolets at the same rate, he said, calling the business relationship an unfair one-way street.  Chevrolet sales have fallen sharply in Europe since parent company General Motors (GM.N) in 2013 said it would drop the Chevrolet brand in Europe by the end of 2015. Since then, GM has focused instead on promoting its Opel and Vauxhall marques. Asked by Reuters whether Trump could take any steps to make it easier for GM to sell more American-made cars in Europe, GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said the company aimed to build cars in markets where they are sold. “We’re a global company so we’re going to continue that focus just because from an economic perspective that generally turns out to be the best framework,” she said. “I think there is a lot that we can work on with President-elect Trump.” ",1 "Trump says he'll decide on national security adviser in next few days (This story corrects year to 2001 in paragraph 17 in the February 18 story.) By Jeff Mason MELBOURNE, Fla. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will interview four candidates for the position of U.S. national security adviser on Sunday and expects to make a decision in the coming days, he told reporters on Saturday. Trump will interview acting adviser Keith Kellogg, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster and Lieutenant General Robert Caslen, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “I’ll make a decision over the next couple of days,” Trump told reporters later on Air Force One. He said he was leaning toward one of the candidates he was interviewing on Sunday. Trump, who has been searching for a new national security adviser after firing his first one, Michael Flynn, could add a couple more candidates to the list, Spicer said. Retired general and former CIA chief David Petraeus is no longer a candidate. The retired four-star general, who resigned as head of the CIA in 2012 after it was revealed he was having an affair with his biographer, had been on a short list for the job after Flynn was let go. Spicer said Trump’s finalists include Kellogg, Bolton, Caslen, who is the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and McMaster, who holds a senior post with the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Former U.S. National Security Agency head Keith Alexander, and former Army chief of staff Ray Odierno were also thought to be in contention for the job. Flynn stepped down early this week after revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Finding a replacement has been a challenge for Trump. Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, the president’s first choice to take over for Flynn, turned down the offer, citing family and financial reasons. A source familiar with the matter said Petraeus, like Harward, wanted control over staffing decisions within the NSC, and Trump was reluctant to grant that authority. Trump is spending the weekend at his properties in Florida. “Will be having many meetings this weekend at The Southern White House,” he wrote in a tweet on Saturday morning. The president spent the morning at the Trump International Golf Club before returning to his Mar-a-Lago resort. He later held a political rally in Melbourne, Florida. The tumult in Trump’s security team stretched into other areas of the National Security Council, the president’s main forum for decision-making on security and foreign affairs. The White House dismissed Craig Deare, the NSC’s senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, after receiving reports that he had criticized the president and top aides, Politico reported. An NSC spokesman declined to comment. McMaster is a highly regarded tactician and strategic thinker with a PhD, who as a captain in 1991 commanded a small troop of the U.S. 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment that destroyed a much larger Iraqi Republican Guard force at a place called 73 Easting, for its map coordinates, in what many consider the biggest tank battle since World War II. Caslen, a West Point graduate, was serving in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and joined others after the attack in rushing into the damaged part of the building to search for survivors. He served in the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The Pentagon Inspector General found that he and other generals violated Defense Department ethical guidelines by appearing in a video promoting Christian Embassy, a non-profit evangelical group previously known as the Campus Crusade for Christ. ",1 The United States has decided to boycott an upcoming UN conference on racism unless its final document is changed to drop all references to Israel,0 South Korea orders evacuation of residents from border area after exchange of fire with North Korea,0 "Hollywood Hip to Al Qaeda: ‘And the Oscar for Best Documentary Short goes to…’ Alex Christoforou The DuranIt should come as no surprise that a film celebrating the White Helmets scooped up an Oscar for best short documentary. Might as well hand the Oscar to ISIS leader Ab Bakr al-Baghdadi.Far from a humanitarian organisation, the White Helmets are an Al Qaeda staffed propaganda group that is embedded with brutal jihadists looking to overthrow the sovereign government of Syria.Watch this CrossTalk episode to learn who the White Helmets represent Al Jazeera reports Accepting the Academy Award, director Orlando von Einsiedel urged the audience to stand up and call for an end to Syria s six-year civil war, which led to a standing ovation.Von Einsiedel read out a statement from White Helmets founder Raed al-Saleh, in which he thanked the academy and said the group had saved tens of thousands of lives since it was formed in 2014. We are so grateful that this film has highlighted our work to the world. Our organisation is guided by a verse from the Quran: to save one life is to save all of humanity, Saleh s statement said. We have saved more than 82,000 Syrian lives. I invite anyone here who hears me to work on the side of life to stop the bloodshed in Syria and around the world. Rescue workers in Syria are at risk of being killed in so-called double tap air raids that target them as they arrive at the scene of an air strike. The group says that many of its volunteers have been killed.Syrian cinematographer Khaled Khatib who worked on the documentary was unable to attend after being barred from entering the United States, despite being granted a visa.US officials reportedly discovered derogatory information about him, according to a document seen by the Associated Press news agency.The film s producer Joanna Natasegara told AP on Sunday that the decision was sad and confusing. Nothing sad and confusing about it. The White Helmets are Al Nusra, aka Al Qaeda, aka ISIS.Need more proof? WATCH THIS VIDEO. SHARE THESE IMAGES READ MORE WHITE HELMETS NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire White Helmet FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@21WIRE.TV",0 Private information on innocent European citizens will be handed over to U.S. law enforcement authorities under an agreement slated for approval by the European Parliament this week,1 "WHAT? DEMOCRAT CONGRESSWOMAN Calls Violent Riots At Berkeley A “Beautiful Thing” [Video]Here s just one video from last night that will tell you all you need to know: We have seen demonstrations and I think you already talked about that around the country. Young people at Berkeley protesting against this unconstitutional order. And I heard it say earlier that we need to get involved on the local and state level. But what concerns me is that the strain that has been placed on local government, particularly local law enforcement dealing with an order that is unjust and proper. And so as we encourage our young people to get involved I thought it was a beautiful site as we encourage people to get involved, what direction and instructions and how can we have a more organized effort so that they can be a major tool in moving our agenda forward? Anyone who feels that they can answer this question? Thank you. ",0 "Four foreigners working at power plant kidnapped in Libya, official saysBENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Four foreign engineers working for the Turkish construction firm Enka were kidnapped in southwest Libya on Friday, a Libyan state electricity official said. The men, who were Turkish and South African, were seized while traveling from the airport in the town of Ubari to a power plant they were helping to build, the official said, asking not to be named. There was no immediate indication who had abducted them. In a statement on its website, Enka referred to three Turkish citizens being kidnapped. Around midday today in Libya three of our citizens, two of them our personnel who were temporarily working in the country, were kidnapped by unidentified people while they were traveling outside the building site, the statement said. Our company is following the subject closely, in contact with Turkish and Libyan authorities, it added. Kidnapping is rife across Libya, which has been in turmoil since an uprising unseated autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Work at the Ubari plant has been going on for years, disrupted periodically by tribal clashes or other security problems. ",1 "HOLY BETRAYAL OF AMERICA’S NATIONAL SECURITY: New Evidence Shows Hillary Emailed “Most Secretive” Classified Material On Private Unsecured ServerShe s the most dangerous, self-centered woman in America Hillary for Prison 2016. Hillary Clinton s emails on her unsecured, homebrew server contained intelligence from the U.S. government s most secretive and highly classified programs, according to an unclassified letter from a top inspector general to senior lawmakers.Fox News exclusively obtained the unclassified letter, sent Jan. 14 from Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III. It laid out the findings of a recent comprehensive review by intelligence agencies that identified several dozen additional classified emails including specific intelligence known as special access programs (SAP).That indicates a level of classification beyond even top secret, the label previously given to two emails found on her server, and brings even more scrutiny to the presidential candidate s handling of the government s closely held secrets. To date, I have received two sworn declarations from one [intelligence community] element. These declarations cover several dozen emails containing classified information determined by the IC element to be at the confidential, secret, and top secret/sap levels, said the IG letter to lawmakers with oversight of the intelligence community and State Department. According to the declarant, these documents contain information derived from classified IC element sources. Intelligence from a special access program, or SAP, is even more sensitive than that designated as top secret as were two emails identified last summer in a random sample pulled from Clinton s private server she used as secretary of state. Access to a SAP is restricted to those with a need-to-know because exposure of the intelligence would likely reveal the source, putting a method of intelligence collection or a human asset at risk. Currently, some 1,340 emails designated classified have been found on Clinton s server, though the Democratic presidential candidate insists the information was not classified at the time. There is absolutely no way that one could not recognize SAP material, a former senior law enforcement with decades of experience investigating violations of SAP procedures told Fox News. It is the most sensitive of the sensitive. Executive Order 13526 called Classified National Security Information and signed Dec. 29, 2009 sets out the legal framework for establishing special access programs. The order says the programs can only be authorized by the president, the Secretaries of State, Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Director of National Intelligence, or the principal deputy of each. The programs are created when the vulnerability of, or threat to, specific information is exceptional, and the number of persons who ordinarily will have access will be reasonably small and commensurate with the objective of providing enhanced protection for the information involved, it states.According to court documents, former CIA Director David Petraeus was prosecuted for sharing intelligence from special access programs with his biographer and mistress Paula Broadwell. At the heart of his prosecution was a non-disclosure agreement where Petraeus agreed to protect these closely held government programs, with the understanding unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized retention or negligent handling could cause irreparable injury to the United States or be used to advantage by a foreign nation. Clinton signed an identical non-disclosure agreement Jan. 22, 2009.While the State Department and Clinton campaign have said the emails in questions were retroactively classified or upgraded to justify the more than 1,300 classified emails on her server those terms are meaningless under federal law.The former federal law enforcement official said the finding in the January IG letter represents a potential violation of USC 18 Section 793, gross negligence in the handling of secure information under the Espionage Act. Via: FOX News",0 Lawyers march as more dissidents are snatched in Zimbabwe,1 "OBAMA COZIES UP TO ANOTHER COMMUNIST LEADER TO DISCUSS HUMAN RIGHTS… AND TPP?So much for the US refusing to work with countries who are guilty of some of the worst human rights violations in the world From Human Rights Watch: Vietnam s human rights record remains dire in all key areas. A one-party communist state suppresses virtually all forms of political dissent, using a broad array of repressive measures. Freedom of expression, association and assembly are tightly controlled. The police routinely use torture and beatings to extract confessions and punish detainees. Religious minorities and activists are harassed, intimidated and imprisoned. The criminal justice system lacks independence and operates under the direction of the government and party. State-run drug rehabilitation centers exploit detainees as forced laborers making goods for local markets and export. Despite the pressure, increasing numbers of courageous bloggers and activists are vocal in calling for democracy and greater freedoms.A coalition of 14 human rights groups strongly condemns the Feb. 2014 decision by an appeals court upholding a 30-month prison sentence for Vietnamese human rights lawyer and blogger Le Quoc Quan. Mr. Quan has been detained since December 2012.The groups believe Mr. Quan s detention is politically motivated and a reaction to his blog, where he frequently exposes human rights violations by the Vietnamese government. Mr. Quan is a victim of a coordinated government crackdown on bloggers, citizen journalists and pro-democracy activists.Meanwhile President Barack Obama met Tuesday with Vietnamese communist party leader Nguy n Ph Tr ng in the hopes of strengthening ties between the two nations. The President also welcomes the opportunity to discuss other issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, human rights, and bilateral defense cooperation, the White House said in a statement.The meeting came nearly four decades after the Vietnam War. Since that time, the two countries have made efforts to improve diplomatic relations. In just the past two years, Obama has met with Vietnam s President Tr ng T n Sang and Prime Minister Nguy n T n D ng. Like in any relations between two countries in the world, Vietnam and the U.S. have differences on a number of issues, such as perception on democracy, human rights and trade, Tr ng wrote, according to NPR. To resolve differences, I believe the most effective way would be open and constructive dialogues. Via: Daily Caller",0 "U.S. Treasury says Iran sanctions aimed at 'malign activity abroad'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury said sanctions announced on Friday against a group of individuals and entities underscored a U.S. commitment to use such measures over Iran’s ballistic missile program and “destabilizing activities in the region.” It said in a statement that the sanctions were “fully consistent” with U.S. commitments under the Iran nuclear deal reached in 2015, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.  ",1 " ‘Martyrs Without Causes’: Maher Calls Out Crazies On Both The Right And The Left (VIDEO)Bill Maher is all about telling it like it is, and that is just what he did on his New Rules segment of Friday night s edition of his HBO show Real Time. First, the comedic host took the terrorists who are currently occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon to task, and rightly pointed out that they really don t have a reason for being there. He zeroed in on notorious anti-Muslim nutjob Jon Ritzheimer, who infamously filmed a hilarious goodbye video to his children, saying your daddy swore an oath, and that s why he can t be there. Maher said of Ritzheimer and his video: Just listen here to one them, patriot Jon Ritzheimer, explaining to his kids in a video he posted from his truck, why he had to leave. After playing a clip of Ritzheimer, Maher said: Wow, seems like a lot of trouble to go to just to get out of spending time with your family at the holidays Why not just drink like the rest of us. The host then went on to mock the shopping list of supplies the Oregon militants were requesting from the public so that they can continue their lawless occupation of federal property indefinitely.Maher didn t stop, there, though. After blasting the militants, he reminded those of us on the left that we have our own brand of crazy. He played a clip of a Yale student s expletive-filled rant regarding offensive Halloween costumes at a professor that was trying to make an argument for free speech.While microaggressions and cultural appropriation are definitely a problem, there are people who go too far in their opposition to such things. That kind of ranting behavior only makes the cause and its supporters look nuts, and makes everyone who shares the ideology lose credibility to seem just as crazy.In conclusion, Maher also pointed out that there s not much difference between the extremists of the two sides, and that s something everyone should think about, regardless of political ideology.Extremism in either direction just not a good thing.Watch the hilarious, and oh so true, clip below:Featured image: screen capture",0 "Tired of helping CIA? Quit Facebook, Venezuela minister urges",1 "Spanish prosecutor seeks arrest of ousted Catalan leaderMADRID (Reuters) - Spain s state prosecutor on Thursday asked a High court judge to issue a European arrest warrant for ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont after he failed to appear at a court hearing earlier in the day. Puigdemont s lawyer in Belgium, where he has traveled with four members of his sacked cabinet, said the climate in Spain was not good and his client wanted to maintain some distance; but he would cooperate with the courts. ",1 "The Ivory Coast president, Laurent Gbagbo, has cut off electricity and water supplies to millions of people in the north of the country ""for political reasons"", the UN has said.",1 Thousands sign petition calling for north of England to be part of Scotland,1 "Thousands of Tibetan students have staged protests in northwestern China, angry at being forced to study in the Chinese language",1 Conservatives take New Zealand: John Key says NZ election win a 'vote for change',1 Blackwater secret war in Pakistan exposed - Taliban \r\nassertions that Blackwater bombed civilians need to \r\nbe investigated,1 Julian Assange running for Nobel Peace Prize ,1 "Earth lost 50% of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF | Species across land, rivers and seas decimated as humans kill for food in unsustainable numbers and destroy habitats",0 It's official: Fukushima 1 is a Level 7 disaster ,0 "Groups sue to obtain White House visitor logsNEW YORK (Reuters) - A coalition of nonprofit groups on Monday sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to obtain logs of visitors to President Donald Trump’s homes. The lawsuit accused the Secret Service, which maintains the logs, of violating the law by ignoring several requests for lists of visitors to the White House, Trump Tower in Manhattan, and the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Monday’s complaint was filed in Manhattan federal court by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the National Security Archive, and archive researcher Kate Doyle. The plaintiffs had requested the logs under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Similar litigation by CREW in 2009 prompted the Obama administration to disclose White House visitor logs on a delayed basis, and according to the complaint led to the release of 5.99 million records. A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Secret Service, said the department does not discuss pending litigation. The lawsuit was reported earlier by the Washington Post. The website where White House visitor logs were available went dark after Trump became president. That page now reads: ""This page is being updated. It will post records of White House visitors on an ongoing basis, once they become available."" (here) Several Democratic lawmakers last month called on Trump, a Republican, to make logs public again. Many FOIA lawsuits against federal agencies are filed in Washington rather than New York. But in August 2013, the federal appeals court in Washington said Congress did not intend to authorize FOIA requesters to obtain records “indirectly” from the Secret Service that they could not obtain directly from the President. That decision involved a request by the conservative group Judicial Watch for records of all White House visitors over seven months. It was written by Chief Judge Merrick Garland, whose Supreme Court nomination by Obama was never acted upon by Congress. Federal judges in Manhattan can use Garland’s opinion for guidance, but need not follow it. The case is Doyle et al v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-02542. ",1 The torture memos show how illegal wars turn even the nicest people bad,1 "Trump calls Green Party vote recount request a 'scam'WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday called a request for a recount of votes in Wisconsin a “scam” by the Green Party and said even his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton had said the election results should be accepted. “This is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded, and the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what (Green Party leader) Jill Stein is doing,” Trump said in a statement about the recount. “This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less than one percent of the vote overall and wasn’t even on the ballot in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount,” Trump said. ",1 "Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau launches case against sister agencyKIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian investigators on Tuesday said they had opened a criminal case into suspected extortion by officials at a sister anti-corruption agency, based partly on information from a whistleblower who also implicated the president s office. The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAZK) is a keystone of Western-backed reforms but has been criticized for making slow progress with its main task of verifying officials wealth declarations for evidence of ill-gotten gains. NABU - a sister agency investigating high-profile corruption cases - said it opened the case against NAZK officials on suspicion they received undue benefits in especially large amounts, combined with the extortion of such benefits. Officials at other state bodies are also being investigated, a NABU spokeswoman said, without giving further details. While details of the case are not yet clear, the fact that a state-run anti-corruption agency is itself being investigated for corruption suggests the authorities still have progress to make in their promised drive to eliminate graft. The NABU spokeswoman said the case was opened on Nov. 10 partly due to information from the former head of NAZK s financial control department, Hanna Solomatina. Earlier on Tuesday, Solomatina said she had decided to resign and hand over evidence to NABU after realizing an online wealth declaration tool managed by NAZK was compromised. In reality, the e-declarations system is used to cover officials loyal to the authorities ... and for the self-enrichment of the head of NAZK and NAZK members, Solomatina said in a briefing. NAZK is not an independent body, but is completely controlled by the authorities, she said. She described how she had been summoned to the administration of President Petro Poroshenko and told NAZK s decisions should first be checked with the president s office. In a statement, the presidential administration denied Solomatina s allegations. We have no way to influence the work of NAZK, it said. NAZK also denied Solomatina s account and said it would lodge a claim in court to refute her comments. We stress that the widespread information of the ex-official (Solomatina), without concrete facts, is a personal attack on the chairperson, members and staff of the state agency and an attempt to discredit successfully launched anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine, it said. Following the ouster of a Moscow-backed president in 2014, Ukraine s new pro-Western authorities promised to root out graft and modernize the economy in exchange for billions of dollars in international funding. But Ukraine s backers have seen a failure to bring corrupt lawmakers and senior officials to justice as an indication the authorities may lack the commitment to eliminate the power of vested interests. ",1 "Repeal of individual mandate would increase uninsured, premiums: CBOWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday that repealing the Obamacare individual mandate would increase the number of uninsured by 13 million by 2027 and reduce the federal budget deficit less than initially forecast. The CBO, the nonpartisan budget-scoring agency, said that eliminating the Obamacare mandate that all Americans purchase health insurance or else pay a fine would lower the deficit by $338 billion over the next decade, not $416 billion as it estimated in December. The agency found that health insurance premiums would rise by about 10 percent in most years over the next decade in the individual market created by the Affordable Care Act, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. It noted that markets in most areas of the country would remain stable. President Donald Trump and some Republicans favor including a repeal of the mandate in tax overhaul legislation. But lawmakers, Republican aides and lobbyists have said it would be difficult to include a repeal in a tax effort complicated by intraparty differences and intense business lobbying. The U.S. House of Representatives unveiled its tax plan last week, and the Senate’s plan is expected to be released on Thursday. The individual mandate is a central tenet of Obamacare that health policy experts and proponents say is essential to making the law work. It compels young and healthy people to join health insurance markets and help lower premiums by offsetting the costs of sicker patients. Americans must note on their tax returns whether they have health coverage. Yet it has proved to be among the most controversial portions of the law as Republicans, who say Obamacare is too expensive and an example of government overreach, argue that the federal government should not be able to require people to buy health insurance if they do not want it. The CBO said in its December report that the individual mandate increases the federal deficit by encouraging people to buy subsidized coverage, either through Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, employer-provided plans, or through the Obamacare individual health insurance market. Eliminating the mandate would lower the deficit by reducing federal spending on subsidized health insurance coverage, it said. The CBO said abolishing the requirement would cause premiums to rise because healthier people would be less likely to purchase insurance. It found that the resulting increases would cause more people to forego insurance. ",1 "ANTIFA TRANSGENDER HARASSES Gun Store Owner But Finds It’s Not So Easy [Video]A transgender ANTIFA wannabe throws Bibles and thinks Gadsden flag is for Nazis at Private Sector Arms in Olympia, Washington This nasty person realizes it s not so easy to harass this guy.We know that Olympia is a liberal area but this is out of control THE IRONIC THING IS THAT ANTIFA WAS ASKING ITS MEMBERS TO ARM THEMSELVES: ANTIFA Terror Group INFILTRATED Transgender Leader: Use Knives To Stab Opponents Have AK-47 s Ready To Shut Down Free SpeechSteven Crowder is an amazing and ALWAYS unafraid conservative comedian. He was present at the union battle for Right To Work in Michigan where he was famously punched in the face by a union thug, when he confronted union thugs and demanded they stop cutting down a massive tent with pro-Right-to-Work conservatives inside (including an elderly woman who was trapped inside, while in a wheelchair when the tent was cut down).Crowder is one of unafraid to take on the Islamification of our schools and small towns, while government officials and liberals persecute Christians and Christian groups in America. Crowder is also passionate about exposing the dangers of political correctness. Crowder uses his very popular videos to prove undeniable facts that support our free speech and gun rights.Steven Crowder s latest project should be on every news network across America, however, you will likely only find this blockbuster video confirming that Antifa is indeed, a domestic terror group on conservative sites like ours or on Twitter and other social media platforms. That s because the media has been going out of their way to soften the image of ANTIFA. They ve been working in unison to make ANTIFA look like a bunch of rabble-rousers who are simply helping to eradicate speech that Americans the Left doesn t agree with. They re just a group of concerned citizens who want to defeat Nazism Trump supporters in America. The leftist media has been begging their viewers to see things from ANTIFA s point of view after all, they re just a group of non-violent violent kids looking to solve the problems of the world through passionate activism violence, intimidation and yes, domestic terrorism.Watch ABC Nightline journalist Dan Harris gut-wrenching reaction to the video that clearly exposes ANTIFA as a domestic terror group:",0 "Two Danish journalists wounded in Islamist knife attack in GabonLIBREVILLE (Reuters) - An attacker wielding a knife and crying Allahu Akbar has wounded two Danish journalists in Gabon s capital Libreville, the Gabonese defense minister said. The two reporters for the National Geographic channel were in a popular market for tourist souvenirs on Saturday, when a Nigerien national living in Gabon lunged at them with the knife, Defence Minister Etienne Kabinda Makaga said in a statement on Gabonese television. After his arrest, the 53-year-old suspect, who has lived in Gabon for two decades, told authorities he was carrying out a revenge attack against America for recognizing Israel s capital as Jerusalem, Makaga said, giving no further explanation. A judicial investigation was immediately opened at the public prosecutor s office of Libreville to establish if the acts of the aggressor were isolated or a conspiracy, Makaga said. Oil-rich Gabon has a small Muslim population consisting mostly of foreign workers, although the precise number is not known. It is not normally considered a high risk country for jihadist violence. (This story corrects to make clear attacker was Nigerien from Niger, not Nigerian from Nigeria) ",1 "People in Honduras' predominantly Indian Mosquito coast region burned down government offices and demanded that U.S. drug agents leave the area, reacting angrily to an anti-drug operation in which they say police gunfire killed four innocent people, including two pregnant women.",0 " ‘Just Stop’: Megyn Kelly Gets Dragged Around The Internet For Saying Putin Is A Swell GuyConsidering the field that Megyn Kelly is in, one would think she would be critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, his critics are often murdered, especially journalists. Conservatives don t seem to have a problem with the Russian leader, often times during former President Barack Obama s time in office, they praised Putin while slamming Trump s predecessor. Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, even to the point of defending the Russian President for murdering journalists. Trump did that at least twice.Kelly, the former Fox News host who is not besties with Trump, said that Putin was very personable when the cameras were off during her exclusive interview on NBC News with the Russian leader..@megynkelly: Vladimir Putin was very personable when the cameras were off https://t.co/1iV3WKNgLC pic.twitter.com/TbNhjDzDDd TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 4, 2017Twitter users questioned Kelly s praise of the murderous thug. I m glad an autocratic murdering despot was nice to you, @megynkelly cool beans , one Twitter user said.I m glad an autocratic murderering despot was nice to you, @megynkelly cool beans Por Sum Zingis On Me (@edrhew) June 4, 2017 Thugs can be personable. Focus, Blondie, another Twitter user wrote.Thugs can be personable. Focus, Blondie. ??? Trina (@RedVinoPlease) June 4, 2017 So is Satan. So is Satan Donovan Burnett (@DBurnettShow) June 4, 2017 Stop normalizing him. Putin is a murderer ! His personality is fake . This is one of the most ridiculous tweets I've read in a long time . Stop normalizing him ! P. Jeanne DiJoseph (@PJeannie) June 4, 2017 Just stop. Megyn, just stop. You're ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/KpiVYj98xY banegirl (@TheRealBaneGirl) June 4, 2017 What a gullible headline. I'm sure, he's running the largest, most sophisticated propaganda machine on Earth. What a gullible headline. Emily Timm (@timm_emily) June 4, 2017 So was Ted Bundy. So was Ted Bundy. Trenta Poppins (@MaPoStormborn) June 4, 2017 Embarrassing. This is just embarrassing. Dawn McCallan (@DawnMacc) June 4, 2017How personable?How personable? Like locker room Trump personable? Or like Lucifer, Dark Lord of the Netherworld personable? ??? Jr A. (@Skitzo72) June 4, 2017Such a charming fellow that Putin is.Malaysia airliner shot down Ukraine.Yeah Megyn, Putin is a charming fellow. pic.twitter.com/wTCRUirb1D Stephen James (@JSCveritas) June 4, 2017 a disgrace. It's a disgrace that you act like this murderous enemy of civil society is just some nice guy you had to tea. Salome Strangelove (@salstrange) June 4, 2017 Murderers and criminals. So are a lot of murderers and criminals ChristineP (@christine13160) June 4, 2017 Nice job buddying up to a tyrant. Putin instilled his puppet as POTUS and frequently has his opponents murdered but what a charmer! Nice job buddying up to a tyrant, @NBC. Eric Lane (@ericlane) June 4, 2017The added bonus is that he didn t murder anyone.Added bonus he didn't poison anyone. RickChance (@Chancedefiant) June 4, 2017 A murderous dictator. Unm wow, so now we Are personalizing a murderous dictator? So much for journalistic integrity. Dawn McCallan (@DawnMacc) June 4, 2017 So was Hitler. Yeah. So was Hitler Reality (@foamie75) June 4, 2017Putin has a high body count.Says a former Fox mouthpiece about the leader of a hostile foreign country whose opposition leaders and journalists KEEP ENDING UP DEAD. ? DisceAutDiscede (@disceautdisced1) June 4, 2017So personable. Unless you are a journalist or a govt dissenter. Then you need to avoid eating anything and balconies. #CovertCovfefe (@johnnymags) June 4, 2017Putin tried to defend his earlier remarks to Kelly in which he claimed that patriotic hackers could have interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.Putin insisted that the hackers could have come from anywhere and then they could have shifted the blame to make it look like Russia was behind the hacking.Trump, Russia s pick for president, openly called for Russians to hack Hillary Clinton s email account. I will tell you this, Russia: If you re listening, I hope you re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, Trump said at a news conference in Florida at the time. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. We re sure it s all just a coinky dink, though.Featured image via screen capture",0 "Japan calls North Korea's behavior 'absolutely unacceptable'TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Friday that North Korea s remarks and behavior were absolutely unacceptable and provocative to regional and international security. Suga was speaking after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to make U.S. President Donald Trump pay dearly for threatening to destroy his country, and after North Korea s foreign minister was quoted as saying he believes the North could consider a hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean. Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said the comment by North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho was utterly unacceptable. ",1 "ELECTION WHISTLEBLOWER: DOJ In Cahoots With Dems…4 Million Dead On Voter Rolls…Trump Is Right! [Video]J. Christian Adams: Dead people are voting and it s something this administration does not want to do anything about. They must like it. They must like who they are voting for Now we have four million, four million Steve, ineligible and dead voters on American voter rolls according to the Pew Charitable Trust.While the press and Democrats call Trump a racist for even suggesting the voting system is rigged, we find out that the Democrats are refusing to do anything about the 4 million dead people still on voter rolls.Elections expert J. Christian Adams told FOX and Friends on Tuesday morning there are 4 million dead people on US voter rolls. Far left groups continually sue to keep them there. The Obama administration has no desire to clean up these voter rolls.",0 Native Canadians protesting against forced subsidies in a campaign known as 'idle no more',1 Russian Embassy in London attacked,1 Israel admits troops may have used phosphorus shells in Gaza,0 "Security guards beat man at soccer (football) game, fans and players charge the field and beat them.",0 "Iraqi militants capture US made tanks, humvees, arms from abandoned military base",1 "SHOCKING: Why Our Fed Government Will Grant “Disabled” Status With Benefits To Spanish Speaking Residents Of Puerto RicoIf we didn t know better, we d almost believe our Federal Government was attempting to give special privileges to Spanish speaking citizens. Perhaps they re establishing a precedent for taxpayer funded benefits for millions of illegal immigrants who will soon be American citizens The Social Security Administration (SSA) approved disability benefits for hundreds of Puerto Ricans because they do not speak English, despite the fact that Puerto Rico is a predominantly Spanish-speaking territory.According to a new audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the agency is misapplying rules that are intended to provide financial assistance to individuals who are illiterate or cannot speak English in the United States. Under the rules, Puerto Ricans are allowed to receive disability benefits for their inability to speak English as well. We found the Agency did not make exceptions regarding the English-language grid rules for claimants who reside in Puerto Rico, even though Spanish is the predominant language spoken in the local economy, the OIG said.The audit said a person applying for disability in Puerto Rico who cannot speak English may increase his/her likelihood of receiving disability benefits. The agency does not currently have a system in place to keep track of the number of beneficiaries who receive disability insurance for not being able to speak English.However, the OIG was able to identify 218 cases between 2011 and 2013 where Puerto Ricans were awarded disability due to an inability to communicate in English. Furthermore, 4 percent of disability hearings in Puerto Rico involved looking at the individual s ability to speak, read, write, and understand English.Though 95 percent of Puerto Ricans speak Spanish at home, according to the rules a Spanish-speaking nurse in Puerto Rico would be considered unskilled, the OIG said.The SSA told the OIG that the rules are applied one-size-fits-all. SSA managers at various disability decision levels stated Social Security is a national program, and the grids must be applied to the national economy, regardless of local conditions, the audit said.The SSA takes into account an individual s education level when considering awarding disability benefits if they do not qualify for medical reasons. Part of the education requirement involves looking at a person s ability to speak English, to determine whether it limits his ability to find a job.Last year Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) raised concerns that the Obama administration was broadly applying the education rule under the Social Security Act to allow individuals to receive disability payments solely because they cannot speak English.He noted that the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) rolls swelled 230 percent between 2000 and 2010, while the U.S. population only grew 9.7 percent.Former SSA judges have also testified that individuals have been approved for disability in the United States without having to prove they cannot speak English.The hundreds of Puerto Ricans noted in the OIG s report have received disability insurance despite a 1987 U.S. District Court ruling that appears to contradict the SSA s policy. Benefits were denied on the grounds that it is the ability to communicate in Spanish, not English, that is vocationally important in Puerto Rico. It should be noted, however, that the court explicitly declined to apply this rationale outside of this one case, the OIG said.The SSA agreed with the OIG s recommendations to figure out how many individuals have been awarded disability based on their inability to communicate in English, and to evaluate the appropriateness of applying the English-speaking rules to Puerto Rico.The SSA is currently gathering information for a proposed regulation that could lead to changes to the English-speaking rule, the agency said.Via: Free Beacon",0 "TRUMP PROTEST ORGANIZER Destroyed In Debate On Illegals: “Do you think people have a right to lock their doors?” [Video]Imagine going over 80k into debt for your children to be even stupider than before their education pic.twitter.com/1um9rY2MA8 Viktor LePen (@ViktorFiel) November 17, 2016",0